Dentist and geocaching

I had to go to the dentist today so I was off to Chelmsford, Ma where I lived before moving to Sudbury.  There were recent finds in the area and I'd hoped to get to 50+ caches.  I DID!  Here is where I went

Tick Free 8 - DNF This is in the parking lot for Kimbal Farm (Ice Cream).  Unfortunately I did not find it.

DALE #6 (CHELMSFORD) - After visiting the dentist I started my Chelmsford tour here.  I'd tried another DALE cache yesterday but DNF.  Today I had better luck.  I used to live in Chelmsford and have been to this memorial several times.  It's moving and there's good parking at the town services parking lot.

Get your motor runnin' - This was back toward town center and near a resturant with GREAT hash early in the week.  If they have left over prime rib it ends up in the hash.  Alas, by today it was gone so lunch had to be elsewhere.  The Dunkin Donuts was being renovated and was closed.  I looked anyway but DNF.

2009 Boston Red Sox Roster Series - David Ortiz - This one was at the Little League ball fields.  It was a quick walk in and I found it with only a little searching.  I signed the log with frozen hands as best I could as the wind was blowing hard across the fields.

Light of the lot - This was an interesting cache.  I parked and looked around without success.  Then grabbed some lunch at the Deli (very good) and looked again.  Much to my surprise I found it.  This has got to be about as small as a cache can get.  I had some trouble putting the log back in the cache since my hands were still cold and stiff but finally managed to get everything back together after taking it to the car and warming up.  Check out the video on this one.  It's something.

BURIAL GROUND WATERFALL - Considerably psyced by the nano, I went to a series along Bruce Freeman Rail Trail - I walked in along a well traveled level path and found the general location quickly.  Unfortunately the cache on on the E (RT 27) side of Beaver Brook.  There is a stone structure that can be walked but where the brook crosses it's VERY icy and clearly unsafe at least in winter.  Since there were other caches further along I decided to move along and come back to try from the other side.

Austin Powers Geocache Series - Just a bit further along is another cache just off the trail.  Some care was necessary as Beaver Brook floods in winter and there is a lot of ICE much of it thin with water underneath.  I generally cache with a ski pole and it came in handy probeing to find good ground.  I signed the log.

James Bond Geocache Series - This is just a bit further along the trail.  My GPS was jumping around 40' one way then another (could be low batteries) and for a while I thought the cache was on the west side of the brook.  Using the hint I checked out a number of likely locations and succeeded in finding the hide.  I took the Giacinta 'Jinx' Johnson film container and will try to setup my first cache in Chelmsford.  I'll need to find a bit of help from a local to manage it as I don't get there often enough to do so.  By now I was getting fairly cold again so I decided to hike back to the car.

BURIAL GROUND WATERFALL - I drove around to try this cache from the other (RT 27) side of Beaver Brook.  Parking at 42.595135,-71.353358.  This is a commercial building where I once had offices and should generally be useable.  The trail head is just a few hundred feet S and from there it's a short walk to the hide.  I found the cache fairly quickly.

Quick Pitstop - Southbound - By now I was in need of a pit stop as I'd been drinking coffee to help keep warm so I stoped here and after a bit of looking found this cache.  There were many people coming and going but no one seemed to care.  I graped the contrainer, signed the log in the car, and then quickly re hid the cache.

With 7 for 9 for the day it was time to head home.  I'll be back this way in a few weeks to visit the dentist again and will try some of the others nearby.  Here's the video for the for this adventure.  NO SPOILERS.  Remember to click through if you want to see the videos.

Geocaching trying to get to 50

Went out geocaching on a clear and somewhat warmer day.

I started at This one's for the cowboys.  I generally shy away from micro caches because I can't seem to find them.  But this one was recently found among several others in the area so I decided to give it a try as I'd had luck with a similar cache.  It's an easy park and grab that I managed to find after only a few minutes (I'm still not used to micro caches).  The cache log was full so I logged on a slip of paper and left it in the cache.  SL.  TFTC.


Flush with some success I went on to The Eagle's Nest.  This was about 600 yards from good parking so I walked in.  It was an interesting walk in along a brook on the side of a hill.  The trail was well trod with generally moderat hills.  Unfortunatly occassionally it was a bit slick with some ice.  The cache was about 30 minutes from the trail head and a reasonably easy find.  There was some recent beaver activity notably a fairly large tree that was nearly cut through.  I signed the log and improved the cache hide a bit as it was very visible.  It may make sense to move the cache before spring as the beaver activity will draw muggle attention.


2009 Boston Red Sox Roster Series - Hideki Okajima was just down RT 20 a bit so I stoped there.  This was another micro that I found although it was a bit of a commedy of errors.  I started by getting the wrong set of baseball fields, parking in the wrong lot, moving to another wrong lot, following some tracks I thought were headed toward the cache, realizing they were the wrong ones, walking through the snow to get back to the car, and moving to the right baseball fields.  I really must remember to look at the GPS more carefully.  Once at the right location the cache was a quick find and I signed the log.


I then continued down RT 20 to DALE #1 (NORTHBOROUGH).  This is another micro park and grab.  There were tracks of a recent search and I checked the hint but DNF.  It's a bit of a shame as the veterans memorial was interesting and I would have like to sign the log.


Still further down RT 20 is NNNNN.  This was another DNF notwithstanding someone else finding it yesterday!  But not me, not today.


Despite 2 successive DNFs I continued on to Heavy Metal Cache.  I missed the parking turnoff on the first pass and ended up at Ski Ward.  It's a rather small local area a bit like Nashoba where I taught for a while.  I turned around and drove back.  Parking was good but the road in a bit rough.  It was a short hike to the cache and a quick find.  Took a TB and left a TB.  The cache was VERY visible so I added a bit of cover.


Boyed by another find, I drove to Luna Moth.  Nothwithstanding the cache hint, the cache is actually reasonably easy to find in the winter.  Parking was good and it was a easy walk to the canoe launch and cache.  There was an interesting view of the flood control dike and dam on the way out of the parking lot.


It was getting late (almost 2PM) and I was hungery.  I decided to try Robin Hill Cemetery Cache.  This was one of those places I would never have visited without geocaching.  I parked in the industrial lot and walked over to the cemetary.  Old New England cemetaries are interesting on many levels as they tell us much about our history.  In any event I walked in over the rise - very windy to the point that the snow was blown off.  Once I crested the hill, I could see the entire cemetary.  Curiously, there were not many graves, particularly for an old cemetary.  I could also see the tracks of a recent find and followed them to the cache.  It was an easy find, very child friendly.  I signed the log and rehid the cache.


By now, I was hungry and decided to head home.  Six for 8 for the day.  Moving me toward the 50 mark.

Monday errands

This was one of those house/errand days.

Took one of the dogs (Cindy) to the vet.  She's been having problems with coughing due to a colapsed trakea.  The coughing was keeping BB and I up at night to the point that both of us are sleep deprived.  At any event I took her and spent about 2 hrs at the vet.  Things are a bit better but the vet changed her meds to help her sleep.  Hopefully it will help.

