I want a movie

Turns out, my computer was not the only thing with a virus...Yep, got me one too! So, 5 days into the creeping crud, I finally am able to tackle a doctor for a prescription. ( Hey, I offered to go to the office and pay the co-payment) Anyways, missed 1 shift at work, and have been on bed rest ...going on 3 days. YUK!! Remind me to be very sympathetic when Peanut goes on bed rest. Since the earth cache failure, the computer has been fixed...cha-ching....the I-phone appears to be functioning, I have read a complete book, and watched HGTV for 24 straight. ( If, you ask me...Tonisha should have had "her show cancelled" after that last episode of Design Star) Day 3, I am able to swallow my own drool now, so I head out in the yard to weed. Ask Big Sis, what I think about weeding. This is when I realize, I need a cache...I need a life..I need to blog. And that is when I see "it". "It" being the commercial on the new up and coming movie. The movie where the girl, needs a life, decides to cook her way through Julia Child's cookbook, and write a blog about it! Really now...based on a true story, no less! Hey....I need a life, I write a blog, I go Geocaching....I want a movie! How do these things happen to everyday people!?!

So, I decide what I need to do, is set things straight....I Love my TOMTOM....I Love my APPLE I-phone...I love ATT&T ( well, I did have a heated conversion with them, recently, coincidentally exactly 7 days BEFORE my I-phone crashes) Let's just continue...my backpack is a REEBOK, oh and I Love it...my shoes can be any brand they want....I sign my logs with a BIC...my monitor is a DELL...my computer...............

Earth Caching

Pot stirrer calls me up, she's out "camping", wants me to come out for the day...maybe we can do a couple of "caches". Well...now, for someone who really isn't into geocaching....and to suggest we go caching, then she must really be bored. Seeing, I have roped her into a few things, I decide I will go, for a day of relaxation. I check the local area, and yep, right in the same park...is an earth cache! This will be my first earth cache. ( so, why don't I have an earth cache listed with my "finds"?, well...that's where the story begins.) I read the instructions to make sure it is not TOO hard...and then ...print! The next AM I set off, TT , cache print out, back pack, walking stick ( I know, it is just an earth cache) and all the usual good stuff. TT gets me there in 1hr 35 mins, not bad. Got to explore all the back roads...nice drive. After a quick tour of the park, we set the coords and get to the earth cache. Really didn't need any coords, just headed over to the informational kiosk. I answer the 4 questions, and click the necessary picture to qualify, actually I take 2 just to be sure. Done! Now that was easy. So, while we are in the area, lets head out for one more. The pot stirrer, says this...NOT me. My memory is just a little blurry, but I do recall, slipping jeans over my shorts, grabbing the OFF, and the walking stick. Why I left the "tennie whoppers" in the car, well, I thought we were just going for an earth cache. We end up in a terrain 3, difficulty 3 woods, the cache was placed "before the leaves were out", no hints no ...nothing...just a message of "Good Luck". In hindsight...always go with your first instinct....always go to the first place your I-phone takes you...and never make little clicking noises to the deer standing right in front of you. The deer actually was not the problem, he just stood and looked at us..to see what WE were going to do. I would have taken a picture, but the only camera I had, was on the I-phone that I was using to navigate. We did find the cache, and actually before the sun set. We did click a picture of my feet in my flip flops afterwards. Along with the pictures of deer on the road back to the park. And I am sure someday we will laugh about it all. The fact that I sat down on a log to pull stickers out of my feet....the fact that the ammo box that was sitting right next to the log. The fact that we were so far in the woods...I decided we should leave via the cornfield. The fact that the pot stirrer is freaking out, because the corn stalks are hitting her in the face. The fact that I even was smart enough to think of the cornfield,(corn always goes in a straight line, and always ends at an opening) We may laugh at the fact that my TT took me a different( and wrong way) home... The fact that it took me 4 hrs to get home. The fact that my I-phone crashed...The fact that while trying to re-boot my I-phone, The computer crashed. The fact that I had to drive to Best Buy that same night and Apple had to reset the phone to factory settings. The fact that I lost all my pictures on the I-phone.. resulting... in the fact that I didn't meet the requirement of the earth cache. Yep, we will laugh about it all someday....just not today!

