Cheap, Green and Happy

2012-01-26T10:44:00.001-05:00

Yesterday Meg took Henry and Hazel to a birthday party at a new bouncy place. Here are some pictures.

2 large dollars, 18 small dollars and one half dollar had nothing.

1,400 quarters produced three Canadians and four US nickels.

2,500 dimes yielded four silver dimes (1942D, 1956, 1961, 1962), three Canadians and one UK 5 pence.

3,080 nickels rounded up three Buffaloes (1930, 1936, 1937), three War Times (2 x 1943P, 1944P), eight Canadians (3 Ni), two US pennies and an Irish 6 pence (1940). That's the first time I've come across three dated Buffaloes in one sitting. (Two of these came from the same source.) All three are in really good shape.

2012-01-25T08:17:00.002-05:00

Yeah! A perfect night of sleep! No wake-ups from Henry or Hazel. It feels good.

Yesterday I picked up a ton of coin. It hasn't really panned out so far. These things happen I suppose, but this lot definitely doesn't seem worth the pick-up/drop-off time.

30 large dollars and 197 small dollars had just one mint set dollar (2002D). I forgot to mention that a few weeks back I surpassed the 50,000 mark for small dollars.

9,440 quarters rounded up twenty-three Canadians, one UK 10 pence, one US nickel and one Polish 1 Zloty (1992). The Polish coin is a new type for me.

9,050 dimes yielded one silver Rosie (1961D), fourteen Canadians, one Cayman Islands 10¢, one Barbados 10¢, one Swiss 10 Rappen and one Singapore 10¢.

2012-01-24T08:37:00.003-05:00

Last week Henry asked Meg, "are there normal people in Boston?" She couldn't get him to explain the question further. I suppose the Republican attacks on Massachusetts liberals have gotten to my son.

Hazel slept through the night!

67 small dollars and 24 half dollars produced one 40% silver half (1966).

4,680 quarters rounded up one silver Washington (1949), eight Canadians, four US nickels and two US dimes.

3,900 dimes yielded one silver Rosie (1964), five Canadians, one US penny and a Columbian 10 peso (1991).

2,120 nickels got me one War Time (1943D), five Canadians (3 Ni), four US dimes and one Bahamas 5¢. That's only the third 1943D nickel I've found.

2,800 pennies turned up eighteen Wheats, twenty-eight Canadians and one US dime.

1916, 1936, 1944(3), 1949, 1950D, 1952D, 1953, 1953D, 1955, 1956D(5), 1957, 1958D

Found: one penny, two foreign coins (a Canadian penny and a 1951, 80% silver, Canadian dime)

2012-01-23T09:02:00.003-05:00

This weekend started with a pretty good trip to the Olive Garden (Henry's idea). The kids weren't too bad, but strangely for that place the bread sticks and salad didn't turn up instantly (that's why the place is pretty good for kids). We had a tough time getting Hazel from under the table. She fit perfectly under there. Eventually I had to crawl under there. :)

On Saturday I journey through the snow with the kids to Evan's Pine Wood Derby (Boy Scout event). It took about an hour to drive somewhere it takes us 20 minutes usually. Oh well. It was worth it. The theme of the event was Star Wars. I have to admit it brings a certain joy to my heart to see the next generation embracing Star Wars so eagerly. I'm definitely not the only one many mom and dads involved got into the event and wore costumes just like the kids (Nicole was not one of them ... next year!). I think next year Henry will be bringing his own car to race. He was quiet throughout the event, but spoke well of it afterwards. On the way home we had a nice time at Papa Gino's with Nana and Grandpa.

Things took a turn for the worse after that.

I started feeling ill after supper. I had chills and felt like I was going to throw up. That happened during a middle of the night trip to the bathroom with Henry. He threw up himself about two hours later. I recovered pretty well after being sick, but Henry was wiped out for most of the day (rallying just to go grocery shopping with me and give mom a 1/2 hour nap). Today everyone is feeling just fine.

Hazel getting dressed up.

Henry dolled up just like his little sister.

The opening ceremony of Pine Wars. Notice in the foreground Hazel's letting Cioci hold her!

Henry was requesting lots of cuddles yesterday. Usually this leads to Hazel being jealous, but for a minute or two she was able and allowed to join in.

Henry was so wiped out he actually fell asleep on the couch with his "Lego" catalog.

8,000 half dollars had one 90% silver half (1964), three 40% silver halves (1967, 1968D, 1969D) and three proof halves (1977S, 1978S, 1983S).

4,640 quarters turned up one silver Washington (1964), two Canadians, one Bermuda 25¢ and one UK 10 pence.

1,000 dimes had nothing.

400 nickels yielded one War Time (1943P), two Canadians (1 Ni) and one Bermuda 5¢.

7,000 pennies rounded up thirty-eight Wheats, twenty-seven Canadian and one US dime. One of the Wheats was the 1926D. I don't find too many of that one!

1913, 1918, 1926D, 1928, 1929, 1935, 1941, 1942, 1944(6), 1945, 1946(2), 1948, 1949, 1950, 1950S, 1951(2), 1952, 1955, 1956D(5), 1957, 1957D(3), 1958D(2)

2012-01-19T11:26:00.002-05:00

I searched just a wee bit of coin last night.

280 quarters turned up just one Canadian.

3,250 dimes rounded up two silver Rosies (1957, 1964D), four Canadian and one UK 5 pence. Not bad, but of course a bit of let down after the night before!

520 nickels had two Canadians (1 Ni).

3,750 pennies yielded twenty Wheats and twenty-six Canadians.

1916, 1920, 1935, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1944, 1946, 1947(2), 1947D, 1949, 1953, 1953D(2), 1954, 1954D, 1956, 1956D, 1957

Silver Dime Hoard #3

2012-01-18T13:51:00.007-05:00

This weekend things began pretty well with a successful trip to the "Red Diner." It's a great place for kids (Henry likes the movies with lots of old time cars in them) and somehow we avoided telling Henry about the demise of our local Friendly's. Henry and Hazel impressed a several tables of customers with their dance moves.

On Saturday Meg and I got rare chance to spend some time together. We went to an antique furniture store to look at bookshelves and some other furniture and made a quick trip to Dunkin Donuts. We live large! It went by just to quickly. By the time we've settle into being without the kids our time is over. I can't wait to have a nice dinner out together in two weeks. Henry and Hazel had some time at Nana and Grandpa's.

Late on the day in Sunday I took the two kids to the Ecotarium. It was crowded, but it didn't matter to much. There are only families their and everyone seems to be quite understanding of each other. We're all in the same boat, I suppose. Henry ws disappointed that the model train was running, but he still enjoyed showing it to me. I "outdid" myself and attempted to share a can of grape juice with Henry and Hazel. Hazel was satisfied just to put the can up to her lips. She didn't get much of anything from it. :(

Last night Meg and I got treated to one of the best at home dinners we've had with the kid in sometime. Lots of good, quiet playtime while Meg and I finished eating! The highlight of the dinner was when Hazel accidentally banged her head and went to me first for a hug and kiss, then Meg and then Henry after he held out his arms and asked her to come over. He gave her a hug and a kiss and Hazel said, "thank you."

Hazel's sleep was much better than the night before. Unfortunately Hazel's thrown up twice today at home and Henry's been extremely demanding. I'm not sure what's going on.

34 small dollars had just one mint set dollar (2005P).

4,520 quarters produced seven Canadians, nine US nickels and three Bermuda 25¢.

3,650 dimes turned up forty silver dimes and two Canadians. About midway through these dimes I stared to come across rolls with one or more silver dimes in them. One roll had eight in it. I even came across my second Barber dime (1914D). This one is in much better condition than the first one I found too! This is the third silver dime hoard I've come across (one on one 11/18/08 had 109 silver dimes in it and one on 6/10/10 had 51 silver dimes in it). I only wish some of these dimes had S mint marks on them.

1914D, 1937, 1939D, 1941, 1942(3), 1943(2), 1944(6), 1945, 1946(2), 1948, 1949D, 1950D, 1951, 1953D(3), 1954, 1954D, 1957, 1957D, 1959(2), 1960D, 1962D(3), 1963D(2), 1964, 1964D

1,640 nickels yielded one War Time (1943P), five Canadians (2 Ni), one Bahamas 5¢, one US penny and one Turkish 25 Kurus (2009). That's the first coin from Turkey I've found. It is my second new country for 2012.

1,800 pennies rounded up eleven Wheats, twelve Canadians and five US dimes.

1941(2), 1944(2), 1944D, 1946S, 1948, 1952, 1956D, 1957D(2)

Found: one penny

2012-01-15T17:22:00.003-05:00

8,000 halves had just one keeper, a Portuguese 50¢ (1987). That was a bit a bummer, but that is the first coin from Portugal I've gotten that isn't a Euro.

5,000 pennies produced two proofs (1968S Proof, 1992S), thirty-four Wheats, twenty-eight Canadians and two Bahamas 1¢. That's the first time I've gotten two penny proofs in one sitting!

1910, 1917, 1920, 1927, 1928, 1939, 1941(5), 1942, 1944(5), 1945, 1946, 1947, 1951D, 1952, 1953(2), 1955, 1956, 1956D(2), 1957(3), 1957D, 1958(2)

2012-01-13T10:44:00.000-05:00

7,400 pennies turned up thirty-seven Wheats, forty-one Canadians, one Euro 1¢ and one six US dimes.

1938(2), 1940, 1941(2), 1942, 1944(4), 1945(3), 1948, 1950, 1950D, 1952D, 1953(3), 1953D, 1954(3), 1955, 1956, 1956D(4), 1957D(3), 1958D(4)

Found: two pennies

2012-01-12T09:16:00.002-05:00

2,800 quarters had nine Canadians, two Bermuda 25¢, one US nickel and one US dime.

4,000 dimes rounded up one silver Rosie (1964), two Canadians and two Bermuda 10¢.

2,000 nickels produced five Canadians (1 Ni) and one US dime.

5,650 pennies yielded nineteen Wheats, twenty-nine Canadians and one Cayman Islands 1¢.

Found: one penny

2012-01-11T11:10:00.001-05:00

100 small dollars had two mint set dollars (2003D, 2004P).

4,600 quarters produced five Canadians, one Bermuda 25¢, one Bahamas 25¢, two US nickels and one US dime.

2,250 dimes rounded up one proof dime (1988S), two silver Rosies (1964, 1964D), three Canadians and one US penny.

1,520 nickels yielded one War Time (1943P), one Canadian and one US dime.

Found: three pennies, one nickel

2012-01-10T09:49:00.003-05:00

Sometime soon we're going to have to break the bad news to Henry ... his favorite restaurant, our local Friendly's, is closed. We were worried this was going to happen. The 2nd closest location is closed now too. Bummer.

Both Henry and Hazel have been sick and not sleeping well for a few days now. It's been a bit tough. They seem to be on the mend, however.

Our big excitement this week was setting up a small aquarium in Henry's room and getting two small fish for it. I'm probably the most excited about it. I've wanted an aquarium for a long time. Now having two small kids has given me the perfect excuse! Henry and Hazel do seem to get a kick out of it. They especially like feeding time of course.

133 small dollars had one modern new one for me, the 2011P Garfield.

8,000 half dollars produced four 40% silver halves (1967, 1968D, 2 x 1969D).

6,240 quarters yielded one silver Washington (1962), thirteen Canadians, three US dimes, twelve US nickels, one UK 10 pence, one Mexican $1 (1984), one Italy .5 Lire, one Bermuda 25¢ and a French Polynesia 10 franc. That's the first coin I've found from French Polynesia (includes Tahiti). The first new country of 2012 for me!

4,800 dimes rounded up one silver Rosie (1964D), five Canadians, one Trinidad & Tobago 10¢, one Italy .5 Lire and one Aruba 10¢.

2,040 nickels got me three War Times (3 x 1943P), six Canadians (4 Ni), two US dimes, one Cayman Islands 10¢, one Guatemala 10¢.

5,000 pennies landed me thirty-seven Wheats and twenty-six Canadians.

1925, 1928, 1929, 1935, 1941(2), 1942, 1944, 1945(2), 1946, 1948, 1951(5), 1952, 1952D(2), 1953(2), 1953D(2), 1955(4), 1955D, 1956, 1956D(2), 1957D, 1958(4)

Found: four pennies, one nickel, one dime and one foreign coin (a Euro 20¢)

Hazel's talking

2012-01-06T09:51:00.001-05:00

Recently, Meg and I have witnessed a very fun (mostly) explosion of Hazel's vocabulary. Some of the words we've heard

tractor, blue, yellow, book, spoon, bowl, cup, read, car, choo-choo, train, chocolate, cookie, sticker, more and ... our "favorite" no

Hazel's also been singing some, "Bah, Bah Black Sheep," "Old McDonald," "The Wheels on the Bus" and the Dinosaur Train theme song.

5,800 pennies turned up twenty-two Wheats, thirty-two Canadians, four US dimes and one US nickel.

1919, 1928, 1941(2), 1942, 1944(3), 1945, 1946(2), 1948S, 1950, 1952D(2), 1955, 1956D, 1957, 1957D(2), 1958(2)

2012-01-04T08:42:00.003-05:00

My reading goal for 2011 was the same as 2010, to read twenty-four books during the year. I did it! I finished twenty-six books and read half of two books (shown in gray). Is that twenty-seven? I hope to read a similar number this year.

ADVENTURE

A good portion of my books still have to do with adventure. I’m still enjoying myself, so what not?

Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu – Laurence Bergreen

Epic Wanderer: David Thompson and the Mapping of the Canadian West – D’Arcy Jenish

The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty – Caroline Alexander

The Devil’s Mariner – Anton Gill

Fatal Passage: The True Story of John Rae, the Arctic Hero Time Forgot – Ken McGoogan

Ancient Mariner: The Arctic Adventures of Samuel Hearne, the Sailor Who Inspired Coleridge’s Masterpiece – Ken McGoogan

Pictorial Journey on the Old Mekong: Cambodia, Laos and Yunnan – Louis Delaporte and Francis Garnier

Race to the Polar Sea: The Heroic Adventures of Elisha Kent Kane – Ken McGoogan

The Riddle and the Knight: In Search of Sir John Mandeville, the World’s Greatest Traveler – Giles Milton

Exotic Pleasures: Fascicle III, Curious Scientific and Medical Observations – Engelbert Kaempfer

SHIPWRECKS

Last year I read a couple of books concerning shipwrecks. At the beginning of this year I continued reading more shipwreck books until I got a bit burned out. I love the blend of history and treasure hunting.

Dragon Sea: A True Tale of Treasure, Archeology, and Greed of the Coast of Vietnam – Frank Pope

Lost at Sea: The Strange Route of the Lena Shoal Junk – Frank Goddio

Lost Gold of the Republic: The Remarkable Quest for the Greatest Shipwreck Treasure of the Civil War Era – Priit J. Vesilind

Expedition Whydah: The Story of the World’s First Excavation of a Pirate Treasure Ship and the Man Who Found Her – Barry Clifford

Goldfinder: The True Story of $100 Million in Lost Russian Gold – and One Man’s Lifelong Quest to Recover It – Keith Jessop

Fatal Treasure: Greed and Death, Emeralds and Gold, and the Obsessive Search for the Legendary Ghost Galleon Atocha – Jedwin Smith

Treasure Ship: The Legend and Legacy of the S.S. Brother Jonathan – Dennis M. Powers

HISTORICAL TREASURES

I’m always looking for high quality books (good writing with many pictures and drawings) about historical treasures. I can’t do much travelling these days, so this is the next best thing for me to do. I reason that when I do travel I’ll be more educated and excited about what I’m seeing.

Guide to the Viking Ship Museum – Arne Emil Christiansen

The Viking Ships in Oslo – Thorleif Sjovold

The Warship Mary Rose: The Life & Times of King Henry VIII’s Flagship – David Childs

ARCHEOLOGISTS

There are a few important archeologists I’d like to read more about.

Cradle of Gold: The Story of Hiram Bingham, a Real-Life Indiana Jones, and the Search for Machu Picchu – Christopher Heaney

TRUE CRIME

Since I imbibed in a guilty pleasure this year and read a ton of shipwreck books I thought I’d move on to true crime. I have only read one such book so far, but I’ve got a few more on my list.

King of Heists: The Sensational Bank Robbery of 1878 That Shocked America – J. North Conway

WORLD WAR II

There seems to be a lot of well regarded World War II adventure books out there, usually involving some great escape or raid that have caught my interest. I’m also interested in reading some good firsthand accounts of the war and potentially some other conflicts such as the Korean War or the Vietnam War.

The Airmen and the Headhunters: A True Story of Lost Soldiers, Heroic Tribesmen and the Unlikeliest Rescue of World War II – Judith M. Heimann

Wolfram: The Boy Who Went to War – Giles Milton

OTHER HISTORY

Some books don’t fit any categories I have, but have still got my interest.

The Story of Measurement – Andrew Robinson

Lost Languages: The Enigma of the World’s Undeciphered Scripts – Andrew Robinson

Unbound: A True Story of War, Love, and Survival – Dean King

Paradise Lost: Smyrna, 1922 – Giles Milton

2012-01-04T08:33:00.002-05:00

Last night was another good start to year ...

2,880 quarters turned up two silver Washingtons (1963, 1964), two Canadians and one US nickel.

4,950 dimes produced three silver Rosies (2 x 1964, 1964D), four Canadians, one Swiss 10 Rappen and two US pennies. One of the pennies was a very corroded and beat up Indian Head penny! I can't be sure of the date, but I think it's an 1883. I might spend some more time with it. I guess one will come across just about anything in rolls after a while.

2,160 nickels yielded two Buffalo nickels (unknown, 1929), six Canadians (2 Ni), three US dimes, three US pennies and one Ecuador 5¢.

2012-01-03T10:09:00.006-05:00

This weekend we went out to my in-laws to celebrate Christmas with the other side of the family. We had a tough time getting the kids to sleep there, but otherwise everything went fine. We had a great time on the way back home when we stopped at a modern art museum with Nonnie.

Meg and Hazel touching some artwork in the kid friendly part of the museum before we were told it was not permitted. It didn't look breakable to us!

Hazel doing some artwork.

Henry checking out the big painted panels that filled several rooms in a maze like fashion. He was very impressed.

The kids of course also enjoyed looking out the large factory windows at the canal and trucks.

Henry contemplating.

Hazel during on her and Henry's impromptu dance parties. Meg's got some great video of this as well.

Hazel just outside the museum.

This weekend I searched the last coins of 2011. It was a good ending to a good year of searching (my 2011 review will be coming soon).

8,000 halves turned up five 90% silver halves (1906, 1944D, 3 x 1964), twenty-eight 40% silver halves (5 x 1966, 9 x 1967, 8 x 1968D, 6 x 1969D) and four proof halves (1972S, 1973S, 1974S, 1981S). That's the first new Walking Liberty half I've found since 10/24/10! The 1906 Barber half is only the fourth I've found (my first repeat).

11,150 pennies rounded up one hundred thirteen Wheats, sixty-nine Canadians, 3 x Euro 2¢, one Euro 1¢ and one Bermuda 1¢. One of the Wheats was a really rusty Steelie, it is obviously from 1943, but I can't discern any or no mint mark.

1913, 1914, 1919, 1929, 1934, 1936, 1936D(2), 1937, 1939(2), 1940(4), 1941(5), 1942(4), 1942S, 1943?, 1944(10), 1945(8), 1946(12), 1947(4), 1947D, 1948(4), 1948D, 1949(2), 1950, 1950D, 1951D, 1952(5), 1952D(4), 1953(3), 1953D(4), 1955(3), 1956(3), 1956D(4), 1957D8), 1958(3), 1958D(5)

And some for 2012 ...

5,000 pennies yielded twenty Wheats and seventeen Canadians.

1937, 1941, 1942(2), 1944, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1953, 1953D, 1953S, 1954, 1955, 1956(2), 1957, 1957D, 1958D(2)

Found (2012): one penny

2011-12-29T08:29:00.004-05:00

Yesterday while picking up coins a teller gave me a foreign coin she had been saving for me. I had no idea where it was from. I had some guesses based on the motifs used, but I didn't recognize the script. It took a bit of searching, but finally I discovered it was an Ethiopian 25¢. A new country for me! The eleventh of the year.

Other than that my coins were pretty boring yesterday.

50 small dollars had one mint set dollar (2006P).

3,720 quarters produced two Canadians, two US nickels and one US dime.

3,400 dimes yielded me one silver Rosie (1959) and six Canadians.

1,560 nickels rounded up five (3 Ni) Canadians.

8,600 pennies landed me one proof (1993S), sixty Wheats, nine Canadians, eleven US dimes, one Euro 2¢ and one UK penny (1971).

1912, 1920, 1935(2), 1937, 1940(3), 1941(2), 1942(4), 1944(7), 1945(4), 1946(2), 1946D, 1948, 1948D, 1950, 1951, 1951D, 1952(3), 1952D, 1953D, 1955(2), 1956, 1956D(3), 1957D(6), 1958(4), 1958D(6)

Found: two pennies

Merry Christmas

2011-12-28T09:41:00.005-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone! Round one is over and round two is just around the corner. It was a good Christmas for us.

Christmas for me began on the 23rd. I had a great time taking the kids shopping on Friday. Henry was very excited to find a pair of earrings for Meg (he blew the secret and then later insisted she put them on). I was surprised I could get as much shopping as I could with them in tow. They definitely surprise me with patience sometimes.

On Christmas Eve we went to church early. Greg, Evan and I participated in our church's Christmas pageant. I was a shepard with one live sheep to lead to the front of the church and back. Afterwards we went to my sister's for supper. Meg and I wrapped presents when we got home.

The next morning all the gifts were under the tree when the kids woke up. We waited a bit and then opened them all up. The kids were much more into unwrapping than last year. Hazel did an excellent job (she even unwrapped on of Aunt Jess's gifts) and Henry didn't want to stop. If you ask Henry if Santa came to our house he'll still tell you he didn't, but I'm pretty sure he got his full share of stuff. After a special breakfast we went to Nana and Grandpa's for dinner, present unwrapping and much playing.

The spirit continued the next day when we had a supper at our house for Uncle Steve, Aunt Susan and cousin Rhea.

Now we're pretty beat, but very excited to enjoy the holiday with the rest of our family. I'm sure Henry and Hazel are ready for more presents!

Henry and cousin Liam posing for the camera.

Hazel in her Christmas mini-skirt.

Henry very excited about a package of Swedish fish he got. Hazel was just as excited about her package of gummy fish. I'm not sure both of them knew what they were. Hazel insisted on napping with her package.

Hazel looking on as Henry unwraps his big train present. At one point Henry exclaimed, "you got exactly what I wanted!" At other points he seemed a bit confused and was suggesting for some reason that all our presents had come from Nana. When we told them they didn't he didn't seem to mind, but told us he wanted to bring them all to Nana's house and asked if the gifts he opened at her house could be brought home.

An action shot of Hazel unwrapping. She's really pretty good at it.

I spent a good chunk of the day putting toys together. It was a lot of fun for me. Meg made us a special Christmas breakfast while I played with the train.

Henry showing me his gift from Uncle Jim and Aunt Carol. He didn't quite get that I wanted a picture of his face and the gift.

Nicole took this picture of Hazel in her Christmas outfit.

12 small dollars had nothing.

8,025 half dollars turned up just one 40% silver half (1967).

5,760 quarters produced six Canadians, two US dimes and one US nickel.

5,150 dimes turned up one silver Rosie (1961), four Canadians and one Polish 10 Grozy.

2,840 nickels yielded two dateless Buffaloes and four Canadians.

Found: 2 pennies

2011-12-22T08:31:00.003-05:00

2,400 quarters had two Canadians and one US nickel.

1,200 dimes rounded up one Canadian and one US penny.

1,040 nickels yielded two Canadians (1 Ni).

3,300 pennies produced sixteen Wheats, thirteen Canadians, three US dimes and one Uruguay 1 Peso (1994). The Uruguay coin is the first one I've found from that country. It's the tenth new foreign country I've found this year! I now have just four countries left to find in the Americas, Haiti, Suriname, Bolivia and the Falkland Islands. (I haven't found in Chile in circulation. I found it as a coin counter reject.)

1934, 1936, 1940(3), 1941, 1944, 1945, 1946(2), 1947, 1950D, 1952D, 1955, 1956D

Found: 1 penny

2011-12-21T08:20:00.002-05:00

Well, the weekend might have been more tiring that Meg and I wanted it to be, I'm still behind in shopping I want to do for Christmas and the kids aren't always on their best behavior these days, but I don't care! I had a nice birthday party and wonderful time at Henry's school yesterday.

On Friday we did our usual and ate at Friendly's. Then on Saturday I attended our church pageant rehearsal with Greg and Evan and Henry and Hazel spent time with their Cioci and Liam. Sunday meant a nice time at church (Hazel's still doing well in the nursery). In the evening Meg threw a birthday part for me at our house. It included a great meal of my favorites, football on TV and some kid crazyness.

Yesterday I went in to work late so I could attend Henry's school art show with Meg, Hazel and Nonnie (my mother-in-law). We had a wonderful 20 minutes. Henry showed us around, we marveled at his artwork (we don't see this level of expertise at home much) and had a snack. Meg and I are so proud of some very nice things the assistant teacher told us about Henry. We think Hazel's going to be ready for school very soon. She thinks she is ready right now.

This is a good shot of Hazel that Henry took with our camera. He's getting much more consistent with his camera work.

Henry and Hazel playing with their computers.

Me opening my birthday gifts with the cousins. At this moment I was looking at Liam's excellent homemade Star Wars birthday card. It says, "Star you are" ... excellent Yoda-speak!

Henry's still life. I think this is his best work yet.

Henry's picture and frame (in the center) as shown with other student's work. The assistant teacher told us that Henry spent almost the whole class making the frame, laying out the jewels exactly as he wanted them.

Henry and Hazel enjoying a snack in Henry's classroom. Hazel made herself instantly at home.

I've searched a lot of coin already this week. It's been decent.

169 small dollars had two mint set dollars (2 x 2005P) and one new one, 2011D Garfield.

11,920 quarters produced three silver Washingtons (1952D, 2 x 1964), fifteen Canadians, eleven US nickels, five US dimes, one UK 10 pence and one Cayman Islands 25¢.

5,550 dimes turned up two silver Rosies (1953D, 1957D), eight Canadians (including one 1959, 80% silver), one Barbados 10¢, one UK 5 pence and one Swiss ½ franc.

3,040 nickels rounded up three War Times (2 x 1943P, 1943D) and nine Canadians (4 Ni). That's only the 2nd 1943D nickel I've found!

2,500 pennies got me thirteen Wheats, twelve Canadians and one Bermuda 1¢

Found: 2 pennies

2011-12-19T08:33:00.001-05:00

8,000 halves had nothing.

5,000 pennies produced twenty-one Wheats, thirty-nine Canadians and one Bermuda 1¢.

