100th Find!

We did it!!! We found our 100th box! I am so excited!

Yesterday, we decided to go out and finish the series we had started (twice), since it was cool and we could wear long sleeves to keep the mosquitos away. We found eleven out of the thirteen boxes. We figure we will go back and find the other 2 boxes sometime in August when we look for two other series in the same park. But for now, we are kind of sick of going to that park and want to head in some different directions. Luckily, the park is in the next town over, so if we do want to go back sooner, it's not that far to drive. So after the series we had 99 finds. We had to find one more to make 100, and we weren't going to stop for the day until we found it. We went back to a box that we had tried once before and actually found it this time. Our 100th find was a Buxton Boxers plant, the first of theirs that we had found.

So today, we planned on looking for 4 boxes in neighboring town west of us. There were two new plants there and 2 boxes we had looked for before. We ended up going for 6 boxes and found 3 of them, plus a really great hitchhiker. There is this one box that just keeps eluding us! Not so much eluding, but it was taken in for the winter and was supposed to be re-planted this past week. But we didn't see it, or at least Scott didn't. I stayed in the car, since we were having a downpour. He actually searched for that box and another during a pretty strong thunderstorm this morning. The storm only lasted for about 30 minutes, but Scott was determined to get the boxes, since we didn't know how long the rain would last.

We had a great weekend in all. Next weekend we are planting my 15-box series in my hometown, plus re-planting one, maybe two, boxes in the Tour the Fort series. We are taking Thursday off from work and will make a 4-day weekend of it. I'll be planting on Thursday, spend the fourth with the family, and we'll be boxing on Saturday and maybe some on the way home Sunday. Ok, I am way addicted. I hope there aren't any 12-step programs for this addiction though. That would mean that I need help with it, and I'm having way too much fun!

"Naughty Scotty"

I just had to laugh when I heard this. Scott and I have been together for about 5 years now and today was the first time he ever told me about the name that he gave himself!

My husband, Scott, works as a diesel mechanic at the Mack/Volvo Truck dealership in Portland (Maine.) He was telling me about a truck that he was working on today and how it started to look familiar to him. He said he could see some of the markings he had made on the truck a few years before. But, the final clue that he had worked on the same truck was when he removed the clutch and saw his moniker written on the housing. I didn't know this, but every truck that he works on he signs "Naughty Scotty" and the date he worked on it. This particular truck was dated May 19, 2006. I busted a gut I laughed so hard at the nickname he gave himself. I just can't get over the fact that I never knew about it.

Now, I (being the letterbox addict I am) suggested that he change his trail name from atvracer to Naughty Scotty. He just gave me a big grin and said nothing. Which means I probably shouldn't have just blogged about it, but I just couldn't keep it to myself!!! I'm still smiling!

Day off, a Cruise and 7 to go!

I've had a wonderful weekend full of letterboxing activities!!!

First of all, I took Friday off! So, what did I do? I met my husband for lunch, then headed out for some boxes. I found three letterboxes, the first time I have ever gone by myself. Scott and I always go together, except the one time I spent the day boxing with my sister, who was visiting from Seattle. I was even first finder for one of the boxes! It's cool to be first finder, but honestly I like to find them after others have, so I can see who else has found it. The fourth box I went looking for I didn't find, and why was that? Because I didn't know that there were two neighboring towns, each with roads the same name, and it was not the same road. Duh, Gray and New Gloucester each have a Town Farm Road and they aren't any where near each other. So since I drive by the one in Gray every now and then, I figure that's the road. WRONG! I ended up going home and checking on mapquest and see there are two different roads. I'll go looking for that one again sometime soon. But, I got find #'s 83, 84 & 85.

Saturday, the plan was to do a couple of errands in the morning, then head to the 5-hour Cruise Tour event in Saco. Scott had to work in the morning and has been having rebound headaches (he takes meds for tension migraines, but after a while he has rebound headaches from the medication, which are sometimes worse than the ones he's taking the meds for.) He ended up working, then coming home to sleep and hopefully diffuse the headache. I headed out at about 9:30am to pick a couple things up in town, then headed for the turnpike. It happened to be that day that Windham holds Summerfest, so getting around was a mess. I was going to head straight into Portland and jump on the turnpike, but changed my mind and went to Gray to get on the Turnpike there. I was going to be able to kill two birds with one stone, get onthe turnpike and stop at the new Starbuck's at the re-furbished rest area. I ended up being about an hour late to the "Cruise." But it was going until 4, so I figured I could get plenty of time in. Unfortunately for my hosts, there was a very small turnout. They had done a lot of preparations for the event, and six people came. I do have to say, I had a wonderful time!! It was nice to sit and relax and take my time stamping all the event stamps. I got to know my hosts better, and found that we have a few things in common and we know some non-lb people in common. I also got to meet a couple of other letterboxers I hadn't met yet and do some exchanges. I headed home and stopped at a Dollar Tree on the way and picked up twenty of the Lock-n-Lock knock-offs. WoooHooo!

