Miss Geoness reaches high to get a ducky cache out of a tree. Geocaching in Cary, NC today.
Well it was a rather cool day out today with 40 mile an hour winds and the wind chills in the teens. We picked up a few quick caches before calling it quits. Miss Geoness tends to get Broncitis and I did not want to push it. Was fun and more walks on the gazzilion green ways in the Cary, North Carolina area. Good times on the last day of 2008.
HooHaa TB Racer Electric Bug shoots off like a rocket for a 6000 plus miles jump to first place. After spending the last couple of months in Japan, EB is now in the States and we will see how he fairs here.
Gunny's Electric Bug only had a smidgen over two miles to show it's efforts in the HooHaa TB Race. HeadHardHat had shown it as a host of different types of "caps" in many of the HooHaa Cartoons shown weekly and Gunny has taken it all in stride. (The photo above shows EB as a Stayples Easy Button)Miss Geoness and I in high winds were making an attempt of showing 400 in finger sign. Great Christmas Eve Day geocaching.
Only had a few moments to go out for some quick park and grabs. It was about 68 out but very windy. Had fun using the Geocaching Navigator application on my Blackberry. It was spot on for all of the caches which I found quite nice to use. I still don't like using my phone for a GPS device for geocaching because it simply is not durable for weather, dirt and being dropped. On the other hand for those times that you are out of your expected caching area and want to have instant access to geocaching information this is the way to go. I will be putting out a full review of Geocaching Navigator soon.
(This video is Part One of Paperless Geocaching)
Been a while since I updated my latest geocaching tutorial videos known as GeoSnippits.
Most recent deal with the following:
You can go to my blogs or You Tube Channel to see all of them. http://www.youtube.com/user/headhardhat
Oh and I just recieved permission from Google to do tutorials on enhancing digital photographs with Picasa3.
These will be out soon.
All for now... -HHH
There's a new sheriff in town and he goes by the name of Easy Rider. TripCyclone's eagle based travel bug has landed in Hawaii. His current mileage is now 3848.3 miles and Easy Rider is quite happy to be in such a tropical place after just being in Missouri where they just had how many inches of snow?
Well it only took two months but all of the world famous HooHaa TB Racers are out of the starting gate and into the race. Gunny's Electric Bug was discovered half a dozen times this weekend after being placed at an event in Japan. Hopefully he can now start cranking those miles out.
Geocaching Online's HooHaa TB Racer "GoGo T. Urtle finds itself in a tupperware jar buried in the snows of Nova Scotia, Canada. It might be a very long winter stay.
Was in a local grocery store today and spotted this particular holiday libation.My eyes are not as young as they used to was so finding bison tubes is not much fun for me. My goal is to reach 400 and I am only three away so I endure when needed. Luckily in December the vines are dormant even though in this case it didn"t matter much. Fun fun fun.
It only took four tries to find this cache in a briar patch. Yeppers, think of a small hillside covered with 25% Kudzu and 75% briars. On the first three attempts I scratched up my arms and legs that took a couple of weeks to heal. This time it was personal and I bound and determined to find this prickly pest.
The mystery is a sol-ved. Just A Nut a racer in the Great HooHaa TB Race was officially missing for several weeks now.
It was a spectacular day geocaching in Cary, North Carolina today. If you caught my earlier posts from my phone you can see that I was out with Daughter Geoness working on our latest milestones. I want to reach over the 400 mark by the end of the year and Miss Geoness wants to get her first 200 geocaches found so she can officially be ranked in the state. In case you didn't know it, a geocacher can be ranked by State, Country and the World if you so desire but you have to have at least 200 caches minimum. The website for you to check your ranking is here.
All total we found 16 finds and three DNFs. Even managed to see an assortment of squirrels, rabbits and birds today. I know I will be sleeping like a baby with all that fresh air. Miss Geoness is already catching Zzzzzzs. The best thing out of it all was we had a great time and had fun hunting caches together. 
The HooHaa Travel Bug Racers received shocking news this week.
Lets get ready to rumble!
Where In The World Is Pete The Parrot?
I visited the well known travel bug hotel and confirmed that Just A Nut was indeed gone. So since it was past the normal 48 hour wait period. We called in the authorities; the GeoPolice.
This week's episode has "Quilt" sitting in a Lock 'N Lock box somewhere in New Jersey. P.J. originated the HooHaa Race and has travelled over 100 miles so far.
The latest and greatest GeoSnippits episode is now out on You Tube.
We all hate the feeling of driving for an extended period of time in any given direction that we are not entirely sure is the right way. Not completely lost and yet not exactly sure either can create a very uncomfortable feeling. Especially when driving alone this can be down right scary depending on your situation or location. For me I would normally have three different maps and directions with me so I can feel fairly secure where I was going but throw in an unexpected detour and that panic feeling can set in quick. Good Times? I think not. For some asking directions is not a problem, for others it is a matter of pride. We won't even bring up when your spouse or significant other is beside you....yikes.
