Thursday, Aug. 27

Thursday, Aug. 27

The highlight of the day was tripping in the Roadtrek and falling against the door where I'm pretty sure I broke my finger (4th finger, left hand). It hurt like hell. I immediately soaked it in ice water and Aunt Selma helped me fashion a splint out of aluminum foil and gauze. Within a few hours it started turning a pretty shade of purple but at least it stopped throbbing. Got me out of doing lunch dishes, however. (In reality, Aunt Selma hasn't let me wash ANY dishes yet; although I keep offering ---honestly!)

Despite my handicap, I decided to try metal detecting in their yard this afternoon. I had a few beeps in the grass but, like at Joel's house, couldn't find anything when I dug. I tried near the old gazebo too, with the same results. Then I went to the old stone foundation area which is all that remains from an old carriage house (with maid & butler quarters upstairs). I got some different-sounding beeps in this area, which was not grass, but more of a composting type of rich dirt (leaves from the trees in the forrest surrounding it, decaying branches, etc.). The first two areas I dug in yielded large, thin pieces of metal (tin?), one with the remains of what I think is red paint. I'm envisioning a fender or roof part of the carriage but, of course, have no evidence of that. Maybe the building had a tin roof? My next find in the same area was even more exciting. A heavy metal (brass?) round object with a slit in the center. I was thinking that it might be some type of bolt but when Uncle Sam saw it, he said it was an old (150+ years) door knob with a key hole in it. Cleaning it off a bit, I could see the letters "Q. R. S. Co" above the keyhole, and part of a "U", a corroded spot, and then a clear "A" so I'm guessing it said "USA" on the bottom. Too bad it doesn't have a date. I tried looking on the internet for an old company called Q.R.S. that might have made door knobs but so far haven't found anything.

I called it quits on the metal detecting for the day after that (well, I was influenced a little by the mean look from a very large worm who was upset with my disturbing his home).

At night we went out to dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant just down the block from them. It's called Bocci's and they were his first customer when the place opened 15 years ago. Very good food, nice ambiance, and a view of the lake as the sun set.