The cleaners also came today so I had to be around for them.  By the time they left it was late so I spent the rest of the day reading.

Sunday Jan 10th

BB and I had our usual quiet Sunday mourning, read the paper, late breakfast, etc.  Around noon we decided to go out geocaching.  We went back to Stow to visit Gas Saver V and 2009 Boston Red Sox Roster Series - Mike Lowell.  Unfortunately I forgot to load Gas Saver on my GPS.  No matter, worst that can happen is that we have a nice walk on a bright somewhat cold day.

We got to the parking area without incident.  Parking was plowed with plenty of space for 6 or 8 cars.  So we took a quick look at the trail map and started out.  As we walked down the trail we saw some tracks going off to the right.  We followed those hoping that they might lead to the micro Gas Saver.  Sure enough we lucked out and found the cache.  I signed the log and we went back to the trail to find Boston Red Sox.  The trails were good with plenty of trafic and no really serious hills so walking in was easy.  We followed one path in and a shorter but somewhat steaper path out.  We got to within about 30 feet of the cache when we saw some footprints going off toward GZ.  About 30' or so away from my GPS GZ the trackes stoped.  A bit of quick checking revealed the cache.  I loged it and returned it to the hide then BB and I walked back to the car via a different route.  All in all a good day with two finds.  Here are the photos and videos.  Remember to click through to see video.

BB and I go geocaching

BB, always the good sport, went geocaching with me again to day - never mind the issue with parking last Thursday.  We went to find Stow it, Gladys! and while out do a bit of grocery shoping at the nearby Shaws (very nice).  We parked at the ball fields at 42° 25.792140' -71° 29.414520'.  The cache listing parking coordinates are bogus!  Good winter parking and well used and visible trails.  It took us about 30 minutes or so to walk in in the snow.  We found the cache after onloy a bit of searching within 10' of the coordinates.  We thought about going on to Walk in the Woods but with the cold (25F) decided to call it a day despite the bright sun.  Even so it was a good outing with about a 2.5 mi walk all together.  Here are the videos.  Remember to click to see the video proper.

Geocaching around Cambridge Res. Friday Jan 8th.

I went out this mourning to try several caches I'd missed around the Cambridge Resovior.

I started at Central Mass RR Truss Bridge.  It was a plesant and easy walk in as I parked at N 42.374956 W 71.271497 which shortens the walk considerably.  The snow was somewhat deep (I really need to get snowshoes) but after a brief walk I got to the bridge.  After a bit of looking around and dealing with some rather slipery terain I found the cache, singed the log, and traded for a coin of somesort.  All in all a pleasant start.  Here are the videos (SPOILER WARNING).  Remember to click through if you want to see them.

When I got home I got the coordinates of the cache from Google Maps (it's positioned very clearly) as 42° 22.539488' -71° 16.622146'  the given cache coordinates are N 42° 22.538 W 071° 16.620.  They are about 8 or 9 feet apart.  Soooo, Google Maps are useful but they are NOT definitive.  Given where the aerial images come from and how they are taken I'd expect errors of +- 20' or so.

I decided to go by HD Handyman's Hope Chest but when I got there the place was crawling with muggles plus remembering the trash behind the fence I was reluctant to go in without being able to see what I was dealing with so I drove on.

While I was in the area I decided to visit Reservoir Runner - Starting Point.  I poked around just a bit but with all the snow decided to try again after the snow is gone.

Since I was in the area I decided to visit Reservoir Runner.  I generally don't do micro caches but this one had recently been found so I decided to try my luck.  My GPS lead to the wrong tree but exploration of one of the nearby trees found the cache.  Here is a video (SPOILER WARNING).

I decided to go on to Reservoir Runner - Scenic View since it is very near by.  Getting up the bank was a bit of a challenge with the frozen ground (very slick).  When I got to the top there was a lovely open wood.  Curiously there were many animal tracks everywhere.  Not what I've seen from K9 or dear.  It was a bit hard to tell just what they were as there was a bit of snow this mourning but they seemed to be a split hoof animal.  The tracks were fairly short.  Interestingly, the ground was frequently disturved as though an animal had been rooting around and cleared the snow.  There were litterly hundreds of these places and tracks going in every direction.  I'm not sure what they were but I suspect they might be pigs.  I spent a good deal of time looking for the cache without success which was a bit disapointing as the location was fairly clear and the hint good.  Still it was a DNF.  Here are the videos.

I decided to go by Reservoir Runner II and RESERVOIR RUNNER IV, Turnaround Point.  Given how slick the ground was I was reluctant to enter RR II as slipping meant a trip into water.  When I got to RR IV there was no place to pull off the road with the snow.

While I was in the area I decided to check out Birt memorial and Lincoln Woods Run.  Access seems good so I'll go back at some point to see if I can find them. 

It was getting past lunch time so I headed home for some warm coffee and food.  All in all a good day even though I didn't find everything I'd hoped for.

BB and I go geocaching

BB and I spent a quiet mourning with some much needed together time.  After lunch we went out geocaching and to pick up some meds for the dog (Cindy).

I originally though we'd find Down by the River.  I'd planned to park along stonebridge road and walk in.  Unfortunately, in winter that's not possible.  Instead one needs to park at the end of Little Farms Road at the canoe launch and walk N to go across the 'pipe bridge' and then to the cache location.  BB and I ended up spending the better part of an hour driving around tring to work this out.  When we got to the canoe launch there were 4 trucks working on some of the water works.  We walked around a bit but not seeing an obvious trail gave up pending better information.

We then went to try Curling Cache.  Continuing the theme for the day we spent a good deal of time driving around a condo development off of Magnolia Dr.  It was rather frustrating since we could SEE the curling building but not get to it.  Eventually we drove a bit further S to Brumestone and bingo we're there.  Parking was easy and after a short walk we got to the coordinates.  Unfortunately after a fair bit of digging around in the snow it was a DNF.  I tried to convince BB to at least go into the club as there were a fair number of cars parked but at this point she was a bit frustrated and so we went home.  I'll have to go back later to try again.

Later in the evening we read and watches a bit of TV.

Errands and caching

Went out to run some errands today.  Droped a check off at the bank and BB's book at the library, then drove over to Boxborough to do some caching.  Had good luck with 6 found even in the snow.  I took a different approach and only looked for those found in the last 7 days on the theory that these are likely there and can be found in the snow.

I started with Boxborough Bug Hotel.  Parking at the Holiday Inn was great and it was a short walk through reasonable snow to the cache.  It was a reasonably easy find with only a little digging around.  There were lots of K9 tracks but no people evident.  Signed the log and picked up a travel bug (BMAFXP Chuck E Cheese).  Left Skiing for a Cache LSY1YA.  Short walk back to the car to drive to parking at the other end of the hotel, it's big.  Here are the photos. Remember to click through to see videos.

