LDove
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Posts posted by LDove
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I guess if you called the power company or phone company who are the owners and asked them if they are ok with someone screwing a box which looks electrical with a wire coming out of the bottom and sunk into the ground as ok on their pole marked DANGER, they would probably be more than happy to grant permission? I doubt it.
I'm guessing you'd be right - - - again unless on the other side of a meter as previously noted. All this considering that consumer attached devices, signs, and other such objects are not allowed under the NESC (National Electric Safety Code).
Sorry don't have the website. Most utilities have a copy for anyone who wants to research if they're bored . . .
EDIT for source Cite
ok, done then - thank you for the interesting discussion and I also can see some of your points on both the safety issues with kids as well as placement. Moving on...
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Many people who replied to this also forget that it is against geocaching.com guidelines to even put a hide up like that. Using screws and staples to anchor it to a utility pole is strictly a no no!
The guiding principal is to avoid vandalism. You can spray paint coordinates onto the side of the building if the owner is so inclined to allow it. Actually I've been wanting to hide some coords in an art mural for some time...
I guess if you called the power company or phone company who are the owners and asked them if they are ok with someone screwing a box which looks electrical with a wire coming out of the bottom and sunk into the ground as ok on their pole marked DANGER, they would probably be more than happy to grant permission? I doubt it.
I like the mural idea, provided you can get the owners permission. But then, how would you keep someone from spraying over it?
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Actually not. The guidelines are quite clear. The reviewer I am sure does not know that this cache is attached to a utility pole with screws and staples - I don't think the cache hider probably put that on his cache submission form, otherwise it would not have been approved.
"If a shovel, trowel or other “pointy” object is used to dig, whether in order to hide or to find the cache, then it is not appropriate. "
Key words here, TO HIDE, the hider used something to bury the electrical wire into the ground, it did not just stick itself there on its own and the screws and staples he used to attach it to the pole can be construed in my opinion as defacing of nonpublic property. You may differ on your opinion of that, I am sure you will. You will see some inappropriate hides along your routes and travels in this game, after you have found more than 17 caches, you will know what I mean.
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I now exercise, I did not do much of that before, because now it is FUN. The other thing I have learned, and it sounds corny, is a total apprecation for trees! I never noticed them before like I do now. When I go to areas that have not been all cut for timber - I am amazed at the sizes of some of these beauties. I also learned to value time spent by myself in the peace and quiet. Geocaching, it's a good thing...
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Well since you asked, I think it is lame.
I know alot get stolen, we have had some of ours taken. If you can't afford to put the 8-20 bucks into the real thing, don't waste your time IMO. -
Many people who replied to this also forget that it is against geocaching.com guidelines to even put a hide up like that. Using screws and staples to anchor it to a utility pole is strictly a no no!
What screws or staples? It looks like the ammo can is just sitting on the open box.
Ummm . . . . Please cite the specific guideline and also code against nails and staples you are referencing there. .
And crawil . . .that pic is not the cache in discussion . . . .
Right in the guidelines for cache placement -
"Caches that deface public or private property, whether a natural or man-made object, in order to provide a hiding place, a clue or a logging method. "
"Caches that are buried. If a shovel, trowel or other “pointy” object is used to dig, whether in order to hide or to find the cache, then it is not appropriate. "
As I stated before, the cache I visted had the "electrical line" buried in the ground underneath the box.
The guidelines are here if you care to review them:
http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx
Yes the cache with the ammo box is not the one I am referencing
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Ok, here I go. Sorry I don't know my electrical appliances from electrical boxes, etc... whatever, I told you I was not familiar with that stuff - which reinforces my point exactly. When I referred to a power line, it was a WOODEN pole about approximately 2 feet around with two DANGER signs on it, one each side. I assume it was a power line - I have NO Idea if it was a phone line, but that is really not the point is it? The point is - I did not know. I have a hunch that if and when the power company, phone company, cable company, whomever goes out there to do maintenance on this pole sees it, this cache will be gone. GCRQEZ. Everybody liked the hide so far, it has been there since 2005. Protect kids, yep. You DO need to do that, it is part of being a good person IMO, whether you bred them yourself or not.
