Happy New Year!

The Princess and I spent the first day of 2019 letterboxing and geocaching.  On New Years Day we planted four boxes, one of them being our Secret Santa stamp.  We also looked for local GeoArt.  They were hybrid boxes planted by geocachers.  The art made a Batman symbol.  We got 26 the first day and I went out after the other 30 on the first Saturday of the year.  Of the 56 hybrid boxes only ten of them still had their stamps :(

Planting on 1/1/19

Also on that first Saturday, I went after some traditional letterboxes.  Two of them were planted on New Years Day.  When I was finished with the two new boxes and the 30 hybrids, I went after 5 boxes planted at Scales Lake by people attending the GLG.  Someone recently planted another box at Scales Lake.  I looked for it and couldn't find it.  I think I finally have found/looked for all the boxes at Scales Lake. 

At the end of year, I usually do a recap post.  My traditional plants in 2018 were pretty average.  If you don't count the boxes I planted for my event in 2016, the last 3 years I have planted 28 boxes each year.  Funny how that worked out.  My find count for 2018 was average.  My LTC plants and finds were down in 2018.  I started working in September 2017 and I have less time to make LTCs now.

I don't set boxing goals.  I am looking forward to the Big Top on the Prairie event in Ohio.  I have already set money aside for the hotel room.  I also plan on attending an event at a nearby state park in May.  It will be hosted by the same boxers who put on the GLG last year.  My boxing buddy says we need to go box in Louisville.  That will help add some stamps to my logbook :)

As for planting boxes, I have a plan for 2019.  Last year I joined a LTC swap for silly holidays.  When I joined I made a card for a silly holiday on my birthday thinking I would hide it on my special day.  I then I got to thinking it would be fun to hide more silly holidays.  I plan to hide one silly holiday each month in 2019.

There has been talk on the AQ boards of a Power Plant Challenge.  If you plant at least ten permanent traditional boxes between Nov 1st and April 30th, you get a Power Plant Patch <3  If everything goes as planned, I will have 20 boxes planted by the end of April :)

I hope everyone has a safe, happy, and healthy new year :)

O'Bannon Woods

About 4 weeks ago we went camping at O'Bannon Woods in south central Indiana.  We had never been here before and were looking to try something different.  I started this blog post a few weeks ago but something happened and it did not save :(  So, here we go again...



The park is a little farther than our usual haunts and we set up in the dark.  On Saturday, we walked down to the nature center, hay press, and village.  It is small but nice.  There are no letterboxes in this park!  We planted two boxes on the path on the way down.  So far, no finders. 

Saturday afternoon, we went over to Corydon.  This is Indiana's first capitol.  We did a walking tour and saw the sights.  There was a cool glass blowing shop,  old capital building, got ice cream, went to the Constitution Elm, and stepped inside the first pub that President William Henry Harrison owned for a while. 

At the park, 3 of us climbed the fire tower.  We found a geocache nearby and talked to a family exploring the area on horseback.

On Sunday, we went and found an old iron bridge that was no longer in use.  We hiked a trail around a wetland and got chiggers :(  The wetland trail was nice but at the end it disappears and we walked thru a clearing of tall grass.  We had our first experience with Beech Blight Aphids.  Which are really scary if you don't know what they are.

The caves in the area close after Labor Day and we missed out on those :(

The weather was great.  We found 0 boxes and planted 2.  I wish I would have taken some to plant in Corydon. 

Lil Ewok kept calling the place Abandoned Woods instead of O'Bannon Woods :D

700th Find

Ft Branch Cemetery

The weather this weekend was very nice and I spent most of Saturday out letterboxing & geocaching.  I started off the day planting a box in Ft Branch.  This town is about 30 minutes north of me.  I planted the stamp that I am using for the "Extravagant Cultural Attire"  LTC swap.  I am almost finished with the cards and I will post a pic later.

Sculpture at the Azalea Path

The next stop off the day was at Azalea Path Arboretum & Botanical Gardens.  This place is about 30 minutes north of Ft Branch (1 hr from home).  They were closed for the season but I thought the web site said you could walk the ground year round.  I guess not because the owner tracked me down after seeing my car.  He was nice but made sure to let me know they were closed.  I got a geocache an heading out.  I will come back when the flowers are blooming and see about hiding a letterbox. 

On the way home, I stopped to get another geocache.  I am thinking about hiding a letterbox in the same cemetery for PAL Day and wanted to check it out.  Yes, I am thinking about PAL Day.  I didn't plant anything last year but I may plant 2-3 this year.

Me & the princess at my 700th LB

Then I got the princess.  She had stayed the night at a friends house.  We went out and found 4 hybrids (planted by a geocacher) and 1 regular cache that we had looked for before but could not find.  We ran into some real geocachers while we were out.  We told them that we were really letterboxers and they encouraged us to join their Facebook group and I did.  We were going to try another cache but the phone died. 