1917, 1918S, 1936, 1941, 1942(2), 1944, 1945(2), 1945D, 1946, 1949(3), 1952D(2), 1953D, 1955, 1956D(2), 1958

Found: 1 penny, 1 dime

The List

2011-12-16T09:13:00.004-05:00

Although he doesn't read Henry still insisted that yesterday Meg show him "The List." We've explained some of Christmas to Henry, but the thing that has stuck with him most is that their is a list of toys that he's getting (somehow). He constantly says, "can we put that on the Christmas list?" and "do you think I'd like that for Christmas?" It's kind of cute. I just sure hope he's not disappointed that everything he's seen between mid November and Christmas isn't under the tree!

Hazel has been blissfully unaware (although yesterday she did want to open up Henry's gift while he was at school). We're very thankful she has been sleeping better and seems to have beaten her sickness. Lot's more talking has begun too! I can't wait to hear what she has to say even more.

I didn't find that much coin towards the latter half of this week. My trip to California kind of disrupted my game a bit.

50 small dollars had nothing.

1,040 quarters produced three Canadians and two US nickels.

700 dimes yielded two Canadians and one Irish 5 pence.

4,150 nickels rounded up one War Time (1943P), thirteen Canadians (6 Ni) and one Swiss 20 Rappen.

9,350 pennies had thirty-six Wheats, forty-five Canadians, one US dime, one Mexican $10 (1989), one Euro 2¢ and one Bahamas 1¢.

1918, 1925, 1929, 1941, 1942, 1944(3), 1945(2), 1946, 1948, 1948S, 1949, 1950D, 1951, 1951D(3), 1952, 1953(2), 1953D(4), 1954D, 1955, 1955D, 1956, 1956D, 1957D(2), 1958, 1958D

2011-12-13T08:48:00.002-05:00

5,880 quarters produced silver Washington (1952, 1959D), nine Canadians, four US nickels, three US dimes, one Bermuda 25¢, two arcade tokens and one Lebanonese 500 Livres. The Lebanonese coin is a new country for me! It's the ninth new country of the year. In this batch was also a new modern one for me, the 2011P Chickasaw.

4,500 dimes rounded up four silvers (1944, 1960D, 1961D, 1964), twelve Canadians and one Bermuda 10¢.

Found: two pennies

2011-12-12T08:29:00.002-05:00

This weekend it finally felt like the Christmas season to me!

On Friday we just had pizza out, but as usual these days we took the opportunity to take some side streets and find some more Christmas lights for the kids. Henry in particular is very into light displays. It's never been my thing, but since he enjoys it so much I find myself scouting out new streets without him to show him later when he's with me. Even small displays get him going. Hazel sometimes says "whoah" a few seconds later (she's still rear facing) at particularly large displays.

On Saturday I took Henry to VFW Christmas party with my sister, the nephews and my grandfather. Henry called it the "army station" (as opposed to the "police station"). We had a buffet lunch, saw a magician and got presents from Santa. Henry was a bit reluctant to go in (he was dragged in, I didn't have time for fuss), but was great inside. His aunt even got some special lap time with Henry! Premium beers were $2.25 ... I haven't experienced those kind of prices since fifteen years ago in college (or maybe twelve years ago in Poland). In the evening Meg and I were able to go out to Toys 'R Us and Friendly's as my folks were watching the kids.

Sunday, of course, meant church, but Henry and Hazel did very well there. For two weeks in a row now Hazel spent time in the church nursery with no fuss at all. She's not like her brother in that respect!

8,000 halves produced two 90% silver halves (1925 Lexington-Concord, 1964), fifteen 40% silver halves (3 x 1966, 5 x 1967, 3 x 1968D, 4 x 1969D), two proof halves (1999S, 2004S), two commemoratives (1925 Lexington-Concord, 1986S Statue of Liberty) and one Jamaica 50¢. The Lexington-Concord half is the second one I've found, 162,013 were minted. This one was on the end of bank roll so I saw it right away. It's in about the same condition as the other I found three years ago, but I'm still excited about it. It is only the fifth silver commemorative I've found. I hadn't found any commemoratives since April.

6,650 pennies rounded up thirty Wheats, thirty-five Canadians and one US dime. In the Wheats was one I've only found once before, the 1933D, only 6,200,000 were minted.

1919(2), 1933D, 1934, 1937, 1940, 1944, 1944S, 1945(3), 1946(3), 1947D, 1949, 1950, 1951D, 1953(2), 1954D, 1955, 1956D(2), 1957D(5), 1958

I had one of my better change finds today. At the toll booth this morning I got a dateless Buffalo. It's a coin I wouldn't be too excited about if I found it in a roll, but I don't think I've ever seen one in the wild before. I come across them in rolls at a rate of one per 8,054!

Found: one dime

2011-12-09T08:24:00.002-05:00

The good news today is that Hazel seems to be doing better. She was still really tired this morning, but her fever wasn't present like it had been for the past three mornings. We're really hoping that's this the end of sickness (for this week, anyway). It's really difficult to see her so achy.

Lately Henry's been trying to spell a lot with some encouragement from Meg and I. I've been trying to get him to read a menu a bit and read Men vs. Women on bathroom doors. It's not always entirely successful though. He told Meg and I that "N-O" spelled "off" and Meg that "L-I-A-M" spelled our last name.

25 small dollars had nothing.

8,200 quarters rounded up one silver Washington (1963), seven Canadians, five US nickels, one Bermuda 25¢, one US dime and one gaming token.

7,550 dimes yielded five silver Rosies (2 x 1946, 1952, 1955, 1957), thirteen Canadians, one Swiss ½ franc and one UK 5 pence. The 1955 is only the second of this one I've found. It's the rarest of the Roosevelt's.

4,920 nickels produced two War Nickels (2 x 1943P), eleven Canadians (1 Ni), two US pennies, four US dimes and a key date Jefferson (1950).

11,650 pennies turned up fifty-five Wheats, eighty-six Canadians, six US dimes and one Euro 2¢.

1938, 1941(3), 1942D, 1944(9), 1945(3), 1946(4), 1948D(2), 1950, 1950D, 1950S, 1951, 1951D, 1952D(3), 1953(5), 1953D, 1953S, 1954D, 1955, 1955D, 1956D(2), 1957, 1957D(3), 1958

Found: 1 penny

2011-12-06T08:40:00.002-05:00

Last night's coins were a bit ho-hum.

84 small dollars and 24 half dollars had nothing.

4,040 quarters produced eighteen Canadians, two Bermuda 25¢, two US dimes and one US nickel.

2,950 dimes turned up one silver Rosie (1962D) and five Canadians (including a 1967, 50-80% silver).

1,920 nickels rounded up one War Time (1945P) and two Canadians.

2011-12-04T20:44:00.007-05:00

Last week I went on my annual work trip to San Fransisco for a developer conference. While I was gone Henry participated in the Jumpathon at his preschool. Meg and Hazel attended to encourage him and take pictures. I couldn't go because I was on the West Coast. Henry did really well and had lots of fun. He even wore a hat and cheered on his friends!

Henry and Hazel are very into Christmas decorations. We've been driving the long way home in the evenings from wherever we go so that we can see more lights. This weekend we took them to Tower Hill Botanical Gardens to see their trees. They had about twenty all done up. It was a great time. They were both really into it.

Before I left I searched some coin.

50 small dollars and 20 half dollars had nothing.

6,880 quarters produced one proof quarter (2001S RI), sixteen Canadians, eight US nickels, two Dominican Republic 25¢ and one French franc.

4,350 dimes yielded two silver Rosies (1956, 1959), eleven Canadians (including one 1951, 80% silver), one UK 5 pence and one Bermuda 10¢.

1,000 nickels rounded up one dateless Buffalo and four Canadians.

During my trip I concentrated on small dollars and pennies.

871 small dollars turned up one mint set dollar (2002D) and nine new ones (2009D John Tyler, 2010D Millard Fillmore, 2010D Franklin Pierce, 2010D James Buchanan, 2010D Abraham Lincoln, 2011D Sacagawea, 2011D Andrew Johnson, 2011D Ulysses S. Grant, 2011D Rutherford B. Hayes). It's been a long time (since July) that I've found a proof dollar. I'm not sure what's been up with that. In the beginning of the year I had some good luck finding those.

715 halves had nothing.

69,550 pennies got me two hundred sixteen Wheats, eighty-seven Canadians (one was a 1928, George V cent), one Singapore 1¢ (1984), one Barbados 1¢, one Euro 1¢, two Euro 2¢, one Euro 5¢, two UK pennies, one Australian 1¢ (1966), one German 5 Pfennig (1949), thirty-five US dimes and one Hong Kong 20¢ (1975). That breaks a record for me! I've never searched that much during a West Coast trip. I'm sure the housekeeper assigned to me hotel room found it strange to come across the gigantic trash bag stuffed with coin wrappers and a pile of broken down penny boxes. Unfortunately I didn't find any new Wheat varieties, but I did turn up one I have only found once before, the 1921S.

191?-?, 1919, 1919S, 1921S, 1925, 1935D, 1936(2), 1937, 1937D, 1938, 1939, 1940(2), 1940S(2), 1941(6), 1942(4), 1942S(2), 1944(11), 1944D(2), 1944S(8), 1945(6), 1945D(2), 1945S(2), 1946(9), 1946D(3), 1946S(7), 1947S, 1948(2), 1948D(2), 1949, 1949D(3), 1950(2), 1950D, 1950S, 1951D(6), 1951S(3), 1952D(3), 1952S(5), 1953(2), 1953D(6), 1953S(7), 1954, 1954D(4), 1955(2), 1952D(10), 1956, 1956D(17), 1957(3), 1957D(18), 1958, 1958D(32)

I also searched some this weekend.

8,000 halves yielded eight 90% silver halves (1954D, 1961D, 2 x 1963D, 4 x 1964), twelve 40% silver halves (1965, 1966, 6 x 1967, 3 x 1968D, 1969D) and one proof half (1987S).

3,450 pennies rounded up twenty-two Wheats, nineteen Canadians and one US dime.

1929, 1937, 1940, 1942D, 1944(5), 1946(3), 1951, 1952D, 1953, 1956, 1957, 1957D(3), 1958, 1958D(2)

Found: twelve pennies, two US dimes, one $1 bill, one foreign coin (a Canadian dime)

T-Day Report

2011-11-27T07:07:00.004-05:00

25 small dollars had nothing.

8,001 yielded one 90% silver half (1964) and one 40% silver half (1967).

2,640 quarters produced eight Canadians, one US nickel and one UK 10 pence.

2,250 dimes rounded up four Canadians, one US penny, one UK 5 pence, one Aruba 10¢ and one Euro 1¢.

1,080 nickels had just six Canadians (1 Ni).

8,250 pennies got me forty-eight Wheats, sixty-three Canadians, three US dimes and one Barbados 1¢.

1919, 1930, 1933, 1934, 1935(2), 1940, 1941(2), 1942(2), 1944(6), 1945(2), 1946(4), 1946D, 1946S, 1947D, 1948, 1949, 1949S, 1950, 1951D(3), 1952D, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1955D, 1956(2), 1956D, 1957(2), 1957D(2), 1958D(2)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T08:20:00.003-05:00

Yesterday Henry had a feast at school for Thanksgiving. "Feast" was the word to describe it. They ate with the other class and had small pizzas with no crust that didn't require any cutting up into pieces, carrot sticks and juice. Somehow Henry ended up stepping into the dip for the carrots. He didn't tell us how that happened. Afterwards Meg and the kids went to Target. Meg got Henry and Hazel a small Christmas tree with lights on it. They are very excited about it. It's now up in Henry's room. Henry's most proud of his ability to "turn it on" (plug it in). Not sure how excited I am about him and plugs, but I guess one has to start sometime.

Meg e-mailed me this cute story on Monday:

Owen was yelling that he wanted juice, but Lauren didn't get it right away because she was busy. So Griffin said to Owen, "You need to yell louder. She can't hear you." (she could) Owen subsequently started yelling very loudly that he wanted juice. Still no response from Lauren, so Henry piped up with, "You need to use your manners and say 'please'." Owen put the two together and yelled that he wanted juice, please. :)

25 small dollars had nothing.

8,000 quarters produced one proof quarter (2002S IN), thirteen Canadians, fifteen US nickels and five US dimes. Indiana is now the first state for which I've found the clad and silver proof varieties.

6,450 dimes yielded three silver Rosies (1952, 1963D, 1964), eleven Canadians and one UK 5 pence.

2,520 nickels got me one proof nickel (1980S), thirteen Canadians (4 Ni), eight US dimes and two US pennies.

4,550 pennies rounded up twenty-two Wheats, thirty-five Canadians and five US dimes.

1935, 1944(4), 1944D, 1945(2), 1946(3), 1950D, 1951D, 1953(2), 1956(2), 1957, 1958, 1958D

Found: five pennies, one nickel, one dime and one quarter

2011-11-17T07:56:00.002-05:00

6,680 quarters turned up four Canadians, one US dime and one Panama ¼ Balboa (1966).

1,050 dimes yielded one silver Rosie (1964D) and five Canadians.

240 nickels got me one Canadian.

2,600 pennies produced one proof (1980S), fifteen Wheats, nineteen Canadians and four US dimes. This lot of pennies puts me past 3,000,000 pennies! (2007-2011)

1942(3), 1944(3), 1946, 1953(2), 1953D(3), 1956D(3)

Found: 1 foreign coin (a Austrian 50 Groschen)

2011-11-16T08:12:00.002-05:00

When I got home yesterday I got a nice surprise from Henry he ran up to me saying, "Nonnie got Hazel new clothes! School was good!" Best of all Henry himself was in new pajamas! Somehow Meg used Hazel getting new fluffy clothes (some cute fleece wear) to convince Henry to not wear his same old pajamas to bed! It's miracle. I think he's worn the same pajamas for five months now. That's a lot of washing of the same set of clothes!

