Wow, it's March Already?

Sorry for my sparseness over these past couple of months, a couple of blizzards, Mono, and lots of work have kept me from posting any updates and pictures. I found some time tonight so I thought I would let everyone know what was up, and share a neat video series with you. Lately, I've been looking for some neat gadgety projects to do just for the fun of it, and I found this wonderful source--"Weekend Project" from "Make". I haven't been able to get out to detect so that is also why I haven't posted any updates! Here's a sample video from this Make Series:

(My only addition to this would be separating the light from the sound maker so that the light stayed on, while the "cricket" chirped.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opt0E5S1760

Happy New Year and 2009 in Review

Well, I had a wonderful 2009 season, and collected $73.72 in modern clad, a new record for me, doubling what I got last year! I'll try to keep this short and sweet so I'll just talk about the photos. The first few pictures are my jewelry and non clad finds. I collected a total of 15 wheaties, meager, I know, but for my area I feel I managed fairly well. I also pulled two silver dimes, a 62 D Rosie, and a 63 Canadian. My oldest coin to date is now a 1919-S wheat penny that I found on the 31st--what a way to end the year!! This beat my other oldest coin, a 1935 buffalo nickel. I found my first dollar and half dollar coins this year, quite a surprise to dig those up! Also I found two 10k gold rings, my first, and a sterling man's ring. Another surprise was a couple of Euros and Cayman Island coins I found!

















Then here are my relic finds. The doll's head was found while bottle digging near an old house in south Asheville. Included in my relics are civil war bullets, (the bottom two below the three casings) and some 50 caliber bullets and shell casing from WWII! I also found some square nails, a Timex watch that stopped tickin', and lots of keys and knives. I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year. Happy Hunting!!

Storm Update

Well, with the 12 inches of snow outside covering up all of the good places to detect, as well as the bad, I've remained inside, except for yesterday. Inspired by this monumental amount of snow, me and my family set out to build an igloo. Taking a total of six hours to complete, the igloo has a 12 foot diameter, and height of about 6 feet. So here are a few scenic winter shots of our yard in Asheville, under 12 inches of snow! Enjoy!

It Really Snowed Here....And That's Not An Understatement!

Today we received, and still are, 7+ inches of snow! This is a record for Asheville, for most snow received in one day. The previous record was 3.6 inches in one day....back in 1917! It has just made a winter wonderland out there, and I just wanted to share some of my photos with eveyone! Hope you enjoy!

First Post Bio and Introduction

Hello all,

My name is Ashby Gale; I am a freshmen attending Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, and I've created this blog as a part of a college seminar class, Contemporary Green Living. I grew up in Hilton Head Island, SC and moved up to the mountains of Asheville in August of 1996. My hobbies include coin collecting, cooking, botany, jazz saxophone, camping, hiking, fly fishing, biking, backpacking, and metal detecting, which will influence much of what I will discuss on this blog, occasionally tying it in with green living.

Yesterday I visited a beautiful part of the mountains here in WNC by hiking along a section of river on the Hebron trail. About 1/2 mile in, you'll come to a set of beautiful cascades, twisting throughout a sea of boulders. On our ascent up to the top, I spotted a harmless water snake, sunning himself amongst the rocks. What a beautiful creature that can be at peace on a square foot of land, overlooked by numerous hikers until a pair of observant eyes spots him among the detritus thrown about the rocks!

Then, today, I awoke to a drizzly cold morning, desperate to put a damper on my day.