# Things to do when winter is upon us.



## walkingstick (Feb 21, 2006)

Man, this is rough.  This is my first winter in the frozen north and the temperatures drop down to minus 29.  This is quite unlike winter, if you can call it that, on the Gulf Coast.  

 Anyway, I am starting this thread to get some input [sm=lol.gif] on things to do when you can't dig.  I will start with a few ideas of my own.

 1.  Get involved, or monitor, the *online interactive bottle price guide*, commonly known as ebay and lusting after a few of 'em

 2. Fondling my bottles.

 3.  To overcome my insane urge to buy a jack hammer to help me through 9 feet of frozen ground, just so I can have something new to clean, and yes ... fondle, I now search e-bay for the ultra common,  dug, uncleaned bottles just so I can pretend I dug 'em myself and am now cleaning them up.  Close, but not quite the same.

 4.  Recleaning my bottles. (I may have missed a spot) 


 5.  Spend countless hours reading all the posts on this site and responding to a few of them.

 6.  Looking up the recipe for Opodeldoc and adding it to my recipe book.

 7. Playing with my bottles.

 8.  Going to Digger Odell's site and checking to see if he has gotten around to answering the February 2002 questions yet.  (poor guy, he is soooooo swamped)

 9. Research ... research ... research and fondling the bottle I am researching.

 10.  Going to the BLM site just to see if I can narrow the manufacturing time frame down for my bottles just a bit more, and rubbing that bottle.

 11.  Sitting here typing out this list and realizing just how obsessed I am with my bottle collection ... oh well, better than drugs.

 12.  Counting down the weeks and days until I can go back to Mississippi and pick up the bottles I left behind, and fondling the ones I have.


 OK, some of you folks have lived in the North all your life, so tell me, how do you cope.  Have fun!


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## bearswede (Feb 21, 2006)

> how do you cope.


 
 Cope with what?


 PS... Does this help any?


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## capsoda (Feb 21, 2006)

Hey Wil, do the same thing you did on cold rainy days down here.

 Put on a pot of fresh cut collards, a pot of field peas and speckled butter beans, make some corn bread and some fat pork.

 Some homemade brew and a plateful and you got it made.

 Then in the spring when you finially figure out how to squeeze through the door, go diggin and work it off so you can start again next winter.[]


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## walkingstick (Feb 21, 2006)

How 'bout biscuits 'n' gravy!

 I would save stormy days for cleaning dem bottles ... why waste a good day on that when I can be diggin'


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## walkingstick (Feb 21, 2006)

MMMmmmmm coconut palms... warm.... mmmmmmmmmmm


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## Caretaker maine (Feb 21, 2006)

Do research, or if you go mad, set up a shooting gallery in your cellar and see how many bottles you can break with a sling shot[]


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## CanadianBoy (Feb 21, 2006)

HEY WILL,COPINGS SOMETHING ON THE EDGE OF A BUILDING,Dave.
 I always figure we,re kinda lucky up here,winter gives us time to regroup for the coming
 season.


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## walkingstick (Feb 22, 2006)

In truth, I started this just for fun.  [sm=lol.gif]I am actually doing very well.  I really did need to settle down for a bit and do a bit of research anyway.  [8|]

 I am grateful to swizzle for steering me in this direction.[]

 Y'all are a great bunch o' bottleheads![][] I am happy to be amongst ya.


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## walkingstick (Feb 22, 2006)

Slingshot ... bottles.  I DON"T THINK SO!  I even sulk over the loss of the most common of the common bottles.  Am I obsessed or what?!


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## bearswede (Feb 22, 2006)

We're glad to have ya, Will... And yes, you are obsessed!!!


 Ron

 PS...did you ever dream about digging bottles?


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## southern Maine diver (Feb 22, 2006)

Hey guys...

 I know you all are pulling my leg!!  I bet you all sit down with a nice Old Milwaukee's Best at room temperature!!![:'(]

 Wayne

 I'm stocking up for the Bottle Show!!!!!!!


