mchaos

Just to note. I called JCP&L and they said it is okay.

Just because I called JCP&L and spoke with Patrick, who was very nice. Did not know at first who to even ask for me, but his superviser Bob said that it was fine as long as it was not in the box and it did not deface the transformer and wouldn't required climbing on the transformer. SO, CACHE ON!! EDIT: He did also say, Not to put it in front of, or on the front of the box. Meaning the door. I have placed the cache on the side of the box. So, as long as its not on the front of the box its okay. The concern is obstruction to the door, although this wouldn't, but its on the side anyway. This is funny because originally I was going make a fake number sticker and put it on the front near some of the real numbers, which would have not been allowed. I didn't because I did not want to cause an issue with the electric company as far as number on the unit.

As far as seeking permission from the power company to hide that cache.. How many lamp post hides do you think actually have permission? There are so many and I am sure most do not have permission. This unit is in a public place. I did not alter the transformer. I did not put it in it. I am not bothering the transformer. Its on the out side of it. I did not seek permission from the electric company to place this I will admit, but if any one really thinks that I should seek permission for this I will call them right now. the reason I don't feel I need to is because they are every where. In parks, apartment complexes, in front of stores. Kids play on them, people lean on them, use it as a make shift table to set their coffee on, they sit on them to take a break. The only warning I see on any of these is, "Keep out" Not "Keep off". If it said keep off, I would not have placed it there. When I was a kid, There was one right out side of our house near the street. This was the neighborhood "base" for hide and go seek, and just something to hang out and sit on etc. I have seen first hand 2 times them opened, disconnected, swapped and reconnected and sealed. The linesmen were always very nice. Never minded us watching them as long as we stood back. Told us all about what they were doing. As a kid it was very cool to watch the man pull off the huge connectors with a pole and connect it to power. I asked one of the linesmen once, " Is it okay to play on these." He replied that it was fine as long as we never tried to go inside of it. And if one is not locked to have our parents call right away and not to play on that one. This says to me that it is okay to place it where I did. Kinda falls in play of the Frisbee rule. I know that if I stand on top of one and play Frisbee, I will not get in trouble. There for I can place a cache there. Now, back to the actual topic. What does every one think of the hide???

WOW. I am all about safety about electricity and electrical boxes but use common sense. Its a large, "locked" transformer box. In public. since it is so unsafe, because what? electrical arks are gonna randomly zap people? Please. I grew up where these things were common place. Played on them as a child. We called them green machines, and they were always "base" when playing hide and go seek or man hunt. They need to be designed so as the average person cannot get into them, or they cannot be in public. There is nothing you can open. There is only one door to the hookups, and its locked with a seal. You cannot open it with a key, it needs to be cut with a beefy bolt cutter. I can understand if I put a fake electrical box up next to a real one but this is a magnet on a big metal box that is triple insulated and locked. As well. There is a wooden guard rail not more then 10 feet from it. I can see a spot where it could be a good hiding spot. So what if I were to hide something there? No doubt being so close to the transformer cache hunters would check it out anyway. There is no way some one could get electrocuted looking for this cache, unless they decided to get a big pair of bolt cutters, clip the seal, then swing open the 100lb lid over the terminals, and then grab on to one of them. I don't think there is a problem here. Thanks for your concern tho... EDIT: And just so you know... This guy says and I quote, "Electrical equipment in you neighborhood: Kids are always playing on those green power boxes located in around neighborhoods, parks and schools. Generally those boxes are safe. (or they wouldn't put them out in the open)" And this is what my cache is on.

Why? That's advertising. Pushing god is IMO the first form of marketing. I hate people who push any kind of religion onto people.

The geocaching community is a self policing one. We have member who volunteer to review cache posts. The community is encouraged to make note of any problems with any caches. Mark them if they need maintenance or are in need of archiving. Its just good practice. If I have a cache out there and it gets full of garbage, like business cards, edibles, or any other bad swag, I would hope some one would CITO it for me if needed.

