DxChallenged

Hey Mike I know where you are comming from!! During my college years I would spend summers workingat a local amusement park. I was on a maintance crew. Our parking lot was right tight and used by many people. My father had fixed up an Orange Austin Marina for me. My all time favorite car. Leather steering wheel, toe warming heater, wooden dash and I could get it up on 2 wheels if I turned the corner just the right way. Well one day I went out to the lot and saw that someone had scratched my car. I fummed all the way home....then thought of a plan. I found the biggest screwdriver that my dad had in his shop. Put that in my car and presented it the next day in the break area. Mind you there were some rather burly looking guys there....I walked in with the screw driver and said "Ya see this. Well yesterday someone scratched my car...I brought this with me in case anyone else wants to do the same thing...it's makes a really nice line!" Whoa....that really was me.......many years ago..... Dx There in the sunshine are my highest aspirations... I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead. LMAlcott [This message was edited by DxChallenged on March 15, 2002 at 12:01 AM.]

So I was reflecting today on 9/11. How I felt that day, the days that followed and how in a very real way geocaching helped me to move on. On 9/11 I was stunned that the country I love was targeted and hit dead on. I found incomprehensible the magnitude of the destruction. The horror and reflection of hatred that those acts encompassed were at times too much to bear. Several days after 9/11 the family piled in the van an headed out for some geocaching. We left the radio off. As we drove along we were presented with vast blue skys, warm country homes, American flags flying at every turn and "God Bless America" signs in every village. We walked out in the woods together and found a cache. I was ever so thankful that I was blessed to be with my family, to share this time together and be away from the issues of the day. Then on the way home we came acrost this weird site. Cattle were walking 2 x 2 under a bridge. Together they were trudging on. And it made me reflect on what we can do together. This country and this sport has come a long way since 9/11. There are many lessons to be learned that's for sure but there is also ever so much to be thankful for! I am proud to be an American. Have you any reflections of caching that you did after 9/11? There in the sunshine are my highest aspirations... I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead. LMAlcott

Yeah.....the digital camera. I mean to bring it. But in it's absence we missed...... An awesome view of an incredible land formation...Letchworth gorge in NY. We sat on the absolute edge. Just breath taking. I had been to the park many times but never to that area. Then Friday while I was out with the kids we did a virtual cache at a cemetary. I had expected a tiny little place but to my astonishment it was mazzive. I asked a caretaker about parking and ended up getting a guided tour of the grounds by the man the caretaker called "the boss". He even unlocked the private chapel which took my breath away lovel red carpet with the most amazing stained glass window...a small version of some of the churches that I'de seen in England. Also found the tombstone of Harriet Tubman (10 year old daughter was way thrilled) and an interesting civil war section........Again no camera to record this.........So I'm locking it to the backpack!! Dx There in the sunshine are my highest aspirations... I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead. LMAlcott

I'm from Akron NY. We live about 25 minutes from Buffalo. Not many caches here but the Rochester area is covered!! So we head out that way on the weekends. Dx

Ok so it was 71 yesterday. Did 5 caches and even I was tired. The weather stayed great the whole time. Then got home and soaked in the hot tub only for our youngest, butterfly girl to say, "hey Mom they say a thunderstorm is comming". Just then the wind picked up. Lightening flashed. the rain started and it sounded like hail. I got her out of the hot tub only to have the power flash on us. Then i threw the cover on and held onto anything secure till I got in the house. The winds were clocked at over 65 mph. Right now the temp is down to 30 and snow has returned. I think that I'll hibernate for the rest of the day......and it's only 6am! Dx

Whoa!! Great idea! We have a set of these but forget to use them. Last summer we did a cache at Stony Brook park in NY. Fearless trudged up the evers so muddy hill and the rest of the tribe went with me to the top of the hill. Kept yelling down to locate him. Eventually did but it was a little worrisome. I get lost 5-10 minutes from home. We're doing a multicache next weekend so the 2 ways are going with us!! Thanks for the idea!! DxChallenged BTW we had a family reunion to go to right after the caching......we were just a bit muddy

Whoa!! Great idea! We have a set of these but forget to use them. Last summer we did a cache at Stony Brook park in NY. Fearless trudged up the evers so muddy hill and the rest of the tribe went with me to the top of the hill. Kept yelling down to locate him. Eventually did but it was a little worrisome. I get lost 5-10 minutes from home. We're doing a multicache next weekend so the 2 ways are going with us!! Thanks for the idea!! DxChallenged BTW we had a family reunion to go to right after the caching......we were just a bit muddy

Hey! Tteepee was kind enough to set this up for me........I'm not at techy as some...hey I use my grandma's old singer to sew on...forward and back is all it does. But then geocaching would be great if I could stick to just those directions...rather than a round about way out Here's the place http://users.bestweb.net/~ttepee/Quilt.html DxChallenged

Hey! Tteepee was kind enough to set this up for me........I'm not at techy as some...hey I use my grandma's old singer to sew on...forward and back is all it does. But then geocaching would be great if I could stick to just those directions...rather than a round about way out Here's the place http://users.bestweb.net/~ttepee/Quilt.html DxChallenged

After doing 8 caches in 2 days...with children....I an seriously considering investing in a boot scuffer scraper. It was a GREAT day to geocache here in WNY. The temp got up to 71 and the clouds hung back until we were finished. But by the time we were done along with the treasures we that we found we also entered the van with 5" of mud on each of the 10 boots = a whole ton pf mud. Cache on!! Dx

