Carnival - Cruisin' - Chillin' - Cachin' : Part One

July 31, 1989 - that is a day I will never forget. I officially left the US Navy and vowed NEVER to get onboard a boat larger than 20' long. I was through with the ocean other than an occasional trip to the beach to dip my toes in the surf or throw a line in the water. Last year when my better half told me she had booked a cruise for us, I literally got the chills. No way was I going on some big ship again. Did you know that "sailors" will steal your underwear on those big ships?

I have to admit I really didn't want to go. I waffled more times than I-Hop serves breakfast but after a former Navy buddy told me I would not regret it, I gave in and we headed for Jacksonville, FL to catch our ride.

DAY ONE - TRAVEL & ARRIVAL

Leaving after Kendal was out of school and Carol was off work meant a long overnight drive but we usually do our vacations that way. The traffic is usually easier and it is definitely more quiet with no arguements or problems and most times everyone sleeps a large majority of the way. The problem this time was that I wanted to sleep as well. I ended up making a couple of rest area "cat naps" and we made it without incident.

The scary part of this vacation was that we took Carol's Mom along. Now she is a nice lady but isn't in to the let's drive 13 hours straight thing, overnight or not. We ended up stopping for dinner, late snacks, and breakfast after arriving in Jacksonville. What should have been in reality about a 12 hour drive took us almost 15 hours. That was OK as "Mom" sprung for the food and goodies along the way.

We drove down Hecksher Drive in Jacksonville and off in the distance the "Celebration" came into view. Those prickly feelings about big boats started up again but I drove on. I was quite surprised by all the security we had to go through including a vehicle inspection. I think we went through 3[p;' checkpoints before finally driving up and onloading our luggage. In a way it irks me that we have to resort to such matters but I guess I had rather be safe than sorry. I'm not sure how thorough those checks really were but we got through and they didn't detect any of our WMD, meaning that 300 pounds of luggage I think my mother-in-law brought along. Don't know what she brought but I had a workout unloading her stuff.

Check-in was easy and quick. I think we were on the boat in about 20 minutes. All of our reservations were current and we really got a VIP type treatment. Things were looking better than I expected. They were still getting the staterooms ready so we headed for the Lido deck to mingle with the other passengers. I decided I needed to get "in the mood" and ordered a small libation to "soothe my nerves." Note the little umbrella and fruity drink. Yes - I love those ladies drinks. As you can see, I was also ready for any caches I might encounter. Everyone else chose a more traditional pre-cruise pose but I wanted to show I was ready to "Par-Tey!"

Anchor's Aweigh

Right on schedule at 3:00 PM, we left the dock and headed down the St. John's river to begin our cruise. I was on my 2nd or 3rd Pina Colada and things were quite pleasant. Pleasant until they announced it was time for the life vest and boat drill. Having read in the not-so-distant past about a cruise ship that rolled dramatically "in the harbor," I was a little skeptical. We headed for our staterooms to pick up our life jackets and get a look at our cabin. The cabin was really not bad and Carol kept telling me I wouldn't be spending much time there anyway. Kendal immediately claimed the upper bunk, Carol chose a lower, and I got the bed by the window. Colton decided he would share the room with Carol's mom even though we had another bed in our cabin. Guess he wanted a little more privacy. Besides that, his "Nana" spoils him and he probably decided to let her continue. Seriously, he chose to stay with her as she is a bit handicapped and he would be able to help her a lot more.

We got our lifejackets and headed up to our "muster" point for our lifeboat drill. It all seemed a bit ridiculous but we at least knew where we would "depart" the ship in case of an emergency. Some of us "old salts" found that getting into the life jackets were not as easy as we thought. Naturally I had one with straps that were tangled and I would have ended up carrying it in any emergency. Best part of the drill, I found the buffet on the way to our muster point. It was a minute and straight up two "ladders." Life is good.

After our drill, we explored the ship and its' amenities. We discovered the duty free shops, the casino, the formal dining room, and a couple of lounges, and then went back to our cabin to get ready for dinner. We had decided to take advantage of the evening sit down dinners and reserve the buffets for breakfast and lunch, and brunch, and mid-afternoon snack, etc. etc. Did I mention I gained 8 pounds on this cruise? No, well forget about it as I am still trying to work it off.

