Wellie Boxing with TeamKing

Great Reads

2011-10-20T16:30:00.002+01:00

One of my favorite books of this year is one I just finished "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline.

It is sort of a Hunger Games/Charlie and the Chocolate Factory type of book taking place in the future. All computer, gaming, virtual reality, and lots of 80s nostalgia.

I got the audio version read by Wil Wheaton - he did a fantastic job - get the audio if you're going on a road trip.

If you were into any sort of computer or D&D type games of the 80s, you will REALLY appreciate it. Otherwise, the 80s references to movies was fun in its own right.

Give it a go if you're looking for something different.

:)

RIP Tony Moore

2011-10-12T07:47:00.003+01:00

A great letterboxing icon has passed.

:(

Fun Plants

2011-06-01T17:01:00.003+01:00

I just can't wait until I can get my own little greenhouse. I have been looking at plants and plotting my plan of attack. One of the things I just love, is getting the more 'exotic' plants. You know, the ones you won't find at the local garden center. Every citrus variety, olive, avocado, tea, coffee, etc. It's like a collecting hobby to me - finding and caring for these exotics.

A place I found here in the UK gets two thumbs up from me as a supplier of these sorts of plants. Carreglefn Nurseries. I have ordered a few plants from them now and have had great success. Each plant comes nicely packed up and includes feeding and care instructions. All the plants have been very healthy and only shipped during the right part of the year for each variety.

Check them out if you are in the UK and just want to check out something different. They aren't cheap (for that, you'll just have to get some seeds from the various catalogs) but how many people do you know that have their own coffee plant?!

:)

Coffee Tips

2011-04-26T23:16:00.003+01:00

Ran across this great article from Freakonomics on how to make the perfect cup of coffee with a French press.

I was all excited to try it out when I realized my French press got packed up when we moved house at end of last year and it now is lost in a box in a storage unit. Booooo!

Oh well, I'll get it sometime. Meanwhile, here's the link for you to check it out:

Coffee

Garden: Planting Schedule

2011-04-25T19:02:00.003+01:00

Ran across this Planting Schedule by Mel Bartholomew online for raised bed gardening. Nice chart to plan your veggies for the year.

iPhone: Gardening Apps

2011-04-02T08:58:00.002+01:00

On one of the gardening blogs I enjoy reading, they did a post on the best gardening iPhone apps that is very informative. As we now in the thick of springtime and enjoying the emergence of flowers and bees and visits to the garden centers, here is the link to check out these apps and website:

My Garden School iPhone Garden Apps

Letterboxing: Dartmoor Spring Meet

2011-03-25T15:46:00.003Z

It's that time of year again. The clocks spring ahead in the UK, so that means it's time for the Dartmoor Spring Letterbox Meet. It's always held the Sunday of time change weekend, so here's the details if you want to go - their typo with the Autumn wording. There are always tables, new box clues, supplies, and lots of boxers to meet:

The Autumn Meet will be on 27th March 2011 at Lee Moor Village Hall ( NOT AT PRINCETOWN! ), commencing at 10am.

For those individuals and organisations wishing to put out a Charity Letterbox Walk in the Spring, please remember to obtain permission from D.N.P in plenty of time. Contact Sue Bishop 01626 831006, or visit their website www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk

For more details on hiring stalls at the Meet contact Stephanie & Roger Paul 01647 231080. Email: rogerpaul@eprimus.co.uk

iPhone: Location Games

2011-03-15T22:08:00.003Z

I have been trying out a few of the location-based 'games' on the iPhone. (I think they are available on other devices, but don't quote me on that!) The 3 I have looked at are: Gowalla, FourSquare, and SCVNGR.

You use these apps as you check in to various locations as you either travel or just go about your daily life. The only people who see where you are your friends who are also on these apps and you have okayed. You can check in, take a picture, make comments on any sort of locations - parks, resturants, buildings, roads, stores, etc. At first the idea was lost on me, but after giving it a go, it is actually kind of fun to check in various places, read comments from others, and compete against others for most check-ins.

Over the weekend, I went up to Oxfordshire, so had a good chance to try all of these. First off, there is a nice comparison post on Gowalla vs FourSquare here, so I won't go into any specifics.

