From April 18, 2001:

.....I was out pole picking with my friend Gord, and we pulled down 100+ pieces, some extremely black from train smoke. After we got home, we did the traditional pick-off. I called and lost the toss, allowing Gord to pick the most "valuable" (by the book) item, a CD 154 Diamond [040] CNR blotout, but I got second place, a Dominion 154 [030] with SDP. All the rest were 154 Diamonds and Dominions in the usual colors; CD 145 B, Hemingray, and GNW Tel Co's; CD 152 Hemi's and Diamonds, and a lone CD 162 Hemi with backwards 1 on top, and a 162 HGCo, the first we've ever seen on a pole up here.

Well, I am still cleaning my finds from last weekend, but made a cool discovery yesterday... a plain old CD 145 B in dark green (perhaps even teal?) aqua that has a HUGE piece of something in it!!! This is one of the insulators that was *pitch black* both inside and out, save for a tiny spot of green aqua just visible at the dome if you looked up through the pinhole. The inclusion looks like a hunk of rusty metal, frozen in time, with some wisps of amber drizzling down from it. The main piece is fully 1-1/2" long and just over 1/2" across at its widest, and the smaller piece attached to it is about 1/2" long by just under 1/2" across. It will be a challenge to get decent pics of this because it is SOOO dark, but when we do, we will post these too!

It was just the luck of the draw that I ended up with it. Can't wait to show Gord!! Then again, these were so dark that maybe he has some neat items to show me.

Mike