I’m still around, living and breathing thank you but just not back to full steam, as in feeling whole. Hard to explain but suffice to say 2022 has kicked my ass big time.
I have time on my hands now and think about detecting, but the itch is not real strong. Add in triple digit heat and it’s easy to make excuses. What would charge the batteries would be a turn of the century (and I’m talking 20th century) site but that’s not on the horizon and hasn’t been for some time now.
It’s always been about location, location, location but all the talk today is about detector technology and debating which model is better, which one can go deeper, which one can best eliminate iron, etc.. What no one mentions is how and where to find a place to use it. Face it – a detector will only find that Merc or Liberty Seated if it’s under your feet so bitching about that backyard comparison test is moot, but hey if it makes you happy, makes you look smarter, have at it. I can hear ya now –
“I ain’t finding a damn thing but I want you to know I have a detector that will find a dime next to a nail….”
I’ve talked numerous times about how hard it is to find older sites and it’s getting worse by the day. Construction, growth, newcomer competition and sadly poor digging habits are major contributors. I know of two “reasonably old” park sites in the area but having to look over your shoulder is not worth it and at one park a maintenance guy told me it’s only a matter of time before detecting will be prohibited.
So today the forecast is for sunny and 103 degrees, with a heat index of 110. Supposed to be close to 100 for the next two weeks with no rain. Then we’re into July and August, the hottest and driest months here in the Lone Star. Add in the fact that the power grid here is likely to fail and it’s not looking good for digging or much of anything good. Welcome to Texas!
Anyway forgive me if I just ramble on about nothing. It’s all I can do and want to do right now…
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Just for fun here’s an old post from June 2015.
SORRY YOU ASKED?
Wednesday I received an email from a detectorist that read: “why don’t you just tell us about everything you dislike and get it over with”? Apparently he or she (was signed B.T.) is not thrilled with my piss and moan talents. So, here you go B.T…. 100 things I dislike, and for the record, no one is forcing you to read this blog…
THINGS I DISLIKE
- Archaeologists, especially Warsaw archaeologists
- Camo
- Monotonous tekkie videos
- Ridiculously expensive detectors
- Shovels
- Detecting Bans
- Detecting Permits
- Suits & Ties
- Aches & Pains
- People who are “somehow” able to detect 24/7 and still pay their bills
- Organizations that promise the moon, and then ride off into the sunset
- Expensive hunts/rallies
- Unnecessary detecting accessories and frills
- Unfilled holes
- False advertising
- People who claim they make a living metal detecting
- Beating around the bush (say it for crissakes)
- Smart phones
- Pulltabs
- Broccoli, Cauliflower & Beets
- Making mountains out of mole hills
- People who have no sense of humor
- People who don’t drink
- People who don’t curse
- All the “absolutely must have” searchcoils
- People who don’t like dogs
- Tekkies who drool about working with archaeologists
- Photos of crap that the finder just had to share on the internet
- Blogs, websites, FB pages & podcasts that have to give things away to get people to participate
- Tekkies who dress like they are members of a swat team
- Archaeologists who want us to learn how they do it, but who have no interest at all in how we do it
- Reality TV shows
- Buying lottery tickets and not winning
- Long lines
- Sitting in Traffic
- Being out of wine
- Being out of pasta
- Being out of wine and pasta
- Dallas black gumbo
- Fire ants
- Archaeologists who won’t share their credentials
- Tekkies who take the pastime much too seriously
- Tekkies who care more about how they look than about what they find
- Tekkies who have to take a photo of their finds (good or bad) in a clump of dirt
- Tekkies whose best finds are always found “on my way back to the car”
- Manufacturers who use “new and improved” in their advertising
- Not supporting your “local” metal detector dealer
- Being out of wine
- Repeating things over and over (a.k.a. nagging)
- Archaeologists who get upset when detectorists find anything of historic interest
- Snow
- Taxes
- Small Talk
- Detectorists who share way too much on social media
- Detectorists who can’t be bothered with a threat to our pastime because it doesn’t affect them
- Heavy metal detectors
- Noisy restaurants
- Crowds
- Shoot ‘em up, blow ‘em up movies
- Texas wine
- Tekkies who find hoards and don’t share with me
- Towns and cities that ban detecting but are quick to pave over anything green
- Being out of wine
- Unappreciative people
- People who have a hard time “telling it like it is”
- People who buy things only because someone “famous” uses it
- Windows is looking for a solution to the problem
- Arkies who blame us because THEY aren’t working
- Tekkies who still wonder whether coins sink in the ground
- Texas summers
- People who use you for their personal and financial gain, then a week later don’t know you
- Jerry Jones
- Items that keep going up in price but keep getting smaller
- People who don’t like to read
- Kindles & Nooks
- Lawyers and politicians
- Airlines that use the terms “first class” and “second class”
- People who know it all and keep reminding you of that
- Clutter
- Pharmaceutical companies
- Young people who think THEY will never get old
- New detectors that are really old detectors, only with a new model number
- Mosquitos
- My “can’t lose horses” coming in last
- Working out
- Dieting
- Photos of detectors “leaning” on a shovel. I get the “cool” factor..enough already
- Owner manuals more than 15 pages long
- Those people who hang out in coffee shops with their laptops (is that supposed to be cool?)
