Saturday, February 26, 2011

Winter maintenance

Many of us have sought caches during the winter. Iowa's weather brings us challenges, like the one I read recently for my cache Ode to Everybody Loves Ray, GC138QR. Its log is frozen. Or the opening is frozen. To seek and get a high from finding a cache to hitting a low because you can't open or sign the log does not bring enjoyment.

Because of that, my winters have been a time of nature study rather than cache hunting. Currently, the birding life list has been fun to add to. Without the leafy growth and with the confused migratory birds, my family has been able to see birds that we'd normally only hear. We're also trying to master bird photography. If they just held still, this would be easier!

We own many historic and a few contemporary bird field guides. I can't say I have a favorite, because each one is useful in its own way.

3 comments:

P.J. said...

I used to cache in just about any weather. It seemed once I reached a certain milestone, I didn't enjoy hiking through deep snow for the cache! I've become a bit of a fair-weather cacher now, so I'm looking forward good weather!

Kimberly said...

I think you can help me! I've been wanting to find nature guides on birds and trees to take geocaching in Iowa with my two pre-school age daughters. It seems most of the nature guides are just too big, or too intense for the girls to be able to gain any success searching for what they see. Any suggestions?

Anonymous said...

Kimberly, Thanks for asking. I'd suggest any Fandex guide. If you can buy local, you might want the foldable (and laminated) cards that places like the Historical Museum downtown in Des Moines or the Neal Smith NWR in Prairie City might have.