A Great Find

I took another vacation day today, so now I'm looking forward to a four-day weekend!

I went geocaching this noon, again, over in the Mission Trails area. I didn't find the first one I looked for, one of the accursed Jackson Drive caches, but I did find the next four, including one that I've spent AT LEAST three hours searching for, on several occasions. It turned out to be in plain view, just like the cache owner said.  No bush-beating required.  Too bad all the bushes have been beat nearly to death, and not all by me!

Here's the cache, in situ:



And here is a side view:



How sneaky is THAT?

Of course, I've been signing all the logs today with the wrong date. I really should wear a watch. I've two, I could wear one on each arm!

After coming home from caching I walked up to the eye doctor to make an appointment. After all, they sent me a letter a YEAR AGO to remind me to come in!

Vacation Day Une

Yesterday was "Braniac"  day at work, the second day of Spirit Week (The first day was "Tie" day, which everyone pretty much didn't know about).  I wore my blue "Smart" t-shirt. Unfortunately I was unable to carry off the theme, as I forgot to bring my pants and had to don my back-up pants, a pair of grey corduroys from many pounds ago.



As for today, I took a vacation (because the school district can't afford to pay me for days that I don't use, over the limit of how many I can save) day, finished reading Prodigal Child, by E. David Moulton, and went geocaching in the mid-day.  The weather was sunny and warmish, but not too bad. The bees were beeing, the rabbits were hopping about, and an occasional quail sneakted across the path.  The path being the dirt access road in Navajo Canyon.  My mission? To find the three caches I couldn't find the LAST time I was here.  I found the two 101 - Dalmatians caches easily enough, this time, mostly because some fine folks replaced the caches since I was here last. This series, I call them the doggy caches, each have a clue to find the last one.  The "one to bind them", as it were. I've found maybe twenty of them so far, but I haven't been writing down the clues. So I guess I will NEVER find poor Rolly!  Oh, yes, each of the caches is named after one of the dalmations.


Let us put some white space in here, it makes it easier to read.

Near one of the doggy caches was quite a mess. I guess they had a little leak in the pipe.




The last cache was also the first. But I didn't find it the first time today. But I persevered, and found the booger on the way out of the canyon.  The lid was missing, though.  Back in one of the doggy caches someone had left a big black plastic spider.  This one had a big black plastic bug.   Oh, wait a minute, that big black plastic bug is MOVING! Yikes!



I lost my Sharpie somewhere in the canyon today. I'm not going back for it!

Of This, And Of That

It was drizzling yesterday, and raining today, so I drove to work.  And I'll drive TOMORROW, too, blast your eyes!

My favorite pirate expression is "I ve nar", which apparently does not exist, so I must have miss-heard it in my youth.

I put twenty-five bucks of gas in vehicle today, taking the fuel-o-meter just over half-way. I made the misteak of purchasing gas at the closest station, at $4.11 per gallon, when I COULD have bought it at the Emerald Oil on Lake Murray Blvd. at $3.99 per gallon. Oh well!

The truck guy finally came and hauled away the pallets of workbook returns that have been clogging up the textbook room.



Today was Staff Appreciation Day. We had a nice deli sandwich with various fixin's, and a teacher brought me a donut!



I made this little sign from an image I've seen on the internets, more info on the original HERE. My apologies to Net Nanny...



Saw a nifty Triumph TR4 today.  Reminds me of what fun it was tooling around in Phillip's red MG.TD. Back in my youth, again.



I am looking forward to reading Zug Island when it comes out. Partly because I know the author, but mostly because it sounds really interesting.

No rain expected tomorrow, but, like I said, I gotta drive, 'cause I have to go to the IMC and get some training.

Fixing TheCache

I had to go grocery shopping today, so I decided to combine trips, like a conscientious soul, and do a repair on one of my geocaches that had been reported as "in pieces". I did the little hike to find that it didn't look too bad, only the roof was in two pieces. I already knew that, from prior logs.  I brought some plastic cement, so I glued the pieces together, and added a little bracing.  The last online log had also reported the log was missing, and since I knew the log was in a medicine bottle, that must be missing too. So I brought a new (camoed!) bottle and a new log sheet. Here's a pic:



I looked around and found the top to the old medicine bottle, slightly gnawed.  It looks like something with big teeth is denning in the area.



The old bottle did not have the camo tape on it, and the new one does. So maybe Mr. Big Teeth won't be able to spot it inside the barn. Ha ha!

I went to the grocery store afterward.  I managed to forget the check book, with the shopping list neatly tucked inside, back in the vehicle. So I had to fake my way through.  I KNEW, as I related to an older lady in the cat food aisle, that I needed cat food and salt.  And meat.  The boss said I did OK.

I just finished reading Pathfinder, by Orson Scott Card.  Good stuff. When is the sequel coming out?

Of Pines Cones and Margarita...and Blood!

I discovered, yesterday, that my pine cone geocache has disappeared, along with the branch it was hanging on.  Oh, well, there goes several hours work!  I disabled the cache, and have already thought of an extremely clever replacement.

Talked to the new doc (well, not actually HIM) yesterday, my bloodwork, so far, looks good.

Found a new cache (First Date #1:  Magarita Azul) on the way to work this morning, right near that Mexican restaurant in Grossmont Center.  What an excellent smelling place!

April 31st

I went geocaching this morning, big surprise. I signed all the logs with April 31, 2011. Thirty days hath September? Silly me!

The second cache I found was really clever, and here is a picture of it. I bet you can't spot it!



I THOUGHT I was in for an easy day on the next three, but because I didn't reconnoiter the area properly I took the HARD way to several caches, slipping and sliding up and down the thoroughly bush covered hills. At least I got to see a lot of really pointy plants, and a close look at some poison oak.

The last three caches were in Rancho Mission Canyon Park, yet again. There are TONS of purty flowers blooming.



I spotted this cache pretty easily. It is right in the center of the picture, almost.



The last cache was the final leg of a four-part multi-cache.  I did one part each day (each leg was about a mile apart), leaving the last for today. I was clambering around some big boulders when one shifted and rolled down the hill into those green plants/water below, almost taking me with it. Got to be more careful!



If you are interested, here is a chart of my geocaching progress from 2002 to 2011. Can you figure out when I bought a GPSr?

That is about it, happy May Day! Workers of the World, Unite!