The 4 hybrids pushed me up to 700.  I will probably be stuck here a while.  We are going on a family vacation this summer so no LB events for me.  Which means very few boxes to find :(

Happy New Year :)

First plant of the new year :)

I spent part of the first day of the new year out boxing and caching.  I planted a new box in Santa Claus, In and did maintenance on 3 boxes.  I also found 3 geocaches while I was out.  I have a feeling that I will find more geocaches than letterboxes in 2016 :(

I will be participating in Box of the Month again in 2016.  I know, I said I wouldn't do it again but I love getting the stamps.  I have already had one finder on my 2016 BOTM.  The last stop for my 2015 BOTM was St Louis.  I hope it didn't wash away in the floods.

Lumpy Cards: Peacock Plumage

I am using my 2016 BOTM stamp for an LTC swap. These are my cards for the "Lumpy Card Lovers" swap.  They are called "Peacock Plumage."  Fun name.  They have cardboard, encyclopedia & music pages, paint chip, burlap, twine, and a rind stone.  I really enjoyed making these.

The Peanuts Gang: Typical Linus

I guess 2016 will be the year of the postal.  I am already signed up for 3 (counting BOTM).  I am in "The Peanuts Gang" and "Star Wars Characters."   My Linus is ready to go and I have my Ray image transferred and ready to carve.

I have been carving a lot of Etsy stamps lately.  Last year it slowed down around the holidays but not this year.

I hope everyone has a happy & safe 2016 :)

October Box of the Month

2015 Pumpkin Carving Party

This weekend we took a break from stamp carving to carve some pumpkins.  We always have a pumpkin carving party with my parents, sisters, and nieces.  This year we also celebrated one of my nieces 16th birthday and she invited a few friends.  Fun was had by all.

I just retired my October BOTM.  It has had a few extra finders lately.  There is a family from Ky and another from Al that has been coming up to Evansville once or twice a month.  They have been finding my boxes for the past few months.  It is nice to have some new finders but I wish they could plant something for me.

Lake near my BOTM

In my previous post I told that I planted a letterbox/geocache hybrid.  Well, it was not approved :(  I was disappointed, frustrated, and angry.  I had to go out pull the box and find a new hiding spot.  I hid it this morning and got word this evening that it had been approved.  I will never plant another geocache again.  Why do they make it so hard?  Oh well, it's over now.

I am feeling lazy and I think next month I will hide my BOTM closer to the trail head.  If we get any snow the locals will thank me.

Waterfall near BOTM

Friday is my 5 year letterboxing anniversary.  I will celebrate with a new box of course.  I wanted to plant it today but Lil Ewok wouldn't cooperate.  We are going to do it first thing tomorrow morning.

Planted my first hybrid

Lil Ewok at the trail head

Lil Ewok and I were very busy this morning.  We spent about an hour and a half planting letterboxes.

A few years ago I started getting LTCs with food ingredients in the mail.  I had no idea who was sending them or what was meeting made but I loved the idea.  Something happened and I never got all the ingredients but I was inspired to try it as a traditional series.

Angel Mounds

Today we planted a 12 boxes series called, "What's Cooking?"  There are 8 ingredients and few other things.  You gotta have something to wash it down.  And you can't eat alone.  I had a lot of fun making the boxes but where was I going to hide them?

Indiana Jones LEGO Minigif

I have posted about the trails as Angel Mounds before.  There are miles of trails and I believe that there are only 1-2 boxes there.  The Indiana Jones box that I planted there went missing after a year.  I wanted to recarve and replant but I never got around to it.

That's when I saw the LEGO Minifigure LTC swap.  I decided that I would carve up Indy and hide him at Angel Mounds again.  I have been thinking for a while now about planting a hybrid so I thought this was my chance.  A friend had given me an ammo can and I got to work.

We hid all 13 this morning.  It may take a few days for my geocache to get approved but I am excited :)  It was a beautiful day to be out and we got a lot accomplished!

PS-I discovered that my geocache is not approved :(  I am very disappointed.  I guess I need to change out the container and remove the swag.

3 States in 1 Day

Sword and the stone

Today my 2 younger kids, my boxing buddy, and I boxed in 3 states- In, Ky & Tn.

So there are some folks in Hopkinsville, Ky (about 1 1/2 hrs south) that have been boxing up here a lot lately.  I was thinking that even though there is only one box there I should go there and plant a box for them.  But before I could they planted a new box in Hopkinsville.  So this meant that I really had to go down there!

Getting ready to stamp at the round table

The two boxes there were both on a college campus.  They were easy to find and fun.  My kids loved playing with the sword and the stone.  The princess was determined that we could pull it out.  When we found the box there we stamped in at the round table and then played around at the amphitheater.

After playing for a while we left to plant my box.  I knew that I wanted to put it at a military memorial park.  It was bigger than it looked on Google maps.  We walked around for a while, planted, and found two geocaches.   When we left the park we had lunch and a potty break.

Statue selfie

Then we continued south and found two more boxes (and one geocache) in Clarksville, Tn about 30 minutes south of Hopkinsville.  These were cool boxes too in neat locations but they needed maintenance.  We replaced all the baggies in the boxes today except for the new box.

Now for the 2 hour trip home.  The kids were pretty fussy and the princess napped for a little while.  She would have napped longer but Lil Ewok kept yelling at her.

