Got a call late last night from my dad...and it was a call I was hoping would never come. The dreaded time is finally here...and his kidneys are down to 9% function. He must go in for emergency surgery very soon to install the port to begin dialysis.
We were initially told as soon as Monday or Tuesday of next week...but he is so weak he needs an iron transfusion first...and an abdomen scan....so the surgery will most likely be towards the end of next week.
For cryin' out loud...he just recoverd from a car reck as of 2 days ago.
We all knew this day was coming though...and he had been fighting it off for over 1 1/2 years now. While pops has plenty of fight left in him...his kidneys do not.
Life will really change as we know it.
Feel like I just lost mom yesterday...and am not ready to deal with this.
Did two things this morning...ordered a Whites XLT which is one of my all time favorite detectors. My dad always loved it and hunted with me...so I got one on the way. We're gonna' get some nice personal hunt time in while he can...and try to enjoy life
. He always liked the xlt...so he's gonna' get one as a present from me.
Second thing I did this morning...went CRAZY with depression worrying about him...what it will do to his very active lifestyle...and also if he will be able to deal with the dialysis properly.
Because of the worrying...I needed an outlet to clear my head and keep the depression from digging any further.I decided to hunt for a few hours...and about 9:30 this morning...off I went.
E-Trac?....SE?...nope...the Explorer 2 looked lonely...and I decided to pop the 12" Sunray coil on it and take it for a spin.
I headed to another beat up park...but absolutely did not care whether I found anything ot not...seriously.
Got nothing the first hour at this park...but I have pulled some nice coins from here...and usually in crap or iron...so I knew the potential was there.
Finally got a crappy injun' sounding hit but it pinpointed 6" away from the center...so I dug a big plug.
I dug sown about 8" and ran the probe...NOTHING.
I dug it a little deeper and wider and finally got a hit with the probe way off to the bottom side where a very nice 1902 Injun' showed it's face from 4" back into the side
...so it was on edge.
[attachment 159538 coins317.jpg] [attachment 159592 coins318.jpg]
About 12:30 Guvner called me to see what I was up to and I was so messed up from the stress about Dad...I couldn't even talk. Sorry G...hope you understand.
I just needed to keep the headphones on and tune the world out for a while. I'll give you a shout after I get this post up.
About an hour later...I had only 3 rusty nails to go along with the Injun'
...but I still had an hour to go.
I then got another squeaker but it hit in only one tiny spot.
Problem is...the last 3 nails I dug hit almost the same way
..but I gave them a shot even though they did not have much "warble" to them.
They also did not give a two way repeating tiny sweet spot signal...they only sounded sweet from one direction...and that's iron 90% of the time.
This little window of a hit DID have a very nice high warble to it and from one direction it was a null into the warble..while from the other direction it was a warble into a null. I like these type of hits. While it was not a two way repeater...I knew this type of hit had a shot at being a coin hiding in iron...because of what I described.
I dug down about 9" and saw a big chunk of iron about 3" in diameter. What I saw just barely peeking out made my skin tingle though.
I could just slightly make out a tiny spot of silver. In fact I would say about 85% to 90% of this baby was coverd up by the iron...as you can see from the rust stain which all but covers the entire area.
[attachment 159535 coins127.jpg]
The one little "non rusted" area at the top right is all that was not engulfed by the iron.
I plucked it out and could see it was going to be a nice one.
I brought it home and wiped it with a little lemon juice to remove the rust stain...and you see what it turned out like...very nice.
[attachment 159536 coins128.jpg] [attachment 159537 coins129.jpg]
I really needed to clear my head this morning...and am so thankful for this hobby.
I only hope my pops gets to enjoy it with me before he gets any worse. I am just not ready for it.
A few of you have asked me to hunt...and I would love to hunt with many of you...but now you know why I can't travel any distance to do so.
I have been trying to hunt with Larry-IL for nearly four years now...but just can't break away to do so. I was even a member of his metal detecting club in Peoria for a couple of years...but never even got to attend 1 single hunt or 1 single get together.
Family comes first though...and I wouldn't trade that privilege and honor for anything in the world. I cherish it.
Mom's health got bad...then I lost her. Now Dad's health is deteriorating fast...so it's gonna' be rough all over again.
I just don't like to get too far from home because of his health...just as it was with my mom.
Not sure what's gonna'' happen from here...so please keep him in your thoughts.
We only get ONE Mom and Dad fellers'...so enjoy them if you still have them to enjoy
...and don't ever take them for granted.
Metal detecting can wait...family can't.
We were initially told as soon as Monday or Tuesday of next week...but he is so weak he needs an iron transfusion first...and an abdomen scan....so the surgery will most likely be towards the end of next week.
For cryin' out loud...he just recoverd from a car reck as of 2 days ago.

