Dirt Fishing

Recently, we hired Linda, the woman pictured above to mow our lawn and do weed-whacking for us. I have mowed for years on the John Deere tractor that we share with my brother. Our lawn is large and has lots of bumps and holes, not great for my back. So, I have given in and accepted that it's time for someone else to do it. Linda came last week and we were thrilled with her work. When she isn't painting or mowing for other people, her hobby is metal detecting and digging in old bottle dumps. 

She and her very experienced friend, Dean, who calls himself the History Hunter came today to try to find hidden things here. Saving artifacts for homeowners is his passion, he cleans, restores, labels and gives the objects back in a display box, for free.( See the Extras).  Unfortunately, we don't have much to be found in the front yard because of the huge excavation done during the clean up from our 'not our fault' oil spill in 1998. He did find a few cool things, an Indian Head Cent in circulation from 1859-1909, a round metal gas cap, both near where my grandfather unbelievably had a gas station by the road in the 1930s. He found a valve cover from a Model T Ford, near the driveway, and a buckle from a horse's halter. 

Linda loves digging even more than metal detecting, and could not wait to dig in our old bottle dump. It's behind one of the stone walls out back(Dollydoug has an old juice glass found there). This is where all the cans and bottles from the folks who lived here in the 1800s  and up to my grandparents in the 50s.  She found, separately, two enameled Massachusetts Motorcycle license plates from 1915!  One for me and one for my brother. Our grandparents didn't drive or ever own a car let alone a motorcycle. The bike must have belonged to the son of the original owners. My grandparents bought the house from him in 1928.
It was a really fun day, and they will be back for more digging. I had fun watching and talking about all the old bottles of household products unearthed. It's shocking how we have treated the earth. Lots of this glass will go to the recycling center.

For the Record, 
This day came in warm and sunny with less wind.

All hands happy to be vaccinated.