Thursday, September 29, 2011

Just a quick coin update ...

14 large dollars, 166 small dollars and 11 half dollars had nothing.

5,680 quarters produced one silver Washington (1956), six Canadians, two Bermuda 25¢ and one German Mark (1990).

800 dimes yielded just one Polish 10 Grozny.

400 nickels had one Canadian (1 Ni).

1,500 pennies turned up four Wheats (1941, 1946, 1953D, 1952D), nine Canadians and one UK penny.

Found: 1 nickel

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Yesterday Meg picked up a Halloween costume for Henry. It's a construction worker set and was his choice. He seems very excited about it and was wearing the vest and hat for most of last night. We still need to make him an ID badge. Hazel is going to be a chicken. Meg's working on her costume.

5,240 quarters had just five Canadians, one US nickel, one US penny and one Bahamas 25¢.

2,300 dimes produced one Canadian and one UK 5 pence.

1,320 nickels rounded up one War Time (1945P), two Canadians and one US dime.

3,500 pennies yielded fifteen Wheats (including one Steelie) and twenty-nine Canadians.

1939, 1942, 1943S, 1944(2), 1945(3), 1945D, 1951(2), 1955, 1957(2), 1957D

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

The weekend was pretty good for us. We could have done with out the weird late September humidity, but oh well.

On Friday we tried a new restaurant. I don't think we'll go back to that one. Hazel's a bit tough at restaurants these days, but even discounting that the food wasn't so good and the portions were small. On Saturday morning I took the kids to my parents to play, have lunch and pick out pumpkins from Grandpa's garden. Henry's pretty excited about the pumpkins. That evening I tried to shop for more Henry clothes. It didn't go too well. Sunday brought us all to church. Henry did well at church school and Hazel did well in the nursery (Meg was there with her the whole time). I took both of the kids the playground after Hazel's nap. They both did really well there. Henry even gave up a toy for a small girl when I asked him to. They were both excited by a small block with ten on it that Hazel found. After that we went clothes shopping at Kohls. I had to steer two carts there by myself, but the kids had fun "racing" in them and I picked up lots of good clothes, cheap! We capped off our fun, late afternoon with a trip to Pet Smart. Both of them thought that was great. At home Meg made some sweet smelling fresh tomato sauce that I'm anxious to try.

73 small dollars didn't have anything.

8,010 half dollars produced eight 40% silver halves (1965, 2 x 1967, 4 x 1968D, 1969D).

1,400 quarters had six Canadians, two US nickel and one US dime.

1,950 dimes yielded one silver Rosie (1957) and one US penny.

1,520 nickels turned up one dateless Buffalo (first Buffalo since August 22nd), four Canadians (1 Ni) and what I think is a 1963 Proof nickel.

15,050 pennies rounded up eighty-two Wheats, eighty-two Canadians, three US dimes, one Trinidad and Tobago 1¢, one UK penny and two Euro 2¢. The pennies I've searched lately have been light.

1930, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1940(2), 1941(3), 1941D, 1942, 1944(7), 1944S, 1945(6), 1946(2), 1947(2), 1948(3), 1949, 1950D, 1951, 1951D, 1952(4), 1952D(3), 1953, 1953D(5), 1953S, 1955(4), 1955D(2), 1956(6), 1956D(2), 1957(4), 1957D(5), 1958(5), 1958D(4)

Found: 2 pennies, 1 nickel

Friday, September 23, 2011

Last night I was trying to avoid another drawn out, fitful start to bedtime with Henry, so I asked him, "do you want to move your bed somewhere different?" (Henry's been sleeping on just his mattress for some time now because a few months back he decided that his bed gave him nightmares.) He said, "let's put it on that thing!" as he pointed to his bed frame. "Just for tonight," he then said. Hmmm. I think I'll be suggesting that again.

9,450 pennies turned up twenty-five Wheats, thirty-five Canadians, two US dimes and one Barbados 1¢.

1918, 1937, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1944(2), 1945, 1946(2), 1949(2), 1951D, 1952, 1952D, 1952D, 1953D, 1953S, 1954, 1955(2), 1956, 1956D, 1957D, 1958D

Found: 1 penny, 1 nickel

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Today I got a nice call from Meg after she dropped Henry off at school. Sometime this morning Henry told Meg that he liked a boy in his class (he named him) even though he talked funny and other kids didn't like him. That makes me a bit sad, but also proud that Henry was accepting. I hope Henry continues to make new friends.

