Frodov
Bronze Member
Nickel and Dimed! That’s what I was today. I’ve often heard that phrase but never in the context of pursuing a hobby. Of course being “Nickel and Dimed” while metal detecting is a perfectly acceptable thing to have happen to someone who’s doing the detecting. And boy! Did I EVER get nickel and dimed today!
We get out and detect when we are able to, we enterprising enthusiasts of this particular pastime. Between bouts of bad weather, day to day errands, work and other demands of our time, we manage to sneak in a little swing time when we are able. Of course it’s never long enough, even if we have an entire day to spend poking around the parks and playgrounds and other places we go to seek treasures that we just KNOW are waiting to be discovered. Be that as it may, we still we endeavor to uncover those precious possessions that some other poor soul has lost some time long or recent in the past. We marvel at the rediscovery and revel in the recovery of these items. Large and small, precious and trash we dig them all. How did they get here? Where did they come from? Who lost it? Uh, what is it? Some questions can only be answered by our imaginations. Some questions are answered by research or help from friends with similar interests. But despite the questions, answered or not, or perhaps because of them, we continue to search for all that is lost. Some to be treasured anew by the likes of me and you, some things to be kicked back into circulation, it’s the thing to do.
And so it was today. A day to be treasured for sure, a day that included treasures searched and found. Time to play, to detect, to reflect, that is a treasure in and of itself to be sure. Waking up this morning, I was pleasantly surprised that it was not raining as was predicted by our local weatherman last night. In fact, the sun was shining, as it rose over the morning horizon. After making breakfast for my wife and myself and reading the paper, I decided that I had no other more pressing calls on my time today, so I set off to play. Grabbing my gloves and my detecting gear, I mounted up in my little white truck and headed off to see what I could find. My first stop of the day was to a fairly new playground at an older park downtown. This is not a park I would normally go to any other time of day but in the morning or when it was cold or otherwise inclement weather. I kind of stick out like a sore thumb so to speak. But with all the kids in school and it being early in the day, and the park deserted I figured I’d have a look.
There were the usually expected finds here as with anywhere else you might find a tot lot or playground. Pull tabs, can slaw, rivets, shoe eyelets, screws, buttons, plastic toys.
I also found some not so usual finds as well. Beer bottle caps, electrical connectors, fencing bits, spent bullets, UNFIRED BULLETS. Well, One Un-fired bullet anyway. Nine millimeter it was. In the woodchips!
And it’s any wonder why I wouldn’t normally frequent this part of town or this park to detect? Even it was something some kid pilfered from dad’s sock drawer for a playground show and tell, it is not an item you expect to uncover at a playground. Kind of makes me feel like a foreigner in my own town. But the day was still young, so I moved on to another park after sweeping up a hefty load of clad from this bullet ridden playground.
Sorry, no pictures of the next park, or the ball field that I detected after that one. Small parks don’t usually require a long time to detect the playgrounds, but you find the oddest things sometimes. One oddity today was a plumbing fixture, or rather a fitting. A fitting that I’m quite familiar with as I use them myself in my own line of work from time to time, so it was odd to find one in the woodchips. A compression fitting hose nipple. No, really, that’s what they are called.
Other oddities aren’t always so easily identified however. I found this one at another park downtown that was built on a rehabilitated site that was formerly some very old run down row houses. I’m not entirely sure what it was or is, but my imagination leads me to think drawer pull (knob). It’s definitely got a load of copper in it’s make up but some other metal mixed in as well. While it somewhat resembles a disk now, it appears to have been hollow, perhaps bell shaped at one time.
Another whatzit for the day was this little bit of bling. It would appear to be some sort of metal inlay from something or other. What I don’t know. It appears to be cut metal in with a sort of cross on either end of the half ring shape. Maybe someone out there has seem something similar.
Not so odd to find “Bling” at the playgrounds of course. There’s always cheap costume jewelry, junk (bubble gum machine) rings, stuff like that. It’s still kind of neat to find though.
More oddities, though not always so rare are a few foreign coins found while detecting. Today I found four. Well, perhaps I only found three, after all The Chucky Cheese Tokens, while rare and eagerly sought after are of domestic origin. These other three however have traveled from abroad to be lost then found here in this small corner of the globe. I found visitors from The Great White North, out Canadian neighbors, and one from the South, way south, Panama!