I moved the car and then went on to Gas Saver XII, Boxborough Hills, and Take me to the highway.  This turned out to be a bit of a hike through somewhat deep snow.  Snowshoes are definitely called far if there is any significant cover.  The walk was interesting with many deer tracks and a few K9.  Also found a deer bed and some skat.  As I didn't see any obvious trails I just bushwacked following the GPS.  It was generally fairly easy going (except for the hills and some slipery rocks).  I was able to find all three reasonably easy and picked up another travel bug (Light my way) that I'll move along to the next interesting cache I visit.  Here are the videos.

Flush with 4 finds and after warming up after the half mile walk back to the car I noticed that Gas n' Joe was nearby.  A cup of coffee seemed called for so I parked in the store lot and walked over to the cache.  It was a quick find but protected by some serious thorns that caught on my clothing.  Here are the photos.  Click through to see videos.

Warmed from a quick find and not ready to stop I decided to do another that I'd planned, Hidden Beaver.  This turned out to be a delightful little walk from good parking along well trod paths.  The cache was a fairly quick find and make it 6 for the day.  Here are the photos.  Click through to see videos.

Time for a bit of lunch and to rest this old man's legs after 3 miles of walking in the snow, much of it deep and some up hill.  But it's all good as part of my retirement health program.

Flue shot and geocaching

I went out today to get an H1N1 flu shot (Wallgreens) and do a bit of geocaching.  It's interesting to note that Lahey still doesn't have vacine!  That speaks rather poorly to them as a PCP.

I started by trying to find Callahan North Supply Station.  There is good parking just a 100 yds or so from the trail.  The coordinates are just off one of the Callahan trails.  I looked at the GPS position without success.  I also checked around where the clue indicated (about 80' away) also with no success.  It was a bit overcast so perhaps the GPS was off.  I loged it as a DNF.

From there I tried Callahan South Supply Station.  Ditto.  Parking was good and this should be an easy find but after checking where the clue indicated and where the GPS indicated it was a DNF.

Finally I tried  Dogs Gone Wild.  Again parking was good and the cache nearby but despite the clue and tracks from another cacher I had no luck.  Interestingly my GPS indicated a different location than the other cacher based on their tracks.

Zero for three for the day I drove home as my feet were beginning to get chilled.  Along the way I checked out parking for Return to Tradition #8: Henry's Hill Hybrid and X marks the spot.  There simply isn't any winter parking.

After I got home I defined a pocket query that will search for caches within 10 miles found in the last week.  This should make it a bit easier to succeed in winter caching since there is some reason to believe that the cache exist and is findable in the snow.

Spent the afternoon reading.

Geocaching

Went out geocaching to get some exercise and find my 25th.

Started at Zamboni's Hideaway.  This was almost a park and grab.  Great parking in the lot for the ice rink.  Short somewhat steep downhill walk to the cache area.  Today it was rather slipery with snow, ice, and hidden rocks.  The GPS was jumping around a fair bit.  I ended up digging out several wrong places.  Eventually I turned off the GPS and then back on.  This seemed to settle it down a good deal and took me to the rock wall where the cache is hidden.  Found it after only a little looking underneath some loose rock.  Here are the videos.  Click to see the actual video.

Then I went on to The Grove.  This one was a bit more of a challenge.  There were some tracks from the parking lot headed toward the cache.  Unfortunately, the tracks lead to a stream that seperated the parking from the cache.  The crossing was down by the pond.  So I ended up walking down to the pond to get across the stream.  A bit further along there were tracks going off toward the cache so I followed these.  This worked well untill I came to a water filled low area.  My GPS suggested the cache was on the other side.  I hiked around to the other side but now the GPS said it was on the original side.  I ended up circling back to where I'd started were the cache was in fact located!  Here are the videos.

I went on to try to find a couple of others - Train Rock (doubtful parking) and Jaws of the Monster (good parking but I'll need skis to get in).  By then it was getting a bit late so I drove home.

I had a bit of a brain freeze and managed to delete the tracks for these!

Plan for the day

BB didn't go out yesterday, thankfully.  We ended up hanging out and relaxing.  The plow came early and then about 9:30 to finish.  We watched a bit of TV and then called it quits about 11 or so.

Plan for today is to go geocaching and get some exercise after several days of no activity.  I'll also need to do bills.

SNOW

It snowed over night again so we've had about 10in or so in the last two days.  I've done the decks a couple of times and things are in reasonably good order.

BB is commited to going out.  I don't think much of the plan but she'll not be disuaded.  That means I'll have to do the driveway to get her back up it.  Sigh!

After two reasonable nights sleep we've about recovered from the party.  Age clearly has an effect.

Lazy day

Both BB and I are a bit under the weather, mostly tired and over fed I think so we had a lazy day working on cleaning up the last of the party.  It took most of the day but things are finally back to rights.

We've got a lot of food left over and will be eating for some while.  Also the refrigerator is stuffed and we've food for at least a week or so.  We've sent food back with MM and JM but there is still a LOT left.

BB and I watched a movie in the evening and called it quits reasonably early.

Cooking and new years party

Spent the day cooking the rest of the meal.  Made lamb stuffed with spinach and goat cheese, cod with black olive tapanade, roasted new potatoes, asparagus with hollandaise, stuffed mushrooms, brie stuffed puff pastry, and artichoke dip.  It took the entire day but I did manage to get in a bit of rest in the afternoon.

Dinner was at 8PM but people came late (I really should know to plan for 20 minutes for such events).  John and Marie showed up a couple of minutes before Bob and Burnedette and Chilie and Joyce.  Mark and Miriam and Josh were late but came just as we were finishing ordurves.  We had a wonderful meal and people really seamed to enjoy the various dishes.  Chilie was a big help in matching wines and dishes.  We greated the new years and people left about 2am.  It was close to 3am before BB and I got to bed.

I'd wanted to sleep in but by 7:30 both BB and I were wide awake.  Mark, Miriam, and Josh had stayed over.  I made a couple of stratas for breakfast.  We ate (I'll not want food for some time) and talked.  They left about 2PM. 

BB and I took our time cleaning up since we've another two days to get the house back together.  I was amazed at the glassware, dishes, etc. that we used.  Still it was a good time.

Cooking

Got out OK and got fish (very expensive) and lamb (nice cut but should have been trimmed better), fresh herbs, and a replacement French Press caref (very surprised but available at Duck Soup).

I made two recipies of bread.  In the first I used all purpose flour and in the second bread flour.  The bread flour batch is much better but both are very good indeed.

The soup was rather more trouble than I'd expected and it took a bit to get the spices right.  I ended up using a bit to much pepper so it has a bit of a bite but still very good indeed.

Tomorrow I'll do the rest of the meal.

Start cooking

Got off to a quick start this mourning to make the soup and bread for tomorrow's dinner. 

