Author Topic: What treasure did you find when digging your pond? (Read 3315 times)

Mikey · « **on:** December 26, 2009, 10:55:12 PM »

I found a concrete slab at about 2' deep...

Then I found an old concrete water or irrigation pipe...

Then I found a second concrete pipe....

I also found one rusty horse shoe and what appeared to be a partial skull of a cat.... If only I had found a human skull I could have had the police department finish digging the pond for me......

PondmaninAL · « **Reply #1 on:** December 27, 2009, 07:10:23 AM »

Around these parts, Mikey, if you found a concrete slab and pipe, it could possibly be an old septic system.

marla · « **Reply #2 on:** December 27, 2009, 07:11:08 AM »

LOL, that would have been one way to get it done

......did you have any idea those treasures were there?

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #3 on:** December 27, 2009, 09:31:05 AM »

So you're the one causing all those gushers up in L.A.!

Jerry · « **Reply #4 on:** December 27, 2009, 09:34:43 AM »

You should have planted a skull and got free digging!

Jonna · « **Reply #5 on:** December 27, 2009, 10:04:20 AM »

Careful that the skull is the right kind, if it is considered an indigenous skull then your whole house could be declared off limits as a traditional burial ground and you'd have to move.

Mikey · « **Reply #6 on:** December 27, 2009, 03:18:45 PM »

This whole area for many miles around used to be dairies. In fact the city where I live had its name changed in 1957 from Dairy City to Cypress. I'm not certain if the pipes were used as part of the dairy or what but they appear to be landfill that they put down and buried. The concrete slab was some part of the original dairy that was on the property. I was a tad bit nervous when I took the sledge hammer to that first section of pipe......

Yes Jonna, I likely would have regretted finding the skull of a native indian....

Jonna · « **Reply #7 on:** December 27, 2009, 04:09:52 PM »

When we lived in Marin, there was a couple who bought a quite expensive lot in San Rafael. While excavating to build their house a Miwok skull and bones were found. They ended up spending millions of dollars, many, many years and I don't know if they were ever able to build their house. We had a standing joke if anyone ever found any bones while digging in our garden to wait for night and toss them into the park.

Jonathan · « **Reply #8 on:** December 27, 2009, 10:54:21 PM »

tera cotta ( SP?) pipes thats it

Julles · « **Reply #9 on:** December 28, 2009, 07:01:56 AM »

I lead pipeline.

I am guessing it was the line for natural gas to the original house that stood on my lot. Since I don't have gas heat or a gas stove, I figured the line was dead, so I went ahead and cut through it and removed it. No gas came spewing out of it. (Luckily, because I was using the power circular saw!)

I don't know if it it was an inactive line or not, but it is now, and will be a darned shame if someone down the road (like me) wants to install a gas cooktop.

emm · « **Reply #10 on:** December 28, 2009, 07:07:43 AM »

The only big things I found while digging were rocks and one of them was very big indeed. Found all kinds of square nails, old bottles and jars, very old toys and bits of china. Although we live in town our home is an old farm house and I think the area that I dug the pond was used as a midden. Oh, and tree roots....... And more rocks. Lots and lots of those.

emm

karen J · « **Reply #11 on:** December 28, 2009, 06:54:40 PM »

To quote one of the original Speichert forum members... "I found Jimmy Hoffa"

I did find the original tiles from my main bathroom and a couple matchbox cars. Boring.

bunny56lbc · « **Reply #12 on:** December 28, 2009, 08:25:34 PM »

coal coal & more coal....the old farm house was built back in the depression & they used to burn coal . They'd get a truck to bring it & have it dumped in the backyard...

bonnie

Mikey · « **Reply #13 on:** December 28, 2009, 09:50:50 PM »

Quote

coal coal & more coal....

You may find this hard to believe but I don't think I have ever seen coal.....

PondmaninAL · « **Reply #14 on:** December 29, 2009, 06:41:42 AM »

Quote from: bunny56lbc on December 28, 2009, 08:25:34 PM

coal coal & more coal....the old farm house was built back in the depression & they used to burn coal . They'd get a truck to bring it & have it dumped in the backyard...

bonnie

Well, at least you have a back-up heat source.

Julles · « **Reply #15 on:** December 29, 2009, 09:04:38 AM »

Re the coal and the midden (which I had to look up, BTW), it's interesting to me that, in years past, people thought of their yards as places of storage, trash, or maybe for a garden for food.