We proceeded to dinner and met our two waiters. They were the absolute best. I have never felt so pampered as I did at dinner. Keeping our glasses filled, unfolding my napkin, making sure our dinners were exactly as we wanted them - wow. This was the norm for their service and I was very impressed. We discovered that they spend six months straight on the ship and then are off for a couple of months. I don't know how much they actually get paid but they deserve every bit of it.

After dinner, filet-mignon and all the trimmings, we toured the ship a bit more and headed for our cabin. I had been up almost 30 hours and I was ready to call it a night. When we got to the room, we discovered our beds had been turned down, chocolates on the pillows, and the obligatory towel animal awaited us. It had been a great day and I was definitely looking forward to more of this cruise.

Geocaching At Munford Celebrate

In 1986, I was transferred to NAS Millington to begin my final tour of duty with the US Navy. I looked at a couple of houses in various communities and chose Munford to be my new home town. I had no intention of staying permanently, or close to it, but here I am, 21 years later and still in the same spot. The town of Munford has grown dramatically but it still has the "friendly home town" appeal that attracted me on that June day in 1986.

One of my favorite events that occurs in Munford is their annual Celebrate Munford weekend. It is usually on the 3rd Saturday of September and is a street carnival, craft fair, food blow-out, car show, and more that is nothing short of a really good time. For more information, please follow this link:
"Celebrate Munford"

Those that know me realize that since February, I have "geocaching" in my blood and I thought that "Geocaching At Munford Celebrate" would be a perfect opportunity to share Celebrate Munford with my geocaching friends and offer a venue to help promote the hobby to literally thousands of "muggles" who attend the annual event.

Planning started almost 3 months ago and that included getting permission from the Munford Mayor and city council to place caches in the area, contacting potential sponsors, reserving booth space, and submitting the event data to Groundspeak. I won't say it all went without a hitch as Groundspeak wouldn't approve it at first because I had mentioned sponsors who had donated prizes. They didn't even want me to mention their names or display their logos. I found this odd because Groundspeak displays those same sponsors on their pages. As a matter of fact, I used the ads on "Geocaching.com" to contact those same sponsors. Nevertheless, the event was finally approved and it was time to start advertising on the different forums and waiting for the door prizes to arrive. I naturally worried about how the weather would be, who might or might not attend, and how to put up a professional booth and at the same time show the attendees a good time while they attended. Celebrate Munford took care of the good time and with the thanks of a couple of people I will mention later and I think the booth gave a most positive impression for Geocaching and put Goecachers of West Tennessee ( GOWT ) "Geocachers of West Tennessee" in the minds of quite a few new cachers.

The Main Event

Saturday the 15th of September finally arrived and I set out before dawn to start setting up the booth. Within a few minutes, I look down the street and see my friend PoohBear94 ( Freddie ) walking up and carrying the biggest ammo can I have yet to see. I had asked Freddie if he could bring a couple of prizes for kids but when he opened the ammo can, I saw he had gone above and beyond anything I could have hoped for. Not only did he bring some nice prizes, he also pitched in and helped me get things organized.

Shortly after Freddie and I had the booth set up and ready to go, Riskit123 ( George ) walked up and became our First To Find. Not too long after George arrived, another friend, Mackheath ( Ed ) made his appearance and became part of the crew at the booth. The three of us were ready to take on the "muggles" and present Geocaching in a most positive light to all who were interested. Later on we were also joined by minismiths ( Shawn )and his family. Shawn had helped me place a cache for the event and was an integral part of my planning, helping with ideas and giving much needed support.

Next to show was titansfan, pharmd93, and sherlock121. Titansfan donated a nice ammo can with all the trimmings as a door prize and that was very much appreciated. I'm happy to say that a new family of cachers won that particular prize and they were absolutely thrilled. I know my first personal ammo can was kind of special.

Sherlock121 ( Ethan ) took an interest in some NASA Space Shuttle photos I had on my computer and spent some time at "Event Central" manning our desk and helping greet the public. It was a pleasure to meet him and I was proud to share the photos with him.