Had a bit of a misadventure when the coffee pot broke!  I noticed it after 10 cups of coffee spilled onto the counter, floor and along the way ran into several drawers!  It took a bit to clean up and, of course, I'll need to buy another French Press or find a replacement glass caref (unlikely).  It's not a big issue since I think I can get one in Sudbury and I've got to go out later to get fish and meat.

I'd given some thought to going caching later today.  Just now  it's about 10°F outside and after yesterday I'm less than wildly enthuiastic.  But the weather is suppose to warm up around noon so I'll check then.

Caching and errands

Left the house about 10 or so to go caching and run some errands.  It's cold, around 20F, and windy with gusts to 40 or so.  When the wind blows its VERY cold.  When it's still it's not to bad.

Decided to go to the area around Cambridge Res.  There are a large number of caches there and I'd hope to get my 25th. 

First attempt was Reservoir Runner - Starting Point.  Found the wall easily but there was a muggle cleaning the walks and parking lot so I didn't actually look.  There was some sign of others recently there.

From there I went to  Reservoir Runner II.  Found the site easily, parked, and walked along the retaining wall next to the water.  The ground was frozen and a bit slippery plus I left my gloves in the car.  I looked for a bit but did not find it.  0 for 2.  Not a good start.

Then on to  Reservoir Runner.  Unfortunately, it was NOT in my GPS because it's a micro!  Things are just not going well.

Off to  Reservoir Runner - Scenic View.  Drove into industrial area but no parking!  I should have parked back where I was.  Now at 0 for 4 getting to 25 seems rather doubtful.

Undaunted I tried  HD Handyman's Hope Chest.  There were MANY muggles about and the area was covered in trash.  I walked about a bit but decided against a real search.  0 for 5!

Still undaunted I decided to try Hobbs, Maggie Thora and  Casey, Tigger, & Ella.  At last success.  From there I went on to  Alaska & Guinness.  Another success.  This is an interesting area.  While I was there I ran into 4 groups of dogs being walked.  They were all very friendly and happy being out in the cold and wind.  I'm less sure the people were.  At any event here are some videos of the adventure.  Remember to click through if you want to see the videos.

Boyed by some successes I decided to go on to sacajawea610.  Another success and quick find.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures.  But I did wave as instructed to in the cache.  I'd planned to go on to  Central Mass RR Truss Bridge but as I was walking along the old train right of way the wind howeled between the ridge and office buildings.  It was more than I was willing to endure so I gave it up and decided to find a less windy area.  I'll go back on a less windy day.

Since I was in the area I decided to try  Just Off The Beaten Path.  It was a bit of a problem to get to because of the one way roads in Lincoln.  But I managed and found it.  Here's the video.

With just one to go to get to 25 I made a try for  RESERVOIR RUNNER IV, Turnaround Point.  I managed to park OK but didn't find the cache in a wall absolutely littered with hides.  It may have been on the other side but I was reluctant to cross the wall since it looked like private property.

At this point I was about frozen and a bit hungry so I headed back toward Sudbury.  Along the way I stopped at the library to pick up BB's books and then the grocer to get some things.  Afterward I decided to drive by X marks the spot to checkout parking.  Under ideal conditions there might be some but it would be VERY tight.

By now I was very hungry and went home to eat and thaw out.

Errands and caching

I ran a few errands this mourning - bank, groceries (forgot the list and didn't get egg beaters), coffee, and library.  While I was out I made another run at the Firefighters cache.  DNF even though most of the snow is gone.  I suspect it's been muggled so I sent the owner a note.

After I got home the exterminator showed.  I'd forgotten they were coming so it was fortunate that I returned when I did.

We're now having a slushly rain/snow while I'm waiting for the cleaning service.  After they come I'll try another nearby cache weather permitting.

Quiet Sunday

Spend a fairly quiet day at home.

BB and I went over the grocery list of things we'd need for Thursday.  She went out shopping, twice, and managed to get almost everything we'll need.  I'll have to go out to get a few more things and get the fish, meat, and fresh herbs.

Walked about 2 miles.

BB and I had an interesting made up dish of rice, noodles, asperagus, and shrimps.  It turned out very well.

Out caching

BB and I spent some time together this mourning then she went out shopping - not sure why or for what.  She'd talked about going for a walk with me but apparently didn't really mean it.

Went out caching to try The Great Wall of Kay? again.  DNF.  Here are the photos.  Remember to click through to see the movies.



I'm not sure it's there anymore.  Tried to get to Conservation Land Kid Cache from there without success.  Drove to the next parking lot and went in.  Found it OK even though there were many people about waking dogs and such.  Decided to try  Lincoln Logic since I was in the area.  This was my first puzzle cache but appeared to be fairly simple.  Found the first part OK and went to the second (I cheated and took the coordinates since I was unsure how to solve with my GPS).  Found the second part OK and took some trade items.  Here are the photos.



Found  & got home.  I got somewhat lost on the way back.  I really need to remember to set waypoint and turn on tracking.

BB nowhere about so I'll read or otherwise amuse myself.  I'm rather disappointed since I'd hoped to spend some time with her.

Christmas Eve

Had a quiet mourning.  Got out the heater and cleaned up the deck ice so it will be useable on NY eve.

Mike is down with a nemonia.  It doesn't seem overly serious but the doctor has put him on antibiotics.  Likewise Cindy is not feeling well.  She is clearly uncomfortable and wining a lot.  I hope it's noting serious.

Went out to Beyond the Stream and DNF.  Parking was good.  The trail was well traveled and most of the snow gone.  I found the location easily enough and dug around all the trees in the area per the clue without success.  I logged the DNF.  Remember if you want to see the movie you need to click through.



BB was back from her hair appointment when I got home.  She went out again and was gone some hours.

Plan for dinner is scallops.

Geocaching`

Went out geocaching to find Firefighter's Exercise Trail.  Bright Winter day with temps around 20F when I was out.  Got to the area OK with good plowed Winter parking on Craven Ln.  Skied in over easy terrain and found the general area and rocks without difficulty.  Unfortunately there was about 6" of new snow on top of 2" of crusty snow.  I spent 30 min or so digging around the rocks, nearby trees, and brush without luck.  I skied back and DNF it.

Cold mourning

Woke up this AM about 8.  It's cold, about 8F outside!  The afternoon promisses to be warmer.  Had a hearty breakfast of biscut and sausage gravy to help me face the day.

Surprisingly, I'm not especially sore this AM after yesterday's vigorous exercise.  On another positive note my weight is down to 214.5.

Spent some time last night planning geocach approaches.  It looks like Witches Cove Trail is about a mile in and out.  Beyond the Stream is much closer.  About .25mi or so.  MIHF also looks close as does Firefighter's Exercise Trail.  X marks the spot and Return to Tradition #8: Henry's Hill Hybrid would provide a nice short pair.  Given yesterday and the cold I think I'll go for something short.  I may also give John and Marie a call to see if they are interested.

Geocaching

If you want to see the movies you have to click through to the web album!

Went out today to try geocaching in the winter.  Got my cross country skis out.  It's been a few years but I found everything OK.  The day was very clear and crisp with temps in the upper 20Fs.  Great but tiring day.