I guess I am done now, going to go read a book on basic electronics and cook my dinner in my electrical appliance Edit to add: I guess most here don't have a problem with it, so I know when to shut up and keep my opinions to myself as the above picture shows.
Later...I survey 230kV & 500kV power lines, and deal with a lot of different power utilities. While most here have no problem with a cache such as that, there's no way I'd touch it with a 20 foot pole. Aside from most probably being illegal, it sets a bad precedence for people to put caches on live poles who don't really know the difference.
I know, I'm being a fuddy-duddy.....but (IMHO) it's trouble waiting to happen.
Many people who replied to this also forget that it is against geocaching.com guidelines to even put a hide up like that. Using screws and staples to anchor it to a utility pole is strictly a no no!
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Ok, here I go. Sorry I don't know my electrical appliances from electrical boxes, etc... whatever, I told you I was not familiar with that stuff - which reinforces my point exactly. When I referred to a power line, it was a WOODEN pole about approximately 2 feet around with two DANGER signs on it, one each side. I assume it was a power line - I have NO Idea if it was a phone line, but that is really not the point is it? The point is - I did not know. I have a hunch that if and when the power company, phone company, cable company, whomever goes out there to do maintenance on this pole sees it, this cache will be gone. GCRQEZ. Everybody liked the hide so far, it has been there since 2005. Protect kids, yep. You DO need to do that, it is part of being a good person IMO, whether you bred them yourself or not. I guess I am done now, going to go read a book on basic electronics and cook my dinner in my electrical appliance Edit to add: I guess most here don't have a problem with it, so I know when to shut up and keep my opinions to myself as the above picture shows.
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I completely agree, parents are responsible for kids, that is a no brainer. What I am saying is that kids follow by example and see you do certain things and follow your example, that IS why you are the parent. My concern not only lies for kids, but also adults. When I did find this cache, I was lucky to have a person with me experienced in electrical stuff. A few kids out on a geocaching run may not be and could potentially put their hand where it should not be. I will give a very good example of this. We found another cache in this very same area. The hide was an electrical box cover with magnets on it UNDER the rim of the electrical box. There was a REAL electrical box where the cover plate was broken and I did open it. It was a small substation and I am sure had a bit of electricity running through it. I discretely put the cover back on as best as I could, but I think you can agree that could have been a dangerous situation. I was by myself and I don't know squat about electronics either
Look the only concern is that we all stay safe doing this. I am sure there are plenty of ways to hide things creatively, otherwise we would not have guidelines and people could throw whatever they wanted into the caches, needles, booze, dope, where do you draw the line? Working in EMS, I guess I just see too much stuff where kids have gotten hurt because their parents turn their backs for a second and boom, it happens quicker than you think and parents of course don't want their kids hurt. So, I guess we agree to disagree about what is safe and what isn't.
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Scorpio raises a good point. If your kid has no concept of context (i.e., putting your hand in a container in the woods is not the same thing as putting your hand in a similar container at the airport), then perhaps geocaching isn't the sport for them. When Junior finds his first Nalgene-bottle geocache, I'm sure the very next thing he's going to do is plunge his grubby little fist into Daddy's water bottle looking for swag and the logbook. Likewise, I'm sure when you put his sandwich for lunch in a Lock&Lock, he's going to write "TNLNSL. TFTC!" on the top piece of bread, then re-hide it in his cubby so his muggle-teacher won't accidentally find it.
But besides that, all the sharps containers I've ever seen are bright red. In fact, the ones for hypodermic needles have big neon orange "BIOHAZARD" stickers on them. Wouldn't that mean that the hider would -- and I'm just guessing here -- spray paint the thing, rendering the whole point moot?
Have you ever raised a curious 3 year old? Just asking?
