BackPocket

BlueDeuce, I sorta figured it was one year. She's good with that, and so am I. Walt, you're right they aren't that expensive on a case by case basis. But so long as we've got the copy tag, I'd rather put the TB budget toward something new! As a family we've got 14 travelers out and only one currently missing, so no big. And lots of ideas for others to be released!

As I understand it, we can use the duplicate tag to re-release a travelbug that has gone missing. My question is, how long should we wait before doing so? A year? Six months? Obviously longer than a week or even a few. What happens if we do this, and then the original one shows back up? One of my daughter's travelers got within a few miles of completing it's mission, then vanished. She'd like to try again.

I don't know how things are in Europe or other places, but here in the US we have lots of thrift and charity shops. My favorite one will bag up little plastic animals, mctoys, keychains and other 'little nothings' and sell the baggies for around $2. I can get some great kid swag that way. If you have kids who are outgrowing certain toys, you can make those into SWAG. We did that with our matchbox cars and littlest pet shop figures. My parents are getting really great at decluttering their homes into mine: here's a bag of jewelry the kids might like for dress up! Instant SWAG! Because really, they don't need that many bead strings or bangle bracelets. We have sorting gathers, where the kids help me sort out my thrift store and jewelry baggies. Anything sharp, broken, or deemed 'stupid' doesn't get turned into SWAG.

Our whole family, DH included, are registered Girl Scouts. I'm saddened to see that so many left because 'it was just doing crafts'. Not too surprised at the complaints about the fund raising; I'm not participating in any of that anymore and will find a different way to finance the troop activities. We camp, and our mixed-level troop is planning to go geocaching. Girl Scout Juniors can earn the High Tech Hide and Seek badge. My oldest daughter is working on her Religion in Life award, and is on the path to her Bronze award. She plans to stay in and get the Gold award. I was a Girl Scout all the way up to Silver award, then we moved and the troop disbanded. Growing up in a dysfunctional family and as the bully victim of choice at school wasn't great for my self-esteem. Girl Scouts was the only area in my life that made me feel strong, capable, and valued. We camped, we did outdoor adventure classes like high-ropes and climbing walls. I worked as a Caddie and as a Counselor at the camps. Girl Scout troops are only as good as their leaders, and the leaders are only as good as the support they get from their Service Unit. Likewise, the Service Unit is only as good as the volunteers who do the work.

My three kids love keychains to hang on their backpacks. They also like plastic animals, carabiners, superballs, and pins. I've been decluttering and leaving bracelets, crystal suncatchers, polished agate slices. Our favorite find was a fairy charm, I made that into a hanging charm for our fairy garden!

I've never hidden a cache, but if there were no online logging I certainly never would. Online logging brought me to the game and is a useful tool for this newbie. I also tried letterboxing and found it very frustrating to not know if my DNF's were because the box wasn't there or because of my skill level or how I read the clue. With geocaching, I can watch the logs. The cache I didn't find, someone else did later? Guess I'd better try again. The cache I didn't find has several previous DNF's? May not be there. So from the POV of a potential hider, I could use the logs to see if I did a lousy job hiding it, if it needs upkeep, if folks are enjoying the area. I have to say though, that I do like the physical log books. I guess for the same reason I like visiting historic sites. The logbook is something I can connect with, that says 'hey, look at all the people who've done this before me'. I don't get that same thrill from reading a history text, or an online log. But that's just me. And I'll try to do better about writing a bit more in my electronic logs. So often what was meaningful to me on the hunt seems likely to be meaningless to anyone else!

Going to try it today with my kids in Burnsville. OperaMama