Pleasant surprise

[finderskeepers]

Early morning appt yesterday in the city 20 mins away and I just happened to have my detector in the back of the car. Finished up and wanted to spend a few hours outside, yet didn't wanna make the 15 mile drive and 1/2 mile trek to the relic spot I've been working. So I knew of a large older park just a few minutes away that I had just done some very cursory research on. Swung through to have a look. Beautiful park (400+ acres) with good deal of open space, manicured freshwater shorelines and a half dozen historic structures, all dating back to the late 1800's. There were some various signs here and there with different rules and nothing about metal detecting. So I figure I'm probably good, but also want to know for sure. I am in chill guy mode and don't want anything even resembling a hassle, about anything, happening in my space today.

No problem City Hall is 10 mins away, I'll shoot down and have a quick look at the by-laws.2 departments and 2 phone calls later, I'm told you can only see them at the Park headquarters. How does the city clerks office not have a copy of city by-laws? Didn't want to let that statement escape my lips because I could already feel the blood pressure rising as the right side of my brain demanded an answer from the left. Gotta get out of here anyway, it smells funny, the people talk weird, oh and the "public" bathrooms are locked and 2 different employees said they don't have keys. Maybe that's why it smelled funny??

Back to the park, find the administration office. No front desk, just kinda wander into the first open room and ask the gentleman if I may see a copy. He is puzzled so I clarify a bit and explain that city hall says that this is the place that can help me. He still seems puzzled and asks me what rules I'm interested in. OH CRAP, now what?? I'm sure I'm sportin that deer in the headlights look...This was supposed to be a secret mission to capture the weapon that would all but ensure victory for me!I wasn't ready to show my hand! I needed that Ace, but didn't know if it was in his hand or the deck.I prayed that he could not hear the sounds of the should I/ shouldn't I battle now raging in my head... and then before I even realized it...someone who looked and sounded exactly like me, said...

"I'd like to know if metal detecting is allowed in the park"

OH my god...why did I say that?? That sounds far too much like a question, you dummy! Fortunately, he didn't give much time for me to ponder this incredible blunder I had made. He delivered his "I don't think so" with almost lightning fast speed and all the enthusiasm of a cat sunning itself on the windowsill. Why then, could I feel a smile swelling inside? As much as I tried to suppress it, I just couldn't help myself, and a lit bit leaked out. He said the magic word..."think"

I must be a lot more charming than people think cuz when I asked him how "WE" could both be absolutely sure...he said "let me find out". He picked up the phone. I was convinced that despite his poker face, he too, wanted to gaze upon these sacred scrolls and witness himself whether The King had made such a decree. My palms started to itch and sweat. Once again, I dared dream of the victory that lay ahead. I'm not sure if it lasted an hour or it was closer to 15 seconds... The King must not have been home, Bob answered instead.

"Yeah Bob, this guy wants to metal detect in the park"...and nothing else, is what I heard. NO NO NO...I didn't want anyone else's opinion...I wanted PROOF, screamed my brain! Now, although this place didn't smell funny like the other, that same overpowering desire to be anywhere else, found it's way back to me. As I was instructing my legs that they should walk, not run, a little argument ensued over which would lead the way. Fortunately this bit of distraction kept all of us standing in place for a few more seconds...just long enough to hear our humble little city servant exclaim "HE CAN??" This must have unleashed some kind of special magic, cuz each of the dozen times he said "yeah' & "uh huh" I was powerless to keep from nodding my head in unison with the words. Shame he produced no other words for me to gauge the full effect of this magic.

In his sun-drenched feline tone, he informed me that "Bob **** said it was ok. He is the director of the park. If anyone gives you trouble, just tell them he said it was ok".

Not sure if I had mumbled something earlier or I had dribbled in my pants a bit, but he directed me to a private bathroom nearby. I ignored the gurgles and rumbles in my stomach and took care of 1/2 my business. I wanted the sweet smell of the emotional journey to linger in my wake, not anything else. I shook his hand and departed( yes I washed them), not realizing til after, that I never got his name.

Now, I have another place that will provide many many hours of enjoyment, excitement, and hopefully treasure for months/years to come. I did manage to spend an hour detecting after hastily choosing a random spot. Though $$ value of finds wasn't much...I was able to test 2 coils with some changed settings on my machine. I was finding clad @ 5-7" , that was icing on the cake for me! I have to believe that it will just be a matter of time before I start pulling silver.

Don't know if there is a lesson here...that's not what these words are about. Yesterday just hit me in a really cool way and I just wanted to share. HH

CJ

 

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[Digger2]

Well done, that was interesting reading.

