Back Yard Junk
Published Jan 01, 1900
For my husband's birthday, I gave him a state-of-the-art metal detector. He excitedly took his new toy to the back yard to try it out. When he scattered some change on the ground, it seemed to work fine. Then, even when he wasn't near the coins, the thing kept going off. Over and over, he adjusted and re- adjusted with no luck. After watching him for a while, I said, "I think I know what's wrong." "I know what I'm doing!" he snapped. After 20 minutes, he finally turned to me. "Okay, what's wrong?" "You're standing over the septic tank," I said.
Originally published November 14, 2002.