The Feisty squirrel

We leave our street corner and head out for the next cache. The first problem with a name like "the feisty squirrel" is that the name alone will suck you right in. We read, the cache....ok sandwich size lock and seal. At least it is NOT a micro! Hint reveals..."hollow". The second problem is that you need to read the entire cache. So, we wasted at least 15 mins at the wrong entrance. Yep...we are at a huge forest preserve, trees, creeks, wild life, thorns and ticks! I just never learn...do I? We realize the mistake and head off for the correct coords. OK, path is open... muddy... but open. Should we go in...or come back on a day we are physically and mentally prepared? Well, the pot stirrer points out, that the cache is a few feet from parking. She heads off...with both the TT and the walking stick! I stumble through the thorn trees at least 5 feet behind her. "you, would recognize poison ivy, if you saw it?" "right?" Yep, she replies "we are in it". The clue of hollow is useless, seeing every other tree is hollow. No feisty squirrel in sight. We continue. I am thinking due to the recent "no find" cannon, and now the street corner, the pot stirrer is determined she is going to find this one! In hindsight, we should have taken the trail, THEN crossed over. But, that , of course, would have been too easy. 27 hollow trees later...2 ticks...lots of deer poop...and a gps bouncing signal... we(actually) she gets the cache. I, in the meantime, am trying to get my jeans untangled from a thorn bush. Satisfied with her success, and a little smirk, on her face, we head back for the car. "do you want to check out the feisty squirrel?" I ask. "he is suppose to be only 2 feet northwest of here." "What?...you mean the RABID RODENT that will probably attack us, and be gnawing off my ankle, while you are running out of the woods, trying to call 911?"

I tell you, where does she come up with this stuff?

Yo! That's my corner....

When I planned for the day of caching....I went with the "Spirit Quest", all cemeteries. Then I added, 1 "in town" and something about "The Feisty Squirrel" caught my eye. Feeling pretty good after the "Spirit caches", we head for our 1 "in Town". We suddenly find ourselves, on the corner of 3rd and main in some "po-dunk" town. Not sure what the population is...but they do have a zip code, so they must be on some kind of a map. This town consists of a post office, and 2 bars. Hmmm....In front of the post office, is a letter drop box, a newspaper stand ( chained to a telephone pole) and 1 garbage can with a flip top lid. How hard can this be, you ask? Well, don't ask! We couldn't find it! We started out "stealth-like" running our hands along items. Nothing. Ok, let's read the hint. It says, Harry calls it "diagonally". Who's Harry? the pot stirrer inquires. Like I would know. I've never been here. Harry could be the post master, he could be the town drunk, he could be some kid, or even a dog! However, if Harry is a dog, and he can say "diagonally", then we are definitely taking him with us. So, with the clue "diagonally", I head across the street to check the 3 remaining corners. One side had a bank, now closed, with broken windows, and weeds coming out of the sidewalk cracks! Check....nothing. Across the street from there, is a half falling down building, used to be perhaps, a bar and grill? Check weeds...nothing. The last remaining corner , consists of an empty lot, actually, no weeds. Check...nothing. So, we are back to the corner of 3rd and main. After searching for at least 40 minutes, the pot stirrer goes to the car and returns with (?) paper. What? I inquire. She informs me, if she is going to stand any longer on this corner, she would at least want to appear, as if she is passing out religious pamphlets! Now, realize she is wearing a neon orange softball shirt, with a bar logo silk screened on the front and the name BAR WENCH printed on the back. Right...religious materials! Me, I am wearing jeans, terrain 3 shoes, sleeveless top and my Foster Grants. ( I don't want to be recognized) So, in 40 minutes, we have gone from "hookers" to "bible- beaters". The search continues...no luck. The previous logs tell the tales of multiple attempts at this cache. We are no longer be stealth-like. The pot stirrer is literally picking up the trash can and looking underneath! I am having deja vu of "the cannon" cache. The townspeople are starting to stare. ( All 4 of them! ) We have been on this corner for 1 hour now... It is time to go. I ask the pot stirrer if she is leaving, or is she just gonna stand there and wait for her "Marlboro Man"? Boy, if looks could kill!

