Sunday, July 8, 2012
Lazy day for caching
Today was mostly a relaxing day, which was much needed after the business of this past week. Hung out with my friends before heading to the airport to pick up my hubby. Got a text after I headed out that there was a delay, so I had a little spare time out and about with my handy dandy GPS. I found a few easy PNGs before getting the call that he was ready to be picked up. One of these was a little messed up, as someone had stuck food in it and drawn very inappropriate things in the log. I cleaned up the food mess and left a note for the cache owner.
Caching in New York
Well, the reason you see Judy doing a lot of lone caching last week is because I have been doing my yearly service project, taking my brother on vacation for a week.
I usually don't buy the wifi on flights, but writing this post seemed like a reasonable thing to do with the time. My brother is trying to sleep in the seat next to me, but every 5 minutes waking up to see how long he had been asleep.
Anyway, oddly enough, there are not a huge number of caches in Manhattan proper. I did want to find at least one though, so we found the virtual cache in front of the Met. I still need to email the maintainer with the number of stone faces (also the name of the cache).
I usually don't buy the wifi on flights, but writing this post seemed like a reasonable thing to do with the time. My brother is trying to sleep in the seat next to me, but every 5 minutes waking up to see how long he had been asleep.
Anyway, oddly enough, there are not a huge number of caches in Manhattan proper. I did want to find at least one though, so we found the virtual cache in front of the Met. I still need to email the maintainer with the number of stone faces (also the name of the cache).
Random cache to share
Quite by accident last night, while logging my finds, I stumbled across this cache listing: Jarosovsky pivovar II. Turns out, this is what happens when you get one letter wrong in the GC code. However, this random cache struck me as...odd. When you look at it, you will see what I mean. At the very least, look at the photo in the cache listing.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Caching team back in action
As per usual recently, I started today off on my own for caching. I suppose this is what happens when you wake up at 6:15am and cannot think of something else to do. The weather was pretty nice this morning, and there were some caches I had wanted to hit up Wednesday (due to proximity to others I found) but that I ran out of time for. These ended up being fairly easy, with one of them at least a little more challenging (near a lamp post, but not, so a little of a 'decoy'). With all of them, I'm glad I headed out before the rush of muggle activity.
Before work and working out, I had some time to meet up with Angela at a Starbucks to work out some puzzle caches. I brought four that were annoying me, and because I knew what at least a few of the coordinates should be, we were able to figure out how to solve and come up with the coordinates. We were not so lucky on the other three, but will keep trying anyways. I wish I liked puzzle caches more, but it turns out that I'm just not that great at them.
With this interlude, I had a bit of a break before meeting up with James and Lisa. This put three quarters of our caching team back in place, and I am so glad we got to go out again. Since the weather was turning (there was tons of lightning to the east), we packed up a few extras things in case we should need them. Turns out we didn't, but it was probably a good thing to have tried.
We stuck close by and picked up some caches in a nearby pack. Of course, the first was the hardest and did have us crossing (or going under in our case) a train track. We found and signed this one pretty quickly once we got to it. Nearby, there were some nice flowers on a vine.
There was another cache very near, so we headed there next. This involved crossing some water, and I was of course wearing open toed sandals, so I hitched a ride on Lisa's back. We got to the location easy enough, but did not find the cache there. We did see something in the tree that probably had something to do with a cache, but never found a container or log. A few minutes later, at a different cache, we found two cache containers, and the log in one of the containers had this cache's name at the top in cursive. We left this where it was, but it seems perhaps out of place.
The last cache in this park for us was near a park, but the weather had the muggles away. Good thing, too, because although we spotted the cache quickly enough, getting it proved to be a bit of a challenge. Thankfully, we have a tree monkey!
The next few caches after this were mainly PNG DNFs (for one reason or another). We headed to a cache Lisa and I first looked for in February 2011 for my 30th birthday caching trip. That night, we came up with nothing, but the extra daylight really helped us and we spotted it fairly quickly today.
Then, back to some caches that I couldn't find or couldn't reach on Wednesday. We first stopped off at a huge dragon, but we did not have luck finding this cache. Plus, we had to kill quite a bit of time because there were quite a few muggles out in spite of the drizzle. Lisa enjoyed having it out with the dragon - I suppose it was a good day for the Slayer shirt.
After stopping at another cache I was too short for, we stopped at another close by park and played in the castle and dungeons. And, of course, another geocache.
While thinking about parks, we also took James back to one of our favorite caches in the close by greenbelt. This was the cache that taught me to look up and bring good flashlights. He found it quickly enough; it was fun to watch as he figured out how to get it.
