I had to SL with a _______.

[+meralgia]

I forgot my pen back in the car and came upon a micro with no writing utensil. Fortunately, I was able to gnaw the wood down on this pencil stub far enough to sign the log:

 

 

Last week, I had to snap the eraser off a pencil that I donated to someone else's micro so that it would fit. I crammed it in my pocket to avoid littering and didn't have a chance to toss it.

 

What have you used to sign the log when you discovered the absence of a pen or pencil?

Edited October 15, 2007 by meralgia

[+OverTheEdge]

I tried signing a log with a stick and a bit of dirt... I wasn't successful, so I ended up walking back to the car for my pen

 

But that was the last time I forgot to grab a pen when goecaching

[+StarBrand]

Smear of grass. Red tinted dna sample. Muddy thumbprint. Burnt end of twig.

[+briansnat]

so it's the container size, NOT the camo (no matter how big) that surrounds it...thanks all!

 

I've used ash from the lit end of a cigar, a stick dipped in mud and a piece of soft rock.

[+Isonzo Karst]

Charcoal (good news, the area had burned, the ammo can hadn't - ammo can with NO PEN! dang), blood (stupidly clipped pen into pocket, then proceeded on .4 mile bushwhack - arrived at cache penless, but plenty of skeeter bodies available to drag an IK onto the log) and leaf juice, easily my worst effort, barely readable, not permanent and nobody but myself to blame for not having a writing implement.

[+Custheyder]

In the past I've managed to gnaw back the odd pencil as well. However I came accross a cache that had a pencil but used waterproof paper which wouldn't accept the pencil! I had to get out my trusty pen for that one.

 

A couple of times I've sent the kids back to the car for a pen because "they had it last" and left it there. If a cache is missing a writting implement and there is room I have been known to leave a pen or pencil.

 

What annoyed me most was finding a nano and the log had had a piece torn out of it seriously weakening the tightly rolled log.

 

TTFN

 

Cust.

[+nittany dave]

edge of a nickle

edge of my car key

twig dipped in dirt/mud

a couple of times I've also torn my name off a credit card receipt that was in my wallet and left that.

[+Renegade Knight]

Stick and mud.

Knife point.

Stick and grass stains.

[+Jhwk]

twig and dandelion leaf

burnt end of twig

blood and twig

mud and twig

 

thank god for twigs...

[uperdooper]

i once scratched my name in a log with a pair of tweezers. a little dirt in the scratches made my name visible.

[+BigWhiteTruck]

Friday, January 13, 2006

Found it BigWhiteTruck found Let's Play Chicken (Traditional Cache)

 

Stopped by to play chicken after work. My second cache of this type. Didn't have a writing utensil so I poked my initials into the log sheet with my knife.

TFTC

 

[+ReadyOrNot]

I was FTF on a cache that was listed as a regular size (which it was), but the owner didn't put a writing utensil in the cache! I used some bright red lipstick.

 

What are you trying to say?

 

...

 

What are you implying?

 

...

 

You wanna take this outside?

[+David]

A reliable pen is a caching tool just like my GPSr. However, once my son and I had ridden the jetski out to an island in the Tennessee River to find a cache. We found the cache pretty quickly, when I realized I didn't have a pen. A nearby campfire ring provided the charcoal to blacken the end of a sharp stick which saved me. We stopped off at the dock to get a pen before riding to the next island cache.

[+BiT]

I've used grease from my mountain bike chain, blood, and chlorophyll in different instances.

[nonaeroterraqueous]

The only time I had absolutely no writing implement, I simply left it unsigned and came back a few days later.

[+Rattlebars]

In over 530 finds, I've never had an occurrence of "geeez! No pen". I carry a very small pen refill in my wallet. Fits nice, no bumps, and available. I only had to use it twice. I have a pocket full of pens always when caching... cargo pants loaded.

 

Now, just to show you that I'm not the brightest bulb on the string, I've lost two cell phones in the woods. I would have recovered one of them, but it fell right under the truck wheel. CRUNCH! TOAST! Last night I wandered about 8 tenths of a mile on two caches through thorns thick as thieves in the dark. Yup, one of those thorny thieves ripped it out of its holder. I only discovered this as I was pulling in the home at last driveway. Somewhere in that dark and foreboding bramble patch 10 miles away was my $300 cell phone! I grabbed my wife's phone and back I went. I found it by dialing it repeatedly. Good thing it was not too far in and not on just vibrate! Ring Ring!

 

RATTLEBARS

[gizzman]

I have a pen on my keyring but left the truck running while my wife was waiting in the truck. I signed one with a piece of chalk that was in the cache. Then i went back to the truck and got a handful of pencils to toss into the cache.

[+runewell]

There are a number of micros/nanos around our city, and I have bought a bunch of personalized golf pencils so I always bring one along with hopes of leaving it at the cache. Therefore, I always have something to sign the log with (from now on).

[+rhelt100]

I've signed two logs to date by indenting the log page with my cacher name using a coin and smearing mud on the page so the indentation sticks out. Kinda "dirty", but it worked.

[Tooeygeotrashed]

Picked an Ivy leaf and used my fingernail to mark out my initial, then made teeny little tear in page to thread the stem through. Will return to log properly though.

 

Don't worry folks across the Pond, Scottish Ivy isn't like Poison Ivy over there

[+ZSandmann]

I once found an ammo can with several pens, all of which would not write at all. So I took the lotto ticket in the cache and a penny, also in the cache and signed my name with the penny using the silver scratch off stuff.

[+JustKeely]

Had to use a mascara wand once.

I thought I had a pen, but couldn't find it....I was desperate...makeup was all I had.

Later down the road, though, I DID find my pen after all.

Now some of the local cachers like to tease me about how they are going to buy me a pen....

