Updates

It seems like it has been forever, since I have been caching. So, I guess I will just give you some updates!

I was reviewing the logs of some of the caches we "didn't find" and see that on the same day we were standing on the street corner for over an hour, some one ELSE "found it" and then goes on to log an easy cache! WHAT!!! You have to be kidding!!! I mentioned it to the pot-stirrer. I can not even print her response here!

The cache for the "cannon" was logged by the owner, as being replaced. Hmmm...so that probably means it was NOT there, the whole time. Of, course, 1st SGT thinks it is in the missile! I am going to have to talk the pot stirrer into going back to check that one!

Big Sis, did get a GPS unit, not within the time frame , or the store, that 1st SGT and I bet on, but she did get one!

Second Sis is coming to visit ( from the hippie state) sometime in October. She wants to go geocaching! But... ( hang on) she is bring MA!! OMG!

Big Sis came for a visit, brought along her GPS so we could go caching ( after I set it up for her) Well, I really can't comment on the whole day, but when she left , I noticed she left me her whole geocaching warehouse....bag, containers, swag, pencils, buttons, note pads and a couple of caches ( pre-made, ready to place) She did take the GPS ( to sell on e-bay) and even though she says " I am done!" I hope she will still cache with me some day, but more important, that she laughs about this some day !!! :)

1st SGT has found all the caches, on his island, and has sent out a travel bug in honor of Goldy ( final destination....here) I, in turn, have sent out a travel bug with a final destination to him. Hopefully the travel bugs have 1st SGT and Goldy's sense of direction.

The pot stirrer is vacationing in another state, but promises to go caching, when she returns. The ticks and skeeters should be at a minimum by then.

I am still waiting for the movie deal.

A little slice of tradition

Sitting around the other day, bored, along with the other half million bored people. Logged into Facebook, to see if any one's life was as boring as mine. I see my niece ( Goldy's side of the family) writing that she is bored. Suddenly I get an idea.....we can go geocaching together! I IM her, she being a typical teenager, it goes as follows:

me: what r your plans for today
niece: don't know
me: do u have to be anywhere today at a certain time?
niece: no
me: do u want to go treasure hunting?
niece: what kind of treasure?
me: secret...yes or no
niece: when
me: now... yes or no
niece: I guess
me: tennis shoes are mandatory, this requires getting hot, dirty, walking outside...still in?
niece: I will get ready.

Whew, talking to teenagers is almost impossible...that and they text 100 words a minute!
So, I head off and pick her up. This is the middle niece, and I decided to ask her, because she is an athlete ( in case I get hurt, she may have to drag me to the car) she's not yet into perfume, make-up and foo-foo clothes. perfect! On the way to the first cache site, I explain about geocaching , travel bugs, muggles and latitude/longitude. It is kinda nice, when you, as the grown up, do the explaining, because they can't tell if you know what you are talking about or not! However, she did know the muggle from Harry Potter. I gave her print offs to "study up" on the drive to the woods! Yep, we did 5 wooded/trail caches, and her first cache was a travel bug. I snapped a picture of that ( I may need to use it for blackmail some day) She did really good, got her first thorn berry scratch ( didn't even whine!) and turns out she does have a sense of direction! ( go figure) By the end of our 4 hours, we were dirty, tired, sweaty, hungry and smiling. It was a good day. I decided lunch was in order, she had no preference, so I stopped off at an A&W root beer stand. We ate and talked, I swore her to secrecy and gave back her cell phone. I think she missed at least 40 texts while we were out! As I drop her back home, I ask how she liked geocaching. She says, "ok"......back to teenager mode.
As I drive home, I look back on the day, and realized that it was only a day to her...but someday she will talk about the time, "aunty" took her treasure hunting, she probably won't remember the date, or even the year, but she WILL remember, and I really hope she remembers the A&W visit too, because....that is where we ALWAYS stopped after a great family day outing. It was OUR family tradition! I am sure she has already told her friends and swore them to " don't tell anyone".....typical teenagers!

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!