After dinner, we noticed there were two caches within walking distance of our car. We dug around a bit for one of them, but with the dark and the thistle and the small rodents everywhere, we decided to come back another time. So, we headed for the easier (and more boring) one and found that very quickly.
My favorites from the day:
Cheap Seats
Just Chillin'
Castle Hillbilly
Before work and working out, I had some time to meet up with Angela at a Starbucks to work out some puzzle caches. I brought four that were annoying me, and because I knew what at least a few of the coordinates should be, we were able to figure out how to solve and come up with the coordinates. We were not so lucky on the other three, but will keep trying anyways. I wish I liked puzzle caches more, but it turns out that I'm just not that great at them.
With this interlude, I had a bit of a break before meeting up with James and Lisa. This put three quarters of our caching team back in place, and I am so glad we got to go out again. Since the weather was turning (there was tons of lightning to the east), we packed up a few extras things in case we should need them. Turns out we didn't, but it was probably a good thing to have tried.
We stuck close by and picked up some caches in a nearby pack. Of course, the first was the hardest and did have us crossing (or going under in our case) a train track. We found and signed this one pretty quickly once we got to it. Nearby, there were some nice flowers on a vine.
There was another cache very near, so we headed there next. This involved crossing some water, and I was of course wearing open toed sandals, so I hitched a ride on Lisa's back. We got to the location easy enough, but did not find the cache there. We did see something in the tree that probably had something to do with a cache, but never found a container or log. A few minutes later, at a different cache, we found two cache containers, and the log in one of the containers had this cache's name at the top in cursive. We left this where it was, but it seems perhaps out of place.
The last cache in this park for us was near a park, but the weather had the muggles away. Good thing, too, because although we spotted the cache quickly enough, getting it proved to be a bit of a challenge. Thankfully, we have a tree monkey!
The next few caches after this were mainly PNG DNFs (for one reason or another). We headed to a cache Lisa and I first looked for in February 2011 for my 30th birthday caching trip. That night, we came up with nothing, but the extra daylight really helped us and we spotted it fairly quickly today.
Then, back to some caches that I couldn't find or couldn't reach on Wednesday. We first stopped off at a huge dragon, but we did not have luck finding this cache. Plus, we had to kill quite a bit of time because there were quite a few muggles out in spite of the drizzle. Lisa enjoyed having it out with the dragon - I suppose it was a good day for the Slayer shirt.
After stopping at another cache I was too short for, we stopped at another close by park and played in the castle and dungeons. And, of course, another geocache.
While thinking about parks, we also took James back to one of our favorite caches in the close by greenbelt. This was the cache that taught me to look up and bring good flashlights. He found it quickly enough; it was fun to watch as he figured out how to get it.
After dinner, we noticed there were two caches within walking distance of our car. We dug around a bit for one of them, but with the dark and the thistle and the small rodents everywhere, we decided to come back another time. So, we headed for the easier (and more boring) one and found that very quickly.
My favorites from the day:
Cheap Seats
Just Chillin'
Castle Hillbilly
Friday, July 6, 2012
Great log on my cache
As a cache owner, it is great to get the emails letting me know that folks have found my caches. Most of the time, these are short little "TFTC" notes, but occasionally I get something that makes me smile. Today is one of those days.
The log below was posted on my cache Stop! in the name of geocaching. They say TFTC; I say TFTL!
"Enjoyed the challenge on this one. Got to the location with limited tools. Checked the truck for what may work to snag this one and came up empty. Then the lightbulb went off. I disassembled my log pen and used the spring to pull in the prize! The next challenge was putting the pen back together so I could sign it. All the while dodging muggles like crazy. Had fun with this one while AC and DC stayed in the truck and kept cool. SL TFTC."
The log below was posted on my cache Stop! in the name of geocaching. They say TFTC; I say TFTL!
"Enjoyed the challenge on this one. Got to the location with limited tools. Checked the truck for what may work to snag this one and came up empty. Then the lightbulb went off. I disassembled my log pen and used the spring to pull in the prize! The next challenge was putting the pen back together so I could sign it. All the while dodging muggles like crazy. Had fun with this one while AC and DC stayed in the truck and kept cool. SL TFTC."
Ranked 1987 in Texas
Haven't been checking this much, but today I went there on a whim. I'm currently listed at #1987 in the listing of Texas geocachers. Who knows, maybe one day I'll get in the top 1000 (maybe next year?)
Rankings for Geocachers Located in Texas
Additionally, I have modified my goals for the year and removed the benchmarks and challenges. All of the challenges seem really...lame, and the benchmarks in the area have mostly already been marked as missing either by a fellow cacher or the people maintaining the listings.
