I walked to the post office to mail the bills, but I missed the pick-up by fifteen minutes, so I walked over to the outside box to see if it picks up later, and it did, so I dropped the bills in there.  Then I walked over to the library to see if they had any of the Ranger's Apprentice series, but they did not, so I checked out something else, that I can't remember the title of. I also picked up a Reader, just for the sodoku, even though I'm still working on an Evil one from February.

Then I walked down to Costco to check on my geocache, since I couldn't find it the other day. I thought maybe it was missing. It took a couple of minutes, but it was pretty much where I put it.  Here's a pic.



Along the way I checked for that quarter I epoxied on the bridge just outside the fence a few years ago. It is still there. Needs to be shined up, though, probably no one even notices it.



When I got home I was notified that I had to go to the grocery store, so I sneaked off to Allied Gardens to do part three of a multi-cache.  I found that one, then went over to the Allied Gardens Albertsons. I remembered there was a cache right in the parking lot which I had not located back in January. I fired up the GPSr to look a little bit, but I could not find it.  I went in and did my shopping, then on the way back to the vehicle I took another look and spotted the cache right off.  So that was good!

I made it home with no one the wiser for my divagations!

In The Library

I came across this mystery blob on the library carpet this morning, after the before-school rush. It was a putty-like material, with none of the typical gum stench so common to blobs on the library floor. What could it be? Froggy for size comparison purposes only.



I am consistently amused by my bent, dare I say gnarled, fingers.



The sixth graders are using these redpugs as a mnemonic device to remember successful test-taking strategies. I do not recall any of them, right off hand.  Thi/These one('s), courtesy of M.L., is/are named Frank and Bob

A Day Off

I took a vacation day today. Chauffeured to the doctor, and made a little appointment for myself later in the week. I went geocaching in the afternoon, over at Lake Murray.  The wilderness park of Lake Murray. The fabled "Land Beyond The Fence", aka "The Land Of A Million Golf Balls".

I parked at Lake Murray, then headed into land of snakes and weeds.  I climbed up to the area of the first cache, near the top of the Del Cerro hill, to find I had lost my maps/hints printouts.  I managed to make the find anyway, being the clever lad I am.  The trick now was to figure a way to the second cache. What with spring, and the rains, it was all quite overgrown.  Oh, and it is back down at the bottom of the hill, near the road.  I was able to find a pathway that only required a minimum of bushwhacking. A couple on the road looked at me strangely, being on the other side of the fence, and I shouted out, "I'm on the wrong side of the fence!", which seemed humorous at the time.

So here is a view you won't see again soon. It is beyond the perimeter road turn-around point, so "civilians" are not allowed on that section of the road. Cowles Mt. in the background.



After all that excitement I headed back. It was just as much bushwhacking, but at least I knew I could do it, since I had just, um, done it.

I found those missing maps/hints printouts back towards the tennis courts. You can see them in the grass, there.



I headed west, with some arduous bushwhacking. Arduous UPHILL bushwhacking, at that. I was pretty whacked when I got to the top of the Del Cerro hill. Again. And again, I found I had lost the maps/hints printouts. I did not go back for them. I DID manage to find the cache, although it was a near thing, with much toing and froing, and finally going back to where I started, and Lo!, there it was, just as the half-remembered hint described!

The final cache was the first of a multi-cache, but as I mentioned, I was pretty whacked, so I headed home. Loaded down with a million or so weed seeds and stickers stuck in my socks, shoes, and laces.

Old Stuff

Found some old stuff whilst rummaging around in the cabinets at work.

These things were pretty nifty, in the day. You cut them off to the length your want, then lick and stick them on a divider page in a three-ring binder.  Good to know they are NON-inflammable acetate (yes, yes, I know what inflammable means, it still cracks me up. The thing I DON'T know, is, does one capitalize the first letter within parentheses?) 
 


Should I keep them, or toss 'em?

