9-04-04

    I misread the email Steve sent during the week. He wasn't asking when, he wanted to know where. He thought we were digging here, I thought we were digging there. This left no time to freshen up last weeks permission. Sorry Steve, my bad! Anyway, the early hours of the day were lost waiting for the guy to wake up. So, we  killed time checking out some Sanborn Fire Insurance maps Steve scored. I have heard other guys using them to locate privies. Then, we went out to do some probing. We checked out four places. I was beat by the time 10 o'clock rolled around.

    We stopped in to the dig site and doubled checked with Bob to see if we could still dig. Very cool guy. It sure is fun talking with the owners when they are into what is going on and know the history behind their houses. This pit was under the garage, and was going to end up being a tunnel project from the neighboring yard(which we dug last week). We got started after the spot was cleared and the tarp spread out. Soon after the shaft was dug, the tunnel started, Steve pulls out the first bottle. A fancy ketchup. Then a screw top MacVeach Spice bottle and that was it. The next one has to be better.

Steve examining a shard for age

    I found a spot along the back lot line. Steve was marking out the edges and looking somewhat puzzled. "Something  is up here, the shape is wrong" he said. We opened it up to discover a barrel privy. I flashed back to the last barrel we dug and all the good stuff that came out. I got my hopes up only to be let down when it contained a couple slick bottles, a frozen Charlotte doll, and a bunch of bricks.

    I was beat at this point. Filling in this small pit was a chore. It was a combination of the heat, humidity, lack of food, but most of all: lack of bottles. Steve had a deep, not very promising feeling, tunnel project lined up in the corner. It is rare, but I didn't have the motivation to continue. We had ordered up a pizza and some pop and took a little break to get our game face back on. Shortly after, Steve found a different pit beside a shade tree. It felt pretty good and my motivation came back!

    We were getting slick meds, some Lydia Pinkums, and a couple local Kradwell meds from Racine. Definitely not the best, but it sure beat what we were digging. Bob, the neighbor, was outside all day painting. I asked him if he wanted to come over and see what we were getting. He came over with his son Shane and watched. They thought it was cool. They picked up the probes and even found a couple suspicious spots in the yard. The best bottle of the pit came out while they were there. It was a crown top Miller Beer bottled by Geo Herzog here in Racine. The guys thought it was cool, and we promised them some more bottles at the end of the day.

Neighbor Bob, very nice fellow, taking some stuff.

Geo Herzog bottler of Miller Beer

At least we found a couple!

      By now, it is 5pm. The only thing left is the deep one in the corner. We went to the neighbor's and tried a different angle with the long probe. It sailed right in. Somebody beat us to it. Oh well, we loaded up the truck and stopped by Bob's to drop off some goodies. His buddy Jim is there along with son Shane. In the mean time, our buddy Don stops by to give us a hard time. So, the six of us are on the side walk talking and joking around. Next thing you know, Steve and Bob are heading to the back yard with probes. Of course we find a dynamite feeling spot, and it's going to be another tunnel project.

    It is late, we know we are not going to get done before 8pm. Steve smiles and asks, "Are we going to dig it?". This is why I love digging with him. He is a true diehard!

Steve calling Gloria letting her know were going to be late

Tail end of the pits.

    We open it up, on the way down we are finding broken fruit jars. I wondered if we were on top another pit. I hand Steve the probe. Sure enough we accidentally found another one. A bonus pit! We decide to finish this one and then tunnel to the good one. The one side had all the stuff. A clay marble, an intact clay pipe, glass bird feeder, etc. We got it cleaned out and headed for the gold, our last chance for redemption. Steve was tunneling a test hole when he hit the first bottle, a bunk newer screw top. Snake eyes, another crappy pit. To make matters worse, it was just broken pottery, no more bottles.

    We just dug all day and got totally skunked. Earlier in the day, between probing yards, Steve and I were reliving our top 10 pits of all time. Ironically, I  would have to say this was the worse dig day ever. I am not sure why, but we laughed all the way home.