Winterbound Woodchips

Frodov

Bronze Member
May 24, 2007
1,021
34
Lexington, KY
Detector(s) used
Whites Prism IV / Bullseye II pinpointer
Winterbound Woodchips, Wings and Wheaties.

Oh the joys of winter. The detectorists’ lament, cold weather and frozen ground. When I first got into the this hobby, and discovered TreasureNet, I often read the gripes and complaints of others about the winter blues. Where I live in central Kentucky, the winters are usually not so bad. We do get the occasional snow, but mostly winter is just longer nights, cold and wet weather. Well this winter it has been COLDER and WETTER than the past four years combined. *sigh* This year I can identify with my fellow detectorists who are more accustomed to the cold and wet restrictions that winter places on our hobby. If it’s not too cold, it’s too wet, or some combination of the two in transition. Or so it seems. So, I live vicariously through the adventures and hunts that others with more fortunate weather conditions are writing about here on TNet. And.. biding my time waiting for a break in the weather, and time off to get back out and finally indulge in this pastime. And today, I DID!

Waking this morning before the sun rose, I dragged my darling wife out of bed, per her request the night before. Well Okay, I didn’t actually drag her out of bed, that might prove to be suicidal after all, rather, I dragged the blankets off of her and turned on the lights. I went on to make breakfast for the two of us while she got up and dressed and readied for her early start of the day. Yes, it was unusual, for her. SOME PEOPLE get to sleep in most days. <grin> Of course, “before the sun rose” today was only 7:00 AM, I usually get up at 5:30 AM on work days myself. After breakfast, and the sunrise, I began charting out my travels for the day. I had several errands to run before I could get out and try to get some swing time in with the detector. But even with the weather in a state of flux, again, I was determined that I was going to spend at least part of my last day off PLAYING rather than working. Well I did! I made a tour of several parks and their tot-lots, despite the falling temperatures and soggy ground. And.. wind.. and rain.. and sleet.. and SNOW. Sheesh! The high temperature locally for today was 36 degrees, and THAT was at 8:00 this morning. The temperatures have been falling all day and are supposed to be in the low 20’s overnight. *sigh* Yeah.. frozen ground again. At least I’ll be at work, instead of sitting on my thumbs wishing it was warmer outside. <grin>
The tour of tot-lots had me visiting and hunting a total of three parks today focusing on the playground areas and woodchips. With the colder, wetter weather lately, and the plummeting temperatures and cloudy skies today, I knew the parks and playgrounds would be deserted. Of course all the kiddies are, or were, in school during my hunting. Perfect weather for hunting some of the parks that I wouldn’t normally frequent during better weather conditions. And I found it all today. Coins, Toys, Bling and of course the usual stuff and trash.
Shotgun shells, flashlights, golfballs and sore throat medication, oh, and plastic soda caps. Just the kinds of things you look forward to finding in playgrounds where our children are playing.

Stuff.JPG

Of course there were pull tabs to be found. I mean, what would a trip out metal detecting be like without finding a couple dozen pull tabs? And there were buttons, and zipper pulls and snaps and bombers. Wait... what? Bombers? Well ok, so it’s actually a fighter plane, not a bomber, but it sounded good. <grin>

Buttons.JPG

That hair pin (bobbie pin) was a real challenge to find in the woodchips too. I was beginning to think that my detector was on the fritz, telling me there was a target there, but I couldn’t find it. I should know better than to doubt my trusty Prizm though. There were other odds and end, and bits of scrap that weren’t so hard to find. Everything from Slag metal gobs, to sockets, to pop-rivets.

Junk.JPG

Some other things that “popped” up during my hunt today were some bling! Oh sure, most of the bling to be found in the woodchips of playgrounds is usually just your average “junque” or even gumball machine variety, with the occasional costume jewelry thrown in, sometimes you get lucky. I found a bit of silver today. I didn’t KNOW it was silver, for sure, until I got home and cleaned it up a bit, but I suspected it was silver. An odd, teardrop shaped earring. Or I’m thinking it was an earring anyway, perhaps it was a pendant. <shrug> There was a single “wing” from some sort of brooch or pin that I suspect was supposed to be a butterfly. Bright, shiny and bejeweled but I doubt it was silver. I wonder where the other parts of the pin ended up. Someone lost a bracelet, again, not silver, that was being held together by a safety pin. I found a cheapy little ring, and one bangle type bracelet ring. The key was kind of neat. I’m thinking it was a key to a diary or something like that. I’ve found a similar key to this one before. The Teddy bear charm was a bit tricky to find in the wet woodchips too.

Bling.JPG

That earring ring.. or pendant.. did turn out to be silver after I cleaned it up at home. I can make out the 925 stamped on the reverse , and something else but I can’t quite read it. Perhaps a brand or company name.