Last night's coins were pretty boring.

57 small dollars and 6 half dollars had nothing.

3,800 quarters produced eleven Canadians and one East Caribbean States 25¢.

950 dimes rounded up four Canadians.

880 nickels yielded one Buffalo and one Canadian.

4,450 pennies turned up twenty-four Wheats, twenty-six Canadians and five US dimes.

1924, 1937, 1938, 1941, 1944(3), 1944D, 1946(3), 1948(2), 1949, 1950, 1950D, 1952D, 1955, 1956(3), 1956D, 1957, 1957D

2011-11-15T08:18:00.005-05:00

This weekend things went much smoother than last. We got some good housework done. It felt good to get a bunch of our leaves dealt with and we had some fun family time doing it to.

50 small dollars had nothing.

8,000 halves produced four 90% silver halves (1945S, 3 x 1964), four 40% silver halves (1965, 1967, 2 x 1968D) and two proof halves (1972S, 1976S).

3,560 quarters rounded up one proof quarter (1979S), three Canadians, two US dimes, five US nickels and one US penny (stuck to a quarter).

4,100 dimes yielded two silver Rosies (1947D, 1958D), three Canadians, two Swiss ½ francs, one Cayman Islands 5¢ and two US pennies (both 1943D steel Wheats).

880 nickels turned up two Canadians.

6,550 pennies got me thirty-nine Wheats, thirty-nine Canadians and one US dime.

1936, 1936D, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1942D, 1944(5), 1944D, 1945(2), 1946(3), 1950(2), 1952(2), 1952D(3), 1953(2), 1953D(3), 1955(2), 1955D, 1956, 1957(3), 1957D(3)

Found: 2 dimes (one was a 1960D silver dime)

2011-11-11T10:11:00.006-05:00

Here's some pictures Meg took recently (except the first one, which was taken by Henry).

13,400 pennies turned up one Indian Head (1895), four hundred seventy Wheats, ninety-five Canadians, seven US dimes, one Canadian dime, two Bahamas 1¢ and one Trinidad & Tobago 1¢. That's the second most Wheats I've come across in one sitting! These came mostly from fourteen rolls that were all from the same customer. The Indian Head was unrelated to this hoard. It's in very good shape. I also got a clipped penny.

1911, 1919, 1920, 1928, 1930, 1934, 1935, 1936(3), 1937(4), 1937S, 1939(2) ...

2011-11-10T10:49:00.002-05:00

162 small dollars and 17 half dollars had nothing.

6,440 quarters yielded one silver Washington (1951D), eight Canadians, five US nickels, one Irish 5 pence and one UK 10 pence.

5,850 dimes produced two silver Rosies (1957, 1962), eight Canadians, one Bermuda 10¢, one Australian 5¢ (1977) and one UK 5 pence.

3,000 nickels rounded up one proof nickel (1999S), two War Times (1944S, 1945P), eight Canadians (1 Ni) and one Indian 50 Paise. It's pretty cool to have turned up all of these proof coins lately.

Found: 1 nickel

2011-11-08T09:33:00.002-05:00

Last night Henry went to sleep without any problems, three books and very little complaining, definitely no fighting. It felt like a miracle.

8,000 half dollars had just one 40% silver half (1969D).

1,080 quarters rounded up one Canadian, three US dimes, one US nickel, one Cayman Islands 25¢, one East Caribbean States 25¢ and one Bermuda 25¢.

1,750 dimes yielded three Canadians, one UK 5 pence and one Guatemala 5¢ (2008).

880 nickels had squat.

10,850 pennies produced forty-three Wheats, eighty-two Canadians, one Panama 1¢, four US dimes and one Bahamas 1¢.

1914, 1929, 1935, 1940(3), 1941(2), 1942, 1944(3), 1945(2), 1946(3), 1947, 1948(3), 1949, 1952(2), 1952D, 1953D(2), 1955, 1955D, 1956(3), 1957(2), 1957D(5), 1958(2), 1958D(2)

Found: 2 pennies, 3 dimes, one foreign Coin (a Canadian quarter)

2011-11-04T09:41:00.002-04:00

4,680 nickels yielded one proof nickel (1993S), three War Time (3 x 1943P, 1944P), five Canadians, one Somalia 10¢ (1999), two Bermuda 5¢ and one Bahamas 5¢. I was pretty pleased to find my second proof of the week. I also got a 1949S in this bunch.

10,950 pennies rounded up one proof penny (1999S), forty-nine Wheats, sixty-three Canadians, one Euro 2¢ and one Panama 1¢.

1926, 1939, 1940(3), 1941, 1942, 1944(3), 1945(8), 1945D, 1945S, 1946(3), 1947, 1948(3), 1950, 1951, 1951D, 1952(2), 1952D(3), 1954D(2), 1955, 1956D(3), 1957D(6), 1958D(2)

2011-11-02T08:35:00.006-04:00

This weekend I took Friday and Monday off to give me a four day weekend. On Friday Henry, Hazel and I along with my sister and nephew Liam visited my grandparents. It was a good visit. Henry was very excited about the fluffy snow they had there. (Little did he know!) My grandmother did some appreciated spoiling with a round of late morning ice cream cones. We continued the visiting with trip to my folks on Saturday. Once again Henry was very taken with the snow. Hazel had fun out there too.

And then on Sunday we had more snow then we could have imagined for October. Meg and I were worried all night about the destruction that this snow might bring, but we survived pretty well. All of our small trees looked horrible, but after I shook the snow off them and trimmed the broken branches they seemed to be relatively OK. We lost power for only an hour which was much better than lots of friends and family.

The worst was our neighbor's tree which almost completely collapsed on our driveway and the road. (as seen above)

Fortunately I had lots of help shoveling the driveway!

The snow did cancel a Halloween party we were all looking forward to, but trick-or-treating went as planned. In contrast to previous years Henry was excited to put his costume on. We were also successful in getting on Hazel's chicken costume (Meg made her costume from two onesies, some stuffing and a couple of boas).

Here's Hazel, Evan, Liam and Henry all dressed up and ready to go.

Hazel spent most of her trick-or-treating time in Nicole's wagon enjoying a feather covered lollipop. Henry did really well following (and at times leading) the gang going up to about a dozen houses in Nicole's neighborhood.

It was great time.

The next morning I attended a parent-teacher conference at Henry's school. During my talk with Henry's teacher she showed me two drawings he had made that blew my mind. Two months of school have helped him so much. Meg and I couldn't be happier with the experience.

Henry told us this last one was a picture of himself.

97 small dollars and 8,000 half dollars had nothing. A lot of work for nought. :(

11,440 quarters turned up eighteen Canadians, eighteen US nickels, six US dimes, one heart medal, one car wash token, one Italian 50 Lire (1967), one UK 10 pence and one Bermuda 25¢.

8,600 dimes yielded four silver Rosies (1946, 1959D, 1961, 1963D), eleven Canadians, one Bermuda 10¢, one US penny, one UK 5 pence and one plastic dime (says March of Dimes on it).

11,750 pennies rounded up seventy-nine Wheats, seventy-three Canadians, two US dimes, one South African 1¢ and one off center penny. The pennies contained my third Canadian George V cent for the month of October; the 1933.

1916D, 1919, 1920, 1935, 1939, 1940(2), 1941(3), 1942(2), 1944(4), 1944S, 1945(5), 1945D, 1946(4), 1947(2), 1948(2), 1949(2), 1950(2), 1951(2), 1951D(2), 1952, 1952D, 1953(2), 1954, 1954S, 1955(4), 1955D(2), 1956(4), 1956D(8), 1957(2), 1957D(5), 1958(5), 1958D(3)

Found: 9 pennies, 1 quarter, 3 tokens (2 arcade tokens and 1 NH highway token)

2011-10-26T08:46:00.003-04:00

Yesterday Henry brought home an art project from school. It was a paper pennant for which he was instructed to paste magazine pictures he had cut out that represented things he liked. On it are two pictures of babies, one of a roast chicken and another of broccoli and rice. I'm not sure about the food pics, but he does definitely like babies.

139 small dollars and 5 half dollars had nothing.

2,400 quarters produced one silver Washington (1953D), eighteen Canadians (one 50% silver, 1968), two UK 10 pence (2 x 2009, same roll), one Bermuda 25¢ and one US dime. About half of these Canadians were in one roll.

5,800 dimes yielded four silver dimes (1944, 1953D, 1954, 1956), three Canadians, one Bermuda 10¢ and one UK 5 pence. These silver dimes put me past the 1,000 mark (2007-2011)! I'm now at 1,003.

2,160 nickels turned up eleven Canadians (1 Ni).

Found: 2 pennies

2011-10-25T09:23:00.003-04:00

Unfortunately Meg and my plans to celebrate our anniversary with a nice dinner out last Friday had to be scuttled because of sickness. It's the season I suppose. We're looking forward to doing it sometime soon.

On Saturday we had a really nice time at Purgatory Chasm. They've have a really cool playground there that's fairly new, large and set in the woods. It's got three different slides coming down from the main structure and lots of bridges. Hazel does a really good job getting up on the play set and coming down the slides. Both of the kids really enjoy exploring the woods too. Even at this young age they seem to be good hikers.

Sunday was also a good day for us. Everyone went to church and I was told by Henry's teacher that he was excellent in class. "He's really come a long way," is what she said to me. I was so glad to hear that. Later in the day we celebrate Nana's and Uncle Greg's birthday's and Cioci's house.

2,800 quarters had five Canadians, five US nickels, one US dime and one New Zealand 50¢ (2006).

2,350 dimes produced one silver Rosie (1952) and one Canadian.

760 nickels turned up one Canadian and one US dime.

1,650 pennies rounded up just three Wheats (1944, 1945, 1955) and sixteen Canadians.

Found: 2 pennies, 1 nickel

2011-10-24T09:08:00.004-04:00

8,000 half dollars had just six 40% silver halves (1967, 4 x 1968D, 1969D) and one mint set half (2000S).

Found: 5 pennies, 2 quarters, three other coins (1 plastic penny, 1 UK 10 pence and 1 Bermuda 25¢)

2011-10-20T08:48:00.002-04:00

Besides funny statements about poop Henry of course has been full of other good ones. A few nights ago he asked us, "Can Hazel fight dragons?" We read a book from the library that had several small children fighting pretend dragons and monsters. I suppose she is pretty tough.

4 small dollars had nothing.

2,720 quarters produced one silver Washington (1952D), three Canadians and one US nickel.

850 dimes had just one Bermuda 10¢.

240 nickels had nothing.

7,550 pennies yielded ten Wheats, forty-four Canadians (including one 1932, George V penny) and one US dime.

1940(3), 1942, 1944(4), 1946, 1957D

Found: 2 pennies

2011-10-19T10:03:00.003-04:00

4 small dollars had nothing.

2,200 quarters produced two Canadians, one NH highway token and three US dimes (all in the middle of a roll, in place of two quarters ... smooth!).

4,000 dimes had four silver dimes (1942, 1946, 1947, 1958D) and eight Canadian (including one 1962, 80% silver one). Three of the silver US dimes were in one roll.

800 nickels turned up one War Time (1945P) and two Canadians.

3,000 pennies got me twenty-three Wheats, thirteen Canadians, five US dimes and one Bermuda 1¢. Among the Wheats were three outstanding Steelies. They were all in one roll and represent all three varieties, 1943, 1943D and 1943S. They look brand new.

1924, 1928, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1943D, 1943S, 1944(3), 1945, 1946(2), 1948(2), 1952(2), 1953, 1953D, 1956D(2), 1957, 1957D

2011-10-17T20:57:00.002-04:00

25 small dollars had nothing.

2,240 quarters produced three Canadians and two US nickels.

1,550 dimes yielded one Canadian, one Aruba 10¢, one Bermuda 10¢ and one French ½ franc.

1,600 nickels rounded up just one Canadian.

1,000 pennies got me four Wheats, seven Canadians and one US dime.

1935, 1945, 1947D, 1957D

2011-10-17T09:17:00.003-04:00

This past weekend we almost didn't go to my in-laws because of our colds, but we sure glad we did (Nonnie and Pops said, 'come anyway ... we want to see those kids!'). We met up with Nonnie and Pops at the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum to go for a short ride on their historic passenger train. Beforehand we checked out their small museum. Henry was particularly impressed that there was a museum on a train and that the caboose had an "old time potty." Hazel was happy with some horse pictures she saw. The ride wasn't quite as scenic as we thought it might be, but that was no bother as the kids were very excited about the whole ride. Hazel went crazy for some real horses she saw on the way. Henry got sick in the evening, but some pancakes and juice seemed to cure that and we got to visit with grandparents and hear all about Nonnie and Pops' big trip.

73 small dollars had nothing.

8,000 half dollars produced one 90% silver half (1964), four 40% silver halves (1967, 2 x 1968D, 1969D) and two proof halves.

1,960 quarters rounded up one silver Washington (1964D), five Canadians and one US nickel.

1,650 dimes had just one US penny and one UK 5 pence.

840 nickels got me three Canadians (2 Ni).

1,800 pennies added twelve Wheats, fifteen Canadians and two US dimes to the stash.

1927, 1935, 1940, 1942(2), 1944, 1953D, 1956, 1956D(2), 1958(2)

Found: 1 penny, 1 dime, 1 quarter

I'm a Winner

2011-10-13T09:28:00.004-04:00

I forgot to mention yesterday that on Saturday while shopping with Hazel I was "selected" at the grocery to store to be a winner. My picture was taken and I was given a $10 gift card. I saved with Stop & Shop!

329 small dollars had two mint set dollars (2003P, 2008P).

1,920 quarters produced four Canadians and one UK 10 pence. These quarters put me over the 1.5 million mark! I'm close to 200 silver quarters found, too.

