A day with the kids and a few surprises

Erin and I started the day with a trip to a local middle school where there's a couple large fields for the kids to play in. It was a beautiful day, and although it doesn't show in the photos taken by my camera phone, the snow on the mountains in the distance was quite scenic. The kids were in heaven themselves as the photos show.



After the kids were pooped, we took them home and Erin and I went to work. Erin to the vet hospital and myself to a local property that supposedly was the location of an old schoolhouse from before the turn of the century. I parked at an abandoned property nearby and hiked into the woods and as expected, came upon an old structure that had collapsed and several open areas of foundation. The place was completely grown over with smaller trees and blackberry bushes and it looked like it had been renovated and occupied since it was originally built. Some original logs and foundation remained from the original schoolhouse, but there was evidence of plaster drywall and grounded electrical sockets which weren't around until the second half of the 20th century. If I had to guess the place had been abandoned since the 70's. Though I didn't have my detector with me (was just looking) I did come upon a tipped over aluminum trash can that contained what appeared to be 3 old home radios in the style of the 60s. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera phone with me, but I will be heading back there and will take some photos. This was my first surprise of the day.

After checking out the area, I headed back to my car to find my second surprise of the day. As the property came into view I noticed a large pickup truck parked behind my car and a nice Mercedes behind that. Looking at my car and talking to each other was a very large man (built like a tank - not fat) and what appeared to be his wife. I was a little worried because technically it was private property and I shouldn't have parked there. Seeing little choice as I was blocked in, I strolled up and greeted the (hopefully) friendly couple.

Turns out the large man and his wife were the owners of the property and were planning on converting it to an office building and drive-through coffee shop. After explaining I was there to investigate the neighboring property for possible metal detecting and assumed no one would notice or care if I parked in the driveway, they accepting of my apology. I guess the wife had driven by, noticed my car, and call her husband to join her for investigation. They told me they had recently had some break-ins at the property and wanted to make sure no one was causing trouble.

The husband asked to see my metal detector (I'm not sure he completely believed me) so I opened my trunk to let him see, at which point he remarked "Now that's a real metal detector honey - that's what I want." He introduced himself as Bob Cryder and told me a bit more about the property, which was one of the original farm houses for the valley and was building in 1920's. He then invited me to metal detect on his property and to ensure I wasn't bothered by the local authorities, handed me his business card.

I now understood why he was such a large man - at the bottom of his business card was listed, "Retired NFL - Seattle Seahawks #78 - New England Patriots #75 - University of Alabama #78/All American" Turns out he was an offensive lineman in the NFL from 1978 to 1986.

I then proceeded to hunt the property for the next hour (it was already 4pm by this time) and didn't find much - a couple modern coins and some junk. I plan to hit the property up again next weekend and give it a more thorough go. Here are some pics of the house.