- Mexican food
- Yankee restaurants that advertise BBQ and Texas restaurants that advertise Philly cheese steaks
- Being out of wine
- People who don’t like stinky cheeses
- Tekkies who are suddenly close friends because they are “in town for a few days”
- People who “still” think wearing their baseball cap backward makes them look cool
- People who recommend a business or service and have to finish with “tell ’em __________ sent you.
- People who can take a very simple topic and just beat it to death
- Telemarketers and “robocalls”
- People texting while driving
- People who can’t find 100 things to piss and moan about
And for the record B.T., I could have kept going….
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Stout Standards 
Hope you are 100% shortly Dick, keep plodding away.
Thanks Randy. I’m there physically, just not mentally…
Great stuff Old Pal and keep on rocking. Yep, ‘1’ & ’50’ does it for me too, but ’41’ could have a sub-para? Say, something like ‘Doesn’t have any credentials owing to having been being booted out of Uni.’
PS. Who is ’72’?
Figured you’d like the arkie mentions….
Jerry Jones owns Dallas Cowboys. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Jones
Well it seems like having & drinking wine is big deal. Lol. I don’t know much about wine, except sometimes I like it if it’s fruity. I also agree I can’t stand the Tekkies with those goddamn shovels, wearing camo, pretending to find those hoards of gold pennies with their $1500 detector. The last group outing I did was 7 of us at an old school and I was teased and laughed at because a) my detector was $400 new about 16yrs ago, b) I used a basic whites digger knife & 7 inch trowel, c) and it took me 20 mins to dig a plug as I methodically used a drop cloth for the loose dirt, d) I didn’t photograph or video every coin or broken metal Doo hickie, e) and rarely took out my cumbersome orange Garrett carrot, as it’s annoying for me to use pressing 1 bottom 18 different times to get it to work.
Wine is only a big deal if you LIKE it and if it’s 103 degrees outside…. Disappointed too that you didn’t share a video of your adventure.
I don’t shoot video when I’m trying to swing my detector and look around me hoping no one is following me. I don’t snap photos of coins or metal doodads, poking out of the ground, looking like they were placed there by the hand of whoever.
I understood your comment Luke. Was just busting your chops…
I don’t understand the need to photo/video document every darn action. I rarely have all day to go detecting. At most I’ll wash off the interesting bits & thingies and snap a pic when I’m done.
I can’t fathom detecting in any heat past 90°f. In Michigan, the humidity kicks my ass most of the time.
Wait till you are 81 Luke. Everything kicks your ass….
That sounds like my dad. He’s 78.
Man o man. We are in our toy hauler west of Fort Worth with a blistering 107 outside today. And I just found an old native stone house close to where we are. I found the owner and I am going to go visit tomorrow morning to secure permission for Wednesday.
Relics are on the menu for this place and one man’s junk is another man’s … well you know.
Hopefully at the end of this one month stay here we will finally be going to Tennessee to be around the music and early America. OH. And lower temperatures sooner. I hope.
And brother I agree it has ALWAYS been about the WHERE we detect. See ya down the road brother!
Dennis good luck getting permission and be careful in this heat. Safe travels….
That’s a long list!
Yup, could have kept going too….
Dick, do you piss and moan in summer months – like this old post from 2015? Or is it all the time like most of us who found out the nail test was an eye opener? But I can’t piss and moan about gaining more knowledge as we get older. You sir have much knowledge from your life time of detecting and musical in roads to happiness. Too bad B.T. (I hope that wasn’t Big Tony) didn’t give his pet peeves for your blog. Might have been interesting. Stay cool my friend and enjoy the Goliath after dinner tonight.
Tony I’m an expert at pissing and moaning, and I don’t find the nail/board thing all that useful. Too many variables and it just makes tekkies debate, argue and take sides. Would much prefer the debate be about the diminishing list of “where” to use a detector. At the rate we’re going the pastime will be history in ten years or even less. JMO.
Hope you get some light rainfall and cooler temperatures so you can score some relics with your detector that can pick up a coin next to a nail. Lately I’ve been looking in places that I typically wouldn’t hunt. Parks,roadsides,seashores.
Just trying to keep the ball rolling.
Frank the way this year is going I’m just trying to find the ball…. Have one for me.