Day Trip and Flashbacks

I finally scam the pot stirrer into a day of geocaching. As I " prepare" for the day....I find myself in a flash back....

"day trips" to Eagle Lake. Those REALLY were the good ole' days.
There were no cell phones... no yelling for "shotgun"... no fighting... no gps.. a real no hassle! Ma packed the station wagon with1 blanket, 5 towels, 1 wash rag , a jug of grape Kool-aid ( the real stuff, made with sugar), 5 aluminum tumblers in assorted colors, 1 baby bottle or "Tommy tippy" cup ( depending on " the baby's" age) filled with jello water, a loaf of bread, jar of peanut butter, grape jelly , 1 butter knife, 2 floats, ( for the older girls) a sand bucket ( for "the baby") and us 5 kids. To this day I could not find my way to Eagle lake, because once in the car, we sat in" birth order." Which put me, backseat... middle... no window. ( the beginning of my directional disorder!?) Us girls wore pedal pushers, or sunsuits, ( bathing suits underneath!) and flip flops. Seeing "other sis" never went barefoot in the water ( ? ) she got to wear tennis shoes. The unwritten rules, consisted of: no going out "over our heads"... no bickering... no bellyaching ...no "splashing". And , of course, the 30 minute-after-you-eat-rest-or you will drown rule. No sunscreen in those days, so when we got home (sunburned) Ma would lather us up with Noxzema. I look back, I think.....Noxzema?... What the....

So, as I pack the car for a day of geocahing, I make sure I throw in... 2 cans of off, several pens, pad of paper ( yes, 1st Sgt) , lots of swag, walking stick, TT, I-phone, cables to charge everything, computer print outs ( for pot stirrer) extra shoes ( for different terrains) bottled water , couple diet cokes, alcohol gel, mosquito repellent bracelets ( thanks Big Sis) paper towels, extra baggies ( some one's log may be wet) a trash bag, ( we might need to cache in, trash out) sunglasses, and a chapstick. And you wonder where I get this?!

Six hours, 8 caches, 1 potty break and exactly 100 miles later... we return!! No Noxzema needed!

The Team

My "stats" are down. I go and check on my own hides, to make sure I can find THEM! Add a geocoin, to one of them, to boost some business. Hey, people MINE are easy hides, no ticks, no scary woods, it has everything but a neon sign pointing to it! As I search some new caches, I see that some people, must cache in teams. Like the log will say, "found with Team Razor". Hey, now... that is a new idea. That may be the answer, I will get a team together, we will cache together, pick ticks off each other and have great stories to tell. Ok now.....who could I put on a team? Well....peanut is having triplets, so that is definitely a big NO! The pot stirrer, is really not into geocaching, especially after the whole cannon thing. My friend Ray is STILL gone. So, that leaves.... uhhh, no one. Well, I guess I have my "other" friends. Before the days of geocaching, I got through the winters with netflix. So, I am up-to-date and personally friends with quite a few people. So...on MY TEAM, the first pick, of course, is Goldy, he would Love to do this. Then Grissom ( from CSI) he would be perfect for all the bugs, picking them up and calling them all by their Latin names. And since I truly do believe in Love stories, I will let him bring Sara with him. Now, I know, 1st Sgt, you would want Mariska Hargitay ( Law & Order: SVU), but NO, you can't. Besides 1st Sgt you will be with Jonas (from The Unit) You two can Roger this and Roger that. He is also the Allstate insurance spokes person, just in case. Now from Lost, I kinda like Hurley, ( we walk about the same pace) but in reality, everyone loves the "bad boy", so I am going with Sawyer. You should realize by now, that I would never take Jack, because he is a doctor...and I deal with Doctors all day long. And let me assure you, NONE of them, are like Jack! Besides Jack needs to stay on the island and repair Fiona's ( Burn Notice) lips. There is no way I am taking Michael ( Burn Notice) with the sunglasses and the suit, I think he will be an easy target for Muggles. So Sam it is. After all, Sam reminds me of Big Sis's husband. ( Pinkie ring and all) So...there is THE TEAM. Someone have their people contact my people.

Note to self: I need to get a life.