1,100 dimes yielded one silver Rosie (1948), five Canadians, one UK 5 pence and one US penny. Seems I forgot to note that I've also passed the 1.5 million mark for dimes. I am also closing in on 1,000 silver dimes found.

3,320 nickels rounded up one Buffalo (1923), three War Times (3 x 1943P), nine Canadians (1 Ni), one US dime and one Brazil 10¢. One of the Canadians was pretty nice, 1954 Steel issue. I am most excited about one of the War Times though. It is in decent shape and has a clipped edge. I'll take a picture of it and put it up here once we get a new camera.

6,950 pennies got me thirty-three Wheats, forty-six Canadians, five US dimes, three Euro 2¢, one Philippines 25¢ (2004) and one UK ½ penny (1971).

1929, 1936, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1940D, 1944(2), 1945(3), 1946, 1947, 1951(2), 1952, 1952D(2), 1953, 1953D, 1953S, 1954D, 1955, 1956(3), 1956D(3), 1957, 1957D, 1958D(2)

The UK ½ penny is the first one of these I've found. I have wanted to find one (or more) for my UK album for some time. There are twelve varieties. It was minted 1971-1983. The 1971 is by far the most common; about 1.4 billion were minted. Now the only decimal varieties I haven't found in US circulation are the £1 and £2 coins. I've found pennies (found 35/41, mostly in US pennies, pretty common); two pence (found 8/37, all in dollars, not very common); five pence (found 22/34, usually in dimes, very common, except for the larger size); ten pence (found 16/27, all in quarters, very common, except for the larger size); twenty pence (found 10/30, all in nickels, not very common) and fifty pence (found a few varieties, all in half dollars).

Found: 2 pennies

2011-10-12T09:27:00.003-04:00

This weekend was supposed to be a nice, long, four day weekend, but instead became a bit more defined by woes than we would have liked. We still had a some good times together, but it's tough not to remember:

1) A car accident I had on Friday. No one was hurt and my car is still drivable, but the repairs will take some time. A big pain.

2) Our house drain getting clogged. I discovered this Friday evening. We had to wait for an estimate from our plumber on Saturday and then he fixed it with his assistant on Monday. Less expensive than we feared, but there's much more fun ways to spend $500 and living without drainage is a bit of a drag!

3) Our camera is dead.

4) Hazel was sick yesterday, seems better today. Meg is really under the weather today and I'm not too hot.

Despite all this I particularly enjoyed taking Henry and Hazel on the subway in Boston. It was a just a no-destination, just for the experience trip on two cars, but Henry got a big kick out of it. We did this while Meg was enjoying a nice visit with a college friend and her new baby. He was especially surprised to find a Dunkin' Donuts underground and kept asking me which buildings the train had gone under. We also had fun at the apple fest at Tower Hill Botanical gardens and picking apples at Tougas Farms. We're still really proud of the progress Henry's making with potty training and at school.

8,000 halves had just one 90% silver half (1964).

8,320 quarters produced eleven Canadians, fourteen US nickels, four US dimes, one Chinese 1 Yuan, one Bermuda 25¢, one Dominica Republic 25¢ and one Swiss Franc (1992).

6,450 dimes rounded up seven silver dimes (1944, 1946, 1958, 1961D, 2 x 1964, 1964D), seven Canadians and two UK 5 pence.

5,000 pennies yielded thirty-three Wheats, twenty-three Canadians and one Chinese 1 Jiao.

1926, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941(3), 1942, 1944(2), 1944D, 1945, 1945D, 1946(4), 1948, 1949S, 1950, 1951(2), 1951D(2), 1952, 1952D(3), 1953D, 1954D, 1955, 1957, 1958D

Found: 4 pennies, 2 quarters

2011-10-07T08:03:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was a big day for Henry. He used a public toilet for the first time and put on underwear! Today Meg told me he even asked for his underwear. We didn't see it, but he has insisted that Hazel used the potty too.

Last night I just searched some pennies.

5,550 pennies produced thirty-two Wheats (including one Steelie), forty-three Canadians, two Euro 2¢, one Euro 5¢, two Bermuda 1¢ and two US dimes.

1937, 1939, 1940(2), 1941(2), 1942, 1943, 1944(3), 1945, 1946(3), 1948, 1948D, 1950S, 1951, 1953, 1954S, 1955(2), 1955D, 1956, 1956D, 1957(3), 1957D(2), 1958D

Found: 1 penny, 1 dime

Oh Canada!

2011-10-06T09:10:00.006-04:00

On Tuesday Henry learned about finger prints at his school. Each kid made some prints on a sheet of paper (Henry's looked a bit forced). He thought it was really neat that his "lines" looked different than everyone else's. Could DNA sequencing be next? He also had fun doing the chicken dance.

I did pretty well with last night's coin.

609 small dollars had seven mint set dollars (2002P, 2002D, 2003P, 2004D, 2006P, 2008D) and one Canadian (2009). I was a bit bummed that there were no proofs in there, but that's a fair number of mint set coins.

6,160 quarters turned up one silver Washington (1963D), six Canadian, one Bahamas 25¢, one UK 10 pence (2008), one East Caribbean States 25¢, one US nickel, one Czech 5 Korun and one Fun Spot token. That was a pretty good mix for quarters. The Czech coin is new type for me and the UK 10 pence is a new variety for me! I also found a new modern quarter, the 2011P Vicksburg.

1,750 dimes rounded up one silver Rosie (1961), five Canadians and one US penny.

400 nickels produced nine Canadians (4 Ni).

4,550 pennies turned up two Indian Heads (1904, 1906), twenty-two Wheats, fifty Canadians, one Bermuda 1¢, one South Africa 1¢ (1989), one Newfoundland 1¢ (1943C) and one US dime. About half of these rolls came from the same person and there was lots of good stuff in there. In them I got the two Indian Heads (the first time I've got more than one of these since my forty-one Indian Head hoard), one George V Canadian (1936), the Newfoundland penny and nineteen George VI Canadian pennies. Newfoundland was not part of Canada until 1949 and so produced their own coins. They have really low mintages. This is the first one I've found in a roll. 1,239,732 of this penny were minted.

I normally don't get that excited about George VI pennies, but this is a really large number to turn up. The date breakdown for older Canadian pennies was:

1936, 1940(3), 1941(2), 1942(4), 1943(3), 1944, 1945(2), 1946, 1947 Maple Leaf, 1949, 1951

The South African penny is the first coin from that country that I've found in a roll. Previously I had only found this country as a teller save and a Coin Star reject.

The Wheats ...

1937, 1939, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1946(3), 1947, 1948, 1951(2), 1952, 1952D(2), 1953D, 1955(2), 1956D, 1957D(2), 1958

Found: 3 pennies

Save Friendly's!

2011-10-05T09:34:00.003-04:00

Yesterday Meg e-mailed me this:

Forgot to tell you a cute one from Henry yesterday. He was spelling things and asking what words begin with, when he said "Dad starts with B." I wasn't sure if I heard him correctly, so I asked him if he meant "D" not "B." He said no, he meant "B" because you wrote "B" on your golf balls. I explained to him that the B was for Brian, because not everyone calls you Dad. :)

Henry has taught Hazel how to say "cookie." "Say 'cookie' Hazel," he says.

60 small dollars and 23 half dollars had seven 40% silver halves (1965, 3 x 1967, 2 x 1968D, 1969D).

6,440 quarters produced one silver Washington (1960D), eight Canadians and one Bahamas 1¢.

2,500 dimes yielded one proof (2002S) and four Canadians. It sure felt good to find that new proof. The dime proofs are tough to spot.

1,840 nickels rounded up just one Swiss 20 Rappen and four US pennies.

2,600 pennies got me nine Wheats, thirteen Canadians and one US dime.

1941, 1944, 1950S, 1952D, 1952S, 1957(2), 1958(2)

2011-10-04T09:19:00.002-04:00

50 small dollars and 40 halves had nothing.

3,800 quarters produced one proof (2003S Arkansas), five Canadians, five US nickels, two US dimes and one Chinese 1 Yuan. The proof quarter is the thirteenth I've found this year (twenty-sixth ever) and a new one for me.

2,700 dimes yielded one silver Rosie (1962D), six Canadians and one US penny.

1,200 nickels turned up one War Time (1944P) and one Canadian.

3,700 pennies rounded up forty-five Wheats, thirty-one Canadians, two US dimes and one Bermuda 1¢. Unfortunately most of the Wheats seemed to have been chemically treated somehow as they were worn, but most of their grime was washed off.

1927, 1929, 1935, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1940(4), 1941(4), 1942(3), 1944(5), 1945(3), 1946(7), 1950D, 1951(2), 1953, 1953D, 1955, 1955D(2), 1956D(5)

Found: 1 penny, 1 dime

2011-10-03T09:21:00.006-04:00

Sometimes the best way to do a blog post is just to put up a whole lot of pictures and comment on them.

Meg and Kristina took the kids to Purgatory Chasm last week. If I remember right it was a bit rocky (mood-wise), but these pictures make it look like solid fun to me! (funny how that happens) Here's a picture of Henry and his buddy Griffin.

Hazel doing some climbing at Purgatory Chasm.

Last week Meg also took our kids for a fun rail trail walk. It sounded like a great day. I wish so much that I was there, especially today when I'm back at work.

After the good times they had on the trail (tiring though, pushing their combined 60 lbs. takes a lot out of one) Meg and Henry made pasta during Hazel's nap. Henry did a good job and was very proud of their work.

This weekend was our town's fall festival. Henry wasn't too keen on the parade still because of the loud sounds and so I took only Hazel at first. She enjoyed it a lot and scored some candy, beads, a ruler and a cup. Henry watched the parade from our window and later came to get some candy. He only saw three or so vehicles, but got more than enough candy. Afterwards he told me, "I liked that parade a lot." I asked him what his favorite part was. "Watching it from the window." Meg told me he enthusiastically narrated the whole thing.

Henry and I killed some rainy afternoon time at Home Depot doing one of his favorite things ... looking through all of kitchens there. He (and Hazel if she were there) get a big kick of exploring the sample kitchens, refrigerators, ovens and blinds.

7 small dollars had nothing.

8,000 half dollars turned up one 90% silver half (1964) and twenty-two 40% silver halves (1965, 2 x 1966, 10 x 1967, 6 x 1968D, 3 x 1969D).

5,000 pennies rounded up just five Canadians. These consisted of only post-82 pennies and clearly were searched by some copper hunter before me ... boring.

Found: 5 pennies

2011-09-29T10:06:00.002-04:00

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

2011-09-28T10:33:00.000-04:00

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

2011-09-27T08:49:00.004-04:00

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

2011-09-23T08:15:00.002-04:00

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

2011-09-22T09:19:00.002-04:00

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

2011-09-21T08:45:00.002-04:00

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

2011-09-20T08:49:00.007-04:00

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)

2011-09-19T10:00:00.003-04:00

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)

2011-09-16T08:54:00.002-04:00

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.

2011-09-15T10:11:00.003-04:00

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

Nana's from Venus

2011-09-14T10:18:00.004-04:00

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

2011-09-13T11:27:00.003-04:00

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

2011-09-12T11:39:00.004-04:00

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

2011-09-08T10:15:00.004-04:00

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)

2011-09-07T09:14:00.004-04:00

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.

2011-09-06T10:20:00.003-04:00

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

2011-09-02T09:03:00.002-04:00

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!"

2011-09-01T08:41:00.002-04:00

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

First Day of School

2011-08-31T09:20:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was a big day for us ... Henry's first day of school. This year he'll be attending our town's preschool two days a week for a couple of hours in the morning. It's going to be great for all of us.

For the first day Meg went with Henry for an hour. All the other parents were there with their kids to assist in the introduction. Henry left the house willingly, but was a bit shy there and did have a few drop to floor moments. We think it went better than expected though, because later when we talked to Henry about it he seemed positive about it and isn't terrified of going again (not like a haircut anyway). Hope the first true, full day goes well!

We went to Panera Bread (Henry's choice) afterwards to celebrate. I took the day off and had a good time at the playground with the kids. Meg took a brief, much needed nap (Hazel's night time sleeping has been terrible lately).

Above is a picture Henry drew. He and Hazel have been playing with crayons a lot. Henry often requests that we put his pictures up on the refrigerator. He told Meg that this was a picture of two robots with long arms for picking flowers which they eat. One robot is holding a flower. I'm not sure if he's drawing such things intentionally or scribbling than coming up with stories about the scribbles, but I don't care. Like his dreams, I love hearing these stories. His imagination is growing by leaps and bounds these days!

1 large dollar and 54 small dollars had just one Canadian dollar (1989).

7 half dollars produced one 90% silver half (1961) and one 40% silver half (1966).

6,320 quarters yielded one silver Washington (1948), ten Canadians, two US dimes, seven US nickels, two UK 10 pence, one Bermuda 25¢ and one Cayman Islands 25¢. I also came across a silver quarter, 1963D, in the reject bin of a coin counting machine at the bank.

5,900 dimes rounded up two silver Rosies (1946, 1961), nine Canadians and one UK 5 pence. In this batch I also found a new modern dime for me, the 2011D.

3,000 nickels turned up just twelve Canadians (3 Ni).

9,000 had forty-four Wheats, sixty-two Canadians, two Barbados 1¢ and four US dimes. One of the Canadians was a pretty nice 1929 George V penny.