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Soooo imagine if you took your child to an airport after this caching expedition and they decided that sticking their hands into a sharps container there is a good idea cause they saw you do it once already, okay with that? No, I don't think that is cute or creative. This weekend we went to a cache which looked like and electrical box, had a Nomex (?spelling) wire coming out the bottom and INTO the ground, nailed to an electrical pole. STUPID. I was afraid to touch it, eventually my husband got it, but if you have kids along - how do you tell them that one piece of electrical equipment is okay to be messing with and another is not. We also came across a TB with a very sharp hunting knife attached that's goal was to go to hunting ground areas, my kid cut herself on it not knowing what it was (it was circular in shape and did not look like a knife until opened - too late). So YES there are bad and unsafe ideas out there and much better and creative ways to hide stuff than things we are trying to teach our kids are dangerous.
Isn't it great that most of those who choose to have children decide that everyone else must assume responsibility for those offspring as well?
*NEWSFLASH: That code/obligation died when we ceased to be tribal in nature. At that level, others felt responsibility for your kin so as to ensure the survival of the tribe.(Since in most scenario's they were at remotely related anyway).To the point: Teach your own freakin' kids. Don't expect everyone to care for them. And stop calling ingenious (sp?) ideas "STUPID" because you are trying to make a point (one of the rules of debate, BTW).
Oh Puuulse! I am not asking anyone to assume responsibility for my kids. What I was suggesting is that there are alot of other creative ways to make caches fun for ALL to enjoy without having to question if you are going to get a shock or stick your hand in a contaminated needle holder. And I still stand by my original post, you make it look like an actual electrical appliance, stuck to a high tension electrical line with a cord going into the ground so it looks real - yep, that is STUPID, it is just asking for somebody to stick their fingers in the wrong place next time - whether it is an adult or a child. I have seen plenty of creative caches where the wire is cut, say 2 inches from the ground or there is a geocaching symbol on the thing somewhere so you know it is ok. -
I agree that there are multitudes of caches available for handicapped people which is a good thing. I also agree about guardrails, but do you thing lamp posts are better? One parking lot after another....I also think the handicapped people would appreciate mixing it up a bit. Variety makes it more fun!I also think they are great for handicapped people - more easy access. I do enjoy them also when they bring me to interesting places, but after awhile - I get a cravin' for a ammo can too. The only ones I really don't like are guardrail hides, one street after another, yech... Nice that we can mix it up a bit!
Nah, I don't care much for lamposts either, although I have done them. We don't have many around here, fortunately. Majority of the lame micros that I have seen have been on guardrails. Others are usually pretty creative and done well to draw your attention to places where a large ammo box or piece of tupperware would not work. I guess the key is that it should be someplace interesting, not a WallyWorld parking lot, but ya can't weed those out of the PQ yet until you drive there so until they figure out a way as long as I am there I grab them anyways....
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I also think they are great for handicapped people - more easy access. I do enjoy them also when they bring me to interesting places, but after awhile - I get a cravin' for a ammo can too. The only ones I really don't like are guardrail hides, one street after another, yech... Nice that we can mix it up a bit!
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Not going caching in NM, nope, no siree, not with those flying MONSTERS around.
ECH! I freak out if I see a small spider, a tarantula would have me fainting dead away! I will just stay here in WI where I just have to swat at 10,000 mosquitos and pick off zillons of ticks.. -
My husband and I were giggling about an idea for a cache container last night but wanted to ask if it was even "allowed". I work in a clinic and occasionally come across empty personal "sharps" containers. If it were watertight, would it even be appropriate to hide as is? Would anyone actually unscrew the top to see if it was the cache in question?
