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Positive Curb Strip Encounter

dca2

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2015
Messages
39
Location
NW Louisiana
Yesterday afternoon, around 4:00pm, I was hunting a curb strip in my neighborhood. The houses are from mostly 1920-1930's. One house (1934) has a historic live oak whose branches covers the entire front yard, travels between 2 houses and ends up in the back yard-mostly at ground level. Really neat. As a kid we would walk there from school to see the tree (1978). I figured there must be stuff in the strip.

As I am closing a plug, the neighbor (80+ female) walks up and asks me what I'm doing in her neighbor's yard. I told her I'm metal detecting the city right of ways in my neighborhood and looking for old coins, toys, and artifacts as a hobby. She says "I forgot about that, the city does own all this grass. Have you found anything neat?" I showed her the scraps of metal and an old matchbox car. She was genuinely interested so I showed her the 1943D nickle (my 1st one!) I just pulled out of the plug I was closing. She asked about other places I hunt and we talked about the parks and playgrounds. I showed her my trash bucket and she called me the "city's unknown hero!" I gave her my card and went back to detecting.

The owner of the house with the tree came out, again an older lady, and we had almost the same discussion, I gave her my card, told her if I could ever help to give me a call. 5 minutes later she comes out and asks if my detector was a good one. I said it's decent and she brought me to her back yard to look for her deceased husband's wedding band, lost over 5 years ago. Unfortunately, it was not recovered, but she was very glad that I helped.

She belongs to an amateur archaeology/history buff group and said I should give a talk. I said the handful of coins would bore them, but if I find some really neat stuff, I'll get back to her.

No BS from me, a genuine conversation, and I've got the 2 old ladies on one street looking forward to seeing me in the neighborhood!

Thanks for letting me share,
Dave
 

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Really like that card, and great to hear such a positive story. Although we hear all the stories about the naysayers, I believe that most people are "good folks" and will respond positively when they sense they are talking to one of the same
 
.... Although we hear all the stories about the naysayers, I believe that most people are "good folks" and will respond positively when they....

Good point Oak Tree. You're right. The average passerby is either A) totally ignores you and doesn't care, or B) is actually intrigued. Eg.: they ask "what's the best thing you ever found ?" or "how deep does it go?", etc...

Then why oh why do we tend to hear/read only the stories of "naysayers" ? (eg.: a scram or a gripe, etc...), which leads the skittish to think "oh no, everyone's watching me, and I need to get everyone's approval before I start" ?

Here's why: It's the shark-attack psychology : Even though extremely rare (thousands of people swim daily in the ocean with no incident). Yet if a SINGLE shark attack happens, guess what's in the next day's headlines ? And then guess what you'll fear the next time you go to the beach ?

It's the same with md'ing, IMHO.
 
Sounds like Cougar Alley to me.lol..Congrats on the war nickel tho

These were the cougars’ grandmothers :yikes:

I’ve only been detecting off and on for about 4 years and I have had lots of people I intrigued by our hobby. I can’t remember a truly negative encounter. The closest was a hospital policeman (actually post certified) tell me to stay out of a particular area. But that’s been about it. I’m sure more will come, but it’s a great big planet—plenty of space to hunt!
 
I agree that is a very good card. Love the simple basic design, with the detector guy on front, and love the code of ethics on the back.
Good story too. You might try going to one of their society meetings. Could be a good thing.
 
Thanks for the positives about the card. The image came from an image search for “metal detector silhouette.” The rest was standard templates from vistaprint. I figured a green color scheme would get points with the “environmentalists!”:roll:
 
Great story. Really enjoyed that, thanks. Those are fantastic cards. I’ve thought about having some made and yours are a fantastic example. Thanks.
 
Good point Oak Tree. You're right. The average passerby is either A) totally ignores you and doesn't care, or B) is actually intrigued. Eg.: they ask "what's the best thing you ever found ?" or "how deep does it go?", etc...

Then why oh why do we tend to hear/read only the stories of "naysayers" ? (eg.: a scram or a gripe, etc...), which leads the skittish to think "oh no, everyone's watching me, and I need to get everyone's approval before I start" ?

Here's why: It's the shark-attack psychology : Even though extremely rare (thousands of people swim daily in the ocean with no incident). Yet if a SINGLE shark attack happens, guess what's in the next day's headlines ? And then guess what you'll fear the next time you go to the beach ?

It's the same with md'ing, IMHO.

that's (b.s.!) and the reason why,(in my experience), is that the public has a "very short memory!" that's the real reason why! i'm just sayin'

(h.h.!)
j.t.
 
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