As the morning faded into the afternoon hours, I found myself at a park with a fairly large baseball complex. There are six different diamonds at this park, the two I found myself searching today are way in the back and don’t get hunted very often. It’s been nearly a year since the last time I was here so I figured I’d do pretty well if I paid attention to what my detector was telling me. And I did. You will find stuff that other people lose if you just pay attention and follow the signs. Signs like well worn paths from concession stands, restrooms, parking areas to the bleachers and viewing areas, assembly areas, the paths that people make and take. That’s where you’re going to find stuff. You just have to read the signs and know what they mean. I saw this sign while detecting around one of the diamonds today. Makes me shudder as to what some people will do to get their kicks.
Enough said.
It’s sad to think of how some people have to abuse things to get their jollies. I don’t know about the fences in this park, but some of the coins have definitely been abused. Check out this Jefferson Nickel I dug up today.
One tired old beat up nickel. Just one of many I found today, which kind of sort of brings me back around to the beginning of this post in the first place. Being “Nickel and Dimed”. It’s not unusual to find nickels and dimes when detecting, especially playgrounds parks and tot lots. The woodchips absolutely absorb dimes for some reason. It is unusual, however, to find so many in one day. An average hunt for me might yield 10 to 15 dimes or so, and only a few nickels. Today, even if it was several parks hunted, and total time spent somewhere around four hours hunting, I ended up with fifty two dimes and twenty six nickels ! Of course I found other coins. LOTS of other coins. Twenty seven quarters, and one hundred and twenty eight pennies. That’s not counting the Chucky Cheese token or the three foreign coins. LOTS AND LOTS OF NICKELS AND DIMES !
Oh for the good days! They certainly make up for all those not so good days when the weather is less than pleasant or the time taken to hunt is barely long enough to whet your appetite. Days like this make all those other days fade from your memory. Too bad they can’t all be like this one. Oh well. We do what we can, when we can, and try to make the best of it. I hope that you all are making the best of your time, when you get any. Happy Halloween, by the way. And , as always.
~HAPPY HUNTING~
Frodov
We get out and detect when we are able to, we enterprising enthusiasts of this particular pastime. Between bouts of bad weather, day to day errands, work and other demands of our time, we manage to sneak in a little swing time when we are able. Of course it’s never long enough, even if we have an entire day to spend poking around the parks and playgrounds and other places we go to seek treasures that we just KNOW are waiting to be discovered. Be that as it may, we still we endeavor to uncover those precious possessions that some other poor soul has lost some time long or recent in the past. We marvel at the rediscovery and revel in the recovery of these items. Large and small, precious and trash we dig them all. How did they get here? Where did they come from? Who lost it? Uh, what is it? Some questions can only be answered by our imaginations. Some questions are answered by research or help from friends with similar interests. But despite the questions, answered or not, or perhaps because of them, we continue to search for all that is lost. Some to be treasured anew by the likes of me and you, some things to be kicked back into circulation, it’s the thing to do.
And so it was today. A day to be treasured for sure, a day that included treasures searched and found. Time to play, to detect, to reflect, that is a treasure in and of itself to be sure. Waking up this morning, I was pleasantly surprised that it was not raining as was predicted by our local weatherman last night. In fact, the sun was shining, as it rose over the morning horizon. After making breakfast for my wife and myself and reading the paper, I decided that I had no other more pressing calls on my time today, so I set off to play. Grabbing my gloves and my detecting gear, I mounted up in my little white truck and headed off to see what I could find. My first stop of the day was to a fairly new playground at an older park downtown. This is not a park I would normally go to any other time of day but in the morning or when it was cold or otherwise inclement weather. I kind of stick out like a sore thumb so to speak. But with all the kids in school and it being early in the day, and the park deserted I figured I’d have a look.
There were the usually expected finds here as with anywhere else you might find a tot lot or playground. Pull tabs, can slaw, rivets, shoe eyelets, screws, buttons, plastic toys.
