This weekend Henry, Meg and I had a great weekend. On Friday we went out for BBQ. Henry was a bit restless (he wanted to go outside and run in some tall grass), but the food was good. On Saturday morning we went strawberry picking at our favorite, local family fun place. Henry did really well; he listened well and picked only the red ones. After picking we had strawberry donuts, pet some goats and played on the playground. Henry had a lot of fun. That evening my Dad and I picked up and put together the baby's crib and Meg made Nana, Grandpa and us one great Indian meal. Throughout the weekend Henry was in a very silly mood. Today he insisted on bathing in the baby's tub and later he got his teeth brushed and was read to in the same tub.













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

Found: 2 pennies

First Pics - Merc Hoard

Today Meg and I had a big day. At the doctor's office while Meg was getting an ultrasound we got to see the new baby in more detail than we thought possible. They used a new 3D technology and with it they were able to create an image that was almost like a black and white picture. As expected the baby looks an awful like Henry did when he was born. It was tough to concentrate at work after that morning.




We've had some pretty funny time with Henry (at times, he's still full of no's). Recently Henry told us he "pretend pooped" after he farted and at another point he told us "Henny rock (in the chair) few minutes" when he was stalling before bedtime.

He also had a big milestone tonight ... he peed in his potty for the first time (on purpose).

My recent coin searching produced some truly amazing dime results ...

19 small dollars and 16,025 halves produced two 90% silver halves and twelve 40% silver halves (1965, 2 x 1966, 2 x 1967, 4 x 1968D, 3 x 1969D).

1,860 quarters rounded up two Canadians, one UK 10 pence, one Russian 5 Rouble and one Mercedes Championship medal.

The best was the dimes. 4,200 of them turned up fifty-one silver dimes, eight Canadians, three UK 5 pence, one Singapore 10¢, one Bermuda 10¢ and one Australian 10¢. Things were going pretty good (nothing too spectacular, but not bad) and suddenly I got a roll with almost all silver. In it were forty-five Mercury dimes, and eight of them were new varieties for me! Eight in one roll, holy cow! I didn't think that was possible anymore. The dates were:

1916(2), 1919, 1923, 1929, 1930, 1935, 1936(4), 1937, 1938, 1938S, 1939(2), 1940(2), 1940D(4), 1941S, 1942(5), 1942D(2), 1943, 1943S, 1944(5), 1944D(2), 1945(4), 1945S, 1946, 1948S, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1961D

The 1916 is the second oldest dime I've found.

1,120 nickels had five Canadians (1 Ni).

3,100 pennies rounded up twenty-two Wheats, twenty-nine Canadians and five US dimes. The Wheats were:

1924S, 1941(2), 1944(2), 1946, 1946S, 1947, 1948, 1950, 1952(2), 1955, 1956, 1956D(3), 1957D, 1958, 1958D

The 1924S is only the third one I've found. Still looking for the first new wheat of 2010!



I also finished a good book, The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, by Nathaniel Philbrick. Like most people I knew the basics of this story before reading the book, but didn't know the details. This book definitely brought me up to speed. It's a good story and as always Philbrick does a capable job of telling the tale. Little of the book details Custer's actual last stand as not much is definite. I found that appropriate. Much more detail is given covering the second part of Custer's force which was defeated by same Indians almost simultaneously. The second force wasn't entirely wiped out like Custer's main force and so non-Native eye witnesses survived to tell the tale. My biggest complaint about the book is that Philbrick didn't cover the legacy of the Last Stand as much as I thought he would or should. Otherwise the book was exactly what I expected it to be.

Found: 4 pennies, 2 quarters

Redeemed: $1.90

It's been a busy couple of weeks for us. We've put up with a lot obstinate behavior and lack of naps, but we still got a lot done and had some good times. I finished painting the baby's room and put a new carpet in it. We're anxious to move all the furniture in (when we get it). Here are some good pictures we took recently.







Last week I did some coins; it just took me forever to get around to doing my write-up. Let's hope I'm a bit more timely in the future.

8,000 half dollars yielded twenty-nine 40% silver halves (1965, 3 x 1966, 6 x 1967, 12 x 1968D, 7 x 1969D) and one proof half (1981S).

5,360 quarters turned up ten Canadians, three US nickels, one US penny and one 50 Italian Lire (1985).

4,200 dimes had two silver Rosies (1946, 1960D), eight Canadians, one UK 5 pence, two Bermuda 10¢, one Mexican 10¢ and one US penny.

1,380 nickels produced three War Times (2 x 1943P, 1944P), three US dimes, one US penny and one UK penny. In the mix were also two key date Jeffersons (1949S, 1950).

9,350 pennies rounded up forty Wheats, ninety Canadians, two US dimes and one Barbados 1¢. The Wheats were:

1909 VDB, 1919, 1920, 1927, 1930, 1935S, 1940, 1941D, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1946(4), 1947(4), 1949, 1950D, 1951D, 1952, 1952D, 1953, 1954D, 1955(3), 1955D, 1956, 1956D, 1957(3), 1957D(3), 1958D(2)

Found: 8 pennies and 1 nickel

Today Meg and I helped out some friends by watching their son, Henry's little friend. They were very cute together.







