Losing My School Tot Lots One by One :ranting:

[Neita SC]

Ugh! It seems that my area school district is scraping all the mulch of the school tot lots and replacing them with rubber matting. Now the pretty one piece mats are nice,....pretty, cushy and bouncy. And I'm sure the kids are cleaner and safer. But what's wrong with getting dirty and doing a face plant in the mulch. Kids don't know how to be kids anymore. Gheez. AND....to add insult to injury, I can hear the signals that still lay beneath the mat!!! I'm not thinking that they would appreciate me cutting plugs in their mat, even though the thought quickly flashed through my mind.
Now, I was able to detect the 10 foot by 20 foot pile of mulch they had not hauled off. I scanned the sides and played Queen of the mountain. Was able to find a few coins and trash. If I only had the key to the nearby skid loader to re spread the pile. Speaking of, I wonder where they haul all that mulch.
But as always in life, you can find good in the bad if you look hard enough. Since I couldn't detect the tot lot, I went to the surrounding grass area and was able to find a 18K child's gold ring. And at another similar situation school yard was able to find a spill of eight quarters in a one foot area. So the day turned out well anyway. Thanks for looking and Merry Christmas to all.

 

[mudpuppy]

Nice score on the ring and Q spill, Neita...seems everybody is sweeping the totlots, cant find hardly anything anymore, and then they go and put down the rubber surface to completely ruin it. but those side areas still have some overlooked possibilities.
Also seems kids arn't getting outside much at all lately...like maybe playing too much on the computer? I'll hit some spots today now that school is out for the holidays.
Mud

 

[zeekeys]

Neita good detecting skills.
We are all having the same trouble with the rubber in the tot lots. Knowing the way man is they will start removing the rubber in a year or so because someone found out that the rubber has chemicals that kids can't tolerate.
Everyone is looking for a virgin spot to detect. I look for coins in places that have been detected many times knowing that most of the detectorists just don't have the patience to cover ground carefully. That is when retirement and getting older is great. My full speed isn't even as fast as cruising speed for most guys. The only thing I worry about is missing lunch. Not much pressure to go through as quickly as I can.
Thanks for looking....Z

 

[Elton]

Same in my area............. Blue colored rubber.

 

[patti]

Sorry to hear what's happening to your tot lots Here in Finland the development is going the other way round. The european union has set standards for safe tot lots and this means coarse non hardening gravel instead of normal sand that packs up to concrete hard ground where you would not lose anything. This is good news for future detecting.

 

[jim tn]

Starting to see some of that here, but so far just a few. One of the problems with our chip lots is they aren't being maintained. In the summer months grass is left to crawl into the chips and grow. And, with all the budget cuts, they are left that way. Neita, good job on the small gold ring. Merry Christmas. HH jim tn

 

[tvr]

Count me as lucky so far. In the general area I'm in, the rubber material that is replacing some of the chip and sand play areas is shredded tire. There are not many pieces of the steel belts mixed in but I do get some pieces. Things dropped disappear more quickly in the shredded rubber than in the wood chips, but the shredded rubber in normally about 4 inches deep on top of a synthetic membrain (that I won't cut). There are targets under the membrane; some places many. Oh well, so much ground to cover and so little time.
tvr

 

[Neita SC]

Thx there Mud. Most of my tot lots are good to go and usually have decent finds, but I also like to hit the sidelines of playing fields. Due to my work and the hot summers down here, I usually only hunt from Fall thru late Spring. Today was 70 some degrees, but family is in town for Christmas, so I haven't been able to sneak outta the house. And as far as kids getting out and playing....u r right. TV and video games attribute to the dumbing and now fattening of America.

Zeek, I am semi-retired. Retired police officer after 20 years and now a sales rep. So my work busy season is early Spring to late Fall. Usually carry my detector during the less busy work season and detect parks and such when work allows. It is what you make it! AND, I Never Go Hungry!

Elton, luckily it is only the school lots that are getting matted. Hopefully the Rec department doesn't go down that road.

Patti, I would hate to be the kid that does a face plant in gravel....OUCH! That'll teach 'em to run and play.

Jim, I don't blame the school district going to mats. The pine mulch here gets really mouldy if it stays wet for too long. Up North, they used hard woods to mulch the lots and not pine. But South Carolina has an abundance of pine.

TVR, now shredded tires would be a nice compromise. At least the membrane would stop the targets from going too deep. And yes, it is not worth losing the hobby's integrity to cut into the membrane or cut into the mats. There are plenty other targets too dig in other places.

Thanks again to all for the good wishes and here is a pic of the kid's ring. It's 18K HGE- Heavy Gold Electroplate.

 

[jmaryt]

just "salt" the rubber and hunt away!
he! he! He!

(h.h.!)
j.t.

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

That pic makes me sick!

 

[Neita SC]

J.T. That's funny. I also could cut a plug and then get a heat gun and seal it back in place.

Bart! Take two aspirin, shased by a bloody mary and you will feel better. Hee Hee

 

[patti]

Patti, I would hate to be the kid that does a face plant in gravel....OUCH! That'll teach 'em to run and play.

My non-native English shows here. Maybe gravel was not the best word to describe what they use for tot lots, maybe coarse non compacting sand would be a better description for the filling. It is actually pretty soft to land on that sand face first

HH and merry christmas,

patti

 

[jmaryt]

tot lots here are still wood chips,because local
towns don't have the money to go rubber!
that can be a good thing!..just sayin'

(h.h.!)
j.t.