Moosiegirl

Sure, eventually, but I want to get the ordering out of the way first. I conceived this project to raise funds to donate to TXGA, so I want to concentrate on that before I start trading. Happy Trails!

EWWW, and I read it FIVE TIMES! LOL Thanks AG I will edit those items in.

So here's the story -- Whether it is real or perceived, the Texas Geocachers seem to have a ... ahem, shall we call it ... a problem with authority. Seems someone from Texas is always shooting their mouth off and getting banned from the website, or breaking the rules about caches, or being accused of cheating on ''numbers,'' or grousing about the plight of virtual caches, or getting banned from the forums, or moaning about the plight of locationless caches, or ... well, you get my drift, right? I have wanted for some time to do a special project and use part of the proceeds to benefit Texas Geocaching Association, and I FINALLY HAD THE IDEA! Since we are the ''black sheep'' of the geocaching family, I decided we should be LOUD AND PROUD about it! So, here it is ... THE TXGA BLACK SHEEP COIN! Stats: the sheep is 2" long and has a nice heft to it. Shiny Gold Antique Gold Shiny Silver Antique Silver Reverse Doesn't he just look like he's out to cause mayhem, with that evil smile and the spiked collar with the bison tube hanging from it?? He's a tough one to take pictures of, but my wonderful artist friend Chris Rake has done an admirable job of it! NOTES: The shiny gold sample was made with imitation hard enamel. It will be produced with soft enamel and will have the ''textured curls'' you see on the others. Also, these sample coins are pretty lightly antiqued; please realize that the antique finish will change based on who does that job. To tell you the truth, I don't know for sure which is the antique silver picture and which is the shiny ... but I CAN tell them apart in person. There will also be a LE black nickel coin, available only through special trades or as gifts from myself or my arteest helpers, Barb Jernigan (Tygress) and Chris Rake. It will be made with imitation hard enamel and the lettering/etching on back will be filled with white/gold. If you have something nifty to trade, let us know. BTW, did you notice the coin is SIGNED? The only two coins I've ever seen with the artist's signature are this one, and a Memorial Coin for a Real Texas Cowboy (which Barb also designed). I think artists should sign their work and be acknowledged for their skill! The order has been sent to the factory, and my fingers are crossed that I'll be able to deliver many of them at GW5. I'm processing pre-orders right now with the intent of delivering / mailing them by the end of this month. I hope you like it!!! Coins are $10US plus S&H. S&H is estimated to be $1.50 or less per coin in US/Canada - actual cost of supplies and postage. May be more for international orders, but I won't pad it. To order, email candylind@gmail.com with the following info: Geo-handle Name Mailing Address City State Zip PayPal address for invoicing Qty Shiny Gold [ ] Qty Antique Gold [ ] Qty Shiny Silver [ ] Qty Antique Silver [ ] I will be attending GW5 [ ] yes [ ] no I'm going to GW5 but mail it, anyway [ ] Not going, just mail it [ ] (just copy/paste these lines into your email and place 'x' in appropriate boxes.) Happy Trails!

OOH, TOO CUTE!!!! I'm in for one ... possibly a trade? I'm about to post a coin for pre-ordering! Happy Trails, Candy

Are you committed to Magellan? You can get a Garmin eTrex (yellow) with WAAS capability and a computer interface for under $100 brand new. For a little more you can get one of the mapping eTrexes if you want mapping (map software averages $100 whether road or topo). Happy Trails! Candy

It figures ... 2 minutes after I posted, the problem resolved! Nevermind!! Candy

My hubby and I are both trying to bring up cache pages ... his object is proofing a new listing, and mine is to verify cache statuses, but both of us are getting nothing but a blank page and the status line states "Done" as if the entire page has downloaded. I went thru the WAP site and was able to pull up bare bones pages, but something seems awry with the http page generation code. Any ideas? Thanks, Candy

No, AMSLAN is his native language. Deafhunt, welcome to geocaching and to geocoin collecting! You might want to write to our friends here in Austin, TX, DeafDillos (Richard and Natalie), and ask them about their experiences with learning to geocache. They are coin collectors, too.

I did a PQ at about 8:15 PST and it shows to have run. Also, an all-finds query. It is now 10:28 PST and I haven't received the emails with the zip files. Just wondering what's going on? Thanks,

Well, I changed my notification over to gmail and I'm getting notifications in a timely manner; now my only trouble is that most of the notifications get cut off just before the GC number! If the GC number comes through, I can go to the WAP interface and look up the cache, but I can't access gmail with my "ancient" Nokia 6820 to get the GC number if it doesn't come through. I have certainly received an education from this thread -- I learned that I have a lot to learn about internet communications! LOL I guess I'll keep poking around to see if I can find the magic combination that gives me timely notifications AND access to the info I need to bag that FTF. Happy Trails, Candy

We did a 100-cache day in Nashville. The fun part was riding around Nashville in a Mercedes Bus, seeing the sights and getting to know two very nice geocachers in the process. You are right, not many of the caches were really the memorable kind, but there were moments. I think everyone should do a big power-caching day just once, even if it's not their thing. It's kind of a "bonding thing", I suppose. We enjoy hiking caches, too, even though I can't hike as far as my hubby can (I'm working on it!). He hiked over 13 miles for 10 caches last weekend with a buddy, and I hiked about 3 miles day before yesterday in our beautiful Barton Creek Greenbelt in Austin for 4 finds (I paid for it yesterday!). I have no idea how far we walked on the days we visited DC, but it was too much for my overtaxed hikers. We have seen more lovely views ... more locations steeped in history ... more places of the heart ... than we ever could have imagined, thanks to geocaching. Some were hiking caches, some were <50 feet from car to cache, some were via sidewalks, and some via a briar thicket or poison ivy vines so thick you couldn't see through them. Every one of them had value, even the skirtlifters. I wouldn't give any of them back. Happy Trails!