Desert Supply Station - Found it!  Finding caches under the snow is a challenge.  I think I could use some sort of a probe.  It was only about 750' in on a level trail from good parking but I spent 20 minutes finding it.  Here is the web album.



Try Town Junction - After finding Desert Supply Station I decided to go on to Try Town Junction.  It was quite a bit farther but after about a mile of skiing I finally got there.  It took me 20 plus minutes to find it but I did for my second winter find.  By the time I was done my feet were really cold and I was beginning to tire.  I re-hid the cache and started skiing back over 1 mi.  Here are the photos.



The ski back was somewhat tiring.  I met another skier out with his dogs and a woman walking her dogs.  By the time I got back I was fairly tired and my toes were bad.  Drove back the long way to check out parking for another couple of caches.

Notes:

1. Wear snow pants so I stay dry.
2. When panning camera go SLOW.

Getting ready for New Years dinner

I ran errands today to get the things we'll need for the New Years party - wine glasses, blender, cooking utensils, steak knives, and some graber plates.  I'm not sure about the grabber plates but we'll see what BB thinks.  While I was out a checked the parking for the beyond the stream cache.  It looks good so I'll probably try to go there tomorrow.

Spent the rest of the day reading.

BB was lukewarm to the purchases.  We had a bit of a row.  I think she may just have been tired.

Stimulus check showed.  I'll deposit it ASAP.

Dinner was left over beef roast and roasted vegtables.

Mike is not feeling well.

Snow day

It snowed overnight.  About a foot or so by the time it was done early afternoon.  I cleaned off the decks and helped Mike up the driveway.  He'd gone out to work but came back early and couldn't get up the driveway.  It turns out that he'd come home late last night after the snow started and had slicked up the driveway.  Sooooo, I got his car part way up, put some sand in it, cleaned off the driveway, sanded and after backing out again got up.  Along the way I had to mix new gas for the snow blower.  It seems to like this much better than the last batch and ran rather better.

BB and I talked again about Dave and the $20K.  I'm more than a little put out about the situiation, but hopefully she'll actually do something about getting Dave to sign and notorize the POA.  We'll see.

BB and I also setup the table for our New Years dinner.  It turns out we have almost everything we need save for 12 wine glasses, steak knives, and place plates.  I'll go out tomorrow and get them as driving today is VERY poor.

Spent the rest of the day watching the football game, reading, and looking at recipies.

Quiet movie day

BB and I slept in and after some time together finally got the day going about noon.  

We went out with John and Marie to see Invictus in the afternoon and then they came over for soup - tortilla soup.  We had a nice visit ant then read and watched TV in the evening.

Geocaching: 2 Found, 1 DNF

Went out about 10:00 AM to get a bit of exercise and see if I could find a couple of geocaches.

Started today's adventure with Annie Oak Leaf.  I wasn't able to find it yesterday but today armed with rather more study and a photo clue I decided to have another go.  Success after a bit more searching.  The cache was VERY well hidden and as the description notes NOT Winter friendly if there is snow on the ground.  Here's a link to the photos and videos I took.  To see the videos you'll need to click and go to the Picasa Web album.



Flush with success I went off to Brianna's 1st.  Parking was very easy and the cache was only about 600' or so away so off I went.  This one threw me a bit of a curve.  I thought for a bit that the cache was on top of the rock.  So I hiked up there and looked around.  While at it my GPS hung up and the buttons becam unresponsive.  I pulled the batteries.  Even so the unit continued to beep and click.  After a bit it seemed to settle down so I put the batteries back in and started it up again.  Along the way the compass hung and I recalibrated it.  I'm not sure the PN-40 is all that I'd hoped.  Interestingly there was a bunch of limbs stacked on top of the rock.  Of course the cache wasn't there.  Eventually I went down to the front of the rock and after a bit of searching found it.  Here are the photos and videos I took.  Click to see the videos.


With two successes and not enough exercise for the day I decided to try Pine Cone Palace.  This was a bit of a walk in but nearby.  Unfortunately I DNF!  I'll have to study it more closely and try again.  I did find where I thought it was buy try as I might didn't find the cache itself.  Here are the photos and videos I took. Click to see the videos.


Today's geocaching was the longest yet, about 3.25 miles.  By the time I got home at 2PM I was a bit tired and cold.  Took a steam bath to warm up and then had a hearty lunch of open faced chicken sandwich.  All in all a good deal of exercise and I'll have to admit to being a bit tired.

Delorme

Spent a lot of time fooling with Delorme this AM.  It DOES take a fair bit of getting used to and is more than a little quirky.  The documentation is also a bit dodgy and very imcomplete.

The GPS itself seems a bit buggy as well.  I've had a couple of lock ups and the compass becomes non-functional from time to time.

Another complaint is that the road maps are not always correct.  It appears that the maps are based on town maps, not actual roads as is the case with Google.  The net is that the unit shows roads that are just not there.

All in all, however, I'm generally satisified given what I paid.

Geocaching walk in the AM

It's COLD, really really cold around 10F this mourning.  I decided to start the day with a hearty breakfast a short stack of pan cakes, with an egg on top and 4 link sausages.  After that and a couple of cups of coffee I took the trash out and then got on with planning the day.

The weather is offputting but I've got plenty of warm clothes so I'll go for a bit of a hike.  After a bit of research I decided to go back to Anie's (DFN from yesterday) and then over to Briania's and, time permitting, Pine Cone Palace,  Desert Supply Station and Witches Cove Trail.  It will be a bit of a stretch given the weather but nothing ventured.

While I'm out and about I'll drop a book off at the library and take out the trash (it's always friday).

Day's end

BB went to her gyno today.  She got back about 5 or so.

Dinner was shrimp sauted with garlic, salt, pepper, and tiger sauce served on a bed of lightly sauted baby spinich.  I made a little sauce with some of the new chicken stock.  Yum!

We spent the evening reading and watched a Netflix video.

The pedometer reports 2.58 mi for the day.  My legs were a bit heavy but all in all I felt well.

All in all a nice day.

Geocaching and errands

After getting up and spending some pleasant time with BB I did some things around the house then decided to go geocaching when BB went out to run errands.

Without regard for the weather (15F!) geocaching . I'd hoped to visit three -  Annie Oak Leaf,  Ghiloni/Mello Supply Station, and  Brianna's 1st.  Annie was a DNF.  I spent 30 plus minutes looking around without success.  I think there is something bogus about either my GPS or the coordinates.  I'll add it to my DNF list and go back to visit based on this photo:

I think I can find the tree and presumably the cache is nearby.  Given that the description now has the cache on the ground, 6' lower, and it likely remains in the bucket it will hopefully be easier.  The other photo puts the location about 60' off of the grass area.

I finally decided to try for Ghiloni/Mello Supply Station.  Just a bit of hiking got me to the area and a quick search found the cache!