3,600 quarters produced three Canadians, four US nickels, one US dime, one Bahamas 25¢, one Chuckie Cheese token, one Family Fun Center token, one Cuba 25¢ and one Italy 10 Lire (1953). The Cuban coin and the Italian coin are new types for me.





2,000 dimes had one silver Rosie (1964D) and seven Canadians.

1,200 nickels yielded two Canadians (1 Ni), one Canadian quarter, one Italy 10 Lire (1973) and one Irish 10 pence (1993). The Canadian quarter is a new one for me. I'm not sure how they exactly fit that one in a nickel roll. The Italian coin is a pretty good size too.

4,000 pennies turned up twenty-six Wheats, thirty-four Canadians, one US dime and one UK penny. The Wheats were:

1929, 1937(2), 1939, 1940, 1941, 1944, 1946, 1947(2), 1950(2), 1952, 1953, 1955, 1955D, 1956(3), 1956D, 1957(2), 1957D(2), 1958D

Found: 1 penny

Henry's Back

This weekend was a three day weekend for me. I took an extra day off from work to get some more baby-related tasks done. Meg's parents came and stayed with us for part of the weekend. With their help we were able to mount our new TV on the wall, put up a ceiling fan in baby's room, paint half of the baby's room , do a bit of furniture shopping and have a nice dinner out!

Here's a cute picture of Henry. It looks like he's poisoning our chipmunk, but actually he's planting seeds (or that's what he calls it).





Last week I took a bit of a break from coin searching. It wasn't entirely intentionally as things were pretty busy in the evenings and my two sources didn't have anything for me. I have to get working on finding a good, reliable third source.

I'm hoping this week's halves were a harbinger of things to come as they were my best in weeks. 8,000 produced seven 90% silver halves (1951S, 5 x 1964, 1964D), sixty-nine 40% silver halves (1965, 12 x 1966, 17 x 1967, 20 x 1968D, 9 x 1969D) and one proof (2001S).



Late last week I finished a book I was reading, Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery, the U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842, by Nathaniel Philbrick. It's the third book by Philbrick I've read this year. I was anxious to start reading, but was a bit disappointed with it. It concerns America's first government sponsored naval expedition. The expedition is not well known today, but it is famous for discovering Antarctica (this claim is a bit controversial), mapping South Sea islands and exploring the American West Coast. I enjoyed Philbrick's book when he described the adventure of the expedition, but unfortunately most of the book concerns the politics of the explorers. I didn't find their personal problems to be so interesting. I hope his next book, The Last Stand is a bit different and bit back to form.

Found: 10 pennies, 3 dimes and 1 quarter

This weekend was supposed to be a relaxing Mother's Day weekend, but it was not to be. Henry's been feeling yucky since Friday with a fever. We've had some pretty long days with him watching lots of Curious George. Tonight he seemed to be doing much better, spirit-wise, but we took his temperature just before bedtime and it was still pretty high. Luckily the doctor we called said we could wait until morning to take him into the doctor's office, but we're still a bit worried and pretty tired from all of this.

I did manage to finish prepping the baby's room for painting and I made Meg an Indian dinner on Saturday that I was pretty proud of.

Last week's coins were OK, except for the halves. :(

375 small dollars turned up four Canadian $1 coins and two new US varieties for me (2010P Sacajawea, 2010D Sacajawea).

8,180 half dollars had one 90% silver half (1964) and eight 40% silver halves (). Only the 90% half came from my boxes.

5,820 quarters produced thirteen Canadians, one Cayman Islands 25¢, one UK 10 pence and one US nickel. Two of the Canadians were silver (in the same roll too!); a 1967 (50-80% silver) and a 1968 (50% silver).

1,300 dimes yielded two silver Rosies (1961D, 1964) and four Canadians.

720 nickels turned up four Canadians (1 Ni).

2,900 pennies had thirteen Wheats and fourteen Canadians. The Wheats were:

19??, 1941, 1944, 1945(2), 1946, 1947, 1949, 1951D, 1953, 1956D, 1957, 1957D

Found: 4 pennies (2 at CVS, 2 at Costco), 1 dime (at Stop & Shop)

This weekend was a very busy one. I worked on the new baby's room and Meg did a lot of house work while my mother watched Henry. That helped us out a lot, we just wish we had some time to ourselves. We also go a new TV as the old one finally completely crapped out on Friday - everything was reddish. It's a shame because it was only six years old and cost a lot. Oh well, we have a better, thinner one now.

This weekend's coins were still bad, 8,000 halves turned up one 90% silver half (1953) and eight 40% silver halves (2 x 1966, 2 x 1967, 2 x 1968D, 2 x 1969D).

Found: 4 pennies, 1 nickel