guinea gal

I used to have a big collection. I stopped buying coins years ago, so I'm sure by now the size of my trackable collection pales in comparison to others. Still, I get hits every day. I go in and delete their log. I lock the trackable. I report the username to Groundspeak. And I also make a point to report the TB Spoiler page to FB every day. It frustrates me to no end that they can't even admit they are doing nothing about it. (FB typically contacts you after a bit and acknowledges receipt of your complaint...and usually a lame excuse as to why they aren't going to do anything about it). Not only will FB not do anything about it...they've empowered these morons with the ability to ban everyone who speaks out against their page. Last night I went a step further and added a disclaimer to my profile, basically saying "If you are logging TBs you haven't found, it is wrong. And you know it is wrong. If you refuse to respect my wishes and continue to log my trackables, your log will be deleted, and you will be reported to Groundspeak." Maybe someday if I am bored enough, I will lock the rest of my trackables. It just p*sses me off that legit players or discoverers won't be able to log my trackables, just because of the actions of those morons at TB Spoiler Page. And they call US bullies. I do actually have a question though. Some of the more recent logs I have been getting...I go to the trackable page to delete it...and it's already gone. I would assume it's because that person deleted their log themselves. Certainly not because they realized the err of their ways. Is there a way they are still getting credit for the log...even if its been deleted?

I had expressed interest in participating back in January...I guess I dropped the ball! Is it too late to be included?

Whew! Then I didn't miss aout on anything : ) I am not going to Geowoodstock. Now that ASPGB is done, I have nothing bout MWGB to look forward to :) !!!!

I am interested : ) I haven't been on the forums in awhile and I am looking for this info myself right now, but if anyone knows the answer-was there a group coin for MWGB this year? Looking, looking, looking....

Wow, I thought No L had made the rounds and come and gone. : ) I received a gold No L coin today, and it couldn't have come at a better time. Last monday I called in sick to work with stomach pain. On a whim, I went to see my doctor at around noon. By 1 I was in the emergency room, and at 9 that night, I had my appendix removed. Last week was such a crappy week with being tired all the time and nausea and pain, and not really being able to take anything for it because it was making it worse. Then this weekend a new set of complications arose as a result of the surgery. All over again. You cannot imagine how much it cheered me up to receive this coin today of all days. I will remain true to my word, and as soon as I am well enough to get the pigs out to visit for awhile, we will post some cute piggy-No L pics! Thank you so much, mystery sender!

OK I have only gotten a few responses, so I am officially going to put the nail in this coffin : ) But I hope to see a lot of you at the 'bash!

I better be in on this. I almost got strung up for not being in on the 11-11-11!

This is not a comittment. I am just looking for any possible interest in a group coin for ASPGB this year (May 19th weekend). Last year, we took a break, as GWIX was practically next door and in the same time range. If you think you might be interested please let me know. I know non-trackables cannot be discussed here, so either PM me, or better yet check out the events' website, aspgeobash.org and weigh in there. Thanks! ~gg

Thank you so much to both our families. We loved our cards, and we never met a coin we didn't like!!! Merry Christmas everyone!

Ooooh!!!! I LIKE it! I like it a LOT!!!!

Mystery Santa, send me a No L coin and I will happily post a very cute pigture of it with my guinea pigzzz : ) Happy Holidays every one!

Thank you Rose86!!!!

I must be confused, because of the two examples of caches listed here by the CO, I don't see any "TFTC", "Found it", or "." logs? But I do find his Notes interesting! When I started out caching, I accidentally found an archived cache when I was doing a 7 legged multi. Around the 3rd or 4th leg...I accidentally found a leg to another 7 leg multi that had been archived a few years previous to the current one. Also a few years previous to me taking up geocaching. I was very confused to find a final container different from the one described in the write up, and hadn't been logged for a few years and had a different name on the logbook. Mr Yuck and some other local cachers helped me figure out what happened (the archived cache CO's were military and were deployed suddenly). They said I should log the cache, I picked up the pieces, and now no one accidentally finds it! MY first cache was only a film canister, it was in a small park that really didn't allow for anything much bigger. It was archived almost right away (thats another story). I picked up the container and threw it in my car. A few weeks after that, I used the canister to replace someone elses damaged container. A few years later, someone logged my cache as Found, saying he did not know it was archived and found the container anyway, so he signed it and logging it as a Find. Explain that! So that story might make it look like I am against logging archived caches. But truly, without reading the guidelines, I would say if the cache is still there and you had information saying it was still there, then it should be OK to log. Yes, maybe the CO still has them listed under another site, but you can't tell me he isn't getting the same so-called "TFTC" logs there as well? Nah. More than likely the CO wanted more people telling him how wonderful his hides were. He's such a diehard cacher that TFTC isn't acceptable, but it is perfectly acceptable to not pick up his archived caches until Christmas???? Another funny "logging archived caches" story... we have two local cachers who never got along. Our reviewer at the time advised them not to hunt for or log each others caches to try to keep the peace. But Cacher B insisted on always trying to log Cacher A's caches. Cacher A would automatically delete his logs. Cache B brought this to Groundspeaks attention, and GS reminded him he was not to log Cacher A's caches. So he STARTED LOGGING HIS OWN CACHES!!!!! He would write "Logging such-n-such cache here, because Cacher A is too immature and keeps deleting my logs".

