knowschad

Twelve to 'bump' the topic

A word of caution about the rope being used... I have a cache that was attached to a cotton parachute cord, and a critter chewed through it. I think they like the salt from cacher's hands. I replaced the cord with wire and haven't had problems since.

Yawn! Does that somehow detract from my experience or subtract from my count? Do I really care if somebody wants to cheat at solitaire?

I tried that cache (I think I know which one you mean). No muggles around, not even a mouse moving about. I did find some stockings hanging nearby, and thought that was pretty strange, and also found an ammo box that was filled with coal. Think that might mean something?

Come to think of it, your lawyers would probably even allow us to not print the disclaimer, as long as we checked the checkbox that said that we have read it and approve that we do not print it. Oh yeah... also give us a checkbox that says to group caches on one page, so if all we have is waypont and coords, we don't waste one piece of paper to print only that.

I can only speak for myself, but I go after caches hoping to see something new each time. Obviously, that doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it is a pleasure every tiime. I don't care if it's an ammo box or an aspirin bottle, or a boxcar, as long as it is a new or improved hide of its type. The "wow" factor is what keeps ME from coming back. But then... our area is loaded with caches with a high "WOW!" factor, so maybe I've been spoiled.

Customized Printer-Friendly Pages: The subject says it all: Give us a page that allows us to set a default Printer-Friendly version of a cache page. Let us check or uncheck options such as "Print hints", "Print attributes", "Print (x) logs" (with "x" specified or selected by the user) etc. Give us a way to set a default Zoom for the maps, and which map to use (the default map zoom is about useless where I cache), or even "No Map". The minimal page, I'd think, would be the waypoint name and the coordinates (in default format only). And I supposed (sigh!) the disclaimer. Oh, yeah... and give us the option to always print it in B&W if we prefer. Yes, I can set that from my printer driver setup for each and every page I print, but you could sent me the correct data every time. And, if you must... give those options only to registered members... the cost of membership might even be saved in printer ink costs alone (although I'd hope that you've got better morals than to give that only to members!)

That is absolutely gorgeous! However, avoid plaster, unless you know of a better way of weather-proofing it than I do. I tried a small paster fake rock last year (made a mold of a real rock using latex) but fortunately, I didn't place it until weather testing it first. I had painted it, and even given it several coats of clear polyurethane, but it still didn't hold up.

I hope this thread doesn't die a premature death.

While the definition of "creative" is certainly subjective, I suspect that my definition agrees with the OP's. One that I really enjoyed is One In A Million (GCTCZA). While I won't give it away here, I think that you'll get the general idea by reading the logs. We have one cacher here that placed a wonderful series of caches, one for each letter of the alphabet, plus a final puzzle cache that must be solved by collecting a word that is inside of each of the previous caches: Alphabet Soup Series

Oh, who CARES? If someone wants to cheat at solitaire, let them. They're only fooling themselves. Doesn't bother me in the least what someone else's "score" is, or how they achieved it. This is not a competition... its recreation. Relax.

I don't get it.

Kacky, how do they extract the sap from maple trees up there in Maine?

Lil Devil... that is amazing! Who set those up, and how did you find them? I guess they do show that I'm not the only one that would like to see the "hide and seek" page reworked, though.

I've always been puzzled why the waypoint is way down at the end of the Hide & Seek page. A minor complaint, for sure, but it gets rather annoying when entering in a bunch of finds, to have to continually scroll to the bottom of the page. In addition, why doesn't the page plug in the "GC" part of the waypoint automatically. The "Go to Another Waypoint" feature after adding a log displays the "CG" portion, but deletes it the moment you start typing. It seems to me that both places could automatically prefix a four digit waypoint with "GC", no?

I've successfully aged brass by simply heating it to red-hot with a blowtorch.

Much like one of my other passions... fly fishing for trout. Other fish have their tournaments, but trout fishing for the most part, refuses to go in that direction. Any competiveness is with thyself.

Not winter-friendly, but for about $20 you can get a wireless doorbell unit. Place the buttons in one container far enough away from the final that the bell doesn't work, and have the seekers walk around pressing the button until the chimes go off. There are many inexpensive electronic gadgets out there right now that can be taken apart and have the trigger mechanism rewired to a momentary contact swith (about $2 from Radio Shack) so that opening the container sets them off. Try to pick gadgets that use a timeout timer so that they don't use up too much battery juice (and be sure that your containers are waterproof. Also be prepared for more cache maintenance than usual because the batteries will still run out)

IMHO... "weapons"? A hammer can be a weapon. A pipewrench can be a weapon. A screwdriver can be a weapon. A rock or stick picked up on the trail can be a weapon. A knife is a TOOL. Obviously, the powers that be disagree with me on this point, but I think that the knife rule goes too far. OK, no switchblades, no bayonettes perhaps, but a pocketknife? The Boy Scouts still have knives, don't they???.

I suspect that many of the different opinions being expressed here are based on local conditions, and on whether or not you are a new cacher wishing to place some of your own, or not. Some areas have all sorts of areas available. Some have very limited space. Obviously, the OP and myself are coming from areas with limited available caching space. We'd like to see some of this space be recycled... as a matter of etiquette, not as a matter of law. That's all we're saying. As I pointed out earlier, cache maintenance is required, so obviously anybody that has placed more caches than they can maintain is placed too many. But that isn't what we're talking about.

Thanks to all of you for your help (and don't let this thread die just because I said that... this has been great!) Well, I've got my first puzzle cache published. Here's a link to the cache page: Time Capsule Since I probably wouldn't even do this rather simple puzzle, I figured that if I feel that way, then others must, as well. So I actually set this up so that it can be found as either a puzzle, or as a multi-cache (or, as the FTF'er did, both!).

Looks like this thread is drifting quite a bit from cache area monopoly to cache maintenance. To my mind, cache maintenance isn't the issue... you are already SUPPOSED to do cache maintenance. And to those that are shouting "NO MORE RULES"... who's talking about rules here? We're only talking about principles, so relax and listen to the logic. It is short-minded to say that whatever number of caches can be maintained is good. That means that eventually any area will become filled with old caches that you and everybody else in your area has found. Yawn... how boring does that become? (Even a boring new cache is at least a new cache. ) Newcomers, perhaps with new and exciting ideas, won't have a place to implement them. Stagnation sets in. This situation leaves the newcomers feeling like vultures just waiting for an old cache to be plundered and archived so that they can finally try out their ideas. It then becomes neccessary for you to hop into your car and start burning up gasoline in search of new caching adventures.

Alternatively, you can use Google to do the conversion. Type in "1 km in miles" and you get "1 kilometer = 0.621371192 miles"

At this point I'm not a big fan of puzzle caches, but I am curious about how the creators of those caches come up with their puzzles, especially those where the answer results in coordinates. How do you go about it?

Last night, a pair of tighty-whities and a pair of um.... let's just say "dirty" socks.