At that point I was getting a bit tired - 2 miles walking in the cold - and it was getting late.  So I called it a day.

Tomorrow I think I'll try Beyond the Stream and Tri-Town Junction or perhaps go back to try Annie's and Briania's.  We'll see.

Note to self:

1. Study the arial photos FIRST and plan much more carefully.
2. Don't forget to set a waypoint on the car and turn on tracking.
3. When it's that cold wear a neck warmer.
   

Plan for the day

It's cold, really cold, about 24F today. Winter seems to have finally found us.

BB and I slept a bit late then got up to get the day underway. The chicken stock is ready so I filtered it and put it away with a view to a soup in the next several days.

I'd like to get out geocaching and for a bit of a walk today but with BB and the cold I'm not sure it that is possible. It may be that when she goes to the doctor I can take a quick trip to Marlborough where there are three caches on a golf course and try to find them, do a bit of walking, and on the way back stop at Staples to get several things I need there.

Day's wrapup

BB was out this evening at an office X-Mas party so I was on my own. The roast chicken from last night was so good I decided to have it for dinner. Of course, the outstanding gravy had much to recommend it as well.

Spent the evening reading and watching TV. I'd recorded The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy but the editing on this version was so bad I turned it off and decided to read instead.

BB got home about 9 or so and promptly fell asleep on the couch. After the third time I finally convinced her to call it a night.

The pedometer reported that I walked 2.25 miles yesterday. On one hand it seems like a lot on the other it had no effect whatever on my weight which I'd like to get under 200 lbs.

BB will be home tomorrow but has a doctor's appointment in the afternoon. I'm not sure what the day will be like but it promisses to be colder.

Geocaching numbers 9, 10, 11, and 12!

Went out geocaching to get number 9 and 10 and possibly more.

The Mattress Graveyard and The Rock were quickly found.  Since this was my 10th geocache I decided to make a video to post with this blog entry.  Both caches were quickly found but I had a bit of misadventure when my camera battery failed and then the camera ran out of memory.  By the time it was all dealt with my hands were rather cold. Still both caches were found and I now have 10!  Yea!!



Since these were quick finds I decided to look for some others and drove a few blocks down Edgel to Nobscot Cagers.  This is just a few blocks south so off I went.  The cache was in an interesting little park that I'd never visited.  Easy parking and a fairly quick find.  Here are some photos and videos.  Following the day's theme of failed batteries the GPS batteries gave up just as I found the cache.  No harm though as I'd just found it.



Well since I was on a role and hadn't really walked very far, I decided to checkout Nobscot Woods.  I'd been intending to do this after I discovered where the parking was.  My original intention was to just checkout the parking to see if it was accessible in my car.  But, once I got in the parking lot and realized that the cache was only about 1/4 mile away I decided to finish my exercise for the day and see if I could find it.  Off I went.  I was a bit unsure of the trails but followed those that were readily visible until the GPS started pointing well off trail.  At that point I decided to just cut cross country.  It turned out to be mostly up hill although the walking was easily enough.  After about 30 minutes I found myself standing right on top of the cache.  My 4th for the day and #12 overall!



Well that's today's geocache adventure!  Oh, and the pedometer read 1.95 miles in the cold and about half up hill walking through snow!

Note to self:
1) Try to change batteries when I'm in a warm place.
2) Get bigger camera memory.
3) When it's cold, dress plenty warm.

Fooling with speech recognition

Since I hope to be doing a good deal of bloging I decided to install them and experimental with Vista's speech recognition facility.  It's OK, but like my previous experience with speech recognition it's not necessarily any faster than typing.  Still, it's worth a bit of experimentation.

After installing things and reviewing the tutorial I tried creating a blog entry but it seems that the speech recognition does not work within the browser page.  That means that I would need to dictate in wordpad and then copy into the blog.  It's not clear that it would save any time or be any quicker.

Still trying to get to 10 geocaches

Woke up very rested this mourning after yesterday's exercise.  Perhaps a bit leg weary but clear and feeling full of spit and vinegar.

Had some sausage gravy and biscuits for breakfast.  It was not my best effort but a nice start on a cold day, particularly as it's now below freezing and promises to be cold most of the day.

The plan for today is to get my 10th geocache.  There are two just off of Edgel road in the scout camp just down the street from where BB and I lived in her house - the Mattress Graveyard and The Rock.  They are near one another and related in that the Mattress Graveyard contains a tape measure to measure the Rock.  As it's a bit cold I'll have to dress warmer than yesterday.

I've put a new battery into my pedometer with a view to seeing just how far I walk on my various geocaching outings.

Trying to get to 10 geocaches

8:00 I'm a bit sleepy this AM.  Not sure why as I got a full 8 hrs sleep but there it is.

After I got up I made pork sausage gravy bisquets.  Yum!  I'm the only one in the house who enjoys them.  They're very southern.  Just fry up a pound of pork sausage in a few tablespoons of bacon grease.  Dust with flour to adsorb the grease.  After the flour is browned add milk to make a white gravy.  Season with fresh ground pepper and pepper sauce.  Serve on top of fresh bisquets.  Very yum!!

Plan for today is to see if I can end the day with 10 geocaches found.  We'll see.

10:00 Went out geocaching to try several that I've not found.  Had 2 successes and 3 DNFs.

I started at The Leprechaun Coin Cache and DNF again.  I'm not at all sure where it is.  The coordinates are on the bridge.  I looked very carefully but without success.  The water is even higher than it was last time I was by and there is no access to the bridge abutments.  It may be that it is only accessible by boat.

Then I went to Wayland's Alpine Field.  This is a micro cache in a very public area.  Try as I might I couldn't find it.  I'll stop back by later since one of the photos gave a fair clue.

After 2 successive failures I decided to try Wayland 5.1 - Vespula's Cenotaph.  Success!   It was a nice walk although I found myself a bit winded walking up hill a bit.  Clearly I need the exercise geocaching provides.  Here are a couple of photos.

Wayland 5.1

It took me some time to find the hide but after 30 minutes or so I was finally successful.

My enthusiam returned with success at Wayland 5.1 so I moved on to The Great Wall of Kay?. This is another small cache.  I spent 20 minutes or so but did not find it.  I think it may be inside a rock.  I'll put it on my TBD list.

I then took some time to reconoiter the solution coordinates for Sudbury Garrison.  There is parking at the park off of 117.  It's about 0.25 miles from parking.  So I'll go back and try again at some point.

From there I went to Davis Farm "321".  This was an interesting walk and would be a good place to ski.  I was able to find the hide without to much trouble.  Here's the album.

Davis Farm 321

It was getting a bit late and I'd not had lunch so I called it a day.

6:00 I made roast chicken and vegtables for dinner.  Put it in about 4:30 for dinner at 7:00 as the bird was fairly large.  I seasoned the bird with salt, pepper, and cajun spices.  The vegtables were some of the red potatoes left from the weekend, carrots, onions, and brussel sprouts roasted in some olive oil and garlic.  When the bird was ready I made a gravey and we had a very nice dinner.  With that big of bird we had a lot of left overs so we'll have chicken again tonight and then I'll freeze the rest for other dinners.

