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Squirrel Nut & Beersnob

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Posts posted by Squirrel Nut & Beersnob

  1. Finding caches would require a $300 piece of electronics in addition to your GPSr.

    Hiding caches would require the above and a $15 device for each cache.

     

    Would you find this type of cache?

     

    Would you hide this type of cache?

    At basic minimum, all you really DO pay for caching is the GPS and batteries. Internet access is available at many US libraries. And at work. Coordinates can (and I've done this a time or 2) be written on a scrap of paper. So really, the 'paying for the computer, paper, ink, etc... ' is an invalid argument.

     

    I think it might be a neat crossover type activity for some, that already have this type of equipment.

     

    But would *I* pay $300 for another gadget to find this type of cache? Would I pay $15 a pop (in addition to the normal box/trinkets) to hide this cache?

    No.

    Even if I had the $ to spare?

    Still no.

    Why?

    Even living in a major metro area, in reality, how many others would buy this $300 equipment, and hide $15 transmitters? How will I know there's caches out there to be found without blowing $300? How soon 'till some hotshot figures out how to alter the $15 transmitters to make them appear to be his own, and start swiping them, using them for his caches? Or worse, start hiding them in ... umm... unappropriate locatoins?

     

    With geocaching it's easy: you can see how many caches are in your area before going out and buying a GPS.

  2. Check out craft stores for 'greenery' when they have their after-Christmas sales. Look for stuff that can take a beating in local weather. You can make a decon-sized container near impossible to notice if situated in the right tree.

     

    Decoys might add some interesting features. A while back I was contemplating using a dove decoy as a part of a multi. If you have access and permission, a duck/goose decoy on a pond but tethered to a tree or something might open up sone possibilities.

     

    Fishing line might be a tool to consider for smaller/lighter caches placed below foot level. Nice for elevated boardwalks where vegetation hides cache from view. If you have a truly watertight container, well.....

     

    Look around you for possibilities. Craft stores, outdoor stores, and hardware stores are great places to wander with an open mind.

  3. Sounds similar to some stuff I studied about preservation of the historic landscape back in the mid-90's. Under the 'bundle of rights' idea, the owner can 'sell' some of the rights for their land (or portions thereof) to be used publicly (as in riverside 'linear parks') or to guarantee that the land will remain in agricultural use for perpituity (in theory at least), to prevent subdivision developers from spoiling our heritage.

     

    ~edit:

     

    I think that part of the deal is that the landowner is held free from liability of any accidents any users might have on their property.

     

    ~'nother edit:

     

    I think it gives the owner a pretty nice property tax break, too. At least on the local levels that choose to enact this type of program.

  4. There IS one local cacher in our area who dosen't give a rat's patootie about his caches, and right off the bat need to be 'maintained' with the help of other local cachers. No log book, and containers that are time bombs for getting soaked. Not just a 1 time Noob mistake, either. Even after gentle prodding on what might be a more suitable container. I think he gets his jollies seeing others maintain the caches for him.

     

    But he is the only one I know of in the general area. The vast majority of SE Michigan cachers (and as far as I've seen, throughout MI) are good at keeping their own maintained, and also help keep up viable caches of those who are no longer active.

     

    I walk the Maze of Moments, but everywhere I turn to, begins a new beginning, but never finds a finish... -Enya, Anywhere Is

  5. I've lost the photo I did of it several years back, but variations of the Green Man (http://www.geocities.com/team_fisur/geocoins/page3/) are cool for pumpkins. I think the one I made was based off the same model as the geocoin! (though I simplified it a little)

     

    67612_4300.jpg

     

    This little punkin' is available thru BREW beagles mid-atlantic along with his littermates... (sorry, just thought the pict was too cute...)

     

     

    I walk the Maze of Moments, but everywhere I turn to, begins a new beginning, but never finds a finish... -Enya, Anywhere Is

  6. There are 2 caches at Grand Canyon National Park that are logbook-only, using existing guest books. Something like that would probably be approvable.

     

    When you get into a physical cache that you have permission for, it becomes tougher... since the NPS is generally against physical caches what happens if the person you got permission from is transferred? Is the person you got permission from the park superintendant? If not, does the superintendant know what's going on?

     

    If it's something that can be accessed inside a visitor center or the like, and the people there know what's going on, IMHO that should be fine. But somewhere outside, I don't think that's a good idea until and unless the NPS becomes more accepting of geocaching.

     

    I walk the Maze of Moments, but everywhere I turn to, begins a new beginning, but never finds a finish... -Enya, Anywhere Is

  7. Hmm..

     

    I think we can boil the thread down to 'working/hunting' based breeds/mixes, -those who physically can be on the trail for the periods of time you are, and are most likely medium-to-large breeds. Preferably adopted from a humane society as a younger dog, or at the very least from a reputable breeder.

