Searching for Metal with Magnet Fishing

            Do you know about magnet fishing? I just heard about it for the first time today. It is metal detecting with a big magnet tied to a rope you throw into water and then drag through it to find anything metal enough to stick to your magnet. I think that is another form of exploration, seeing what you can find basically. I'd prefer it to actual fishing, trying to catch fish. But, either way there is a lot of patience and stuff you don't keep. 

Magnet fishing benefits the water systems. If, people don’t just throw all the junk right back into the water. People I have seen (Random Andrew in video posts) magnet fishing seem to keep a bucket to throw in the bits of wire, nails, and assorted bits they find. I’d be hoping to find old coins but I didn’t see much of that turning up in the video posts I watched today. Guns, which have to be turned into the police, and a metal sign were more interesting than bits of wire.

There is also the problem of your magnet getting caught on debris and the chance you might lose it. I think most of the time it can be saved one way or another. But, there will be that less lucky day when you can’t pull it out again, or your rope snaps. This is a good time to learn a few good sailor knots.

Expect to get wet. I’d bring a change of clothes and foot wear for walking in rivers, streams and generally wet places.

Payphoneographer – Photographing the Urban Phone

            Found on <a href="https://twitter.com/payphoneprojekt">Twitter</a>. You can follow the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/bellpayphoneproject/">Instagram</a> account or see the photos on <a href="http://bellpayphoneproject.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a>.

I think this is a great idea for backyard urban exploration. I don’t own or use a cell phone so I do still think about payphones, notice where they are and I’m glad to still see them around, and functional.

The classic steel/aluminum phone booth that we all remember was invented and manufactured by Benner-Nawman. In 1948, the Pacific Telephone Company had their corporate headquarters in San Francisco. They called Rollie Nawman and asked him to design and produce a telephone booth made of aluminum and glass to replace the wooden phone booths that they had in service at the time. With Pacific Telephone’s adoption of the very first design the company began making thousands of telephone booths and enclosures used by every major Telephone Company here in the United States and in 45 other countries; many of those enclosures are still in use today. With the advent of the cell phone, payphones were on the decline, and with them, the phone booth itself. In 2005, Benner-Nawman sold off all remaining stock and got out of the phone booth business. Myrmidon-PBG bought most of B-N’s stock, presumably for servicing old booths.

The above information is from the Flickr group for Phone Booths.

Ontario Letterboxing?

            <a href="http://bumblingacrossletterboxes.blogspot.com/">Bumbling Along</a> is (so far) the only Canadian link I have found.

I’m hoping to find more but.. there are two main sites which have world wide links and resources.

Atlas Quest

Letterboxing.org

Letterboxing is a outdoor recreational activity which combines collecting, puzzle-solving, and treasure hunting.

Briefly, letterboxing enthusiasts hide and hunt weatherproof containers in remote or scenic places. Each container holds a guestbook, a rubber stamp and stamp pad. The planter of the letterbox distributes clues to its location; solution of these clues may require a combination of skills such as mapreading, orienteering, and puzzle-solving.

Letterboxers carry their own stamp book and personal stamp when hunting for hidden boxes. Upon finding a letterbox, they will impress their own book using the found stamp, and leave their own stamping or personalization in the letterbox guestbook.

Letterboxing has its roots in Dartmoor, England, in 1854.

Description of letterboxing from Curlie, the category for letterboxing links.

Address Photography

            Edward Donnelly, from California, in the US, posts photographs of address plates from buildings. How often do you pass by these house numbers and not even think twice about them? But, some are unique, old and interesting.

Address Photography

Do you have a house number visible on your home? Numbers should be easy to read, big in size, and a contrasting colour to the background they are affixed to. Placing house numbers on your mail box isn’t enough. These days not everyone has a mailbox and they tend to be smaller numbers, not so easy to read from the street.

I have large house numbers over the garage and another set at the front door of the house. No credit to me, the numbers where here when we bought the house. One of those little things people usually don’t think of when they move into a new house. But, a nice thing to give your home some extra character and a practical item too.

House numbers on Etsy, shop VEVA Designs Co.