Yesterday Meg was surprised by Henry. He came into the living room asking how to put blush on. He was trying to put it on his mouth. He then put it over his cheeks and used eye shadow somehow. Before a Home Depot trip Meg cleaned him off. At least he didn't put it all over his little sister!

Hazel slept through the night for another night!

Last night's coins were decent.

81 small dollars had nothing.

5,520 quarters turned up one silver Washington (1964), seven Canadians, two US pennies, two US nickels and an Angel medal.

2,500 dimes produced two silver Rosies (1947, 1963) and three Canadians.

2,040 nickels rounded up three War Times (1943S, 1945S), three Canadians and one Bermuda 5¢.

5,000 pennies twenty-seven Wheats, twenty-three Canadians and one UK penny.

1913, 1923, 1935, 1937(2), 1938, 1940, 1944, 1945(3), 1946(2), 1948, 1949, 1950D, 1951D, 192D, 1953(2), 1956(3), 1957, 1957D(2), 1958D

Found: 1 penny

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Last night's coins were rather dull ...

6,240 quarters had four Canadians, ten US nickels and one US penny (1944).

3,600 dimes produced one silver Rosie (1947), four Canadians and one UK 5 pence.

1,600 nickels yielded one War Time (1943P), four Canadians (1 Ni), one Cayman Islands 10¢ and two US dimes.

5,000 pennies rounded up nineteen Wheats, twenty Canadians, two US dimes, one UK penny and one Euro 2¢.

1918, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1939, 1940, 1944, 1944D, 1950S, 1952, 1953, 1953D, 1955(2), 1957D(3), 1958, 1958D

Tuesday, September 20, 2011





Yesterday Henry decided to make a special yogurt with his own recipe. He was very proud of this and asked Meg to cover it with Saran Wrap so he could put it in the fridge. He said it'd take ten hours to finish and then asked Meg, "is that a long time?" Before supper he set four dessert bowls on the table and towards the end of supper he put a bit of corn bread in each bowl and "drizzled" his unique concoction on top of them. There was a bowl for each of us. Meg was the first to try the special sauce ... it wasn't too good (a lot of oregano and lime went into it). Henry was next and made one terrible face when he tried it; saying, "that's not too good." Hazel was third, grabbing a large spoonful, she made her yuck face, did a shake or two and finished it all. I tried it last ... I had too. An auspicious, but cute start, that's for sure!


56 small dollars and 9 half dollars had one 40% silver half (1969D).

7,760 quarters produced three silver Washingtons (1943, 1953D, 1957D), twelve Canadians, one UK 10 pence, fourteen US nickels and five US dimes. It was really cool to have my good silver quarter streak continue. Three in one sitting is really good for me ... and no 1964's! (It came at the cost of being short changed $3.55 because of the nickels and dimes, but I still came out ahead, I think.)

6,700 dimes rounded up two silver Rosies (1946, 1964D), ten Canadians, two UK 5 pence and one US penny.

2,080 nickels yielded seven Canadians (3 Ni), one Bermuda 5¢ and one US dime. I'm still not having that much luck with nickels.

Yesterday wasn't a great day for me, but I felt like my luck was turning around when I found a pile of foreign coins on top of a Coin Star machine. There were fifty-two coins in all (fifty-one of which were foreign) and a convenient ziploc bag to put them in! The mix included one US nickel, three Canadians pennies, one Euro 1¢, two Euro 2¢, one Euro 50¢ (75¢ in Euros), one South Africa 5¢, three South Africa 10¢, one South Africa 50¢ (12¢ in South African Rands), six Thai 1 Baht, two Thai 5 Baht, two Thai 10 ¢ ($1.18 in Thai Baht), two Mexican 50¢, one Mexican $2 (23¢ in Mexican Pesos), two Hungarian 2 Forint, one Hungarian 5 Forint (4¢ in Hungarian Forint), three South Korean 10 Won, one South Korean 100 Won (12¢ in South Korean Won), two Costa Rica 100 Colones (40¢ in Costa Rica Colones), twelve Japanese 1¥ and three Japanese 10¥ (55¢ in Japanese ¥). Unfortunately there weren't any new countries in there for me, but I did get a lot of new types.





















Found: 1 nickel, 51 foreign coins (see above)

Monday, September 19, 2011



This weekend we decided to get tough with Hazel (to improve her and definitely Meg's sleeping). We've done it all before, but we're determined to make it work. Last night she slept through the night ... who knows, perhaps we've done it? We hope.

