happiness2015

"Please post pic on Facebook Whidbey Island Rocks. Keep or rehid." This is written on the back of the rocks if possible (a bit harder with smaller rocks). Or #WIR or #whidbeyislandrocks, but those are less often used. I am more active in the nearby Fidalgo Island Rocks which is only 1600 members. In that case, it's really hard to get the word out and people involved. They are both Facebook groups, so you can chat with whoever is it. I love seeing my rocks found and posted-- the finders are usually thrilled. But releasing a painted rock into the world is a bit like a trackable... You hope you 'see' it again but don't get your hopes up!

Hey! I'm an avid rock painter! I've been using painted rocks as swag for years, then along came these "painted rock groups" that provided another outlet. Unfortunately as someone mentioned almost all of the rock groups are Facebook based (which is now the only reason I'm on Facebook, cuz I really don't like Facebook). People (adults and kids) of all abilities paint rocks and then place them somewhere for a stranger to find, hopefully bringing a smile and a bit of sunshine to the finders day 🙂 That's the idea anyway. I'm on Whidbey Island, and although the idea didn't get started here, there are some 18,000 members in the "Whidbey Island Rocks" Facebook group and some incredibly talented artists. So, yep, it's like an easter egg hunt for adults and kids alike, a Random Act of Kindness for all. I don't see anything wrong with that. And yes, I still use painted rocks as swag. 🙂🙂 (At least i try to when I can finally find a non-micro cache...grrrrr)

Oh my goodness my garmin is driving me nuts. I just bought it as a Christmas present, got it all registered and updated, put in lithium batteries (and told it I put in lithium batteries), but whenever I'm out in the field it keeps trying to shut down. I'll get the message "external power has been lost" and then I have 30 seconds to press enter to keep it on. Sometimes I miss the warning so it powers off. Which of course means I pull it out of my pocket, discover it's off, power it back up, wait for it to re-find the satellites and then I'm finally in my way. This little delay is very annoying when you are already getting rained on in the currently chilly western Washington. Yesterday we were out looking for a cache and it tried to shut down at least five times. Battery saving mode is off. I really don't want to go through the annoyance of having to return/exchange it, since I bought it online and the nearest Cabelas is an hour away (can you return an online item in-store?). Any help or suggestions?

My life was getting a bit stale. Routine. Boring. I love to get out and about hiking or at least discovering new places, but it always seemed like I was going to the same old places, again and again. I've heard a bit about geocaching and wanted to try it, but of course kept putting it off until the "perfect time." That's just silly. So I finally bit the bullet, treated myself to a GPS for Christmas and joined the leagues of geocachers. Yay! Swapped out a trackable this morning so I think I'm up to 24 caches.I think it's a lot of fun. I haven't done much with the forums other than search for answers. Since I'm a noob, I kinda feel like I'm bumbling along and pissing the regulars off. Reading the posts about swag, I think perhaps some like to get pissed off. Our first several finds had some admittedly crappy swag- a penny, dime, somebody who signed a piece of paper, unexciting bottle cap (I have since read that some people collect those, but this one really didn't seem like anything special). When I found a cache with decent swag I was actually shocked. Personally, I look forward to putting swag into caches. Just the thought of making somebody happy with what they've found is reward enough for me. I rarely swap unless something excites me (like that cool arrowhead). I'm still trying to figure out my GPS. I wish they had a GPS for Dummies book because it just seems like there is so much it can do, but I'm just not getting it. If someone knows a good web resource or whatnot for the GPSMAP 62s, please share! I love the creative caches and am not a huge fan of the micros, lol. I don't have a lot of patience for the hard to find ones. Really don't care for the "stealthy" ones at this point...I'm just not that great at sneaking around. I'd much rather go search for the ones in the woods that require a hike. Not to mention it's a good excuse to take the dogs for a walk, all 4 of them (plus one SO). So that's me! Hello to the all the fellow geocachers!