Hello to all you AustinDiggers out there!!!

Hal spoke with the powers that be (Richard Chrisner) and looks like a good date for the deal this year would be

Sunday Nov 9th, 2008

Its the day right after a arrowhead show.. Should get everyone ready by seeing some flint the day before!

TENTATIVE date here folks.. Richard is good with it, he has some things that he wants to do for it this year and needs a day picked. So if there are no problems....

Sunday Nov 9th, 2008 - DIGFEST Anyone !!!!!!!!!!

Michelle

Always wanted to dig at Chrisners. I'll see if that date works. I would love to meet ya'll down at a dig. Finally met Hal this weekend.

IM LOOKING FORWARD TO IT THANKS FOR KEEPING ME POSTED

No problem Lee!

Any news about the dig, I will be posting in here..

And as SOON as Hal picks his stuffed animal.. You will be the first to know!

How about a mascot contest for Hal?

You ALL got a few months to come up with something special...Rub some dirt on it and bring it with you!

Since Hal is the one that came up with the idea of "Digfest " in the first place, and picked the date for the first one , I figure this year I will buy Hal whatever stuffed or fuzzy little animal he wants for Digfest08 so he can take all kinds of pictures for the memory banks!!!!

I am pretty sure that everyone had a good time at Digfest07.. Should be some more great memories for 2008 also

Its not JUST a dig.. Its a time for everyone to get together that have chatted / posted .. heck , even argued at times ! To get together and meet face to face for a good time in the dirt any maybe even toss in a few laughs. (And toss back a few beers!)

We ALL have our own little "Digs" that we go to all the rest of the year.. this is the time for us diggers to all get together....

Friends.. Food .. Flint !

I personally would love to meet you all.. Its cheap and no one has any excuses!!! PLENTY of advance time to take a extra day off!!! The place is huge and we all will have a great time and even take home some memories !!!

I might even camp out myself!

Michelle

Glad to hear about the date forDigfest '08...Now I can make my plans to win another wiggle pick...lol.
Thanks to Pat and everyone else that made '07 a great memory.

you lucky rascal Larry i wanted to be the winner but i bought one anyhow lol.. hey are you still with that same girl you brought last year?

hey everyone lets all throw in something for the door prizes just a thought maybe all wont be able 2 but i will

What is the cost for the DigFest? Is it the usual rate or is there a special offer for the various type's of digging?
Silver

I'd like to come to the Dig Fest. Count on two of us and I really look forward to meeting you all.

HAY THERE GUYS

The price is the same.. BUT the price includes LUNCH !

Just a get together like last year to say hello to all the great people that we ALL have been chatting with over the past year.. and some BBQ ta boot!

Michelle

ME 2 :) IM LOOKING FORWARD 2 IT

is that anywhere brown county, how much to dig?

Howdy Ken, the pay dig is Chrisners. Location see from page, low, PAY DIG LOCATIONS and to see what
is going on, still on front page, top right, click
DIGFEST 07

You sound like a digger looking for dirt, see you
there.

Re entry $$$, I gotta take the "glass is half full"
aproach. I personally know that the rate has been the same for at least 5 years. To trench and clear
areas just for the digfest participants is going to
need fuel up about 50% from last year. The BBQ must
be around 20 bucks at anybody's venue. The best !
From hor d'erves [Texas style] to a selection of
deserts and drinks included [ except for Douglas who
must arrange his own tanker truck ] We all know
any foods are up 30% in just one year.
At his own cost, Richard is buying two surprise items
to jazz up the festivities.

There are never any guarantees for actually finding
anything. I could cite a few Zips finds at some other
high dollar sites.
For my part, AUSDGRS has had absolutly brillient
success in Oh Greight finding treasures in "dugout"
camp worked over 100 years ago. Since last year, I
have figured out an area at Chrisners that definitly
has worked flint missed by the "old timers". So if
any Newbie wants to go home with something, watch
where AUSDGRS are working. I never mind people
crowding in on my elbows but I'm pretty spooky about
swing pickers in the near vicinity of my toes !

I do however have one quandry now about this years
dig event, since Richard is going to do some scraping
in the paleo camp, Im torn between searching all
day for that one elusive Paleo treasure OR just not
be greedy and fill up my sandwich bag with archaic
pieces !

It will probably have to be a "Pull a envelope out of the hat" kind of thing... I don't know who will want to intentionally take Hal's skanky old shirt!