Consult...1st Sgt

I still wake up itching, but I no longer dream of ticks, I am dreaming of cannons! Where is that cache? I decide to send off an e-mail to 1st Sgt. I tell him to look up cache # blah, blah, blah. I tell him we scoured the cannon, we couldn't find it. I tell him it is a "magnetic", so "You think it is a bolt? What say you?" And then when he responds, it just totally rips my mind. Now remember he is clear across the United States! He responds, " It is in the tail of the missile" What? I just KNOW he is smirking! The tail of the missile. Did I TELL him there was a missile there? NO... Has he been there? NO... Did I check the tail of the missile? NO.. Does he know what the heck he is talking about? Probably. This is killing me. How, did he do that? I put, what little brain cells I have left, to work. I re-read the cache info. Yep, it refers to the previous cache. I look up the original cache. Here it tells the story of a veterans memorial park, it talks about the various memorials, and the people in his family that served. It does not mention cannons or missiles. It does talk about "right wing" and "left wing" politics. NOW... we are talking, so I deduct that 1st Sgt reads the original and guesses the missiles due to the "right and left wing" comment. After all, the missiles would be under the wings, right? Hell, I don't know! I relay the info to the" pot stirrer." Even though she doesn't let on, I think she is down right impressed. I know I was. She thinks he "googled" an earth map, and saw the missiles? Yea right. The pot stirrer won't go back. She says it is not there! She says the gps did not take us anywhere, BUT the cannon. She says, she was more intimate with that cannon anything in her life! She is NOT going back! Period! Well then... This still killing me, is it in the missile? Is 1st Sgt right? Did he google the site? Well, the only way to find out is...just as I did. I put the cache on my watch list, and after the next person finds it, I will go back... in the meantime, I tell myself it has been muggled! ( Geez, " in the missile")

Loser, loser, loser

This whole tick thing has me paranoid. I have washed all the sheets, all the comforters, shampooed the carpets, and inspected the dogs. I even touched my " roots" up with some hair color, knowing the smell alone should kill anything that is crawling. But I continue to have nightmares about ticks, woods and flying monkeys. To cure this, I am going out for a normal day of caching, and I am taking the " pot stirrer". Now, she is the first to admit that she doesn't have the " drive" to geocache, as I do, but she goes along, "to keep me alive". Nice. So we head out to a town...how hard is a town? We pick up a couple of "no brainers" and then we get to the park. This is a cache, that has been adopted from a previous owner. According to the story, the previous owner disappeared, or something. The cache had been disabled, but some cachers,( who had found the cache earlier) checked on it, the cache was still there ( kinda hard to find) in a cool hide, so they adopted it. Still following me? So, we follow the present directions, which doesn't say too much, but it takes us to a cannon. We know it is magnetic. We search....we search...we search. No luck. We read the other logs. We have been in the same place as everyone else. We found the birds nests, we found the wasp nests, we found everything but the cache! We had our hands in every nook and cranny of that cannon! It is not there! Ok, so one of the other logs said it was " a find" on his 4th try! No, way we are getting it today! We are going insane. The "pot stirrer" is fed up! It is not here! So, we reluctantly leave. I am starting to feel these losses. I am starting to take this personally! I am ready to turn in my geocaching patch. I am not worthy. But, I say on the way home...maybe it is a bolt? Yep, that has to be it... a green bolt.

The "other " cache.

When I finally make it back to the car, I realize my hands are shaking. That was ridiculous! What was I thinking? So I turn on the I-phone, and head for my next cache. Hard to believe, I was lost in the woods for 45 minutes! The next cache is on a trail, where I was with my friend, the pot stirrer. Not a bad trail, but a long one, so I think I will just go to the college, the back corner of the college, and cut into the trail. Not like I have ever been that way, but it should work. So, when the TT wants me to turn ( into a "bad" neighborhood) I ignore him...I will just go to the college. I arrive safely, no one in sight...but according to my I-phone I am no where near this cache. Ok, enough is enough. It, of course, must be the I-phone. So, I leave and go to the entrance of the trail, so If I have to walk 3 miles, then I will walk, but I will go home with this travel bug! There is one car there ( empty) and now I am paranoid, so I need to re-think this. I check the info on the I-phone ( yes, of course, I bypass the screen warning of how geocaching can be dangerous ) So, wait, what side of the river is thing on? It wants me to go on the other side, by the boat docks. ( Yes, 1st Sgt's gps system points out rivers and creeks... of course it does!) But MINE does not. Hmmm...it is a holiday weekend, there is a fishing derby taking place. With every boat , there is at least, one drinker. Oh screw it... I am out of here. So, I head home. I dial the pot stirrer up on the phone. Now, normally everyone answers the phone with hello, or yea, or something. Not, " did you get the travel bug?" So, of course, I answer " Nah... decided not to, What?...margaritas? Sure, I am on my way". I am such a loser!