As usual I took the bones to make a stock.  I've always wondered why people don't do so commonly, but they don't.  More's the pitty as home made chicken stock is so much better than the bought stock.  After the stock is ready I'll make a toca soup.  It's a favorite for colder weather.

BB and I spent the evening reading and watching TV.

Geocaching and thoughts on retirement.

I slept in a bit this mourning.  One of the advantages of being retired is that I can finally get a full 8 hours sleep a night.  It is a great delight to wake up truely rested and ready for whatever adventures I'd like to have today.

I love to cook and eat.  So the day started with making some cream cheeze with salmon and capers.  Yum!  I'd smoked some salmon a week or so ago and saved the left overs to blend with cream cheese and capers.  It's marvelous on bagels with a nice cup of coffee (thanks to Karma Coffee of Sudbury).  It's interesting that while I'd been buying lox cheese from Sudbury Farms it was really rather trivial to make my own.  In any case we now have enough to last a few weeks or so and I'm looking forward to a steady diet of great bagels and cream cheese.

Last night BB and I watched a Netflixs video Julie and Julia.  It was a nice movie and reminded me that I've never actually read the Julia Child book.  I think I'll buy a copy with a view to actually reading it as the movie implied that the book deals in part with technique and not just recipes.  So I've gone online and ordered a copy from Amazon (beats driving over to Framingham to pick it up).

Most of the mourning was spent either fooling with the TV or geocaching setup.

On the TV front, I'd scanned channels on the Samsung cable and for reasons I'm not clear on many of the digital HD channels vanished!  I tried a number of things none of which were the least effective and finally rescanned as I'd done last night and all is restored.  Heaven knows why.

Geocaching activities were centered around Sudbury Garrison cache.  It's a virtual cache that references a historical marker to solve a puzzel to get the actual cache location.  Now on the whole I'm not especially keen on this cache type but I'd planned to go out caching today as the weather is fairly nice and decided to have a go at this one.  I did a bit of research and found what appear to be a good clue to the historical marker referenced in the puzzle at the Wayland Story of Haynes Garrison.  It seems that the marker is near Buddy Dog on Rt 20.  After the cleaners come by this afternoon, I'll see if it's there and perhaps find the cache.

It's probably appropriate to note that my interest in geocaching is driven in part by being concerned about a certain tendency to sit about reading and generally just passing the days and not getting out and about nearly enough.  That's one of the big changes that retirement brings - one no longer has work to structure life.  If you want something to happen you need to actually take the initiative to make it so.  Now I suppose at some level that's always the case even when not retired but retirement brings so much more time that it changes things.


About 1:30 after the cleaners left I dropped a book off at the library and went to find the Sudbury Garrison clue.  Took this photo.  The cache says:

From the memorial stone you will find two important numbers:
YY - is the last two digits in the year the monument was erected. For example: 1945 would mean YY=45
And:
L – is the number of letters in the word following “settlers” on the monument. For example: “the settlers ran to the garrison” would mean L=3.
Now use the following equations to generate 5 digit numbers (round and drop fractions):
NORTH = 26130.37 – 216.7895 * YY
WEST = 25901.5 – 360.25 * L
This should yield two 5 digit numbers (throw away any decimals).
The coordinates of the final cache are at:
N42 NORTH
W071 WEST filling in the 5 digit numbers you calculated above for the decimal minutes.

Well the monument was erected in 1803 so YY is 03 and there are 6 letters in sought.  Unfortunately, doing the math gives N42 25.480 W071 23.740.  This is in Concord not Sudbury and the cache description and log entries are a bit ambivalent.  I'll take a drive by at some point.

Meanwhile, while I was out I did find two caches:  Chiswick and Curtice Cache.  Chiswick was fairly quick and easy.  I'd not known this small park, such as it is, was in Sudbury but I found the stone circle and cache fairly quickly.  Here are some photos of Chiswick:

There was a fair bit of large trash in the area but since I was in a small car I wasn't able to take anything out.

I'd been by Curtice Cache once before and DNF.  I went back deciding to check other locations based on the fact that someone noted that the coordinates were wrong.  I found it OK but NOT at the specified coordinates.  Mine were N42 23.0489 W071 26.0434.  The listing is likely wrong.  I tried to send an email to the person that placed it but they are not registered so no luck there.  Here are some pictures:



These two finds bring my total to 6.  Not a lot but a fair start.

I also took a bit of time today to experiment with GPS accuracy comparing the Nuvi 255 with the Delorme PN-40.  Interestingly there isn't all that much difference.  The Nuvi is a little less accurate at about 0.01 to 0.001 decimal minutes different from the PN-40!  That said, the PN 40 has a number of other rather nice features and I'm generally happy with it.

After I got back from playing geocache, I worked a bit on my common sense blog.  I'm inclined to the view that with age comes a certain wisdom rooted in experience.  My common sense blog is my attempt to share this perspective.

Dinner was sauted shrimp and salad.  I used some Tiber Sauce and it was very good.

Recovery day

BB and I slept in late after dinner with Bob and Burnedette last night.  BB was a bit "under the weather" from overmuch red wine.  One of the great sadnesses of getting older is about the time you learn to really appreciate fine liquor you no longer are able to drink without ill effect.  So sad.

We met our new nextdoor neighbors.  I'd made some oatmeal raisan cookies for their children, young boy and girl, and we brought them over to introduce ourselves.  Interestingly they are from Iceland and have been in the US for 12 years.

I've been thinking about this business of being retired and have decided to be a bit more active in this blog as a way to create a personal experience document of the experience.

Bob and Burnedette here for dinner

I tried out the Delorme PN-40 searching for Curtise Cache.  It seems to work well but I was unable to find the cache in the snow.  I'm also a bit suspicious that the cache location is bogus.  I'll try again next week.

Bob and Burnedette came for dinner tonight.  I cooked a 6lb rib roast, asperagas, and new potatoes.  Cheese cake for desert.  Yum!  We had a very nice dinner with some outstanding wine that Bob brought including Tres Picos which I particularly enjoyed.  Rather surprisingly BB brought up the topic of New Years dinner!  After our earlier disagreements I was somewhat taken aback.  In any case I'll talk to Bob and see what we can work out.

Delorme PN-40 arrived

My new GPS has shipped and is in Chelmsford.  It might be here today.  We'll see. 

It turned out it showed up!  Yeh!!  I'd read the manual online a when I ordered it.  Setting it up was relatively simple.  That said the critism that it is complicated is both true and false.  The PN-40 is a very sophisticated device with a large variety of features and functions.  With sophistication comes a certain unavoiadable complexity.  It took me the better part of the afternoon to get things going properly.  Part of the issue was with Delorme Topo USA and Delorme Cache Register.  I also got tripped up with Geocache.com (only 5 poket queries per day).  At any event I eventually got things sorted.