Driving in a Car/Boat/Plane – As stated above the next type of GPS has many of the same functionality that you can find in the hand held models. Many come with very in depth maps and nice useful extras. These bad boys can stick to your dashboard, windshield or now a days fit right into the dashboard of your car. They are not waterproof nor drop proof but they have much larger screen displays which is great when driving. A car mounted GPS usually has large fully utilized maps and their POI or “Point Of Interest” selections are much more vast. This means you have more choices of stores, parks, cool places, addresses, etc. to choose from. The more modern GPS units now receive real time information like current traffic conditions and accident reports. Want to know which station has the cheapest gas, no problem. Need the fastest route to the hospital, can do. Mounted GPS devices are true powerhouses but should be in-car only.
Well lessee here, we start off with a beautiful crisp fall day in Oxford, North Carolina. I am about four miles from work and currently have a huge smile on my face. How come? Clean Sheets!
Well in a surprising change of pace our very own P.J. who came up with the HooHaa Travel Bug Race has now moved into second place. Apparently some action was required after recent rumors that the soft and cuddly "Quilt" just wasn't made of the right fluff. This left him in stitches and forced the move to sew up this race. We will have to wait a see if Quilt can continue to move it's fat quarters at a winning pace.(Mutant Mantis TB Sighting)
I had such a good time yesterday shooting and editing my latest GeoSnippits episode about Mystery and Puzzle caches. One of the first realizations while putting it together was the amount of information available to create it. When you start out thinking "wow, how am I going to fill out five minutes on this?"and end up with "wow, how can I do this in only ten minutes?"
I started out by doing some research and asking information from the people who know, geocachers. One of the first things I wanted to know was how much geocachers liked or disliked mystery caches. The results were rather interesting:
This meant that over half of the geocachers polled would go for a mystery/puzzle cache but only a few times a year. This would explain why the amount of traffic for that type of cache is reduced when you check out the logs. In fact on both forums a rather heated debate ensued.
On one side are the geocachers that love mystery/puzzle caches. They live to unpuzzle the puzzles and will put in whatever time and effort to do so. Quite a few posts told of how they use these type caches on rainy days to fill the time and as the number of resolutions pile up enough they will then go out and well, resolve them.
The other side of the coin was actually the most vocal but according to the above statistics is the smaller percentile, go figure. One post after another describes how mystery/puzzle caches are not even part of the equation. They are ignored as if plagued and to be avoided at all cost. Many have stated the amount of time and effort is too much for a smiley. Who wants to spend the wasted time figuring out math problems, solving letter sequences or heaven forbid decode a double super secret handshake message. Nay they say.... Nay!
If the coin somehow landed on it side it would represent the geocacher who sits on the fence when it comes to mystery caches. To peak their interest into actually going out and resolving a cache requires a special balance. The puzzle cannot be too difficult to resolve and yet have enough of a challenge to make it interesting. Too complicated - forget it, takes too long - nope, down right evil - there's plenty of traditionals out there to find. Though if you can manage a good combination of interest, placement and a feeling of "a game in the game" geocachers will beat down the door to figure it out.
It really is a shame that I ran out of time so quick but the show must go on. I am glad to be able to put out this footnote. I personally want to thank all the people who contributed to either the forum discussions and the poll (NCGO and Geocaching.com). It is greatly appreciated.
You can see my GeoSnippits episodes by going to YouTube and putting GeoSnippits or Headhardhat in the search field.
My daughter Geoness by far is the better half of our Geocaching team. When we are out on the trail we have a serious competition for who finds the cache first. You see, that gives the winner instant bragging rights and the honor of signing the logbook first. She's currently twelve and has no problem telling people that she is a “pre-teen”. I still am not sure if that is to show the importance of her age or is a subliminal warning of her possible moods and just to deal with it. Ahhh, teenagers. 
Well Pete is a much happier and warmer Parrot. He is a bit tired after travelling from Sweden but the warm sunshine from Islas Baleares, Spain is putting him in much more of a party animal spirit. This very cool travel bug has now gone over the 9000 mile mark and still going strong. Let's see how much party action he can get into before moving on to his next destination.
My next GeoSnippits episode came in as a suggestion from one of our regular subscribers. It describes Mystery/Puzzle caches and how the Geocaching community feels about them. Let me tell you if anything it opened up a broad spectrum of conversation on two of my favorite forums. I also posted a poll and you may be surprised as to the results.
When I started caching in the early month's of this year the days were getting longer. Even though I did not have a whole lot of time in the morning there was always time in the evening to hit a few quick caches before the sun dipped below the horizon. Now after Daylight Savings Time has kicked in I go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. How does one find our weekday smileys? Sure the first thing that comes to mind is caching during our lunch hours. That's all fine and good when you have caches available but I cleared out all the caches near work months ago. Now What?