Now, on to what I found. My favorite of the 3 was Gowalla. It was visually interesting with great icons, easy to use, and my fav feature was that it updated spots as you moved so I didn't have to keep refreshing the screen. This was really handy while in the car as I could see places I could check in if I wanted.

FourSquare is fun as you can become the Mayor of each place. I think this works by whomever visits that loacation the most. I haven't become Mayor of anything, so can't really say if it works and how well. I like FourSquare as a friend is on it, but I had a hard time getting it to update locations as I traveled.

SCVNGR wasn't bad. It tried to pull in parts of both of the others, but didn't really have any outstanding features for me.

Gowalla was the best one for me and I will stick with it. FourSquare and SCVNGR seem best if you just want to check in while you are at a location, not moving about. If the Mayor idea sounds fun, then give FourSquare is your best option.

All 3 are free on iTunes, so pick them up and give it a go. Make sure you add me as a friend!

Using Library e-Books with iPhone

2011-03-09T14:45:00.005Z

For the most part, I have gone to ebooks nearly completely. There does always seem to be some books which don't make it to ebook format until much later than the hardcover versions - if at all. In those cases where I just can't wait, I will get the hard copy of the book. But frankly, it just collects dust afterwards unless I can sell it on Amazon. (Where is PaperBackSwap when I need them?!)

I use the Kindle app (free!) on my iPhone to read books. I love it. A lot of people have commented that the screen is too small to read. Perhaps. But I always have my phone with me. If I spent the money on an actual Kindle unit or iPad, it would probably stay at the house most of the time and I would miss out on some quick reading opportunities (school pickups, school lessons, appointments of various types, etc.) All times where you just sitting for a short while and could be reading your book instead of twiddling your thumbs. Duoh!

Unfortunately, the downside of all of this is the cost. Regardless of what form you buy your books, the cost adds up for those of us who love reading. I have tried to use the library in the past for books, but find that the books I am looking for never seem to be there. Either they are out and there is a waiting list, or my book is just too vague to make the cut on books they purchase.

What about combining ebooks and the library? Would the books be more available? Would I use the library more and not purchase books as much? I decided to check it out.

First I had to get out my library card and check it online to make sure everything worked and it was all registered. Check. Now, how do I get the books to appear on iPhone?

For that you need an app called 'OverDrive'. This gets the books from the library to your phone. It's free, so add that to your iPhone. Also, you will need an Adobe ID (Adobe owns OverDrive. Go to their website and get this before you try to check out a book as it will hold up the process if you don't.)

Once you have those in place, you are ready for OverDrive on the iPhone. When you open up OverDrive, you'll see an option called 'Get Books'. Click on that. Next you will need to search for your library under 'Add a Library'. In my case, I have both a Surrey (county) card AND a Hampshire (county) card as I lived in both. I found the Surrey library listed first and clicked it. At the bottom of the screen, you should see your library system listed along with the formats available. (I can check out ebooks and audio books with both Surrey and Hampshire.) After clicking on your library, you should find yourself at their log-in screen at the library. Here is where you put in your library card number and password.

Once you are logged in with your library online via OverDrive, you are ready to find and checkout books. I was a bit disappointed by what I found. Surrey only had about 400 ebooks and only 29 MP3 audiobooks. Hampshire was much better at just over 1400 ebooks and 295 MP3 audiobooks. I browsed through the books to find anything I was interested in checking out. MANY of the ebooks were checked out and I had to go in a waiting queue/reserve for them. (They will email you when the book is available and you have 3 days to check it out.) I clicked on one and did this. (Note: I got the email less than a week later so that wasn't too bad.)

Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything else I was interested in, so just picked any available ebook to try to download it. I clicked on the book and it added to the basket. Then 'Proceed to Checkout'. (You will be asked to login here if you didn't do it earlier.) Confirm. Then you should see the Download button for each book you checked out. They will download to the OverDrive app.

From this OverDrive app, you should see all the ebooks and audiobooks you have checked out along with how many days you have left on the loan via a little calendar symbol. I have books my OverDrive from both libraries so it is possible to use more than one - this is probably handy if you have both a local library and say a county, or university library you use.