Cliffy...you would be correct. Dx

Cliffy...you would be correct. Dx

So does it work great on steep hills? Near white Buffalos? Is it the air born variety. Dx

Hey! I say check out an alternate plan and find a quick delivery method. Doesn't really need to be a hoopla thing. Once delivered the quilt could go to caching events if more signatures are desired by the owner. It's just that now I'm on another page and this point in time might be a very good instance for the quilt owner to receive a "pick me up"..... Dx

Hey! I say check out an alternate plan and find a quick delivery method. Doesn't really need to be a hoopla thing. Once delivered the quilt could go to caching events if more signatures are desired by the owner. It's just that now I'm on another page and this point in time might be a very good instance for the quilt owner to receive a "pick me up"..... Dx

And... We try to take Foo the wonder dog but of late we have to watch the puddle depth. She went caching with us a few weeks back and ended up looking like a furry tea bag on a leash. And yes she has red hair!! cliffy...the hiking stick arrived in a great long package...sort of mean weapon shaped...Maybe mailmen just sense what's inside? Zen mail delivery type thing. Dx

Oh yeah... I've learned about leaving a dry pair of socks and extra boots in the car. I managed to get wet feet for 2 weeks in a row.A few weeks ago we were driving along with my wet socks waving outside the rolled up window. yeah they were red and the kids were trying to crawl under the seat so no one could see them........But hey..another cache was only 7 miles away and the sun was out! Dx

Oh yeah... I've learned about leaving a dry pair of socks and extra boots in the car. I managed to get wet feet for 2 weeks in a row.A few weeks ago we were driving along with my wet socks waving outside the rolled up window. yeah they were red and the kids were trying to crawl under the seat so no one could see them........But hey..another cache was only 7 miles away and the sun was out! Dx

An now for something really different...... Ok a fluff topic. So what are the extras that you just HAVE to have to go geocaching? I got one in the mail the other day. A hiking stick that I won on e-bay. It is most excellant. It has a wood spirit hand carved into the grip area, a compass nestled into the top (great for those of us who are directionally challenged), smoothed out bark that is polished to a nice gloss and a nonskid rubber end. Man I love this thing! I'm wondering what the mailman thought when it was delivered as it is 60" long So anything special that you take when you go out? Dx

Hey Cliffy, Thanks for the inquiry and the compliment. I finished the quilt and sent it out right around valentines day. I was starting to like it too much and was afraid that I wouldn't be able to part with it. A number of my fellow quilt friends said "Of course you're going to keep it". But consistent with my what I have done with all the other quilts that I've made...I sent it out. Anyway I had gotten so many compliments while I was making the quilt that I decided I had to give the border my best effort. It has moons, stars, compass directions and the earth outlined in the stitching of the large yellow border. It doesn't show up well in the pictures but it's there none the less. The quilt is to be delivered to it's eventual owner latter this month. Mon10bike is in charge of that. At a caching/wilderness event up his way and appears to be the best place to hand it off. Pictures will then follow. I'm working on another caching quilt project now. A much more difficult pattern and longer projection to completion. Blocks to be placed in the Erie PA, Lord of the Rings multicaches. Mikechim set up a most thoughtful multicache (with more to follow when the movies are released). The family is way into TLOTR and so I wanted to reflect that in another quilt......... Dx

Hey Cliffy, Thanks for the inquiry and the compliment. I finished the quilt and sent it out right around valentines day. I was starting to like it too much and was afraid that I wouldn't be able to part with it. A number of my fellow quilt friends said "Of course you're going to keep it". But consistent with my what I have done with all the other quilts that I've made...I sent it out. Anyway I had gotten so many compliments while I was making the quilt that I decided I had to give the border my best effort. It has moons, stars, compass directions and the earth outlined in the stitching of the large yellow border. It doesn't show up well in the pictures but it's there none the less. The quilt is to be delivered to it's eventual owner latter this month. Mon10bike is in charge of that. At a caching/wilderness event up his way and appears to be the best place to hand it off. Pictures will then follow. I'm working on another caching quilt project now. A much more difficult pattern and longer projection to completion. Blocks to be placed in the Erie PA, Lord of the Rings multicaches. Mikechim set up a most thoughtful multicache (with more to follow when the movies are released). The family is way into TLOTR and so I wanted to reflect that in another quilt......... Dx

At times I still feel like a newbee at this sport. I've been considering the fee... What I have felt the most proud about with this sport was what it representes/represented. Generousity. A website available to all. People who are willing to share a prize both tangible and intangible. Just to think of it still makes me smile. People are placing these boxes for anyone to find "with no strings attached". In addition to that the participants get to exercise "in the real" (not a gym where you run on never ending turf like a trained rodent) and the pay off for that isn't just swet but places that you have other wise never discovered; an awesome way in a hectic lifestyle to really "stop and smell the roses". So in a way the fee makes me a bit sad. A bit of the generousity is gone but at the same time I acknowledge reality. I would much rather pay a fee to support a sport I endorse than to be faced with an endless array of advertisements. It used to be that surfing the web conjured up the feeling of "surfing" from one intrest/knowledge stream to another unincumbered...Now it's like riding on the thruway with billboards at every turn. And then there is the spam and various other varieties of mail that comes through..Daily various pieces of "inappropriate mail" pops up....and nothing I have done has stopped it.......So if the fee will allow this site to continue unincumbered by adversitements.....great I'm for it.