Howdy! I've been wanting to take up metal detecting for ages and finally got around to buying one recently. Mine's a Bounty Hunter, and it needs to be in motion to identify metal. There is an instruction handbook that explained about how turning the sensitivity down narrows down which metals it can sense. That's cool and all, but I mostly turn the sensitivity down when it is sounding too frequently over an area. Less sensitivity, less beeping, a more concise area to dig.

As a non-driver, I'm limited in where I can treasure hunt, and when. My husband isn't as enthusiastic as me, so he's not about drive us to the middle of nowhere, so I can dig holes, after he's just had a long day's work. There is also the issue of permission. How many places can I get away without asking? Probably not many. And there is the whole, do I feel lie explaining myself every time? I fully intend to dig up the beach area of my local dog park, so it's easy to fill in the holes, but I'm going to do so on a day when my husband and I both wake up super early. Because 100% anyone there will helpfully ask if we lost our keys or Aggie ring or what have you and they'll mean well but I sometimes I just want to do what I want, when I want without having to say why. We haven't lost anything, and if we find anything of value, we'll try to find the owners. Mostly I just like digging up neat things.

I've spent over a week now, digging up my yard. I was finding bullets for months before I bought this silly thing, but now I can find them even when they aren't sitting literally on the top soil. Sure, I've found screws too, pocket change, tool bits, parts of a door latch, and whatnot, but mostly, I'm just digging up shell casings, most of which are warped and broken. Currently filling a jar with my finds, which are definitely worthless, but still neat!

Day 1: It was sunny and felt like 93°F but I got a new toy and I was gonna use it.

Day 2: It was cool out and I went hard. My back regrets my life choices.

Day 3: Apparently I use my leg to help my elbow pivot when jabbing into the ground with the spade? Anyway, my jeans gave my elbow rug burn so I called it a day.

Day 4: The mosquitos were legion and I made the mistake of digging around sunset. In other words, I was barely outside an hour.

Day 5: I wasn't expecting to pull anything from the ground that might actually hurt me, so the bobby-needle was a surprise. Thankfully, my gloves are thick!

Day 6: These are all from a space that's about 1.5x2ft wide, and maybe 6in deep. I actually found the little glass bottle in a completely different section of yard days ago, but today I found the cap. Are the little bottle and marble metal? Nah. Would I have found them if I wasn't pulling bullets out of the yard, though?

Day 7: I got eaten alive by mosquitos and was basically raining sweat the entire time I was digging. Found a big magnet though. That's kind of neat.

My husband has requested that from here on out, I exhaust areas of yard in a more orderly, grid-like pattern, working my way out from the front gate. He bought a bunch of grass seeds and fertilizer, to re-plant where I've dug. I'll do my best.

We don't live anywhere near a proper beach, but there are some wilderness-style parks nearby. I'm perfectly willing to carefully dig, so as not to damage plants, and I'm prepared to fill the holes in afterwards. The trouble is figuring out where to dig, where I wont be bothering people, and they won't attempt to interact with me. Although metal detecting with others sounds fun. There is a group of hobbyists near me. They mostly help folks find lost valuables. I won't join them, but the next time a friend loses their keys at the dog park, maybe I can help!

Thanks for stopping by. I drop a new blog post every Monday! Toodles!

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