Scavenger Hunt

The hill is full of secrets. As I wander around the slope behind the house, there’s always something mysterious to be found.

First, this:

I posted it up on MOL, and got a few interesting suggestions including the handle of a pump, a brake lever for the old railway, and a coal-grate shaker handle.

Then this surfaced:

My inquiry about this yielded a pretty much unanimous answer — if you discount suggestions that it was a hair clip for a brontosaurus — that it was a grate from an old coal furnace.

To sort of clinch the deal, we’re now noticing pieces of actual coal around the foundation. It looks a little like obsidian in its shiny blackness, but if you rub it on the pavement it leaves a mark like a black crayon.