Word from Dizz

Things have been a bit busy here.

Meg, Henry and I opened our presents to each other on Christmas Eve morning. We started things almost right after Henry had his morning milk. Henry was finished "unwrapping" after just two $1 Matchbox cars. He ran off to play with them and we had to convince him to come back and "unwrap" the rest. (Unwrapping for Henry consists of us tearing the paper a bit, giving it to him, him tearing things a bit more than thrusting it at us while saying, "help!") His nonchalant attitude towards unwrapping gave us to time to enjoy our own presents. Somehow I think things will be much different next Christmas! I got another really nice framed map of our town from Meg. It's a blow up of the town center from 1898.

We drove out to see Meg's side of the family that same day. There Henry unwrapped (and the rest of us) unwrapped more presents, enjoyed dinner and tried to go to bed early. Following Henry around for hours can be exhausting. Things didn't go to well at that point. Henry had to sleep the whole night with us. I hope it is the first and last time that happens. Henry slept perpendicular to Meg and I. I had a rubber foot or two in my face for the night and Meg had someone pulling at her hair. Occasionally he would wake up in the middle of the night and say, "duck!?" (his favorite sleep buddy).

On Christmas we drove back towards our house to see my side of the family. We had another dinner and exchanged more gifts. I didn't get any pictures of this day as things were a bit crazy with the three boys unwrapping and sharing gifts. Henry did really well after a brief period of whining (he slept just fine the night before!). I was dragging a bit and Meg took a nap upstairs during part of the afternoon.

It was a nice long weekend. I particularly like thinking back to a short walk Henry and I took on Sunday. I love watching him explore our world. Nothing give me more pleasure than walking hand in hand with him. I feel like a proud father putting his son on display for all the neighbors to see.

Henry's been calling me "Dizz" for some reason. He still says "Dad" too, but this nickname of mine is said as well. I'm not sure why. Sounds hip to me!















I tried to capture Henry's the crazy eyes Henry shows when spinning himself around, but wasn't able to exactly. The above picture gives some hint of it.

I did better with my halves last weekend than I have in some time. 8,003 half dollars turned up nine 90% silver halves (1945, 1958D, 1961, 6 x 1964), twenty-six 40% silver halves (3 x 1966, 10 x 1967, 9 x 1968D, 4 x 1969D) and three proof halves (2001S, 2006S, 2007S). One of the Franklins, the 1961, might be a proof. It has a what seems to be a mirror finish. The 2007S is a big upgrade to the slightly corroded example I had found before.

Last night I searched my last coin in the year and did fairly well.

2,440 quarters turned up four Canadians, one Cayman Islands 25¢, one US penny and one Chinese 1 Yuan (1997). The Chinese coin is a new variety and the first coin from China I've found in a roll!



2,150 dimes yielded three silver Rosies (1957D, 2 x 1964D), five Bermuda 10¢ and one Euro 1¢ (Ireland, 2002).

1,360 nickels (yup, I still searched them) produced two War Times (1944P, 1945P), five Canadians (1 Ni), one Euro 10¢ (France, 1999), one Euro 20¢ (France, 1999), three US pennies, one US dime, two MBTA tokens and one Russian 1 Rouble (1997). The Russian coin is a new variety for me. The MBTA tokens are still worth $1.25 each.



3,600 pennies had nineteen Wheats, twenty-three Canadians and one German 2 Pfennig. The Wheats were:

1909 VDB, 1940, 1944(2), 1945, 1946(2), 1948, 1950(2), 1952D, 1953D(2), 1955, 1956(2), 1956D, 1957D, 1958

Found: 1 penny (at Wal-Mart)