Throughout the day, several other cachers visited the booth including tinksdad01, Rd King, Shredder27, Dbl06, turdler, P-man, budtugly01, and JrByrdman162. SpyGirl2011 (Kendal) was there to help run errands and at one time served as a phone relay while some of us searched for an elusive cache placed by PoohBear94. Of course, you know who showed up wearing ORANGE - ProntoPup. Joe was a big help at the booth and along with MackHeath, manned the booth for a bit so I could search out a "real" pronto pup. I settled for a Bar-B-Que sandwich seeing that most of the "muggles" at Celebrate were in line for a pronto pup as well. Poohbear94 was visited by his lovely family and took time out for a little "bear nap" with a future bear cacher.
All in all Munford Celebrate and Geocaching At Munford Celebrate was a lot of fun. The weather was beautiful, the attendance at Celebrate exceeded all previous years, and the comraderie shared at our booth was superb. We all found a few caches, spun a few tales, and put forth a most positive view of geocaching to members of the public who stopped by the booth.

The sights, smells, and people made this a most special day. I guess my attention was grabbed by one "sight" in the crowd. I still don't know what "it" was, but "it" fit right in with the rest of the celebration.

An Editorial

As the organizer and sponsor of this event, I feel the need and right to make some final comments concerning not just this event, but participation and attendance at geocaching events and other activities in general.

As a dedicated geocacher, I have joined several organizations to further my knowledge and skills at my chosen hobby. I thought that by joining several organizations I could not only broaden my friendship base, but I could also learn from many of the best at the game. Unfortunately, what I have found is bias, prejudice, and the worst - apathy. There are cachers and geocaching organizations or groups who will shun, villify, and do anything to disrupt the enjoyment that others gain from this hobby, especially if you don't agree with everything they say or do. I am an individual and I should always be allowed to express my opinion without fear of being banned, demeaned, and talked about behind my back and to my face. These individuals who practice this form of bias are in my opinion pariahs of the sport. They demean and belittle the very sport they claim they are advocates for. Their words and actions fall far from the Geocacher's Creed in my humble opinion. I firmly believe that those words and actions are a glowing "tribute" to their ignorance and inabilty to see beyond their local area. I liken these people to members of the Jones sect who committed suicide at the urging of their leader. They gained nothing and are no more. They are not now nor will they ever be a true Geocacher in my opinion.

I also will point fingers at geocachers who cannot or will not support their own organizations. Apathy in my opinion should be one of the deadly sins. These people are content to sit back and watch a good organization fall apart before their eyes yet they will certainly complain about so many things but not raise one finger to offer a solution or any kind of help. If you cannot or will not support your organization, why are you even a member? Someone once said "If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem."

The Great Race - GOWT Red Jeep Style

On July 1st of this year, GOWT started a friendly competition amongst their members racing their Red Jeep Travel Bugs they had received from Groundspeak. Most of the jeeps were brought together and displayed at an Event and from there, everyone scrambled to get their jeeps moving. Thanks to MackHeath for supplying the picture. One jeep in particular made a mad dash to Nevada and back again and took an early lead in the competition and still holds that lead today.

It has only been a little over 2 months since our race started and already the Jeeps have visited 15 states including California, Florida, Tennessee, Nevada, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, and Kansas. One jeep has even gone "international" and currently sits in a cache "south of the border" in Mexico. The jeeps have accumulated 16,329.9 miles to date and I expect them to log many more. There are a couple of jeeps who seem to be "missing in action" but hopefully they will find their way soon.

The competition for GOWT ends on June 30, 2008 and I hope to have an Event to celebrate the travels of our jeeps and award a few prizes for the participants.

GOWT Member Jeep Mileage As Of 22 Sept 2007

Member Name Jeep Name Mileage

Current Leader - Chibongo "Bannahassee River (FL)" 4459.2

SpyGirl2011 "Middle Fork North Fork Fortymile River (AK)" 2253.4

docjr (tiger130) "North Branch Portage River (OH)" 1968.4

Dontgivahoot "Maskerchugg River (RI)" 1702.3

76Stinger "Crowley Creek (AK)" 1591.4

Abiectio "Ogotoruk Creek (AK)" 1318.0

cannotreadgps "North Fork Mad River (CA)" 937.9

Titansfan "Duck River (TN)" 648.1 cgeek "Raritan River (NJ)" 648.1

cgeek "Raritan River (NJ)" 503.9

Leigh421 "Swan River (CO)" 251.9

minismiths "North Fork White River (AK)" 206.5

pcsenn "Tingmerkpuk River (AK)" 212.2

jimmylogan "North Fork Anchor River (AK)" 132.6

FamilyInFilm JP4C4A "Chulitna River (AK)" 97.3

Tuck Sackett "Tunalik River (AK)" 0

Hoot Owl "Kollutarak Creek (AK)" 0

Green Text: Current Leader Red Text: (+) Changes In Position

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Official rules for the 2007 JEEP 4x4 GEOCACHING CHALLENGE