1940, 1941(4), 1942, 1944(4), 1945(4), 1946(3), 1948(5), 1949, 1951, 1952(2), 1953(2), 1954D, 1955, 1955D, 1956, 1956D, 1957(2), 1957D(2), 1958(2), 1958D

Found: 2 pennies, 1 nickel, 1 quarter (1963D, a 90% silver one)

Irene

2011-08-28T16:12:00.008-04:00

Although we had a few stir crazy moments yesterday, we survived Irene rather well. Meg made lots of tomato sauce and a rainbow birthday cake (Henry said it was Duck's 1st birthday); I made lots of forts with pillows and blankets. We didn't loose power at all, but we did loose two garden plants and four or five big branches fell from a tree in our yard. The wind was pretty impressive at times. I'm glad it was just a tropical storm by the time it got to us!

The day before, Saturday, I had a great time with the kids at a nearby science museum. It was the first time I just let Hazel walk around there. For her it was like being their the first time (even though we go there about three times a month). It's more difficult following two of them around, but not too bad.

My coins were really good to me this weekend.

27 small dollars had nothing.

8,040 half dollars produced nineteen 90% silver halves (17 x 1964, 2 x 1964D), two 40% silver halves (1967, 1969D) and one proof (1973S). Only the proof half came from my weekly boxes. All of the silver came from a very fortunate bank stop I made on Friday.

1,600 quarters yielded five Canadians, one Bermuda 25¢ five US nickels, two US pennies, one US dime and a parking token.

1,800 dimes turned up eight Canadians, one Bermuda 10¢ and one Chinese 1 Jiao.

2,360 nickels rounded up thirty War Times (11 x 1943P, 3 x 1943S, 7 x 1944P, 7 x 1945P, 1945D, 1945S), eight US pennies, five Canadians and one German 10 Pfennig (1950). That's the most War Times I've come up with in one sitting. A real nickel hoard. It was from the same bank as the silver halves.

12,450 pennies got me three hundred ninety-four Wheat (one Steelie), ninety-six Canadians, three US dimes, one Australia 5¢, one German 50 Pfennig (1980), one Bahamas 1¢, two UK pennies and one Zambia 1 Ngwee (1983). The majority of these Wheats came from one source I hadn't worked my way through earlier in the week. They definitely help my average, although most were kind of boring 1950's Wheats. In this big batch of pennies, however, I scored a really good, new one, the 1926S! This one felt really good, only 4,550,000 million were minted. Another one of those Wheats I wasn't so sure I'd find ... I guess I should have learned by now. The Zambia coin is a new country for me. Another great moment!

1919, 1926S, 1927, 1929(2), 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1940, 1941(6), 1941S, 1942(8), 1943, 1944(18), 1944D(2), 1945(4), 1945S, 1946(12), 1948(4), 1948D, 1949(5), 1949D, 1950(12), 1950D(4), 1950S(3), 1951(21), 1951D(16), 1951S(3), 1952(13), 1952D(21), 1953(15), 1953D(18), 1953S, 1954, 1954D, 1955(12), 1955D(14), 1956(35), 1956D(32), 1957(24), 1957D(28), 1958(29), 1958D(19)

2011-08-26T09:18:00.002-04:00

67 small dollars and one half dollar didn't have anything.

3,480 quarters produced just one token, a Pete Rose token of some sort.

2,400 dimes turned up one silver Rosie (1959), five Canadians and one UK 5 pence.

1,200 nickels yielded two War Times (1943P, 1943S), one Canadian and one Swiss 20 Rappen.

5,700 pennies rounded up thirty-two Wheats, fifty-four Canadians, one US dime, one Euro 2¢ and one UK penny.

1925, 1926, 1940, 1941, 1941S, 1945(2), 1947, 1948, 1948D, 1949, 1950S, 1951D, 1952, 1952D, 1953(3), 1953D, 1954S, 1955(2), 1956(2), 1956D, 1957(3), 1957D(3), 1958(2)

The 1941S is the 103rd Wheat variety I've found this year. That makes 2011 the year with the most Wheat varieties for me! Strangely, I haven't found that one since November 18th, 2009.

Found: 1 foreign coin (a Canadian dime)

2011-08-25T09:07:00.004-04:00

Last night's coins weren't as exciting as the night before's ... it's be tough to equal that night! We did, however, have a very successful bath night. Hazel badly needed a bath after she spilled a bottle of maple syrup on herself and then Henry volunteered to also take a bath.

391 small dollars had six mint set dollars (3 x 2002P, 2003P, 2006P, 2008P).

3,600 quarters produced just two Canadians ... boring.

2,000 dimes had nothing ... also boring.

1,640 nickels yielded two War Times (2 x 1945P), four Canadians (1 Ni) and one Guatemala 1¢ (1958) ... more exciting. The Guatemala coin is a new one for me.

600 pennies turned up four Wheats (1944, 1951, 1952D, 1956D), four Canadians, two UK pennies and one Taiwan 1 Yuan.

Found: 1 penny

Busted!

2011-08-24T09:26:00.003-04:00

Last night's coins were OK, except for one super stunner!

2,280 quarters had just three Canadians and two US nickels.

2,700 dimes produced two silver dimes (1830, 1956), two Canadians, one Barbados 10¢, one UK 5 pence and one Bermuda 10¢.

One of the last rolls produced a true stunner, a 1830 US dime!! I'm still shocked. I've heard of people finding Seated Liberty dimes before, but I haven't seen any Capped Bust dimes show up on the forums I check out (some people have been lucky enough to find Capped Bust halves). I've only found one Barber dime myself and that one's really crappy. This one is pretty good shape, it doesn't have any dents or gouges and one can read all of the words on it. I think it's worth something like $60. It's the second oldest coin, the oldest US coin and the oldest US dime (beating my 1913, found 6/8/2009, by 83 years) I've found. It is also the rarest, by mintage, dime I've turned up. 510,000 were minted.

1,120 nickels had one War Time (1943S), two Canadians and one Swiss 20 Rappen.

4,400 pennies rounded up thirty-seven Wheats, thirty Wheats, three US dimes, one UK penny (2000) and a penny stamped with the outline of Pennsylvania.

1919, 1926, 1934, 1937D, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1944(3), 1945, 1945S, 1946(3), 1947(3), 1948(2), 1950D, 1951, 1951D(2), 1951S, 1953D, 1955(2), 1956D(2), 1957D(2), 1958(2), 1958D(3)

Mysteries

2011-08-23T09:35:00.002-04:00

There are definitely a lot of mysteries with children, particularly with Henry and his increased conversational skills. He gets a lot more across, but he also opens up a lot more confusion at time as we sometimes don't get what he's getting at or what word he's insisting on using (we can't just say, "Can you spell it?", but I'm tempted!).

Last night when I got home he told me that I skipped on page in his book because it was stuck to another page (a library book) and that we should have known that because the front cover had small pictures of all trucks covered inside the book. The logic of all this really impresses me. It's thrilling to observe his thought development!

The next one's more funny. Henry was playing with Meg's deodorant yesterday. We told him it was for putting on one's arm pits to make them smell nice. Henry put it on his forearms and told Meg, "now I smell like an airplane." She had no idea why he said that, but he insisted. I had no clue either. This morning Meg figured out he said that because the deodorant has a picture of a small airplane on it to denote that is is safe for airplane travel ... go figure!!

I had a big victory last night! I snaked out our sink drain for 2 hours and beat the clog. It took snaking it from the basement through some clean out point and one terrific mess ... I feel like Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs ... but it is now done and didn't cost me anything. No $200-$300 plumber call!

On to another mystery ...

The coins were pretty good to me last night (at least for the amount searched).

53 small dollars had nothing.

5,240 quarters produced two silver Washingtons (1942D, 1964) and sixteen Canadians. Finding two silver quarters and including a new one in one sitting was awesome. I haven't found two in one night since April. Putting a new (older coin anyway) in my albums is one great feeling. I brought the album into work today just to gloat to myself. The silver quarter album is very slowing filling up, just another 100 years or so and I'll be done.

2,500 dimes yielded just nine Canadians and one East Caribbean States 10¢.

1,080 nickels turned up one War Time (1945P) and four Canadians (1 Ni).

600 pennies (not sure where all these were at the three banks I hit) rounded up just three Wheats (1944, 1945, 1958D) and five Canadians.

Found: 5 pennies (one was a 1934 Wheat) and 2 dimes

2011-08-22T09:18:00.005-04:00

This past weekend we were on vacation. We went to Cape Cod and stayed it my Uncle's place. Once again the accommodations worked out really well for us and we had a good time. Here are some pictures.

Our first day was super rainy, but that didn't stop us from setting up the beach tent inside and the kids from dancing to a clock radio. Check out Henry's finger pointing move!

On the second day we went to the Cape Cod Natural History Museum. Both kids really enjoyed looking at the aquariums and stuffed birds. I think this might be my favorite family day every, at least one of them.

Henry goofing around in the library.

At the beach the kids did great. (I'm choosing to forget about the struggles to put sun block on Henry.) Henry could have walked in the water and dug holes in the muddy sand all day. Hazel could easily have spent just as long in the sand or mud. These sunglasses are Hazel's, but Henry likes to wear them more than she does.

Hazel's two piece!

We had a lot of fun at the Heritage Museum on our last day. Henry and Hazel both like looking at the "old time" cars.

A picture of we, parents!

The other big news is ... Hazel is walking! Yup. She started taking more and more steps the week before left and on the Saturday before I was pretty excited to see her take eight or so steps. Now she's walking just about everywhere around the house. She's really good at it too. Of course being able to walk means you can carry things (besides in your mouth). One of Hazel's new favorite games is walking around with a bag and stopping to put things in it. We call it shopping, but perhaps she is cleaning.

After vacation there was some coin waiting for me (the week was light on coin, but I did do some).

50 small dollars had nothing.

8,000 half dollars turned up eight 90% silver halves (1945D, 1958D, 6 x 1964), twenty-six 40% silver halves (1965, 6 x 1966, 8 x 1957, 7 x 1968D, 4 x 1969D). Still looking for that 1944D! This felt close.

6,680 quarters yielded six Canadians, four US nickels, two UK 10 pence, one East Caribbean States 25¢, one Bermuda 25¢ and one Russian 2 Roubles.

5,300 dimes produced five silver Rosies (1950D, 1954, 1954D, 1964, 1964D) and six Canadians (one was a 1965, 80% silver dime).

2,520 nickels rounded up one dateless Buffalo, four Canadians (1 Ni) and five US dimes.

11,700 pennies brought me one hundred fourteen Wheats, seventy-four Canadians, five US dimes and two Bermuda 1¢.

1920, 1921, 1924, 1926(2), 1935, 1936(2), 1938, 1940(6), 1941(7), 1942(7), 1944(13), 1944S, 1946(3), 1946D(2), 1947, 1948(3), 1949(3), 1950, 1951(3), 1952(3), 1952D(3), 1952S, 1953(6), 1953D(2), 1953S, 1954(2), 1955(6), 1955D, 1956(2), 1956D(10), 1957(7), 1957D(2), 1958(2), 1958(6)

Found: 2 pennies, 2 dimes

2011-08-12T11:48:00.004-04:00

Things are bit busy right now, but here's a coin update.

10 large dollars and 56 small dollars had nothing.

8,022 halves turned up nineteen 90% silver halves (1944, 1951S, 15 x 1964, 2 x 1964D), forty-seven 40% silver halves (5 x 1965, 8 x 1966, 15 x 1967, 10 x 1968D, 9 x 1969D) and one proof half (1988S).

6,480 quarters produced one silver Washington (1952D), seven Canadians, eight US nickels, five US dimes, two US pennies and one Canadians nickel (1 Ni).

5,150 dimes had one silver Rosie (1962D) and seven Canadians.

3,040 nickels rounded up one War Time (1943P), three Canadians (1 Ni), one US dimes, one Japanese 1 Yen and one Somalia 5 Shillings.

11,100 pennies got me eighty-nine Wheats, seventy-seven Canadians, one Swiss 1 Rappen (1957), one German 2 Pfennig, one Euro 2¢ and one US dime.

1919, 1920(2), 1923, 1927D, 1934, 1937, 1940(2), 1940D, 1941(6), 1942, 1944(9), 1944D(2), 1945(2), 1946(6), 1946D, 1947(2), 1948(7), 1949, 1950(4), 1950D, 1951, 1951D, 1952(2), 1952D(3), 1953(6), 1953D(2), 1955(2), 1955D(2), 1956(3), 1956D(2), 1957(3), 1957D(4), 1958, 1958D(2)

Found: 6 pennies

2011-08-11T09:25:00.003-04:00

Here's some fun pictures we took recently.

(Dig the Loverboy look Henry's got going!)

171 small dollars didn't have anything.

5,440 quarters had seven Canadians, two US nickels and one UK 10 pence. Yikes, this week I searched a lot of quarters!

1,950 dimes produced one silver dime (1923), four Canadians, one Bermuda 10¢ and one UK 5 pence. The Mercury dime was the second I found in two days and this one was in pretty good shape, especially considering its age.

120 nickels had squat. Strange, but that's all the nickels they had for me.

3,550 pennies turned up one Indian Head (1874), thirty-five Wheats, twenty-four Canadians and one Trinidad and Tobago 1¢. The Indian Head is the oldest penny and oldest US coin I've found! It's the rarest Indian Head I've come across too, 14,187,500 were minted. Except for the hole someone put in it, it is in pretty good shape.

1912, 1918, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1940, 1942D, 1944(4), 1945, 1945D, 1946(3), 1948(2), 1949(2), 1951, 1952, 1952D, 1953(2), 1952D, 1956, 1956D(4), 1957D(2), 1958D(2)

Jinxed

2011-08-10T08:41:00.004-04:00

Unfortunately I jinxed us by mentioned the good sleep we had the night before last. Last night was terrible. Ugh.

2,400 quarters yielded one proof quarter (1999S PA), three Canadians, two US nickels and one US dime. The proof is in pretty good condition. I now have found three of the five clad proof quarters produced in 1999.

