Box Hill

Took a little drive over to Box Hill in Surrey today. Planted one of the hedgehogs here as I had planned. Should be pretty close to the Hercules box, so make sure to get them both at the same time. Also, a lot of geocaches around this area. I only had time to do 3, but there are at least 10. You'll have a great time if you come on a nice warm day and do both boxing and caching!

Box Hill is a National Trust area between Dorking & Leatherhead in Surrey. Dorking is nearly the center of Surrey and lies directly south of London. Convenient to get to from London or nearby Gatwick Airport.

People have been coming here for hundreds of years (Daniel Defoe lived near here once and wrote about it back in the 1700s.) Box Hill is one of the best-known summits of the North Downs (the whole of south-east England was once covered by a huge dome of chalk which has eroded down to form two ridges: the North and South Downs), the chalk ridge which runs from the Hampshire border to the west, eastwards through Surrey and Kent to Dover. It is 634 ft tall and stands at the corner of one of the few big gaps in the otherwise unbroken line of the North Downs. The name Box Hill comes from the box trees that grow here.

Beautiful views, but unfortunately, a dreary December day isn't the best choice. Still, a good day out. Not too exciting in the winter - as far as seeing beautiful plants, orchids, and animals. I think a trip back in the spring will be necessary.

Photos:
Views of the countryside
Car Park trailhead - white paper on left comments on a recent dog attack on some sheep :(
Box Hill Fort - built in 1899 to protect London from southern invasions
Baa Baa Black Sheep - sheep are important here in encouraging flora & fauna diversity
An evil little nano geocache - it was so small I couldn't hardly get the minute log out

My Personal Logbook

Way back in time, I used to be in the printing industry. And even though I have bought logbooks - both for my early personal books and for planted boxes, having a custom made logbook is quite special.

My current book is large, but I love it. I designed the size, and selected the paper stock I wanted. Picked out my cover material. All the paper and cover material I was able to get from paper companies I worked with. I pulled in a favor to get it bound at a huge bookbindery in Tennessee where I sent all the material in with my specifications back in late 2004. I tried to keep it in good condition, but a long day out at Dartmoor in 2005 subjected it to constant rain. It survived, but it certainly wore it out a bit.

Having done postal letterboxing, I was at a crossroads for a while on whether I wanted to keep the stamps apart - one book for letterboxes in the wild, another one for plbs. In the end, I decided it was too much hassle to separate them. I keep everything in my one special logbook.

The organized side of me tried to maintain some sense of neatness and order to how I stamped into my logbook. Keeping certain stamps together and such. I still do try to keep multiple stamps from an event or a certain area or park together on a single page. But other than that, it's a hodge-podge of various stamps.

What to do with first finder certificates? I decided the best place was with the stamp. So they get glued in on the pages. This has turned my book into a touch of a scrapbook. But scanning through it and seeing colorful stamps, postal ring stamps all together, FF items glued in and even a few photos has really turned it into a memorable treasure.




At one point, I thought maybe I better not take it out in the wild with me anymore. Better to stamp on a piece of paper or card and glue it in and preserve my book. Plus, it's heavy (think carrying around a college textbook)! But, it just really loses something for me when I can't have the actual logbook in my hand. So I pack it around. It's been to at least 6 different states plus England and France.

The sad part is that my logbook is about 80% full. Filling each page (I think there are about 400 - 200 x 2 - if I recall what I spec'ed) both sides I thought would take it quite a few years. But here we are just going into it's 3rd birthday and the end is in sight. The good part is that since we moved to the UK and I'm not doing PLBs anymore, it should last a bit longer. But anytime you go to an event it seems like you can expect 50 new stamps in your logbooks - give or take. And that fills up pages quickly.

Regardless, I love my little book. No one else has one like it, and the treasure of stamps inside is wonderful. Including the day my kids found it and scribbled on a few of the pages.

I completely recommend you shop around for the ideal logbook for yourself. Maybe it's the reader and book lover in me, but finding a special one-of-kind book is the best.

A few options for you. . .

Fancy making a quality book yourself?
Try The Bookmaaker kits from Plickity Plunk Press (http://www.plickityplunk.com/bookmaaker.html)

Want a unique quality pre-made book?
Try Oberon (http://www.oberondesign.com/)

Yes, I know they are not exactly cheap. If you want cheap, then go down to the office supplies store and pick up a hardbound blank journal for 5 dollars/pounds. You can leave it as is, or change it up with some altered books ideas. My first 2 logbooks were this type.

