4-7-05

        I talked with the guy's about a midweek dig. We were trying to make up for last week's debacle. We had been knocking early in the Sunday morning. Steve's starter decided to go on strike. We spent the day getting a ride and putting a new one in only to find out the fuel pump relay gave out too. So, there we sat waiting for Steve's brother to come with a trailer.

    Steve's brother Jimmy had a couple places lined up for us. The first had a wide yard with an alley running in the back. A big two car garage sucked up most of the yard directly behind the house.  We probed but couldn't find it. It was probably under the garage.

    The next stop would be Steve's brother's wife's cousin's friend's house. Cousin Corry wasn't home but told Jimmy it would be cool. The yard was compact and a big deck and stone patio covered a lot of it. 

    We found a couple pits and started with one in the corner. We were about half way down when Corry showed up. He was laughing because he thought we were only probing. He didn't know we would dig! Good thing  Jeremy and Mary the owners were cool and didn't give us the boot when the dirt started to fly.

The boys getting going.

    Jimmy found the first decent piece. It was a perfect bowl with a swan motif. A little latter he found the lid, also intact.

Jimmy with the bowl   

  Bowl close up

    Bottles were somewhat scarce. Steve was up and pulled out a cast iron pot that had been buried upside down. "Check it out!" he said as he handed up a leather baby shoe that had been sheltered in the pot for all those years.

    Leather infant shoe    

    I think the hole may have been two pits. The hole was better than 6 feet across when completed and the bottles in one half were slightly newer.

      The take from pit 1

    Pit 2 was under the patio. Jeremy told us we could lift the stones and the dig was on. Since we started after work, the sun was real close to setting and it was getting dark.

Craig getting started

    The pit was a little better than 5' deep and just a long.  Most of it was a tunnel job under the patio. The best in the hole would be a Citrate of Magnesia and an intact porcelain cover that sat over some kind of food item.

Take 2

    By the time we got the pit filled and the patio back together it was 8:30. I told the guys I was going to find one more. I headed back to the corner where the patio brick covered the ground. It sure made sense there would be a pit there. I found a seam to probe through, nothing. I adjusted the angle more toward the yard and sure enough there was another pit.  The guys laughed and I asked "Who is in?" Which is a stupid question because the I know how silly they are about digging. A couple of quick calls to home to let the better halfs know we were going to be late and the dig was on.

    The first bottle out was a bunk screw top. We still pressed on. Steve had a larger crock on the run. It was intact but unadorned. He then found a glass hypodermic with an emerald colored push rod.

What a crock

    The pit was like the others, thin on glass. It was getting really late and we finished up.

    Take three

Jeremy  the owner with a few bottles. Thanks for letting us dig!