Gizmo & Brazin

I have to admit, I have been cruising the “Getting Started” discussions lately looking for threads locked by Keystone Approver just to see the cute little animals he is posting to soften the blow with. (Cute puppy earlier!) So, if you have to close mine, make it an extra cute one, cuz today is my Birthday….plus I passed a 4-hour certification exam today to get my PHR! Woo-Hoo!

I found a neat wood selector to help with the selection for suitable trees and in turn, suitable staffs. Question is: What should I look for? Flexibility? Hardness? Strength-Bending? Which are the most important characteristics? Thanks! Wood Selector

Wow! There is a lot of talent around here. I have seen some really cool avators. Great work, everyone!

Thanks for the first part. I'll take a trip this weekend to find a suitable piece of wood to start with. I like the way Madrona looks, but is it a hardwood? How can I tell?

I always love to try and learn new things. Count me in! Thank you for the generous offer. Maybe after we all give it a go, we can post out pictures for all to see. (or...maybe NOT )

Hope you are back on your feet soon!

Thumbs-up for our votes!

I purchased a round billet of bronze,& sliced it with a sawzall. I then file the face smooth & then grind out the skull with a Dremel tool. After that,I peen w/ a hammer.Stamp my name on the front & E- mail on back.Then I polish them on a buffing wheel.Each takes about an hour to make,& costs about $1 or so. Very nice work, Habercacher. But what is a billet of bronze? I looked it up on line and couldn't tell much. Its it like a solid metal tube? Nice work, very creative! Wish we had a few in caches in our area!

WRITE SHOP ROBERT - What a great idea! I read the info on your profile and you are to be applauded for the thought and effort you have put into the 'game'. So, I have a few questions: What kind of prizes are you awarding? How do you plan on getting it to the winner? Mailing it, in person, other? How many winners do you anticipate? Again, cool idea! I would like to hear more about it!

Geee.....let me stop and think about this. Ummm....... One, two.... no wait, Puyallup is still considered Washington. Ok. One. Truth of the matter is, we don't get out much. (These darn electronic bracelets.....!) Actually, we are going on a trip to Amsterdam in October! We WILL be caching on it. I just have to figure out the details. But it will be fun. I would like to pick up a couple of travel bugs and drop them there, but not sure if that will cause any problems? Would an owner get mad about that?

Perhaps it isn't so much that you dislike the log only micro, as the fact that it wasn't placed in an area you enjoyed hunting in. I like micros, log only is fine. I enjoy the challenge of the hunt and really appreciate a clever hide. Doesn't matter the size; large caches can be lame too. No matter what the size, I like when a cacher puts effort into the cache cammo and the thoughtfulness of the hide. But all in all, I'll take the lame with the great. I'm happy people are willing to take their time and money to hide and upkeep a cache. Thing to remember is, once you start hiding a few caches, make them the type of cache you wish all caches were. Give the extra thought and effort for the "ooohhhhh" factor. If you want to see more traditional size caches, help make that happen!

Since we have three dogs, we try and rotate who gets to go. None of them have a clue about looking for an ammo can or Rubbermaid. Our 'big dog', Blitz, loves the weekends and knows the cache backpack. When it comes out, he hits the door. We didn't get to go this weekend, as I am studying for a major exam in a week, but every time one of us got up and even walked in the direction of the cache bag, he had his nose to the door and tail going. Poor guy, he is really going to go into withdrawal when we don't get out again this weekend.

I don't see how they can consider it a blemish, if the cache is not there (Emphasis by Gizmo)...Part of my proud stats are for FDNFBFTF (First did not find before first to find) I think you answered your own question, SixdogTeam. It's not a blemish, IF it's not there. But many times, it IS there and as such, some would see that as a blemish. As for us...we have blemishes. So what? It helps me remember which ones I need to go back and search harder for. It's all part of the game and that includes logging DNF's even on the simple ones that are really there!

I found a neat one attached to a key chain. The log is 2" x 1.5" (outside dimensions of cover) and there is about 1/2" of paper in it. No lines, just plain. Probably 100 - 150 pages. It seems to be holding up quite well. Best part, I found it at a dollar store.

