EelKat

Not to spoil the fun, but seeds might be considered food items to something... As for TB's and Coins... they are NOT trade goods... and are free to move without obligation to exchange. Doug 7rxc The term "to seed" means to put an item in the box, without taking an item out, just as "seed money" is when a person gives you money (not a loan, but a gift) and to use to start a new business. When you "seed" something, it means you are taking a risk and giving something to someone else, not expecting anything in return, but hoping that something good will grow out of your generous offer. In Geocaching "leaving seeds" means that you have left items in the box, but you did not take any items out of it. You do so in hopes that you are helping the cache owner to keep the cache active. In other words: it is doing a good deed. Personally, I'm a "Santa Claus" or "Easter Bunny" type - I have more fun buying things to put in the boxes for others to find. I'm not prone to taking something. I'm in it more for the hike, the taking photos, and than leaving a bit of "treasure" behind for someone to find. I don't know, maybe I'm weird, but I find it more fun just leaving things. Than again - I'm the same way about Christmas - I go bonkers buying gifts and wrapping presents and don't get excited at all over open my own gifts.

I haven't done anything with coins yet. But I plan to and I'll tell you about what I think of the whole "worth more unactivated" thing... Outside of geocaching I am a collector (of just about everything! LOL! comics, records, milkglass, salt shakers, shells, cats, roosters, ponies....you name it I probably have a small collection of it). Comics are my big thing though (going for a Guinness record with them and close to it now), but I'm an odd sort of collector - and I drive other comic collectors crazy - I'll bid huge amounts of money to get some rare comic book that was still sealed in it's original shrink wrap, and than I'll go home open it up and read it. Major no-no in the comic book world. I did this a few years back and several of the people whom I out bid, went hysterical and wanted to know why I did it: my answer was simple: I don't collect comics to have them sit on the shelf unread, I actually want to read the stories inside. I don't care how much the money value is. I'm not buying this as an investment, I'm not going to resell it, and in this instance the issue was so rare that the only one I could find happened to still be shrink wrapped - I wanted that issue, it had a limited edition story in it by Don Rosa, my favorite comic book author and I wanted to read it. You see, I don't collect things because I'm investing in their value. I never buy something I would resell later. I collect things, because they are things that I enjoy. And just like how I want to read the story in the comic books, when I start collecting geocoins, I'll do it for the story of the coin's travels, not for any so-called money value the coin has. So in that light, I say ACTIVATE THEM ALL! Send them out there, let them travel, let them build up a history, let them become legends - because that's what I'm going to be looking for. And in my case, keeping the coin would not be my goal - I would rather have a scrapbook full of photos of me with the coins I've found, so I could says: "See, I found it, and for a short while it was in my possession, see, here's the proof. I kept it for a short while and than I sent it on it's way for some one else to be able to find and enjoy." I think, geocoin collecting is like fishing: every one wants to go after the big one that got away, but when some one captures it than takes it home and hangs it on their wall, the fun is gone - FOR EVERY ONE! No more can there be fishing trips in hopes of catching the "big one". That's how I see geocoins: I think they should be out there in circulation so every one can have a chance at trying to catch it, but than once they've caught it - don't keep it, just take your picture with it and let it go for the next person to be able to enjoy the pleasure of catching it too. Yes. This is the other road I like to see: if you are going to keep it, activate it so others can find it and record their find. Let your coins have stories for you to tell the grandkids about. What good will it be to show the coins to your grandkids, if you don't have a great story to tell them about the coins? I had not thought of doing this with a coin. I'm going to do it with my car, my atv, and my RV though - so that I can keep track of where I went with what vehicle, and allow people to discover them as well.

I was thinking of doing this. I had an idea for keeping a supply of tiny 3x5 notebooks in zipper bags, and dropping one in if the original was wet or full. I do a lot of art stuff (acrylic and watercolor painting and pastels), which I than have printed up on cards via zazzle and I had an idea for printing up "I was here" note cards, that I could write a quick "thank you note/message" to leave for the owner. I also had this idea of leaving a note with the card for asking others to sign it as well, that way when the cache owner comes back, they'll have not only a log of who was there, but also a card signed by the visitors that they can hang on their wall or something. I was farther thinking of printing some cards up for holidays: Valentines, Easter, Christmas, etc. and than leaving the cards in the caches for the owners. I've got this thing about cards. I'm one of those people that mails out a few hundred at every holiday and birthday and anniversary, etc- I love getting cards and I love giving cards, and I love going on hikes and I started thinking - wouldn't making custom cards with my art on them be a nice way to say thank you to the people who showed me this new place to go hiking? Anyways I just think cards would be such a great way to keep a log too. Everybody who finds it could sign it, like the way every one in the office signs a card? And it would help out for time when you find a wet log too. I personally wouldn't be. I would glad for the help. But I know some people who get ticked off about anything and I can see how someone with that sort of personality would get upset and see you as tampering. Yep - that's what I say. I would thinking taking the log book would be a major big no-no! The logbook should always stay with the cache, because it's the owners way of seeing the result of their efforts. So, yeah, if you leave a new log book, leave the old one there too! Yep. And I'd leave a note saying you dropped off a new log book as well.