I also found some not so usual finds as well. Beer bottle caps, electrical connectors, fencing bits, spent bullets, UNFIRED BULLETS. Well, One Un-fired bullet anyway. Nine millimeter it was. In the woodchips!
And it’s any wonder why I wouldn’t normally frequent this part of town or this park to detect? Even it was something some kid pilfered from dad’s sock drawer for a playground show and tell, it is not an item you expect to uncover at a playground. Kind of makes me feel like a foreigner in my own town. But the day was still young, so I moved on to another park after sweeping up a hefty load of clad from this bullet ridden playground.
Sorry, no pictures of the next park, or the ball field that I detected after that one. Small parks don’t usually require a long time to detect the playgrounds, but you find the oddest things sometimes. One oddity today was a plumbing fixture, or rather a fitting. A fitting that I’m quite familiar with as I use them myself in my own line of work from time to time, so it was odd to find one in the woodchips. A compression fitting hose nipple. No, really, that’s what they are called.
Other oddities aren’t always so easily identified however. I found this one at another park downtown that was built on a rehabilitated site that was formerly some very old run down row houses. I’m not entirely sure what it was or is, but my imagination leads me to think drawer pull (knob). It’s definitely got a load of copper in it’s make up but some other metal mixed in as well. While it somewhat resembles a disk now, it appears to have been hollow, perhaps bell shaped at one time.
Another whatzit for the day was this little bit of bling. It would appear to be some sort of metal inlay from something or other. What I don’t know. It appears to be cut metal in with a sort of cross on either end of the half ring shape. Maybe someone out there has seem something similar.
Not so odd to find “Bling” at the playgrounds of course. There’s always cheap costume jewelry, junk (bubble gum machine) rings, stuff like that. It’s still kind of neat to find though.
More oddities, though not always so rare are a few foreign coins found while detecting. Today I found four. Well, perhaps I only found three, after all The Chucky Cheese Tokens, while rare and eagerly sought after are of domestic origin. These other three however have traveled from abroad to be lost then found here in this small corner of the globe. I found visitors from The Great White North, out Canadian neighbors, and one from the South, way south, Panama!
As the morning faded into the afternoon hours, I found myself at a park with a fairly large baseball complex. There are six different diamonds at this park, the two I found myself searching today are way in the back and don’t get hunted very often. It’s been nearly a year since the last time I was here so I figured I’d do pretty well if I paid attention to what my detector was telling me. And I did. You will find stuff that other people lose if you just pay attention and follow the signs. Signs like well worn paths from concession stands, restrooms, parking areas to the bleachers and viewing areas, assembly areas, the paths that people make and take. That’s where you’re going to find stuff. You just have to read the signs and know what they mean. I saw this sign while detecting around one of the diamonds today. Makes me shudder as to what some people will do to get their kicks.
Enough said.
It’s sad to think of how some people have to abuse things to get their jollies. I don’t know about the fences in this park, but some of the coins have definitely been abused. Check out this Jefferson Nickel I dug up today.
One tired old beat up nickel. Just one of many I found today, which kind of sort of brings me back around to the beginning of this post in the first place. Being “Nickel and Dimed”. It’s not unusual to find nickels and dimes when detecting, especially playgrounds parks and tot lots. The woodchips absolutely absorb dimes for some reason. It is unusual, however, to find so many in one day. An average hunt for me might yield 10 to 15 dimes or so, and only a few nickels. Today, even if it was several parks hunted, and total time spent somewhere around four hours hunting, I ended up with fifty two dimes and twenty six nickels ! Of course I found other coins. LOTS of other coins. Twenty seven quarters, and one hundred and twenty eight pennies. That’s not counting the Chucky Cheese token or the three foreign coins. LOTS AND LOTS OF NICKELS AND DIMES !
Oh for the good days! They certainly make up for all those not so good days when the weather is less than pleasant or the time taken to hunt is barely long enough to whet your appetite. Days like this make all those other days fade from your memory. Too bad they can’t all be like this one. Oh well. We do what we can, when we can, and try to make the best of it. I hope that you all are making the best of your time, when you get any. Happy Halloween, by the way. And , as always.
~HAPPY HUNTING~
Frodov
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MR TUFF