Yep, working great! Now if I can just speed up my notifications I might be able to beat these hounds to a few FTFs.

I would like to know why I can't seem to get my Notifications in a timely manner! I first had it set up to get them on my phone, but I was getting them so long after caches were published that it was a joke (I think some of that was my carrier's fault). Then, I set it up so they would go to my Yahoo! Mail, and I have been getting them faster, but STILL not as fast as other people in my area. A current example: Time stamp for the Yahoo email: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 18:27:30 -0800 (I think this is PST) Time stamp on the cache page (GMT?): Current time: 2/23/2007 4:13:28 AM (when the system wrote the page for me to view) Last Updated: 2/23/2007 3:41:05 AM <---- I assume this is publication time - am I wrong? Rendered: From Memory Coordinates are in the WGS84 datum Now, what would delay my email by an hour and 14 minutes from the time the cache was published? I simply can not accept the argument that it is Yahoo delaying the message, because every time I send a test message from home to Yahoo, I receive it on the other end almost instantly. <SOAPBOX>Once upon a time, a geocacher took it upon himself to write the programming necessary to notify cachers of newly published listings in their area. They received alerts almost as soon as the listings appeared on the website. He used his own computers and servers to publish this service and gave it free to subscribers, and it worked superbly. Then, someone in the Groundspeak office decided to get nervous about how he was "touching" their data, and told him to cease and desist his notification program. Groundspeak told this community that they would "soon" have a notification system in place. Well, AFTER A LONG WAIT, it's here, AND IT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THE VOLUNTEER'S DID. This seems to me to be a patent waste of resources, and it's incredibly frustrating to those of us who've seen the "devolution" of this process. The whole thing makes me rather green in the gills (my apologies to Signal).</SOAPBOX>

I was going to post a note to warn you away from Zire models -- a friend got one and it doesn't have a backlight, and it drives her nuts! You did just fine, though. Getting CacheMate to install is a piece of cake -- just follow their directions. Loading databases from Geocaching Swiss Army Knife is easy, too ... you just have to know where your database synch folder is and tell GSAK, and it will generate the database. Next time you synch, BINGO! [] Have fun! It's a great way to go. Happy Trails,

The Easter Island Head and Trez Aztec (a colouful version of Crake's Tracking Time) is also theirs along with the Funny Animal series... Cache Cow, some kind of goose and the Flying Pigs. Also a Texas coin with no back is their issue. Nice designs, trackable, no icon and dribbled out to create bidding frenzies. Good for them but I won't get a hold of any of them at this rate. I decided not to buy from them because they are apparently not even a geocacher. It lowered my regard for Groundspeak yet another notch that they will sell tracking numbers to anyone who will pay for them ... not even restricting it to established members or approved vendors. Sad.

All I can say is, BE HAPPY YOU COULD GET ON THE WEBSITE!! It was very frustrating not to be able to even get on the site. And seeing the MULTITUDE of coins that have hit the e-aftermarket-place ALREADY, with MULTIPLES FROM THE SAME VENDORS, really irritates the bejeebers out of me. I really wish that they would limit the number people could order for at least the first part of the sale, so that so many of us collectors wouldn't be shut out by the after-marketeers. OK, off my soapbox now ... Anyone have a CR they might like to sell or trade me? EMAIL candylind AT gmail DOT com. Happy Trails!

I'd like a couple, one to keep and one to give to a friend who is a pro firefighter in her "day job" and a vol firefighter whenever she's off duty. I don't know how she works in geocaching!! LOL Please keep me in mind! Happy Trails, Candy

Will they come with their own magnifying glass? Nice design!

I'm in for at least 2 sets!

Dutchmaster, did you resolve this? If not, contact your ISP and ask them to trace the route to the geocoins.ca website in case there is a broken pipe somewhere upstream. Happy Trails,

I like the GPS as the oracle, and maybe say on the back, "follow the Oracle" or "trust the oracle". Free coin for ideas incorporated, right?? Happy Trails,

It would be worth it to me to attach a TB so I could virtually drop it a few places. Maybe you could soften the blow by having it say "Cache Happens! Then you go on to a good one ..." There are not enough coins that make a definitive statement! LOL Happy Trails, Candy

You mean you don't have PQ's set up to send you every unfound cache within 100 miles twice a week?? LOL Where'd I get the idea that was mandatory?? Once you have 'em all, it's a piece o' cake to filter down to just what you want if you use Geocaching Swiss Army Knife. Those GPX files can be awfully big; I can see why a high priority request for multiple files would be a strain on the system. Happy Trails,

You should visit the Military Association of Geocachers -- both to join and to make contacts with military geocachers. Happy Trails,

My main criteria would be: 1) Make it personal: Do you have an alternate ego in some fictional character? Are you as rabid about some other hobby/sport as you are geocaching? What "defines you"? 2) S/B easy to type because you'll type it 10,000 times a year minimum. (conservative estimate! LOL) 3) Have FUN! Once you've decided, please post here and tell us what you chose! Happy Trails,