Had a great weekend.

This past weekend was a really good time both Saturday and Sunday.  On Saturday, Chris and his friend who has a metal detector came over and we dug holes all over our place.  Most of what we got was junk!  Nails, nails, nails, and even more nails.  All most all were quite old, but still they were just nails!  There was a few scraps of metal which we couldn't even guess what they were, but again more just junk.

One interesting thing, was when I got a strong magnet and just put it in one of the piles of dirt...the very tiniest shavings of metal attached themselves to it.  Now that is what a magnet is suppose to do, attract metal, but I wouldn't have thought that there was all these little fine particles just there in the dirt.  I guess I could see if something metal had been there at one time and these little bits were all that was left but, I have no idea what could have been where I was getting all of it.

It was decided that we needed to move to a different part of the yard to see if we could come up with something at least more interesting, so we went to dig in the back yard.  We talked about where the outhouse may have been.  We took note of the back door and the path to the chicken coop.  Each one of us had our own ideas of where to start.  Scott, Chris's friend decided he would start just a foot or so off the path from the back door to the coop.  Before long he was making exclamations about what he had just found!  Now this is really quite cool....

 

A 1936 Dime.  How cool is that.  That dime was minted 77 years ago!  Look at the shape it is in.  Granted it's been out of circulation for some time, but it was in the dirt!  People walked over it everyday!  Scott said it wasn't even that deep in the ground either.  Pretty amazing!

 

According to what the guys looked up the value is: 

                                                             Melt Value  =  $1.59 (23-Sept-2013)

                                                                Coin Value  =  Aprrox.  $3.00

 

Scott was pretty excited about the find to say the least.

 

I think we all had a lot of fun.  I'll be ready to do it again when Scott gets his new toy, which is stronger.  Then maybe we can find something really interesting.

 

 

Then on Sunday, Greg and I attended a Carriage driving clinic in Whitmore Lake.  It was called "Carriage Driving for Beginners".  The farm that put it on is Odyssey Training Stables with Anita Alden the instructor.  It was pretty basic, but I did pick up a few pointers and had a nice time with a good group of fellow beginning drivers.  Even got to ride in a two wheeled cart with a really springy stepping Hackney pony, who was 25 and a four wheeled carriage pulled by a snappy Morgan mare.  Both moved out in a completely different way then my draft pony Porchia.  She doesn't have any snap or spring in her step, but she still can cover some ground when asked.

 

 

I enjoyed my weekend very much.  Next weekend could be a good one as well.  Saturday is a driving horse and equipment auction up in Mt. Pleasant and Sunday, Greg's brother and wife may come by to show us their new car.  I'm sure there will be food as well on Sunday, so it should be another nice weekend.

 

On a side note...I have managed to get the fall cleaning both upstairs and down done as of today.  Feels really good to have that job out of the way.

 

 

Just about time to head out to the barn and do the milking so.....Onward and Upward!

Back from the Northwoods once again.

Got back from vacation last Friday.  Had a really good time again this year.  The fishing was better then the last time.  Chris and Chita and Daniella spent the first weekend with us.

The first part of Saturday we spent metal detecting around a ghost town named Michelson.  It was a lumber boom town in the early 1900's.  Most of the village is under water due to Reedsburg Dam being built in the middle 1900's.  There are some remains of buildings left, but not many.  When I was a kid going up there, you could see a lot more homesteads being over grown, but now they are gone.  What we did find was the cement foundations to a very large building that we suspect was one of the saw mills located in the town.

The afternoon Daniella and I went fishing...for once the fishing was really good!

 

Stinking Grandkid caught a 13" Largemouth bass!

Too bad it needed to be 14" to keep it!

Biggest fish the whole nine days!

 

 

Nice shot of the bass and his big mouth!

 

The weather was good all nine days, rained at night, got really cool one or two nights, but all in all good.

 

 

One of our day trips took us exploring the other side of the back waters.  Plenty of two tracks and we saw some seldom seen wildlife...a partridge, and either it was a grey fox, or a coyote and also roaming free...

 

 

These guys were just free ranging at the end of the dead end road we took.  They were sure friendly and one really liked a good rump scratch.

 

 

Another day trip found us at the lighthouse at East Tawas Point.  Very nice, and we found out that the folks who were giving tours and answering questions were volunteers who got to spend the week living in the lighthouse!  So very cool.  Maybe a vacation idea later on.

 

While the kids were still with us, we went two tracking, or as my folks and I called it back in the day..."deer hunting".  We ended up going around to see the cottage that was my parents back then.  Chris remembers it some.  He wasn't very old the last time we were there, but he does remember it.

The very coolest part about going to see the cottage was that we met the people who owned the place next door.  They, or at least their family had owned it since 1954, so that meant that they were around when my parents and I were!  I don't remember them, but they seem to remember my mom.  Really was a nice chat.

Sunset over Houghton Lake at the end of Cottage Drive.

One of the two tracks.

 

While two tracking we also found the farm of one of the residents of Michelson.  He had owned the General Store.

 

 

It had been a beautiful farm in it's day.

 

 

Well I suppose I've gone on long enough, but before I close here are a few more high lights of our time:

 

A Pan full of fresh caught fish!

A pan full of golden brown fresh caught fish!

Greg and his puppy sleeping in.

The camp site.

The dogs enjoy camping.

"Do we really HAVE to go home tomorrow?"

 

 

Onward and Upward!