We all knew this day was coming though...and he had been fighting it off for over 1 1/2 years now. While pops has plenty of fight left in him...his kidneys do not.
Life will really change as we know it.
Feel like I just lost mom yesterday...and am not ready to deal with this.
Did two things this morning...ordered a Whites XLT which is one of my all time favorite detectors. My dad always loved it and hunted with me...so I got one on the way. We're gonna' get some nice personal hunt time in while he can...and try to enjoy life

Second thing I did this morning...went CRAZY with depression worrying about him...what it will do to his very active lifestyle...and also if he will be able to deal with the dialysis properly.
Because of the worrying...I needed an outlet to clear my head and keep the depression from digging any further.I decided to hunt for a few hours...and about 9:30 this morning...off I went.
E-Trac?....SE?...nope...the Explorer 2 looked lonely...and I decided to pop the 12" Sunray coil on it and take it for a spin.
I headed to another beat up park...but absolutely did not care whether I found anything ot not...seriously.
Got nothing the first hour at this park...but I have pulled some nice coins from here...and usually in crap or iron...so I knew the potential was there.
Finally got a crappy injun' sounding hit but it pinpointed 6" away from the center...so I dug a big plug.
I dug sown about 8" and ran the probe...NOTHING.

I dug it a little deeper and wider and finally got a hit with the probe way off to the bottom side where a very nice 1902 Injun' showed it's face from 4" back into the side

[attachment 159538 coins317.jpg] [attachment 159592 coins318.jpg]
About 12:30 Guvner called me to see what I was up to and I was so messed up from the stress about Dad...I couldn't even talk. Sorry G...hope you understand.

About an hour later...I had only 3 rusty nails to go along with the Injun'

I then got another squeaker but it hit in only one tiny spot.
Problem is...the last 3 nails I dug hit almost the same way
They also did not give a two way repeating tiny sweet spot signal...they only sounded sweet from one direction...and that's iron 90% of the time.
This little window of a hit DID have a very nice high warble to it and from one direction it was a null into the warble..while from the other direction it was a warble into a null. I like these type of hits. While it was not a two way repeater...I knew this type of hit had a shot at being a coin hiding in iron...because of what I described.

I dug down about 9" and saw a big chunk of iron about 3" in diameter. What I saw just barely peeking out made my skin tingle though.

I could just slightly make out a tiny spot of silver. In fact I would say about 85% to 90% of this baby was coverd up by the iron...as you can see from the rust stain which all but covers the entire area.
[attachment 159535 coins127.jpg]
The one little "non rusted" area at the top right is all that was not engulfed by the iron.

I plucked it out and could see it was going to be a nice one.
I brought it home and wiped it with a little lemon juice to remove the rust stain...and you see what it turned out like...very nice.
[attachment 159536 coins128.jpg] [attachment 159537 coins129.jpg]
I really needed to clear my head this morning...and am so thankful for this hobby.
I only hope my pops gets to enjoy it with me before he gets any worse. I am just not ready for it.
A few of you have asked me to hunt...and I would love to hunt with many of you...but now you know why I can't travel any distance to do so.
I have been trying to hunt with Larry-IL for nearly four years now...but just can't break away to do so. I was even a member of his metal detecting club in Peoria for a couple of years...but never even got to attend 1 single hunt or 1 single get together.
Family comes first though...and I wouldn't trade that privilege and honor for anything in the world. I cherish it.
Mom's health got bad...then I lost her. Now Dad's health is deteriorating fast...so it's gonna' be rough all over again.
I just don't like to get too far from home because of his health...just as it was with my mom.
Not sure what's gonna'' happen from here...so please keep him in your thoughts.
We only get ONE Mom and Dad fellers'...so enjoy them if you still have them to enjoy
Metal detecting can wait...family can't.
