It’s a stormy Saturday morning with nasty weather in the offing. As you might imagine Fay and I take these things quite seriously now.
Here’ s an old post from 2015. Still true today…
Sit Down, Have a Beer, Let Me Bend Your Ear…
Summer has arrived here in Texas and even though we haven’t hit triple digit temps yet I’m already tired of the heat. If I need anything all I make it a point to pick it up in the early morning and the same pretty much goes for detecting. Hunt early or die a slow death later…
I am also tired of detecting the same sites over and over again hoping against hope that they will give up just one more silver coin and when they do it’s usually a Roosevelt dime. Anything older than that is reason for a champagne celebration.
You see I’ve been spoiled…
I started my treasure hunting pastime in the Northeast…New Jersey to be precise and I miss it a lot. I miss the old picnic groves, old schools and I miss the old home sites deep in the woods. I miss detecting areas where pulltabs are almost nonexistent and where the newest silver coin is a Barber or Liberty Seated. I miss the farmer up the road who would give me a call and tell me about an old foundation or stone wall he just found.
Top: The before
Bottom: And the now….
I miss the abundance of old churches, meeting places, fairgrounds and I miss the boy scout camp where I was always welcome. I miss driving the back roads looking for overgrown lanes, stone foundations, and I miss communities and townships who have zoning regulations that make it extremely difficult for anyone to ruin the landscape with urban sprawl.
I miss the ‘easy to dig’ soils of Hunterdon, Warren and Bucks county and I miss all the fun times I had hunting with my detecting pal Dan Hamilton. I miss living on Spring Hill Road and I miss our old homestead set on two and a half wooded acres.
When we lived on Spring Hill it was just a dirt road….it has now been paved.
I miss the late Joe Attinello and Wayne hunt, who always kept me in stitches on the way to the monthly FMDAC meetings, and I miss getting together with the delegates for breakfast at the Haddon Heights diner. I miss the Treasure Weekends in Atlantic City and the Treasure Expos in Fremont, Nebraska, where the all the manufacturers and treasure hunting notables would show up.
I miss the people in the northeast who are non-judgmental, always open to new ideas and who, whether you like it or not, will tell you how it is. I miss having neighbors who cared enough to stop in and see how we were doing and who would always be there when and if you needed them.
Most of all I miss my youth. The old “let’s get it done” enthusiasm has now been replaced with “I will think about it” and “I’m not sure I can”. I miss being able to be on my feet for long periods and I miss playing basketball with my grandson. I’ve learned that it only takes a year or two to change a great many things in life, but it is what it is and I am reminded every day that things could always be a lot worse than they are. All things considered, I am one lucky guy.
Want another beer?
AN OBSERVATION
I know those of you who are reading this (if you haven’t already tired of my bs) are the face of the hobby today, and that you are, in many ways, me forty years ago. I envy you, but I worry because I see a complacent, “devil-may-care” attitude, a “live for today” mentality. You go detecting, you make a video, you brag your finds and then you do it all over again, and while you have no idea who Peggy Lee is…… “is that all there is?”.
Sooner or later your fun, your exuberance, your pastime is going to be challenged and be honest, are ALL of you prepared for that? Will you ALL be ready to respond, or will it be just YOU alone against the parks department, the county, the archaeological community? It’s not a question of if, but a question of when and if you are not prepared it may well be your turn to tell everyone what YOU miss, and it won’t be because of your age….
“It’s time to swap spit and hit the road…..”
_____________
Throwback Photo
l to r: Jack Lowry (Garrett), Alan Holcombe (Whites), your truly and the late Gary Bischke (Outdoor Outfitters), Treasure Weekend, 1986
**********
Stout Standards 
Thanks Dick! All so true in 2015 and certainly 2019. I too miss my successful coin hunting experiences but I’m trying to find some sites to regain those feelings! Great picture of you, Alan, Jack and Gary! Bill (from my Samsung) PS: The severe weather stuff will always come around but today it won’t be the “bad” stuff. However, I don’t like hail when I’m not in a garage. 🤨
Hope you’re right about the bad stuff Bill and that I don’t get a call from you later about taking cover
(Bill, besides being a long time detectorist and owner of American Detector Sales, was head of the Southwest Division/Weather Bureau and called us five minutes before the tornado took our home in 2015. He literally saved our lives. )…..
Jeez, you’ve really cheered me up! That beer looks like good ole strong English ale being poured into a pint pot…you’s getting religion at last! I miss my twenty bucks.
i’m just sayin’
Yeah you and someone else are always “just sayin'” – birds of a feather.
huge difference! it ain’t “room temperature!”
he’s ready for the “sermon on the mount” that
there “right reverend holland!” i’m just sayin’
(h.h.!)
j.t.
in addendum:
hello! dick! our donations have slowed considerably
for our “barn raisin” project in coventry,vermont.i have explained
(to everyone of importance),that mr. richard stout wants to be a”benefactor”
and that his heart is “in the right place”,however he’s short $20.00 due to the
fact he has an obligation to another individual of a “religious bent!” he further indicated
that his thoughts are always with us as we attempt to move forward with a ”shortage of funds”
i’m just sayin’
(h.h.!)
j.t.
