simpler1773

That is beautiful! Congratulations

Yes, I have a 1/1 cache I've been to twice and still can't find it. It's a micro but others don't seem to have a problem. The one thing I would make sure you do is mark it as DNF. If everyone did that when they really don't find them it would give the CO a better idea if they need to up the difficulty. Good luck! Not sure if I'd ask for a hint, but if one was handed to me I'm pretty sure I'd use it!

Ai ai ai ai!!! Red Rose Tea Figurines! Those would be AMAZING to discover in a cache! I've left a dozen or so of those around Washington, although not antique ones

I say go for it. I have been waiting to place a chache until I had everything I needed (we're in the process of moving and my printer is at the other house...need to print out the letter for inside of the cache). Anyway, in the mean time...someone has placed a micro in the spot I was going to place a regular sized cache. So, in my case, ya snooze ya lose If you have a good spot and you know the rules, place it!

Also, don't take pens, pencils or PENCIL SHARPENERS. I frequently leave pencil sharpeners as swag (character ones available at party stores). So feel free to trade for mine!

Do you have a camera? That's a great excuse to be anywhere. Take close up pictures of grass, sand, signs...it doesn't matter. Pretend to talk on your cell phone while aimlessly wandering about.

My sons and I found a great “regular”, ammo-can cache in a suburban area. It was about 10 feet off a city walking trail, hidden in some bushes. No one would see it unless they were looking for it. In sum, it was a clever hide, showing some thought and effort by the hider. When we opened it, however, the contents were beyond disappointing—no fault of the owner, but probably more the consequences of unfair and unkind trading practices. I realize the debate rages on about the worth of Happy Meal Toys as swag. As far as our little caching crew is concerned (composed of three kids 12 and under), they are generally a hit. So are Hot Wheels and Pez dispensers and even bouncy balls. So that is not the issue. It is impossible to appraise the relative value of one “toy” over another. Too subjective. We also love to leave sig items (hand crafted from leather or wood), and heck, sometimes we leave stuff without taking. I see that ethos repeated several times in the posts. Good on y’all. Gum wrappers and trash, however, cannot possibly be considered a fair trade on any level in anyone’s mind. Further, the presence of a stolen Marriot Hotel key card in the cache made me seriously question the ethics of the ‘cacher who elected to offer that as a trade item. Would it be going too far to suggest that taking an item of obvious value (regardless of how minimal) and leaving one that has obviously no value (i.e., trash, the contents of your ashtray, or even contraband) is tantamount to theft? At a minimum, it is unfair play. Again, I am NOT weighing the relative value of trading Silly Putty for little green army men. I am condemning trading those little army men (or anything in the cache, for that matter) for garbage. My plea: That we all trade fairly, trade up, play nice, play fair, avoid being greedy or selfish, and generally remember all the things our mamas taught us. If we have nothing to trade, then we should take nothing from the cache. This game/sport/hobby/obsession has no referees (except in extreme cases). No one is watching us out there in the wilderness. That’s one of the things that makes it brilliant. But trading fairly is a matter of honor. It makes one feel better and individually and personally contributes to the overall improvement of the game. Good sportsmanship is on the decline in the world, generally. Let us endeavor not to let that happen to our beloved sport. If one is not willing to trade fairly, then perhaps one should either take nothing from the cache or find another pastime. It is simply common sense and common decency. To those who have provided excellent responses to the original post, I am probably preaching to the choir (so, can I get an “Amen,” people?!?). But as of this response, there are approximately 95 posts compared to over 2,500 views. So, if there are any cachers out there reading this thread who may be guilty of grabbing a goodie and tossing in a wad of pocket lint in exchange, may this be a gentle (or maybe not so gentle) call to repentance, with the hope of converting you to the higher moral ground of trading fairly or trading up. I suspect this sermon has been preached ad naseum, but I needed to speak my peace (and, apparently, I can’t spell naseum). So, if we can reach just one repentant trash-cacher, we will have made the world a better place. Thanks. AMEN!!! Very well put.

Which is why they asked for a poll to be taken, to determine if the majority of people would find this attribute useful. I'm guessing if there were a poll for a Denny's attribute most would say, "no thanks". That's just a guess of course. Needing to get that post count up? Please read the reply before commenting on it. I guess I need you to draw me a picture, I read the reply. How was what I said not appropriate to the reply? And no, I am not looking to get my post count up, not sure why that would matter? You asked where the line was drawn, my reply was meant to say that the line is drawn where the majority sees fit. Which is why the administrators told the OP to place the subject on the forums. Obviously you've been here a lot longer than I have. You asked a question, perhaps it was meant to be rhetorical, I gave you my opinion on the question that was asked. I'm still not sure why you thought I didn't read the reply before I commented.

