Treasure in the Heap

[twentysix by twentyfive]

So far approx 1500kg roof tiles (when the barn roof was replaced - the tiles went into the garden), over 400kg scrap iron, including cartwheel tyres (various sizes), garden tools, wood splitting wedges (8), chains, agricultural implement 'bits', bottles (lost count), plastic bags/sacks (lost count) a 'ball' of string which filled a black sack , wire, drug vials for animals, shutter hinges (more than 20, despite the fact there are only 2 windows on the house, so you would only need 8).

On the positive side selling the scrap from the garden and the house has so far netted 200€+ , which somewhat softens the pain of shifting all that cr*p.

Wow - that's real treasure!! 200 euros would buy plenty of that red pain killer too

 

[Arch]

I found lots of bits of clay pipes digging in my garden as a kid. Never found a whole one though.

They were more or less a disposable item in their day, never expected to last long, so when one broke the smoker just chucked it down. The pieces of stem are quite dense and survive quite well, but the bowls were thinner, and tended to disintegrate more.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

one of the (rural) council houses I lived in as a kid used to regularly supply us with old coins because the house had previously been a shop on the edge of the village and the front garden was the path to the shop... my mother always wished that she had known someone with a metal detector becuase every single time she dug the front garden (veg plot) she found old coins.

Another house had a car buried in the back garden and we also unearthed the remains of what we presumed were long dead pets (probably cats) and some that were clearly birds as well - that area was also a veg plot and the veg rather liked that spot!

Mind you another of the places I stayed in (rural) had an old victorian rubbish heap in the back garden and after one really wet weekend a local streamlet diverted through this area and started to bring out all sorts of great bottles & the likes which we still have to this day.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Oh - I remember now - talking of digging up pets...

M-i-L's rabbit died while we were minding it for her (she never forgave me) so she and Mrs 26 buried it in the garden. Some weeks later I was out digging (as one does) and unearthed the dratted (and rotting) thing. Why they didn't mark the spot I'll never know. I didn't mention it to M-i-L tho'

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Oh - I remember now - talking of digging up pets...

M-i-L's rabbit died while we were minding it for her (she never forgave me) so she and Mrs 26 buried it in the garden. Some weeks later I was out digging (as one does) and unearthed the dratted (and rotting) thing. Why they didn't mark the spot I'll never know. I didn't mention it to M-i-L tho'

life expectancy = zero if mentioned....

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

life expectancy = zero if mentioned....

Quite. I was already deeply in the bad books. Not my fault tho' - she'd mothered that rabbit so much it pined itself to death when she left it with us for a week's hols. I think F-i-L wasn't overly bothered

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

[QUOTE 2328427, member: 45"]A couple of relatives, but they were nasty anyway.[/quote]
Were they nasty before or after they went underground?

 

[palinurus]

My vegetable peelers always seem to end up in the compost.

Once I was down the allotment and I was digging over this bit of earth and I dug up an intact KitKat. fark knows how that got there.

 

[palinurus]

I ate it. It was alright.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

I ate it. It was alright.

Lovely. Never did you any harm then

 

[Arch]

After NT and I did a lot of digging this morning, I've got 3 bones (two bits of pelvis, and a rib, from medium sized mammals), a piece of clay pipe and a bit of Victorian servants' bell mechanism in my collection.

I also had a mouse that dashed out of an exposed underground nest startling us somewhat but I haven't kept that.

 

[Arch]

Two sets of treasure to show:

From digging at NT's:

A piece of pot, two bits of clay pipe, two yokes from a bell system, a snailshell, a bit of charcoal, and various bits of bone including sheep rib, and probable sheep or pig pelvis - I'll have to check my reference books to be sure, as it's been a while since I did any ID.

And then from a walk along Southport beach today, some combings:

Some shells, a cattle vertebra and distal metacarpal, both butchered, a probable sheep pelvis, and two bottles, one of which contained Brylcream, according to the stamp on the bottom.