Oak Island – Hitting Bottom

Posted on March 1, 2022 by vanbraman

Season 9 of The Curse of Oak Island is starting to get exciting.

In the episode tonight they showed more items removed from the large can using the hammer grab tool. They believe that they were in the same area as the team that included FDR back in the early 1900’s and was in the Money Pit area.

Curse of Oak Island, History Channel, Did they find anything?The spoils coming from the can included more wood beams at the depths they were expected to be at. Finally they hit bottom as they reached the bedrock. The hammer grab tool was no longer able to bring anything up but a little bit of mud.

They did bring up some small metal pieces and also bits of concrete. Some of the metal pieces were tested and contained small amounts of gold.

oak Island, Money Pit, Mahone BayThe episode ended with the team discussing where the next can would be placed. They are moving a little bit away and believe they may hit the debris field from the Money Pit collapse that occurred long ago during the time of the team with FDR.

Oak Island, Money Pit, National Geographic, Curse of Oak IslandThey also did some more scanning with ground penetrating radar and it is possible that they have found the path of the stone path as it leaves the swamp. Will they be able to get permits to excavate the path?

Curse of Oak Island, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia

Some metal detecting was also done along the possible route of the path and some different metal pieces were find. Several of them were types of spikes and one is possible a small claw hammer head.

oak island, curse of oak lsland, satellite, money pit

The preview for next week showed them going through some of the spoils for the second large can. They showed them finding what may be parchment with possible writing on it. However, it didn’t look like it was readable. It will be interesting to see what more they show about this next week.

They also showed a large flat stone and said that it was surprising that it was down there. What is this stone?

I am sure that we will also see some more about the pieces that they have found recently by metal detecting.

It will be interesting to see what theory they concentrate on next week.

Steven

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Some Owls

Posted on February 28, 2022 by vanbraman

Tonight I have a little bit of blog block, but happened upon a picture that made me think of owls.

Western Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea), Owls, Big EyesOne night about then years ago I was out taking a walk and all of a sudden caught something out of the corner of my eye. I stopped, turned on my camera, and was able to get this great picture.

The owl was a Western Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea). The owl was standing on a fence just a few feet from the sidewalk I was walking down. I was so lucky that the owl did not fly off immediately. It just stood there and looked at me while I took several pictures. Behind the owl was a recently mowed field of hay. I am sure that the mowing displaced several families of mice and that was why the owl was hunting there.

Western Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea), Bird Habitat, Hay FieldBurrowing owls live in underground burrows. Sometimes they make their own, but often live in man made structures such as drains or even nesting boxes. Burrowing owls help keep areas clear of rodents and some people encourage them to nest in certain areas. I also found out that April is nesting season, so maybe this owl was keeping an eye out for the safety of the nest.

In any case, the owl soon flew down to the hay field and was swooping down on a mouse.

Barn Owl, Tyto Alba, Owl in Tree, Hidden OwlThis picture is also from about ten years ago. I heard the owl hooting while taking a walk and I began to search for it.

This is a Barn Owl (Tito alba pratincola). I took picture after picture trying to find just the right angle to get a clear shot of the owl. It just would not cooperate with me :-). However, I do like this shot. You cannot see the face, but you can imagine those piercing eyes that it has. It is actually neat that they are covered. The unclear shot reminds me of how well an owl can hide itself from predators.

Barn Owl, Owl in Flight, Rodent control, Owl at OrchardHere is another Barn Owl. It flew out of a owl box while I was walking through an orchard and luckily I had my camera ready to snap a picture.

Arad Well, Tel Arad, Barn Owls, Tyto Alba, Owls in WellHere is another interesting owl picture. These owls are huddled at the bottom of a deep well at Tel Arad in Israel.

When I was young I used to collect owl figurines. I liked that they were symbols of wisdom and knowledge. I still have several of them setting on a shelf in my home office. They are keeping an eye on me while I write this.

Steven

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