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The timing's great! That'll be the last days of my week's vacation, and I'll come. Don't know about the camping out idea, as I have no gear, but I can certainly come and play for the day. Might be able to scare up another person to join me as well. Might not.

Only 39 finds? How can you possibly be burned out already?! I haven't missed a weekend in a year, since I started. But I must admit my ardor is flagging a bit in recent weeks. Likely, it's just from the push to hit #200 by my one year cachiversary, which I did. But now I think maybe I'll take a weekend off. Or not. I might let weather actually keep me in this weekend, tho it hasn't happened yet.

Q: What smell worse than death? A: A dead skunk, on an 85* day. It wasn't in the cache, but it was less than 20 feet away. Yowza! Logged that puppy in a furry hurry!

I had a cache I called Nice Swag cache, and the point was to thank the local cachers for putting out caches for me to find. I asked seekers to trade with a similar gratitude in mind, and some did. But it only took a couple of months for the swag in Nice Swag Cache to deteriorate to the normal stuff. I added good items for a time, but then decided heck with it: if this is what people prefer, that's OK with me. I changed the name of the cache, and let it be what it is: a nice cache in an outstanding location with everyday swag. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Just be aware that others may not be able to, or may not care to, keep the same level of quality that you would like to see, and be prepared to accept that. Many people cache paperless, and they simply download coords in mass without decriptions of any kind. They get to the cache and have nothing 'nice' to trade, but hey, they like what they see, and trade to the best they are prepared for...

Candles are not a good idea. If they are scented, they draw animals to the cache, especially raccoons and possums. And they get soggy and pasty after a little while in the heat and humidity of a cache box. They turn into unattractive lumps of pasty wax, and it doesn't take much time for that to happen. Also, in your other thread, you mentioned cosmetics. Lipstick is basicly wax, and you have the same problems. Eyeshadows don't hold up too well either; the humidity and condensation of a damp cache box makes them lumpy and pasty. And most cosmetics also have the smell issue: they will draw curious animals. Creativity in swag items is a good thing, and it's also good that you asked here before you spent money on things that are not so good for swag. Cache on!

I lived in Texas for ten years (Houston and Dallas), and we had a saying too: Winter usually falls on a Thursday, Spring on the subsequent Saturday and Sunday. Then the 90's kick in for the duration. I love the climate in Indiana. The extremes never last more than 3 weeks or so, and though we do see snow often, it generally doesn't saty around long enough to make me hate snow. No one has mentioned my favorite thing about snow caching: No muggles! the parks are blissfully empty! Just be sure someone knows where you're going and when to expect you back. If you fall off the edge of a ravine, there's no one to hear you scream. (Yes, Indiana has ravines.)

I've been using Coleman and Gott thermos jugs for awhile now. They are waterproof, until somebody caches in the rain and lets the water in. They come in different sizes, are easily painted if they're not green, and I find them at thrift stores like Goodwill and Value Village for under $2 each.

There's one near me that is on a lovely garden spot corner. I'd post the link, but the cache owner wants people to discover the area on their own. They don't want them to know in advance what they'll see when they get there. On the SW corner of the intersection, there's a huge electrical power plant, replete with towers and humming lines everywhere; the place nearly vibrates. On the NW corner, there's an enormous active gravel pit, with hundred of dump trucks coming and going all day long, slinging rocks and spitting gravel on any car unlucky enough to get caught behind them at a light. On the SE corner, believe it or not, there's a community park with a patch of woods along a creek. But it that where the cache is? NO! It's on the NE corner, along a chainlink fence that encloses the city's waste water treatment plant: you got it: the sewer works. All the stink and all the gravel dust and all the high tension wires waft towards that sad little park. Wanna come hiking with me?

Cemeteries that are owned by the city/county are public property; but each of those plots was bought and paid for by a family or individual, and is private property. No matter how long 'abandoned' that plot is, the person it's intended for is still 'in residence,' in perpetuity. Find a place along the perimeter, in a tree, or in a common area such as a gazebo, to place your film canister.

Well, I live in Indianapolis, but I pass through Illinois often, and cache there some, so do I count? Love the Alton/Grafton area along the lovely white limestone river bluffs. Ck out my avatar! It's the Piasa Bird, a local legend in the Alton area.

I used to think I wouldn't want to cache in the snow and cold too. Until I tried it, (cabin fever!!) and decided it was FUN! You have the parks all to yourself, except the occasional cross country skier. No bikes whizzing past you; no critters to chew on you. Just dress in layers and have your water in a well insulated container so it doesn't freeze too fast. The big negative is that the cold, much below 20*, drains your batteries and causes your GPS LED display to move very slooowwwwllllyyyyy. Just keep the GPSr inside your coat as much as possible. There are tons of cold weather caching topics on these boards if you search for them. But winter is no reason to hibernate, IMO.

Plus, his picture is sooo small. How do you get it to be bigger? Some of the avatars are many times the size of mine.

You traded your very unique avatar of a mythical bird painting for a hiking boot logo Dude, dump the boot and go back to your original idea ... (Just my 2 cents). You're right; I changed it back. I guess I just got tired of looking at him for awhile, as I have him as framed art over my desk, and on smaller things like a magnet clip, my coffeee mug, wallpaper, etc. I changed him out for a time, since he was a constant reminder that I've been a slacker trying to market my novel. Gotta get back on that horse. Anyone know an agent, or a publisher looking for new fiction talent?