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## bearswede (Feb 22, 2006)

> I'm stocking up for the Bottle Show!!!!!!!


 
 Maybe Cap will use it for his bubble bath... I'm waiting for the Sam Adams Double Bock!!!!!!!!!!


 Ron


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## capsoda (Feb 22, 2006)

Milwaukee's Best is a car parts cleaning solution isn't it.[&:] A Marine will drink anything, I know I worked with some.[]

 I tryed Sam Adams before too. Its ok but it aint no Mic.[sm=lol.gif]


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## CanadianBoy (Feb 22, 2006)

I just hope there's some place down there serves Guinness, cause I'm into that low cal stuff,Dave


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## walkingstick (Feb 24, 2006)

I'll be drinkin' a homebrewed stout for ya!


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## walkingstick (Feb 24, 2006)

An advantage of winter ...

 Gathering data for potential spots for bottles.

 The city of Bemidji was incorporated in 1898 built up around the area where the old train station is and ya know folks lived here long before Bemidji became a city.

 I talked to one of the locals who's family has lived in this area for a few generations.
 I learned from him that the old train station and the surrounding area is being tore up to build a shopping center.  I think that I will be hanging around that area for at least the time that the ground is being tore up.  It is the oldest part of town.

 He also gave me information about the aquaduct that used to carry logs from Lake Itasca area (The source of the Mississippi River) to the town of Bemidji where they were floated to the saw mill, which was located just a few hundred yards from where I am now and is uninhabited and barren.  I remember walking back there this past fall and seeing a piece of a saw blade in that area... huge!!!

 I think I will be hanging around the county historical museum and research center for part of this winter.  They are supposed to have a collection of old maps available for use.  I think I will use them as an mental overlay and draw a lot over my own maps.

 I am hopeful that the possibilities are good in these areas since folks lived here long before it was a city and logging was the only major industry in the area besides fishing and winter sports.  I reckon I will have to check it out.


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## CanadianBoy (Feb 24, 2006)

Hey Wil, have you tried this site for maps & historical articles.Dave.

 <a href="http://www.rootsweb.com/"</a>


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## walkingstick (Feb 24, 2006)

Yep, They all lead me to the county historical society about a mile away.  Nothing online.


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## walkingstick (Mar 16, 2006)

I think winter is about to end.  Next week the high temperatures are forcast to be above freezing.  Perhaps I will see some bare ground in a few weeks!


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## capsoda (Mar 16, 2006)

Hey Wil, Just thought I'd send you a picture of some bare ground to help you remember what it looks like.

 Southern Allllebamy.


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## sodabottle (Mar 16, 2006)

hey sound like you should have a good time at the train station 
 I'm all the way up by Virginia Minnesota in a small town called Hoyt LAkes  We still have about a foot or two in our front yard
 I can't wait for the ground to thaw and then start digging and metal detecting again
 [][]


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## walkingstick (Mar 17, 2006)

sodabottle,

 The ground only froze down about 5 feet this winter.  How long after the snow melts do you think I would have to wait until the ground is thawed enough to dig? We don't get too much snow... just cold weather, so there is not much to insulate the ground and it usually freezes down 9 feet.  I'm kinda new to this Minnesota weather having moved here from Mississippi last fall.


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## Mainely Broken (Mar 17, 2006)

Cap....you are mean, mean, mean.....showing those nasty pictures of warmth & sunshine to us northern, frozen digits!!!!  But hey hope is near I actually got to do some surface digging this week!!! Found some Mainely Broken black glass......gives me some small hope to find whole peices in the great thaw...maybe july...lol
 Vicky


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## capsoda (Mar 18, 2006)

Hey Vicky, you goin to the New England Bottle Show? Will we see you there. My wife and I are comming all the way up there just to visit and go to the bottle show.


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## walkingstick (Apr 3, 2006)

Bare ground... I'm gonna faint.  Soon it will be thawed out.  Time to start tromping the ground.


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