On December 29, 2023, after several hours of detecting at the site of an old lumber town that existed in the late 1800s, I got a signal that seemed promising. Given the amount of trash I’d found below the surface, I expected this to be another piece of scrap aluminum or a shotgun shell. When a small, dirty coin emerged from the hole, I saw vertical lines on it and immediately suspected it was another Lincoln memorial cent. This one looked different, though, and I didn’t immediately see a face on the opposite side. After a moment of cleaning dirt from the coin, I saw the number ‘5’ surrounded by 13 stars and realized that it was a Shield Nickel. I reached my goal with just a few days left in the year.

I continued to lightly remove the dirt from the coin but couldn’t see a date. I took a few pictures with the phone, then zoomed in for a better look. The year 1870 was clearly visible at the bottom. This coin was 153 years old.

When this coin was minted in Philadelphia, Ulysses S. Grant was president. There was no electricity, natural gas or telephone service in the homes. Blacks gained freedom just 10 years earlier but could still not vote. There were no cars – travel was by carriage, steamboat, or railway. Schools were of the one-room variety.

The Shield Nickel was minted from an alloy of 75% copper and 25% nickel – the first US 5-cent piece to use the metal that gave the “nickel” its name. Copper coins tend to degrade in the soil, and this coin has certainly seen some decay, although the sandy soil likely helped to minimize this.

I look forward to Spring, when I’ll return to this site for additiional exploration and digging. Wish me luck!

The replacement of the seat wood was long overdue. The planks were quite simple, so no fancy cutting was necessary. Fortunately, I had a surplus of 16-foot cedar 1x6s in the barn. I grabbed a can of spar varnish from the local hardware store to seal the wood against the elements, then set out to replace the planks.

Using the original planks as a template, I cut the cedar into 3 sections as needed. The new planks were sanded, then coated with the marine spar varnish. I had new stainless steel screws in the barn, which were an exact match to the original screws.

This tiny bit of maintenance should help keep the paddleboat operational for the near future. The paddle crank bushings and chain were lubricated, and my initial test ride with Enzo went well. Next, I may look into a bimini top for this fun little boat.

Deward is an interesting location for historians and relic hunters, but not as much for metal detectorists. The site is extremely “dirty”, completely saturated with old metal bits from machinery, buildings, and personal items like mason jar lids. These old mason jar lids were made of zinc, and contained a porcelain inner layer. Zinc has similar conductivity as nickel and brass, so the metal detector beeped favorably over these objects. Therefore, I dug a lot of jar lids. At one point I found a distorted old gear from an unknown piece of machinery. My goal, as always, was to find an old coin from the era, but the only coin I found in Deward was a 2000 Washington quarter.

I enjoyed the hours spent at the Deward site, trying to imagine where the buildings once stood and what life must have been like in the tiny isolated town. I didn’t find any old coins, but I enjoyed the hike and exploration.

The first hour of detecting was rather uneventful, with the ground giving up beer cans, pull tabs, and a few lead fishing sinkers. I gradually moved to the northeast side of the pond, along a quiet trail. I dug a few old cans and modern coins before getting an interesting signal I hadn’t heard before. At roughly 12 centimeters deep I found a silver ring embedded in the dirt. Previously, I had only found children’s costume jewelry, so my expectations were low. After gently removing the dirt I could see the S925 stamp inside the ring, indicating that this was 92.5% sterling silver. This ring looked nice.

Around 7 PM I started to head back to the car, but not before digging an old child’s toy truck, which is probably about 60 years old. I packed the afternoon’s treasures into the car and headed home to sort through the mess. After taking the usual photos, I took the ring, coins and toy truck into the house for ultrasonic cleaning in soapy water.

The ring cleaned up wonderfully, revealing what may be a beautiful blue sapphire surrounded by 6 smaller diamonds. The coins were all fairly modern, with the oldest being a 1962 Lincoln penny. Once the ring and coins were cleaned, the little truck received the ultrasonic treatment, freeing any remaining dirt from the little beast.

This outing gave me several more hours of experience with the new detector, which is much more complex than my previous machine. Now, I just need to find some old coins.

This 1971 Shasta Stratoflyte camper must have been stored in a barn or similar shelter, since the exterior is in excellent condition. The interior is like a time machine back to the early 1970s, when avocado green was a dominant color for kitchen appliances. The cushions and cabinets are in immaculate condition.