Today, we got up about 8am, with the plan to leave between 9 and 10 to get some more boxes. We are so close to that 100th find. we thought we would pick up the series we had started a couple of weeks ago when it was really hot and the bugs drove us out of the woods. We got two more in the series, but once again we got tired of fighting the mosquitos in the woods. We even doused ourselves in bug spray, but they came after us anyway. So we decided to come back on a cooler day, when we could wear longer sleeves and not sweat to death from the heat. We ended up doing six drive-bys instead. So a total of eight boxes for today!! That's find #'s 86-93!! Woohoo!! Only 7 more to go! We will get them next weekend!!!! The goal is to get them before the end of June!!

On another note, we learned that one of the boxes in a series we planted near my hometown had been muggled. They left everything in the box, except the stamp! What the heck? Why would they just take the stamp. I mean, I've heard that it has happened to others, but it is just so heartbreaking to hear it happened to this series. And to boot, it was the box that everyone loved looking for, because it was in total darkness and you need a flashlight for it in the middle of the day! Oh well, I will re-carve it and re-hide it again over the weekend of the 4th.

Well, off to dream about planting and finding more letterboxes.

The Countdown has Begun!

We hit 75 boxes found today! We are so excited, we are starting the countdown to 100! 25 to go!!! 100 finds seems to be a huge milestone for most letterboxers and we are loving the fact that we are almost there. We found 7 today and will be heading out tomorrow to finish the series we started last weekend (we are bringing lots of bug spray with us!!!!) Plus, we are finally planting the box in memory of our little guinea pig tomorrow. Scott has picked an area that is all about animals.

OMG, I laughed so hard today! We stopped by my favorite HH hostel today to drop of a new HH and had quite a mini-adventure. I opened the lid of the box and was greeted by two wasps. I looked at the underneath of the lid and there was a small wasp nest, not more than 8-10 openings for baby wasps. I grabbed the container in the box without even thinking there might be more. Scott kept saying that there was one on the front, but I didn't see it. He was at an angle where he could see inside the box and there was one sitting right on the front wall, waiting for me to put my hand back in there. I couldn't grab the second container with the boxes stamp in it, so I ended up just stamping the HH into the box's logbook and putting it in the container with the other hitchhikers. Scott had a plan to get the container back in the box, he wanted me to get in the car and start the engine running. He was going to put the container back in the box and close the lid, then run to the car and jump in car so the wasps couldn't get him. I laughed so hard, I felt like we were robbing the box and making a getaway. We didn't even take a HH out of the box cause it was supposed to have three remain in it and there were only two besides the one we put in. UNLESS, there was one in the container with the boxes stamp, which we never took out. Oh well, it's a bonus for someone if that's the case!!!

I carved a new signature stamp tonight. It's the same image really, just a little different view. My signature stamp is of Spring Point Lighthouse, where Scott and I got married in 2006. You can see a picture at the top of this entry and a picture of my old one is on my profile page at Atlas Quest (http://www.atlasquest.com/people/profile.html?gMemberId=15556) The new one is a little bit bigger, and a little more detailed, and the rocks are gone. It should be easier to figure out what it is. I'm really happy with it. My original signature stamp is starting to show wear, and is actually splitting from the back.

Scott is working on a series right now. Every time we go out boxing, he starts talking about it and actually has one stamp ready for it. He wants to get the stamps carved first then he'll figure out where to plant it.

I'm following the same idea. I'm planning a 15 box series, hopefully to be planted near home or near my hometown. I haven't quite decided yet. But, I carved the first stamp for it tonight. They are pretty easy carves, and I haven't seen any other boxes with the same theme yet. So, hopefully it will be worth finding.

Can you say HOT?

Scott and I have been talking about doing the Ghost Train series at Shaw Park since this winter, and we finally decided to do it. Unfortunately, we didn't get very far! We got 3 out of 13 boxes. It was just so hot and muggy (and BUGGY!) Scott actually pulled a deer tick off my pants (yes, today Scott decided to wear shorts and I wore pants, so guess who got to go in tall, grassy areas!) The mosquitos were having a field day with us! Next time we have a cool and breezy day we will definitely go back to finish!!