These days, we use your yards for the kids to play in, the dogs' home, entertaining space, beautifully landscaped spaces, ponds, etc.

bunny56lbc · « **Reply #16 on:** December 29, 2009, 11:13:32 AM »

Quote from: Mikey on December 28, 2009, 09:50:50 PM

Quote
coal coal & more coal....
You may find this hard to believe but I don't think I have ever seen coal.....

I've never seen it either until I dug my first pond , Mikey . I just thought it was black rocks I kept digging up until my dh was kind enough to tell me what it was after he laughed his hind end off at me

[/quote]

Well, at least you have a back-up heat source.

[/quote]

I thought about putting a piece of it in my dh stocking....

bonnie

Loritx · « **Reply #17 on:** December 29, 2009, 12:06:56 PM »

Sprinkler pvc pipe!! Ok so we assumed it was for that flowerbed we were digging up, capped the line- found out later that it was also for other flowerbed. We were able to tap that one in another line. Ran a drip line to the pond so it topps off when the sprinklers are on.

We also had a main line for the Sprinklers that we tapped for filling with water!!

Mikey · « **Reply #18 on:** December 29, 2009, 03:25:36 PM »

Quote

Re the coal and the midden (which I had to look up, BTW)

Me too...

emm · « **Reply #19 on:** December 30, 2009, 05:43:43 AM »

re: midden

Before home garbage collection folks around here used to find another use just about everything. Items with no other use were burned, buried or tossed on the midden heap. It is quite common around here to find old household items when digging.

Our soils are a very heavy clay loam (lots of nutrients but poor drainage) but you can always tell where the old vegetable garden area was because the soil there is loose and friable. People amended it with vegetable scraps and manure to improve its tilth.

emm

Kittyzee · « **Reply #20 on:** December 30, 2009, 07:08:32 AM »

Sorry about hijacking your thread Mikey: but about the midden. We have a field, and on top is a hill that we (DH, me and granddaughters) call "treasure hill". When walking in the spring after planting before the crops come up, you can find horseshoes, shards of beautiful glass that were once sugar bowls, cups, china, etc. They love to find things and then make up stories. We collect the scraps and then put the pieces of glass and china in the waterfall area of their mom's pond: makes for a great conversation piece.

Mikey · « **Reply #21 on:** December 30, 2009, 10:13:42 AM »

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Sorry about hijacking your thread

I enjoy reading threads that take twists, turns and detours from the original topic. Makes for more interest in my opinion.

Kittyzee · « **Reply #22 on:** December 30, 2009, 11:13:29 AM »

Mikey!

turtlemike · « **Reply #23 on:** December 31, 2009, 07:59:53 AM »

I found a long lost pocket knife when I was putting topsoil into the new island pond. I looked down from the tractor and saw something red in the soil and it was my knife that I had lost more than 20 years ago in the hayfield. I t survived 20 years at least of horse hooves, tractor tires, mowers, and dozers when the topsoil was piled up for building the pond, and dozer and tractor when moving the soil back into the pond, and then I found it.

It was open and sharp and would surely have cut someone eventually during planting or harvesting because it was in one of my big lily beds.
It's not a great knife but the treasure is that no one will get cut !

It survived in perfect condition and is in my pocket now.

Mikey · « **Reply #24 on:** December 31, 2009, 09:54:15 AM »

What a satisfying find!

Quote

It survived in perfect condition and is in my pocket now.

I trust the blade isn't open.....otherwise you may soon be singing soprano....

Julles · « **Reply #25 on:** January 04, 2010, 07:16:14 AM »

No RUST, after 20 years exposure to the weather??

OldMarine · « **Reply #26 on:** January 04, 2010, 10:16:50 PM »

Kinda like the Petter Pan movie with Robin Williams where the old man lost his marbles. I found my marbles, lots of them. I played marbles with my friends when we were kids, and I always wondered where they went. I must have lost them,.............................. in the back yard. By the way, I bought my parents home many years ago. Lot of memories here.

Happy ponding,
Rich

turtlemike · « **Reply #27 on:** January 05, 2010, 08:07:17 AM »

It is a Swiss army knife Julles. it's stainless steel.

Mikey · « **Reply #28 on:** January 05, 2010, 08:34:49 PM »

Rich: Your marble story reminds me of green plastic army figures I find from time to time. I didn't find any army figures while digging the pond because that area was formerly lawn, however, in another part of the yard I built a fort over a sand box for the kids to play in. That was many, many years ago and that fort is long gone but sometimes when gardening in that area a green army figure will emerge from the soil ready to do battle...... I sometimes find marbles too but I believe those must have been from a former family that lived here prior to us.