Roy

 

[christo000]

Wow holy s#it its all I can say i could Picture the entire story like I just wanted to c What was gonna happen next that was great Congrates on the spot

 

[finderskeepers]

I'm glad you enjoyed

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

Early morning appt yesterday in the city 20 mins away and I just happened to have my detector in the back of the car. Finished up and wanted to spend a few hours outside, yet didn't wanna make the 15 mile drive and 1/2 mile trek to the relic spot I've been working. So I knew of a large older park just a few minutes away that I had just done some very cursory research on. Swung through to have a look. Beautiful park (400+ acres) with good deal of open space, manicured freshwater shorelines and a half dozen historic structures, all dating back to the late 1800's. There were some various signs here and there with different rules and nothing about metal detecting. So I figure I'm probably good, but also want to know for sure. I am in chill guy mode and don't want anything even resembling a hassle, about anything, happening in my space today.

No problem City Hall is 10 mins away, I'll shoot down and have a quick look at the by-laws.2 departments and 2 phone calls later, I'm told you can only see them at the Park headquarters. How does the city clerks office not have a copy of city by-laws? Didn't want to let that statement escape my lips because I could already feel the blood pressure rising as the right side of my brain demanded an answer from the left. Gotta get out of here anyway, it smells funny, the people talk weird, oh and the "public" bathrooms are locked and 2 different employees said they don't have keys. Maybe that's why it smelled funny??

Back to the park, find the administration office. No front desk, just kinda wander into the first open room and ask the gentleman if I may see a copy. He is puzzled so I clarify a bit and explain that city hall says that this is the place that can help me. He still seems puzzled and asks me what rules I'm interested in. OH CRAP, now what?? I'm sure I'm sportin that deer in the headlights look...This was supposed to be a secret mission to capture the weapon that would all but ensure victory for me!I wasn't ready to show my hand! I needed that Ace, but didn't know if it was in his hand or the deck.I prayed that he could not hear the sounds of the should I/ shouldn't I battle now raging in my head... and then before I even realized it...someone who looked and sounded exactly like me, said...

"I'd like to know if metal detecting is allowed in the park"

OH my god...why did I say that?? That sounds far too much like a question, you dummy! Fortunately, he didn't give much time for me to ponder this incredible blunder I had made. He delivered his "I don't think so" with almost lightning fast speed and all the enthusiasm of a cat sunning itself on the windowsill. Why then, could I feel a smile swelling inside? As much as I tried to suppress it, I just couldn't help myself, and a lit bit leaked out. He said the magic word..."think"

I must be a lot more charming than people think cuz when I asked him how "WE" could both be absolutely sure...he said "let me find out". He picked up the phone. I was convinced that despite his poker face, he too, wanted to gaze upon these sacred scrolls and witness himself whether The King had made such a decree. My palms started to itch and sweat. Once again, I dared dream of the victory that lay ahead. I'm not sure if it lasted an hour or it was closer to 15 seconds... The King must not have been home, Bob answered instead.

"Yeah Bob, this guy wants to metal detect in the park"...and nothing else, is what I heard. NO NO NO...I didn't want anyone else's opinion...I wanted PROOF, screamed my brain! Now, although this place didn't smell funny like the other, that same overpowering desire to be anywhere else, found it's way back to me. As I was instructing my legs that they should walk, not run, a little argument ensued over which would lead the way. Fortunately this bit of distraction kept all of us standing in place for a few more seconds...just long enough to hear our humble little city servant exclaim "HE CAN??" This must have unleashed some kind of special magic, cuz each of the dozen times he said "yeah' & "uh huh" I was powerless to keep from nodding my head in unison with the words. Shame he produced no other words for me to gauge the full effect of this magic.

In his sun-drenched feline tone, he informed me that "Bob **** said it was ok. He is the director of the park. If anyone gives you trouble, just tell them he said it was ok".

Not sure if I had mumbled something earlier or I had dribbled in my pants a bit, but he directed me to a private bathroom nearby. I ignored the gurgles and rumbles in my stomach and took care of 1/2 my business. I wanted the sweet smell of the emotional journey to linger in my wake, not anything else. I shook his hand and departed( yes I washed them), not realizing til after, that I never got his name.

Now, I have another place that will provide many many hours of enjoyment, excitement, and hopefully treasure for months/years to come. I did manage to spend an hour detecting after hastily choosing a random spot. Though $$ value of finds wasn't much...I was able to test 2 coils with some changed settings on my machine. I was finding clad @ 5-7" , that was icing on the cake for me! I have to believe that it will just be a matter of time before I start pulling silver.

Don't know if there is a lesson here...that's not what these words are about. Yesterday just hit me in a really cool way and I just wanted to share. HH

CJ

Good writing skills. Fun little story. thanx.

