Foiled!

On the way to taking the kids sledding at their aunt and uncle's house, Mr. GAIN dropped me off near a couple geocache sites. I took my new Skippy Peanut Butter backpack. The idea was that I could possibly bag a couple finds, not have to bushwhack, and see a place that I hadn't before, then walk to their house and go sledding. The weather was awesome -- new snow, sunny, no wind, and warm enough to have my jacket open the entire time. My gps-r had great reception. I love hunting during winter time. I creeped up on four ducks in the creek. That was awesome. But I didn't find any cache. :-(

In past winters, I have found regular-sized caches such as this one. After hunting for micro-sized containers on Thursday, I decided that I need to stick to containers larger than micros. The only micro that I have found during winter was rather urban, and it was frozen in place. I was able to get it and sign the log after a little struggle (I scraped my hand). So I am seeking small geocaches and larger for the season. Unless we get some melting because under the fluffy new snow was a lot of stuff encased in ice.

The other bummer was that the new backpack had a water bottle elastic on the outside of the pack, and I lost my very nice Holiday Weighs water bottle from the Y while searching a cool, new place. I think the elastic was designed for people who stay upright all the time. That is generally not me. I usually hike upright, then go off trail to crawl and climb trees and such. I like the idea of keeping water in a separate place from the rest of the pack in case of leaking. I'll need to use a bottle with a larger circumference to make the elastic snug, or store water in the main zipper compartment. Or I may try to install an elastic inside the main zipper compartment.

high temperatures

Today our high temperature was around 40 F -- perfectly sunny and windless, too. My older son and I spent some time trekking around my family's home place, found a rabbit warren, then we joined some others in the family to make snowmen out in the front yard. Had I been in a place to hike and/or geocache, I would have been. The weather was wonderful. Bushwhacking in the winter is also wonderful.

Although I have not been out hunting for geocaches, people have been out seeking mine. Yesterday (the weather was not as nice as today's) someone visited two of my geocaches (Little Bunny and Wise Guys). I always like nice comments that say more than "TNLNSL," so I was quite pleased to read a whole sentence, no abbreviations in geo-speak either.

I'm a Winner!

I entered a Skippy peanut butter sweepstakes a while back. I can't remember how I ended up going to the Skippy website. Anyway, the sweepstakes was promoting the idea of being outdoors. Today, I was presented with a backpack (I'd been wanting a mid-size backpack) filled a few things that I can use outdoors while geocaching -- binoculars, a small flashlight, a water bottle, and of course, Skippy Natural Peanut Butter. Thank you, Skippy! (The history and FAQ sections of the website don't reveal whether Skippy was ever the name of a person involved with peanut butter, but I wonder.)

Don't find me with your gps

Check this out -- click here.

Hooked one!

I placed some geocaches for a home school support group in early spring 2007. A few days ago, I saw one of the moms that was there, and guess what? She asked where to buy gps units. She said that the Target ads all listed gps's for driving, but none for geocaching. I encouraged her to try the camping gear area, and thought, "I hooked someone!"

When I give presentations on geocaching, I like to see who get into the hunt and who doesn't. One mom in particular sticks out in my memory. She wanted to find caches when everyone else had given up on the hard ones! She hasn't asked where to buy a gps though.