And that's it. Just click on the book and you are reading library ebooks (or listening to the OverDrive MP3 audiobooks) on your iPhone! The books will automatically close once your loan time is up, so no more overdue books either.

I'm sure all this is the same for Android or the iPad or Kindle unit, so give it a go if you haven't yet. I haven't seen a lot of specific books I want, so not sure how much I will end up using this. The libraries REALLY need to do a better job of educating people on ebooks and improving the selection. Ideally, I would like to see a massive library available AND unlimited users checking out the same book at once. THEN, it would really be an awesome feature - and think of the popularity of libraries!

Blog Re-Design

2011-03-05T19:50:00.002Z

It's been a few years with the same design on the blog, so made some changes. Everything is in same place and same items on sidebar. Only changes are just the template and colors. Will continue to tweak, but what do you think??

Bees: What Bee? and Where?

2011-03-05T19:49:00.000Z

Another theory class this weekend. Had a nice talk on the types of bees out there. England basically has mongrels as so many different ones have been brought in and have now mixed.

I was surprised to learn that Germany is trying to only have the one bee - Carniolan. Many good traits of this species.

The British Black bee sounds good for the climate here, but definately has some personality issues. I don't want aggressive bees.

Last week I was thinking of what bees I wanted to get, and went ahead and ordered my first nuc. The bees are a Buckfast/Carniolan mix. Interested to see how they turn out with such nice traits from both breeds.

Almost wonder if there is any point in buying a specific bee. Looks like after the 1st year, the queen will go out and breed with mongrel drones in the wild anyway. But it should at least give me a nice gentle colony to get started with - and hopefully the queens traits will dominate.

Oh I think I forgot to mention - one of the first considerations I had for beekeeping was WHERE I would keep them. My little yard was not an option, so I was worried what options I had. Amazingly, I was having coffee last week with a friend at her house when the topic came up. She then informed that they had a field they owned and I could keep them there. I had no idea they had any property. What a great break of luck for me. They are only a few miles away so ideal for travel.

It was also this friend who told to just jump in and go for it this year. They have chickens and she told me about getting started with them and how they didn't know anything. But by just jumping in and going for it, they have learned so much. Yes, they did lose a few hens from foxes due to housing errors. But they fixed the issues and moved on. She said the same would probably happen to me. I would make some mistakes, but I would learn so much more than just reading and classes. Thus, I decided to go for it and started to look for my own bees.

Now that the bees are on order, my next step is to find a horizontal top bar hive. This is the hive I have decided to go with instead of the National. It will be a bit difficult as my local group seems to be National hive folks, but everytime I read about the top bar hives, everything just clicks with me. I like the concept, I like the design, I think its the right thing for the bees.

I like this design from Heatherbell over in Cornwall. Will need to research all the UK top bar sellers to see which I will go for. Lots of details online for building your own, but not my interest to build my own. Maybe someday, if I want to get more hives.

So, that is where I am now. Will try to update the blog with UK vendors I find that sell top bar items. I was amazed to see that Thornes, who are supposedly the biggest beekeeping supplier in the UK, doesn't even offer any top bar items. I guess the need isn't there. Oh well.

Until next time. . .

Bees: The Theory Class

2011-03-05T19:45:00.001Z

I have been interested in beekeeping for at least 5 years now. Well before we moved to the UK. It simply got put on the back burner. I finally re-gained interest after looking into getting an allotment and noticing someone commenting on bees. The allotments immediately around me don't have any bees, so a quick search on bee groups put me in touch with a local bee association. I went to their 'tester' day to put on the suit, handle a frame, and see the bees up close. It was great and I joined that group right away. This was last Spring or Summer.

At the end of last year, I started receiving the Bee Craft magazine and wondering what I needed to do next. Luckily, an email from the group came out offering the basic theory course starting up in late January/February. I signed up, and here I am.

We have had 2 classes so far. The speakers have been great. They are very personable and knowledgeable. We meet for 3 hours each Saturday with a tea/coffee break in the middle which is nice for getting to know the others in the class.