We had a fun time at birthday party on Saturday. The kids particularly enjoyed the large bouncy house the family rented. Henry, Hazel, Meg and I spent a fair amount of time in there. I think we were the only adults who went in. We were a bit worried about Hazel. We probably shouldn't have been as she had no problem climbing the ramp inside of it that lead up to the slide's platform and sliding down the slide (face first). She was very proud of herself.

On Sunday Henry had a pretty good time at church school. He's still adjusting to the whole idea of it, but it was much better than last week and he spoke fondly of it afterwards. That afternoon I took him to get some new Fall clothes at Old Navy. Somehow I persuaded him that he needed to go with me to pick some out. He told me that it was to be cold today and that we're getting snow. Perhaps I harped on the cold aspect of Fall too much?

8,000 halves produced just one 90% silver half (1952D), two 40% silver halves (1967, 1968D) and six proof halves (1976S, 1981S, 1986S, 2002S, 2003S, 2009S).

5,000 pennies turned up twenty-seven Wheats, thirty-four Canadians and one bunny stamped penny.

1926, 1930, 1935, 1936, 1938, 1941, 1941S, 1942, 1944(2), 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950D, 1951D, 1951S, 1952, 1952D, 1953D, 1955, 1955D, 1957D(2), 1958D(2)

Found: 2 pennies, 1 foreign coin (a Canadian penny)

Friday, September 16, 2011

Last night Aunt Jess and Uncle Tim came over to sleep at our house on their way to California and visit with us. It was a nice break from our routine and seemed to settle Hazel a bit before bedtime (just when we needed it too! :) ).

Henry was extremely talkative last night, especially with Jess. I heard some good things about his day. He had fun at preschool playing with some blocks with another kid that he named. They made a city and cars out of the blocks, including a limousine. The teacher's assistant told Meg that Henry was very talkative. Meg told me Henry went very willingly to school (from the van anyway) and said "goodbye" to his teacher when he left. Henry also mentioned the new animal they put on the wall, a fish, and came home turning off lights and saying, "stop, look and listen!" and "time to clean up!" All three things we'd welcome anytime at our house!

Hazel's been trying climb up absolutely everything at home. We're considering some sort of restraint system. Perhaps a ball and chain? ;)

This morning I realized I had forgotten to go through a bag of mixed coin, so I searched just a bit before work.

11 small dollars had nothing.

760 quarters had one Canadian and one US dime.

600 dimes produced nothing.

520 nickels turned up three Canadians (2 Ni) and one US dime.

350 pennies yielded four Wheats (1939, 1946, 1953, 1955D), one Canadian and one US dime.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Just a quick coin update ...

4,440 quarters produced one silver Washington (1964), eighteen Canadians and one US nickel.

2,400 dimes yielded thirteen Canadians and one Cayman Islands 10¢.

1,240 nickels turned up nine Canadians (1 Ni). In this bunch was also a 1949S and a 1955.

4,700 pennies had twenty-one Wheats, forty-five Canadians and one US dime.

19??, 1919, 1937, 1942D, 1944(2), 1946(2), 1948, 1951D(2), 1952D, 1953, 1953D(2), 1954, 1956, 1956D, 1957, 1958, 1958D

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Nana's from Venus

Yesterday Meg and I met with Henry's preschool teacher just after we dropped him off. 29 small dollars had nothing.
Recently Henry told Meg, "Nana's from Venus. Grandpa told me." Although not as funny, but cute to me, he told me about a dream he had. There was lots of snow in our driveway that was "moving itself" (not sure what that means) and that he, I and Grandpa were out in it.

Yesterday Meg and I met with Henry's teacher after dropping him off at school. We were concerned that he wasn't participating at school too much and that he might be having tantrums there. The teacher allayed our fears and said although quiet (especially the first few days during which he did a lot of observing) he was bonding with one of the aides and had spoken a bit. I also got to see his classroom and peak in on him for the first time. If it were feasible I could have watched the whole two hours he was there. It was wonderful to see him in there.

2,600 quarters produced six Canadians, one dollar (a 1979, SBA dollar), one UK 10 pence and one Bermuda 25¢.

2,950 dimes yielded three silver Rosies (1946, 1948, 1964), five Canadians and two UK 5 pence.

1,000 nickels turned up three Canadians and one Bermuda 5¢.

14,700 pennies rounded up one Indian Head (1903), sixty-four Wheats (including one Steelie), one hundred eighteen Canadians, four US dimes, one Barbados 1¢, one UK penny, one Euro 2¢ and one Bahamas 1¢.

