lasermom

I didn't get one either. My two logs were will attend and attended.

I went all the way through Girl Scouting earning the Curved Bar as a Senior Girl Scout. That was the highest rank. My husband was in Boy Scouts but not that long. We have three sons. The first two made Life Scout but just needed the project to complete Eagle. Nagging didn't work and now they wish they had completed the project. Both were in the Order of the Arrow. The youngest also went through Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts until his brothers were out of it and he wanted to do things with them instead. My husband and I were both Cubmasters and I have been a Brownie and Jr. Girl Scout leader, then a Wolf, Bear,and Webelo leader at different times. I lead a Cub Scout group every year at Day Camp. I didn't become a Scoutmaster because I really feel that's the age when boys need male role models. My boys had a wonderful Scoutmaster who did a lot of outdoor activities including with them. They went to Fellheimer and Ingersoll primitive Scout camps every summer as well as the National Jamboree at Ft. A.P. Hill. While I feel crafts is an important part of Scouting it's not the only part. You just have to ask the boys what they want to accomplish then help them realize their goals. Now that our kids are grown and we're retired, we try to get out every weekend to hike and cache.

Why put in gift cards? You always wonder if there's any money left in them, then embarrass yourself by going to those establishments and finding there is a $0 balance. Along with several of those was an empty cell phone box. This is the thanks I get for putting out a large tool box with many quality items in the $1 to $5 range as well as smaller knick knacks for those who don't choose to trade at that level. Someone once traded a rolling ruler for a golf ball and not a clean one at that.

As a geocacher and a letterboxer I would ask that the log book be made of unlined paper. Most I have stamped have been lined and that ruins the artwork of the signature stamps. I've also suggested to cache owners that they visit both www.letterboxing.org and www.atlasquest.com and list their cache there so all could enjoy.

I like the one I have so far and am excited to see the next ones.

I wondered why there is a drop in our area too. Some of the die hard cachers have discovered the games on Facebook and are addicted to them. I asked one of them why they are not caching and he said it was because of all the hassle. Some are going to TerraCaching. Some are being stopped by farmers who say they own the land to the middle of the road. There goes the side of road caches and there are millions of them in our area. Someone sent me a creepy anonymous email berating me for putting a cache in my yard. I recently found out she is a P.I. from up north and has been responsible for several people archiving their home caches. Wonder if she's packing heat while creeping around at night laughing about sneaking up on night cachers? Don't they call that stalking? She also bragged about caching after imbibing "Halloween Spirits." Don't they call that DUI? Sure gives a new meaning to "Protect and Serve." After reading all that I'm definitely not night caching! It's a gorgeous day here and I would be caching except I got broadsided by H1N1

I started out as a Brownie, then went to Jr. Girl Scout, Cadette Girl Scout, Sr. Girl Scout and ended up with the Curved Bar Rank, which was at the time the highest Girl Scout achievement. I had some fantastic leaders! I wanted to give back a portion of what was given to me so in my early 20s became a Brownie leader and a Jr. leader at the same time. My husband and I stayed involved in Cub Scouting for 9 years, three years each with each of our three boys. He was Cubmaster and I was assistant CM, then later CM when he got too busy. I have had several other jobs: Den Leader, Webelos Leader, day camp leader, and popcorn chairman. Now that we're both retired with two pre-school granddaughters I can see the Brownies in my future once again. Two of our sons (who had wonderful Boy Scout Masters) achieved the Life Rank and Order of the Arrow. They had enough badges but didn't want to do the service project. They both helped other boys with their service projects and just felt they were lame projects. We didn't push them but they both say they regret not finishing. The third son made First class. Scouting opened up all kinds of opportunities for them. The oldest went to Ft. A.P. Hill on a once in a lifetime Jubilee experience.

In the Quad City area (Western IL/Eastern IA, drtmn is probably the cache master. Peoria has Peoria Bill and FuzzyB. They are all cachers who can find anything, anywhere, and under any conditions. Oldtimer1 in the QCA is also famous for his crafty hides, and Blue Grass Tom is the micro-king.

I've been buying 69 cent containers of colored toothpicks. I thought they would be something useful and come in a container that makes a good micro. Also, my badge a minute geo buttons have been going well. I bought a pack of 100 supplies from Ebay and use Microsoft Word to create different caching sayings which are not licensed by any of the button makers. I can make them with different fonts and colors and add webdings. They always seemed to be picked up by the person following me. I also keep several in my own caches and try to make each one a little different. I have a lot of punches and make up little bags of confetti: teddy bears, palm trees, smiley faces, shamrocks, hearts etc. I've found quite a few new things at yard sales for 25 cents. The best was 12 individual packets in a box of Bath & Body Works mosquito wipes. I'm sure these were very expensive but the box said 25 cents so I've been passing them out in caches.