They are very pro-National hives and have given us lots of information. Not too much mention of Top Bar or Warre type hives. I did learn that National hives are the most popular in the UK, while Langstroth are the most popular in the world, including the US. I'm not sure I know what the difference is - we went through the National hives pretty well, so I just need to read up a bit on the Langstroth so I can understand the differences.

We still have 6 more classes to go before the practical course starts up. I may be in a bit of bind for that one as we will be in US in April. Even so, I am moving forward with purchasing the basics. I'll go over that in the next post.

Bring in the Bees

2011-03-05T12:35:00.002Z

I have been taking a beekeeping course and have started to get everything together to have a colony this Spring. I wanted to journal my experience with this so created a new blog. But I find having 2 blogs annoying, and as I don't use this one enough, I am just going to bring my bee posts over here.

Some new sidebars will appear with bee info - this is mostly for my own sake so I can find information easily. And the few posts I had started will appear here shortly.

Bring in the Bees!

Fantasy Baseball

2011-02-05T16:43:00.002Z

Time again for our fantasy baseball league. If you are interested, post in the comments and I'll send you the link.

Wii Rocker

2011-01-03T09:33:00.004Z

With at least 2 full months of winter ahead, we find ourselves with a lot of Wii time. My son is the number one user. He is especially fond of Lego Star Wars and New Super Mario Bros. The rest of us don't use it that much really. (Although we did spend a lot of last winter completing all the levels on the New Super Mario. It was really fun to do that as a family.) Thoughts of upgrading to xbox or Playstation went unanswered by Santa, so still using the Wii with more new games.

This brings me to my favorite Wii game. Band Hero. I think I must be a closet rocker because I love Band Hero. I love the guitar and I love the drums. A lot of time was spent in 2010 on Band Hero. But, like most games, it ran its course and interest was lost. Until recently. . .

In an effort to get our son interested in music, we have agreed to let him get a real drum set and join his friend in drum lessons. His friend was lucky enough to get a nice full acoustic drum kit from a relative. But when we visited and heard the noise coming from it, instant panic set in. It was LOUD. Really LOUD. It wasn't going to work in our small neighborhood. So, we discussed with friends dad and all agreed that electronic drum kits were the way forward. Set them up, give the boys some headphones, and we're all happy.

Step two. Find a drum set. There are tons of used sets for sale everywhere. A run through ebay shows a lot of choices out there. I started checking them out and setting up ebay searches. The problem is the prices. A lot of over £1000 kits out there and out of our range. The search dragged on. . .

Meanwhile, the drumset from Band Hero was covered up and lost in the corner. The little control knob broke and was loose in the case making it nearly unusable. This along with the guitar which got a remote control unit yanked out of it and made it also unusable.

While Christmas shopping at the Game store, I found some used Wii guitars and immediately grabbed one. Back in business! I ran home and set it up and started enjoying the game again. But son was now getting more interested in the game and pulled out the broken drums and tried to join in. Hmmm. Back to the search.

Here is where the point of this is. . .I had no idea how really cool games like Rock Band and Band Hero really can be in learning music. The new Rock Band 3 supposedly really teaches you the guitar with more detail then ever before. And the drums - well, I found this cool place which repairs those controllers. And even neater, is that you can hook up your real drum kit and override the game one and really play the drums along in the game. I am excited to get my son set up and try this.

Of course, I know I will be giving a go as well! :p

Fantasy Leagues and End of Year

2010-12-31T12:21:00.004Z

Well, the end of 2010. Can't say it was our best year. Nothing bad happened, but a few goals we had did not get achieved - such as buying a house here in UK. So, we go into 2011 with a new set of goals and full of hope.

Today is the last day to get in on our Dead Pool league. See the previous blog post for details. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

I tried my first NFL Fantasy League this year. I ended up 4th out of 12 with a 9-3-1 record. Not too bad. I might have to try that again next year. Still going on are the NHL and EPL fantasy leagues. I do these every year so if you want to get in next time, let me know.

The EPL (English Premier League) was the first league we did and it is getting an upgrade this year with the introduction of a trophy. Money was a thought, but a little too difficult with both US and UK friends. In honor of the recent Ashes, we are thinking of getting a trophy called 'The Titchy Urn'. No real ashes inside though.