This was a fun day.
By the time we were finished only two caches were micros and the majority were of the regular size. Which meant a lot of tupperware, lock 'n lock and our personal favorite ammo boxes. We traded items in many of them where Geoness would get a trinket or bauble and I gave some of my signature first aid kits. I never seem to get any goodies anymore which is no big deal but the look on my daughter's eyes as she plunges into a cache is priceless.Another phone post from my Blackberry.
Having fun walking the nature trails in Crabtree Park, Cary, NC. Found this cache in a gnome hole at the base of an old oak tree. Nice half mile walk. The real funny part was the initial choice of direction when we started. Geoness said left and I said go right and off we went.. Sure enough our half mile hike in the woods would have only been about 15o feet if we went left first. We both laughed when we realized it but then agreed that the hike was so very nice.
Sending in this post from my blackberry.
Having a great Fall day geocaching with daughter Geoness. Three for three so far. Did a lot more walking in wooded areas than I originally thought. Wonder if that will continue all day.
Well some are out of the starting gate, some are stuck in the gate and some are starting to kick some geocaching you know what. This week's cartoon focuses on the current leader and a new TB racer that just joined our ranks. Enjoy..
We have a late entry in the world famous HooHaa TB Race. The owner TripCyclone has joined our gaggle of merry travellers in what should be the smackdown of smackdown travel bug races. Even with the handicap of starting two weeks late in the race. Trip's TB "Easy Flyer" still has a chance to converse with my TB "Just a Nut" and GolfGunny's "Electric Bug" because we haven't been able to get out of the starting gate yet... It's bad enough that Go_Man's "GoGo T.Urtle" left yesterday. Sheez! Guess I am going to have to put up a flare or something... Ah well all part of the fun.
I just couldn't stand it anymore, this was something I just had to get done. Earlier in the year I adopted a host of geocaches, over 60 if I remember correctly. A little at a time I have visited each of those caches and cleaned, restocked or down right replaced them. It was a mission of love for the sport, hobby, obsession of geocaching. I am a believer that the cache owner is responsible for the continual condition of a cache. Those words for many are controversial but I do not care. For many believe it is up to the geocaching community to keep trade items stocked and caches in good shape. Though that is a really great concept we all know it is not enough and I will add trade items to empty caches regardless if they are mine or not. So people should not be surprised if I take a sense of pride by keeping my caches stocked. Did I mention I have about 100 of them? No I am not rich nor can I afford loads of goodies but the Dollar Store is my friend and I do fill them with trading items when I can. Sue me for caring... but I digress. So where was I? Oh yes, my mission to update my caches in Durham, NC.
I took Daughter Geoness with me on one of the prettiest fall days I have seen so far. The sun was out and not a cloud in the sky. The temps were in the low to mid 70s and if we were not at peak when it came to the Autumn leaves we were darn close. I was really looking forward to this time with my daughter. Some times it really is not about the numbers. If we found five or fifty caches the time together talking and walking down wooded paths is priceless to me. She isn't going to stay 12 forever and before she runs off with some gooey eyed or is that doughy eyed dude I am getting my quality time in... There I go digressing again.. Mission, focus on mission...
The forty-five minute drive to Durham was very scenic and before we knew it the game was a foot. We started out of the gate in pretty good shape and was able to find our first three caches in great condition. On number four we searched for about ten minutes and by prereading the logs I already knew that the cache was most likely gone. This one was a micro and I found a devious spot to put the replacement. The coords were the same so this one was an easy fix. Moving on to the next cache I was amazed by the size and condition of the container. It was huge and in great shape from what I could see. Geoness was so proud to find it and gleefully signed the log first which is the rule we have between us. The one who find it gets bragging and signing rights and we both love a little competition when it comes to caching.
The day continued and we ended up replacing three more caches but had an absolute riot finding and logging the rest. Once the main objective was complete it was time to do some cache raids. As usual we started out with the goal of cleaning out Durham but once we started walking the trails we just gabbed and took our time. There was one park which was full of color and falling leaves. That and a rather large dinosaur. Yup a bronto from what I figured. Standing right there watching people as they walked by. I thought it quite curious as Geoness and I walked and there coming out of the trees was Big B. Without missing a beat I tell my daughter oh look a dinosaur and she goes, "yeah Dad, saw it about half a mile back." I have to get my glasses checked cuz it startled the beejeepers out of me.
Well as with many Autumn days this one went way too quickly and the sun was making a hasty retreat which made it time to head home. During the ride back we recollected the places and things we had seen during the day and it brought a smile to my face. Daughter Geoness must have seen me grinning and asked why I was smiling. "Just enjoying the company", I said, but I digress.