SmartSign has more tips about house numbers.
Using clear house numbers is important! It makes life easier for your guests, for your postman, and for emergency service workers who might need to find you. The rules for displaying house numbers vary, depending on where you live. However, the following recommendations will ensure that your house number is placed where it can be seen by emergency responders, postal services, courier companies, and so on.

Dump Diggers in Toronto

            <img class="alignleft wp-image-55502 size-full" src="http://ontarioexploration.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/dumpdiggers-1.jpg" alt="" width="257" height="257" />Just Rob Campbell on the site currently. The original link and photo were from 2008. Rob continues digging, finding and collecting old bottles (in his recent posts) and other Toronto based old treasures.

Dumpdiggers chronicles the adventures of low tech treasure hunters Rob Campbell (that’s me) and Tim Braithwaite as we research and recover antiques from forgotten historical sites.

Found site on Canada Blog Friends.

 

Address Photography

            Edward Donnelly, from California, in the US, posts photographs of address plates from buildings. How often do you pass by these house numbers and not even think twice about them? But, some are unique, old and interesting. <em><a href="http://addressphotoblog.blogspot.com/">Address Photography</a></em> Do you have a house number visible on your home? Numbers should be easy to read, big in size, and a contrasting colour to the background they are affixed to. Placing house numbers on your mail box isn't enough. These days not everyone has a mailbox and they tend to be smaller numbers, not so easy to read from the street. I have large house numbers over the garage and another set at the front door of the house. No credit to me, the numbers where here when we bought the house. One of those little things people usually don't think of when they move into a new house. But, a nice thing to give your home some extra character and a practical item too.
SmartSign has more tips about house numbers.
Using clear house numbers is important! It makes life easier for your guests, for your postman, and for emergency service workers who might need to find you. The rules for displaying house numbers vary, depending on where you live. However, the following recommendations will ensure that your house number is placed where it can be seen by emergency responders, postal services, courier companies, and so on.

Lighthouses

            Note - This was originally posted to a friend's site which has been taken down. The links have not been checked since 2015.

What is it about lighthouses that draws people? People collect lighthouses figurines. People paint and draw lighthouses. People will stop to photograph a lighthouse even when there could be something else more interesting which they did not even notice in the shadow of that mystical, lonely, stark looking building poking the sky. I think it is the romance, mystery, history and the feeling of adventure – surviving storms at sea and pounding waves. The idea of steadfast lighthouse keepers, daring rescues and pirates hiding their treasure exposed in the roving splash of a beam of light. They are kind of fun to draw. Even more fun to be down at the water, hearing it, smelling it.

Photo Galleries of Lighthouses:

Lighthouses as Art:

Lighthouses Visited/ Documented:

Dump Diggers in Toronto

            <img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-99" src="http://ontarioexploration.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/dumpdiggers.jpg" alt="" width="257" height="257" />

Just Rob Campbell on the site currently. The original link and photo were from 2008. Rob continues digging, finding and collecting old bottles (in his recent posts) and other Toronto based old treasures.

Dumpdiggers chronicles the adventures of low tech treasure hunters Rob Campbell (that’s me) and Tim Braithwaite as we research and recover antiques from forgotten historical sites.

Found site on Canada Blog Friends.

Found Amazing Toronto Map in an Etsy Shop

            I found this map for sale in an Etsy shop, <a href="https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/208127415/toronto-ontario-in-1876-panoramic-birds">civicatlas</a>. With shipping, it would cost over $50 to have a print copy. Sure, it would be a nice size but more than I can spend. If you have the resources I recommend getting it for any Toronto history explorers. As you can see, there are excellent images of old architecture, likely gone or very different looking now.

To see more of it myself, I searched online and found it Historical Maps of Toronto, with a link to the source for the full map at the University of Toronto. Here are screenshots, to give you a preview. I would like to have this covering an entire wall of my house. But, I will settle for keeping it as wallpaper for my desktop computer. Meanwhile, I did download the full file and I can see what it would cost to get it printed. Possibly a local business where the photographer reprints and fixes old photographs, might be just the place.