I have seen trees growing around barbed wire, fences, and other structures and these trees are fine. I don't think a nail or a screw would hurt the tree, but at the same time, it should be done with respect and taste. Nailing or screwing a piece of garbage to a tree is a bad idea. Meaning, just something ridiculous. I see nothing wrong with hanging a fake bird house to a tree. People hang real bird houses from trees all the time. I think limiting the amount of holes in a tree is a major reason to refrain from putting something into a tree. if you were going to put anything in a tree, I would do something zinc coated, because the zinc is beneficial to trees.

now that I think about it... Why would placing a cache out side of a door of a boating place help them get more business? I don't see it. Even if a cache has over 100 visits, that's over time, and that's hardly bringing in business. I placed a cache outside of where I work. I didn't do it to bring business in. I did it because it looked like a neat place to hide it, and it would be easy to maintain if need be. Perhaps this CO does work for or own this business. Maybe he likes geocaching and wanted one near by... The guy who left the cache is obviously a sailor. Look at his name! He has found 652 caches. Been a member since 06. He has 14 caches and most of them are related to sailing in some way shape or form. I honestly just think he like sailing and this is probably a shop he frequents. Advertising in geocaching is not allowed by the rules. This is not advertising. Advertising would be some thing like a cache page that says, Come on in. We are the best shop Blah blah blah. Mention this cache and get 10% off. Here at bobs house of selling things!! And or having a cache container full of advertising literature. I have a cache that is near a restaurant and I like the place. there is quite a bit of history behind the place. I am sure some one may thing I own it or work there, but I don't. I just like the place, and its a great place to stop for lunch while caching.

Okay okay.... Nano and Micro basically mean the same thing, and are used in a similar fashion. nano-   a combining form with the meaning “very small, minute,” used in the formation of compound words Micro- 1. extremely small. 2. minute in scope or capability. Micro is also used in forming compound words. So in essence, its the same word. The only difference in the word is that Nano is in relation to a measurement. It's “one billionth”. Micro is just a suffix for anything related to really really small. And both refer to something that cannot be seen with the naked eye. So no matter which you use, Micro or Nano, Your using a word that pretty much means the same thing. Way I look at it. Micro can be from anywhere from a film canister to itty bitty tiny things. Small is usually something that is just big enough to fit a couple of small swag items or trackables. regular is usually a regular lock and lock or ammo can. Large is the bigger size ammo can, or huge. least that's how I look at it.

Today on a cache log I saw an advertisement that read, " Need some weed and local? ###-###-####" Now that's messed up.

What sense would that make? muggles are strange. Although I can see that mistake being made. Why is it that no one likes to read rule or directions for anything.

HOLY CRAP!! LoL. How strange is this... So after my last post on this thread I headed out on my new big to give it a test run and snag a couple caches. I snagged 3. One of them was a cache that is a few thousand feet from my house and I had attempted to find it on 2 previous occasions with no luck. It was a micro at a park, under a pick nick hut. So today on my way back I decide to give it one last go. There were a bunch of kids skateboarding on the other side of the park within view, but I figured I had looked every where once and no luck, and didn't think I would find it so I looked. So according to the clue which said, under cover. I originally thought it would be under one of the light covers. But they were screwed shut. So today when I got on one of the pick nick tables near where the coords brought me I looked over at the one light and saw something on top of it. Now that wasn't there the last 2 times, because I completely inspected all of the lights above around on all sides. So now there was something on top of one I retrieve it and its not one, but 2 wall outlet blanks with magnets, each a log. Above where the coords put me was a junction box which would be ideal to stick one of them on. And it was lost once before and replaced. The logs matched up with the logs on the cache page. Also noticed that some one left a note on the first log, "want week, and locally? and a number" now that's not right. Any way, I couldn't put it back where it belonged or the kids would see. So I took it with me, and will replace it later when they are gone. How is that for strange....

Well, I have had them go missing, but never return. At least not yet anyway. Some times, depending on the cache, I will remove the cache and walk to my car. Say like, a micro in a busy area, while driving in the car caching. But it will get returned right after. Recently I found one in town, which was very close to my house, so I rode down the street found it. It was a film canister Velcro'd under a bench in front of an art gallery. No pencil inside, and this was spur of the moment so I didn't have a pen. So I took the cache home to sign the log and put it back. Had it about 10 minutes. As far as muggles finding it not knowing what it was, taking it, then putting it back later... I told a guy at work about geocaching and right away he said, " I think my father found one of those." He told me that his dad was out at a local park going for a walk, and while stopping to have a smoke he ended up looking at a tree but something didn't seem right. He went up to it and found an ammo box. So he just took it home. When he got home he checked it out. Found the cache note and checked out the web site. Thought it was real cool. The next day he brought it back. I suppose if a muggle doesn't know what it is, and they remove it with out reading the not first, they might end up taking it home before the check it out. All an all I can see many reasons they may go missing and return eventually. It doesn't surprise me that it happens.

