Today I shall be Mainly...

[Marilyn]

Go back...find the gold!...find the silver!...find the coins!

[Wendyf]

Might have done that all ready.....

[Marilyn]

really?
Come on Wendy...'fess up.
Have you and Colin filled the bath with gold coins and both jumped in with a glass of Bubbly?

[Wendyf]

[Stanley]

Looks too good to be true Wendy, if it is a Civil War missile it's the best I have ever seen but I can't think of anything else it could be. How big is it?

[Tizer]

Wendy, you set me off on a typical OGFB hunt...I see something like your cannon ball and can't resist searching for more information on cannon balls! And then I get side-tracked into more specific aspects or into other areas. One thing that caught my attention was what are possibly `armour-piercing cannon balls' found on the Mary Rose - lead but with a small inner core of iron. Another was a debate on a US forum about whether bronze cannon balls were used in America. Somebody found one but other forum members were telling him that they were never used in North America, bronze being too expensive. Then another member joined in and pointed out that the Mexicans used them, so wherever the Mexicans fought the Americans in the southern US states you can find bronze cannon balls. Then they ended up arguing about whether Mexico was part of North America or Central America. Great fun!

[Wendyf]

It's wonderful isn't it...and next thing you know it's lunchtime and you haven't done any of the jobs you planned to do!
We haven't measured it really accurately yet Stanley, and I don't have it here. We judged it to be 1", but my colleague says the circumference is 4 inches, so I'm thinking it must be nearer 1.25 inches.

[Marilyn]

Please forgive me, but I am not that excited by cannon balls, given that your entire country is littered with them, and you have so many places making money with re-enactments. ( have done all the tourist trails).
Now a nice big box of coins might get my heart racing...

[Wendyf]

I didn't mean that the cannon ball was wonderful Maz, (though finding it was pretty good ) I meant the way we can find out so much that we didn't really want know on the internet!

[PanBiker]

Sorry I missed the search Wendy but a good find.

How deep was it and was it from a field regularly ploughed or long standing pasture?

[Wendyf]

It was about 10 inches down in what is now pasture, but which must have been ploughed at some point in the recent past as the grass is suitable for silage..quite coarse and long leaved.

[PanBiker]

The reason I asked is that there is "sinkage rate" for objects in the soil based on ground type, weight and other contributing factors. Objects lost and then undisturbed (as opposed to deliberately buried) will sink through the topsoil strata and as very rough guide if you work on 1" per 50 years for pasture land you will be somewhere in the right parish. Not an absolute guide of course because of all the possible variables but to get 10" down with natural settlement you may be looking at 400 years or so.

[Stanley]

Maz, the Sealed Knot don't leave cannon balls about.... If they used them there would be a bit of a fuss!
Wendy, the good condition of the object could be due to the purity of the iron. Good cast iron is very slow to degrade....
When John and I were field walking together he used to have a theory about every stone we saw. On more than one occasion I have ended up telling him "John! It's just a bloody stone!" It got to be a bit of a joke with us. Mind you, he was often right......

[Stanley]

I've finished i9n the shed, had my dinner and posted Shed Matters. Now for the biggest job of the day, scrubbing up and making myself look as though I have 2,000 acres in Norfolk.... Susan is picking me up in an hour and taking me to the Eye Clinic at Burnley. Fingers crossed!!

[Stanley]

Having a normal day.... Slept an hour longer than usual but who cares! Interesting things to do in the shed and my grub is all ready for the day. All is well!

[Stanley]

In the shed working on my tiny valves...... It's a miracle!

[Stanley]

Guess what once I've finished my Friday tasks....

[Stanley]

Getting the Wharfedale Speakers down for Big Kev and solving the problem with the overhead drive on Johnny's 1927 lathe.

[Sue]

Off to France for two weeks, sharing the car with a peach tree and masses of veggie seedlings.

[Wendyf]

I hope you are both fit & healthy for this visit Sue!

[Sue]

So far so good, Wendy. We have however packed painkillers, antihistamines, anitinflammatories, nasal sprays .....etc.

[Stanley]

best of luck Sue...
I might at last get round to marking my lids.....

[Stanley]

Getting a good start in the shed today after all the preparation yesterday. I have it all clear in my head!

[Sue]

It's been incredibly warm for April 25 plus degrees.two veggie plots are cleared, prepared and covered, with two to go but it was slow progress yesterday in the heat. The peach tree is planted and the seedlings survived the trip and are now in a warm sunny inside position growing on, to be planted before we go home.

[Wendyf]

More gardening this morning, then this afternoon John Clayton is coming up to explore Burnt Hill and it's surroundings. I want his opinion on the old field system below Brown Hill....and there are a lot of stones around to study!