Melrose Plant

My wife heard about it from somebody on one of the other message boards she frequents. We went out and tried to find our first cache without a GPSr, but we didn't know the difference between the datums, and were quite a bit off. She bought the GPSr, she registered with the site, she chose the username, and now doesn't want much to do with the whole thing. And it's really too late to change this user name. . . The locals all know who I am, partially because of the name, and partially because I tend to write rather lengthy logs compared to most.

You mean, like this? \ The subject of this thread is the very reason why I bought that vest, since I don't hunt.

I have a WG account, and have been active on occasion, but I don't mark my bills, and have only ever gotten one hit. And that was on a marked bill I found in a geocache in Missouri. I go there occasionally, put in some bills occasionally. It borders on the boring.

I've been thinking about my hides (10 currently active--one archived because of bulldozing, and one adopted), and have come to the conclusion that I must want to show people places that are important to me. It's not a premeditated, conscious decision, but I won't throw one out there just because I can. I cannot count the number of times this has happened in reverse--I have visited a really neat place that I would never have noticed because someone hid a cache there. I believe I have done the same for others with my caches. James

I sure wouldn't bother archiving or disabling just because it's winter. If it's too exposed, find a new spot a few feet away. I have one cache where I switch winter and summer hiding spots. Winter is MUCH better than summer for caching anyway. Unless there's a foot of snow cover. No mosquitoes, no poison ivy, and few muggles. Oh yeah, and no ticks. I got Lyme Disease last July, so this one is near and dear to me. James

I was at the meeting last Tuesday, the 16th. What a nice bunch of people. We talked a little bit about forming a more formal group like the Eastern Iowa Geocachers have, but I really don't think there's a lot of interest at this point. Which is fine with me. I wouldn't mind having informal get-togethers every other month or so. James

But the Altoids tin can still only hold a log book, and maybe a really stubby pencil. Perhaps a few really small trinkets, like pins. But realistically, it's pretty much a log book only, and that puts it in the micro category, for my money. I'm going to assume that my 4 1/2 cup (or 4 oz.) Rubbermaid containers I've got out are smallish smalls (as opposed to largish micros), my 40 oz Skippy peanut butter jar is a largish small (as opposed to a smallish regular), and my 1.7 qt. Rubbermaids are smallish regulars, and my one 2.3 qt Rubbermaid is clearly a regular. At least one thing is clear.

Sometimes, archived caches are right there where the hider left them, only for some reason or other, the hider archived the cache. I can think of one instance of this where the hider was from out of town, and the logs kept saying the cache was totally waterlogged inside. The person eventually archived the cache, and it would still be there today had I not removed the geo-junk. However, as the weight-loss ads always say, " results not typical."

How do you tell it's a deer tick by looking? That would be handy to know! Condolences on...that other thing. Evidently, if one can tell a deer tick by sight, I am not the one to do it. The day I wrote that, I was already having symptoms of Lyme disease. I figured all that sleep deprivation was just catching up with me. I went to bed at about 7 o'clock. After just barely being able to make it through work the next day, I went to the doctor. She thought it was probably Lyme disease. I am now on powerful anti-biotics for three weeks. I had severe muscle fatigue and some achiness, especially at the site of the bite. There was no Bulls-eye rash. I managed not to miss any work, but I honestly don't know how I made through those couple of days (I have a fairly physically demanding job). Now, after two days on the anti-biotics, I am finally feeling somewhat normal, though I'm writing this at 8 p.m. my local time from the laptop in bed, and I plan to crash soon after a somewhat normal day. I guess I was overconfident in my ability to identify tick species at 11:30 at night when I wanted to get rid of the thing in a hurry. Let's be careful out there.

I also have nothing but bad things to report from Iowa as well. Ticks have been particularaly bad this year, especially in about April. They've leveled off a bit, but their mating cycle will cause them to start ramping up again soon. I went caching in Northeastern Missouri last Monday, and I came up with two ticks and the dog came up with five. Luckily, I thought to Frontline the dog two days before, so the ones I didn't find during inspection met a horrible and deserved death. Not so good for me. I found one crawling on me, no problem. The other one bit me underneath of my underwear waistband, and I missed it for 24 hours. I'm not worried about Lyme disease (not a deer tick), but MAN did that thing itch for several days. I almost had to go commando at work. It's looking much better now. Balboagirl herself actually found the tick, and I have to thank her for that. However, ticks really give her the heebie-jeebies, and things that were started came to a DEAD STOP right then and there, if you take my meaning. By the way, in Florida, where both my parents are from, they call chiggers "red bugs." That's what I've always called them.

