| A VW hubcap .
. . Dibble |
| Enough old bricks
to build a small garden shed . . . Shirl |
| A little gold
ring I lost over 10 years ago in my veggie
garden . . . Marilyn |
| Charred
brownies. Apparently my husband tried
to cook again . . . Heather |
| I once made bread
which didn't rise. I put the loaves out for
the birds but found them later -- my dog
thought they were bones and buried them . .
. Laurel |
| False teeth upper
plate in very old veggie plot -- probably
thrown on garden from garbage pail which
old-timers used to do with compost . . . Buffalo
Woman |
| A perfectly shaped
heart made of broken glass . . . Kokliko |
| Really, really
large boulders that made great borders for
beds. Also a collection of partially chewed
rawhide bones, and mismatched gardening
gloves which our new dog randomly buried.
Obviously thought if Mom can dig and bury
things - why can't she do so as well! . . .
Jill |
| A can full of
pennies from the 1940s . . . Linda |
| Fund raising candy
bars were snatched by our dog Ellie.
She buried over 9 candy bars throughout the
backyard - all with the wrappers still
intact . . . Willie |
| Picture it - 2001,
George the Fifth, the Georgettes,
Woofie-gard-n-dog, and me -- happily mucking
in the dirt, the Georgettes spy something
bright and shinny -- they scratch -- I dig,
Woofie digs, George flaps enthusiastically -
it got bigger, shinier; bigger, shinier;
soooo big it was huge, it was the bumper
from an 18 wheeler -- in the herb garden . .
. Joan |
| Preparing for
spring -- with a pitchfork -- armed for battle
-- tilling all the gopher mole tunnels (thought
I would end up at Sheryls). I finally found
the destructive rodent that I had named Bin
-- and annihilated him . . . Pat
|
When I was a small
child, I can remember vividly digging in the
garden space that was allotted to me.
One day I was digging a big hole to plant
something, and it was soooo deep that I
imagined that I was digging down to
Australia. Not five minutes later I
dug up a small charm -- it was an Australian
map charm! It was such an impact as a
child and I often think about it now (some
forty years later) when I'm digging a deep
hole in my garden
. . . Sue |
| I unearthed a
fragment of china from a lovely Victorian
teacup. I paused and wondered -- was I doing
gardening or archaeology or both? . . . Cathy |
| My mothers wedding
ring . . . Elaine |
My sanity!
I have a very hectic job and I find that my
gardening time brings me back to a calmer,
more relaxed state. I wouldn't trade
my time with nature for a spa any day.
. . . Shannon |
| Marbles, 131 years
of lost marbles. All colourful like the flowers
and saved in an old canning jar, one or two
a year . . . Dan |
When I was digging
in the slope behind our garage (where I'm
planning to do terraces for rhododendrons) I
found a multitude of things, among them:
parts of bicycles and lawn-mowers, a bucket
of tar, whole (!) clay pots, odd shoes, a
mug, a silver spoon, an old washing
mashine... When the excavating starts again
this year I expect to find a lot more!
. . . Anna |
| Found an entire
11 man team from a table-top soccer game
buried up to their knees in a pot in a dark
corner of the garden. Punishment for losing
too many games or unwilling participants in a
bizarre experiment? . . . Nick |
| Found fragments
of the family china and a lovely lady's brooch
in a 150-year-old boxwood parterre of a historic
house -- Like a trip back in time! . . . Susan |
I find golf balls
everywhere I dig -- the price I pay for
raising a pre-teen golf fanatic
. . . Susan |
| Once when I was
digging a new vegetable bed I found a lawn
chair and about ten beer bottles buried
under the ground . . . Christine |
| When we first
moved in and started tilling the untouched
soil here, I found a stirrup and what appeared
to be a large knee joint. We quickly quit
digging for fear of finding the rest of the
horse, or the rider . . . And, since the
house's previous owners hung out with
motorcycle gangs, the fear of digging deeper
was a REAL one . . . Auntie Canuck |
| A friend of mine
had just bought a house and we were poking
about the backyard and I found . . . a driveway
. . . Jenn |
| A barbie arm reaching
out of the soil, used as a plant protector
for years after the original sighting 'til
perhaps a dog ran off with it . . . Kitty |
| In a remote corner
of the garden bed I found a pair of pantyhose.