1910, 1914, 1917, 1920(2), 1928, 1937(3), 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941(4), 1943, 1944(2), 1945(4), 1947(3), 1948(2), 1949, 1950(2), 1951(3), 1951D, 1952(3), 1953(2), 1953D(3), 1955, 1955D, 1955S(2), 1956(3), 1956D(3), 1957, 1957D(7), 1958(2), 1958D

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

128 small dollars and 61 half dollars had nothing.

7,200 quarters turned up one silver Washington (1963), one proof quarter (2000S VA), twenty-seven Canadians, twenty US nickels, five US nickels, two Bermuda 25¢, one German 1 Mark, one UK 10 pence and one Indian 1 Rupee.

6,300 dimes produced two silver Rosies (1964, 1964D), fourteen Canadians (one a 1945, George VI, 80% silver), one US penny, one UK 5 pence and one Bermuda 10¢.

2,040 nickels yielded four Canadian (2 Ni) and one US dime. These nickels also had a 1950 nickel.

Found: 1 penny

Monday, September 12, 2011



Henry and Hazel were being cute eating some fresh vegetables from our garden on our stoop so she took this picture.





This weekend we had fun going to Sturbridge Village on Saturday and to our church's family picnic on Sunday. Henry and Hazel are both not feeling too well with colds and although they didn't sleep so hot (neither did we) they were in pretty good spirits during the day.

7 small dollars had nothing.

8,001 half dollars turned up two 90% silver halves (1964, 1964D), twelve 40% silver halves (1965, 1966, 3 x 1967, 4 x 1968D, 3 x 1969D) and six proofs (1983S, 2 x 1984S, 1989S, 1994S, 2008S).

17,150 pennies yielded one Indian Head (1882), eighty-three Wheats, one hundred eleven Canadians, three US dimes and one Panama 1¢. The Indian Head is really worn.

1924, 1928, 1935, 1936(2), 1937, 1938, 1940(3), 1940S, 1941(2), 1941D, 1942(2), 1944(6), 1944D, 1945(4), 1945S, 1946(3), 1946D, 1947, 1947S, 1948(4), 1949(3), 1950S, 1951D, 1952(2), 1952D(3), 1952S, 1953(2), 1953D(5), 1954D, 1955(6), 1956(3), 1956D(4), 1957, 1957D(6), 1958, 1958D(2)

Found: 4 pennies, 1 dime, 2 quarters

Thursday, September 8, 2011

It was a another big coin searching night.

57 small dollars had one new dollar for me, 2011P Hayes.

12,640 quarters produced two silver Washingtons (1964, 1964D), nine Canadians, one US nickel, one Italy 50 Lire and one Bermuda 25¢.

4,450 dimes yielded one silver Rosie (1964), fifteen Canadians, two UK 5 pence, one Dominican Republic 10¢.

3,520 nickels rounded up two proofs (1957 Proof, 1958 Proof), one War Time (1945P), nine Canadians (3 Ni), one Jamaica $5, one Bahrain 50 Fils (2005) and one US penny. The proof coins are great! They have mintages of 1,247,952 and 875,652. That makes them 3rd and 1st in my rarest nickels by mintage chart. The Bahrain coin is the second new country coin I've found this week! Unfortunately both countries are tiny and don't fill much of my map, but I'm still pretty excited. I also turned up a 1951S.



11,100 pennies had sixty-eight Wheats, seventy-four Canadians, six US dimes, one Taiwan 1 Yuan and one Bermuda 1¢. A penny I found was stamped "3 3."

1928, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940(2), 1941(4), 1942, 1944D, 1945(3), 1946(2), 1946S, 1947(2), 1948(2), 1949(2), 1950(2), 1950S(2), 1951(2), 1951D, 1952, 1952D, 1953(4), 1953D(2), 1954D(3), 1955(2), 1956(2), 1956D(4), 1957, 1957D(10), 1958D(3)

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Yesterday was Henry's 2nd day of preschool. I didn't hear too much about the day first hand because things were a bit hectic after I got home, but from what I and Meg heard he had a pretty good time. He told me he didn't like the songs, but Meg said he was singing one of the songs throughout the afternoon, "and your friends are my friends, and my friends are your friends." He also liked some "bendy blocks" they had. He said his favorite thing was snack time. They had carrot sticks. One of the first things he mentioned to Meg was that he used the potty there.

Last night I went through a ton of coin.

8,000 quarters had two silver Washingtons (2 x 1964), fourteen Canadians, one UK 10 pence, two US nickels, one US dime, one East Caribbean States 25¢, one Netherlands 1 Gulden and one token. The Netherlands coin is a new one for me.