3,000 dimes turned up three silvers (1945, 1951, 1964D), eight Canadians and two US pennies. That's the first Mercury dime I've turned up since May. That's a bit of a drought for me. This amount of dimes put me past last years search total. I now have searched more than last year for all denominations except halves!

1,660 nickels rounded up just three Canadians (1 Ni, a slightly older, rarer for me, 1949 George VI nickel).

4,500 pennies had twenty-seven Wheats, twenty-seven Canadians and three US dimes.

1910, 1927, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1944, 1945(3), 1946(3), 1950(2), 1951, 1952, 1952D, 1953D, 1955D(2), 1956, 1956D(2), 1957, 1957D, 1958

Found: 1 penny, 1 quarter

Big Nap!

2011-08-09T09:23:00.003-04:00

Last night Henry said told us he had a big nap. He, Hazel, Meg and I all slept through the night. It was glorious.

My coin from yesterday wasn't too exciting.

62 small dollars, 6 halves and 1,600 quarters had nothing.

1,450 dimes produced one silver Rosie (1961) and one Canadian.

3,440 nickels turned up seven Canadians (3 Ni), one UK penny and a Japanese 1 Yen (1950). The Japanese coin is a new one for me. I had some fun looking up how to read the date on the coin.

4,200 pennies yielded fifteen Wheats, nineteen Canadians, six US dimes and one Bahamas 1¢. One of the Wheats, the 1929D, was a rarer one for me.

1929D, 1940(3), 1942, 1945S, 1946(2), 1950S, 1951, 1952(2), 1952D, 1958D(2)

Found: 3 pennies, 1 dime

2011-08-08T09:03:00.003-04:00

This weekend was a pretty good one for us. There was just one fitful episode from Henry. Mom and Dad both got some stuff done, had good times with the kids and went out!

On Saturday I took the kids to a local field and some new trails. Before Hazel's afternoon nap we went out again to our favorite park for some swinging. In the evening Mom and Dad had a rare date night! My mother and father watched the kids. Henry had fun reading with Nana.

Sunday morning I took Henry to church. His Cioci watched him and Liam. Henry said to Nicole, “Hazel and I like bananas. Mom and Dad like soda.” Henry and Liam had several disagreements about how to pronounce the word bananas. Strangely, Henry was in the right, Nicole said. After church we went over to Nicole’s for a short play date. Evan and Liam were “wrestling” a little roughly at one point. Henry told them to stop. Liam yelled, “you’re not the boss of me, Henry!” It was pretty funny.

After Hazel’s nap I took the kids to the Ecotarium. On the way there I realized Henry didn’t have shoes! We drove back home to get them. Hazel didn’t like that too much. After Meg passed them into the car, Henry asked, “did we get both of them?” “Why’d we (funny) leave them at home?” “Don’t worry Haze, we’ll be there soon.” At the place we had a train ride. Hazel loved that. She bounced most of the time and did her singing. We played with tubes, crawled in some equipment and saw a real bunny outside. In the evening we had a good bath time (finally Henry seems to have gotten over his bath aversion – Hazel’s being excited for baths seems to have swayed him). Henry came down a couple of times before sleeping for real. He can make up so many excuses. If it doesn’t go on for very long it is pretty cute as he’s really chatty then.

8,000 halves had just one 40% silver half (1966).

5,000 pennies produced twenty-eight Wheats, forty-three Canadians and one Bahamas 1¢ (1974).

1924, 1925, 1926, 1936, 1940, 1945(2), 1948D, 1949, 1950S, 1951, 1952D(2), 1952S, 1955(2), 1955D, 1956, 1956D(2), 1957D(6), 1958

2011-08-05T13:32:00.003-04:00

4,100 pennies produced eighteen Wheats (one Steelie) and forty-one Canadians.

1934, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943D, 1944, 1946(3), 1948D, 1951, 1952, 1955D, 1956, 1957D(3), 1958D

Found: 1 penny, 1 foreign coin (a Canadian dime)

2011-08-04T08:37:00.001-04:00

33 small dollars had one Canadian $1 (2008).

4,400 quarters turned up one silver Washington (1964), seven Canadians, one Malaysia 20 Sen (1990) and one India 50 Paise (1985). Those last two coins are new foreign types for me!

2,600 dimes rounded up two silver Rosies (1960D, 1962D), three Canadians, one UK 5 pence and one India 25 Paise (1988).

2,000 nickels produced one dateless Buffalo, three War Times (1943S, 1944P, 1945S), three Canadians (1 Ni) and one Bermuda 5¢.

8,500 pennies yielded fifty-four Wheats, eighty-one Canadians, three US dimes, one German 2 Pfennig and one Euro 2¢.

1920, 1923, 1926, 1928, 1934(2), 1935(3), 1937(2), 1938, 1940, 1941(2), 1942(3), 1944(6), 1945(5), 1946(4), 1946D, 1951D, 1952(2), 1952D, 1953, 1953D(2), 1955, 1956, 1956D, 1957, 1957D(5), 1958, 1958D(2)

2011-08-03T08:46:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I found gathered lots of coin. One of my favorite tellers was back from a two week vacation so she had lots for me.

9 small dollars had nothing.

7,720 quarters produced ten Canadians, two Bermuda 25¢, two Cayman Islands 25¢, one French franc, one arcade token, three US nickels, one US penny and two US dimes.

5,750 dimes yielded twelve Canadians, one Aruba 10¢, one Swiss 10 Rappen (1939), three UK 5 pence, two US pennies and a Botswana 10 Thebe. The Swiss coin is a new type for me, a pretty old one too. The Botswana coin is the same type as one I found in the reject bin of a Coin Star machine some time ago.

3,440 nickels rounded up one dateless Buffalo, three War Times (2 x 1943P, 1944P), six Canadians (4 Ni), two US pennies and one Euro 5¢.

2011-08-02T09:18:00.004-04:00

Lately I've seen a lot of creativity from Henry. I know Meg sees this during the day, but because I'm at work (usually) I miss it. On the weekend he was excited to make race tracks out of play dough, on Monday he wanted to make a race track out of a large piece of cardboard (by drawing it, he told me what to draw and where) and today he was very excited to do some painting and use his magic markers. He drew what he told us was some train tracks.

My coins last night were OK.

30 large dollars and 127 small dollars had mint set dollar (2006P).

20 half dollars had one proof half (1977S).

4,080 quarters turned up nine Canadians, one Bahamas 25¢, one Bermuda 25¢, one Hong Kong $1 and one US nickel.

3,150 dimes yielded four silver Rosies (1948, 1948D, 1960D, 1964), three Canadians, one UK 5 pence and one Brazil 1¢.

2,000 nickels produced one proof nickel (2005S Ocean in View), three Canadians (1 Ni), five US pennies (in place of a nickel) and one US dime. In the mix was also a 1949S. It felt pretty cool to find another new proof nickel so soon!

7,600 pennies rounded up forty-eight Wheats, forty-one Canadians, one German 1 Pfennig, one Swedish 50 Ore and three US dimes. One of the Wheats, the 1925S, is a pretty good one for me. I only found this one once before, on the West Coast.

1918S, 1919S, 1925S, 1927, 1930, 134, 1937, 1939(2), 1942(2), 1942D, 1944(2), 1944D, 1945(3), 1946(2), 1947, 1948(3), 1950D, 1950S, 1951, 1951D(2), 1952, 1952D, 1953, 1953D(2), 1954, 1955(2), 1956, 1956D, 1957(2), 1957D, 1958, 1958D

A nice teller also saved for me three $2 red seal notes (1953A, 2 x 1963). The 1953A bill is the oldest piece of currency I've turned up so far.

Found: 2 pennies

2011-07-31T20:44:00.002-04:00

This weekend's coins were so-so.

34 small dollars had nothing.

8,000 half dollars produced five 90% silver halves (4 x 1964, 1964D), three 40% silver halves (1967, 2 x 1968D) and three proof halves (1974S, 1978S, 1986S).

5,000 pennies yielded twenty-three Wheats and forty Canadians.

1928, 1929, 1937, 1940, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1948D(2), 1949D, 1951(2), 1952D, 1955, 1955D, 1956D(3), 1957D, 1958, 1958D(3)

Found: 5 pennies, 1 token (a Chuckie Cheese token)

2011-07-28T13:35:00.002-04:00

Last night's coin was pretty boring.

42 small dollars and 2 halves had nothing.

5,800 quarters produced three Canadians and five US nickels.

1,300 dimes had one Canadian.

240 nickels had one Canadian.

1,800 pennies turned up ten Wheats and seventeen Canadians.

1934, 1935, 1944(3), 1951D(2), 1954D, 1956D, 1957D

Found: 2 pennies

2011-07-27T09:18:00.002-04:00

17 small dollars and one half dollar didn't have anything.

1,920 quarters produced one proof quarter (1987S), two Canadians, three US dimes and three US nickels. The proof is in pretty good condition, but the rim isn't too shiny. I'm kind of surprised, but glad, I spotted this one.

The new proof quarter puts me at 61 new US varieties found this year in circulation. That's one more than all of last year and it's only July!

1,650 dimes yielded one silver Rosie (1962D), one Canadian and one UK 5 pence. In change this morning I got a proof dime, the 1992S! Just 2,858,981 were minted; thus this is now the 4th rarest dime, by mintage, that I've found.

520 nickels had five Canadians (1 Ni).

2,500 pennies turned up thirteen Wheats and fourteen Canadians.

1934, 1936, 1944(2), 1945, 1946, 1951, 1952(2), 1953, 1955, 1955D, 1956D

Found: 3 pennies, 3 quarters, 1 foreign coin (a Canadian penny)

2011-07-26T09:00:00.007-04:00

Here's some pictures of the kids Meg took recently.

238 small dollars and 3,040 quarters had nothing.

2,300 dimes produced two silver Rosies (1951, 1957), two Canadians and two Belgian 1 franc.

2,880 nickels yielded two Liberties (1904, 1912D), one Buffalo (1929), two War Time nickels (1944P, 1944D), one proof (1972S), ten Canadians (3 Ni), one Ecuador 5¢ and a key date Jefferson (1939D). That's probably my best nickel batch ever. Before last night I had last found a Liberty nickel over two years ago! (6/23/2009) I never turned up more than one at once and this time one of them was a new one for me. A pretty good one too. Embarrassingly, I didn't notice it had a mint mark on it until this morning. I thought it was just another 1912. The dated Buffalo and proof were awesome as well.

5,050 pennies rounded up twenty-seven Wheats and thirty-two Canadians.

1936, 1938, 1940, 1941(2), 1944(2), 1945(3), 1946, 1947D, 1948(2), 1948D, 1950, 1952D, 1953, 1953D, 1954D, 1955D(2), 1956, 1957D(2), 1958

2011-07-25T14:14:00.002-04:00

5,000 pennies turned up thirty-six Wheats and twenty-nine Canadians.

1924, 1929, 1930(3), 1936, 1940(2), 1940S, 1941(2), 1942D, 1945, 1946(2), 1947(2), 1951, 1951D, 1952D(2), 1953D(2), 1953S, 1954, 1954D, 1955, 1956D(3), 1957, 1957D(2), 1958, 1958D(2)

8,000 halves yielded just two 40% silver halves (1966, 1969D) and seven proofs (1989S, 2 x 1996S, 2 x 1997S, 2000S, 2010S).

Found: 5 pennies, 1 dime

2011-07-21T20:53:00.003-04:00

Meg told me that this afternoon while Hazel was patting Henry he said to her, "Aw, I love you too, Hazel."

5,950 pennies turned up thirty-five Wheats (one Steelie), forty-two Canadians, two US dimes and one Bermuda 1¢.

1939, 1940, 1940S, 1941(6), 1942(2), 1943, 1945(2), 1946(2), 1946S, 1948, 1950(2), 1950D, 1952(2), 1953, 1953D, 1955, 1956(3), 1956D, 1957, 1957D(2), 1958D(2)

Found: 3 pennies

2011-07-21T08:42:00.008-04:00

Here's some good pictures of the kids Meg and I have taken during these hot days.

357 small dollars didn't have anything.

4,920 quarters turned up nine Canadians, seven US nickels, four US dimes and an Italian 5 Centesimi (1861). I knew I had something different when I picked up one of these rolls of quarters because it was bulging from a coin with a larger diameter. The coin was a bit stuck in there and when I looked down into the roll I saw a very old design. I told Meg, "I've got a really old one here, I think." Sure enough when it came out and I inspected it I saw it was an 1861 Italian 5 Centesimi (made in Milan). It's the third oldest coin I've found! It's catalog worth is only about $1, but it's really cool to me.

4,850 dimes produced three silver Rosies (1951, 1958D, 1964D), eight Canadians (including one 1967, 50-80% silver), one Polish 10 Grozy and one UK 5 pence.

1,600 nickels yielded one War Time (1943P) and one Canadian.

Found: 1 quarter, 2 foreign coins (a Canadian penny and a Euro 1¢)

2011-07-19T14:12:00.005-04:00

The weekend started pretty good for us. On Friday we had a nice dinner out with the kids. The food and service weren't so good, but the kids were well behaved. Hael was very active at the restaurant and made a lot of loud sounds. No worries, she was having fun and we were in a far off corner of the place. We even did some shopping afterwards.

Saturday began pretty rough for us with Henry at his worst, shrieking lots and having to be punished. We went to "Fire And Ice" day at Sturbridge Village anyway. It was a good time. They had lots of fire engines and pumpers there from all time periods. Henry called the really old ones "carriage fire trucks." We saw some of the tornado damage off in the distance (the village really dodged a bullet on that one) and tasted some chili as part of a contest. Henry wasn't too hip on leaving, but that's kind of usual these days. Hazel did well.