One of the worst "containers" I have ever found a cache in was a ziplock bag. Thats it. Thought it might have been IN a container, and someone took the container and left the contents on the ground? Nope-CO confirmed he just threw a zippy out want waypointed where it had landed. And then had the audacity to blame other cachers for not sealing the bag correctly and getting the contents wet or replacing it correctly and having it be muggled. The worst cache container I have seen yet...God I wish I had a picture....someone took one of those takeout plastic containers you find at the salad bar section in grocery stores? Not the cardboard or styrofoam ones, the thin plastic kind that crack the first time you open it! I can't remember what they lined the inside with to make it look dark, but they actually used that double-sided velcro tape to line the other three edges of the container that were not connected to make it "seal" properly! And then hid it under a pile of railroad ties!!!!!

Depends on what type of vacation and who I am going with. If I am traveling with other cachers and the vacation is really more about geocaching that vacationing then I bring it all: gps, flashlight, camera, pen, replacement logs, hiking stick, extendable mirror/magnet, extra batteries, change of clothes/footwear in case of bad weather, and any TBs I might have. I went on a cruise with a non-geocacher earlier in the year, and it was definitely vacation first, geocaching...maybe if we trip over them on the way. I am lucky I found the caches that I did When I go on trips like that, I bring the GPS, spare batteries, pen, camera (which I would have with me anyway), and any TBs I might have.

I am surprised Gof didn't post THIS picture of one of his Multi's legs being eaten by a tree... The funny thing is, this is the container he put in the tree AFTER it ate the FIRST one!!!!

I wouldn't call it "very rough roads." A couple court dates and "keep your nose clean for 6 months and it'll go away." No fines, no restitution. The official wording was "an ACD (Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal). If he does not commit (or alleged to commit) these types of crimes for six months the case is dismissed." The worst that may have come of it was that if he was working on a government/defense contract (not terribly unlikely given the area he was in), it may have affected his employment status. But no one ever heard anything about that. I would love to know what this guy is doing now. I am in WNY, and these caches were all upstate, but we heard a lot about it. He gave the local cachers a lot of grief for many years. They had no idea who he was. It is truly amazing, the way they finally caught him. As fellow NYers, we all would have loved to see more happen to him then the slap on the wrist that he got. But really, it is difficult to convince the authorities that our game is in fact NOT littering and trespassing, etc etc etc (although I know of several cachers who do NOT gave a rats behind about hiding caches on private property and lying about getting permission...). So the fact that he got any punishment at all, I think, is quite a relief. But also, now that they know who he IS, they know who to investigate if things ever go missing again. And best of all, the guy was completely humiliated and embarassed because now his family and friends know what he did and could not believe anyone would be so pathetic. THIS guy sounds like he has nothing better to do. I am amused by the comments that refer to him as a cacher who marks caches Needs Archived after he finds them, like he is actually interested in finding caches. He only created the account to a) find the locations of the caches, and brag about his conquests after he is done. And you KNOW he wasn't introduced to geocaching by another cacher...otherwise that poor friend would be apologizing to the community up and down for his "friends" actions. If he is an old fuddy duddy who has nothing better to do, maybe he WILL go to the council to complain. But I would guess he is all bark and no bite. If he does, however, go and b*tch and moan and complain to a council that has far more important things to worry about, I don't think he will get very far. Just make sure placements in the area are following the guidelines. You can try to do what my friends did and try to catch him in the act of "removing" a cache from private property that you DO have permission to place it on (my friend works at a museum and the cache was chained to a tree on their property...the thief used bolt cutters to remove the cache!) That would be stealing. But that would require a community f cachers who would put in the time watching a cache that he might not even steal. I wish you the best of luck. I have had muggle friends ask me whi I geocache, it just seems like a silly waste of time. I guess I can see why they think that, but I thnk an even SILLIER waste of time is putting so much time and effort into stealing geocaches.

guinea gal Joined: November 4, 2011 Name received: 11/26/11 Card sent: Card received: AndrewPanda Joined: November 4, 2011 Name received: 11/26/11 Card sent: Card received:

4. What great geocaching story do ya “got”? That ones difficult. With permanent knee limitations, I don't exactly try the difficult caches. The story I love telling most often was going after a hydrocache that a friend hid in the Adirondaks, at the time that the geothief was still on the loose. There were a few hydrocaches in the area, and they seemed to stick around longer than the other traditional caches. Also, this friend taunted me and my friends and said we would NEVER go after his hydrocache! So I brought a swimsuit, water socks and a pair of swim goggles and me and my two friends drove out to where the cache was. I should say that I am not a great swimmer, and I have never done a hydrocache before. But it didn't sound too difficult. It was a watertight water bottle tied to a large rock in a lake just off the road. There was a small island about a thousand feet off the side of the road. The directions were to start at point A, swim to halfway between the island and the road, and start diving. The water was only 8 feet deep. One of us was recovering from eye surgery, the other one didn't know we were embarking on this adventure and was unprepared, so it was only me going out. We had a long length of rope and measured it out to exactly half the distance to the island, and I looped it around my arm. The idea was, I certainly wouldn't know what half way was, so when I ran out of rope-that was it, start looking. The directions said to unhook the cache from the rocks, but tie something else floatable to it so that you could relocate it after you swam to shore, signed it, and swam back again. So, we were going to hook the rope to that too. Sounded perfect. Except that rocks are heavy. As I said, I am not a great swimmer and certainly not an endurance swimmer! It took me awhile to get out that far, especially trying not to lose the rope around my shoulder. And that was the EASY part! I treaded water forever trying to locate that bottle. I did finally locate it, but by then I was so exhausted, I needed a break. So I floated for about 5 minutes, then had to relocate the bottle again. Found it. Tried to dive for it. But my fat butt wouldn't let me go very far under water! Sooo.... I tried grabbing it between my feet and pulling it up to where I could grab it with my hands. It seemed hopeless, but on the 3rd try-I got it! I held it up, everyone on shore started to cheer (we had gathered a small crowd at that point), and then I started to sink. No amount of treading (one handed) was keeping me afloat with the cache still attached to the rock, and I couldn't stay afloat long enough to make the switch. The folks on shore didn't see that I was having trouble, so I yelled “Pull!” And they pulled! I still had to tread to keep my head above water, but they brought me in quickly and cheered! So Yay for the rope we had pre-cut! Still don't know how I got it back out after that, except I was better rested going in then bringing it up after swimming/treading for 20 minutes! The geothief has since stolen that cache, but he has also been caught : )

3. What “gotcha” into geocoins? I have collected elongated coins, “squished pennies”, for a long time. I love them so much, I bought my own penny press. I was looking to add another die to my press and researched die engravers online. Many of them also advertised also making “geocoins”. Curiosity finally got the better of me. I looked up geocaching, see post #41, and probably about a year after I got into geocaching, I came back to investigating geocoins. I have only made one, but still collect them, and I love them : )

2. How did you “gotcha” geocaching name? Not as long a story as the last one. I have had guinea pigs all my life. Most of my online nicknames were guinea pig related. It was just natural. Of course, most people just call me GG, and that is fine!

This is going to be difficult to split into 4 posts, especially since for me, 1 and 3 are directly related, but here goes! 1. What gotcha into geocaching? The short answer is geocoins : ) But I guess I should also say, when I started geocaching I was unemployed, and for personal (and traumatic) reasons, I was giving myself a loooong break before I would start looking for a job again. OK, maybe the personaly reason make up the story. Everyone has the worst job, but my previous employer was so abusive, just about all his ex-employees AND the department of labor were involved in various lawsuits with him! It doesn't help that I had a work related injury on the premises, and he said I couldn't report it to Workers Comp. So I needed time to heal, both from the mental and emotional abuse he laid on all of us, and physically from my permanent knee injury. I was so depressed over my knee injury. I was recovering VERY slowly in the beginning, so at that point I really believed I would never walk without pain again, and any social life I had was over. But another hobby indirectly led me to geocoins, which didn't interest me much at the time but DID make me wonder what geocaching was. So I looked it up, thought it sounded interesting enough to enter my zip code, and saw many nearby! I don't know why I picked one 7 miles away from home to go after, but I guess it was a good choice as I had no GPSr at the time. The CO posted a picture of where to park and stated what direction to head in. The hint he gave looked like it would stick out like a sore thumb (Concrete Block). But there were many concrete blocks, so it was not so easy as I thought it would be. But I found it! I bought a Garmin eTrex on the way home, and that was it! It kept me from vegetating on the couch the whole time I was recovering, it got me to walk more, and climb more, and crawl more, and basically do stuff I didn't think I could do again. So, geocaching came along at the right time for me!

email sent! guinea gal Signed up: 11/4/11 Name Received: (Date) Package Sent (Date) Package Received: (Date)