Makes me wonder about the previous owners
and their Soiled Reputations . . . Bev |
| The skull of a
horse. Never found the rest of the body so
I often wondered if the Godfather was around
. . . Patricia |
| I found an old
stove that someone had buried and used to
landfill. We lived on the lake and I guess
the previous owners were trying to level
their land. We decided we didn't want it
that level! . . . Pat |
| Once while gardening
I found an old sneaker. It looked like it
had been there for quite a while. I also found
a shot glass . . . Cristina |
| Found a beautiful
salamander . . . waited 5 minutes for it to
move before realizing it was plastic. also
found a pair of my sisters undies . . . John |
| While roto tilling
the garden, found an O-l-d, very old
lady's garter, just a single garter from a
garter belt. After rubbing the dirt
off, it was rusty silvertone, with the
rubber now a dingy, dirty white. It was at
least 50 years old. It made us wonder how in
the world this came to be in our garden
spot. What was the lady like who wore
it? Was this from her "Sunday-go-to-meeting"
clothes, or from a frisky, fun loving lady
who loved to kick up her heels? It was fun
to take a step back in time, wondering about
the person we never met. Letting our minds
wander about her -- was she married -- any
children -- did she dance -- was she a prim
and proper lady? All kinds of questions played
in our minds that day, and opened all kinds
of dialogue . . . over something so simple and
plain. But we had such fun! . . . Darleene
|
| A cable snatch:
a steel rope, mesh sleeve thingy for pulling
power, phone, etc. cables in-line and
rigging them to poles . . . David |
| The skeleton of
a dog with a cat's skull in its jaws, and
a mouse's skeleton in the cat's jaw. Guess
they played a deadly game of "menage a
trois", but we don't know what killed the
dog. My son took several parts to his
class's "show and tell" day, and managed to
make a couple of his classmates woof their
cookies. Needless to say, we were a hit with
the kids, but not with the custodian . . . Ellen |
| I found turquoise,
crystals, red and amber jasper, petrified
rocks, iron ore . . . the old owner did
lapidary and had a pile of rocks he wanted
to cut and polish behind the garage . . .
got a lot of cool stuff from there!
Oh, and all the lannonstone (indigenous to
this area) under all this . . . Robin |
| The strangest
thing ever found in my garden was a forgotten
shovel. It had been covered by some weeds,
and accidentally hit by the tiller the
following year . . . Jennifer |
| My dad had found
a just hatched, feather less raven in the
mountains and my mom fed it every two hours
for weeks. It eventually became a 2ft
tall bird that was never caged or tethered
but lived in our backyard. It thought
it was family and wanted to do whatever we
were doing. It would instinctively
grab anything it could, fly off and bury it
in various places. In the rose garden
we have found Mom's sunglasses, many of
dad's tools (nuts, bolts, screwdrivers,
etc.), paintbrushes and garden tools . . . Lisa |
| Not strange, but
a shocker nonetheless! In the process
of digging new flower beds, I unearthed all
manner of electric, cable, etc. wires.
Why, oh why, in my garden when I had such
visions of my dream Eden?! . . . Lalita |
| My children and
I were doing some weeding and we located
several real old fashioned slot machines with
buffalo nickels still in them . . . Cheryl |
| My husband dumped
cigarette butts along with my snuffer in the
garbage to burn, unknown to me. I found it
at garden digging time . . . Carol |
| When we moved
to our present home (about 25 years ago) the
yard was a mess. Every time I put the
shovel in the ground I would unearth
something. Glass, bottles, cans,
bones, toys, tools, horseshoes. But
the one time I spotted a wheel sticking out
of the ground in a flower bed I was
preparing. I went over to it and gave
it a yank, wouldn't budge. Took the shovel
and started digging around the wheel, gave
it a few more yanks, still did not move.
I finally called my husband, who dug for half
hour or so. We both pulled and out of the
earth came a kids battery operated car.
The kind they can sit in a drive around.
The other strange item I found, several years
later and in a new flower bed was my wedding ring
I had lost a couple of years before . . . Barbara |
| Under about a
pickup truck load of weeds I found about a
pickup truck load of rocks. I'm still in the
process of removing the rocks . . . Maren |
| A schoolhouse
stapler, that was a handful of rust.
Cleaned it on a wire wheel, and got it to work.
The problem with it was a jammed
staple. Probably from the 20's . . . Frank |
| An entire brick
patio. And underneath that a whole
bunch of broken china and porcelain doll
arms and legs . . . Audra
|
| Peace and quiet,
a wonderful thing for a person, who works two
jobs . . . Sharon |
12 years ago we
moved into a new subdivision - built on old
riverbed. Every yard of topsoil had to
be trucked in, and to save some money we
decided the first loads could be unscreened,
and the more expensive screened loam would
be saved for beds and top dressing.
