Let's Look Over Thayer

Golly, it's been weeks since my last rattlesnake sighting so I was feeling a little overdue. Then, while I was searching for Sieck the Abandoned House this guy snuck up behind me. It was about 5 feet away when I turned around and spotted it.

Harmon, you, of all people, should know better than to believe in rumors. (Starting them, of course, is a whole 'nother story...)

Trivia Time The area of London that is known as Marylebone takes its name from a small church, St. Mary's, that was built on the banks of a small stream. Thusly, the name of the church was St. Mary le Bourne (St. Mary at the Stream). Over time, it became shortened to Marylebone. Visitors to Marylebone will probably want to seek out Baker Street (home of Sherlock Holmes) and Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. The most important location, however, is a block chopped out of the Marylebone High Street, known as Thayer Street. Be sure to stop for a pint at The Angel In the Fields.

Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me! You would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery

Unbunched...socks...can make me cry... (Sounds like the beginning of a hit song...)

'sall well and good but my cell phone camera has none of those capabilities... One thing I could have done (and would have done if I had thought of it at the time) was to use spot metering to expose the snake and get an image that could be combined with a shot taken with full screen averaging.

I think I see the problem.....Ya hit a hiker, and got it stuck under there. Those unbunched socks will gum up your suspension every time...

Serious Bummer! I didn't get the chance to do it last year when I was up in Redmond. I was hoping that I would get up there to do it this year. It's hard to imagine, though, that the geocaching community will just let this end...one leg of the Geocaching Triad is gone if someone doesn't find a way to reactivate it...

Yeah, I spent a little time with Lightroom, but it's really hard to pull something out of a shot when it just isn't there. Of course, the real problem is the camera I had with me. If I had my 20D, I would have had a better flash in the first place and I could also have done exposure bracketing and all sorts of other tricks as well. But... ...I was travelling light on my bike and just wasn't expecting to see anything worth taking a picture. It was actually luck that I had any sort of camera at all. (Bracketing -- or even the ability to push the exposure -- were not options...)

Riding on the CA-52 bikepath between Tierra Santa and Santee, I was not expecting to see a rattlesnake. But as I rode by, I spotted this Southern Pacific Diamondback snoozing in shade under the K-rail. Alas, I was not able to direct enough flash underneath to get the whole snake, but I did get a good look at him (an adult male by the size of it). I was rather amused by the juxtaposition of the sign and the snake (and in any case, I wasn't going to remove the sign...)

I would not like to spoil the ending for anyone by speaking out here...but I would mention that in 1939, Tiffany Thayer authored a version of the Three Musketeers told from the perspective of Milady de Winter. This books was sometimes purchased by librarian's for the Children's Sections (and also for school libraries) which made it immensely popular when the children discovered that ol' Tiffany was rather explicit when dealing with intimate relationships. (Indeed, as this is a family site, I have toned down the cover art...) The book is no longer in print but one can find copies quite inexpensively through Amazon and other used book retailers.

Not so fast! If it can recognize faces then surely it can recognize cache containers. In order to log the cache you need to show both your mug and the specifically encoded Bison tube which can only be obtained by rooting around in that laurel bush. Sorry, Harmon... But before I go, consider that there might be even further implications of this technology. Sgt. Argyle would no doubt approve of the following cache. Using this technology, you could have an Unknown cache that has the additional logging requirement that socks must be properly bunched as verified by the video camera.

Funny!! I recognize a few... But methinks you might have a wee bit too much time on your hands, Harmon!! Get out and go csching, whydontcha!! I, too, recognize several of those hats. It occurs to me that there could be a puzzle cache in that array of chapeaux... In the meantime, it also occurs to me that there may be a marketing opportunity here. A "Cachers of San Diego" paper doll set!

Honk, honk!! Congrats on finishing, Harmon!!! Finished ... you got that right. You A-List finishers are amazing, B-List for me. C-List for me... (Not sure exactly what the "C-List" is but I think it refers to the cachers that wait and "C" who the insane cachers are... )

I saw this hawk in the Blue Sky Preserve while walking back from The Rock that Won the Race (GC2VPAT). The amazing thing was that it let me walk right underneath it, coming within about 20 feet of it. The photo was taken with a cellphone so it's not as good as it could have been (Note to self: always take a "real" camera...)

Hey...I can actually honk for once...(unless it's not the one I'm thinking of. Is there more than one of these?)

I've been having trouble parsing this sentence. There's an ambiguity caused by not knowing what the foot came out of. But based on the number of times that Harmon has had one foot or the other (and sometimes both) in his mouth, I must assume that this is what he meant...

Wait a minute! WHODAT? Hmmm...it looks like there is more than one ghost in your machine. (I, for one, am glad to have the company. It was getting lonely in here...)

Spotted this guy on my way to CT 12: Is this a sumac? #51 (GC2KV7R) Can you spot him?

Seems like the ol' Cache Critters thread needs a bit of a bump... So here are some cache critters that seem to have become attached to Stone Field (GC2MF2C)

Harmon's school looks a little, shall we say, askew...this could explain some things...

We use VRBO whenever we can, you'll love it!!! On our Jeep trips to CO , we always use it, and have stayed in some fabulous places. We can all stay in one place, and usually have 3br. & 2 or 3 baths. It's so much nicer than a hotel, and the locations are amazing!The Splashes Love it when Janie seconds my motion. Below is a photo of Michael's Mystic Mountain Retreat not far from Mt. Shasta City. Seventeen wooded and gated acres, a private paradise. Front windows were filled with a view of Mt. Shasta. Interior was perfectly decorated and furnished to suit the location including a fine collection of shamanistic oil paintings. Stayed a month, late September and early October with fabulous fall colors. Monthly rate was too good to be true. Had friends in part of the time ... three bedroom and two baths. Activities were boundless ... kayaking, Geocaching, and all sorts of interesting places to see and experience. Can y' tell ... we like VRBO? And it was free of LLOT sightings/hauntings...

Gad, why didn't I think of that? Frankly that pic'hure is scarin' th' hale outa me! The nice thing about virtual images is that you can smash them all you want. I'll just make more of 'em... Bwaaaa-haaa-haaa-haaaa... Just be glad that your toaster isn't digital or you'd be seeing my image on your toasted cheese sandwich...

Gad, why didn't I think of that? Frankly that pic'hure is scarin' th' hale outa me! The nice thing about virtual images is that you can smash them all you want. I'll just make more of 'em... Bwaaaa-haaa-haaa-haaaa...

Mount Woodson? Where's Wile E. Coyote when you need him? He'd just paint a tunnel through it...