Opalblade

If it's on a paved sidewalk why did you pick 1.5 for terrain vs 1? I'd love to hear more thoughts on the handicapped attribute. Thank you for the thoughts so far As far as a grabber is concerned..it probably wouldn't work for my cache which is under a roughly 4x3 rock. Or can grabbers grab that? So we still aren't sure whether the handicapped attribute is just about being able to get there in a wheelchair or whether it also implied one would be able to reach and be able to put back the cache unassisted?

I placed a cache that is on a paved trail that leads directly from a sidewalk so very handicapped accessible. It is in a geopile that is about six inches from the paved trail. Would this be worthy of the handicapped attribute? I guess my question is, would someone in a wheelchair be able to reach something on the ground six inches from the paved trail? To get the handicapped attribute must it rather be at reachable arm's length from a wheelchair, so a bit higher than on the ground? Any insight would be most appreciated For now it has a terrain of 1 and attributes about being friendly for children.

Hahahaha - TOO funny I can totally see their desperate faces.

Welcome! I also geocache with ninjas Mini ninjas 1 2 3 and 4

For geocaching I use Groundspeak's $10 application for my iPhone It's the latest iPhone and has been getting me to GZ very nicely. I do lose signal in rural areas but I have only been caching for about a month so have tons of caches I haven't found yet in great signal areas It's a bit sluggish under thick tree cover but eventually gets with the program I'm a BIG gadget girl so have been eyeballing the various hand held Garmins but can't justify it at this point. Especially with all the neat benefits of the iPhone app - ability to push "nearest caches" button no matter where I am (restaurant, shopping, errands, out of town, etc), logging finds and searching travel bugs/coins right on the app, surfing on geocaching.com if I need to. I've just bought myself a very protective case and holster for the iPhone for leaping over creeks with peace of mind For my car I have a NUVI. Am currently using a medieval two year old version but just ordered myself a new NUVI on Black Friday - online Amazon special. I'm assuming it's going to be as unhelpful for geocaching as my old NUVI was

I still think it's plausible children are reading - I already know of at least four geocachers in my area whose children have their own accounts and I've only been doing this about a month. Well said - I love your interpretation of family friendly. Keeping the tone friendly for all would make my favorite forums (of late) all that much more fun to read My concern isn't for children at all, as I seriously doubt there are any children reading these forums who need protection. Having raised six kids I can't imagine any of them under 15 spending any time at all reading this stuff. My concern is for a friendly and civil forum, where adults can discuss things in open and harmonious topics about our common game without rancor or unpleasantness. I take family-friendly to mean me and you, my online geocaching family!

I think it's a problem everywhere. I don't really care about swag too much, but I understand it's fun for the kids... so I try to leave a one or two things without trading. “Be the change you want to see in the world.” - Mahatma Gandhi That is so sweet

I'm fairly sure the intent is for children reading these forums to not be forced into needing to adapt to the real world sooner Our opinions of how soon is too soon will vary, but "family friendly" is fairly easy to gauge - if you wouldn't feel comfortable saying it in front of a family with children of assorted ages standing in front of you, it isn't family friendly.

I'm with the OP. Both it and s*** are terms still widely used in a vulgar derogatory way towards women and I would be extremely disappointed to ever hear either term come out of one of my son's mouths. It would be awful if anyone's child first saw or spoke either word after reading it here. Yes both terms now also have alternate meanings used by men and women alike but they have not lost their original ones. Until they do (if they do) they are definitely not family friendly. There are a lot of fun slang terms out there but (I would hope) we all moderate when and where we use them. Family friendly alternative? "He'd do just about anything to get a FTF". Boring maybe but sometimes you have to make sacrifices in what you say or do when there are children watching. All this said I wonder how old some of the youngest forum readers/writers are.

Not sure if this is today only or through the weekend. Various sets of Lock n Locks are half price at JCPenneys. You can get them in store or online (shipping was 6.95 for two sets). They are advertised as being both airtight and watertight. I've been having fun experimenting with different spray paints (for plastic) on containers like these. My favorite look is a green or bronze spray paint with a textured stone spray paint (or two) over it in gray or brown. Lock n Lock sets half price at JCPenneys ****I ended up ordering two sets and found the free shipping code JOY2UNME on my way to checkout. The ten dollar off one (posted later in thread) is a bit better of course. In store the price is $25 (had dad check when he was at the mall).

Thank you guys

Welcome! A few suggestions: 1/ Go to the regional forums and find out if there is a forum or yahoo group especially for geocachers in your area. Then ask on there if any other moms with small children want to go geocaching sometime. Or if your free time is on weekends, any other lady geocachers. Some go out in pairs or teams and may invite you to join them 2/ Drag your mom friends and their small children with you until they become addicted 3/ Find local mom forums, meetups, clubs, or yahoo email lists to join and then post/email everyone asking who might be interested in joining you sometime. 4/ Definitely let us know what city/area you're in in case there are other moms reading who might want a geocaching friend On weekday mornings I have a friend I cache with about once a week. We put our little ones in a double stroller and find caches that are stroller accessible - parks with paved trails are great for this Babies can go in a backpack, sling, or stroller - just pick carefully which caches you try. Look at the terrain and make sure it is a one star or one and a half stars, and if attributes are posted see if there is one indicating it is stroller or kids friendly (I didn't notice these to the right of the descriptions when I first started) Have fun!