That unscreened loam was a
treasure trove of found items. The
most notable was a silver whiskey flask,
dented but intact, still containing the most
potent home brew I have ever had the misfortune
to sniff! . . . Mona |
| Old glass bottles
from the 20's/30's - it was then that I realized
my garden site used to be a dump . . . Kerah |
| in my fathers
old garden spot was a large gem. No ring, just
the stone. It's the size of a garter. Is it
a real diamond, don't know . . . Linda |
| I live in a townhouse
and had to replace some plants planted
before we moved in that had died.
Trashed supplies from building the townhouse
were buried. Not a wonder the plants died.
Not as strange as a shame for the
environment . . . Marge |
| A ton of safety
pins - the previous owner said that trees
need iron too. One diamond ring (no joke) .
. . Anne |
A fossilized rock
with an animal's (probably a lizard) skeleton,
lots of fossilized sea shells (property is
now nearly 3 1/2 hrs. from the ocean) and
several fossilized seed pods
. . . Marlene |
| My favourite watch
that I lost last year . . . Shirley |
| Most interesting
find: A huge carpenter's screw
clamp. The wooden handle wasn't even
rotted much. A wire wheel, some oil,
lots of patience, and it works just
fine! Now, if I were a carpenter (and
you were my lady) . . . Tom |
| While digging
a hole to plant a Weeping Willow last year,
my husband knew we would find many old bottles
and shells (someone told us that that part
of our property used to be a dumping
ground). What we didn't expect to find was
an iron headboard! We dug up as much of the
headboard as we could, and then sawed off
the part we couldn't (or should I say
wouldn't) dig up. As our landscaping progresses,
we are awaiting new and interesting discoveries!
. . . Val |
| A carpet partly
decomposed. I was pulling up carpet fibres
for years after the initial find. Maybe
someone wanted the lawn to look like a
carpet . . . Wayne |
| We dug up an old
bottle of sewing machine oil and a bottle
that had the words vaseline and a company
name on it . . . Patricia |
| Mine isn't what
I found buried in my garden, more like what
I RECEIVED. My one year old Red bone hound,
Lucy- bringing up the 12th potato that I had
just planted the day before! She brought the
last one to my feet and dropped it, waiting
for me to throw her new *ball* . . . Carrie
|
| This is not now,
it is the future. My husband gardens
with surgical rubber gloves and drops them all
over the garden when holed. What will
the future gardener think when he keeps
digging up the things? . . . Gay |
| Someone lost their
marbles in my garden... and I found
them. Must have been someone with a 13
year old daughter! . . . Nona |
| Favourite find:
a fist sized oval rock that amazingly
resembled the potatoes I was digging.
Into the sack with the spuds it went, and
there it remained until last week when my
wife went down for potatoes . . . Tom |
| While creating
a new garden bed I found an engine block .
. . Janice |
| In autumn I found
an egg on which was written: "EASTER MONDAY".
(The neighbours had dated the eggs of their
wild ducks and the marten had stolen them
and lost one of them under my hedges) . . .
Lucia |
| While digging
under a very old lilac tree I found several
empty bottles. They are the very old apothecary
bottles. All of them at one time contained
some of that old fashioned medicine that
today would probably be illegal for all the
opium it contained . . . Catherine |
| I live in
a very old house that my husband and I have
been "fixing up" for many years. While
digging up the dirt to put in some flowers
around an old shed near our home, I
found an very old iron. Not an
electric one, but one much older and very
heavy. I guess someone in the past got
real tired of ironing. I can relate to
that!! . . . Vickie
|
| I was digging
in my square foot garden and discovered a brand
new loaf of bread. The previous week I
was unloading groceries out of the back of
my car and when everything was in the house
I discovered that I did not get my loaf of
bread. It seems that my wonderful big
dog named "Black dog" had stolen the loaf of
bread and buried it for hard times . . . Debra |
| I bought my
grandmother's house in the country in 1998.
While excavating the land behind the house
to start a perennial garden, my husband and
I unearthed her crockery history. There were
pieces of plates, cups, bottles, and odds
metal objects . . . Patricia |
| The strangest
thing my wife ever found in our garden is:-
ME!!!!!! . . . Robert |
| I keep finding
marbles (maybe the ones I've lost over
the years). But the strangest thing would
be the remains of the two holed biffy that
was there many many years ago . . . Elaine |
| Our first year
at our new place, we were putting in a Hosta
nursery near an old coal bank and I found
the remains of an old moonshine still.