Hope you and your family are ok my friend.
Sent from my iPhone
>
While we have more rain coming tonight we dodged the really bad stuff. Thanks for checking Mr. MD.
dick! hope you and the misses are doing ok! ..perhaps you might want to consider a move back to jersey!
seems like the middle of the country is experiencing “god’s wrath” in a very big way! i know you don’t need to hear this,but just a reminder!..don’t forget to “duck and cover!” dick! once we get the “barn raised” ya might want to consider movin’ to coventry,vermont!.nice place, (no tornados).tons of snow though,and colder than a ‘witches tit! “but, i have faith that you could get used to it in short order. loads of farm fields with old “coppas” and maybe a real or two! beats hell outta huntin’ ”cooked” parks,and the like! ..ohhhh! well! as the yanks here like to say.;”don’t cost nuthin’ to think about it!’..eyuup! i’m just sayin’
(h.h.!)
j.t.
Can’t afford to move back east and I hate snow…just sayin’…..
no worries dick!, but we could sure use that 20 spot destined for the “right reverend!”..
i suppose i could always ask mr,howland,however i don’t believe he would oblige unless.and until, you pay him first! ..it appears odd to me that you two fine ,upstanding gentlemen would have such a very profound disagreement over such a minuscule amount of money! perhaps in order to effect resolution of this dilemma,
you guys might want to ponder giving me the money instead for my most interesting endeavor in coventry,vermont. when the barn is finished,we would be most happy to have the “local village idiot” carve
both of your names on the front door! ..i’m just sayin’
(h.h.!)
j.t.
Howland doesn’t know how to “carve”….
Dick, you are right all of that is true. I understand missing the old days, I do for sure. Finding a one off silver these days makes me feel like I am 12 years old and jumping for joy. That coin goes in my pocket for at least a week.
I miss several old detecting partners and friends too. I thank God that I met them and enjoyed those days.
Like you I miss the way that NJ was back then. Much has changed. I know I should travel to further away sites but like you don’t seem to have the get up and go
No way to know but I often wonder how things would if I had stayed in Jersey. It is what it is….
as long as you stayed in the south of jersey,you should be fine.the closer you get to the “big toilet” in the north,
the more issues and problems,no doubt.don’t forget dick!.you gut all those ‘sweet old ass” farm fields to hunt down in the south too. some beautiful “old ass” country down that away! ..i’m just sayin’
(h.h.!)
j.t.
John you pissed me off with that one. Take care of Vermont and stop worrying about the “Garden State”. Knock it off please. Tired of it.
Dick,
Have always enjoyed your writings. Discovered you in the Metal Detecting Magazine years ago. The detecting world has changed so much. I constantly scratch my head seeing treasures posted on Facebook. Wow I must detect in the wrong areas…been detecting since 1992 and don’t come close. But I have my thoughts on this! The weather as well keeps me on my toes, since I live in Rowlett and remember the day after Christmas. New Jersey sounds a lot like Wisconsin where I lived in the woods. Been here since 1988 and often too miss the old world. But your correct…we have lots to be thankful for!
Brad I guess our roots and our past define us. Thanks for taking the time to comment….
hi dick!
not to worry!..wouldn’t mind getting a chance to hunt in jersey!..the “southern half!”
i’m just sayin’
(h.h.!)
j.t.
Things we miss may never come back again and we will miss them forever. I think most of us here miss a few things whatever they may be, detecting wise or other. I miss two things…….the “good old days” when you could go out an expect to come back with some silver coins or something from the 1800’s rather than just expecting to come back with some clad. Then there are the non material things we miss, in my case my daughter. When she was a little girl back in the 1980’s I bought her a detector of her very own and we went detecting many times together including some seeded hunts. Those times were precious and will live with me forever. She’s gone now, having passed away back in December of cancer. That’s what I miss.
Ed very sorry to hear about your daughter. My heart goes out to you….
I’m with you there Dick. My condolences Ed.
Thank you John and Dick
My condolences Ed. Very sorry for your loss.
Thanks Tony…
Yea, Dick…know just how you feel. Managed to stay alive again myself and just outa the hospital, and a bit too dizzy for metal detecting. Here in Central Florida there are still back country roads and vacant lots that held old homes from the Civil War period, but are vanishing fast under quickly-built concrete parking lots and half-mile condos. And probably could not hunt them now even if I wanted after this last COPD incident. But, maybe with some more breathing exercises I can get in one last gasp here or there! Cheers and keep the faith, Dick!
Jim so glad your home and on the mend. Your one tough old bird! Rest up, those finds will still be there.
“Your one tough old bird!” Jeez, if Jim was bird you’d never be able to carve him. God bless ya mate!
ed b. i extend my sympathies to you and your family on the loss
of your daughter.i have a daughter as well,and though she is grown
i always worry whenever she does anything, or goes anywhere.
ED! god will provide ‘solace” for you and your family, and remember,
he will always hold you and yours in the palm of his ever loving hand!
god’s grace!
j.t.