JohnX

I can't speak to the quality of the magnets at Radio Shack. I have purchased dozens of round ceramic magnets at local craft shops and have good luck finding them there. I take it you are looking to make magnetic mounted micro containers. You could try this source for magnets if you can deal with internet mail order. If you have access to discarded hard drives you can take them apart and remove odd shaped magnets that are much stronger than ceramic magnets. It's a bit of a fiddly job if you don't have the property tools. I edited this post to add a shameless plug for a web site I created on how to make your own motor with those magnets you have left over from your micro containers. As soon as I get more magnet wire I will be making a cache where the only swag is motor kits.

The porous comment leads me to believe you have an oak sapling. I once cut some tapered oak legs for a table and hung them in a furnace room to dry after applying a polyurethane finish. The air in the wood heated up, expanded and blew small bubbles in the finish where the wood was cut across the grain. Check the trees in the area from which you cleared the sapling. Acorns do not fall far from the tree.

Make sure you are using the right setting for your batteries and they are not worn down.

I would welcome seeing a handmade item in a cache, whatever it symbolized. Keep in mind that many cachers take things quite literally and like following the rules to the letter. If you do leave a handmade item, take the time to package it well because cache containers tend to be damp and nasty. Consider leaving a note with the item, such as "A handmade XXXXX by YYYYYYY." That will be appreciated.

On the matter of overfilling a cahce, I have several caches that use tennis ball cans for containers. I agree they are not the ideal container but were the only one I could find to fit the location. Over time, the log book and any bendable item got mangled when people cram the contents back into the container. It appears that some cachers don't care for the puzzle of carefully refilling a cache.

Kind of a duplicate post. Common sense?

I use an adhesive called Goop. It takes a while to dry but remains flexible and sticks like crazy. Scuff up the film container with some sandpaper where you will be gluing the magnets. Let the Goop dry for a few days before deploying the container.

It is great that people were able to solve the puzzle so quickly. I zeroed in on the solution to the puzzle immediately but it simply does not work with the resources I had available. I guarantee that some cachers will never be able to solve the puzzle sitting at their computer. The solution to the "Olives" puzzle relies on the assumption of a least common denominator in the use of a.......... I will give no clues on this one. PS. I have solved it.

Edit: removed duplicate post. How it happened I do not know.

There are a couple of "History Lesson" caches in my area. The cache owner left photocopies of local historical information which is quite interesting. It is very cool to visit the same places H.D.Thoreau did, even if I only read the Cliff Notes in high school.

Jem and Scout transmorgrified? I wonder what the Calvinists would have to say about this? I think I will just forget it all and listen to my Atticus CD.

Like geocachers? I would guess it's two adolecents with crushes or possibly a game being played between an adult and child. Kind of like the episode of The Brady Bunch where Cindy starts getting presents from a secret admirer.

I took a picture of a Travel Bug and I can't figure out how to upload it to the TB page. I think I tried all of the choices on the page and I searched this forum. Can someone point me in the right direction? Thanks.

There was a first time solver on one of my caches, who solved the puzzle and sent me the solution. He lived in another state so I was pleased that he logged a note thet he solved it. I would not mind if there were a way of logging a solve but not a find on caches. Hey fly46, You said "Anyone can solve a puzzle." You must be better at it than me. Here is one I will never find because it is in another region of the US. Olives are Good When you figure it out perhaps you could email me a hint? I gave up pretty quick but would like to know how't is done. Some puzzles can be quickly solved, others might be impossible for many people. There should be a chance for a reasonable number of cachers to solve it. Designing a good puzzle for a cache is harder than it looks. For instance, if a puzzle was a list of hundreds of numbers and the coordinates were found by taking every 14th digit , adding 7 to each, discarding the decimal digit of the result and there was no hint at the solution I would consider it a very poor puzzle and a waste of my time. I designed the puzzle for this cache My Dear Watson and think it is pretty fair because there are two sets of hints on the cache page. One set hints on how to solve the puzzle, the other set on how to find the cache without solving the puzzle. I was pleased to see this log for the cache: "Code ? Puzzle ? ...... we don't need no stinkin code. Found the cache with no problems" If there were a cache location with a fantastic hike and incredible vistas at the end I would consider it very sad if someone placed an impossible to solve puzzle cache there. Note Added: Thanks for the help, the first hint I got was sufficient for me to solve the puzzle. I suspect that even with a hint, some cachers never will be able to solve it.

I would prefer to carry pepper spray when I cache for protection from uncontrolled animals. Unfortunately in Massachusetts pepper spray is considered a firearm and it costs hundreds of dollars to go through the permit process. When I have a problem with a unleashed dog acting aggressively, I try and identify the owner and file a report with the local animal control officer. It will give local law enforcement a better idea of what they are dealing with in cases like this Dog Attack. Or this horrible case of a Newborn Mauled by Family Dog.

