Just after we got home from our vacation Meg discovered that we had a woodchuck, or whistle pig, in our backyard. He was living under our back porch. Meg saw him quite regularly around 10AM, but I didn't see him for a while. Nonetheless after a week of trying I was able to successful trap him. I caught a skunk in the meantime, but eventually the lure of cantaloupe and a well placed trap did him in. Henry and I moved him to a nearby field. We haven't seen him for a few days. We hope he's OK and won't come back.

8,000 halves turned up just five 40% silver halves (2 x 1966, 1967, 1968D, 1976S-Ag circulation) and one proof half (2000S). That's the first 1976S-Ag half I've found in some time, but other than that these were pretty dull.

13,900 pennies rounded up ninety-nine Wheats, ninety Canadians, six US dimes, one Bahamas 1¢, one Euro 2¢ and one German 1 Pfennig (1950). In the Wheats was one I only found once before, the 1932. Only some 9 million were minted.

1916, 1917, 1918, 1920(2), 1929, 1932, 1936, 1937, 1939(2)

I searched just a bit more coins the last two nights.

160 small dollars had one mint set dollar (1981D).

1,800 quarters turned up one Canadian, one US nickel and an angel medal (man, I've found a lot of these).

1,200 dimes rounded up one silver Rosie (1957) and one Bermuda 10¢.

720 nickels got me three Canadians, one Thai 1 Baht, one US dime, one semi-key Jefferson, the 1955, and perhaps a 1967 SMS (very difficult to discern whether or not this really is an SMS or is just super shiny).

Last night I searched a big batch of coins.

66 small dollars had nothing.

7,000 quarters turned up twenty-three Canadians (including two 80% silver ones, 1961 and 1962 - the 1961 is a new year for me), four US nickels, one US penny and a Pakistani 5 Rupee. Pakistan is a new country for me! Its been since January that I've found a new country in US circulation.

4,150 dimes rounded up ten Canadians and one Aruba 10¢.

2,680 nickels got me one dateless Buffalo, one War Time (1943P), nine Canadians (5 Ni), one Euro 5¢, two US pennies and one semi-key Jefferson, the 1949S.

Yesterday Hazel had her two year doctor appointment. She weighed in at 25 lbs. and was measured to be 33 inches tall! Henry told us she was, "too big for him (too heavy), but OK for Evan."

... before I forget it my favorite word of Hazel's lately is "fuv-vah." I'm not sure why, but that what she says for fish (singular and plural).

Last night there was some thunder and lightning from about 4AM to 5AM. Henry woke up upset. I went in there for to help him out and slept a bit next to his bed on the floor. My efforts were not for naught, Henry told Meg, "Daddy made me safe last night."

25 small dollars and 8 half dollars had one proof dollar (2008S John Q. Adams). The proof isn't in very good condition, but it was cool to find a new one.

1,800 quarters turned up one Canadian, one Bahamas 25¢, one US penny and two US nickels.

1,3000 dimes had just one Canadian.

600 nickels produced one War Time (1943P) and one US penny.

This weekend was kind of simple for us and for that reason it was rather pleasant. There was some bad sleeping from Hazel (she has a cold) and Meg's not feeling great, but the weekend had some great moments. For that reason I'm choosing to concentrate on those as I start another work week.

My first favorite moment was driving home from dinner at the Olive Garden. Dinner service and food were rather poor. The kids weren't there worst, but we're far from a relaxing dinner out. When we got in the van we immediately spotted a hot air balloon (we don't see that many around us). Henry and Hazel were very excited about it. It got lower and closer as we drove home. At one point I pulled the car over and Henry took a picture of it. He was great. He got out very quickly, zoomed in and took the picture below (He's UFO ready!). We then tried to see if we could find where the balloon was landing as it must have been nearby. We weren't able to follow it to its landing, but we had a good time chasing it for ten more minutes. Moments like that definitely make it all worth it. Meg and I definitely got a lot out of their enthusiasm.

The next great moment was on Sunday afternoon. After Hazel's nap we went to one of my favorite places in the world, Tower Hill Botanical Gardens. Hazel requested that Henry hold her hand and off they went running together (nicely), smiling, laughing, without Henry running too fast or anyone getting hurt. At one point they even had Meg and I hold hands and run in front of them. I really wish that moment would have gone on forever. It didn't as a minute or two later Hazel and Henry weren't cooperating. BUT ... we got to experience three great minutes as parents and a couple!

I took these two cute photos after we got back.

8,000 halves turned up two 90% silver halves (2 x 1964), eight 40% silver halves (1965, 4 x 1967, 3 x 1968D) and six proof halves (1971S, 2 x 1977S, 2 x 1978S, 2004S).

19,000 pennies rounded up one hundred seventy-two Wheats, one hundred four Canadians, twelve US dimes, one UK penny, one Taiwan 1 Yuan, one Panama 1¢, one Euro 2¢, one Bahamas 1¢ and one off-center error coin! The error coin is really cool. It's definitely the most off center of any mis-strike coins I've found. I'm having a tough time estimating its value, maybe $6-12?

1914, 1919S, 1929, 1936(2), 1937, 1939(4)

This past Monday I got back from vacation. It's been a busy week so I haven't had the time to blog ... here goes.

For vacation we went to Cape Cod for five days/four nights. For the third year in a row we were very fortunate to use my Uncle's vacation home. Henry and Hazel were excited about the trip to the beach house. Even before she got there Hazel was saying, "beach house." Neither slept on the way out there because they were too excited. Henry even told us he was going to be in a good mood at the beach house!