Soooo imagine if you took your child to an airport after this caching expedition and they decided that sticking their hands into a sharps container there is a good idea cause they saw you do it once already, okay with that? No, I don't think that is cute or creative. This weekend we went to a cache which looked like and electrical box, had a Nomex (?spelling) wire coming out the bottom and INTO the ground, nailed to an electrical pole. STUPID. I was afraid to touch it, eventually my husband got it, but if you have kids along - how do you tell them that one piece of electrical equipment is okay to be messing with and another is not. We also came across a TB with a very sharp hunting knife attached that's goal was to go to hunting ground areas, my kid cut herself on it not knowing what it was (it was circular in shape and did not look like a knife until opened - too late). So YES there are bad and unsafe ideas out there and much better and creative ways to hide stuff than things we are trying to teach our kids are dangerous. -
Helpful first part, rude (and ugly) second part. sheesh
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Here's an idea, why don't you just get to know PEOPLE rather than their stats? Is it really any of your business? If you really want to know and you think they are logging mulitple event logs, just subtract that number from their finds and you will now know how many geocaches they found as I stated before. I believe in most of the cases of people with large finds, they do this more for their own record of what they have found. I know quite a few people who have large numbers, I don't see them getting any "prestige" of any sort - they don't get money, cars, free airline tickets. What exactly are you referring to? If they get a few pats on the back and a couple of "way to gos", eh so what? MOST of their finds will have had to come from "legitimate" geocaching finds since you can't get to 8,000, 10,000 etc... with just event logs anyways.
I've seen several events in Texas and elsewhere that are for nothing but celebrating someone's milestone. So yeah, some folks do get "prestige".
so? they have a party to celebrate - make someone's day, big deal? If they're having a party in Texas I don't know about it - it does not affect me in any way on how I conduct my business in the least. I also don't consider that "prestige." Difference of opinion on what is prestigious I guess. By the way, your hippo picture cracks me up everytime I see it! 
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Does it affect me? Probably not. I won't lose any sleep over it, but when I look at your profile and see 2000 finds I'll just have to assume it's really 200 finds and treat you accordingly.
Go right ahead. Personally, I don't treat anyone with 2000 finds any differently than someone with 200, but if you choose to, it's your decision.
But, just to satisfy my curiosity... how DO you treat a 2000 find cacher, and how is that different than a 200 find cacher?
It must suck being a cacher in your area, knowing that if I only have 200 finds and bump into you in the woods you would look down your nose to me...
Sheesh!
You misunderstand me, I treat everybody the same until they give me a reason not to. If I discover someone is lying to me by claiming 2000 finds when they've been logging 20 attended logs per event I'll treat them as I would anyone else who lies to me to make themselves look better.
How do you treat people who make a habit of deceiving you?
The strange thing is by this definition nobody is committing fraud. People log 'Found It' logs that clearly state "Cache was missing. I am logging a find with the permission of the owner." People log one attended log "Thanks for the great event" and then log additional ones: "Found TC#1", "Found TC#2",....
Generally people are not lying about what they are doing. It's too easy for others to figure out what these logs are even if they did. They assume that you are not going to use their find counts for some purpose where it would be important to only count finds on permanent caches list on GC.com.
If I had a bar of gold would you buy it from me without getting it assayed first?
No, I'm reasonably certain that it is fraudulent to knowing allow someone to believe a falsehood for your own gain, in this case prestige.
Here's an idea, why don't you just get to know PEOPLE rather than their stats? Is it really any of your business? If you really want to know and you think they are logging mulitple event logs, just subtract that number from their finds and you will now know how many geocaches they found as I stated before. I believe in most of the cases of people with large finds, they do this more for their own record of what they have found. I know quite a few people who have large numbers, I don't see them getting any "prestige" of any sort - they don't get money, cars, free airline tickets. What exactly are you referring to? If they get a few pats on the back and a couple of "way to gos", eh so what? MOST of their finds will have had to come from "legitimate" geocaching finds since you can't get to 8,000, 10,000 etc... with just event logs anyways.
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I would also be interested. What would make me more interested? Post some information on travel details such as what type of lodging is nearby, what else is there to see and do? Will you have 300 temp finds I can log (KIDDING!).
If you had some sort of a "package" deal worked out with a local resort (do they have large resorts in Australia?) 