Sunday was a much better start. We had a great time at cousin Evan's second, family birthday party. All kids were super and we adults had a lot of peaceful time together. It felt good to be the shade and talk to everyone. The kids made us a pay a bit for all of this once we got home. They teamed up and fought nighttime with a vengeance. We parents won the long struggle eventually, but it did take a lot out of us!

This morning after seeing his PBS Kids picture on the TV start distort. I had this cute exchange with Henry.

Henry: Why it do that?
Dad: I don't know. I guess something's wrong with their antenna.
Henry: Why their antenna wrong? I ask grandpa.

426 small dollars turned up just one mint set dollar (2002D).

8,008 half dollars produced one 90% silver half (1964) and ten 40% silver halves (3 x 1966, 6 x 1967, 1968D).

1,320 quarters had one silver Washington (1959), one Canadian and one French franc. The Canadian was a new one for me too, the 1992 Manitoba!

3,350 dimes yielded two silver Rosies (2 x 1956D), sixteen Canadians, one US penny, one Bermuda 10¢ and one Singapore 10¢.

1,160 nickels rounded up three War Times (2 x 1943P, 1944S), one Canadian, one Bahamas 5¢ and one US penny.

11,100 pennies turned up forty-eight Wheats, seventy Canadians, four US dimes and one Euro 2¢.

1909, 1910, 1935, 1939, 1940(2), 1941, 1942(2), 1944(2), 1944D, 1945, 1946(8), 1947, 1950, 1951S, 1952D(2), 1952S, 1953(2), 1953D(2), 1954, 1954S, 1955D(2), 1957(3), 1957D, 1958, 1958D(2)

A teller saved me a good foreign coin for me, a South African 1 Rand. It's a new country for me and counts as it was found in US circulation.

Found: 4 pennies, 2 tokens

2011-07-14T08:23:00.002-04:00

Yesterday Meg e-mailed me at work to tell me that Hazel had been doing a little walking while holding her hand. Last night I was able to get her to take a few steps while holding me hand. Perhaps true walking isn't that far off?

After a really bad butt wiping experience with Henry (the neighbors must think we're torturing our child) we had a terrific time reading together. Henry got one of his new magazines yesterday and he was really into spotting the silly things in the picture and picking out what thing were different in another set of pictures. My particular favorite moment was when he told me that the lady using a vacuum on the lawn was silly because you don't vacuum a lawn. "Why not?," I asked. "Because there's no food (crumbs) on the lawn," he told me.

2,520 quarters turned up just two Canadians and what I think is a very slightly clipped quarter.

2,400 dimes rounded up two silver Rosies (1952D, 1959D) and six Canadians.

1,960 nickels yielded one dateless Buffalo, four Canadians and one Ecuador 5¢.

550 pennies produced three Wheats (1953D, 1956D, 1958), four Canadians and one US dime.

2011-07-13T09:08:00.003-04:00

Just a quick coin post ...

48 small dollars and 22 half dollars had nothing.

5,160 quarters produced one silver Washington (1964), two Canadians, one UK 10 pence, one US nickel and one Bermuda 25¢.

4,300 dimes turned up one silver Rosie (1963), four Canadians and one Bermuda 10¢.

1,480 nickels rounded up one War Time (1942P), four Canadians (2 Ni) and one Bermuda 10¢.

2,550 pennies had sixty-seven Wheats, twenty-five Canadians and two US dimes. One roll had "W" written on it and as I suspected it was solid Wheats. :)

1935, 1940(3), 1941(4), 1942(3), 1944(6), 1945(4), 1946(6), 1948, 1949(3), 1950S, 1951(3), 1951D(4), 1952, 1953(3), 1953D(5), 1954D(2), 1955, 1956, 1956D(2), 1957(3), 1957D(7), 1958, 1958D(2)

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

B.Y.O.P.

2011-07-12T09:02:00.004-04:00

Yesterday evening we attended cousin Evan's 7th birthday party. Before the party I told Henry that it was a pool party. "I bring my pool?" he asked me. Nope, it's not a Bring-Your-Own-Pool kind of party I told him, "It's a big pool that's in the ground." He was a bit confused.

Things started out pretty bad at the party for us. Henry was very upset. It took a long time for him to calm down and to decide that he wanted to try the pool out. Once he got in there (after Hazel) he was totally thrilled by it. It's so bizarre how parenting can be hellish at one moment and heaven on earth the next. It was great to bounce around with him in the pool. Hazel didn't want me holding her much in the pool so Meg played with her. Hazel was really enjoying the pool too. Henry got upset when we left the pool, temporarily, for pizza and cupcakes, but then was all into again after dinner (we didn't take the obligatory 20 minutes off after eating). We didn't see much Evan, but we did see Liam. It was also great to see how much Liam loves to play with Grandpa.

Last night's coins were pretty good to me. All denominations turned up something.

415 small dollars produced one proof dollar (2007S Jefferson), one mint set dollar (2008P) and a Greek 10 Drachmes (1986). That's one more new Sacagawea for me! This one is tied for my lowest mintage dollar, 1,820,000 were minted. The Greek coin is a new one for me.

1,040 quarters yielded one silver Washington (1964), one Canadians and one Cayman Islands 25¢.

2,150 dimes turned up four silver Rosies (1946, 1962D, 2 x 1964), three Canadians, one US penny and a Bulgarian 10 Stotinki. The Bulgarian coin is a new one and a new country for me!

1,360 nickels rounded up two Buffaloes (1920, 1929), one War Time (1943P), five Canadians (4 Ni) and one Bermuda 5¢. The two Buffaloes were in one roll, both are pretty beat up, but their dates are readable.

3,050 pennies had twenty-three Wheats, twenty-four Canadians, two US dimes and one UK penny.

1914, 1918, 1930, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1944D(2), 1944S, 1945, 1946(2), 1948D, 1949, 1942, 1953, 1954D, 1955(2), 1957(2), 1957D, 1958, 1958D(2)

Found: 3 pennies, 2 dimes, 1 plastic penny, 3 arcade tokens

2011-07-11T09:01:00.002-04:00

This weekend was a really nice one for us.

Things started out well on Friday when we had a surprisingly good meal at Friendly's. Henry arrived having just woken from a nap. That usually means disaster, but after ten minutes or so he was in pretty good shape. At the end of the meal Hazel gave Henry lots of hugs and kisses. It was adorable. I wish we had it on video.

On Saturday we took it a bit easy. We went to the park, got vegetables at our favorite local stand and got some yard work done. We also had an evening picnic.

Sunday was pretty relaxed too. In the morning we just went to church, played a bit at a playground, I did some more yard work and Meg cooked some good Indian food. In the evening I took the kids to my folks for a short play date and Meg enjoyed a hot yoga class.

8,000 halves produced three 90% silver halves (3 x 1964), eighteen 40% silver halves (5 x 1966, 5 x 1967, 6 x 1968D, 2 x 1969D) and one UK 50 pence (1982).

5,000 pennies turned up forty-three Wheats and thirty-two Canadians.

1919, 1920, 1929, 1935(2), 1937, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1944(4), 1944D, 1945(5), 1946, 1947, 1948(2), 1949, 1950S(2), 1951D, 1952D(2), 1953, 1954(2), 1956(3), 1956D, 1957, 1957D(3), 1958D(2)

Found: 1 penny, 1 nickel, 2 dimes

2011-07-07T08:36:00.003-04:00

Duck arrived yesterday! When he saw that she arrived in a box Henry said something like "guess Duck doesn't need a car seat" to Meg. Later in the day Henry, Hazel and Meg went to the library this time Henry wasn't in his usual rush and Hazel got to pick up several books. She seems to be into them lately. Frequently she'll hand one to us to read to her (for a just a page or two before she gives us another or gets bored). She even has a word for book that is slightly different than her bird word.

A recent favorite activity of Hazel's I've forgotten to mention is trying out shoes! She enjoys sitting down and pointing to or grabbing different shoes that she wants one (usually Meg) to put on her. She's very pleased when she tries one on. I wish this were so easy to do with Henry!

Last night's coin was pretty good to me.

76 small dollars and one half dollar had nothing.

4,960 quarters produced one proof quarter (2007S Utah), three Canadians and eight US nickels. The proof quarter is the 3rd rarest by mintage that I've found and is in pretty good shape! 2,002,812 were minted.

2,800 dimes yielded five silver Rosies (1951, 1954, 1956, 1956D, 1963D) and seven Canadians.

1,280 nickels rounded up one dateless Buffalo and seven Canadians (1 Ni).

5,350 pennies turned up forty Wheats, thirty-six Canadians, one US dime and one Euro 2¢. In this batch was a new modern Canadian for me, the 2011.

1911, 1916, 1924S, 1930, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941(2), 1942(2), 1942D, 1944(3), 1944D, 1945(2), 1946, 1947(2), 1947D(2), 1948(3), 1948S, 1951D(2), 1953, 1953D, 1954, 1956D(3), 1957, 1957D(3), 1958D

Found: 4 pennies

2011-07-06T10:00:00.003-04:00

Henry's always full of funny quotes. Yesterday he told Meg that because Duck was going to come to our house in the mail truck we should get her a special car seat from Babies For Us (Babies R Us).

I didn't find too much coin yesterday (darn holidays!), but it was OK.

41 small dollars and 4 half dollars had nothing.

1,160 quarters produced two Canadians and one new modern one for me, the 2011P Olympic. Sometime ago I came across a new Canadian, the 2001 (no P). I don't immediately check these for new ones. That's one of the last Canadian quarters (clad, anyway) that I needed. Only about 8 million were minted. I still need a 1992 Manitoba.

750 dimes yielded six Canadians.

1,040 nickels rounded up one War Time (1943S), two Canadians (1 Ni), two US pennies, two Euro 5¢ (Portugal, Ireland), one Swiss 10 Rappen and one Greek 5 Drachmes. The Greek coin is a new type for me. Kind of neat to find this one in nickels, because it is significantly larger than a US nickel.

2,400 pennies got me ten Wheats, twenty Canadians, two US dimes and one Aruba 10¢ (kind of strange to find that one in some pennies).

1938, 1944(2), 1945, 1947, 1941, 1953, 1955(2), 1956D

Happy Fourth of July

2011-07-05T09:13:00.004-04:00

This weekend I had four days off from work. Discounting some unfortunately routine fits from son things and an ER visit went pretty well.

On Friday Meg and I took the kids to the doctor. She took Hazel to her one year appointment. She's doing just fine. Right now she weighs 21 lbs. 4 oz. I took Henry across the street to get his blood drawn. It wasn't a pretty sight. I struggled with him to get in the place, had to pin him down screaming during the procedure and afterwards had to restrain him so he wouldn't take off the bandage. The day turned around quickly, however, with a visit to our local U-Pick center for playground fun, a wagon ride and cherries. We went to celebrate Hazel's birthday that night.

Saturday went kind of the same. Some morning fits and then things weren't so bad. I took Henry and Hazel to the park, got Henry to swing by himself briefly and later in the day I took just Henry to a play date with his cousins.

On Sunday we went out to my in-laws. The kids were pretty excited about it. Unfortunately at a family reunion dinner, at a restaurant, Henry fell from his chair (before we ordered). It was a bad fall. He was screaming, bloody and had a really big lump on his head. The blood stopped pretty quickly (it was a bloody nose), but the bump took a while to go down. We took to the ER to have him checked out. There was lots and lots of screaming as all can imagine. We didn't get back to the dinner. By the late afternoon Henry was fine and a had a lot fun playing outside with his grandparents, aunt and uncle. He, Hazel and Meg were taken on a wagon ride by Pops and the tractor.

Monday was busy, but good. Meg and Nonnie took the kids to a fun playground in the morning and in the afternoon we went to a large family BBQ. The kids did really well at both events. Henry was totally content with box of cars he remembered were at the house and Hazel was delighted to watch the family dog. Both kids and parents left pretty exhausted. So exhausted we left Duck at Nonnies! Henry was not pleased.

8,000 halves had just five 40% silver halves (5 x 1967). In the bunch I found a pretty cool mint error coin, however. I think this coin is an example of a defective planchet. I can't see any tooling on the mark on the obverse and opposite this mark on the reverse is depressed spot.

5,000 pennies turned up one Indian Head (1883), thirty-three Wheats and forty Canadians. The Indian Head is one of the oldest US coins I've turned up. It's in better shape than the one I have in my album. :)

1924, 1928, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1940(2), 1941, 1942(2), 1944, 1946, 1947D, 1948D, 1949, 1950(2), 1950D, 1951(2), 1952D, 1953, 1954D, 1955(2), 1956, 1956D, 1957D(2), 1958

Found: 1 dime

Happy Birthday Hazel!

2011-06-30T15:56:00.002-04:00

Today is officially Hazel's 1st birthday. I was pretty excited to wake her up this morning. She didn't know any better of course, but I was anxious just to see her today. It seems so long ago for me that she was born, but it went by so quickly. I know that doesn't make sense, but that's how I feel.

Yesterday Meg told me she started using a spoon to feed herself yogurt at breakfast. By lunchtime she was skilled enough to use it to steal food from her friend Marlow's plate!

I didn't find much coin yesterday.

1,120 quarters had just one Canadian, one UK 10 pence and two US nickels.

400 dimes had one Swiss 10 Rappen and one Singapore 10¢.

440 nickels had nothing.

1,650 pennies had twenty-one Wheats and fifteen Canadians.

1910, 1938, 1942(2), 1944(2), 1945(5), 1946, 1946S, 1950, 1952, 1952D, 1955(2), 1956D, 1957, 1958

Found: 6 pennies