What is the difference between the short and long descriptions as to where they show up? I'm assuming most people use the short and cram it in in under 500 words? I don't see two separate areas where people give info on their cache listings - am I missing something? TIA

So some people really use machetes? I was just going for a funny image, not imagining anyone would actually do that. I still however might start carrying a small hand pruner for the occaisonal strategic bramble trimming. Too risky when they're at eye level for my smaller kiddos and there's no easier way in.

It was a little tongue in cheek But was mostly curious if anyone ever takes a handheld pruner with them for the impassable spots thick with thorny brambles. I've been in spots where I've really wished I had one on hand. I definitely went bushwhacking (in the getting beaten up by vegetation sense) today Long climb up a hill thick with branches and brambles with the four mini ninjas in tow. Little mini ninja got scratched a couple of times but was a trooper. We got to the top and it was a DNF - was getting dark fast so our search time was very short. At one point on the way back down mini ninja #2 said, "Mommy! You have a stick in your pants!!!" and sure enough I did I pulled it out and it broke into multiple little twigs that went right down my pants. Had some moves to do at the bottom of the hill to get them out A couple walking their dog caught me in my unladylike state lol - I made a comment about the twigs very loudly as they went by I asked my guys in a hesitant voice, "Would you guys EVER want to go back up that hill to try to find that container?" Mini ninjas (in unison) "YEAH!!!! THAT WAS SO FUN!!"

When you say you are bushwhacking, do you mean you have branches slapping your face and thorns catching on your clothes and skin? Or do you break out the machete?

Good to know thanks Only the first save gets sent. Subsequent edits do not.

I placed my first two caches today and there was a lot of trash by one of them, and even worse, someone had dumped a broken storage container right there next to the trail and someone else had left their bag of dog poop inside eww!! The mini ninjas and I got to work picking up trash until my cache area looked pretty, and put the trash inside the broken storage container. Just then a muggle went jogging by. I stopped him and asked if by chance he lived nearby (he was running in the direction of some houses) and might be willing to take the storage container of trash to his trashcan. That I would take it but wasn't sure if it would fit in my minivan and we weren't headed home until much later. He said he would but he lived pretty far up the road and was busy jogging. I said ah ok, that I would take it, because I just couldn't bear to leave a yucky broken storage container on the trail (bambi eyes). He told me to leave it right there and he'd come back with his pick up truck to get it woohoo!! Yay what a sweet muggle Result - Pretty cache area

I'm a frequent edit-or of my own logs b/c I remember to add something or want to explain something a different way. Am nervous I'm spamming the poor CO every time I edit. Do COs get a notice every time someone edits their own log? I hope not

When you say soggy log do you mean damp yet signable or so damp it's unsignable? Bc given part of the game involves signing the log, that seems like a big deal to me. I've postd at least one or two NM on caches where I've seen notes about an unsignable log going back weeks or months and then I find it in the same state. If it seems like a relatively new issue I'm more likely to write a note or email the CO.

It's an acrylic container - I'm a bit nervous about how it will do out in the elements but it's so cute I have to get it out there I'm not going to camo it so will have to be placed off the beaten path. Thank you so much for the product suggestions!! PS. Probably going with the Lexel - sounds awesome Will try to be patient and let it sit for a nice long time. I tend towards impatience - you should see a few of the paint jobs of cache containers I botched today for not letting coat 2 or 3 dry

I have a container I want to use to stash a micro cache inside of (there is a way to open it from the bottom). The container has a hole at the top I want to permanently stop up to prevent water from pooling inside. Any tips on a good product to use to permanently seal up this hole that is aesthetically pleasing (don't want my cute container to look ugly) so some kind of see-through waterproof sealant? The hole is maybe 1/8 inches wide. TIA

Thanks for the comment flask The reason I was thinking a camera was that you'd really have to post a pic to prove that you did the extra task Though I guess that's not necessarily true. The extra task could be something that is written on something in the cache (beyond just logging date/name). Not that you necessarily need a "count" to encourage people to do something if it's fun enough But prob would for most to CITO yep. most of the time responses are aimed at the text of a message and nobody gives a thought to who the poster is. if you've been around here a while you see all kinds of discussions about extra smilies and since we've been around the block a few times on that one, you're getting the aggregate total of the discussion up to this point. very little (if any) of the commentary has to do you you specifically. i'm not sure how i feel about your "extra fun" icon; it probably should be something other than a camera, since a camera would indicate to me a photo, but it seems like a thing that could be done. and then on the other hand, it would only be a matter of minutes before people started finding ways to inflate that count and compare their scores to the scores of other people. there are already way to many people who think your find count is your ranking or has some evaluative purpose. it's just a find count.

In my area it seems that the cachers with the higher # finds tend to hide mostly micros and nanos. It makes sense that they'd want to challenge other cachers in creative ways Out of curiosity, if you have been caching for a long time, do you still hide containers large enough for swag? Do you tend to have a theme for the swag or set them up as mostly toy swag spots? And feel free to tell me I'm completely off base about the shrinking container size phenomenon. I have noticed that in other areas of the city there is a much larger proportion of small and regular containers versus micros and nanos than in mine.

Thanks, this was very useful