Dinner was left over beef strip on salad.

Quiet Thursday

BB and I enjoyed our usual Thursday.  We settled on a roast for dinner with Bob and Burnedette Saturday.  We bought a nice 6lb rib roast.  Yum.

We're still trying to find the smell downstairs.  It comes and goes and I've no idea where it is coming from.  It smells like a dead mouse.  I've checked around the area where the smell seems strongest  but haven't found anything.  I thought it might be in the heating duct but when I turn on the fan there isn't any smell coming out of the duct.  I'll continue to look but at this point I'm really stumped.

Weather has gone cold.  Winter seems to be finally here.

Dinner was pork roast, string beans, rice, and cranberry relish.  That's the last of the pork.

Real snow

Woke up to the year's first real snow.  I've got about 6" of wet heavy snow and it was still coming down.  Since it's going to rain I'll have to get it off before then.  Fortunately Mike came home about the time I started and we were able to get the driveway and decks cleared before the rain came.

The snow blower is acting up a bit.  I'm hopeful it is bad fuel.  It ran but not especially well.

Got a nice surprise and the Delorme PN40 was on sale for $199 on Amazon.  Ordered it.  It has a number of nice features for geocaching and boating that should prove useful.

Voting and geocaching

Today was the primary for MA senator.  I went out and voted in the Democratic primary (this is, after all, Massachusetts).

On the way home I went out to find the Feeley geocache.  That's my fourth.  I'd been saving this cache to test out my Nuvi 255 for paperless caching.  It worked surprisingly well.  While the Nuvi doesn''t report particularly high accuracies as a practical matter it took me to within 4' of the cache location following the directions at http://geocaching.totaltechworld.com/index.html.  Very cool.

From Geocachin

The first photo shows the general cache location and the second the cache container.  I worked out how to load jpg files on the nuvi.  That should be useful for trail maps and such.  While it doesn't have the accuracy of specialized handhelds it is plenty good enough to start with.  That said I'm going to wait until after Christmas before buying anything else.

No response to the couple of emails I sent looking for geocaching buddies but we'll see.

Spent the rest of the day reading and dealing with the first of this years snow.  We're suppose to have rain and snow tomorrow so it looks like winter is finally here. I also took some time to look at the Matress Graveyard geocache and The Rock.  They are near each other off of Edgel road.  Weather permiting I'll try to get by there tomorrow.

Dinner was spegetti.  Mike said he was going to eat dinner with us and it was the only thing I had enough of.  I ended up making more.  Then he decided not to.  Oh well.

Messing with geocaching and nuvi

Spend the day generally messing about with my Nuvi 255, GSAK, and the garmin-nuvi-export macro.  I upgraded my nuvi firmware, downloaded Garmin's POI loader, and managed to follow the instructions at http://geocaching.totaltechworld.com/index.html.  It took a bit of mucking about but at the end I got all the pieces working and presto the Nuvi can be used for paperless geocaching.

Had some of the pork roast, sweet potato (they are gone now), and French green beans with shitaki mushrooms for dinner.  VERY nice!

I've decided not to go down for mom's birthday but will go down in the spring and then again at Thanksgiving next year.  BB and I talked about it a bit.

Called Bob L and arranged to have them over for dinner this weekend.

First snow

As is our custom BB and I slept in Sunday and then had a lazy mourning reading the paper.

I spoke to Art and Avery in the evening concerning plans for Mom's 89th birthday.  I may go down but have yet to really decide.

Dinner was left over steak, sweet potato, and french green beans.

Rainy day

BB and I slept in and had a quiet mourning.  We ran a few errands in the afternoon and then hung around the house.

Talked a bit about having people over for New Years.  BB is not interested.  Likewise, I may go down to NC for Mom's birthday next week.

Made sauted shrimp with pepers for dinner.  Very good.

Doctor, geocache, and reading

I had a doctor's appointment this mourning to check blood presure.  It was very good so the new dosage seems to be working well.

On the way back home I stopped to see if I could find The Leprechaun Coin Cache. The cache is located on a bridge over the Sudbury river.  The sight is lovely but I was not able to find the cache.  Google places it mid bridge and I walked across looking carefully for it.  No luck.  I also check under the bridge on the west end.  No luck.  The east end was underwater so no luck there.  I DNF it and will go back in a few days to check again.

After I got home I was curious about using my car Nuvi and downloading to it from the web site.  I nipped out to Staples and bought a micro SD and cable.  Turned out the cable was wrong but I had one upstairs. The micro SD card went in OK but seems inclined to pop out so I'm not sure I'll use it.  At any case I plugged the cable in and tried downloading several caches.  Things worked ok.  It seems that I get an icon for the parking area and the cache proper.  BB and I may try to use it tomorrow.

Dinner was steak with fresh herbs, sweet potato, French green beans with almonds, mushrooms and onions, and cranberry relish.  Yum!



 

Day with BB: geocacheing and errands

It was very windy and rainy last night as a front came through.  The leaves are now more or less off the trees so next time they are dry, hopefully this weekend, I'll blow them AGAIN.

BB and I spent the day together.  After a rather late start and some time together we went geocaching to Winterbrook at Walenbach (Sudbury Valley Trustees).  It was a lovely walk through some mature forest.  The cache was easily found although I misread the GPS and we ended up doing some walking off trail.

We spend the afternoon running errands.  Rt 9 was a zoo particularly Christmas Tree Shop.  I should have know better.

My knee is a bit tender.  I don't know if it's the increased walking or what.  Since I've got a doctor's apointment tomorrow (blood pressure which is now OK) I'll ask after it.

 Dinner was chicken fajitas with fresh hom emade quacamola.  Yum.

Geocaching and library

The weather early today was rather plesant so I took the opportunity to drop some books off at the library and revisit the Tavern of the Damned geocache.  It seems to have returned as a letterbox that was not present when I first visited Nov 22 with BB, Marie, and John.  At any case it was easily found notwithstanding the somewhat bogus clue that confused the building and chimney foundation.  At any event I logged it so now I'm up to 2.  I suppose everyone starts somewhere but 2 does seem like a very small number.

From Geocaching

While out I checked out the nearby Winterbrook geocache located on Wolbach Farm.  I'd not been aware of it even after 10 years in Sudbury.  Perhaps BB and I will try to find it tomorrow (weather permitting as it's forcast to be rainy).

BB and I watched a Netflix movie in the evening and read.  Dinner was left over Cornish Hen, smoked chicken, green peas, sweet potato, and cranberry relish.  Yum!

Quiet day at home

Spent the day reading and working on the net.

I've been considering buying a GPS for geocaching.  The Garmin 60 CSx was available at Wallmart on-line and Amazon for $248 and the eTrex Venture HC for $124.  In a period of a couple of days while I was thinking about it the prices jumped $40.  Welcome to the world of dynamic pricing.

BB went to a wake for the father of one of her coworkers this evening so I feed and walked the dogs.  Made some breakfast hash for dinner.