Every now and then, you knock on a stranger's door hoping to obtain a permission and you get a surprising response--sometimes its a face full of front door, sometimes its a explosion of profanity, and sometimes its the business end of a twelve gauge and a strong verbal warning to skedaddle. Then, sometimes... its a tour of the one room school house, a complete history of the area, and free rein of the hundred-and-fifty acre property. Sometime last Fall, I turned down a country road in search of a rumored property. I snaked my way through the orchards, the cornfields, and the pastures of...

Today I received a text from my husband: "Can we get the DeepSeeker?" Of course, he was referring to the Garrett ATX DeepSeeker Package--the one with the whopping price tag. Rather than just smack him upside the head with a reality check, I gently reminded him that we just sold a car to buy an XP Deus. I mean... technically the car had been rusting in our driveway for close to two years but I'm not about to throw the house on the market for an ATX--regardless of how much I love Garrett. Now granted, I made the mistake of spoiling him with the XP Deus for his twenty-sixth birthday. Like many hobbyists,...

This is not my typical post. This is a compilation of tips and tricks I've learned about metal detecting... with a lot of help from my readers and my detecting family along the way. My goal in writing this post is to hep beginners and perhaps teach others a thing or two as well. - The Right Machine -  The right machine is important. Whether you're just starting out or looking to upgrade, you need a metal detector with the right features. I purchased my first (ACE 250)... and second (AT Pro) metal detector through Robert Wyatt at Quality Metal Detectors. Robert goes above and beyond. I encourage...

The other evening, my husband and I took the munchkins to the park. A few kids were already scaling the playground equipment and digging around in the mulch. For the most part, the parents hovered nearby... but there are always exceptions. One parent dropped off his hellions and wandered across the soccer fields with his hands stuffed in his sweatshirt pockets--disappearing from view. There is nothing more infuriating than parents who abandon their misbehaving children at the playground for everyone else to deal with... especially, when those misbehaving children have a massive dump in their...

I can still remember my sixth birthday party. At the time, we were living in Sandwich, MA. My dad was the senior pastor of the baptist church. We lived in the parsonage, which was built off the main parking lot behind the church building. But this particular parking lot wasn't really a parking lot at all--not to a six year-old, anyway. This particular parking lot was a vast and tumultuous seascape with roaring waves and hideous creatures rising from the deep. Honestly, I forget the details of the party. The cake might have been strawberry? There could have been two or five friends? I assume...

On Saturday, I had the privilege of introducing a friend and her teenage daughter to the hobby of metal detecting. Their passion was so refreshing. Not many people get excited for digging iron, but these two special ladies were over the moon when they dug up a square nail at eight inches--with screwdrivers nonetheless. In my experience, digging eight inches with a screwdriver to recover an iron something-or-other is commitment. Allow me to back up... this escapade was prompted when Liz requested a retreat from a personal hardship. And in my experience, there is no better distraction from an emotionally-draining...

Last week, I upgraded from my charming Garrett Ace 250 to the powerful AT Pro. He arrived last Thursday--tucked snuggly in his box with all his accessories--and spent his first couple days sitting on the granite counter-top mocking me. I fought the urge to take him out for a swing, but at the same time... I knew there was no one to watch the kids this weekend and I would only be setting myself up for disappointment. If I so much as peeked at him, there was no way I could restrain myself. I considered taking both kids with me--1.5 year old and a 4 year old--but figured that might be pressing...

This weather is giving me whiplash. Its warm. Its cold. Its raining. Its snowing. The ground is thawed. The ground is frozen. When I stumbled downstairs to make my coffee this morning, the deck was covered in a thin coating of snow and temperatures had dipped into the twenties. By Thursday, the weatherman is promising seventy degrees and another soggy spring shower. Its times like these when I'm reminded of how I survived the terribly long winter... staring at old maps and driving around knocking on doors. For those of you who are still trapped indoors and suffering from this weather whiplash,...