Letterboxing goal would be to hit 1000 finds this year. Geocaching goal would be to hit 300 finds this year. Maybe I'll get out to the Dartmoor Spring Meet this year. Haven't been for a few years, so time to perhaps give it a go again.

Lots to do today, so better be off. Hope you had a Merry Christmas! Happy New Year to you! Onward 2011!

Dead Pool

2010-12-19T11:18:00.002Z

I've entered a list on Stiffs.com in The 2011 Lee Atwater Invitational Dead Pool. You pick the celebrities you think are going to die next, and whoever gets the most right wins cash money!

But wait! There's more!

I've also created our own personal Boneyard - an invitation only private group that will allow us to see who amongst us (the cool kids) does the best. All you do is enter the game that is running right now, and then when prompted, enter this code:

ANNG4A

That's it. It doesn't cost extra, and it's just oodles and oodles of fun! Go! Enter! Hurry!

It's at http://stiffs.com/enter

Not sure? Give it a go. And ease your conscience by remembering and saying a little prayer for the dearly departed.

iBand

2010-12-13T17:13:00.002Z

Forget the music lessons for your kids, just get them an iPad!

Knitting & Crocheting

2010-12-09T13:17:00.002Z

I am reading a cozy mystery currently that has crocheting as its theme. The storyline seems half decent, but I really know nothing about any of the yarn crafts. Embarrassing actually as my mom is quite good at all of them, even having done her own quilt and afghans. But it never passed on to me. So, I looked up some information (good old Google) and found this - with a video too. Interesting.

I'm starting to think I want to give it a try. But which one. . .?

End of Summer

2010-09-01T11:39:00.003+01:00

Still one more week of school left, so kids at home. A beautiful day yesterday, so we jumped in the car and headed into town to run a few errands. Then we stopped in the grocery store and everyone picked out some items for their lunch. Our destination was twofold. Visit a new place with a geocache and have lunch outside.

There are a series of cricket pitch geocaches not far from us that I have been wanting to check out. As I have normally seen playground equipment by most pitches, it seemed a win-win for all of us. Mom can get her cache, kids can run around the pitch and playground.

Our first stop was the cricket ground in Haslemere. I was especially interested in this area as I had run across a house for sale near there and was curious to see what the immediate area was like. The houses were good, not great. But good for the prices for sure. Behind the houses was the recreation ground. It included the cricket clubhouse and ground (although drawn over with football lines); the local tennis club (which I was impressed by - about 8 nice hard courts and a smaller kids training court as well as a little clubhouse); and finally the playground area.

We found a bench along the grounds and sat out in the sun. The kids ran off to play while I slowly followed and explored the area. A school I had considered for my son was nearby. Penny dachshund was with us and we sat on the grass while the kids played and I read my book. Finally it was time to go. I had already mapped out where the cache was located - back by the car park. We weren't able to get it on the way in as a few muggles in the vicinity. But the area was clear and I took us right to the location.

This cache was a nano magnetic on the back of the metal sign. I put the kids in charge of trying to see if they could find it. Daughter find it nearly immediately and was absolutely thrilled and proud of herself. The nano was small. If you took off the top of your pinky finger at the top knuckle, that was about the size of it. I gently opened it and unwound the log to sign in. We put it back and headed off for the next one.

Although the next cricket cache was only supposed to be about 2 miles away, it seemed to take much longer as we had to go through town. We arrived at another lovely cricket club and the kids immediately spied the playground. I took Penny on a walk as my decoy to find the cache. I ended up not finding the right place for this one. I was using my iPhone instead of a GPS and just couldn't get the exact location down as signal seemed fluky. The clue indicated another sign, but I just couldn't put the sign together with where it was telling me to go. I suspect the coordinates were wrong, or else it was a very poorly placed cache as the only sign in that general area was nearly in someone's driveway - as opposed to placing it around the wooded area by the pitch. I'll have to email the owner and get some help.

So, we left empty-handed from that one and I left wondering if I should have used the Garmin instead. I love just having the iPhone and being able to pull up the cache info and not have to worry about downloading caches into it. I am going to continue with and perhaps try a few more of the apps out there to see if any better success.