These are just gorgeous! I don't know anything about coins and sig items...but those are fabulous in their own right! Nice work!

Which is why they asked for a poll to be taken, to determine if the majority of people would find this attribute useful. I'm guessing if there were a poll for a Denny's attribute most would say, "no thanks". That's just a guess of course.

I've wondered about this too, doesn't the reviewer need to be alerted seperately somehow? They don't get sent an automatic notice after x amount of DNF's do they?

If I read a FTF log post with 12 smilelys, I wouldn't think it was bragging. I would just think the finder was happy and excited. Why not? It's a GAME people, can't someone be excited that they were the very first person among possible hundreds that will visit that cache? I don't even understand why this is a controversy?

I have a 4 yr old who loves it when we cache by a playground. It'd be nice to know in advance because we could plan our lunch stop at that cache if we have a full day planned! We do look for playgrounds in the description or on the maps but it would be very convenient to be able to filter for it! Cool idea. I can also see the flip side of it where the people who don't like playground caches could filter them out for "off-peak" times or not do them at all. Again, great idea. Thanks for bringing it up!

No worries...my 4 yr old picks up the play-doh every time, and we've never run across a bad one yet. I find it really hard to find stuff that is durable, inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and can't be ruined by dampness. When I go look for swag I find myself trying to meet all of those conditions and usually fail at one or more levels (usually the environmentally friendly one...made in china plastic anyone?). But my 4 yr old is learning to want better swag so hopefully we'll gravitate away from toy trading. This morning she wanted to open a hard plastic shell on something and she said...."I should have taken that tool when we were geocaching instead of the toy, then I could have used it to open this" HALLELUJAH!

I would love to find one of those washcloths! So if you get up to Ocean Shores, WA and leave one...let me know! LOL All I use are hand knit/crocheted washclothes I find at sales or am given as gifts. Do you have a tag or anything on them to let people know they are hand made? A lot of people don't know anything about the time or talent that goes into a handmade item like that. I would wrap a cloth ribbon around it with a tag that said something like "hand crocheted washcloth by nericksx", happy caching!" I am contemplating some swag to sew, and that's what I plan to do...sort of makes it your sig item.

Personal discretion, I think. Being new to this as well, I felt it a service to "fill" a cache when I came upon one that had one or two sad rusty items floating around in it. Went back to read logs after my visit and on two of them people complained they were hard to arrange after signing the log. Oops. I felt bad then and chalked it up to a lesson learned. I don't fill up caches anymore but we all learn somewhere and perhaps there was a generous cacher ahead of you who was trying to "help" You can always trade out for a smaller item if you felt it was too full, I guess.

Another reason some may filter out multi's or puzzle caches, we cache with a very active 4 yr old with little patience for sitting around figuring out puzzles. I love a mental challenge but not with a yammering pie hole going 90 miles an hour in circles around me Yes, I can dicipline her when need be, but geocaching is a time for us to be outside and active with her and so we filter those out for now. When she's older we'll introduce that aspect of the game. Just sayin', it's not always about lazy.

A CACHE of Muggles. I kill myself! That'd be my vote!

I met one cache owner who was hanging around to see how many people showed up shortly after the cache was posted. He saw us with the GPS and said, hmmmm sure is getting busy all of the sudden. We laughed and chatted a bit, that was nice. Today we were walking down a trail looking at the GPS with a piece of paper in my hand and a guy walking past us said, "let me guess....geocaching". He kept walking so I don't think he wanted to chat but we laughed and said, "yep". I imagine the more you cache and especially the busier caches you will run into people. I signed a log the other day where I was the 4th person to sign it that day!

We try to always leave extra swag because a lot of the ones we've found are pretty sad in the swag dept. If I find garbage in a cache, I "trade" for it and replace it with something new. Anything moldy, or broken gets removed and replaced and then I just hope it inspires the next person to not leave a broken spork and used wet nap from their picinic. It happens, and I am really new to this so maybe I'll get burnt out on "fixing up" caches, but I cache with my 4 yr old daughter and I hope it teaches her the bigger lesson which is to leave the world better than you found it. That being said, she sometimes wants the swag in my purse vs. what's in the cache I fully understand where you come from in your question. Hang in there, every once in a while we find a great "treasure" and it makes it all the more special

You found 96 caches in ONE DAY?

We do that too except I still need to get binders!

I got it at Fred Meyer on 99 in Kent, or maybe it's Federal Way up there...but anyway, it's on 99.

Okay, last night I had put my leftover brewed coffee in the container (I use it to dye fabric) and for the doubter(s) I turned it over to take a picture of the bottom. Happy to report not a drip of coffee came out, indicating to me it's most likely a reliable container. Hehe.