Funny Story/2nd Wheat

[AugustMoose87]

So I had a bit of a funny story I thought I'd share. I got in to metal detecting late last summer, and am fortunate to work a job where I am occasionally allowed to go pick up "metallic trash" when we aren't busy. When I returned this spring (seasonal positions - 1 park in the summer/fall, 1 in the winter/spring), my supervisor immediately asked me if I was still metal detecting. I said yea, but I was a bit out of practice since I didn't do it much in the winter or our VERY wet spring. He said there two water shut of valves that they couldn't find. One for a yard hydrant hadn't been used in almost 20 years, since the hydrant is freeze proof and we didn't have to shut it off every winter. The second they found last fall to shut water to a satellite building off, but couldn't find it again in the spring. Since we needed to get that water back on, metal detecting was not only allowed, but became a priority activity. YES, nothing like getting to tell your co-workers "sorry, I can't help with trash and bathrooms, I have to metal detect".

At the time, I was still using my beep-and-dig titan/bounty hunter, and knowing that the valve covers were iron, I was detecting with no discrimination, digging everything. I was fairly certain I had the right spot on my first signal, in part because of how it acted, but also the location - it was right about where I would have said "I think it is in here somewhere". The one downside of this expedition was the area I was detecting was a road. YEARS ago, it was just a clay/dirt road, then they put a few layers of road base, and finally a few layers of recycled asphalt. So there was no probing or plug cutting - it was straight to a hand pickax and a sharp shooter spade. So between being out of practice, the hard ground, and expecting to dig ~9" to get to the valve cover, I went AT IT. Picked a good size area (8"x8"x6") loose, grabbed the spade and started cleaning the hole out. While I was cleaning, I saw something the looked like a penny sandwiched between pieces of asphalt. I grabbed it, threw it in my pocket and kept digging for a few minutes before I went "wait a minute..." Checked the hole, no signal Kinda forgot that my metal detector detects METAL, not just the metal I'm looking for Found the valve cover on the next signal, dug it up and got the water turned on and everything cleaned up before I took the penny out of my pocket to discover it was a wheat!! Only my second, so I was pretty happy. Not to mention I was happy that despite my careless digging, there wasn't a scratch on it.

The yard hydrant valve took a lot longer, since we had a MUCH less specific area to search. Did manage to find it along with a few lead fishing weights, a handful of clad, and a few random chunks of iron. Not the most productive hunting, but you can't argue with detecting on the clock!!

 

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[Skippy SH13]

Yep, detecting on the clock, basically "upped' your take by quite a bit! Fun sharing. Thanks for taking the time!

 

[WhiteTornado]

Good story! I like that concept of being paid to metal detect

 

[Ogre1190]

Good job! I just helped the local BP station find their 2 missing flagpole pipes. Owner had buried 6 pipes to hold flagpoles on holidays but they weren't used for years...so they sunk and got matted over with dirt/grass. The Mgr really wanted to use the flags over the 4th, so I offered. Found 'em in about 15 minutes. 😁