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If You Can Guess What This Is...You Win!

By John McCarthy

Real Estate Agent

May 20, 2011 07:51 AM

If You Can Guess What This Is ... You Win!

I suppose this is not really a contest in the "Wow, I just won a contest" sense, because there are no prizes, trips or giveaways, but you will definitely be able to tell your friends and family that you guessed the purpose of a strange looking thing in a photo and no one can ever take that away.

WE HAVE A WINNER!
Object

Congratulations to Robert Rauf for getting real darn close.The exact use of this medieval looking device is to drive a well point to a desired depth...by hand.

Growing up, my family had a summer camp on Cape Cod in Barnstable, Massachusetts, and I will describe this little paradise in my next post.

A driven sand point well occasionally clogs and needs to be re-driven. When our well or a neighbor's eventually needed to be relocated, below is a re-creation of how this was done.
Stick Figures

Here's the Recipe:

Start with "Someone needs a new well"
Add one sand point coupled to a 2' piece of 2" dia steel pipe
Add another coupling and a 4' piece of steel pipe
Add 2 energetic and very strong young men
Lift the Wiley Coyote weight about as high as you can reach. Make REAL SURE the pipe finds the hole in the weight
Let go of weight and GET OUT OF THE WAY so weight can slam down on the coupling
You will notice the pipe and well point will go down a few inches
Repeat this procedure, adding more couplings and 4' pipe, as needed. You might finish in one day...you might not.

Special congratulations to Dick Greenburg, Karen Burket and Steve Loynd for their extremely creative guesses.

Some recent posts you may have missed:

The Oceanside Walking Path in Little Boar's Head...North Hampton NH

A Glimpse Into Fuller Gardens...North Hampton NH - Part One

Many Hands Make Light Work

Do You Remember Your First AR Blog...And Your First Commenter?

In Honor of the Royal Wedding...She Dressed in Her Finest White Gown

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday - First Attempt at Spring in Seacoast NH

Seacoast Golf Instructor in North Hampton NH...Laura Shanahan Rowe

Sagamore Hampton Golf Club And Sagamore Golf Center In North Hampton NH

The Angel Trumpets Are Coming Back!

Lago's Lone Oak Ice Cream...A Sure Sign of Spring in Seacoast NH

Annie's Angels Hosts "The Heavenly Ball" Fundraiser ... March 26th in Portsmouth NH

The Chase Home for Children Fundraiser at Flatbread Pizza Portsmouth NH March 22!

Celebrating The Inner Irish In All Of Us - the Complete Series

If you would like to know why I chose Seacoast New Hampshire to make my home, click here to email me, and I can make a real convincing argument for you to choose it too! Or, if you would like to do your own home search, sign up NOW on my website for our exclusive Home Scout Program.

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Anna "Banana" Kruchten

HomeSmart Real Estate - Phoenix, AZ

602-380-4886

Shucks I missed this fun game John......very cool information. Who knew!! I love this kind of trivia and interesting stuff.

May 20, 2011 08:25 AM

John McCarthy

North Hampton, NH

Realtor - Seacoast NH

Hi Anna - I'm so glad you came by. This is only the second time I have had a "guess what this is" post, but they are a lot of fun, and seem to draw out folks I have never met here. See you soon!

May 20, 2011 08:36 AM

Joan Cox

House to Home, Inc. - Denver Real Estate - 720-231-6373 - Denver, CO

Denver Real Estate - Selling One Home at a Time

It is a weight to keep ex-husbands from re-surfacing in the water? Oh, I DID NOT say that! I was reading this, and had to go and show a house --- did not know it was GUESSED! Hour late, dollar short!

May 20, 2011 08:51 AM

Kenneth Cole

Weichert Realtors Appleseed Group, 2043 Richmond Ave. S.I.N.Y. 10314. office phone 718-698-9797, Appleseedhomes.com... - Staten Island, NY

NYS Licensed Real Estate Salesperson

I would have guessed some type of welding tool. Interesting.

May 20, 2011 09:22 AM

John McCarthy

North Hampton, NH

Realtor - Seacoast NH

Joan - Now that seems a very practical use, to which I might add ex-wives nothing. No, I didn't say that either :) I hope an offer comes out of the showing so missing this post was worth it! :) :)

Kenneth - It clearly was designed for heavy duty work. Everything at our camp was "manual." Visit my next post for more description. Enjoy the weekend!

May 20, 2011 09:42 AM

Karen Baker

Sunset Beach and Beyond Realty - Sunset Beach, NC

Professional Help with Rapid Responses...

John ~ I asked Frank who seems to know a little bit about everything if he knew what it was ~ didn't have a clues ~ this was fun!!