These are the GIANT staples for the GIANT stapler. A regular staple is side-by, for comparison purposes only!  I found I had TWO sizes of GIANT staples, which I did not know. Genuine ACME staples, plus they're the COHERED kind, not them other kind.



I'm going to keep these, but put them in the textbook storage/repair room where the GIANT stapler is, on the other side of the library, oh thank you so very much Mr. Architect!!!

Should NotThis Be On 3d0g Or Burnt Pizza?

Geocaching.com is having issues with its maps.  "Classic" maps won't personalize (show finds), and "Beta" maps won't show Premium caches. I guess I'll just stay home and read Snow Crash.

My nomination for website most stuck in the 90s is:  Toy Soldiers Of San Diego. Lots of neat stuff for sale, there, but the web design is very reminiscent of my personal web page. And that is just not good enough, ten years into the new millennium!

Today

I took off early to do a little geocaching.  I visited several caches in El Cajon and Lakeside that I hadn't found before, and found three of them today.  The ones in Lakeside are at the River Park Trail.  I took along a piece of string with three newly-purchased treble hooks slipped onto it, for to retrieve a cache that I found had fallen WAY DOWN into a pipe. So as to help out the cache owner, you understand.  And to see if I could do it.  Well, with much line untangling and several sticks of the hooks I found that I could not hook it. Oh well!

Saw this Interesting Vehicle while tramping the trails. Looks like some sort of military RV. Said trail runs right behind that fence there.



I headed over to Santee to look for another cache. That cache turned out to not actually BE in the GPSr (GPS receiver). Probably why I didn't find it the last time I was out here. Another cache popped up, though, called "Zombies Ahead". I'm SURE I didn't put it in the GPSr, it must have been those zombies!

So I ended up with four Finds, and two Did Not Finds.

We have acquired a noisy blue jay (Western Scrub Jay) in the yard.  I was waiting for Google Maps (and waiting and waiting...) to load this morning and heard a little meow from the back yard  I head it several more times, then noticed the blue jay was squawking, too. I went outside to find the jay sitting about two feet from the cat, who was lying on the ground next to the birdbath. Of course when I ran out with the camera they moved to ruin the exquisite composition I had envisioned.




The blue jay is on the left, still squawking at the poor kitty.  That chair broke this morning when I sat on it. The seat material was rotten, and the wood shattered, too!


Here is a better picture of the blue, ahem, I mean, Western Scrub Jay.



Speaking of the cat, here is (one) of his new favorite places to hang out...under the desk!



Someone needs to dust under there!

---

I'm reading Bill Bryson's At Home: A Short History Of Private Life.  It's not that short, and there is an immense amount of digressing. It's like wikipedia, or more like, Television Tropes & Idioms. You go there to look up something interesting, and three hours later you realize you have wandered quite the wandering path and it's time to go to bed. Or eat dinner.

I spent quite a bit of time reading about William Beckford and Fonthill Abbey, the incredible house he built. I spent a lot of time checking out the location on Google Maps (and waiting for said GMaps to load!!).

---

Geocaching Today

Headed out to north of Santee to do a little geocaching before it rains.  Found twelve caches, didn't find one, twice.

This is the cutest cache of the day, a little bell in a bush.



Lot's of pretty views from the tops of the ridges. Lots of ridges. Lots of up and down!

I could hear a Sheriff's helicopter down in the valley telling the occupants of a house to come out with their hands over their heads. Always exciting times in Santee!



The sun was coming in and out, I thought it maybe was going to rain, but it didn't. Nice sunbeams, though!



Cowles Mountain way off in the distance.



I find power lines dramatically impressive. I don't know why.



Did not see any deer or rabbits, but I DID see:

A hummingbird.



A caterpillar.



And this bird that hovered on that thermal for about two minutes. I took a movie, but it was less than impressive. So you don't get to see it.



Slippage of the terrain is always interesting. These hillsides have been here for zillions of years, how come it fell down?



