Much Needed Maintenance

Blue Delft and I met at one of my favorite spots, Nixon Park. We began by bundling up (it was very chilly) and heading down the connecting trail for TNT’s self-portrait. Recent finders had commented that there were trees down in the area and much overgrowth. But I was bound and determined to find it. Blue Delft was very patient as it took some doing. Two large trees had fallen over the exact spot where the self-portrait lay. I poked and strained and dug and pulled and came up successful! 

Next, we headed over to take a peek at Hop Along Home (doing fine) and headed up the steps to the Geology Trail.  From there we tucked our boxes in for the winter and checked on some others too: Oh Fudge, Way to Go, 3rd on the 6th, a delft tile and Nixon (weird… I felt like I was being watched...). We also found a new spot for the self-portrait.

After crossing over to the other side of the park we found and pulled Blast Off. I believe this was the first box that E man and I planted together, nearly 8 years ago. It was badly in need of repair. The stamp itself as well as the logbook were both completely rotten. Ick.

The sorry state of Blast Off! Definitely time to retire!

Then we looped around and enjoyed 37. It had been a while since I visited so I was rewarded with some new images for my logbook. Next, we tried to find the rebel base. We came up short with Luke as well as with Darth.

A fun, cold, and very productive day. All safe and sound for the winter.

Please Walk!

The farmers in the dell were gracious enough to give it another try. The clue has been updated with stronger pleas to PLEASE WALK to this box. This is  NOT a drive by. Thank you!

The Farmer in the Dell

Today I had the chance to finally plant another box that I had planned and assembled years ago. It was great to run into the Perry Family, trade letterboxing stories, meet the hens, sample some home brew, and visit the "three corner wood," leaving something behind.

If you've never been to Perrydell Farm Dairy, it is a neat place to visit, especially if you're with your family.  In season they have a small corn maze, perfect for young children.  If you time it right, you can watch the cows being milked from the milking parlor. You can always pet the young calves. They have a nice self-guided tour of the facility.

The store is great too.  I highly recommend their skim milk.  It is higher in fat content yet still falls within the skim percentage designation. No "blue" milk here! The chocolate milk is like a milkshake and you won't be disappointed with any sundae, especially those made with local fresh fruit (strawberry, peach, etc.) in season.

got milk?

Going Postal

I've been meaning to get there for a while, but today with the rain and Ralph Spoilsport's need for petri dishes, I figured this was the perfect time to get over to 17315. I enjoyed meeting Shawn. He was very polite, helpful, and friendly. The box was perfectly appointed and it was a great find on a wet day.  And, it was a good distraction from worrying about what Ralph plans on growing in those dishes! HA!

High Point of the Day

I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Lauxmont and High Point vista points. Outstanding and right here in York County! Go figure!

John

Years ago I was visiting my Uncle John in Palo Alto. I knew he lived across the street from a park and I wanted to leave something behind so I carved this out of an eraser. When I scouted the park I realized how busy it was and I never found a suitable hiding spot. So I ended up bringing it home and forgetting about it for a while. A couple of years later, I was at this beautiful park watching a cross country meet where the kids ran right past the bathrooms on their way up a tough incline. It seemed like an appropriate spot. 

Long Overdue

There was a time in my letterboxing "career" when I would have set out within a day or at most, a weekend of a new box being planted in my area.  Boy have times changed.  Now my letterboxing habit takes a very back seat to many other things.  But since I was having a sad day realizing that my kids are growing up way too fast, my (no longer a) baby decided to take pity on me and he agreed to hike with me in my favorite local park.

More than a year ago, I was along on the plant for hop along home but it seemed that I was not an official finder until I found it on my own. Which I did today.

Then Hot Lava and I scaled some rocks including a case of rock stairs.

Yikes!...Oh Fudge!  A fawn must've been resting nearby because it jumped right out in front of me and made me scream.  A few moments later I screamed again when I lifted the SPOR to find the box and a snake slithered over the box.   I was jumpy all the rest of the hike.

We had a little trouble finding the protruding "goggly eyes." It is funny to me how many trees I can construe into "protruding googly eyes" and how many of such trees have corresponding V trees with kick stands!  HA! We did persevere and were rewarded with a beautiful delft tile!

It was a super day after all!

Spring Rain

   

 For a while now I've been dreaming of a Spring series in a local park.  So back in the Fall, Blue Delft and I met to scout the area.

We liked it and saw potential so over the winter we set about the task.  She carved and sewed and crafted.  On the other hand, I procrastinated.  

As Spring approached, we set a date to meet again and install our series.  Family, work, and other commitments got in the way; I think we had to move the date at least 2 or 3 times. Finally the day arrived that neither of us had a conflict.  However, mother nature had her own plan.  Rain!
We didn't care.  We trudged through with our boots, rain jackets, and soaked pants.  It was a super day for us.

Have fun celebrating Spring with us.  If you would like to add your own "installment" to the Spring themed series please do so. The more the merrier!  Show us what Spring means to you.  Just hide it along the same route and email me the details so I can list it with the series.  Thanks and Happy Spring!

 

The Stash

Dumb, I know.  But it makes me snicker every time.

Retirement for Pappa Bear's Dutch Oven

I have decided to retire Pappa Bear's Dutch Oven.  I got a note from a finder, 3BOYS4DOGS that yesterday they found the box destroyed and two torn ziploc bags in the vicinity but no logbook or stamp.