I wish Geocashing had been around when my children were younger. I ran into a geocacher a couple of weeks ago while I was doing a maintenance run on my caches. He had his two young boys with him (Maybe 5 & 6?). One was holding the GPS and following the signal. What a great family activity. A "treasure" hunt every weekend if you want. My children are older and don't see the magic of finding hidden boxes and treasure. It's still fun, but I don't know how many times I have told my husband I wish we had been able to share this with out children when they were still at that magical age.

I agree A & B are both fine. As long as things are kept equal, than trading or not trading are both ok. But like others, it's an unusual question. Why do you ask?

Brazin was up reading. He said there was a bright flash followed by a kind of rumble. But the sound was delayed from the flash, light lightening and thunder. He figured it was a car turning around when he saw the flash, then he thought maybe an earthquake when he heard the noise. Then he decided he was just up too late and delusional. That was about 2:30 - 2:45 AM. Pretty cool!

I had a long day of work and starring at computer screens. I tried turning my head sideways and upside down. I looked at the larger picture. I just don't see "it". Is it a trick picture that is I stare long enough then close my eyes, it will appear? I thought maybe it was the head of a goat, but that can't be right.....A hint, please? I'm old (over 40! Amazing I am still alive to hear my children!) and need help....!

That is AWSOME! I just hope you don't lose it to some tennis ball loving dog!

Wow! Candy in Caches? Some people have all the luck! I'm dieting and do you think I could even find some stale Krispy Kremes when I am in need? Shoot, I can't even come up with stale pretzels! In all honesty, I have only done Urban caches so far, but haven't found any food items...yet. Guess the people around here take the no food in caches seriously. The closest to leaving food in caches I have done is leave McDonalds Money. It seems to go over well!

We have run into cachers several times. If they are already looking, we hike further down the trail and wait till they are done. Most of the times, it's been us walking up on them, so we just do a quick intro and let them finish. Once recently we were on the spot first, but after the intros, opted to let the others have a go at it first while we enjoyed a lake nearby. I like GPSKitty's idea, if it's a harder cache that may take some time, I wouldn't want to wait an hour or so for others to leave before I started, likewise, I wouldn't want to spoil it for others.

You know...years ago I was in the Navy. My first duty station was Oak Harbor. From there I went to Atsugi, Japan. I remember a camping trip I took w/ some buddies in the mountains outside or Atsugi. Very rugged, dangerous mountains. But after a few Sapporo’s, we decided we could climb the cliff we camped next to. And climb we did! It wasn't till the next day and daylight that I saw the cliff was over a giant, sheer- sided waterfall. To this day, I don't know if it was the fact that we were Americans in a foreign country, in the Navy, or the Sapporo that made us think we were indestructible. Maybe it was the fact I was 21 years old and had the world by the tail. In any case, looking at the bio of ronshultz83, it would be my guess maybe he is kind of where I was all those years ago. I'm a lot safer and saner these days, but I have never regretted the things I tried when I was younger...only the things I didn't get the chance to try. Glad he had an angel looking over him and he came through safe!

It may be a losing battle, but in every one of the 46 caches we have found (minus the 5 or 6 micros), we have left everyone in better shape than we found it in. It may not change the world, but hopfully the next cachers who find it may say "Wow...cool" and not "Awww...more crap". I figure I won't change the way anyone else plays the game, but I will do my part to better it. What I like to find? Sig items, travel bugs and dog toys. Anything unusual. It's always fun to make the find and open that box/container. May not have a darn thing in it I want, but it's still fun!

Alan2, Thank you for sharing the great picture. I have never seen a turkey in the wild, although I have had people tell me we do have them here in Washington. That was really neat. What a beautifull bird!

To combat the sock puppet problem, maybe just offer the free PQ test a couple of times a year for 1 week? It would be easy to track the number of new memberships after that to see if it works. Kind of like the free HBO and Showtime offers a couple of times a year to get people hooked.