6,555 dimes produced four silver Rosies (1949D, 1953D, 1961D, 1962D), fourteen Canadians, four US pennies (including two Wheats, 1953 and 1956), one Aruba 5¢ and one Belgian 1 franc.

3,240 nickels turned up just six Canadians and one Bermuda 5¢. I haven't been having too much luck with nickels since my big War Time nickel score.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

50 small dollars had nothing.

8,002 half dollars turned up forty-five 90% silver halves (1935S, 1936, 1940, 2 x 1945, 1945S, 1946S, 1952D, 1953D, 1962D, 2 x 1963D, 32 x 1964, 1964D), one hundred eight 40% silver halves (2 x 1965, 9 x 1966, 42 x 1967, 39 x 1968D, 1968S, 15 x 1969D), eleven proofs (1968S, 2 x 1972S, 1973S, 1976S, 1980S, 1982S, 1983S, 1990S, 1991S, 1995S) and one token (a Hackett Bungy token from New Zealand, www.bungy.co.nz). That's one of my best half dollar scores ever! The only bummer was there was no new ones in that mix for me. I hadn't found the 1968S in some time so that was cool, even if it was covered with some weird gunk.

3,000 quarters yielded three Canadians, twelve US nickels (thanks, jerk!), one UK 10 pence and one Cape Verde 20 Escudos (1994). The Cape Verde coin is a new one for me. Always great to find a new country!



2,300 dimes produced three silver Rosies (1961, 1961 Proof, 1963), three Canadians, one Swiss &$189; franc and one Ecuador 10¢. The silver proof is a new one for me, 3,028,244 were minted. It is not as nice as the 1957 proof dime I found, but it still has enough mirror finish left to identify it.

1,200 nickels had just one Canadian.

8,900 pennies got me fifty-three Wheats, eighty-four Canadians and one Zambia 1 Ngwee. I also found a clipped Lincoln in this batch.

1918, 1920(2), 1926, 1929(2), 1930, 1934, 1937(2), 1938, 1939, 1940D, 1941, 1942, 1945(3), 1946(4), 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950(3), 1950D(2), 1951, 1953(2), 1953S, 1955(2), 1956(2), 1956D(8), 1957, 1957D(3), 1958, 1958D

Found: 1 penny, 1 dime

Friday, September 2, 2011

Yesterday when I got home Henry had a lot to say about his time at preschool. It was a dream come true. I expected him to say just a little, but this was one of those special times when we can't stop him talking. All comments he made about the school were said very much as a matter of fact. I'm sure it was tough at times there for him, but he seems favorable to the experience and about going there again ... for now.

He told us that he "crawled on the road" (I'm guessing they thought he was walking just fine and he did his usual go-prone-quick move.) toward the van to try to get home. He was sad because Mom and Hazel weren't there. They sang several songs, one with everyone's name in it (the welcome song) and another had ABC's in it. He didn't like the songs and pretended to sleep three times during them. There were no parents, just kids and two teachers who are also moms (I guess he was told this by them and it made an impression). The teacher had to pick him up off the floor.

They had two books about trains neither had trestles (bridges) in them. They weren't allowed to play with the kitchen. "They have two kitchens!" was the first thing Henry told Meg. They had a water table and a sand table and both are limited to two kids at once. That's the rule and they have a sign with two kids to get the point across he told us. Outside he played with mulch. He didn't swing. They had a new car there (like our Cozy Coupe), but two kids were playing with it so he didn't. We asked him if he asked for a turn. He said he did. "What was their response?," we pressed him. He said he was sad about it (I guess they said no).

One boy cried and said, "Dad!" "There are two Wyatts, one on Super Why (a PBS show) and one at school." He told his teacher he was going to get ice cream when he left. Meg took Henry and Hazel to the park to celebrate and they got to get ice cream from the ice cream truck while there. "They only had vanilla," I was told.

Meg told me that when they got home from dropping of Henry, Hazel immediately picked up Duck, grabbed a pair of Henry's pants and walked about saying "Henna!"

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Last night's coin was kind of dull.

1 large dollar and 1,149 small dollars turned up four mint set dollars (2 x 2002P, 2 x 2002D), one quarter (an extra one) and one Canadian. I was really hoping to find a proof dollar because I hadn't found one in some time.

2,360 quarters produced just one Canadian.

3,750 dimes yielded ten Canadians and one Canadian penny.

1,640 nickels rounded up four Canadians (1 Ni) and one Bahamas 5¢.

2,000 pennies got me nine Wheats, sixteen Canadians and three US dimes.

1946, 1948, 1949, 1952(2), 1954, 1956D(3)

Found: 2 pennies