The wizard of Oz

When we were growing up, every year, and I mean EVERY YEAR, we watched The Wizard of Oz, and every year, I was scared out of my mind. I was under the covers (every year,) at the same point in the movie! But( none the less) the next year, we would do it all over again!! I think I liked the cowardly lion, but maybe I should have related to the scarecrow. Because suddenly I am in the "witches woods", acting like the scarecrow ( If I only had a brain) Just a "few feet down the path", turned into just a" few feet into the grasses". My I-phone could not pick up a gps location, due to the height of the grass. And I am looking for... what? Oh, yea a "tall clump of grass" I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. I didn't want to look down, just in case I saw a snake. Do we even have snakes here? And, what would I DO if I did see a snake? There was no way anyone could run in this ! I decide this is crazy. The travel bug will just have to sit. So, I head back to the dirt trail, but, ( as you can only imagine) I am turned around. The tall grasses lead me into a chained link fence. Where was there a chain link fence? OK...focus. Chain link should be around...where?... the outside maybe? Ok, just head out of the grass and for tall trees. I finally find myself on a dirt trail, with a steep incline. Now, that wasn't there when I entered, so obviously I am lost. My I-phone says I am 1.4 miles from the cache, how is that possible? I just want to get out. It was way TOO quiet, some animals were making scary noises ( I swear "it" was calling my name) and I was just waiting for the flying monkeys to appear. My first thought is ...what would 1st Sgt do? . Lets be realistic here...1st Sgt would NOT be here...not in tick filled grasses over his head, not with a gps of this caliper, not in these Woods. ( he will never admit it, but the flying monkeys scared him too) second thought... no one would find my body till...when? I decide to put my scouting skills to the test. Yea! what skills? I take a deep breath and head towards some light. When I finally see some light and asphalt, I brush off the seed pods, the ticks, and the thorns and head for my car. Well, the other cache with a travel bug... is on the way home.

Now is NOT the time.

After doing a 13 hour shift, I check the web site and see a couple of nearby caches, with travel bugs! Hmmm... well, I could just jot over there and pick up a coin, or bug or whatever. See, it is whatever, that I should have been concerned with. According to my new obtained knowledge, this travelbug has been sitting there for a month now! Totally unacceptable. These bugs got to move. Since one is only 2.7 miles away, It is like it is calling me! So, I head out, turn the TT on, and I am off. In my mind I know it is located at a certain, family oriented park, nice trails, easy cache. So, when TT tells me to turn left...I am a little confused, but you know, he does know his way around. I just do what he tells me. I am now winding in and out, up and down side streets, only to end up by... the sewer plant? Ok, lets check this out. I guess I never knew there was a little park back there, but what the heck. How hard can this be? The cach info says it is a terrain of 3, size regular, Tupperware container. The hint says look for a large clump of grass. I spray myself down with off. It is 85 degrees out. I head down the asphalt, not whistling ( because I can't whistle) but you get the idea. The info says follow the deer path? Ok now, we are getting serious! Is the deer path, the same as the dirt bike path? And the grasses to the side, are up to my chest! You have got to be kidding!! I think I saw the ticks doing somersaults, off the tops of some over grown bushes. No, way I am not going in. This makes caches that1st Sgt and I did in look like a kiddy park. Finally I get my wits about me. This is a park, I have never been in..The trails are undefined...the ticks are waiting...the "lump of tall grass" is long gone, just down right drowned! It wasn't like a bolt of lightening from above, but I did suddenly see the light. This is why, the travel bug has been sitting for 30 days. No one in their right mind, would go in there. Well, maybe just a few feet, to check it out.