Oh, I forgot this one, it's Sycamore Canyon north of the Santee Lakes. Ain't that pretty? We used to ride our motorcycles and go target shooting out there.  I vaguely recall braving the dirt roads in the Buick White Phantom for a little canoodling, once. Ah, youth!



I found a couple of Monster Energy drink cans. I guess the partakers of the beverage didn't have enough energy to pick up their trash! So I did.




That's about it for today. Only 140 more caches in area to go!

Of Oil, Cents, Sense (or the lack of), and a Glider

Today was the BIG DAY! I FORCED myself to get up and head over to the Ford dealership (don't trust those quickie places) to get the oil changed. I say FORCED, as it is such a 'guy' place, and I feel really uncomfortable dealing with them. But, I 'manned up' and headed out.

I started up the vehicle and went to wipe the dew off the windows with the squeegee I keep on the floor. Not there? Did that get taken during the break-in? Should I amend the police report?

First, I dropped off Running The Books : The Adventures Of An Accidental Prison Librarian, by Avi Steinberg, at the library.  Pretty good book. It occurred to me that working in a school library is not unlike working in a prison library, except one is less likely to get shived in a school. I hope.

I drove the freeway to the dealership, so as to warm up the vehicle. At the service entrance I put myself in the capable hands of the service writer.  He looks at my odometer reading and exclaimed (really!), "Is that REAL?" I related the story of how my bike, of a similar age, has a bit more miles than the vehicle. He allowed as I probably did not need a tire rotation, so we settled on an oil change and check of air and fluids. The question came up as to whether I was going to wait for it, or come back later. I said I was going to take a walk for an hour or so (geocaching!). He said it would probably take about that long. I said, "Let's say I'm waiting for it, then."

I started walking down the road. For some reason I checked my pants pocket. Oh, crud, my vehicle keys! I took them with me!  So I did a little speed-walking back to the dealership, and met the service writer halfway up/down the driveway. I told him that I am an idiot.  As if he didn't realized that!

I started off again.  About half-way to the cache I found a balsa wood glider. I picked it up and took it with me, since I had forgotten to bring the camera. I knew you wouldn't believe it without a picture. Which I took at home.



It flied, I mean flew, just as well as I remember them flying in my youth. Disappointingly.

I made my way to the cache location and sat down to stare at the vines growing ALL OVER the fence. Yes, it was one of THOSE kinds of caches. I knew it was low on the fence, and hanging (from the previous log entries). I had to scoot my behind over a couple of times, but I finally spotted it. Wasn't that hard, at all. Just had to ignore the hundred or so cars heading off to work, every driver surely staring at my back wondering what the heck that kook is doing over there.

Headed back to the dealership and sat myself in the waiting area. I picked up a Reader and read it cover-to-cover, backwards, as is my wont.  After finishing the mag I went up to the counter to check on the progress of the work. Turns out I was supposed to get a beeper so they could notify me when it was finished. Because it had been finished for quite a while. Oh, well, I got to read the magazine and watch a little informative show on the television about how to buy batteries.

One of the things I hate about the dealership is that I'm never sure how much it is going to cost. I had the idea from the service writer that it was going to be around forty bucks. Turned out to be, with discount (Ford Owner Advatage, $12.00 off), $24.87. They gave me three shiny cents and a dime in change. Two of the pennies (yes, I KNOW they aren't REALLY pennies!) had a different reverse that I had not seen.



The new reverse looks sort of 1800s, doesn't it?  So now I've lived through two changes on the cent. I remember when it changed back in 1958 or so. (Wikipedia says it was 1959. Also says it costs 1.79 cents to make a cent.  I think I've discovered the source of our financial woes!) Do you suppose the Lincoln Memorial coins will ever become as rare as the "wheaties"?

The little rock was in my back pocket. I wonder where it came from? Some past trek, no doubt.

The vehicle was waiting for me out front, with cold bottle of water sitting in the cup holder. Which I find creepy, for some reason. I'm not a bottled water kind of guy.

I drove on home. The vehicle seems to run better with fresh oil. Or maybe it's my imagination.

Later!