Today is the beginning of September so we wave goodbye to summer. We could feel the coolness in the air last night indicating that fall is around the corner. The days are still nice and generally warm, but we're sad it's the end of summer.

EPL Fantasy Football

2010-08-11T11:57:00.003+01:00

Last chance for anyone interested in joining our English Premier League Fantasy Football league!

If you are interested in joining, sent me an email via AtlasQuest. First game is Saturday, so no time to lose!

Winner gets a trophy. . .but can you beat TeamKing?!

:)

Geocaching Again

2010-05-14T07:19:00.002+01:00

One of the mom's I know has gotten me back into thinking about geocaching and letterboxing. There are a lot of geocaches around me, I just lost interest. But yesterday was a beautiful day and I thought I should get out there and find one. The first was a LONG hike that ended up near a pond. My poor feet were tired. But the good news was that the next 2 caches were walking distance from the house! How cool it that. I should have been FTF on those, but of course, I wasn't signed up for the email notifications so missed it. Darn.

Anyway, I have a list of 3 more just down the road about 2 miles from me. Maybe I'll get out there today. . .

5 Essential Items for England

2009-12-03T14:30:00.002Z

After living in the UK for over 2 years now, I have come up with a short list of items that are required to make your life (or visit) to England more enjoyable. These are required items in my opinion:

- Sat Nav - this is the only way to find your way around non-grid England with ease. A must if you want to drive here.

- Torch/Flashlight - street lights are far and few so roads are DARK DARK. That includes finding drives and homes after sunset. Always important to have a little flashlight on you if you plan on being outside after dark in a non-town lit area.

- Sweater/Jumper - this piece of clothing will see you through most of the year whether cold winters or cool summer nights. Best version is the one you can wear on top of a light shirt so you can take off in the warmer months.

-Raincoat/Windbreaker/Waterproof - yes, there is a lot of rain and this item combined with the sweater can see you through all but the coldest months no matter how much it rains.

- Walking Shoes - a good pair of walking shoes are essential. There are so many places to walk all over the country. You must have some good shoes to enjoy.

And that's it. Nothing too exciting. Just the top items I think are required.

:)

My First Ramble

2009-09-30T14:06:00.005+01:00

Earlier this month I decided to join The Ramblers. This is a national group that, well, walks. Great countryside walks normally from 5-10 miles.

This mornings walk was in Shere, Surrey. What a nice little town. It has those classic beamed houses that are a bit wonky looking, and a stream with ducks, and one of the best allotments around (so I'm told).

We started off at the car park and just over 2 hours later got back there. We walked through the countryside around Shere and Albury. Nice areas. I'm going to like these walks.

What a Dunce!

2009-09-29T12:02:00.015+01:00

On Friday last week, I decided to go and get a nearby geocache that I have been putting off forever. So, about 2pmish, Penny Dachshund and I set off.

First mistake, parked in the wrong car park. I was up pretty far from where the box actually was located. But it was a nice day so not a big problem.

I was using my Garmin GPS and got to the area where it showed on the geocaching site map and on my GPS. Nothing there. I roamed around and tried to make heads or tails of the GPS which seemed confused as much as me. Finally, I pulled out my iPhone, checked the cache, and found I was 1/4 mile off. What?? Off we went.

I got to the right place but couldn't find the cache. Roamed and rooted around but nothing. Finally, I thought I should check what size cache I was looking for - duh. But as I got into the cache details, I quickly checked the last logs. Missing!! A few of the last people had reported it missing and I, like a total dunce, didn't check the past logs before I left. I mean, what a waste. A very rookie mistake. I really need to get back in gear with geocaching.

Penny and I went back to the car and went home for a nap. :p

Today, I placed another Hedgehog letterbox. Yippee. Little by little I will get these all out there.

Penny is the worst walking dog. She was so tired out after about 20 mins, I had to carry her up a hill. Otherwise, it was like walking with a toddler - step, pause, step, pause - and 10 minutes later you've gone 30 feet. When she gets tired, she just drops and lays down on the path. Meanwhile, I'm coaxing her along. Thankfully no one came by - I mean, what dog doesn't love to walk?!

Here she is catching her breath. or is she just stopping to enjoy the sun and scenery??