     

    Other than that, if you choose wisely based on personality of the dog itself and can arrange a foster-to-adopt situation, I don't think you can go wrong with any dog, really. Every human with a dog companion that truly cares about dogs will claim their's is the best icon_biggrin.gif

     

    I walk the Maze of Moments, but everywhere I turn to, begins a new beginning, but never finds a finish... -Enya, Anywhere Is

  8. Oh-

    and if you get baby gates to keep them out of specific areas DO NOT get the lattice-type ones.

     

    When we 1st got Sparkie, we baby-gated her in the kitchen, then left for a half hour to acclimate her to being without us. When we returned, she had CLIMBED the gate, and was hanging on at the top for dear life.

     

    Check out this site for more beagle pup antics:

    http://www.brewbeagles.org/camp.php

     

    I walk the Maze of Moments, but everywhere I turn to, begins a new beginning, but never finds a finish... -Enya, Anywhere Is

  9. quote:
    Originally posted by spunsister:

     

    There was some research done a few years back that ranked Border collies and poodles as the smartest breeds, based on 5 different factors. I was insulted that my loveable beagle was 76th out of 79, with the bassett hound in last or near last place


     

    I wonder what they based 'smartest' on. Beagles are stubborn, but smart. We have a beagle/cocker mix... when Sparkie was only a few months old, and with us for about 2 months, she had learned that when she went to the door that we would take her out to do her job. One day when we were eating dinner she went to the door, Beersnob got up to take her out, but couldn't find her.... she had snuck around the furniture, and was happily eating off of Beersnob's plate! Don't tell me beagles are dumb! icon_wink.gif

     

    She's sweet, loveable, stubborn, barks at ANYTHING outside the front window regardless if it's friend or foe, eats anything and will beg with super-sorrowful eyes, is a bed hog, loves hiking with us (we usually don't take her caching, because the leash gets tangled in brush). She's good with kids (if they don't throw stuff at her), we have a 5 year old niece that she slept with (and loves to be around) when we left her at 'grandmas' while we were off on vacation.

     

    I'd like to second (or is it 3rd or 4th by now?) crate training. We hadn't tried it until she was 2, but it made a great difference... before we would have to distract her with dog treats, then quick-lock her in the bedroom when we left for work. Now, she'll go and wait inside her crate when we get her dogfood ready in the morning before we leave. I think dogs need their own 'personal' space.

     

    I walk the Maze of Moments, but everywhere I turn to, begins a new beginning, but never finds a finish... -Enya, Anywhere Is

  10. Ok everyone...

     

    stand up, stretch out, and let's cool off a bit!!

     

    Bilder-

    That's a good idea, but I wonder if it might be better thru the local orginizations. I know that some MI caches with MIA owners have been both formally and informally adopted by local cachers.

     

    I walk the Maze of Moments, but everywhere I turn to, begins a new beginning, but never finds a finish... -Enya, Anywhere Is

  11. We've been arguing on the basis of the VERY fine point of an archived cache where the owner cannot be contacted, and by the logbook is no longer used for any other purpose.

     

    Everyone knows (or should) that just by leaving it out in public space there is some chance (greater or lesser depending on where hidden, but still the chance) that eventually someone will find it that decides not to play by the rules and removes it.

     

    I think there is a far, FAR greater chance of the latter happening than an archived cache being wrongly removed.

     

    I think that until we start to see the former types of caches, what we're doing at MiGo is the right thing. I'm sure the MIGO steering committe would adapt the rescue mission to these new conditions if it became apparent that something similar to your proposed new sport was developing in our area. To my knowledge, it is not, and what we have now is fine for what we're seeing in terms of abandoned caches.

     

    I walk the Maze of Moments, but everywhere I turn to, begins a new beginning, but never finds a finish... -Enya, Anywhere Is

  12. BTW, I'm sure that if SOMEHOW an archived cache that was being used for other purposes was wrongly taken and the owner contacted the retrieving cahcer, that that cacher would do their best to make amends. I know if I ever retrieved an actual cache and contents, I'd probably keep it as is in my basement for at least half a year, then keep the logbook indefinately. And this is even after I've tried to contact the owner to let them know what's going on...

     

    I walk the Maze of Moments, but everywhere I turn to, begins a new beginning, but never finds a finish... -Enya, Anywhere Is

  13. Woodsters...

    In all the time I've been reading the forums, I thought I had seen mention of about every spinnoff/sister/remotely related sport to Geocaching.

     

    I'm itching to find out what this 'other' sport is that just has you out looking for a box, just to find the box but not touch it or leave a trace of you being there. Especially if the exterior of the box makes no reference to this new sport in any way.