BOOBY PRIZE alright

Michelle

hey michelle
me and my daughter willbe there,i hope she will get her hands dirty.and i have a 16"x24"nice display case to donate.
roy fails

Very nice contribution Roy.

Set your mind at ease re getting Daughter's hands dirty. If nothing else, we'll advise Richard not to
issue Her a Knife, fork or spoon when it's BBQ time.

WHAT TIME DOES THE DIGFEST START? / by ROBBIE, Sept 18

Brought forward to keep in the digfest info. . . .

DAWN, Robbie, the garage is open, sign in, put your money in the box. No need to disturb the household people.
If it's your first visit, you wont know where to get started digging at that hour. Last year a few "old timers" were there at dawn, , , ,follow them. When it gets lighteer you might want to explore the property.

Richard, the host, is going to do some new trenching and earth moving just for the digfest group and these spots will be of initial interest.

ACCOMODATIONS FOR DIGFEST;

The west of Moody location is not far off the N/S I-35
corridor and so has a large selection of Motels in all price ranges.
A possible alternative for some people is MOTHER NEFF STATE PARK. In addition to the usual camping slots
they used to have those screen enclosed cabins, no
furnishings, just sleep on a table !

DIGFEST LOCATION;;;

Google map; MOTHER NEFF STATE PARK.

This park lies right on the NW corner of the Chrisner ranch property, the "Leon, Moody road " is plainly shown on the display.

Continued responce to Mindy N Kirk posting of Sept20th;
I stayed at the park 2 years ago, at Dawn, with zero traffic, it took me four minutes drive from the park gate to digfest gate. Anyone reading this needs to
really check accomodations and reserve. A year and a half ago the park was under water [ and closed ] due
to an every three year Texas 100 year flood of the
Leon river basin.

M&K, your comming up from the South, what about skip
the Motel cost and spend the money in the "famous"
Austin 6th Street flesh pots ! Just party all night
til 0500, short drive puts you at Crisners right at Dawn ready for 12 hours of digging !

PS: I just went back to Google map and this time clicked
the SATELITE view !! Wow, that little "spur road" off
the Moody Leon road is actually Chrisners driveway !
Start zooming, you can see the buildings [ digfest
checkin and start point ]
Those in the know can keep zoomin and check out the
Perd camp, Paleo camp and the cattle !

Could someone share the Coordinates or Address for Christner's ARanch so that those who haven't been there can get a feel for the lay of the land
Gracias!

LOL! Party all night? Those days are LONG gone! LOL! Actually it's a mini vacation so the hotel will be nice Anyone have a list of potential places to stay?

Silver, Physical adress is ; ; ; ;
17120 MOODY LEON ROAD
x AND y for GPS hopefully can be gleaned from the Google map info in the above two Sept 21st posts.

4 Mindy N Kirk, No real help from me, Where Motel 6 & 8 go, so go I
I stayed at a nice little place just south of Waco once, very economical, called "No Tell Motel".
Unfortunatly they built the interstate right over it in 1957

THIS IS TO CZ

Email me so I have your email address and give me your name and friends name .. Starting out a list for the dig

Thanks!

Here's some more thoughts on Lee's question of Oct 1st, Re having dirt piles for sifting. No conflict with M's responce that any piles of dirt are just overburden to be gotten out of the way.
One man's overburden is another man's treasure !
It's all "indian country" and moving soil with a front end loader is not a delicate operation and thus
might well scoop up something good.

Good example, Go back to front page, hit "digfest 2007" count 8 rows of pics down [ not counting the opening
pic of M & P ]. Thats James W in a new deep Paleo hole, Next pics down is Huston who was raking through
the dugout overburden, Nice find, broken but nice !
No pics but on the way to another location last year we passed Angus and 2 friends raking a fresh dugout
pile with good results, all had a few brokes to show.

A long handled garden rake is an excelent tool to have along.

PS; I believe Huston was the only one that found anything out of the JW hole !
And the smile shows he was so happy he was ing

Will the land owner allow atv's on the property?

AOK [ yes ] on ATV's

M'shel, . . Geoff has dreamed up two very important questions [ that I'm surprised hasn't come up before ]
regarding kids to Digfest
I think I've seen two families with kids signed up ! His questions are ; ; ;
. . 1. ARE KIDS FOUL ?

