drsolly

The key is widespread broadcast.

Also bikes. I lean my bike against a handy tree and start searching ... 20 minutes later, I notice that the cache is just behind my bike.

Don't tell me you're not supposed to buy fur coats now?? :unsure: Donkey Jackets are okay. I think sheep fur is still OK, because you don't call it fur.

I found that one (or one just like it), and I thought it was a rather cute idea. I've also found caches in drinks cans, in crown bottle caps, in a dumped car (not that I'm suggesting that the cache owner dumped the car), in discarded flower pots and in a drinking straw. Don't forget, any cache that isn't placed with the permission of the landowner (and I suspect that covers a large number of caches) is, actually, litter.

That makes them heroes.

I don't have a problem with paying £20 per year as part of the cost of geocaching, a sum that is utterly dwarfed by my petrol bill. And I don't have a problem with BP and Shell making a profit out of supplying me with petrol. As long as I get a good service, I will continue to purchase those services. If the service deteriorates badly, or if someone else offers a much superior service, I'll consider taking my £20 elsewhere.

I once wrote an English to Cockney translator (I'm a genuine cockney, born within the sound of Bow bells and brought up in the East End). To do that, I researched on the web and found numerous word and phrase lists, and many of the words and phrases were just plain wrong. I mean, I grew up speaking cockney slang, so I know my onions on this area. And I think that this particular phrase comes from the cockney. You mustn't believe everything you read on the internet. The word "toss" is, I believe, entirely innocuous. Indeeed, there's a cache I did where at various points, you have to toss a coin to see which way you will go (now archived). It's when adjoined to the preceding two words (which, for avoidance of offence, I shan't repeat here, although the second of the two is "a") that the entire phrase became objectionable by the moderator. In the case of the phrase objected to, although some internet sites give the "toss of a coin" as the derivation, others lean more towards the derivation that I think is correct, in which the word "toss" is also the root of the word "tosser", and a "tosser" is not usually thought of (in this context) as one who tosses a coin, but is one who tosses something entirely different, which I shall not explain, this being a family-friendly site. I would refer you to the "Sideboard song" by Chas and Dave, which uses a variant of this phrase. I'm sure Pharisee didn't mean to give offence, but sadly we live in a world where if *anyone* is offended by something, then it's offensive. Me, I'm only offended by people who take offence at things. http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/toss I've said this before, and I'll say it again. We need a list of words that are regarded as taboo. Otherwise, how can we know which words must be avoided?

Does that mean you're trying for the cache on the ISS? Yes, I'm building the giant catapult now ...

In space, no-one can hear you searching for a cache.

You know the old cacher's adage, "Remember where you left your car"? Well, it's good advice. I get the coords when I park, and write them down on a piece of paper (I don't trust these newfangled computery things, if it decides to reboot, I might lose the coords). Here's some more good advice. "Remember where you left your bike". I didn't, and spent a fraught half hour searching for it. Dude, where's my bike?

I thought a plain brown wrapper would be suitably discreet.

I get emails from Groundspeak telling me of archived caches in my neighbourhood, and I use these to update my GSAK database so that I don't go chasing after caches that aren't there. But sometimes there's dozens of archives, and it occurs to me that this is a problem that someone might have already solved, because what is needed here is a GSAK macro to read the emails and tell GSAK that the caches are now archived. Does anyone know of such a macro?

My wife was scratched by a dog that we knew was friendly when it jumped up. That resulted in a visit to the ER and a bill for around $800. As it happens the dog owner (who was also a friend) covered the cost of it but it does make me less minded to tolerate dogs I don't know jumping up no matter how friendly they may seem. I am *so* glad that if I sustain any injuries while out caching, the NHS will do their best for me at no cost to me at the point of treatment, and I'm happy to pay for the NHS out of my taxes (I've been reading about the situation in the US when you get ill or hurt). I have nothing but praise for the way they treated me after my dog bite, and if I'd also had to *pay* for the privilege of being bitten ... well ... Ideally, I don't get injured while caching (apart from the inevitable nettle stings, bramble scratches and the like). I do have a "Dog dazer", maybe I should start carrying it. I don't think it hurts the dog, it's just a high pitched sound.

We need a shoot-out! Torches at the ready ... aim ... fire! It would be interesting to compare torches; I think I've got some pretty good stuff, but I'd be willing to be proved wrong. An event would be a good opportunity for comparison of torches.

Here's a free ebook converter, lots of formats. http://www.online-convert.com/

Hardly any dog stories, but lots of slugs. Also falling off bikes, getting stuck in holes and getting wet all over.

I've written a book. Well, a Kindle, actually. Well, not written ... It's the geocaching logs of my first 24,000 caches found; I've removed all the ones that only got a short "A quick find, TFTC" and converted it to Kindle format. You can download it and read it on your Kindle, or other book reader. It's free. http://drsolly.blogspot.com

So I can't send data (meaning the "overlay data") from the PC version to the iPhone app? That would make it pretty useless, for me.

