Today was my first time ever using a metal detector! Before embarking on my adventure, I asked my husband for a hat so hunters wouldn’t mistake me for a frolicking deer. He found me a hat–an ugly hat–which I refused to wear because I didn’t want to look ridiculous. He politely reminded me that I was about to go metal detecting and there really is no way to look not-ridiculous while metal detecting. I do think I pulled it off with my  fur cap and  satchel.

Anyway… my fingers are numb. My arm hurts. I have thorns protruding from my flesh. And I am chafing. But I found a few things and I learned a few things.

I learned that on future excursions, I need to leave my wedding rings at home. Using my pin-pointer on a clump of dirt in my left hand will always alert if I have my rings on. Duhr. I learned that sweatpants are not very resistant to thorns and prickers. I learned that I need to purchase some gloves, because digging with your bare hands in frozen earth totally sucks. Also, refreshments are a must.

What did I find? Certainly nothing to start my post with. I ended up with two aluminum pie tins that my neighbors tie to the trees in their orchard to deter the deer. I found a beer can. I found some strange lump of iron buried under the old road and I’ll tell you, digging through the gravel they put down on top of that old road was such a nightmare! I found a culvert…. it took me a few minutes to realize it too. My detector was blowing up and alerting to this large object under the ground. I thought I’d found treasure. Then I found a shotgun shell and a lid to a jar.

That being said, I am learning how to read the machine. Hopefully, pretty soon, I’ll be able to dig a whole without dreading to a pie tin or can. I find myself weighing the time it takes to dig a whole. My inner dialogue goes something like this, “It could just be a can…. or a pie tin… BUT it could be something monumental. It could be a hoard of gold coins….” Unfortunately, there were no gold coins to be found today.

I’m excited to get back out there, and its supposed to be fifty degrees on Sunday.

Happy Hunting to All.