. . 2. WHAT AGES ENTRY FEE BREAK ? [ FOR KIDS THAT CANT EAT
. . . .$40,00 WORTH OF FOOD ]

See Geoff's post under " REPLY TO DOUGLAS RE SCHOOL BUS OF FAMILY ", last post OCT 5

Richard must have heard the questions before as his place has always been family friendly

When your talking to Richard, I suggest you come up with a check-in plan to check passports and birth
cetificates for age validation. . . The reason I
bring this up as the questions arrived from a party
with NO kids signed up . . . . I'm thinking
maybe Geo is going to wear short pants and a beanie
and Dawn, pigtails and a Pinifore and try to pass for
under 37. . . . . . . !

Hay ther Guy!

I think that I have all ready answered this question here or in another posting..

If you PAY to get in for the dig, you are in the drawing.. I think that is fair that the people that are actually spending money per person to get in gets the chance at the donations

Sound fair?

Michelle

NO, NO NO . . .

I took it to read. . .supposing a family has a ;
2 year old. . 5 yr old. . 10 yr old . . ? yr old.

Is the 2 yr old paying $40,- for all the dirt he or she can move in 8 hours and all
the BBQ he or she can get down in 1 hr 15 minutes

The full price ticket naturally gets a full drawing number but maybe a reduced price kids ticket should have NO drawing rights. The family of a reduced rate
2 yr old would already be "winning" by the amount of the reduction. . .

Course full rate for digging and BBQing pets still holds
I want to see how many Goldfish Douglas brings. .

ped on it overnight ! I withdaw my comments and go with the majority [ Doug ]

Sorry Geo



gotta pay full price !

JUST TALKED TO RICHARD CHRISNER

NO CHARGE FOR CHILDREN 13YO OR YOUNGER FOR DIGFEST08 !!

People who PAY to get in are able to be in the drawing.. But The kiddies, as long as they are not out runnin WiLd .. Get in at No Charge!!!!!!!!

Michelle

On this date, ONE CALENDER MONTH FROM NOW, about this time of day; some people will be starting BBQ fires, some signing in for a day of finding and feasting,
some laying out a table of over 25 drawing prizes, and some will be still looking for the front gate

And some will be wishing they had signed up . . .

On this date, ONE CALENDER MONTH FROM NOW, about this time of day, some people will be washing dishes, Some
will be packing up their drawing prize, Some will be madly digging ing for just one more worked piece
before daylight runs out.

Some will be wishing they had attended Digfest08

One this date, ONE CALENDER MONTH FROM NOW, about this time of day; Some people will be feeling sore
muscles that they didnt know they had

And some may be waking up with a hangover

hey do they allow camp fires if we camp overnite at chrisners?

Lee, I prefer Michelle check and make a proper statement on fires and may depend on how much rain
was in the area by end of Oct.

Doug, re times, the garage is always open for checkin so early birds can get that formality out of the way.
Official sunup at that time of year at that latitude will be about 0755 hrs and that is NOT really early compared to the daylight in the month of June


I am ing out there and will probably be around the garage early morn BUT I am not sticking around long to direct traffic ! In addition to the standard
sign in and money in the box, there will be a table with a special drawing list to sign.
NO SIGN THE DRAWING LIST --YOUR NAME IS NOT IN THE HAT

This is a good time and place to mention that a LOT of people are expected in who knows how many cars . Dont block roadways, dont jam up, especially around the garage and buildings area, do some walking. Play it cool [


Crisners has delt with groups before and survived ! For those that can / have looked at Crisners on GOOGLE MAP, check again, to the left of the buildings at the edge of a field is a large herd of cars parked.
All main dirt roads have been in good condition, passable for Angus's sports car to Joels Lincoln executive transport . . .Off road standard Texas YAHHOOoo rules !

"Normal" cars. . . DONT DRIVE OVER CACTUS

michelle-
can you tell me more about digfest? how much of a drive from austin? any lodging available? is it overnite or daytrip? who and how do we pay? etc... thanks

Hi Mark, while M is probably working on a detailed answer, here is a short form reply

. . .ALMOST ALL DETAILS CAN BE FOUND BY STARTING AT THE TOP OF THIS SECTION AND READ DOWN, except camp fires ! !

1 1/2 Hrs, MAX

NO

DAYTRIP

GARAGE [DROP BOX]

Doug, Hopefully the WX will continue this nice clear and cool pattern
My vehicle is rigged for "camping", so I just park and I am "camped"
Richard has allowed free camping anywhere on the property and it's obviously what the
State parks would list as "primitive". IF a family of campers need slightly
more facilities, That MOTHER NEFF State park is four minutes away [ right at the NW corner of the Chrisner property ]

A big bonus of camping right next to an ancient camp site "village" is that
THOUSANDS of years worth of GHOSTS are sleeping right there with you ! ! ! !