Doing nothing was not, I thought, an option; I'm bigger and stronger than she is, and better able to deal with aggressive dogs. If I'd done nothing, I would have been given major earache later. I stood next to her for a half minute, holding my walking pole and ready to use it if necessary. I don't want to hurt a dog, but if attacked, I will defend myself, and defend ladysolly. If that wounds the dog, or worse, then I'm willing to take the legal consequences; it's better than being bitten. They didn't attack, so we walked on. The dogs continued their aggressive behaviour, the owner continued to call them, they continued to ignore the owner completely. Eventually we were far enough away that I could walk without watching out for an attack. I would guess that the owner has completely forgotten the episode by now, and possibly blamed the walkers for walking along a public footpath that was close to their house. I did like the suggestion made by a few people of getting out my phone and videoing the proceedings while explaining that this will be sent to the local dog warden; I consider that this isn't a dog problem, it's a dog owner problem, and it's the dog owners who need to be educated about the right of people to walk along a public footpath without being threatened by their animals. Something like "I'm videoing this, and the video will be sent to the local Dog Warden, who will decide whether your dogs are out of control". I didn't like the idea of getting hold of the dog's collar; that puts my unprotected hand too close to the sharp end of the dog. If any part of me gets close to the teeth, it's going to be a foot, because I'm wearing stout leather boots, and I'd guess that a good kick would deal with a dog attack. I also liked the idea of getting up close to the dog owner and shouting threats into their face, but I'm too well trained to do that.

Yes, I know that a dog that acts aggressively might not bite. And I also know, from personal experience, that a dog that doesn't act aggressively, can come up behind you while you're standing on a public bridleway and bite you in the calf, leading to a trip to hospital for disinfecting, anti-tetanus and antibiotics, and a leg that is painful for several weeks. And the owner explains "He's never done that before". I think you missed the main point of my posting. It wasn't that I was afraid of the dogs, it was that ladysolly was afraid, and I had to make a decision about what to do about it. I'm not at all afraid of dogs; I'm a lot bigger than a dog, and I have boots and my walking pole should I need to defend myself. I am, of course, cautious with strange dogs, especially strange dogs that start off our relationship with threats and aggression. And I really really don't want to hurt a dog, unless I'm forced to. I like your suggestion of doing volunteer work at a local cat and dog shelter, but 1) I'd prefer to spend that time caching, and 2) that isn't going to reduce the number of times that dogs act aggressively towards ladysolly.

I have Memory Map (on PC and PDA). I'm about to inherit ladysolly's old iPhone, and I've been thinking that it might make a good caching PDA. It has built-in GPS (and I plan not to use it for telephony, so it won't get confused by phone mast info) which I would guess is likely to be as good/accurate as any other GPS (why wouldn't it be?). But I've read reviews of Memory Map on the iPhone which suggests that it's not good. And I do want to use Memory Map, because I have all the maps already (I'm hoping that I can use those same maps). Could you explain to me how exactly you're making use of the iPhone? Thanks.

Interestingly, a similar scenario happened to me just today. I had finished signing the cache, and ladysolly was walking along the public footpath a couple of hundred yards away, and I was walking to catch up with her. Suddenly, she stopped, and I could see a dog barking at her and making those rushes and jumps at her that they make. Then along came another dog, and did the same thing. By the time I caught up with her (she was still standing stock still, and she looked really scared) the dogs were in full flood. Then the owner came along, and tried to call the dogs off. The dogs totally ignored her. And they continued to terrorise ladysolly by making those barking/jumping/rushes at her. The owner continued to call, with no effect, and made no attempt to get hold of the dogs. So now I've caught up, and I'm near to ladysolly, and the dogs are still ignoring their owner (who now says "They won't bite", a statement which I don't fully trust, in view of her inability to control her dogs) and the dogs are still kicking off. And here's my question. What do you think I should have done at that point? Answers that occurs to me are: 1) Nothing 2) Defend ladysolly, if necessary with my boots and/or walking pole 3) Grab hold of the dogs, as per Dorsetgal's anecdote 4) Some other action, please suggest what This isn't a dog-bashing thread, it's a thread about what we non-dog-owners should do when confronted by aggressive, out-of-control dogs. I'm hoping that people who understand dogs will be able to make constructive suggestions, and not just (as often happens) blame the innocent victim of the dogs' aggression.

I was in Sports Direct today to buy a pair of mittens for when the very cold weather comes, and as I was paying for my three pair of trousers, two pair of underpants and the mittens (once I get in there a kind of red retail mist comes down over my eyes) and I saw an offer of three plastic boxes for £3. The sizes are 2350 ml, 1000 ml and 500 ml, they have the four locking flaps that you get with lock-and-lock boxes, they are branded as "Sportsdirect.com" and they claim to be "absolutely airtight". I bought one set, and they look good. And £1 per box is well cheap. Disclaimer - I have no idea whether I have shares in the company.

Isn't that what they said last year too? Do you know what they actually did about it last year? It's a waste of time to pay lip service to quality and do nothing practical about it. Rgds, Andy Well, for example, they introduced challenges, which led to several high quality challenges such as my Amersham Station series. I'm hoping that this year, they introduce "Armchair caches", which will eliminate the need for all that messy walking around and getting covered in mud.

That's awful. I hope you explained to him that his kids shouldn't have been scared of your dogs, and that even if they were, he should have taken no action.