miles_vagar

Is this question rhetorical? Because my answer is yes. That would be awesome and hilarious.

Or you might be dealing with THE WONGS!

Really? I've found 20+ out of a mere ninety-something finds here in Middle TN, Monkeybrad.

You must mail the cache owner both of your thumbs. Make sure you've already put a stamp on the envelope and addressed it before you remove them, though. Really, though, you're fine. I agree with Confucius's Cat: Accidents happen, and as far as the vast majority of caches I've done goes, cache owners usually keep Murphy's Law in mind when they hide a cache. This one didn't--but I bet they will now.

I've seen other people complain about them here on the forums, but personally I think they're a great way to minimize disputes.

Nope, it's not too graphic. Probably not even for children. Briansnat's probably right about it getting stolen, though.

This is why I always insist that everyone always logs their DNFs. Depending on your cache, it could be that 20+ people have failed to find the ones you were looking for and didn't log, leading you to a false sense of inferiority. No, it's very normal to have a hard time at first. It took my girlfriend and I at least seven caching trips to figure out we could lift up the skirts of lampposts, hehehe.

Dear God! Upside-down raccoons terrify me. Such blatant neglect for the laws of gravity is proof of a sick and twisted mind, indeed.

Finger traps and punching balls are cheap and tend to go fast. Something that's even cheaper and cooler (IMO) are keychains made out of empty chip bags. Did you know that if you put them in the oven (after cleaning, of course) they shrivel up like shrinky-dinks? The end result is a legible, wrinkly piece of plastic about one by two inches that you can drill a hole in fairly easily. So awesome!

Lots of people start playing this game. In fact, nearly all of us started at one point. Maybe you should leave DNFs so that the next person who starts playing and fails to find a particlar cache isn't discouraged by what looks like a flawless record of finds.

No. But the geographic center of TN is about two blocks from my apartment, on Old Lascassus Road in Murfreesboro. Wish I could be of more help.

It's not just about the stats. If you think a travelbug that was in your cache was really cool and want a quick and easy way to check up on it, discovering it might be the best way.

I think badge numbers went out around the early 60's. Perhaps you could just read their nametag? It tickles me to no end when some squawker starts demanding my badge number. I take my badge off my shirt and hand it to them, telling them we don't have badge numbers, but if they can find a number on it, they are more than welcome to write it down. Then I offer to show them my Sheriff's Office ID, in case they think my nametag is a fake. To date, every single one of them has scrutinized my badge, searching for the number I already told them doesn't exist. I reckon they don't trust authority either. The most common response to this action is them stating words to the effect of, "I know you've got badge numbers. I've watched ____________ " (<--- insert lame 60's era cop show here) Back on topic: Be polite, read their nametag, talk to their boss. Some forestry folks don't use nametags, so just ask them their name. I'm pretty sure a lot of police departments still use badge numbers. I've heard them chanted at protests when the cops started pepper spraying old people.

I used to do a lot of stencilling, sometimes of the illegal sort. =) Comic Sans Serif is a good stencil-friendly font. I've made many, many stencils that looked really great with that font--just remember to make bridges for any enclosed spaces.

Not necessarily. If I were hiding this, I would select either "Not Listed" or "Other" for size. Especially if it's going to be attached to something like a cement-filled ammo can. Uh huh! As far as finding the cache as you first laid it out, i can see where it might cause some concern for some bike owners who might happen to see a person looking for the cache. Still, i doubt if it would be a problem since the finders actions can be explained. Just make sure you get that apartment owner or manager's permission. The ammobox/cement idea sounds even better. It might be worth the money to just buy a good lock that stays secure and then somehow hollow part of it out for log storage. Ooooops,, almost identical post. Darn laptop touchpad! Oh, I disagree. I'd have loved to find this cache--but I wanted to know what other people thought, and it turns out there are better ways to do it.

I'm sure you just misspoke or I misinterpreted what you just typed, but a friendly reminder: Geocoins and Travel Bugs are not trade items. If you have nothing to trade, you can still take one to move it along. That being said, I'll usually put something in a cache (like a TTJ wooden nickel) if I take a coin/TB out, mostly because I've seen too many logs that say "Took cool swag, left TB." Ack! THEY AREN'T TRADE ITEMS!!!! Thanks for the correction, Too Tall.

FIVE MINUTES? I was thinking about getting that browser, but now I won't. Thanks for the heads-up.

You must have inflatables?

Cracked most of the code. What a cool idea! Even without going to find it, your cache does show pretty well that the number of logs has nothing to do with the awesomeness of the hide. Wish I lived near you so I could find it.

Right! It makes the archeologists feel insecure when regular people start digging stuff up.

Incomplete. Are you tossing in your card in exchange for a geocoin or a wooden nickel? Because if you are, I think your opinion stinks. If not, carry on! I think I could get into collecting geocards.

Right. I've read and re-read the guidelines, and I did know that--but I wanted to have some helpful info on my cache page when it's published, since it could be a really tricky find. I was going to log it as a micro, but I didn't know if I should tell them something else. Probably I'll steal RK's term "technical hide" and explain that it's neither a micro or a nano, but somewhere in between.

Wow, thanks for the overwhelmingly helpful responses, guys. No sarcasm. Only problem with some suggestions is that the lock has been cut and I can't attach it to much at all. My welding skills are nonexistent, and I don't have a key. But the majority of you, I think, said that you wouldn't mind this cache hidden in another location and with a twist. Awesome--will do. My question now is how I should class it. Is it a micro, a nano or what?

Recently I decided to set up a cache, and I wanted to do something different. Unfortunately, I have a lot of questions and I wanted some old pros to answer them for me. When I found a bike lock that was probably once attached to a very nice bike on the bike rack of my apartment complex, I thought it might make a pretty wicked little cache container. It's been cut and long abandoned, so it was worthless. I removed the panel that kept the batteries dry (why would a bike lock have batteries, anyway?), used a Dremel to hollow out enough space to put a log wrapped up in a waterproof bag in there, and then attached a screw to the panel for easy removal. All you have to do is give it a little tug and it pops right off. My plan is to put it back where I found it and let people have a go at it, after I get permission from the owners. So here are my questions: 1. Would you, as cachers, be interested in finding this cache? It only took me a couple of hours to make, so if the response is negative I won't have a huge problem with tossing the thing in the trash. 2. Have you ever seen anything like this at all? I don't want to be the guy who thinks an LP skirt is cute and original. 3. How would you class this in size? Absolutely nothing can fit in this compartment but a log, and that's quite a squeeze. Is this cache a micro, a nano or what? I'm unsure if classification is done by size of the container or size of the compartment; usually the two are close enough to be synonymous. 4. Would my apartment complex's bike rack be a decent enough spot to hide it? I'll go ahead and tell you right now that it's anything but scenic, but I was wondering how many of you would still call it a good cache if it was original enough. 5. Any peeves/ethical qualms/other?

It's not just you.