Michell,
If I bring my camper are generators allowed?

Hay there

Anyone (INCLUDING HAL) that is thinking about camping out or whatever needs to call RICHARD and ask him what is allowed..

We have made NO arrangements for camping there nor do I know if a camper is aloud ..

PLEASE call Richard and make those arrangements with him

Thanks
Michelle

We are looking forward to Cristners on the 9th?Some folks from Waco swear by it ! ? Please let me know particulars ! Thanks very much jimmie

Time for another pic to break up all these words

The entry driveway from the front gate on left.< <
Check in garage, that first hole on the left.< <
To all dig sites, off to right > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

GOOD NEWS

I talked to Richard Chrisner last night specifically about about camping for Digfest.

There are NO resrictions

Camping is welcome for all vehicle configurations including;
Limos - tent - pop ups - RV - hippie vans

camp fires are allowed and were never a problem in the past, just be resonable

Generators and loud music OK, just keep out of hearing of the main house and the Gray Safari Van

Jerry G has done the homework of Mother Neff State park camping -- NO overnight camping, day use only,
Check if you like 254 853 2389

It's a huge property, find a nice spot ! No assigned camping area. plenty of room for those that wish
to do so. I did think that Angus & friends chose a very unique campsite. Right in the middle of a
beautiful isolated cut with middens on both sides, must have been a spring
in antiquity Thats a lot of History. . . BOO. . .

Reminder. . . There are ZERO facilities, NO elec & water, Tinkle with the squirels

Still quoting [ " " ] from conversation, There is no charge for camping BUT " you dig, [ no matter how little ] YOU PAY !

A trench some 200 feet in length will be cut right down the middle of a proven campsite. Thats plenty of room for even a huge crowd of Digfest diggers.

THE NEWLY TRENCHED DIGSITE WILL BE CLOSED TO ALL UNTIL
THE VERY EARLY MORNING HOURS OF DIGFEST OPENING ON
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 9th.

Early arrivals and campers can dig at any of the other numerous, sites, A good spot is right next to Josh, look for hillside digging ! See his recent posting under " CHRISNERS FINDS "


DONT WORRY bout "getting a good dig spot in the trench" There is almost no such thing, on a one day shot, Luck will govern your finds. Late arrivals [ bankers and marina managers ] will do just fine. Diggers comming back on Monday, WELCOME

IF. . . . You stop digging like crazy for a minute and look around and see that
you are the only one in the whole trench that means;;

YOU MISSED THE DINNER BELL

Good work with the update on Chrisners Hal!

On another note

YOU are a NUT !!!!!!

I just can't do anything but laugh when you go off with the smily faces!!! Specially the one that is biting people!!!!!



Bahah!!!!!!!!!!!!

HA HA !!

Good plan Doug, Camping out right next to known ancient's campsites is a
unique experience especially for campers in Paleo valley ! Somewhat like
spending the night in those cliff dwellings of the Anasasi. or . . . . .

Your evenings events planning sounds great , everyone will want to be
in your area, I'll be all alone at the other end but I'll be with you in spirit as I still have my old Nudist camp binoculars with me. . .
. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .

. . . .WHOOO - HOOOoooo ! The only real unknown variable for digfest has been resolved. .

THE WEATHER ! ! ! !

I personally would like it warmer but at least they donot forecast snow . . .



See. . . . WEATHER.COM

Enter zip 76557 [ thats MOODY TX ]

Then click. . . . 10 DAY FORECAST

. .. . . .

Hal and Douglas, what time are y'all gonna be there on saturday/ My girlfriend and I are talking about camping out too.

Hay there Larry!!

I will be out there Saturday and be campin out as well !!!

I am not going to bring out the pop tent though.. I will pass out in the back of my SUV !

See you ALL there!!!!

140+ Diggers !!!!!

Its the Place to be on Nov 9th !!!!!!

L, I plan for Chrisners around noon Saturday

Doug may be there earlier to get a good spot, to find him, listen for the music and Ya-HOOoos. . . . .


Once you locate his campsite, to find me, , , ,
turn around 180*. . . . . I'm at the other end
of the property. . .

Hey, michelle...we are gonna be down there around five or six, if I can get my old vampire bones out of the coffin early enough...do we need to sign in and pay Saturday for Digfest???

HEY HAL, I PICKED UP AN OL FART PASSENGER WHO WONT CAMP, SO I'LL BE THERE SUNDY MORNIN ROUND SUNRISE!

. . . . . . . . . . THE END