Garmin is the official GPS unit of the Jeep 4X4 Geocaching Challenge

Link to the Official Contest Rules Current Photo Gallery
SEARCH. RECOVER. WIN.
Each month we are giving away one Garmin GPSMAP 60CX GPS unit and at the end of the contest, we will award an all-new 2008 Jeep Liberty!
So get out there and let the challenge begin!
How to Play:
Check back here each month to find out what goal has been established for the Jeep 4x4 Geocaching Challenge for that month!
Once you find a participating Red Rock Crystal Pearl Jeep Commander Travel Bug, write down the tracking number that is stamped on the metal tag.
Take a photo of your travel bug with the goal for the monthly contest in the photo.
Visit http://www.geocaching.com/ to create a user account
Visit http://jeep.geocaching.com/ and enter in the tracking number to visit the web page for the red Jeep Travel Bug you found
Upload the photo to the red Jeep Travel Bug’s page to submit your entry.
NOTE: If the Red Rock Crystal Pearl Jeep Commander Travel Bug is not in the cache when you arrive, take a picture of your GPS unit showing the coordinates of the cache and take a SECOND picture completing the monthly goals to enter. Then visit http:/jeep.geocaching.com, visit the listing for the cache page that the red Travel Bug was not in, link to the Travel Bug page and submit your entry.
One first prize-winner for each month will be awarded a Garmin GPSMAP 60CX GPS unit.
One entry per month per person is permitted and you can only enter a Travel Bug once. So make sure to leave it, or drop it off in the next cache so it can continue its travels!
MONTHLY CONTEST GOAL THEMES:
JULY GOAL:American Heritage
AUGUST GOAL:No Boundaries
SEPTEMBER GOAL:Only in a Jeep
OCTOBER GOAL:Discover New Places
NOVEMBER GOAL:What is your definition of Freedom?
DECEMBER GOAL:Your Adventure Starts Here
Finally, each and every monthly photo contest first prize-winner will be eligible to win an all-new 2008 Jeep Liberty.
Click here for contest rules.

SpyGirl2011 - My Caching Partner

When I first started geocaching, most of my finds were on my own. I basically only knew one person who cached but we only hunted one or two caches together. We worked together but there was never a real connection.

I finally convinced my family to make a Sunday run with me to the Dyersburg area for a family outing. Of course I also had an agenda of finding some caches and maybe getting some help. Our very first stop was at Stories in Stone. It was off Hwy 51 but not so much as it didn't warrant a quick stop. When I pulled up, Kendal (SpyGirl2011) hopped out of the truck and made her way into the cemetery. She wasn't really looking for a cache but was fascinated at the old Civil War graves ( American Civil War ). I explained what we were looking for and gave her the clue and she very quickly found her first cache. We took a couple of pictures and moved on to more sites and caches. As we left, she decided she would like her own Geocaching name and decided upon SpyGirl2011. I guess she thought it was kind of like a detective or spy game and that name was most appropriate. I want to relay a story about her that I posted in the GOWT Forums about favorite geocaching stories.



A few weeks back SpyGirl, my wife, and I went on a caching trip to Dyersburg. We wanted to stop along the way at the Alex Haley Museum and try to find Chicken George's gravesite as well as Bethlehem Cemetary/ Roots- Small Town USA Series . Unfortunately, there was a film crew at the museum and they waved us away, I guess fearing we would interfere or streak across their picture. We also tried in vain to find the cache near the grave site but I had neglected to read the logs and did not have the updated coordinates. My first DNF. We traveled on to Dyersburg find a few easy caches including Stories In Stone which was SpyGirl's first "official" find that she logged. When we arrived in Dyersburg proper, we decided to pick .the back of a parking lot in a tree line. There was no one around and SpyGirl said she wanted to do this on her own. It looked fairly straight forward and I agreed, reluctantly handing over the GPSr to her. I equate this to any man relinquishing control of the remote control, except this was much more serious. As SpyGirl exited the cachemobile, she stated, "Here goes the next Foxy Cleopatra." She stepped on to the grass next to the car and did the best "James Bond" type roll and shoot I have ever seen. As she came up in a crouch, she was posed much as you see Charlie's Angels, substituting their weapons with a Yellow and Black eTrex. Taking little "spy" steps across the grass, she soon had the cache in hand and "rolled" back to the car to sign the log. I have to admit I am prejudice about her behavior, but my wife and I were in tears of laughter. Here was my prim and proper 13 year old daughter doing rolls across the grass, crouching down to scout for muggles, holding the GPSr in one hand and the cache container in the other. I guess she was pleased with our reaction because still to this day, if the conditions are right, she will strike her pose and do her spy roll in preparation to setting out to find a cache.