So was I!! Did you know that there were more babies born in the US in 1957 than any other year in history? GO US! I'm also a 57 model. Last April, Team K9 was using a Mountain Dew avatar, and it prompted me to wonder if they were being paid to advertise for them. Got me to thinking: if I were to use a company logo for my avatar, who would I want? Chose Merrell, because I love their boots and trail runners, and because I figured if they cared, maybe they'd give me a new pair of boots for advertising them on this very outdoor board. I even sent an email to Merrell to ask if they liked my co-op idea, but they never did reply. Oh well, I still love the boots, and don't mind saying so even if they won't give me anything for it! My former avatar is the Piasa Bird: In 1673, Marquette and Joliet were seeking the headwaters of the Mississippi River when they happened upon the original painting of this mythical beast. It was painted high up on the river bluffs. I wrote an as yet unpublished caving adventure novel that uses the Piasa Bird legend in the story line. If you'd like to learn more about the tale, here's a good link: Piasa Bird Legend The original painting is long gone now, as Indians shot their arrows at it every time they passed on the river, and when they traded bows and arrows for guns, that was that. The image has been recreated over the last century no less than 5 times, as the pictograph has been lost to erosion and road construction again and again. The avatar is the current version.

"Some days, it's just not worth chewing through the restraints."

I'm not at home, so I can't upload just now, so you'll have to settle for this link to my log for this very cool cache, also in Brown Cty Indiana. It's worth the trouble to click on the link, I promise. The cache is called How did THOSE get up THERE? And they are huge boulders in treetops. Various estimates put the boulders between 200-500 pounds, depending upon which estimate you choose to believe. No one knows how long they've been there, or how they got there, but there are many suggestions and theories in the logs for this cache. How bizarre!

Well, my photo finally turned up in the listings on pg 16. But it's dated 1/1/04! I submitted it on 7/7/04. How bizarre. Looks like this TB game has a few bugs of another color. Here it is: Volunteering at the American Red Cross

Fox59, a tv station out of Indianapolis will air a segment on geocaching on the 10pm news, Monday 8/9/04. According to a log on the Birdwalk cache, ( link )scbull took reported Tracy Forner caching. Just thought you might like to know.

As I posted to a similar thread on the 'Getting Started' forum: One of my caches ( Bushwacking With the Beave ) was found out in the open twice. The third time, I contacted the last finder and was assured that he placed it back where it belonged, under the root bole of a live tree. When I went to check on it, it was apparent that a good sized mammal (perhaps a groundhog, or one of the resident beavers) had decided to move in to that hole, and he kept evicting the cache container. The cache was relocated above ground. I've seen this happen on another cache, where an animal (squirrel, perhaps?) kept ejecting the micro cache from a knot hole in a tree. The point is: it's not always a thoughtless human inconveniencing the cachers.

Since my GPSr was given to me as a gift, and I'm financially challenged, I don't have a computer cable for it. So I can't download tons of coords at a time. I have to manually enter the coords, and that means looking them up one or ten at a time. So, yeah, I have to plan my cache routes. I do have a number of sheets printed that I haven't seeked yet, and I often grab those if an opportunity or impulse hits. That's about as spontaneous as I can get under the circumstances, tho.

Since my GPSr is a bottom of the line basic Etrex, it often has significant lag time while it bounces around under dense canopy, tall buildings or high ravines. The dial hasn't swung around to true yet, and sometimes takes a minute or more to average it's way out of an obstructed area. The compass on the geep can still be pointing north(or whatever) even if I make a turn, but it holds the distance memory of the last time it had a lock, and continues to guess how far you've traveled while it tries to find you again. The compass tells me that I'm still headed in the right direction until the GPSr gets happy again. It's especially useful while bushwacking in dense understory, with thick canopy overhead. The Geep will eventually find it's way, but I don't get turned around or lost trying to follow it while it's blind.

One of my caches ( Bushwacking with the Beave ) was found out in the open twice. The third time, I contacted the last finder and was assured that he placed it back where it belonged, under the root bole of a live tree. When I went to check on it, it was apparent that a good sized mammal (perhaps a groundhog, or one of the resident beavers) had decided to move in to that hole, and he kept evicting the cache container. The cache was relocated above ground. I've seen this happen on another cache, where an animal (squirrel, perhaps?) kept ejecting the micro cache from a knot hole in a tree. The point is: it's not always a thoughtless human inconveniencing the cachers.

Here is an excellent article that explains why, when you are standing at 'ground zero' on your GPSr, and still don't see it, that nothing is wrong with your geep. It's just the limitation of the satellite system: The Coords are off 23 Feet! by AB4N Hope that info helps. I had quite a few DNFs when I first started out, and still get my share today with 200 finds under my belt. But once I hit my first 50, and then went back to seek the ones I'd DNF'd, I found them on the second try, every one. Point is: It gets easier with a little experience. But then, out of 45 caches I sought over the last month, 7 were DNF's. Three of those were actually missing: the cache was really gone. So my other point is: sometimes it's not you.

I'm guessing those are men's sizes listed, right? It makes a difference, and inquiring minds want to know. Thanks.

That's not the point I was trying to make. Whether or not it's the cache owner's job to clean it up is moot in this case: S/he did so. How would you feel to know that your child was caching in an area where drug users have been known to shoot up, and the cache was still active? An open invitation to come play amid the medical waste. Since drug users know this place is a safe hide-away to shoot up, they will likely be back. Makes the arguement for calling the cops stronger, in the hopes that they might keep a closer eye on the place for future activity of this type. I still think the cache should be archived, or at least moved.