     

    I walk the Maze of Moments, but everywhere I turn to, begins a new beginning, but never finds a finish... -Enya, Anywhere Is

  14. quote:
    Originally posted by Woodsters Outdoors:

     

    That is fine as long as the cache owner knows and agrees to it. What if you contact a cache owner and they said not to touch it? The cache could be being used amongst a smaller group of people that don't anything about your rescue mission and it's page about those caches.

     

    Brian

    http://www.woodsters.com

     

    _"TOUGH NUTS" - for those who don't like it..._


    Well, if they said not to touch it, I'd post to the page that I managed to get in contact with the owners, and they are still maintaining it for other purposes.

     

    Anything questionable, such as vacation caches where the owner told me that, I'd leave for the Approvers to determine what to do with it. It might be bound to happen eventually, but the VAST majority of the rescues so far has just been verifying the cache is GONE. And the vacation caches I had mentioned in my previous post are placed in areas that are off limits to physical caches. And if I ever retrieved them I'd be more than happy to mail them back to their owners.

     

    Bottom line: how would you legally claim ownership of a piece of tupperware, notebook, and inexpensive trinkets left in a public location, and apparently abandoned? Shall we go underground with cache 'rescue missions'... hmm.. oops, that archived/inappropriate vacation cache's been Plundered! too bad! icon_wink.gif

     

    I walk the Maze of Moments, but everywhere I turn to, begins a new beginning, but never finds a finish... -Enya, Anywhere Is

  15. Hey Jeremy...

     

    Think we can get something like this added to the GC terms and conditions:

     

    "I agree that, if one of my caches is archived and no clear indication has been given in the logs to state that the cache has been removed, and that after no responce is recieved to inquiries sent to the e-mail address under which the owner has registered with gc.com, that geocaching.com and regional geocaching groups approved by geocaching.com may remove the cache and any contents to restore the area to it's original condition."

     

    I walk the Maze of Moments, but everywhere I turn to, begins a new beginning, but never finds a finish... -Enya, Anywhere Is

  16. quote:
    Originally posted by umc:

    I couldn't imagine too many people placing a cache then being told no and leaving it. I know that I put far too much time and money into the caches I place for that and I think others do the same.

     

    _http://www.mi-geocaching.org_

    __________________________

    Caching with a clue....


     

    Umm.. there are a few vacation caches on that list of ours! I can think of at least 2 that cannot be tweaked by the owner (or local cacher) to be approveable.

     

    I walk the Maze of Moments, but everywhere I turn to, begins a new beginning, but never finds a finish... -Enya, Anywhere Is

  17. Being proactive would be great, but there's just some people who might not give a hoot if their abandoned cache sits there.

     

    A bit better description of what we do: Mainly, when a cache is added to the 'rescue' list, it's because there is no clear indication that an archived cache has been removed. A cacher visits the site to confirm that it has been removed. Most of the time, it has been removed/completely plundered. On one rescue mission, I retrieved several containers for a multi that had been left behind (owner had moved out of state, and I had let them know what I was doing beforehand). I think there are only a few that the actual cache and contents have been found. The cacher that finds it posts this info on the cache page, and I think those that have retrieved actual caches have offered to replace it if the owner again becomes active. I think that if someone found a cache appears to get active visitation from other sources that the finding cacher would post that note on the gc.com page, and the cache would be removed from the rescue mission.

     

    I walk the Maze of Moments, but everywhere I turn to, begins a new beginning, but never finds a finish... -Enya, Anywhere Is

  18. umm... might want to delete the ID # from your original post too...

     

    I've posted a note about this problem to the geocaching.com discussion forum, so hopefully they'll be able to get the bugs out of the logging system.

     

    I walk the Maze of Moments, but everywhere I turn to, begins a new beginning, but never finds a finish... -Enya, Anywhere Is

  19. They're the honest-to-god USA Geocoins. Otter and Lemur have been having problems with theirs, and I've experienced the same thing with 2 USA geocoins. When I go to the 'track a travel bug' page and enter in the coin #, it says that the tb has not been activated. When I go to the cache page, and click on the link to that specific geocoin, I can then enter in the # and pick it up.

     

    I walk the Maze of Moments, but everywhere I turn to, begins a new beginning, but never finds a finish... -Enya, Anywhere Is

  20. Just wondering if Jeremy and company are working on getting the (pun intended) bugs out of logging geocoins from the track a tavelbug page? From a post in another forum here it looks like it's fustrating a lot of people.

     

    I walk the Maze of Moments, but everywhere I turn to, begins a new beginning, but never finds a finish... -Enya, Anywhere Is

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