I still have the intact copper worm on the
wall as a reminder! . . . Brenda |
| When making a
new flower garden behind the shed at my mother
and father's house, to surpass them when
they returned from vacation, I unearthed a
small box -- lo and behold it was a pet
mouse I had buried there when I was a
child. Very well preserved . . . Ruth |
| While transplanting
a larch tree along our river in the backyard,
I came across a very old cod liver oil
bottle, 2 feet underground, cap intact.
Probably left by someone camping from an
earlier day . . . Karen |
| Shards of Victorian
inkwells. We live in an old stone
schoolhouse . . . Pat
|
| Dead Bodies .
. . Argh |
| While digging
new garden beds on my old schoolhouse property
I unearthed children's rings, inkwells, pieces
of rubber balls and metal object . . . but
no money! . . . Judy |
| I have found a
set of wheels for a Volkswagen and a garden
roller in a compost heap . . . Judith |
| A horseshoe .
. . Devon |
| As a child I attempted
to dig to China with a trusty dinner spoon.
It only took me 52 years to get there. I
taught English in China in 1999! . . . Beth |
| |
| A few summers
ago, on a hot summer morning, there I was
sweaty, on hands and knees, back aching, trying
to whip my garden into shape. When my
gentle hoeing produced a clunk, I dug out the
offender. Not a bone, not a stone or
rock, but it looked like a relic from bygone
days. Obviously, it had once held a
wooden handle, and that was no longer
there. What kind of implement was
it? I asked my know-it-all husband,
who had farming in his boyhood background,
but he offered only a few guesses and no
concrete name for my mystery whatzit.
It even travelled with me to the local
historical or is is hysterical club for
advice. No luck. Some day, I hope
to put a name on my whatzit. . . . Liz |
| When I began my
organic garden near the back of the property
there were lots of rocks - which is not
unusual -but over time I came to really hate
the sound (not to mention feel the back
wrenching impact) of my spade hitting rock
whenever I turned new soil to enlarge the
planted area.
I was quite proud of
the amount of rocks including two
"boulders" I dug out and managed to roll
to the corners of my front lawn where I
left them as ornaments because they were
testimony to the hard work I had done. My
wife always wanted a pool but I convinced her
the upkeep was too much effort and we joined
the local community facility instead. In exchange
for the concession I agreed to build her
a nice flower garden in the lawn space closest
to the house with a gazebo she could use
for tea or entertaining her lady friends.
When I began working that ground I found what
I thought was a blob of left over buried
concrete. My spade scraped and
scraped as I worked hard to dig all the
way around this third (man-made) boulder
of sorts. Three weekends later I
finally did. Two MONTHS later I
shovelled out the last of the fill dirt
the previous owners used to hide the built-in
concrete swimming pool!
Needless to say we
fixed the cracked bottom and drain,
re-tiled the sides and filled the refurbished
pool. My wife loves it and often
needles me because I "found a way to get
out of building her that Gazebo and rose
garden I promised"... as if it was LESS
work than moving all that earth! My garden
beds now all have raised beds for obvious
reasons . . . Lazlo
|
'Twas the night
before Valentine's, when all through the
trailer
Not a creature was stirring,
not even the jailer
The beer cans were snug on
the carpet with hair
In hopes that a Valentine
soon would be there
The children were
nestled in protective custody beds
While visions of hard stuff
danced in my head
And me in my kerchief, where
the hell is my hat?
Had just settled down for
a nauseous nap
When out on the lawn
there arose such a clatter
I crawled from my bed to
see what was the matter
Away to the window, I fell
with a smash
Tore open the shutters and
threw up the sash
When what to my
wondering eyes should appear
It's the ex! And he
thinks that his car is a beer
With a little screw driver,
so lively and quick
I disabled the car and then
really got sick
Now dang you, now
dern you, now blast you, you're
vermin (we're from the south).
On holidays, on birthdays,
on May Day, you're blitzen
To the top of the porch,
to the top of the wall!
Now get the hell away, get
the hell away, get the hell away y'all
(I was seeing double)
With the stumps of
his teeth, he held his pipe tight
As he rolled in my petunias,
both left and right
But the smoke from his pipe,
it curled to a point
In the midst of my pansies
was a revealing light
I dug and I dug till my fingers were
bleeding
When finally I found what I really was needing
100 proof moonshine awaited me there
After that he was gone, but I didn't care
Next morning I found him asleep in
a hole
I covered him up, and that was my goal
It's Valentine's day, and I think I am right
To wish him good times, and a long, long goodnight!
. . . Blaze
I found my
mind, which had been misplaced a few months previously . . . Randi
|
See entries from previous
contests here 