May 20, 2011 10:21 AM

John McCarthy

North Hampton, NH

Realtor - Seacoast NH

Hi Karen - Thanks for trying! I'm sure Frank has a great all around knowledge. I never expected so many guesses. Although I have only posted a Guess What This Is Contest Once Before, this one has been so much fun I am looking forward to the next one!

May 20, 2011 10:34 AM

Yolanda Hoversten

Self Employed - O'Fallon, IL

Referrals for O’Fallon, IL & the Metro East

Hi, John! I'm sorry I missed this before the answer was revealed. My guess would have been Arnold's old weightlifting tool. lol

May 20, 2011 11:35 AM

John McCarthy

North Hampton, NH

Realtor - Seacoast NH

Hi Yolanda - Always, better late than never. Glad you came anyway! That probably would have been a good guess. Steel weighs 490#/CF and that had to be 1/3 CF. A long way from the 75# I said above. All I can say is, it was a long day when we had to drive another well point! Come back and visit my next post for details about this wonderful place!

May 20, 2011 04:21 PM

Brin Realty Associates Team At Bean Group

Bean Group | Brin Realty Associates - Amherst, NH

Amherst NH homes and Southern NH real estate

Wow, Now THAT is really interesting, I never gave thought to how a point well was made and to think of them doing this without machines! I clicked suggest, this is very interesting for lots of Active Rainers to enjoy.

P.S. I thought it was a giant wine cork!

May 20, 2011 11:17 PM

John McCarthy

North Hampton, NH

Realtor - Seacoast NH

Rene - Driving a well point was no small feat! I remember many back-breaking days, but there really weren't any other choices. Thanks for the suggest - I have been quite surprised at the numbers of commenters for this little post! have a great weekend!

May 21, 2011 01:41 AM

Elizabeth Byrne

Keller Williams Realty - Arlington, VA

Arlington Virginia Real Estate

John, at first I thought it was a medieval weapon, but you've already provided an answer. I enjoyed reading your "Recipe."

May 21, 2011 12:22 PM

Cindy Westfall

Premiere Property Group,LLC Portland Metro & Suburbs Oregon - Tualatin, OR

ABR,GRI Your Tualatin & Portland Metro Real Estate

Hmmm.."you might finish in one day...or you might not" does this have anything to do with the tool..or the amount of liquids imbibed in the hot sun?

May 21, 2011 04:00 PM

John McCarthy

North Hampton, NH

Realtor - Seacoast NH

Hi Elizabeth - I started this "contest" on Thursday and was so surprised by the number of guesses, I had a hard time ending it on Friday. Too much fun! Medieval yes. Wiley Coyote type weight - yes. A lot of hard work - you bet. I had fun with the Recipe too. I hand wrote the text under the drawing, but then decided it would be better to type the list. My next post, almost finished and waaaay too long, is all about this special place. I hope to post it in the morning.

Cindy - The comment I made about finishing in one day was based on how deep you had to go that year. There was also no guarantee you could pull water from the well after you drove it. In our early and later teens, water or soda had to suffice, as we had not discovered alcohol yet, almost. Of course that is the subject of another post. Haha. But you are right about the hot sun. These projects were always done in the heat of the summer months when the temps were easily in the 90's.

May 21, 2011 04:54 PM

Toni Weidman

Sailwinds Realty - Trinity, FL

20+ Years Selling Homes in New Port Richey, FL

Very clever, John. I knew I had seen it before but couldn't place it. We had those on Long Island when I was a kid.(long time ago).

May 22, 2011 03:39 AM

John McCarthy

North Hampton, NH

Realtor - Seacoast NH

Hi Toni - I'm so glad I'm not the only one who remembers a time before fax machines and cell phones. Hope your Sunday is great!

May 22, 2011 04:20 AM

Sharon Tara

Sharon Tara Transformations - Portsmouth, NH

Retired New Hampshire Home Stager

I was so close, LOL! Had I just stuck with "turny thing" and left out the part about the oxen!

May 22, 2011 03:17 PM

John McCarthy

North Hampton, NH

Realtor - Seacoast NH

Sharon - You are too funny! I loved the decriptions about the "turny thing!" Now, if we could have trained the oxen to lift and drop, we might have been onto something and saved our backs :)

May 22, 2011 06:27 PM

Robert Rauf

CMG Home Loans - Toms River, NJ

John, What do I win???

It looked similar to the weights used to drive a sign post, just much bigger!

May 23, 2011 03:59 AM

John McCarthy

North Hampton, NH

Realtor - Seacoast NH

Robert - Congratulations! You win undisputed bragging rights!!! If you read yesterday's post, you would know why we had to rely on manual means of well driving.

May 23, 2011 05:33 AM