For the most part Henry was right. We had 1½ rough days, but else wise things went pretty smoothly. There was even one point when all four of us were napping at once! We spent about three days at the beach and two days side tripping. I particularly liked how every trip we took the beach (or pond) had its own special character because of the location or the tides. My best memories of the beach is the tubing Meg did twice with Hazel and playing with Hazel in the ocean side waves. Henry and Hazel can spend quite a long time at the beach with little food or drink (not our intention, but on the beach it seemed even harder to get them to sit down and eat) they just don't like sunscreen too much - we learned evening, sunscreen free beach trips are everyone's favorite.

Other than our times at the beach I particularly enjoyed playing Legos with Henry one morning and our ride home. On the way home we stopped at the Heritage Museum in Sandwich. We went there last year and had fun, but this year it was even better. They had different old cars on display, both kids thoroughly enjoyed the carousel ride, we got to ride in a big golf cart twice (Henry and Hazel's big thrill) and we had a decent lunch out.

The pleasant vacation air continued when we got home. On Saturday I took the kids to a special fire fighter day at Olde Sturbridge Village (Henry even willingly ate chili as part of a chili tasting) and in the evening Meg and I got to go out for dinner. On Sunday we attended a family birthday party for Evan and I got the special treat that was touring his bedroom (sounds weird, but I hadn't been up there in a while and it was great to let him show me all of his stuff).

Here's some good pictures from the past week.

7 small dollars had nothing.

8,003 halves turned up two 90% silver halves (1964, 1964D) and nine 40% silver halves (1965, 2 x 1966, 2 x 1967, 3 x 1968D, 1969D).

12,600 quarters rounded up one silver Washington (1934), sixteen Canadians, three US pennies, nine US nickels, three US dimes and one Bermuda 25¢.

8,900 dimes got me eight silver Rosies (2 x 1946, 1950D, 1952, 1956, 1960D, 2 x 1964), eleven Canadians, three US pennies, one Singapore 10¢, one Bermuda 10¢ and one Venzuela 25¢.

4,720 nickels produced two War Times (1944D, 1945P), seven Canadians (3 Ni), one Bahamas 5¢, one Bermuda 5¢, one US dime and one arcade token.

5,000 pennies had thirty-seven Wheats, eighteen Canadians and one Bahamas 1¢.

1919, 1936, 1939

Just a quick coin update ...

8,000 halves turned up eighteen 90% silver halves (1941, 16 x 1964, 1964D), twenty-five 40% silver halves (1965, 2 x 1966, 10 x 1967, 8 x 1968D, 4 x 1969D), one proof half (1980S) and a guitar pick.

16,740 pennies produced eighty-seven Wheats, one hundred twenty-seven Canadians, thirty US dimes, five US nickels, one Euro 2¢ and one Barbados 1¢.

1917, 1919, 1928, 1935, 1935S, 1937, 1938, 1939(4)

Happy Birthday ... Gold!

It's been a while since I last posted (internet troubles, vacation days, etc.) ... my apologies.

Last weekend we went to my in-laws to celebrate Hazel's 2nd birthday. Here are some good pictures of our weekend.

Pops rigged up two canoes so that they could be towed by his lawn mower. This was a particular favorite of Henry and Hazel's.

Nonnie made a super two Elmo cake (or as Hazy would call it, "Three Elmo!").

Hazel and Henry opened gifts really well again.

Pops won more praise from Henry and Hazel by letting them cruise around (in the yard) on the back of his Miata. Hazel and Henry looked as if they were parade luminaries.

On Sunday morning Pops, Henry, Hazel and I went to a local car show, a big local car show. It was an excellent idea. Hazel had the most fun crawling into this big 2½ ton truck. Henry didn't want to go in it for some reason and Hazel didn't want to leave it.

Henry had tons of fun taking photographs at the show. He probably took over a hundred on two cameras. Hazel was part of the picture taking action too, but she doesn't press the button much.

Here's a supper coin post ...

215 small dollars had one proof dollar (2006S).

8,068 halves turned up nine 40% silver halves (2 x 1965, 2 x 1966, 3 x 1967, 2 x 1968D) and one proof half (1994S).

17,220 quarters rounded up three silver Washingtons (1951S, 1964, 1964D), twenty Canadians, ninety-five US nickels (a dubious record!), one Princess Cruises token, one South Korean 100 Won, one French franc, four UK 10 pence, six US dimes, one Bermuda 25¢, one Swiss 20 Rappen and three new modern ones for me, 2011D Gettysburg, 2012D Chaco Culture and 2012P Acadia.

9,500 dimes yielded eight silver Rosies (1946, 1952D, 1960, 1961D, 1963, 2 x 1963D), one proof (1989S), seventeen Canadians, one UK 5 pence, five US pennies, two US nickels, two Bermuda 10¢ and one Netherlands 25¢.

5,360 nickels got me two Buffaloes (Unknown, 1935), four War Times (3 x 1943P, 1945P), one proof (1977S), seventeen Canadians, eleven US dimes, one Trinidad & Tobago 25¢ one Bermuda 5¢ and one Italian 50¢ (1997). It had been last November when I last found a proof nickel. Always good to get a new one!

22,150 pennies roped in one hundred seventeen Wheats, one hundred thirty-two Canadians, one proof (1968S), one Brazil 10¢, one Euro 1¢, three Bermuda 1¢, five US dimes and one washer.

1918, 1921, 1925, 1928, 1929(2), 1936(2), 1939(2)

... and best of all by far ... at the coin counter today, in the reject bin I found a mass of rejected coins. Besides the typical Canadian, British, Mexican and Euro coins I found what is now my best find (by dollar value) ever!! It's a $5 US gold piece from 1908. When I snagged it my knees started shaking and I was nervously excited for probably 20 minutes afterwards. It's worth more than twice my other gold coin (the previous #1). The condition of it is pretty good too. I really like the unique (for a US coin, I think) incuse design of it.