Flash in the park!

[johnj45586]

Today was the day to get the 15,000 mile warranty service on my Ford Explorer. That and a quick lunch at Burger King was done by 12 Noon. It was a beautiful sunny day so I headed for Tewinkle Park by Costa Mesa (and the Orange County Fairgrounds) to try my hand at dirt fishing again.
The playground (that had sand on the ground) was fenced in and had been completely torn out. Hopefully they are just going to reconstruct the playground with new equipment. That was an area I was looking forward to hunting - and it was gone.
After looking over the park I decided the best places to hunt would be near picnic tables. Using that strategy I hunted the whole park (around the tables). I found more than a hundred pop tabs during the day of every description and age. Around the tables I also found mostly pennies. After searching around the tables I started random walking through the park. At the south end I saw what appeared to be a volleyball net. I headed that way, hoping for some sand to search in. But before I got to the net I ran into a security fence with signs every 20 feet warning it was an Air Force Facility with no admission. That was a surprise - I didn't remember any such facility, but then I hadn't been at this border of the park before.
I began to notice that near trees or large rocks there could be coins sitting right on top of the ground. I'm not sure why this was, they didn't have lawn mower marks on them like at Doheny Beach.
Along the random walk I found a 1 GB USB Flash Drive (Data Traveler from Kingston). When I got home I looked and there were no files. It works fine though. Either it was never used or all the files had been erased.
Quarter signals were few and far between. One of the quarter signals yielded a coin that was obviously too big to be a quarter. A closer look revealed it was a Sacagawea dollar! I have been pretty lucky finding dollar coins. My tally so far is; 1 Susan B. Anthony, 6 Sacagawea, 3 Washington and 1 John Adams.
One of the penny signals turned out to be a Chuck-E-Cheese token. Another penny signal turned out to be a flattened penny. And a third penny signal turned out to be a ring. I have never seen a ring like this before. The band has a design inside and out. The setting is a red translucent bead (a hole all the way through). Has anyone seen a ring like this before? It looks as if it may have been silver plated at one time.
A nickel signal turned out to be a large button with 10 artificial stones on it. The picture is of the button uncleaned. I am afraid that if I clean it, the sets will fall out.
The yield for the day was 1 $1 coin, 3 quarters, 10 dimes, 6 nickels, 44 pennies, 1 chuck-e-cheese token, 1 flattened penny, 1 ring, 1 sparkly button, a lead tire balancing weight, a very large turnbuckle (6 inches long), a metal tire valve stem cover, and gobs and gobs of pop tabs.
The pennies and pop tabs were extremely useful. I am practicing precise pinpointing and surgical digging. I detect and rough pinpoint with the ACE 250, exact pinpoint with the Bullseye pinpointer and probe/dig with the small stainless steel knife I found at Salt Creek Beach. When I have the target in hand I merely tap the ground around the incision with my hand and completely close the hole. You cannot detect where I have been digging.
The only problem with this procedure is dimes sitting vertical. The Bullseye can only detect them at 1 inch. At least that is how it appeared today. Maybe I can do better if I change the battery. I remember the last time I put in a fresh battery the Bullseye was super sensitive - even being set off by ground imbalance.
Tewinkle has a skate park, but that is fenced and is concrete to the outside. There are a few bleachers, but those are set on concrete. There are tennis courts, with the same features - lots of concrete. The Baseball diamonds are completely fenced. The bleachers are over concrete, the bullpen is concrete flooring. The play area has grass in the outfield. The rest of the area is packed sawdust. That is the same as the path at Crystal Cove Beach. It isn't likely anything could be in the "dirt" on these ball diamonds.
So I guess I will be looking for another park to hunt. I would like to try my strategies out again and hone them as sharp as my beach strategies.
Lots of fun today taking my ACE 250 for a walk in the park with my sweetie. Dirt fishing is great fun!
Happy hunting to all

[bbqcook]

A good stroll in the park and some nice finds, makes for a good day. Congrats

Earl

[ERnurse]

Sounds like a great day.

[SandSkimmer]

sounded like fun...... it always nice to get out and do some hunting...

KUTGW

jt

['E']

Nice day out again John & another dollar coin, good job

[1911d]

great finds! in all the years that i have md i have never found a modern $1.00 coin, i have found 3 gold coins (1-$2.5 & 2-$5.00) over the years, but sadly no modern $1.00 ones....you the man, keep up the good work!!!!!!

[bdahunter]

Originally Posted by 1911d

great finds! in all the years that i have md i have never found a modern $1.00 coin, i have found 3 gold coins (1-$2.5 & 2-$5.00) over the years, but sadly no modern $1.00 ones....you the man, keep up the good work!!!!!!

Bermuda has a modern dollar coin so I find lots of them each season. I trade you all of my modern dollar coins this season and next for a shot at a single gold coin. This find continues to elude me.

Weel Done,

BDA

[MinelabMan]

Great day John. That ring is different that's for sure, no clue why the stone would be holed though.

[KellycoChick]

Well done yet again JohnJ!! Love hearing about you getting out there and finding stuff!!! Wish that ring was wearable, it's cute!

[Lt1stone]

Nice finds John!