At this rate, it'll take a long time to pay for the equipment BUT it's really FUN!

But, if you view it from the standpoint of money found as a result of diving headlong into a new hobby…there’s more value attached to that meager amount of money. Yes indeed. I worked hard for that tiny bit of change!

In a six month time span, as a new metal detecting person (I am now an official “detectorist.”), I found $25.72 in modern-day coins (known as “clad”). Nope. That’s still not communicating what I really want to say. Let’s try this. That measly amount doesn’t do a good job of representing my accomplishment. Perhaps breaking it down further would serve me better? Seventeen dollars in quarters, five dollars and thirty cents in dimes, a tookie seventy cents in nickles, and two dollars and seventy-two cents in pennies. Is that any better at all?

Perhaps yet another perspective is needed. I found 68 quarters, 53 dimes, 14 nickels, and 272 pennies. That’s a whopping four hundred seven coins! Now, in your mind’s eye picture the exercise involved in digging 407 holes!! That’s no small task! Now realistically, there were a few instances when I found two or three coins in the same excavation — but that wasn’t the norm. I would even go so far to say that it’s rare.

Regardless, though, that number doesn’t count the what-seemed-like thousands of holes that lead to random pieces of junk! Bottle tops, pull tabs, hot wheels cars, what’s called “can slaw” and even mutilated but whole cans! Screws, rusted nails, plumbing joints and other parts, hose nozzles, pieces of hurricane fencing are also in the list. I could go on but I think you get the idea.

Let me draw your attention, however, to the two tiny, bright objects that seem dwarfed by the piles around them. The James Avery silver ring was my best find and you probably heard me scream where ever you were when I unearthed it. That’s a silver charm resting next to it and that was pretty exciting, too!

The truth is that I have no idea why I enjoy metal detecting. That’s a little scary, to say the least. Could it be that there are some similarities to one of my daily chores at home? With detecting, I use my equipment to scan the first few inches of earth and consider myself lucky to dig a hole…then scoop up a coin. Surely that doesn’t equate to scanning the ground with my eyes…only to scoop up a recent “deposit” made by “the girls.”

Oh, noooooo! I’d better not go there — so I’ll do my best to ignore the similarities.