Memorial Park

When we got back to town we dropped the kids off at home and looked for a new box planted by a geocacher.  This is his third letterbox/hybrid.  So far I'm not impressed.  He left a clue for letterboxers but it was very vague.  I am pretty sure we were in the right spot but couldn't find it.

We had a pretty good trip.  It sprinkled early but it cleared up and was nice.  Now if I can get my kids to act better on car trips.

July BOTM

Found a geocache

July has been busy and it is time again remove our Box of the Month.  The box had only one finder again :(

When we dropped it off there were many fungi on the trail.  They were white, tan, orange, and yellow.  It was neat to see so many different colors on one trail.

First Finders on 2 new letterboxes

When we retired the box we looked for a geocache in the area.  It was this dinosaur in a tree with a Bison Tube in it's mouth.  The tube has a logbook in it.  Now don't tell, but we couldn't get the logbook out!  We counted it as a find anyway but I guess we need to add tweezers to our letterboxing bag.  I have some in a pocket knife in my purse but I locked it in the car.  Oh well, the young ins had a great time finding the cache.  I believe that there are others in our area like this that are Disney characters.  We may have to try to look for them too.

Cool leaf bug :)

So while we were out we found 3 Munzee, 2 Letterboxes, and 1 dino in a tree Geocache.  And a cool leaf bug :)  I don't know why the person who planted two new boxes here didn't look for my box.  It's really frustrating.  I am pretty sure that I won't do this BOTM thing again.

Eagle Slough Maintenance

Me & Lil Ewok soaking up some sun 

Today was a beautiful day so Lil Ewok and I went to the Eagle Slough to check on one of our boxes.  This area had just been under water and I was concerned that the box had been washed away.  I thought the area might be muddy so we wore our rubber boots.  The main trail was high and dry.

We looked for our box and it was missing :(  It was clear that someone or something had been digging at the base of the tree (and the one next to it) where the box was hidden.  So, I am not sure if it survived the flood or not.  The scratching appeared to be fresh or at least post-flood.

Very muddy wetlands 

Normally a missing box is not a huge deal.  I retire or recarve and move on.  But I got this stamp thru the GAQLBE (Great Atlas Quest LetterBox Exchange).  So I really feel bad about it being gone.  I am going to recarve a similar image a hide it in a different spot at the Eagle Slough.  There are no other boxes here and I think there should be one.

While we were there we explored the wetland area which was very muddy!  Lil Ewok was determined to follow the big red arrow and I am glad we wore our boots for that part.  We also looked for a geocache and couldn't find it but found 3 Munzee's.

Raccoon footprint?  

I really like Munzee.  Now, I know what you are thinking, "This woman can't find a geocache the size of a shoe box but she is having fun finding QR codes the size of a quarter?"  Let me explain, there are only so many places they can stick those buggers!  And I feel like my phone is the problem when geocaching but Munzee is GPS based too so maybe the problem is the caching app?  I don't know.  Munzee is additive.

Goose or crane footprint?

For more info about the Eagle Slough...
http://wchristmas6.blogspot.com/2014/06/exploring-planting-at-eagle-slough.html

Box of the Month & Gelli prints

Me, Daddy's Favorite Princess & Lil Ewok

This year we are participating in the Letterbox of the Month club.  Twelve people sign up, make a stamp and a logbook, and hide it for the first month.  Then, like a postal, you mail the logbook and stamp to the next person and they hide it for a month.  And it goes on and on until you get your own stuff back at the end of the year.  

Yesterday we got our box for February and we planted it today.  In the pic is me & the princess.  Lil Ewok was mad that I would not let him bring his blanket on the walk and he would not face the camera.

I have a cousin who is a geocacher and when she comes to town she caches.  The last few times she has loaded up all the kids and went off geocaching.  Now the princess thinks caching is more fun than boxing because you "get prizes."  So we have looked for a few and not had much luck.  We looked for one today and couldn't find it.  I give up; it is just too stressful looking for something with no directions.  

On a happier note: I told you that I got a Gelli plate last Friday and took it to a GS leader retreat.  I had a lot of fun playing with it.  These are my first prints.  I am using my Gelli plate on two cards and will probably use it a lot :)

My First Geocaching Event

Cachers talking

I went to my first geocaching event today. Around here the only people who plant hybrid boxes are geocachers. And for the most part they only put the clues on the geocaching web site. I have a Girl Scout friend who is an active cacher and I was asking about this one day. She said that we should have a Geocacher/Letterboxer event to talk about this kind of stuff.

Looking at my LTC binder

So today at one of the local libraries we had the event. I talked about letterboxing and listing clues on our web sites. If they are going to take the time to plant a cache with a stamp why not put clues to the box where people who look for stamps can find them?

I also took carving tools and told people if they were interested in making a stamp to bring a school eraser. Most of the geocachers brought erasers. I took some extras and I believe everyone made a stamp.

Carving stamps 

I have never been to a geocaching event before so I didn't know what they do to pass the time. I took two of my table tops and they seemed to enjoy those. I also took one of my binders of LTCs to show off different stamps. I think they all liked that too. I wish I could have gotten some other letterboxers to attend but our numbers are really low right now :(