Earring.JPG

Two Wheaties were recovered today as well. These two pennies were found separately in two different parks, and neither were in the woodchips, but rather under trees near the tot lots.

WheatF.JPG

One lone token, found today, becomes the latest addition to my growing collection.

TokenB.JPG

Yeah, there were a few coins found today too. Quite a few. A little a one park, a few more at another and still more at the last park. The woodchips (and surroundings) were soaking up more than water and snow over the past few weeks or months it seems. And while my knee pads and pant legs ( and gloves) were soaking up the cold and wet today, my finds bag was soaking up the coins being found. “Plink”... plink... plink..plink..plink..plink.. Music to my ears!

Clad.JPG

Just under three hours of hunting, rain, sleet, snow and wind blowing off and on the whole time, the temperatures falling and it kept getting colder and colder. I had a GREAT TIME! I got my detecting fix in for a while. Just as well, the ground will be frozen for a few days to a week to come anyway. Oh well, I had fun today. And came away with some Wings, and Wheaties, and SILVER! And a goodly pile of clad to pay for the gas and batteries... or to put towards that beach vacation later in the spring. <smile> YEAH! THAT’S THE TICKET!

Here’s hoping that the rest of you had a good weekend, or day, or will soon get out and dabble a bit with your own hunting.. and as always..

~HAPPY HUNTING~


Frodov
 

Upvote 0
boogeyman said:
SkyPirate said:
What kind of signal does a golfball give off :laughing9:

PING!!!! ::) ::) ::)

I was thinking it'd be more like a ~Whhhack~ <laughing> But then if it was me hitting the ball it'd be ~THUNK~ "Damn! ANOTHER DIVOT!"


~HAPPY HUNTING~

Frodov
 

CONSTANTINVS said:
Not bad ... I never detected in parks parks here are paved. :icon_thumleft:

Paved? Damn! I'm glad I don't live where you live then. I like wide open spaces with lots of grass and trees and nature under my feet and around me. Not to mention it's hard to detect on pavement. Where do YOU go to metal detect anyway?

~HAPPY HUNTING~

Frodov
 

Hey Frodov!

Great Post as usual! I enjoy all your posts, great sense of humor!

That 9mm socket if from a Craftman set! I just found mine (same size) after searching all over my shop! If I'd still been looking it would have amazed me that it had gotten so far!

Good Luck!
Mark
 

extractor said:
:icon_thumleft: Dude ya have some wicked digs Exellent ! :coffee2: :occasion14:

Why thank you Extractor. I do have to admit I'm fortunate to have so many parks here in my hometown and surounding communities. I'm fortunate that there are so many people and kids who have holes in their pockets or are clumsy or luckless enough to lose so many coins or other treasures. I will admit that I'm not so proud that I'll stoop to pick up a penny if I see one on the ground, or dig one up if it's under the ground. <grin> I covet the finds of old coins and treasures those other guys and gals finding, but I figure I'm just putting in my time earning my chops with the parks and playgrounds. Someday I'll graduate to the big time like all these other people. <smile> Meanwhile, I'm having fun! That's the name of the game for any "hobby" istn't it?


~HAPPY HUNTING~

Frodov
 

You know a good thing about those game tokens when you go to Chuck cheese or some place like that ,is they all work at any machine no matter if it's CC or the local bowling alley.
 

scrounger said:
ur 12 dollars tops my clad totals for 6 fla beach hunts......treasure is where it is

You are right about that my friend, Treasure is where it is.. wherever it is. The question is more often (in my mind) "WHAT is treasure?" A dictionary will define it as anything that is precious, valuable or rare. That covers a LOT. Coins, of course, are valuable, sometimes rare. Artifacts can be rare, or valuable, or even precious. What about TIME? It's valuable! "Time is money".. <grin> Sometimes it's rare.. rarely having time to spend to go out and play.. and of course it can be precious.. because spare time can be rare as well as valuable. So if you think about it.. well the very act of "treasure hunting" is in itself, indeed, a TREASURE. So I guess even if you find next to nothing while metal detecting (treasure hunting) You've already found treasure in the very pursuit of the hobby in the first place. Well, that's kind of my outlook on the whole deal anyway. I have a ball with this hobby, whether I find a bunch of junk, or a bunch of coins, or the occasional piece of bling. No matter what I find or don't find, I've already found treasure. <smile> Hope everyone else reading this will think about it for a moment and see if they don't agree as well. Got to love this hobby! so...

~HAPPY HUNTING~

Frodov
 

Before you "spend" the Chuck E Cheese tokens, you might wanna check this site out. People collect them.

http://users.pullman.com/fjstevens/tokens/cec/CECdesigns.html

This is an old link (08) that I copied. If it's dead or moved, Google Chuck E. Cheese Design History.

Really amazing how many different types there are.
 

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