The Fungus Geoevent

Geocacher's really don't need much of an excuse to get together, so when an event was set up to honor the lowly mushroom for national mushroom month, that sounded like a great idea to us!

We all met together at Trout Creek Wilderness Park, which is a great place to hang out, look for caches and to do some serious canoeing.

The owner of this canoe offered to let us borrow their fine craft which would have been a nice idea, were we not on our way to hunt some of the new geocaches that were placed in the area.

The lack of wind made for some great water photos (no ripples) but man, it was hot and stifling with all of the humidity hanging in the air.

You never know where a geocache might be hidden. I mean, you could literally be sitting on one, and Karen found this one pretty quickly.

Yeah, I really liked the scenery today...

At one point, we had to cross this flood control dam. As we made our way across it, Karen and I stopped and reminsced about the days we used to jump off of these structures into the water below without a care about what was in the water or how deep it was. Oh yeah, the memories...

Here is the waterway the dam is controlling. The water level is so low that the gates were locked in the upright position.

Well, time to make a little progress down the road. I mean, come on, even the tortoises are moving faster than we are!

After we found a nearby cache, my tree-hugger cousin just had to try out this natural made tree-saddle for a bit.

At one point during our hunt, Karen came face-to-berry with this vine across the path and we just happened to catch her in mid 'eye-cross'.

I really like our jaunts out in the woods. You never know what kind of photo opportunities may present themselves as we hunt for those elusive containers.

For example, even the mundane caterpillar can catch our eye.

Well, this geocache could only be located after figuring out the puzzle that was on the geocache's webpage first. It's always a great thing to discover the container is really where you 'calculated' it to be.

Afterwards, Karen located one of our contest GeoGems in a cache and moved it to another container. She's found and moved three of the ten now. Pretty soon, she'll be picking up one of our gemstone trophys!

Ah, the very thing that was the reason to have a geocaching event for. We found this fine example on the path while we were hunting for a geocache.

Well, it was a bunch of fun, and we found 8 geocacaches that were new to us, while Karen found 12 of them (some were ones we had found before, so we handed her the GPS and let her fend for herself). All in all, it was a great time had by everybody.

Opa's Bout With Pneumonia

I got a call from my estranged Brother-In-Law last night that my dad was in the hospital for the past couple of days. It seems Dad was having difficulty with breathing, so Bobby took him to the emergency room. I called my dad at the hospital and he said he couldn't get in touch with me because the phone number he has is for my old corporate phone. so I updated him with my cell number, which is Luann's old phone number. After talking with dad for a bit, he said that the hospital performed a battery of tests and he was found to have pneumonia. They gave him a liberal dose of meds and oxygen and he responded well to the treatment, so the prognosis is good and they anticpate that he will be released from the hospital today.

Whew!

Geocaching In The Rain

While hiking 6.47 miles in the Serenova Tract Wilderness Preserve.

Karen and I took a hike in the Serenova Tract, the northern section of 6500 acre, nature area called the Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Preserve. The journey started out with a nice hike through this wooded section (it kinda reminded us of a Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings scene), but when made a left-hand turn, we were met by...

A rain storm rolling down on us from the north. Karen put on a poncho and I packed all of my electrical gear into a waterproof bag in my geo-backpack. There wasn't any lightning and the rain was steady, but wasn't pounding down on us, so we kept on marching.

After a while, the storm blew over us and the scenery was looking better.

At one point, we saw this burnt-out field with the remnants of this lone tree in the center. Kinda makes you wonder if lightning struck the tree and everything caught fire around it...

So, why did we go hiking into the Serenova Tract? To find one of those contest GeoGems in a hidden geocache deep in the middle of nowhere. So here I am, wandering around with a GPS in my hand, knowing that it's around here somewhere...

Taa-Daa! We have captured our prey. And you know it just had to be in the middle of a cypress dome, which is a bunch of tall cypress trees bunched together and the whole thing was surrounded by water that was 2 feet deep. It might have been slow, 'squishy' going, but I got it anyway...

Then, we had to drop off the Geo-Gem into another geocache on th eway out of the preserve. You can see the simple jubilation on Karen's face. Ok, so at about this point, we were tired and our feet hurt.

Ok, the funny thing about this picture is that I tried real hard to keep Karen from having to trudge through the swampy water. When we started our trek, came across a creek crossing that was a bit deep (more then 2 feet), so we back-tracked in order to find a way across. Then, a had her wait at the edge of the cypress dome while I 'slogged' through the swamp to go get the cache container, then after we pulled out the gem and signed the logbook, I trudged back through the swamp to hang the ammo box in the tree. So, I had been trying to keep her from shifting into '4-wheel drive', so to speak. That is, until we came across this section of the trail on our way out where the swamp simpley swept across the trail and there was no way to get around it. Well, after getting wet up to our thighs, i looked at the GPs and realized we still has over a mile to go... soaking wet...