Today, Volleyball is the love of her life and she made the Munford High School JV squad. She is constantly improving but I will talk about that at another time.

Matthew James Wardell - Music Biography

As this blog was originally started to feature my son Matt and his music, I am posting his latest short biography of sorts. He is a most talented young man of whom I am quite proud. I know he has a great future in the music business as either a conductor, orchestra member, or teaching at a college level.


MATTHEW JAMES WARDELL

A Short Music Biography

The Cache Obscura

Last week I received an invitation from a fellow geocacher, bitbrain, asking if I would be insterested in joining a group in a hunt for "The Cache Obscura, GC11Z70. This has been on my radar for some time and I responded with a definite YES. Over the next few days, emails were exchanged between the prospective cachers discussing merits of where to start. We finally agreed upon a meeting time and place and this morning I set off with PoohBear94 to meet up with our friends.

At this time of year and at 6:00 AM it is still almost dark. We followed Hoot Owl into our designated meeting place and were soon joined by Gibbenator, Tiger130, and I think last but not least, our "host" bitbrain. After a quick discussion of "tactics" we caravaned to our jump off spot and set off to tame The Cache Obscura.

The following is my log from Geocaching.com and is a brief summary of all that went on. I say brief when in fact it is quite wordy, but it is hard to document everything in perfect detail as to the events of the day.

August 26 by 76Stinger (357 found)A short log just won't do this one justice, but I'll try to sum it all up.

This was without a doubt the best cache I have done to date. Not only because of its' complexity, but largely due to the great group I was with - bitbrain, Tiger130, gibbenator, Hoot Owl, and PoohBear94.

When we left out of our meeting area, I was thinking, "Where are these people going? I thought the cache was back there somewhere." We drove a few miles away and I was hoping we didn't have to hike back from our new starting point. I was wrong. We started on a level easy walk which rapidly deteriorated to trails, and eventually to outright bushwacking. Up and down, around, and double-back. I was already exhausted and we hadn't even found the first stage.

Eventually, I staggered up after I heard PoohBear94 yelling he had found it. That boy is a "cache magnet." For someone who is a bit new, he does a great job. We fiddled around getting into the cache container for this stage ( see photo above ) and trading ideas as to where to go from there and eventually headed out on a full blown bushwacking adventure. Somewhere during this "walk," I discovered "everyone was lost and they couldn't find me." After much shouting and whistles, gibbenator appeared from some of the nastiest thicket I have ever seen and I "guided him" to the rest of the group. ( Read into this that I am being very sarcastic - I was lost! I was also pretty much gassed out and wondering if they would add a chapter to this cache entitled Stinger's Disappearance.

After meeting up with the group once again, we went into a wide-scale search for the elusive next stage. Yeah - you know who found it - PoohBear the Cache Magnet. He is a natural. After a much needed rest for me, we headed out to hopefully the final stage. Naturally I was dragging the proverbial anchor but Hoot Owl stayed with me and even took my pack away as he knew I was having troubles. I'm almost embarrassed but Thanks Hoot! You were a God-send.

To end this saga - YES, we found all the stages and headed back to our start point, which by the way seemed to be about 30 miles away to me. This time it was Pooh who stayed with me and refused to go on. Did I tell you that Pooh found the last stage as well? Of course, you know he did.

I can only offer my most humble thanks to gibbenator, Hoot Owl, Pooh Bear, bitbrain, and Tiger130 for tolerating me dragging my behind. Matter of fact, I think bitbrain posted a most flattering picture of that behind. Thanks. It looks like the south end of a north bound continent. I can at least smile about it.

Now for that x098q34 x8-`er cacher that placed this cache - er, um, OK - great job! Probably not what I was thinking along the way, but "Ya Dun Gud!"

Oh yeah, dropped off a TB on one of the stages, just can't remember which stage.

