Green Thumb Trekers

My daughter just got back from a week with her grandparents and was checking the TV shows she'd recorded on the DVR--she really likes "The Future is Wild" on DiscoveryKids. She went screaming through the house when she learned that the July 21st episode was about geocaching! We couldn't believe it either! I did a search on DiscoveryKids to see if they are planning on showing the episode again--they are! Aug 26, 6:30 pm (EDT) (30 minutes) The Future is Wild Around the World in 80 Minutes TV-Y7, CC The Time Flyer crew is about to leave the 100 million year era when they discover Luis has been secretly playing a futuristic geo-caching game, leaving behind sealed boxes of "treasure" for other time-traveling gamers. The writers did a fairly good job of explaining the sport: Luis hid four caches in four different ecosystems. Once he had returned to his own century (21st) he was going to upload the coordinates and challenge people to create their own time machines to find his hides. Unfortunately, the scrap metal he used to make the caches would destroy the ecosystems where they were hidden because they were made of scrap parts from the Time Flyer's engine and were molecularly unstable. My daughter also has a subscription to Ranger Rick--the latest issue has an article about, you guessed it--geocaching. They explain what it is and then follow several kids as they look for the caches. I'm really glad to find out that people who write for kids are promoting geocaching. Start'em young!

. . .micro hidden on a bridge. For some reason, we are stumped when it comes to tiny containers hidden with magnets on metal structures.

We found an unusual multi-cache that required a 9 volt battery to figure out the next stage. The container had what seemed like a gazillion wires sticking out of it plus a small eye piece to look through. When the correct two wires were hooked up to the battery, a light went on inside the container. You looked through the eye piece and could read the coordinates for the final part of the cache. Very clever!

Here in Illinois, I went to Fry's Electronics in Downer's Grove for the cable and USB convertor cable. Whole thing cost about $25. Haven't had any problems getting them to work on my laptop. (Won't work worth beans on my desktop, however.) GTT

Are we counting our actual birth age or our "real age" as determined by RealAge.com? If the former, I fall in the middle of the pack at 42. If the latter, I win cuz RealAge says I'm 106! ____________________________________________________________________________________________ "Nine out of ten voices in my head say 'Don't listen to her!'"

We found one of those fireproof boxes with a bunch of papers sticking out. More papers on the ground that looked like withdrawal/deposit receipts and bills. We called the police who came out and gathered it all up. Turns out the stuff belonged to an elderly woman whose children were...ahem...trying to get rid of her. Permanently. The stuff we found was used as evidence against them. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ "Nine out of ten voices in my head say 'Don't listen to her!'"

The only time I've really been lost was in the Rocky Mountains on a hiking trip. Set up camp and decided to look around for a while. With me was my 10 month old black lab. After wandering around for quite a while, I realized that an afternoon thunderstorm was approaching and we needed to head back down to the treeline. Despite being a seasoned hiker, I'd left my compass back at camp, and was having trouble figuring out which way to go (alas, this was prior to personal GPS units being available). While "down the mountain" seems like the most logical way to head, we'd climbed up and down several ridges and the way "down" was not obvious. After wandering around for too long, I decided to go for a long shot: on the hike up, I'd been training my puppy to stay on the trail by giving him the command, "Trail!" He picked up on it right away and managed to stay on the path instead of veering off to sniff something every two feet. So when I couldn't find our way back to the trail, I gave my puppy the "Trail!" command. He looked around, sniffed 360 degrees, and headed off in the opposite direction I'd been going. Whenever I thought he was getting distracted, I'd give the "Trail!" command again and off we'd go. 30 minutes later, that wonderful puppy had located the trail! We got back to camp safely and he got to snuggle in the sleeping bag with me that night instead of sleeping on his blanket. Whenever I wasn't sure about what direction to take on subsequent hikes, I'd always trust that black lab's nose and innate sense of direction. Now that he's dead, I feel lost most of the time.

Yep, I got the same thing here in the midwest. "Server's Too Busy" error began around 11 a.m. CST and seems to have continued through the day up to now--9:15 p.m. CST. And last night, couldn't log finds due to site being down for maintenance. What's going on--geo-gremlins escape again? Green Thumb Trekers

My husband came up with ours. "Green Thumb" for all the gardening we do. At the end of each winter, the neighbors start asking what new thing we'll do in our yard this time around (they're convinced we'll have all the grass dug up someday). We're thinking of putting a labarynith in the side yard. So far, no one's complained about the idea. "Trekers" is for all the hiking we do. Now we combine it with geocaching. Gets us to lots more cool places. I call myself the Alpha Female of GTT because of all the dogs I've had in my life. No, not because I'm a b**ch! (Although I do have my moments! Especially when a micro eludes me!) What's the story behind YOUR alias? AF of GTT

I often geocache alone if it's during the week; if it's not a school day, I end up with two or three kids; weekends we go as a family. Even though we mostly do suburban caches, even these can present challenges. I took the kids out one day to find a cache along the river. Since getting the cache required reaching out over the water while hanging onto a tree limb, I gave my cellphone to the oldest kid and told her to call 911 if I fell in. Fortunately, I didn't but now when I take the kids out, they all joke about who gets the phone in case I need help!

Have to stick my two cents' worth into this discussion: Many of the so-called "overgrown" cemeteries in the Midwest are that way because they are the only non-plowed prairies left in the area. When I was at Purdue, for instance, I went on several field trips to these cemeteries to view native plants. Now that my family geocaches, it's a pleasure to return to these places and teach my children about the plants and history found there. I find it thought-provoking that we place such reverential significance upon anything to do with death. A friend and I are interested in photographs of the dead (cf. "Harlam Book of the Dead") and have leaned much about how American society's views of death and dead bodies have changed. Historically, before advancements in medical and mortuary science, people died at home, their bodies were washed and dressed on the kitchen table, and laid out for a "showing" in the parlor before being buried in the local cemetery or out in the back-40. At the turn of the 20th century when society became much more urban-based, dead bodies were taken to funeral homes and death/mourning practices became more elaborate (not counting Victorian mourning practices, which is another dissertation topic in its own right). Bodies were now embalmed and surrounded by masses of flowers; funerary ceremonies, be they in a funeral home chapel, a church, or at the gravesite, became much more elaborate. We're now so far removed from death, as it were--no more going out and killing own meat for dinner or witnessing the death of a family member, except in extreme circumstances (before you flame me, been there, done both)--that doing anything other than "paying our respects" in a cemetery is like desecrating the proverbial sacred cow. And how unfortunate for us all. Death is a part of living and by keeping the living insulated from the dead, we only increase the sacred cow-ness of that part of life's cycle.

We usually take our 6 year old and a couple of her friends with us when we go geocaching. Coincidentally, today I asked them what they like about the sport. #1 answer was not getting new "treasures" but the actual hiking along the trails. Today we found two caches: one was on a very muddy trail leading up and down big hills with a great view at the top from the cache site; the other was walking along a flat trail with a little bushwacking to a fallen log. The hilly hike was the unanimous winner, despite all their whinging about the mud and slip-sliding up/down the hills. One kid said that getting to pick out a "treasure" was fun but she much preferred the "getting to it." #2 answer I received from the kids was the actual spotting of the cache. We've done enough now that they know what to look for and they keep track of who's found the most for the day. Whoever find it first, gets to pick first. That rule has sparked some interesting negotiations when there's a tie. I was surprised by the kids' answers; I was sure they would say picking out new treasures to take home. And get this: they don't even care what size the cache is. Isn't it wonderful when you learn something unexpected from a child?