Metal detecting lead

 

 

There's a house near my office building that I notice each time I drive past.  It's a large, old house. I don't know how old, but I'm sure it's pre-1900.  I notice it for two reasons: It would be a nice house to draw or paint, and the yard would be nice to metal detect.

 

For much of the past year, I've looked when I've driven past to see if anyone was outside for me to stop and ask about metal detecting.  Finally, today, I saw a work crew.  I stopped and went back to look closer; it looked like they had been painting, and there was a truck for a hardwood flooring place, and they were cleaning off the front porch.  I asked if the property owner was around, and they told me to knock on the back door.

 

I'm usually pretty uptight about talking with people I don't know, so knocking on a stranger's door is hard for me, but I try to foster a little glibness now and then.  So I knocked and waited. Then I rang the doorbell. Then I knocked again. No answer.

 

I walked back down the long drive to my car, and crossed paths with a man walking across the yard.  I asked him if he was the property owner, and he said he was, so I explained my purpose.  He seemed like a nice guy, and told me that they were preparing for a wedding (which is funny, because even though there was nothing wedding-related in sight, I couldn't see that large old white house in a large green yard with white trucks and working people dressed in white without thinking that they were setting up for a wedding.)  I gave him my card, and he said he'd set it aside and call.

 

He also said the yard had been metal detected before, but not much had been found. However, it's a very large yard.  I have to think that there is some interesting stuff there, somewhere.  Here's hoping!