You don't need anything other than your Legend to cache. I enter coordinates manually and have no need for any other process. I am not a power cacher so if your plan is to try and hit 20 caches a day you might want to consider getting more technical and expensive. Some people get a great deal of satisfaction trying various combinations of software to help improve the usefulness of their GPSr. I prefer paper print outs of cache pages and Mapquest directions. You can spend many hours getting software to work nicely with your GPSr. I just don't have the time or desire to manage such a small amount of data in an electronic format.

Best: 50 ml volumetric flask. Very cool piece of labware. (The only piece of swag I ever took.) Worst: I don't track that sort of stuff.

I have asked several cachers to edit posts to my caches. In one case, someone hinted it would be nice to swim in the reservoir right near a cache. The other two described run-ins with local law enforcement about the poor choice of parking spaces. I emailed the cachers and asked them to edit this information out of the logs. All complied. I did this because of a problem with a cache I placed that nearly got geocaching banned from hundreds of acres of really nice property in Dartmouth, MA. It took two meetings with the land managers to resolve the situation. I do not want any hint of possible problems with my caches in the logs when undecided land managers read them. I then edited my cache pages with more specific parking information and warnings when parks close. I encrypted one log that gave cute and obvious spoiler information about a cache I spent a lot of time on. If I ask a finder to edit their log and give them good reason and they don't, I will have no problem deleting the log entirely.

By specifically and deliberately banning any item from caches that could be considered troublesome, the creators of policy at Groundspeak have given property managers a powerful tool to allow geocaching on the property they control. I value the ability to hide a cache at an interesting site far more than anyone's desire to leave a cheap pen knife in a plastic jug hidden in the woods. Is it lame that you should not leave a lighter in a cache? Yes it is. However, even more lame is having geocaching banned on public property in an entire town because of a story about a kid finding a lighter in a cache. One of the first caches I placed was almost the cause for getting geocaching banned from hundreds of acres of very nice property in Massachusetts. I personally met with two different land managers for the property before they adopted a "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy for geocaching. They rely on the self policing nature of geocachers to keep caches risk free. Why risk the enjoyment that many other people will have finding a cache because you want to leave an inappropriate item? Do I find "the rules" lame? Yes I do. But please find my caches. I think you will enjoy them.

Deet melts plastic and rubber. Keep it away from your GPS receiver and camera. I will not engage in the disease discussion because I have no facts to support my belief that the risk of insect borne disease in the US is exaggerated.

If finding a religious tract or a pamphlet extolling the virtues of veganism in a cache takes the fun out of caching for you then it's your problem and nobody else's. Much like the McToy in a cache, if you don't want to trade for it then put it back in the cache and leave it for someone else who might want it. I save Chick Tracts when I find them, not because of the religious message but because I find them bizarre and amusing. The link to my favorite tract follows this warning. Before anyone clicks on the link, Beware! the message there could offend you and take all the fun out of reading the forums. A Demon's Nightmare

The way the caches were archived looks like bad form to me. If I wanted to get rid of that many caches I would have left them active and edited the listing asking the next finder to remove the cache. Kind of a last find prize. Once the cache is gone then archive it.

Another idea for signature items or swag is a magnet. Use any graphics design program to design a appropriate businees card on a computer or draw one by hand if you have the talent. Print it out on card stock or have copies made at a copy shop. If you print them using a ink-jet printer make sure you spray the paper with some acrylic spray after printing to waterproof it. Purchase some business card magnets at a local office supply store (approximately $7.00 for 50) and stick your cards to the magnets. Don't spray the cards after they are stuck to the magnets. It will dissolve the glue. Here are some that I made for my first few caches: Edit: Just a thought. Got to Vistaprint for low cost business cards and magnets you can design and order online. They even offer "free" business cards. I am sure there are other companies out there that do this.

This is a possible method you might use to make your own "geocoin" type signature item. To do it you will need a dried tree branch about 1.5" in diameter, a cutoff saw or trim saw with a decent blade. Pens and artistic talent or a custom made rubber stamp and a can of clear spray or brush on polurethane or enamel complete the list of materials.. Make sure the wood you are using is dry. Cut wafers approximately 1/4" thick using the saw. If you don't have a decent saw you could use a belt sander to get a smooth surface. If you can draw, consider using fine tip permanent markers to create your design. ("Sharpie" brand markers work well for me.) Alternately, you can have a rubber stamp custom made and use that to stamp the discs. Once complete, you can spray the disc with some sort of sealer. This is especially important if you use a ruber stamp because the ink is not water proof. I have done this using maple and pine and both worked out well. Consider bringing a pen along when caching and write the date you placed the coin on the back before you leave it in a cache. You could also put a serial number on each one if you care to do some sort of tracking.

Here is truth in advertising for a "lame micro" in my area, copied direct from the cache page.