If I were planning a full-blown caching trip, the rain wouldn't stop me. If, however, I were doing one before work, rain might stop me, depending on the situation. There are some places my umbrella won't fit!

I used to come to the forums a lot. Right up until the time I got called back to work. Employment is a good thing in today's economy (or any economy for that matter), but some things had to go, as 9 1/2 hours of every weekday are now exclusively booked. Reading and posting here every day was one of the things.

Even the geocaching.com maps are not immune from being wrong. SeeThis map. I have been there twice, and I assure you, it is on dry land. Although come to think of it, with the flooding we've had recently, maybe I should say it was on dry land.

I'm glad to see that Iowa is not the only state with this idiosyncrasy. The most glaring example of this is Des Moines, the state capital, right there in the middle of the state. Des Moines county, however, is in southeastern Iowa, by the Mississippi River. Sorry to be off topic, but I couldn't resist. To be back on topic, Des Moines city parks are cool to hide stuff in (I couldn't tell you about Des Moines county). I wouldn't hide in any of the Iowa State Parks right now, though. We're in the process of trying to decide how we're going to deal with geocaching. I think it may turn out OK, though.

Usually when it says that, it is because you forgot to select "Found, Not Found, etc." from the menu at the top right hand corner of the screen. In fact, on the log page, that's the only reason I can think of right off hand as to why that would happen. I don't know what would happen if you are not logged in and try to log a find. You will find when you go to submit a cache someday that there are a whole lot of things you can forget to enter which will cause "errors" in your submission. Good luck.

I bushwhacked my way through a river bottom for quite a ways to find the perfect spot for my traditional. It is a long way from being visible from any signs of civilization. Very soon after I placed it, somebody built an encampment within 30 feet of it (now apparently abandoned). The cache is still there, though.

Caches within 4 miles of 50125 = 1. Caches within 8 miles of 50125 = 4. Caches per square mile in search (1) = .02. Density--Black Hole-like. Edit: 3 out of 4 within the 8 miles are mine.

Yes, it will likely be ruined. I have destroyed the function of a compass in this way before.

I received this exact same message, I believe almost word for word, from my approver when I hid my last cache, and I'm in Iowa. Technically, by looking at a map, my cache was too close to the tracks. In reality, the cache location was separated from the tracks by both a fence and a very steep river bluff. This explanation still didn't fly. I moved the cache, and it was approved immediately. Gc.com is very touchy about the RR thing, and rightfully so. A few bad incidents could screw up geocaching in a major way. On the other hand, if we hunt benchmarks, that involves a lot of nosing around RR tracks.

We've done a little bit of this, but have not specifically done any geocaching scrapbooks. Since we have quite a few photos taken while geocaching, naturally quite a few of these make it into scrapbooks.

I hate puzzles. I'm no good at them. The only reason I have a few puzzle finds is because there seems to be a rash of them lately in my area, and I can't be picky. Maybe they're just expanding my horizons.

Balboagirl, my wife, found out about geocaching, bought the GPSr, and found our first cache, but from then on, 'caching is kind of a touchy subject. So far, I've found 108, I think she had in mind 10 in the same period of time, maybe 12. Now I'm stuck with the funny name.

There are a couple of things I feel guilty about. The first is This cache, where I wanted to find it that night, and the gates were closed. I don't say it outright, even in the encrypted part of the log, but I parked behind a school and jumped a barbed-wire fence to get to this cache. I also feel guilty about a couple of caches where I was the last finder, here, and especially here. This last one caused a travel bug to go missing, and because of my inexperience, I feel someone may have pilfered this one. Or it could have been the high winds a few days afterwards. Either way, I shudder at the thought of this cache.

I have taken to carrying a "cache repair kit," which includes, within a replacement Rubbermaid container, assorted sizes of ziplock freezer bags, spare logbooks, pens and pencils, and real towels for drying out caches. I also carry a couple of trash bags. However, I don't think I carry anything which would get rid of an infestation. . .

This is probably a little bit off topic, but it might get a laugh from someone. Before I started caching, I rarely thought about getting any type of 4WD vehicle, even though the snow can get mighty deep here. I scoff at people who have 4WD and never use it, they just get a rough ride and bad gas mileage. However, here is one situation where I might have used it. The log. The picture which says it all (Oh #$%@!):