[+sseegars]

Clover mites and a twig. It pays to work in pest control...

[+meralgia]

Somewhere in that dark and foreboding bramble patch 10 miles away was my $300 cell phone! I grabbed my wife's phone and back I went. I found it by dialing it repeatedly.

Glad you recovered your phone!!

 

I had to do the same thing when I discovered that my phone had gotten lost in the snow one night. It must have wiggled out of my pocket while shoveling, because later that night, I called it and found it lying in the alley. I was thankful it hadn't been run over by a vehicle in the meantime!!

 

By the way, you'll all be glad to know that I bought a mini pen tonight so I'll have one on me the next time I go caching!!

Edited October 16, 2007 by meralgia

[+meralgia]

RRRR... Bought more pencils to donate to micros only to discover that I developed a BLISTER from all of the sharpening. I'm not winning here. This rainy weather had better clear up so I can get outside and quit blathering on about my pencil pet peeves!

 

[+Zop]

I've only had to trip back to the cachemobile for a scribe once and since then, the first thing I do is make sure I have something with me when I mark my waypoint at the car.

 

I did however STF a cache which the FTF had to sign with a dandilion stem! I could actually read it too! Funny stuff there...

[+pseudoprime]

I once found a nano and had forgotten my pen, so I tried to sign it with bark. I logged it via my cell phone, then felt guilty about it, deleted the log, got a pen and went back.

[+JegMag]

We were doing a river cache by kayak. The cache was a micro -- a fish on a fishing line tied to a tree. On the way to the cache, I had picked up a bobber that was on the island. When we realized that the pen was in the Jeep, I attached the bobber to the fishing line holding the cache up. Put that in my log. (The owner later signed in for us when on a maintenance visit.)

[CacheNCarryMA]

Dog paw.

 

It was a letterbox hybrid. Ink pad was in the cache.

[+meralgia]

I bought a fancy, small pen a little while ago so that I always had one with me. It worked for about a week. I twist and twist, and the little pen inside snickers at me and refuses to budge. Guess I'm back to gnawing down little pencils!

[+fizzymagic]

I have done:

 

Grass and a stick.

Mud.

Burned twig.

 

and, my favorite:

 

Blood.

[+ReadyOrNot]

Blood.

 

That's just not right

[+Strike Anywhere]

Green leaf and stylus - I McGyver it.

 

I take my PDA stylus and a nice leaf and then I take the log on top of the 60csx then the lead on top of that and then I scribe my name like gentle tracing and it leaves the date and my initials nicely there... I have gone back to check and it turns from green to a nice brown and has stayed permanently. I like that trick a lot.

 

I know, who brings their pda but not a pen... I do all the time.

[Uberquandary]

Seriously-I hope all of you signing the logs with blood don't have any diseases...now I kinda want to cache with gloves on.

 

I've signed with a lipgloss wand. Or at least smeared.

[+Seasoned Warrior]

I've signed with a piece of lead I found in my pocket

[+Team Cotati]

Rattlesnake venom mixed 50-50 with mongoose urine.

[+simpjkee]

lets just say that after years of partying, I've gotten very good at writing my name in yellow liquid. it stains very well.

[saw-saw]

Signed log with stick we burnt with a lighter.

 

Wet logs are a problem now and then, when the paper wants to tear from the pen.

 

Always have a pocket knife with me to sharpen pencils in cache.

 

I think the excitement of the hunt and getting close makes us forget the writing instrument.

 

The other thing is when you find a cache, and there is no room on the log to sign, of course you do not have paper either. I usually find something in my wallet to leave even if it is a corner of a business card.

[+89SC]

I hit a micro way out in the middle of nowhere and couldn't find pen or pencil in the car so I used motor oil from the dipstick of the car to sign with. Looked like I was due for an oil change

[+VirginiaGator]

I once used a TB tag to etch my name into the log.

[+tands]

I can't believe nobody's posted our favorite standby, the acorn.

 

- T of TandS

[+meralgia]

I can't believe nobody's posted our favorite standby, the acorn.

Does the acorn leave pigment or just a scratch?

[+andGuest]

I have done the edge of a key on the back cover of a logbook and then rubbed dirt on it to make a sort of negative image of my name. I also etched my name into a "logbook" that was a toilet seat which the previous logs were wiping off when they got wet.

[Archangel_UK]

Space pen hanging on cord round neck , never leave home without it

[+trooperdjb]

Two different swiss army knives one small with a retractable pen and a larger cyber tool with a removable pen next to the tweezers. I ALWAYS have my swiss army knife with me and that little pen has saved me on more then one cache.

[+~Hylife~]

After reading many topics like this one in this forum, I was determined to always have a pen with me..this past Saturday that determination was obviously not present, as I found myself at a woodland film canaster with no writing utensil in sight just this past Thursday.

 

So..after reading many of the suggestions on here, I decided to pick up a twig, dab it in mud, and sign my name. I managed to get "~Hylife~", tildas and all, along with the date, on the minature log! Will it last? Who knows..but at least I didn't have to draw blood!

[+wesleykey]

In this scenario I ususally cut a square in the log with my pocket knife.

[+Scare Force One]

My own blood.

 

~.~Scare Force One

[+robbymcdobby]

Once while caching with hookis817, we only had 1 pencil and 1 pen. Before logging even one find, I managed to lose the pencil. So, I got out the pen. THE PEN HAD EXPLODED! Ink was dripping out the back end of the ink tube thing.

 

So, naturally, we used the exploded end of the ink tube to sign all of our caches that day. It was frustrating, but necessary. I haven't become so extreme that I would resort to using my own blood...yet.

[+wandererrob]

I just bang my head repeatedly on the logbook until I leave some sort of imprint.