Robby Raccoon
Trash Digger
Sadly, it's not local-- but hey: First blob, and it's colored. So here's the story: I went back to this place today and down into that room with the shard-- this time, I had a better light. Walking around with a more powerful beam and comfort in knowing the building, I was crunching along on debris when suddenly, from overhead, footsteps and voices materialize. That's the only time I got scared, albeit the building even there was pretty dark. I freeze and turn my light off-- its click echoing through the columns of dirty paint and bounding off debris-strewn floor and peeling ceiling. I'm thinking on what to do-- an entrance is too near for my comfort, and it could be cops for all I know, so I walk in darkness deeper into the building. I also sink down into what turns out to be 1 foot of mud trapping 3 early-1900s carts. Here's a tip I learned from experience: When caught on private property, immediately start asking questions before the one catching you asks, and go right up to them. Just ask about the place, for you might learn some stuff and get off free. The whole day was windy, so there were many moanings and groanings and banging-sounds in the building as things smashed around loosely and further fell. And with a breeze coming through, paint chips would rain down at times. The builders really seemed to like anything with the word Rock in it... as ROCK____ as on pretty much every machine. But anyway.... In the obscured (after I located the hard-to-find thing,) dark room with 2 dead animals, I had a much better light to show me its century+-old secrets... and indeed, I found many. In fact, I discovered that the wall is a later addition-- as told by this broken tooled crown in the cement and this cemented-in Baltimore Loop-Seal. So I begin to dig around and unearth many blob shards all over the dirt floor.Eventually, I begin poking around a huge crack in the wall. What pops out? Naught but a crier: Chippewa Spring would-be-blob bottle that was awfully dirty. Base is unembossed.So I keep digging.... And, SUDDENLY..... My first intact blob bottle! And I pulled the flashlight from my mouth and thanked God for an intact find.The photo shows the first light they had in years as I laid them on a slab. Sadly, the crack is too narrow to dig well in even with my mini-shovel. I almost gave up before I pulled this one out for nothing but a few plate-shards was popping out. And when I saw the blob, I was so tempted to yank it, but I didn't, else it might have ended up in pieces-- a lot of brick in there. Only two from that hole, but, oh, so worth my time. I crawled into a larger hole from whence last time something had been growling at me. It was a tight squeeze, and nothing came out of it, but yeah.I think that there once was a small building there-- absorbed by additions, as shown by a change in architecture. I think that they cemented over a room back there. This-- which I found many of-- tells me pre-1906. And the shard compared here to a circa-1885 Loop-seal from my town (I know it came from this bottle) tells me that it's likely earlier. I know that the area was built on by the former Brewery next door in the 1870s. I also dug what I think is an early wiring-insulator. Can anyone help me on it? I love the colors on the bottle from being in the ground so long-- look at the colors on the base! Here is some info on the Gargling Oil bottle I dug. It comes from Lockport, N. Y. Here is info on the Chippewa Springs bottle from Chippewa Springs over in Wisconsin (They forgot the comma.) Long time of business. Not sure what these are...
Wondering if the license plate is from a stolen car or not.Riffling through old records in old desks, I discovered that the building was actually pretty much fully abandoned in 1997. Help on getting the stopper out of this Baltimore Loop Seal bottle's mouth? I want it for my other one. Any ideas? I know it was a special way to open it back in the day... So here is my first blob. And I struggled to make it home by bike as the wind was and still is just so dang strong. But it's more than worth it.