Odds and ... Okay, Mostly Odds

I've been in the weirdest mood lately. We've been inundated for days on end. I'm getting really tired of hearing my pump go off every 2 minutes ... seriously wondering if there are Ark plans online anywhere ... using the blow-dryer to get rid of my pruney fingers ... wiping the brown yuck-socks off my terrier every time she comes in, or worse, not having to deal because she won't get off the porch to do her business and ... you get the idea.

So, needless to say, I not only had time to take a couple of pictures, I pretty much had to do something other than obsess about mud and downpours.  No, not great pictures (the USPS pin is upside down, for one thing) but not flawed (or odd) enough to be ashamed of.

Sterling pins first.  One is New Jersey government, one Post Office, one Dept. of Army, and another (I think) is either State Department or Staff for one of the branches of Federal government (it's the one with the Great Seal on it).

The two at the bottom are still research in progress.  The vendor told me GAA stood for "Girl's Athletic Association," but since it's dated 1934 I can find no reference to anything like it.  I'm inclined to believe she's right, though.  The other (YPF) means something totally different from what I think is its original meaning, especially since it's on a cross.  (Google it yourself, you'll see why I don't put it here ... blush.)

These are my gold-filled.  One is American Cancer Society, the other, I believe, is a law firm.  I mostly bought the former because ... well, one of the odd things lately was a call I received from my Dad.  He just found out he has prostate cancer.  I'm planning to give the pin to him in 5 years (because he will survive it).

And, of course, the gold.  The pin with the dove is the 14K (no words, so no idea whose), and the NY Telephone is the 10K (with ruby).  PBC is unmarked 10K, and the NEA pin tested low-carat green gold.  I have no idea what PBC stands for.  And, oddly, I'm rethinking the NEA's gold content - though it tested that way multiple times, even with a needle scratch, I can't get away from the fact that it looks, on the edges, as if it were pieced together.  I couldn't get a good shot of that, but you'd agree that it might be really, really thick plate.  Time will tell.

Odd, too, is that I couldn't get this picture to come up as a small box ... only medium ... as if gremlins have ridden in on the flood.  I'm trying not to think about it, any of it, much, just cleaning the oven (that "blowed up" last night while I was baking a turkey breast), sorting the tax receipts (because I'll be in Texas for estate things before I have to file), and getting ready to call my dad again (he's actually in good spirits).

Once things dry out, I'm taking my dimestore metal detector - damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead with what I've got - and going to the nearest playground.  One of the guys I met at the flea market said that's where he's found some great things.  It's worth a shot, right?

Of course, he also said he gets "treasury boxes," cases of unsorted half-dollars, and goes through them for pure silver Kennedy halves, then takes them back to his bank to let them dump it into the sorter (so he doesn't have to roll them).  I thought about it.  But I don't have his buff physique (to lift ... what? ... 100 pounds?) nor do I have $500 to scrape together and put into coins.

No, for now while I might think of something a little outside the box, I need my little rut.  But, as soon as the back yard stops trying to suck my boots off my feet, as soon as I get some practice in the playground, I will dig up some of the "pings" I've heard by the big maple (with my dimestore detector) and, whether I find coins or gold or just a cache of nails, I can at least turn the effort into something useful.

Holes.

I told you I'm feeling weird today.