So, if you're in the market for a new personal logbook, shop around and find the one that works for you!

The Future is Not Bright

This is really scary stuff. No kidding.

WASHINGTON - An already relentless melting of the Arctic greatly accelerated this summer, a warning sign that some scientists worry could mean global warming has passed an ominous tipping point. One even speculated that summer sea ice would be gone in five years.

"The Arctic is screaming," said Mark Serreze, senior scientist at the government's snow and ice data center in Boulder, Colo.

Just last year, two top scientists surprised their colleagues by projecting that the Arctic sea ice was melting so rapidly that it could disappear entirely by the summer of 2040.

This week, after reviewing his own new data, NASA climate scientist Jay Zwally said: "At this rate, the Arctic Ocean could be nearly ice-free at the end of summer by 2012, much faster than previous predictions."

2007 shattered records for Arctic melt in the following ways:

• A record amount of surface ice was lost over Greenland this year, 12 percent more than the previous worst year, 2005, according to data the University of Colorado released Monday. That's nearly quadruple the amount that melted just 15 years ago. It's an amount of water that could cover Washington, D.C., a half-mile deep, researchers calculated.

• The surface area of summer sea ice floating in the Arctic Ocean this summer was nearly 23 percent below the previous record. The dwindling sea ice already has affected wildlife, with 6,000 walruses coming ashore in northwest Alaska in October for the first time in recorded history. Another first: the Northwest Passage was open to navigation.

Melting of sea ice and Greenland's ice sheets also alarms scientists because they become part of a troubling spiral.

White sea ice reflects about 80 percent of the sun's heat off Earth, NASA's Zwally said. When there is no sea ice, about 90 percent of the heat goes into the ocean which then warms everything else up. Warmer oceans then lead to more melting.

Two Camillas?

I thought this was funny when I read it. After listening to Rupert Everett about half a dozen times this month already in Shrek 3, I can just hear his voice. This is what he had to say about an upcoming part where he plays a woman. He based his character on Camilla (aka the Duchess of Cornwall).

The flamboyant actor, who dons a blonde wig and knee-length skirt for the part of "pantomime dame" headmistress Miss Camilla Fritton, proved to be a striking doppelganger for the royal.

Rupert recently said: "I thought Camilla, what a girl, she's fantastic. I love her.

"She's got a sense of humour, and she likes a drink and a cigarette - she's my kind of girl.

"She's a marvelous woman, she strides around, she works in the garden and she goes out to parties. She wears nice hats and dresses, she has wonky teeth."

LOL. She's a great girl that Camilla, wonky teeth and all.

Christmastime

It's that time of year again. . .Christmas! We've had quite a few changes since last year.

We got a real tree this year after having had an artificial one for the last 10 years. I thought it would be a really fun experience with getting one. But I'm not so sure now. Dragging it home, constant watering, needles everywhere, and taking it to the dump afterwards. Hmmm. I didn't bring the artificial one as I thought it took up too much room in the shipment container. Now I'm having second doubts. And frankly, I'm just not smelling the pine scent we were convinced we would have. . .what's the deal there?! But it looks nice and it was sort of fun going to get one.

All the US presents shipped? Check. All US Christmas Cards sent? Almost. All UK Christmas Cards sent? Working on it. All presents bought? Mostly. Presents wrapped? Nope.

Missing in Action:
-Rankin & Bass Christmas shows. (Knew I should have bought those at WalMart last year!);
-No constant Christmas music on the radio (okay with this - downloaded all my favorites anyway);
-Huge shopping stores (we actually did find a ToysRUs no too far away. It was big too. Yeah!);
-Constant barrage of Christmas in your face (much more low key over here - I like that);

Problems:
-Getting all new Christmas lights since the plugs don't work here. (Done)
-Keeping kids away from decorative village houses. (No hope. Accept there will be damages)
-Am I supposed to watch the Queens speech? Not sure. I'm not her 'subject' so probably not.

Pray for a white Christmas? Hmmm. Doubtful. But, I assume the odds are better than snow in Houston! Hey, that's a good thing!

Have a great holiday season in your neck of the woods! Grab some letterboxes or geocaches over your break. (It will make you smile when you've had enough of the extended family.)

:)