Ring Daddy #89 and Oh, for the love of peat....

When I was growing up my dad would say things like, "Oh, for the love of peat" or "Oh, for peats sake". This was when he was frustrated with me or something. I never really understood it. What could it mean?

Thursday afternoon, Gene and I headed north to hunt an area that I rarely hunt because I don't like it. I think out of all the times I've hunted this stretch of beach I have found one gold ring. But I have not hunted it for a long time and I needed a break from the south end of MB.

Part of the incentive was driven by the phone call from Jim Paliani saying he had found a two tone gold ring and a big platinum ring in this area.

So off we go...I with low to no expectations.

The beach is massively sanded in just like the south end. I see a small depression in the surf, almost a hole, that curves out to sea, and wade in. Gene swings down the beach.

Within a minute I have my first signal. I set the scoop and push. It springs back. Huh? I push harder and make some headway. It seems spongy. What the heck is this? My monster Sunspot scoop makes a small hole in this stuff and I pull up a mass of black...gunk. I shake it but the mass sticks together. I pull the scoop from the water and almost pass out from the smell. Ugh!! It won't break apart. I take my right hand and break the mess apart while staying upwind. I shake it vigorously and the black debris turns the ocean black in front of me. I look around hoping no one is watching or smelling me. Of course there is always someone watching. I ignor the onlookers. Eventually I see a black coin in the bottom. Too weird.

I get more targets and each coin is as black as night. There are quite a few sinkers and I start to think that maybe this stinking black stuff is too compact for anything to sink through it. Maybe a gold ring would be in this mess.

I wondered if I could dig through this layer of peat (I think that is what this is...decaying matter) but never found a layer below.

This stuff is frustrating to dig and then when you get a chunk in your scoop you have to break it apart with your hands. Very time consuming.

I found myself saying, "Oh, for the love of peat!" and "Oh, for peats sake!"

Finally a small gold wedding band shows up in the black mess. So, yes, I guess this stuff is holding the gold up where a very determined individual with extreme patience, no sense of smell and a small stick of dynamite might retrieve some of it. Here is the mess...see the black coins.

Man, it was cold out there. The water was warm but the wind coming from the north chilled my top half when it was out of the water. I can't believe I am already thinking about my wetsuit. Here is the little wedding band.