Rankings for Geocachers Located in Texas
Additionally, I have modified my goals for the year and removed the benchmarks and challenges. All of the challenges seem really...lame, and the benchmarks in the area have mostly already been marked as missing either by a fellow cacher or the people maintaining the listings.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
400th cache on July 4th
I started caching today with a goal of getting my 400th cache. What better way to spend the holiday (and a beautiful day off work)?
For the first cache, I pulled up early this morning and got right to the coordinates. Met dallasgk pretty quick after I got there and she said it disappears often, as it seems to have done again. I looked for about 10 minutes before she popped back over and confirmed it is gone. Second try for me without finding it. Guess I'll be heading back to try it another time (but this wasn't the start I was hoping for).
The next cache was easier and in one of my favorite places, a cemetery. I liked finding this one since it gave me a chance to explore the area.
I found several other park and grabs, mainly magnetic, and it was a nice leisurely pace. One of the PNGs was very cute, a rubber chicken with a tube in it's booty. Cute place on words there.
I met up with my friend Angela this afternoon to find the last four. We started out near her new house and ended up digging around in a lot of cedar trees. It was quite warm, but the shade of the trees was helpful in keeping out of the sun. For the next one, we headed to a dirt road (with no traffic at all but about a million grasshoppers). There were five here, but we were only able to find 2 of them. At one, there is a bathtub that has been sitting there long enough to be in the Google satellite photo.
Then my 400th cache - thankfully not a lamppost! We heading to another cemetery on a hill and took in the view. I've been to this cemetery before (there are some great bluebonnets), so I was pretty familiar with the area. Today, there was a big setup on one of the graves for 4th of July for a baby who never got to celebrate one. Those are always sad for me. But peaceful otherwise.
FP Series #601 - James Lewis
Kilt Inspector #14 - What's up chicken butt?
Other side of the hill
For the first cache, I pulled up early this morning and got right to the coordinates. Met dallasgk pretty quick after I got there and she said it disappears often, as it seems to have done again. I looked for about 10 minutes before she popped back over and confirmed it is gone. Second try for me without finding it. Guess I'll be heading back to try it another time (but this wasn't the start I was hoping for).
The next cache was easier and in one of my favorite places, a cemetery. I liked finding this one since it gave me a chance to explore the area.
I found several other park and grabs, mainly magnetic, and it was a nice leisurely pace. One of the PNGs was very cute, a rubber chicken with a tube in it's booty. Cute place on words there.
I met up with my friend Angela this afternoon to find the last four. We started out near her new house and ended up digging around in a lot of cedar trees. It was quite warm, but the shade of the trees was helpful in keeping out of the sun. For the next one, we headed to a dirt road (with no traffic at all but about a million grasshoppers). There were five here, but we were only able to find 2 of them. At one, there is a bathtub that has been sitting there long enough to be in the Google satellite photo.
Then my 400th cache - thankfully not a lamppost! We heading to another cemetery on a hill and took in the view. I've been to this cemetery before (there are some great bluebonnets), so I was pretty familiar with the area. Today, there was a big setup on one of the graves for 4th of July for a baby who never got to celebrate one. Those are always sad for me. But peaceful otherwise.
FP Series #601 - James Lewis
Kilt Inspector #14 - What's up chicken butt?
Other side of the hill
Monday, July 2, 2012
Caching on my own
Usually when I go out caching, someone else is there with me. Sometimes its my whole team (lysax13, stargazer216 and eolyn), sometimes its my parents, and sometimes just my hubby. So, its been quite a while since I've been out caching without anyone else there, and it makes me a little nervous now.
On Sunday, I decided to give it a shot on the way to help some friends unpack their boxes after a recent move. Since its been a while, I stuck to some caches that seemed fairly easy on paper, and for the most part they were easy in real life, with one exception - I'm short! This was a complication not in finding one of the caches (it was fairly easy to spot once I got out of the car), but in reaching it. I am so glad that for once, I had my handy dandy tool set with me. Yeah extendable thing with a magnet on the end (although the magnet seemed to want to stick more to the pole than the cache).
Coolest cache of the day:
Door #1, #2, #3 or #4
On Sunday, I decided to give it a shot on the way to help some friends unpack their boxes after a recent move. Since its been a while, I stuck to some caches that seemed fairly easy on paper, and for the most part they were easy in real life, with one exception - I'm short! This was a complication not in finding one of the caches (it was fairly easy to spot once I got out of the car), but in reaching it. I am so glad that for once, I had my handy dandy tool set with me. Yeah extendable thing with a magnet on the end (although the magnet seemed to want to stick more to the pole than the cache).
Coolest cache of the day:
Door #1, #2, #3 or #4
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