metal detectorist

The Underestimate-able Digger

  • September 24, 2015

I am an enigma. The more I interact with experienced diggers and historians, I've begun to realize that strangers have a tendency to underestimate me. I'm underestimate-able. You aren't likely to find underestimate-able in the dictionary--however--I do like the ring of it. (Underestimate-able, adjective: a person, place, or thing that is thought to be smaller or less than it actually is.) For all intensive purposes, consider me underestimate-able. A few years ago, I embraced that perception. When I was picking for profit at yard sales and estate sales, I took full advantage of my clueless...

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The Button Conundrum

  • September 10, 2015

We all have that property that we gawk at but can never muster the courage to approach. For the longest time, my unapproachable permission was a brick farmhouse on a hill. I drove by this house every day for years, but something held me back. Instead of asking for permission and facing the possibility of rejection, I'd settled for thinking that I could get permission. I'm almost positive that I'm not the only hobbyist who thinks this way. We all have that unapproachable permission that we silently salivate over... A few weeks ago, I had been poking around the remains of the Fickel House...

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Another Day, Another Schoolhouse

  • August 10, 2015

It happened today. I was at church, watching my children skip across the rows of sanctuary chairs like circus acrobats--when a visitor posed the question, "You're that metal detecting girl, right?" I must have blushed ten shades of red. Had he been a regular at our church, I probably wouldn't have been so flattered--but he was just visiting for a baby dedication that morning. He recognized me from my blog! I asked if he metal detected--nope, he just followed my blog. Needless to say, this stranger made my day--perhaps even my month... dare I say year? This must qualify for celebrity status?...

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Bottle Fever

  • June 15, 2015

I'll admit that I've been on a glass kick lately. Obviously, not a single one of my detectors can find glass--but I've mastered a method for finding bottle shards and china fragments. Are you ready for this? I call it... the random-hole-digging-method. You may be asking yourself, what is this random-hole-digging-method and how can I sign up. Well, I'm about to tell you... Sometime last week, I decided to leave the detector in the trunk of my Forester. Instead, I grabbed my shovel and set off to find myself a bottle dump or privy. For those of you who follow my blog, this is the brick house...

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Show Your Appreciation

  • February 27, 2015

My garage is an art gallery. I know that sounds bizarre, but I get this itch whenever a piece of artwork strikes my fancy. I'm not talking artwork from the metropolitan art gallery. I'm talking artwork at the local thrift store, estate sales, garage-sales... people are just giving that stuff away! Most of it ends up hanging on the walls of my garage. There is no real theme, just paintings of all different styles and periods. Actually, I had this one framed lithograph that I wanted to tell you about. The print was nothing fancy, just some adorable kittens with ribbons around their necks attempting...

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Mentors in Metal Detecting

  • February 22, 2015

I am at the local hole-in-the-wall testing a theory on permissions. I was kind of hoping that if I struck up a conversation about metal detecting that it would blossom into this epic discussion and earn me some permissions. Not so much. I am sitting at an empty bar with my laptop writing this post. My chosen topic of the day is 'mentors in metal detecting'. I can not stress my appreciation for my mentors. Everything I've learned and written about here in my blog has been courtesy of my mentors. A lot of people are under the impression that this is an independent and antisocial hobby....

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Leaving an Impression (The Good Kind)

  • February 21, 2015

I have been tossing around this idea of developing a one-pager to leave with potential permissions. Do any of you have something that you have developed? I thought of creating a business card, but what can a business card really tell you about a person who wants permission to dig up your property? (Because--essentially--that is what we are all asking for.) I was doing some research on the metal detecting code of ethics--which I preach about on a regular basis. I happened upon this version by White's Electronics: Be a good ambassador for other detectorists by following this code of ethics for respecting...

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Common Sense in Finding Cents

  • February 17, 2015

Since starting in this wonderful hobby, I have become familiar with terms like pocket spill and coin shooting. The terms puzzled me at first, but eventually I caught on. Now, before you read on, I will warn you that I am writing this post from the perspective of newbie and in the interest of a newbie. (Please feel free to chime in on the comments if you have anything to add.) In the first month that I took up the hobby, I was fortunate enough to be invited to detect with someone whose skill level far outmatched mine--Micheal Sheesley. (Well, let's face it... I had only been detecting once...

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Between Rookie and Stupid

  • February 14, 2015

I have inserted myself into quite a few Facebook groups focused on metal detecting in an effort to gain some perspective on the hobby. One of these groups is Metal Detecting for Beginners. I prefer to lurk in the shadows of this group, because I feel as though my mentors and common sense have given me a step above the rest. Call me arrogant, but this conception was proven today in the following interactions: Someone posted about finally having a court date to possibly retrieve their metal detector after it was confiscated. Granted, there was a bit of mystery surrounding the post and everyone...

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Snow, snow. Go Away.

  • January 30, 2015

As soon as the snow on the ground begins to thaw, we get hit with another inch or two. I am so ready for this winter to be over--especially seeing as how I just got a lead on a swimming hole. If you read my blog, you know that I am new to the hobby of metal detecting. Not new to the hobby of historical recovery, but new to the hobby of metal detecting. With that being said, I've never had the pleasure of searching a swimming hole. From what I can read on all the metal detecting forums, swimming holes are a big deal. Anyway, this all started when I received a comment on one of my social...

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