We decided to do a few drive-by's as well, but honestly once we got into the air conditioned car, it was hard to get out. So we attempted one, but had the wrong place and when we found the right place, we decided to do that one another day as well.

So home we drove, to do a thorough tick check on each other and watch the NASCAR race. (I will probably do some scrapbooking, that way I knock out some pages in our letterboxing logbook.)

Signing off!

Where to Plant?

Last weekend I carved a stamp in memory of our guinea pig, Tiki. It's just a cute stamp, nothing with a lot of detail. Scott decided that he wanted to choose the spot to plant it, making this letterbox the first box that he plants on his own. (We usually decide together, where to plant boxes.) He wants the spot to be animal-related and somewhat local. We've thought of a few locations and one of them he really liked, but get this, he can't remember which place that was. So I don't think the box is going to get planted this weekend like we had hoped.

He has also been carving a stamp here and there for a series he is interested in doing about his other interest (ok, his addiction) ATV racing! He's actually carved the same stamp twice because he's kind of a perfectionist about it. I personally thought the first one was really good, but he didn't like how the detail came out. Honestly, I think they both look exactly alike.

Speaking of racing, we've name our little letterboxing team "The Pit Crew." There are only three of us, myself, Scott and out 11yo nephew Zach, who's trailname is Dirt Bike or Dirt Bike Racer, whichever he feels like at the moment. So with the males in the team there is definitely a theme, ya think? We try to take Zach with us to Scott's races at least once a month, he's a great crew member at the races so the team name just fit. Hopefully he can do more boxing with us this month, since Scott isn't able to race right now (he blew his engine at the last race and is in the middle of fixing it now, hopefully it will be ready in time for the July race!) We'll see!!

Now, I need to get everything together for our day. We're heading out to do a couple of errands and there are a couple of letterboxes in the vicinities of our stops.

Enjoy!

New blog and this weekend's events

I started a new blog. Now I have one for scrapbooking and for letterboxing! Both are my favorite pasttimes.

This blog is specifically for letterboxing, with a few off-subject posts along the way, I'm sure. We'll see. So let me get to this weekend.

It didn't start out well, at all. Our guinea pig, Tiki, had been sick for a couple of weeks with bronchitis, that just turned to pneumonia. Friday night we came home and gave him another dose of the anti-biotic the vet gave us. A couple of hours later, he could barely hold himself up and was shaking and trembling. I picked him up to cuddle with him and he started shaking and wiggling more and within 60 seconds he was gone. Scott and I are both heartbroken. No more squeals when we open the fridge and take out veggies for the little buddy. We would wait until the next day to take him to Scott's parent's house and bury him next to the other giunea pig we had. They were buddies in life, so they should be together now.

Friday night, I had a hard time sleeping so I got up and decided to carve a stamp for a letterbox dedicated to Tiki. I searched through clip art and found a cute cartoon drawing of a guineaa pig that I decided to use. Since I carved the stamp and prepared the box, Scott is going to decide where it will be planted. He's trying to decide where it will be planted, but is having a hard time. He wants it animal-related and close by, at least within our town. I know something will come to him and he will finally have a P-count.

Scott had to work Saturday morning, so we headed to his parent's house in the early afternoon. The weather report said chance of scattered showers, and for a change they were right. We buried and decided to do a few drive-by boxes on the way home. This has never happened to us before, but we actually had a zero day. We looked for two boxes and didn't find either of them. We decided that we would start again around 9, Sunday morning.

This morning we headed out, 9am on the nose!!!! We stopped for coffee and headed to Southern Maine Community College/Spring Point Lighthouse in South Portland. Scott and I actually got married at Spring Point Mighthouse, and we realized we hadn't been there since. That was almost 2 years ago.

We found 5 out of 7 boxes! Not bad!

The funny thing about the day is that we just missed another couple (Beswick) who we have been chatting with about letterboxing and have yet to meet. We have family in the same area, where I grew up. After contacting them, it seems we missed each other by a mere few minutes. DARN!!! They picked up the hitchhiker we launched in our first box of the day and will be taking it with them out of state. Can't wait to see the finds logged on that one. Maybe next time we can meet up on the trail!

Speaking of hitchhikers, I wonder if my sister has planted the "Traveling Sisters" hitchhiker in Seattle yet. I carved it and she took it back to Seattle with her to plant. The directions are that the hitchiker travel from Seattle, WA to Windham, ME - from her to me. I should call her to see if she actually launched it this weekend, as she said she had planned on it.

OK, well time for bed!

Signing off!!