Obsessed or Possessed?

My friend Sandy, the pot stirrer, says I am obsessed with this new hobby of mine. I really don't think so, after all, anyone new into geocaching does all the same things. When you are driving down the road, and see a car pulled over, doesn't everyone wonder if they are picking up a cache? Suddenly you can spot trees with great holes...historic signs that would work....gazebos located at the perfect spot... ditches that are waiting for a nano sized , cammo colored, container. They are everywhere! Now possessed, well that one is a different story. We grew up or down , whatever, from a family that I think was truly possessed! I was" skeered" of them. Apparently Big Sis, other sis, and the brother-in-law (future) were not! Not until the night they tee-peed their house. Yep!, that 12 gu shot gun, made a statement. The stories of hell, temptation and damnation had been etched in my head! I was never sure if Ma and Dad heard about it, that actual night, or maybe 15 years later at a Thanksgiving dinner. Those people were possessed!

So, to prove I am not obsessed, I am actually meeting a non-geocacher girlfriend for a drink. I am not taking the TT,( it is only 3 miles straight shot). I will not check in all the bushes before I enter...I will not check for magnetic holders under counters and bar stools... I will not talk geocaching...I will not be on the look out for muggles...I will not turn on my i-phone to the geocaching logo... I will not look for nearby sites...I will not pay for my drink with a geocoin.....I will not leave swag for the tip. I promise!

But, just in case, this whole possessed thing is bothering you...don't worry I plan to drink the devil right out of me! CHEERS!

Bugs, bugs and bugs

Everyone out there caching has had some kind of" hand-to-swat" combat with blood sucking skeeters. Since there seems to be so many of them this year, I am figuring Big Lots had a sale. This is also my first year for ticks! I have now seen them up close and personal, and they are ugly suckers. I have also imagined them, along with their relatives, crawling all over me. Then again there is no better form of exercise than swatting...brushing..and dancing around from invisible, yet perceived critters! The only bugs I really love are the travel ones! I actually found my first travel coin on my very first cache. Not that you will see that recorded anywhere...As I was a "noobie" with 1st Sgt, and the exact words may be cloudy, but the memory is crystal clear. As I recall, 1st Sgt was signing the log book, I said, hey there is some coin in here, probably didn't get the "in here" part even out, but....SWOOSH it was gone, snatched right out of my "noobie" hands. Can you believe it? I did pick up my first travel bug, shortly after going solo. Turned out it was 1st Sgt's travel bug. ( UH OH) ..." Gotche " me a travel coin just yesterday and have my eye on a couple of nearby coin caches near work. Never thought I would be so interested in collecting bugs.

Hang on baby (s) !

I had quite the day, geocaching with Peanut and the triplets. 1st let me re-cap the rules: quiet weekday/ area she was familiar / terrain of 1/ couple of caches/ sipping lattes. The actual day went a little different. I had searched the web the night before and printed off several caches, so Peanut could have her pick. She arrived dressed appropriately...no cammo, no combat boots...and the only thing she was "packing" was 3 babies. We were off.. The first thing I noticed about this town was the enormous amount of horrendous potholes! Hang on baby(s)! My i-phone was "down" so we had to revert to the old fashioned way, which consisted of TT and computer printouts. Lucky (?) for me she is navigational savoy... so we were set. Our first cache of the day was a magnetic at the roadside, so all was good. But, as the terrain went up hill...our day went downhill. I managed to be literally down in several creeks...to be over my head in grasses...attacked by a thorn tree...hooked on barbed wire and stuck in a rocket slide ( don't ask) All the while Peanut stood safely on a level 1 terrain with the TT. shouting instructions to me. "Go several feet north" Yea right, I"m over my head in weeds, which way is North? At the end of the day ( 8 hours) Peanut left with a smile, 10 caches and a mocha moo-latte from Dairy Queen! Me? Well... I did get a geo patch, my first geocoin, and a target gift card. Oh, and let's not forget, a torn shirt...a bloody arm..my first geo scar...an unusual rash on my arms and, oh yea.... 2 ticks.

Whatever Peanut may tell you, we DID NOT run over a duck! Hang on baby(s)!