Tom_in_CA

love those photos of the ruins and walls. What state is this in ? Good job !

Tsk tsk tsk, where's the moderators to clean up such smut ? tsk tsk 😬

Luv those lost & found repatriation stories. Good job !

My dad was a young teenager (13, 14, 15) during the WWII years. And because men of draft age were leaving town in his small Texas town, that opened up jobs for young teens. Eg.: Gas stations, store clerks, etc...... And I guess there were no child-labor laws in those days (ie.: younger teens could enter the work force w/o question). I remember my dad telling me that he worked in a movie-theater during the war years (manning the ticket booth and popcorn sales). And his pay was : .07c per hour ! So a standing lib. quarter like that would be like 4 hrs. of work ! Doh ! As far as adult pay goes, I read that lower level blue-collar laborers , in the 1880s, might have $20 for a month's work, with room & board. So as you can see, with that formula, you can see that an adult's wage was only like .10 or .15c p/h .

Good job !

Oh sheesshh, I detect with Bill Gates Jr. computer expert. And he can't even lend 10 minutes to a "good cause". To put his skills to work for the good-of-mankind. Instead, before he lifts a finger, he demands gold coins ? Sheesshh. C'mon Brian, be altruistic and charitable for once ! And besides, I CAN'T spend 10 minutes per day less on md'ing forums. Because if it wasn't for control freaks like me, nothing would get done right in the world ! Tsk tsk.

Here's the error message I get when trying to PM you : mn90403 cannot receive messages. So it must be an issue just between us. Try PM'ing me through the Friendly md'ing forum system.

my prompt says "8% full". So I'm not sure what the problem was. I'll try PM'ing you now.

we thought about getting an FB site domain name, or a website, or some such link. So that we could refer persons to a link. That would be populated with show & tell pix of lead, and links to the horror that lead causes to the environment. But .... is probably overkill. No one is doubting, or asking for links anyhow. haha

I will never forget the time I had just gotten off work (where we do wear orange safety vest when driving the equipment). And I had gone straight to an oldtown demolition site in our city. A 1920s theater that was being prepped for teardown. So the insides were being gutted for any salvage materials. So for a day-or-two, a few of us made sport of finding coins in all the nooks and crannies around the yesteryear concession stand, ticket booth, air-vent-grates, etc... A few of us were md'ing there, making quite a racket with our crowbars, when we heard a cop on a loudspeaker outside , ordering us to "come out with our hands up ". Apparently a neighboring business had heard some of this after hours racket, and thought someone was up to no-good inside there ! We emerged from the dark building, out to the exterior. But he took one look at me, wearing my yellow vest, and busted out laughing. Said : "Oh, sorry to bother you guys. Didn't know you were still working this late. Someone called because they thought homeless persons were in here up to no good. Carry on. Sorry to bother you". And he left. It was only THEN that I realized that I was still wearing a yellow vest. And this had led him to assume we were workers. I'm fine with that. We went back inside and resumed our work 🙂

HHhhmmm, let me look into this when I get back to my work 'puter tomorrow. I didn't know "in-boxes" could be "full". I'll get back to you. Thanx !

And a funny "aha moment" occurred the other day when Brian (cal cobra) and I were on the beach : I normally don't chit-chat with passerbys. If you get the "what are you finding ?" question, I just say "a few pennies" and ignore them. And I would assume that the only reason to point to the hat, is if someone is griping for some reason. HOWEVER : Our two friends Aaron and Mark (who were wearing the hats this day) would gleefully point to their hats, and show a few sinkers from their aprons. And I figured that any passerby would "see right through that" and know that we're joking. BUT SURPRISINGLY people never questioned it. They were praising us. At first I thought "oh they're just joking around too". But then it became apparent that this noble cause was not doubted in the slightest. It was an eye-opener as to how good these hats could potentially be.

Thanx for all the input guys. Ok, here's the decision : The next hat run (once the current order is passed out) will drop the word "California".

Yes. That just occurred to me, after I'd posted the shameless pitch, that there's folk across the nation that chime in here. Doh ! Ok: If there is enough demand from other states : We can do the next run with a change of state name, to fit your state. Or we'll do a run where the word "California" is dropped.

Hats now available for distribution. If anyone is interested, PM me to arrange. $20 each, to cover our cost & shipping. This is the brain-child of a local friend of mine : "Aaron". Initially in response to a "Karen" type ranger, who had questioned a few guys md'ing on a certain beach in our area. But once he pushed back with the "lead removal" retort, the lady ranger seemed satisfied. We got a good laugh out of that. So the idea of the hat was born. And strangely enough, at another beach, a month or two later, it actually came in handy : Because it turns out, a nature-lover Sierra club hippy-type griped that our detecting on a low tide bedrock surface, was harming the Sea Anemones, or kelp, or whatever. But we pointed to the hat, showed them a handful of sinkers, and explained that we were doing a volunteer lead removal service for the wildlife. The person brightened up , and began to praise our efforts ! Brilliant Not sure about other parts of the USA, but where we're at, has various self-appointed "nature monitor" types. Who will chide you if they think you're bothering mating sea-lions. Or if you're harming the ice-plant, blah blah. And then of course any archie-minded ranger types who might think we're bumping into cultural heritage issues on the beach (which, thankfully, has never gained traction on state-of-CA ocean beaches) And it's actually a truism that : Lead is bad for the environment. A quick google search shows this. This is why, for example, lead bullets are outlawed for certain types hunting now. And why, for example, construction/demolition sites (building tear-downs) can be required to have hazmat measures, if inspectors think they've found lead in the soil. So let's all help our planet ! We're not out for old coins or jewelry. NNNeeeooohh. Those are only the pesky objects that get in the way of our lead sinker abatement objective. If you're interested in getting some of these hats : PM me.

Correct. You don't see scenery like that when we're on our ghost-townsy treks, eh ? Tsk tsk.

Getting a little feisty and competitive, eh ? Nice try bro, but I think we were even on silver. 3 silver jewelry each, right ? But I will admit this : You got more sinkers than I did. Which was the right zones for fatty gold rings to be in . For where mother-nature settles those type targets at. But I was "saved by the bell", d/t you got no gold rings 😇

Now you've gone and done it Cal Cobra. It's gonna be elbow-to-elbow md'rs now ! 😬 🤣 🤣

Thanx for this input Luis . I've noticed that my Explorer II is nice & deep and smooth on regular wet/salt/sand. But that on this current see-grass/kelp/sandstone coral surface, it causes my explorer fluttery chatter. And not the same type "flutter and chatter" as black sand does. This is a different sort of interference . Your post is revealing, and makes sense. As if the kelp/sea-grass draws up minerals, packs moisture in unequal amounts, etc.... Can't exactly put my finger on why. The Nox's that are working this current site are more stable. Not sure I'd say they're getting more depth, but just that they're more smooth, in the final analysis.

Next time we're there, let's bring an extra machine and invite her to join us. Agreed ? 😁

Ok, my honest opinion: That machine is jumpy and quivering. I'm sure you could lower the sens, and get it to "quiet down". But the amount of quivering and fluttering I saw would not be pleasant , in my book. Who's that handsome guy with the rippling biceps and 6-pack abs that comes in the scenes starting at 9:33 ? 😏

I like the landscape site-shots. Puts the viewer in the feel of the site !

I can't believe how many LC's and colonial coppers you east coast guys get ! Sickening. We get reales here in CA, but rarely ever a large cent. Heck, it's more likely to get gold coins here before you get a large cent.

Nice pix, and nice play-by-play.

Amazing . How many gold coins total do you guys have, from your career ?