, you might get more interest in it. I would be coming from the midwest so the more details the better! -
I plan to visit LA in a few weeks. Of course, I can't go anywhere without geocaching so I did a search around my hotel. I was very happy to find that the cemetary where Marilyn Monroe, Walter Mathou, Jack Lemmon and others are buried has a cache. If I were just a tourist and went to see these, would that also be considered disrespectful too? Just curious...
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For the cachers getting their undies in a twist over other people's stats. Here is a suggestion. While you are using your time to check how many caches another cacher has, you could clearly see that the events are another category on the cache list. Subtract the number of events from the total - viola, the "true" number. Although the caches they attended would not be counted, oh well. I have logged temp finds in the past, not recently. It was something as a newbie that I was told was ok (before I read all the hooha here). I figured there was no prize to win or that I was not really competing against anything but my sore back, I logged them. In the scheme of things, do I REALLY care if some guy from MI logs 46 pieces of plastic he found in the woods on a rainy day? Nope... just care about how many I find. Save yourself the ulcers and quit worrying about it!
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I had a nicely painted ammo can that I won at an event - camo paint, the word GEOCACHE on the side, real nice... It only lasted a month.
I can only assume it was a cacher that wanted it due to how nice it looked - I would think that only a cacher would care about that. Worse yet, I found a log that was a half round piece of a large tree trunk and was about 2 inches thick which worked awesome for hiding a rounded container I had under it. Someone actually stole that too! I think I got more upset about that log because I had to carry it all the way out to the cache and it was heavy. -
Actually moss is real easy to coat with. Take somemoss and some stale beer and blend at high speed in a blender and then paint on whatever you want moss covered. The moss will grow, especially in a humid area.
ech, just don't forget it in the blender and then have somebody in your family walk up and think they are getting a tasty smoothy -
I just placed one at our local Chamber where they are very excited to get involved in geocaching to promote the city. Chamber of Hidden Places and coins I have visited others at Tourism buildings and I think it is a great place to pick up info on the city you are visiting, get maps, etc.
I know alot get stolen, we have had some of ours taken. If you can't afford to put the 8-20 bucks into the real thing, don't waste your time IMO.
I guess I am done now, going to go read a book on basic electronics and cook my dinner in my electrical appliance 
Ok, here I go. Sorry I don't know my electrical appliances from electrical boxes, etc... whatever, I told you I was not familiar with that stuff - which reinforces my point exactly. When I referred to a power line, it was a WOODEN pole about approximately 2 feet around with two DANGER signs on it, one each side. I assume it was a power line - I have NO Idea if it was a phone line, but that is really not the point is it? The point is - I did not know. I have a hunch that if and when the power company, phone company, cable company, whomever goes out there to do maintenance on this pole sees it, this cache will be gone. GCRQEZ. Everybody liked the hide so far, it has been there since 2005. Protect kids, yep. You DO need to do that, it is part of being a good person IMO, whether you bred them yourself or not. 
Oh Puuulse! I am not asking anyone to assume responsibility for my kids. What I was suggesting is that there are alot of other creative ways to make caches fun for ALL to enjoy without having to question if you are going to get a shock or stick your hand in a contaminated needle holder. And I still stand by my original post, you make it look like an actual electrical appliance, stuck to a high tension electrical line with a cord going into the ground so it looks real - yep, that is STUPID, it is just asking for somebody to stick their fingers in the wrong place next time - whether it is an adult or a child. I have seen plenty of creative caches where the wire is cut, say 2 inches from the ground or there is a geocaching symbol on the thing somewhere so you know it is ok.
, you might get more interest in it. I would be coming from the midwest so the more details the better!
I can only assume it was a cacher that wanted it due to how nice it looked - I would think that only a cacher would care about that. Worse yet, I found a log that was a half round piece of a large tree trunk and was about 2 inches thick which worked awesome for hiding a rounded container I had under it. Someone actually stole that too! 
Can you figure out this puzzle?
in General geocaching topics
Posted · Edited by lonesumdove
I figured it out - at least I think I did, if you want a clue or whatever, e-mail me.
Edit to add: I have a solution, but maybe others have some as well to help this cacher out.