Oh, and as we made our way through the preserve, I was quite mindful of the fact that the geocachers that had placed the GeoGem all the way out here had posted a picture of what looks to be a footprint from a black bear. Well, I didn't find any evidence of a black bear, but we did come across track from wild boar, deer, a couple of very large dogs and this one, which looks quite similar to the front footprint of a Florida Panther...

Yeah, I 'm looking forward to my next visit to this area...

Ratatouille - 2nd Attempt

Well, this is the second time I tried to make a ratatouille recipe like the one in the cartoon movie and this time, it came out pretty nice. This version has several textures due to the use of fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash, leeks and turkey sausage, and I have to admit that because of the diferent textures, it may be considered to be something of an aquired taste. I like this result better than the last try mainly because I decided to substitute a lean turkey sausage for the egplant I used before and it made for a nice balance this time. Here are a couple of pictures of the finished product.

This is what it looks like, fresh out of the oven and after a sprinkling of chopped parsley and basil.

You can see the layering of the ingredients from this side view.

Yeah, the first time I made this, I tried to stand the sliced veggies on end and it all sagged into the bottom of the pan (it looked terrible). This time, I stacked everything in a spiral from the outside to the inside, layer after layer, and it held up very well. And thankfully, it tastes pretty good too. If you are wondering if might like this dish, it might help if you're the kinda person who would order a 'Veggie Lovers' pizza from Pizza Hut...

Can You Believe It?

When I got home from work last night, we decided to get some yard work done. While Katrina mowed the lawn, I worked on trimming the oak trees. Somehow, while I was using the loppers to cut the low-hanging branches while standing on a ladder, I must have twisted wrong or something, because I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my right shoulder. Turns out I may have done some damage to my rotator cuff. Since we have an appointment with our doctor this coming Tuesday, I'll seek a real medical opinion then. Until then, I'm stuck with a limited range of movement for my right arm and a cold-pack on my shoulder.

And we've been planning on doing an all-day bowl-o-rama this coming Monday...

It's Paid For!

After 5 years of payments, we paid off the Magnum...

And I do mean 5 years. You see, Luann said she called the credit union that is holding the loan on the car this morning and found out we only owed 34 dollars on the car. Well, she told them to transfer the money out of our bank account and finish paying off the car. When she called me to tell me about it, I realized that the payoff of the loan was exactly 5 years from the day that we took delivery of the Magnum in North Carolina. Woo-Hoo!

And now, the search for the Magnum replacement begins.. Initially, we were talking about getting a Dodge Challenger, but due to Chrysler's recent financial problems, it looks like it's gonna be hard to get one ordered. So, we're looking at the new 2010 Chevy Camaro. Probably a 2LT Rally Sport (RS). The hard part is finding one where the dealership is actually willing to let us order one without having to put 3000 to 4000 dollars down to order it, and then they want us to pay at least the manufacturer's suggested retail price for it, if not more...

The Magnum, the same day we were driving it home from NC.

Y'see, the Challenger is a nice-looking, retro-60s hotrod. Something like the Magnum.

But, the Camaro is a nice looking machine too. This is close to what we are looking for, except Luann wants it to be in RJT (Red Jewel-Tone).

Bling Supreme

We came across this PT Cruiser on the way to work this morning. It has a paper tag from Louisiana in the back window and it...

pretty much speaks for itself...

Where in the world did the guy find all of this cheesy stuff to put on his poor, unsuspecting vehicle?

Finders "Key"-Pers

It seems I've been finding other people's lost keys lately. Last Sunday, I found a set of keys with a trailer lock still attached to it. Thankfully, it had a little tag on it with the owner's address, so we were able to return the keys to the rightful owner. Then last night, we were pulling into the parking lot of the local grocery store and a black pickup truck almost hit us in the side. The guy was in a big rush, it seems, to talk to a woman that was standing by an SUV we had eventually parked next to. Well, I kinda listened to their banter and realized it wasn't a 'toxic' exchange, so Luann and I went into the store.

As we meandered through the produce section, I saw a car key with a remote control sitting amongst the bagged potatoes. At this point, I had an idea who might have lost the key, so I went outside the front of the store and looked at the make of the vehicle parked next to our van. Sure enough, it was a Ford, just like the emblem on the key. I looked to my left and the woman I had seen talking to her husband earlier was standing there. When I turned toward her to ask her if she was missing her car key, she said; "Those are my keys!" before I could say a word.

I told her that I had found it at the potatoes, figured out it was probably hers and was actually confirming my suspicions that it was she who owned the key. She said that she was standing out front in case some kid came across the key and had plans to take her car. Meanwhile, she said, her husband was (angrily) searching the store for her lost key. I mentioned that this was the second day in a row that I had found lost keys and that I was happy to be of assistance, gave her the key and went back inside.

And the moral to this story is...?

Don't come storming into the parking lot with your truck because you're pissed at your wife for losing her keys in the store. The person you might hit, could be the one who will find the keys for you...