TFTC and many thanks to my good friends who stuck with me.76Stinger

As you can see, it was most worthy find for my 1st 5/5. I think for me it was more like a 7/7. I hurt my back some time ago and this long walk and constant bobbing and weaving through the thickets and endless thorns, left me taking more than my share of breaks. I think that is probably how the rest of the group managed to lose me ( I knew where I was all along :>) )

All in all, this probably rates as my top caching adventure to date and I owe it all to my great caching partners on this adventure.

As a suggestion to any who may attempt this in the near future, take LOTS of water, snacks, and a hiking stick. My stick saved my rear more than once when near exhaustion tried to suck me to the ground.

This is a link to a video that bitbrain put together documenting a few of the highlights of the day. "The Hunt for The Cache Obscura" Thanks to Gil for his camera and editing work.

Enjoy! There are also some excellent pictures from the day posted on the cache page itself.

It's About Geocaching - Not Memberships!

This will be my first post on Geocaching and unfortunately it is not necessarily a "good thing" type post. I recently made a comment on a Forum of one of the clubs that I belong to and it was a mistake. It was something I said in public that probably should have been said in private to the individual concerned. The resulting fervor that was created was crazy.

I am a quiet, conservative type individual who makes every effort to get along with all that I meet but occasionally I run into someone who just makes my hair stand on end. I have always had a "sixth sense" about people and I would say that about 99% of the time, my first impression about someone is dead on. This has applied to co-workers, friends of my kids, people from church, and just about any venue you can think of. It is almost as if they have one of those cartoon sayings over their heads reading "Bad Egg."

Back to the point - the comment I made was to a cacher who I thought had made an inappropriate comment or "joke" in a public setting. Granted, he had every right to make the joke but I just thought it was time for the subject matter to be laid to rest. I offered what I really thought was "fatherly advice" and hoped it would kind of soak in. I like the guy to whom I made the comment but all of a sudden I was treated with such ugliness, I might as well have been some sort of monster. The emails, pm's, and responses started to fly fast and furious and not a single one of them could see why I made the post. It was to me absolutely ridiculous. All I wanted to do was help make some peace but these people couldn't see past their territory and thought it was a direct slam on them. The funny part was that many of these comments were from people who had never made a single effort to say hello or speak to me at any of the events I attended. They don't know me or have any knowledge about how I think or what I am about, yet they chose to lambast me. The bad part is that I let them get my goat and responded in kind and eventually resigned from that organization. Unfortunately I made another post on a different forum relaying my impression of the absurdity. I said a few things I should have and have since regretted them. I was just hurt and mad. Bad combination when you have the power of a keyboard at hand. The funny part - the individual who I made the comment to, well we communicated and got our feelings aired to each other and are back on I think an even keel. There are no hard feelings from me towards him and I think he thinks the same towards me.

Some of the comments made to me publically and via PM were rude, uncalled for, and downright mean. I was accused of allegiance to another group over theirs, accused of being totally immature, and basically, told to get the hell out of Dodge. To say I was amazed at these reactions would be an understatement. As for allegiance to any group, I show allegiance to God and Country but I don't have the kind of allegiance to any other group that would spark any of these comments. I may be more attuned to certain groups because of more social interraction, but I joined multiple groups to learn more about the hobby - not to isolate myself into a little group who seemingly has a hatred for anyone who does not think or act like them. That sort of behavior reminds me of the extremists who live in compounds and demand your service to them and that you pay homage to their ideals and beliefs.

To be fair, I have met some super people in all the groups to which I belong, but I have also met some in each group who have the little cartoon clouds over their heads. Such is life. You will never get along with everyone you meet because that is what makes us human - we all have our differences. I guess in this one particular group, not thinking like they do and having your own opinions is verboten. Funny thing, I recently quit a pretty good job over that same issue.

I am one of the most easy going people you will ever meet. I am laid back and never afraid to go out on a limb to help a friend. I don't give a plug nickle about who you know, what you know, or what group you belong to. If you are my friend, you can count on me to help if I can.

In summary, I'm still caching. I will miss a couple of events I was really looking forward to attending with my duaghter today, but I know for the most part I would not be welcome anyway.

Hopefully, my next post will be on an upbeat note. I am on a quest for 500 but the heat has kept me inside for the most part. I have been job hunting and taking care of "honey-do lists" and it has been stressful and exhausting, especially those lists. I did have an interview yesterday and felt pretty good about it. Stay tuned.