Congratulations, Sherry and Ken, on your excellent find! Now get out and explore the world – and take some pictures to share!

During the Memorial Day weekend of 2007, we bought an old wooden dock from a seller on Lake Bellaire. The dock served us well for a dozen years, but became a challenge to maintain. The wood was aging and coming apart. The dock legs were really just steel fence posts. As the lake level rose, dock sections lifted off the legs and slid into the lake, becoming extremely heavy and waterlogged. The dock had to go. A few weeks ago, I ordered a new Harbor Master aluminum dock from Alden Marine.

Yesterday I used the pontoon trailer to remove the dock sections from the water, leaving 2 sections over dry land to serve as a bridge to the new dock. Those sections may be replaced next year. The trailer made the dock removal much easier, as the waterlogged sections, while heavy, were still buoyant in the water and easy to drag to the trailer.

The new dock is made of sturdy but light aluminum, with a PVC deck. This dock will be light enough for me to remove at the end of the season to avoid the destructive movement of the lake ice. During the project, Enzo helped, and got muddy exploring the silty shoreline, which is what he does best.

I still have some bumpers and tie-down cleats to install, but otherwise the dock is ready for action.

On May 13 I stopped at my mom’s for a carry-out dinner from Short’s Brewing Company. She shared with me a photo of her mother on one of those paddle boats in 1968. This photo brought back many memories of summers spent at the lake. Trips to the log cabin were among my fondest childhood memories.

On May 28 I stopped at John’s house with a trailer. I walked into the woods where he pointed, and I found the boat next to an old wheelbarrow and a pile of broken concrete. I was in shorts and the boat was surrounded by poison ivy – wonderful. I found that the boat was not heavy, so I dragged it into a clearing for inspection. It was rough, but in better condition than I had expected. Still, I knew it was dumped for a reason. I noticed that the steering linkage had broken away from the bicycle “fork”. I lifted the boat and noticed a gouge in the front of the right aluminum pontoon. That was likely the reason it was discarded. Still, this appeared to be repairable, so I dragged the boat to the trailer for a ride to its new home.

The boat’s frame was made from simple steel angle bar, which only had light surface corrosion. The pontoons are aluminum, although crudely made. Each pontoon is held to the frame by three stainless steel bands, which were in good condition. The paddle blades are also aluminum, riveted to steel arms. At some point in its life, somebody painted the frame, pontoons and paddles. Most of the paint has flaked away.

This boat’s construction was more like a hand-made prototype than a series production design. The only hint at its origin was a metal plate riveted to the front frame bar that read “Horst Manufacturing Company, Belleville, Michigan”. I couldn’t find any information about this company, so John did some research using a subscription-based newspaper search. He found two old newspaper clippings that mentioned the company. One was a brief mention of Horst Manufacturing Company as a sponsor for an ad in 1951, which also stated that the company was established in 1933. The other was a more ominous classified ad from November 4, 1984, listing the liquidation of the company’s assets.

Through some additional research I found several newspaper advertisements for this exact product, dating from 1955 to 1960. This was a Horst Waterbike, and it was at least 60 years old.

On May 30, I used an angle grinder to cut away the bolts and disassemble the boat. I’ll replace any fasteners with stainless steel. The chain will be replaced with new. I will have to replace the bicycle fork, but it uses a standard piece so that should be easy. The steering linkages and tie rod may be replaced, too, using newer hardware. The aluminum pontoons and paddles will be cleaned, repaired and polished.

I will look for a local shop that does aluminum pontoon repair to fix the damaged pontoon. I’d like this work to be done professionally. I’ll handle the rest of the project myself.

If all goes as planned, the Waterbike will be reborn and see service on our little lake this summer.

It turns out that the stone is called Leland Blue, and is the by-product of the iron ore smelting process that occurred in northwest Michigan from 1870 to 1885. Leland Blue isn’t a true stone, but is the slag by-product of separating the iron from the iron ore. This slag was discarded in Lake Michigan, and commonly washes ashore . These stones are hunted by collectors today, and some larger pieces fetch nice prices online. For the most part, these are not valuable.

My little Leland Blue stone sits on my desk at work, where it serves as an interesting conversation starter.

Deb took the opportunity to take the 1952 Ford 8N tractor for a ride. Nice job, Deb.

Ryan’s dogs also enjoyed a change of scenery, playing in the chilly lake and woods.  We also pulled the pontoon boat from the lake and loaded it into the barn for the season.