It makes me sad to retire such a great box but it seems like the right thing to do under the circumstances.  Pappa Bear's stamps really are neat.  His Woody was my very first find and holds such a special place in my heart.  Many of his are hidden in the beautiful Codorus State Park.  Check 'em out while they're still there!

The Rebel Base

The Caped Coder, Mip, Zip, Hot Lava, and I went to find the Rebel Base at our favorite place, Nixon Park.  We found Luke Skywalker but Darth Vader had apparently been abducted.

I was lucky enough to find a Woozy, though.  Beware!

Evidence of Fathers Day

It was Fathers Day, time for the annual family bike ride on the Heritage Rail Trail.  Such a fun thing to do!

I looked for the evidence and found it with no problem.  I had a recent report of troubles but alas, all seems to be in order.

During the workout

I had some time to kill during a workout while I enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Maintenance Loop

After dropping off the self-portrait, we decided to loop around and check in on some other adventures.  We passed by the missing tile and stuck our tongue out at the tree again, and made our way to the 3rd on the 6th.  I took a look through the logbook and thought it funny that so many finders commented on the missing crude bench.  When Eman and I originally wrote the clues in 2007 the bench was very crude then, no surprise it didn't last more than a couple more years.  Anyway, I took care of a few things, removed a useless and filthy outer bag (where did that come from anyway) and hid it much better as it was practically out in the open.  

We also ran into a couple of salamanders in the area of the box.  We enjoyed looking at them but left them alone.  

From there I headed over to check in on Nixon.  I took some bearings to help with the clues since it seemed that some finders were having trouble.  Again, I removed the outer bag and rehid better. All the while, I got a strange feeling that I was being watched.  Perhaps I was.  After all, the woods have eyes.  

  

TNT's Self-portrait

With only five minutes notice, The Caped Coder came by to pick me up for an outing to my favorite park.  I had been holding onto a carving that TNT had done several years ago, thinking I'd make it into a box.  This seemed like the perfect opportunity to tuck it away in our favorite local hiking place. 

It was a great day to be out and once The Caped Coder finished with his hop, I found a spot for the self-portrait.

When I listed the clues, I made note that this is was carved by a child since I didn't want to disappoint any finders.  When I signed in this morning I was greeted by a really nice note from the first finder, Misirae.  She said, "Any body that would pass this by being a child carve would be missing out. What a wonderful job."  Thanks Misirae for the nice note.  I will be sure to pass along your kind words to TNT.

Taking Charge

Taking charge, The Caped Coder took TNT and me along with Mip and Zip over to the Little Raccoon.  We found some cool stuff that included an animal bone, we ran into Cubed, and I witnessed a hiker wearing all white with a frilly skirt.  Girls!  smh...

Missing Tile

I absolutely love Krap Ytnuoc Noxin. It is one of the best little gems that York has to offer, IMHO.  I gathered up a car-full and headed over to enjoy the beautiful day. I wanted to check out a tile that promised to be awesome. We struggled a bit to find the tree with the baby tree growing out of it.  Seems like a weird thing, why would a tree have another tree growing out of it?  But when we saw it we knew. 

I've had compass problems in the past (aka operator error - sometimes I do better without relying on that thing) so I checked a 9 step radius around the tree with the baby tree.  No luck.  We did find this cool tree with a metal "tongue" sticking out like it was mocking me.  Ha!  We headed back empty handed but thoroughly enjoyed the walk. 

I heard later that the box was missing after all.  Bummer.  I hope Blue Delft replaces it.

Happy Cake Day to Me!

Yesterday marked my 5th year anniversary of finding my first letterbox.  Today marks my 5th year of being an Atlas Quest member. To commemorate the occasion, we were planning on heading out on some adventures yesterday but then the darkening sky opened up and it rained pretty hard, especially for having only a 20% chance of showers. 

The Caped Coder came through for me today and we headed out despite the cold, windy, and raw conditions.  Our first stop was unexpected.  Thanks to the heads up from idlemoom, we were able to score an amazing box.  It was so impressive, a really awesome carving, a specially appointed box, and a clever and thoughtful gift.  After wishing Fijne Verjaardag! to Blue Delft (and a Gelukkig Jaarfeest to me) we moved on to part two of our outing.

We enjoyed the big open space and the views of the horses.  Even they were wearing coats.  It was great to get out and stretch to grab the boxes.  But then it was so chilly that we ran back to the car just so we could stamp in without our fingers and ink pads freezing.

We gave thanks to the farmers and we met a horse named Belle.  We also came across the soul saver #2 and the empire strikes back.  All in all a very productive day. 


Special thanks to all who made my mini celebration possible and fruitful!  ;)

An out of this world W-A-L-K

Today when we went for a W-A-L-K we saw some cool things.  We saw a number of trees that had been damaged from the October 29 snow.

We also saw a horse, a black and white fat cat, a beautiful blue heron, an alien hand, and osage oranges, which also look very alien-ish.  The afternoon was out of this world!

Adoptions

Pappa Bear is the owner of my very first find, Woody.  It is still one of my most favorites.  In fact, many of my early finds were boxes of his, including the one pictured, Campfires.  Unfortunately, I believe that both Woody and Campfire are missing now.  But he's still got some other wonderful boxes in the area.  Anyway, I happened to see on his blog that he was relocating out to the mid-west and was planning on retiring his boxes.  I thought to myself how much I enjoyed these boxes and how I'd hate to see them retired so I dropped him a note and offered to look after them.  He took me up on my offer and just recently, he transferred his area boxes over to my care. If you haven't already, check them out.  The Heritage Rail Trail and Codorus State Park are both great destinations!