 

[bryanleemc]

Very good story and great outcome!

 

[Maburger]

I too enjoyed the story and the outcome. Your quest for information is exactly what I figure will happen to me when I attempt to find the answer as to if I can search several parcels of land owned by "the town trustees" didn' t know we had town trustees. We don't even have a Mayor!

 

[Keppy]

... Good story... But i would not have wasted my time checking i would have just went and hunted..........

 

[relicmeister]

Glad things worked out well for you. I always go with my own judgement on whether to detect or not to detect- asking is
on a last-resort basis.

 

[finderskeepers]

Yes, I actually feel that way as well. This was just the kind of day, that I did mot feel like engaging in ANY hassle whatsoever. I knew the administration office was there. I was also determined to be enjoying the outside AND swinging my detector. I needed to be certain, what I was doing was not disallowed, because I wasn't going to listen to anyone that tried to tell me otherwise.Despite it being a weekday, the park was full of people and staff. I guess I just felt as the only one of about 1,000 people, swinging a metal detector I might "stick out". People seem to take a bit more notice of things they view as out of the ordinary.

I really did anguish about asking...rolled the dice...and didn't like the answer I was given. I didn't accept it and pushed further in a polite and respectful way. I got a response that was actually a bit better than I had hoped.

I've spent about 4 hours there now...got about $6.00 in clad 2 wheaties and a'46(?) Rosie dime and pretty cool little skeleton key today. While that's nothing near extraordinary... at least I know I'm doing the right thing with my detector, others have either not hunted or left plenty(?) behind AND i do not have to waste 1 second of thought or energy looking over my shoulder for boogeymen.With all the activity this place sees, I can probably continue to hunt until the day I can't. It's all good!!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

finderskeepers, I recall one story about a fellow who goes in to city hall. And, like yourself, he figured that he would carefully phrase his question, so-as-not to get someone's personal whim or bias. In other words, phrased something like "Is there any laws regarding the use of metal detectors?" or "is there any rules that talk anything about metal detectors?", etc... In his mind's eye, this way of phrasing it would put the burden-of-proof on the person to CITE such a law or rule that said "no metal detectors", if one existed (and as you know, is a rarity anywhere).

So he walks in to a lady sitting there at the front reception desk. He asks his carefully worded question. The lady sat there and stared at him trying to figure out how to answer. She thinks for a minute, and replies: "We would prefer you didn't" (As if he had just asked her personal whim or feelings). So the fellow got MORE specific and says: "But where is that written?" (to turn-the-tables on her to CITE such a rule, if one existed). So she starts looking too and fro through all her books, pamphlets, etc.... and finds something about "vandalism" or "defacement", EVEN THOUGH the man had NEVER said anything about "digging". So he tried to point this out to her, that those things didn't say anything about detecting, nor had he asked if he could "vandalize" or "alter" anything. But the conversation just went downhill from there, as you could imagine.

Another time I heard of a fellow in San Francisco who, in the same way, carefully worded the question. And he got an enthusiastic "sure, go ahead. There's no rules regarding detectors, so have fun!". The gleeful md'r left and began hunting. However, about 2 weeks later, he figured that he'd forgotten to get that park's dept. guys name. And decided he'd better have that person's name, in case he was ever approached or challenged. So he went BACK to that same park's dept. office. This time however, 2 weeks later, another person was sitting at the desk. So he asked this person what the other person's name was (and tried to describe what he looked like, what day and time it was he'd been there earlier, and so forth). But the person at the desk there now did not know who it was. So he cut to the chase and said "Just tell me what it is you wanted to know, and maybe I can answer your question". So he puts the same question in front of THIS clerk. This clerk however tells the guy "Sure. Have fun. Nothing about detectors in the rules. However, you can't dig" (even though the md'r had never mentioned "dig"). So the dejected md'r left.

So as you can see, sometimes you can get different answers depending on who you ask, what their mental perception is, what their mood is, etc... Thus if it were me, I'd never ask a live-person anything, if I can at all avoid it.

 

[christo000]

Haha story time

 

[finderskeepers]

Haha story time

Stop it Christo...I cant tell another story right now cuz I've chewed my fingernails down to the first knuckle trying to fight the urge to tell another story

 

[christo000]

Stop it Christo...I cant tell another story right now cuz I've chewed my fingernails down to the first knuckle trying to fight the urge to tell another story

Cant help it I enjoy a real life story with a good ending. Its nice to read something other then oh that detector S#x I wouldnt buy that u got ripped all rubbish, I feel this is the best md site online & would like to c it stay that way the help from one to another is great comes around goes around & if theres a nooby to this hobby u betcha if I can help with something ill sure try