Birdsong-n-Bud

Agreed. How nice she came here to clarify and apologize. There was a lesson learned in the end.

I agree, you'll probably have to resort to #1. But you know...it is downright deceiving to say she put a golf ball in it when she didn't. Signature or not. She should also not log that she found it if: 1) she helped hide it 2) he told her where it is. Goes to show...people will do just about anything for a smiley. I see similar stuff in other hobbies I have where there is a tally to be made. Frustrating. You learn over time who the honest ones are. Very true. It just may never have dawned on them that someone would use that information to try to deduct the size of a cache.

Ummmm...seriously or sarcastically? Just trying to educate people that nests should not be tampered with or encouraged to be part of a geocache, that's all. The layperson doesn't know about the law, but nature and bird enthusiasts do. My son came back from preschool a few years back with this homework: find a nest or feather to put onto their "Nature Christmas Tree." Being active with the Audubon Society, I nearly choked. Usually this law is put into effect when people hunt a bird that is protected by law. If a cacher chooses to damage nature when they go to a cache, that is their business. But I don't think it is good caching ethics. Like they say "take only pictures, leave only footprints." The land we cache on is beautiful because it is less scathed by urban squelch. I know how fragile nature is today, and I for one won't be encouraging anything that would put the balance further out of whack. The more we educate ourselves, the more we realize our impact does have impact on nature. Even 8 years ago, I heard more warblers singing on a spring morning than I do today.

ROFL! That's my new favorite!!! (Husbands do that, too!???)

Sure....you'll be sorry you asked, because of the length of my answer, lol. It is a very old law, but one that most laypeople don't realize exists. It is listed in the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, which is still in effect today. It also includes the possession of feathers. Here is the 1994 version. I've left the google highlights in it so you can seek the word "nest" by the purple color. Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994. Also: Possession of Migratory Birds, Including Feathers, Nests, and Eggs It states: I know when we do bird counts for the Audubon Society, we refrain from approaching any nests, as it can result in a parent bird abandoning the nest, particularly if the eggs have not hatched yet. We also refrain from playing tape recordings of owl and raptor calls (a technique sometimes used to lure in birds to within view), because is can cause similar distress to nesting passerines Edited because it kept trying to make a smiley face out of my B then parentheses. jeez, lol

...we love our wooden nickels. We have wooden nickels for most caches. And for the really special or extra-challenging or creative finds, we leave a wooden dollar, our ultimate creation. Okay, it's not exactly a metallic geocoin, but it's fitting, lol. I'd post a picture if I knew how the heck to get an image here from my computer. I can email one if you want. It has metallic paint on parts of it, and I'm not sure how well that would translate in a picture. We make each one by hand.

I hear ya. Most people don't realize it s against federal law to remove, move, tamper with a bird's nest, even if it is vacant. That's a fake nest, but it encourages touching (real) birds' nests to check for caches. Granted, that is a pretty crappy replica of a bird's nest, lol. And do you know what happens to birds' nests in the winter? I love the fence post hide. I'd definitely have had to post a DNF for that baby. It would never have dawned on me to start taking property apart to find a cache.

I love reading sigs. NooB's is good, I agree! And a good geocaching theme. "Tis better to have hiked and been lost, than never to have hiked at all." I like mine, too, but I can't claim having written it. Avatars and signature lines: "It's a good thing."

That is a really cool, unique coin! I'd scarf that thing up real fast if I found it in a cache!! I just have lame wooden nickels.

Only the military will get their GPSr's to give them an accuracy reading to within a foot. We mere civilians have to be happy with the 12-27' foot accuracy. It beats the 100' accuracy we had years ago! There was a geomeet activity once. The spot of a waypoint was marked with a post in the ground. Each member of the meet was asked to take their post and mark it where their GPSr said 0'. You would not believe the huge circle of posts that developed after each person did it. You'll also find that when looking for something, one minute you'll be 1' from it, and the next minute, dayum....you are 22' from it, lol. Plays tricks with your mind! But that's what makes it a treasure hunt. Otherwise it'd just be a treasure-find! Don't be afraid to take an average of the waypoint 3 times, and make sure you have reception from at least 3 satellites for the clearest reading. Also, I always use fresh batteries when marking a cache waypoint. I seem to notice that when my batteries get low, the accuracy gets wishy-washy. Have fun!

My son is 8, and is the other half of Birdsong-n-Bud. I'm Big B, he's Little B. He LOVES it. He likes to go for the treasures (think McToys). I like to go for the walks with him! Recently, when he wanted to go play over a friend's house instead of Geocaching, panic set in. I bought 2 extra GPSr's on Ebay, and now all 3 of us (me, little B, and his friend) each get to carry one and "dash to the cache." When we place caches, Little B always has to be "supervisor and chief site approver." He has launched most of our Travel Bugs, and chooses the TB's we take with us on our next journey. Recently, we did our first night cache, and he didn't want to go home after we found the cache! Little B has found more caches than I have (could it be because he's closer to ground level? lol). His friends now think this is the ultimate place to visit because we go on "spy missions."

Sicilians strike again! You've done it twice....many, many thanks. That is something I'll be using over and over. Thanks for your help!

:::Bag on head::: Sorry about my ignorance. What is a "Combo Utility," please?

Wooohooo! Thanks everyone! I have work to do (figuring out the cable now) . Thanks!

Does anyone know if the eTrex cable is compatible within the different models? We have the cable to the eTrex venture, and then bought they yellow eTrex on Ebay, and it came without a cable. Is it alright to use the cable for that one too, does anyone know?

Thanks, Markwell. I did download those programs. Now to figure out how to get them into the GPS. I'll be toying with it this weekend to see if I can figure it out. I'd love not to have to plug them in manually.

Yes! Yes! Thank you! That is exactly what I needed! Thank you! I have bookmarked that. In the off-chance that I ever need to access that when I don't have access to my own computers' favorites...how do you access that page from Mapquest? I had tried to find something like that from their homepage about a month ago and came up empty. Thank you!! :::doing a happy Snoopy dance:::

You are very creative! That's a great idea!

:::bag on head::: You know, I get a PQ every day, and still haven't figured out how to upload them to the GPS. That's my next project to learn. I can see where making the route like that would be helpful. We've done it on paper so far.

Yep, I've had to resort to doing that. Usually it gets me there eventually, but once in awhile the spot will be on some remote road and we go round in circles trying to find it. Guess that is part of the fun of it, huh?

That is really, really original! I love it! What was it disguised as? I see there is a white one right beside it? I love originality!

I have exactly the opposite (reverse) problem. Caches will often mention the lat/long of a parking spot, and I want to mapquest to the parking spot but can't figure out how.

LOL Because all we have is cows out here. Woods, cows and pastures. We don't even have a McDonald's. Imagine!

Oh, wow! What a great idea! That takes care of the postage issue. What are the entrance fees like?

That is an excellent place to get them. Also check out Ebay. I got some there and they were at a terrific price. On Ebay, though, it's the shipping that can kill ya.