Just put out a new one recently. I felt like doing something a little evil. I didn't go full out evil, or I would have placed it so it was facing downward. That's the closest I could find to the color of the transformer box. Spruce green. Its slightly lighter then it, but its is pretty close. You can see it better in the picture, but it looks like a better match IRL. I just happened to catch the first person looking for it, and introduced my self, and actually got to see how well it was hidden. Even though it is slightly off, the seeker stared right at it several times, more then 7 times, and didn't notice it. Took him almost 40 minutes of staring at the green machine until he realized what it was. He said he actually started examining every bolt on the machine. He said he realized it was it when he noticed the other side of the unit, which is normally identical, was slightly different.

LoL. This pic seems to show up at least once a month on here some how or another.

Never done that with my gpsr but I left my rechargeable batteries I just got on the roof of my truck. They had died after a long day so I switched to alkaline to finish a multi. Gone now I think I might do that. Its a good idea. Lucky lucky lucky. Luckily for me, I am very aware of my GPS. I constantly check that I have it. That's why I knew so soon that It wasn't in the case. but the tether idea is good.

Today I went caching on my bike, and while I finished sighing a log book and put the cache back, I headed back to my bike, and went to zip up my gps case that I had on my belt, because I usually just slip it in temporarily while signing a log, and it was gone! CRAP! Now where did I drop it. It shouldn't be that hard to spot. Its orange and I know where I had it last. Looked all over. Its not any where, what the heck! Finally I felt my pocket and DUH. I slipped it in my pocket instead of the case. For like 3 minutes I just about lost my mind.

You must follow the rules. If you cache infringes upon the rules, the reviewer has to take action. The rules are what make this game work as well as it does. So many things would be horrible with out the rules we have. OH PHooiE!!! I'd say archive it anyway. Have to at least put a little effort into it. The only way he could make it worse would be to change his one word description from "micro" to "geocache".

Heat it, if you're gluing items that won't be damaged by heat. The last time I had some finicky epoxy, I placed the bison tube above a night light. It cured in a few hours. When heated, some epoxies can get more fluid at first, may not be a big deal in your tackiness situation. You definitely should be sure it's cured before placing. Defiantly heat. A good amount of heat can compensate for lack of hardener or too much. It will excite the chain reaction. But it will get real hot once it goes. I do fiber glassing from time to time. winter before last, I had to get a project for some one done, and it was really cold. I had to keep a big halogen shop light on it. Once the reaction gets going, it usually hardens quick.

I have used Testors dull coat. I saturated a few logs with it. Did not make ink run. paper is still writable. I put one in a zip-lock full of water for about a week. It did not fall apart, however it would tear some what easily, and you couldn't write on it wet, but after letting it dry out it was good as new. Like it had never been in water. I have treated some of my logs with this method.

Please please renew. Come one. Ya gotta. Ya know you want too! Hey, every bodies doing it. Do it, do it. Your gonna miss out. Its the hottest thing. You will love it. You don't want to be the only kid not doing it do you? If you don't you will regret it. Please please please please please.... How was that?

Laminating helps, But I have yet to find a laminated sheet that hasn't had moisture get to it either. Still though, the paper is in tact and readable.

That's an iffy idea I think. May come off nagging and sound like a kill joy. I am sure they bought a bunch of stuff at a dollar store, and bubbles is a cool thing to play with for a kid, but the thought just wasn't there about it being a liquid. I have gotten lucky. Found a thing of bubbles and it hadn't leaked yet. My GF took it and had lots of fun with it LoL. All in all its probably a better idea to just keep CITO'ing caches for bad swag.

The worst I ever found IMO was a sandwich bag with a plastic knife and fork, and a half used napkin from Applebee's which was not too far away. The person who signed the log before me had said something like, Thanks for the cache found it after lunch at Applebee's. Kind of annoying. personally I just like to have something to find. I do tend to want to find medium to larger caches, but micro's are okay when they are creative. lamp post hides in parking lots, bison tubes just hanging on a twig, nano's in an obvious place, Those are all boring. Fake wall plate hides, magnet sheet hides, bison tubes at the end of reabar in a barking block, Fence post hides. Those are more of the creative type I like to find. Although at this point they are obvious finds to me now. As far as swag is concerned, I find my self trading less, just looking at the swag. And have only been trading trackables.

Just spend $4 and buy a lock and lock from wally world. And then smear some peanut butter inside just for fun