My Kind of Book

2009-09-19T11:52:00.003+01:00

The Letterboxers Literary Society has had some good picks for our books so far. I've just gotten started on the October Moderators Selection 'Three Men in A Boat' and I'm loving it. This book is so my type of humor and with all of the English place references, I can really relate to just where they are most of the time while going down the Thames. I had never heard of this book and was surprised that it is listed in the Classics section. What a great find! Don't you just love when you stumble upon something unexpected. . .!

New Boxes Out

2009-09-18T14:09:00.003+01:00

It's been a long time since I have said that!

Finally got 2 of the letterboxes I have had out today. One of the Hedgehogs of Surrey series, and one of a new series, Penny's Friends. (If you have been reading this blog for any time, you should recall that Penny is Penny Dachshund - our 4 legged sidekick.)

I had to be somewhere by lunch so I had to hurry up and rush these out. Penny was dragging along a bit - she's not the best walking dog - therefore I ended up placing both boxes near each other. It can be a walk to get to them depending on how you go, or it could be 15 mins as I go. It just seemed a good idea to plant them both out there. We don't get many letterboxers around here. There aren't enough boxes to justify anyone going out of their way - unless they are coming to London and just want to wander around the countryside. These boxes are placed around the Devils Punchbowl in Surrey. Its a lovely area - especially on a nice day. (iPhone takes horrid photos - don't know why this picture looks so dark - it wasn't at all!)

There are a handful more of boxes I have here to plant. They will all be in this region unless I wander down to Sussex for the day. My goal is to get these all out by the end of the year at the latest. Some of them have been a box for 2 years now. It's time for them to come out the play. :)

The Weather on the Moors

2009-08-12T17:26:00.006+01:00

Have you checked out the temperature differences on the right sidebar? I mean, we are talking about a 10 degree difference for two places about 4 hours apart and roughly on the same general latitude. 10 degrees cooler over there at Dartmoor! Even in the middle of summer, you have to bundle up. Bring your fleece, waterproof, waterproof gloves, waterproof pants with a thermal underneath, hat, something for your face, and good waterproof boots maybe even with gaiters. Yep. Sounds like you are going into a hurricane. Nearly. The weather here changes amazingly fast, and what you wake up to may or may not be what it is by even noon. Really.

So, if Dartmoor is on your agenda, bring ALL your gear. Everything. It will rain. It will blow. The temps will drop. Then, when you are miserable and had enough, the sun comes out and warms you up and puts a smile back on your face. Then you can sit down and count your stamps amoungst the sheep and horses.

Badger Cam

2009-07-29T21:52:00.004+01:00

I saw my first live badger this year. He was crossing the road.

Then about 3-4 mths later, I saw my second one - in our driveway!!

They are the only 2 live badgers I've seen in the 2 years we have been in the UK. So, I think this webcam is too cool. . .Badger Cam

Book Club

2009-07-29T21:48:00.002+01:00

I've started a new book club with a few letterboxing friends. It is called 'The Letterboxers Literary Society'. We will be picking one book a month to read and discuss with the option to do an LTC on the book. So, if this is your cup of tea (so to speak), come and join in. August will start the first book selection.

Loving iPhone

2009-07-17T14:47:00.003+01:00

I love my iPhone. Look at the fun things I use it for:

1) TV Shows - I can download US TV shows off of iTunes and watch them on the iPhone. The individual episodes are released a day after they air on the networks. That's still like MONTHS sooner than I would see them in the UK, if they even air here.

2) Movies - Catch up new release movies you want to see. I use a program called Aimersoft DVD Ripper to copy my DVDs to the right format for the iPhone then just drag and drop in iTunes. (This software works great. I use it to make copies of my DVDs also.)

3)Feeds - One of my top applications is Feeds. Feeds allows you to add all the various blogs you read and then shows you when any of them have a new posting. I love this - what a quick way to keep up to date and enjoy your favorites. As my interests come and go, I update the blogs I follow. I know there are lots of RSS apps out there to allow you to follow your favorites, but I like the ease of use of Feeds.

4) Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger - I'm still trying out what applications I like best to post from, but having the option to post live photos and text from the phone direct to any of your accounts is really fun. And allows you to keep up with your friends while you're on the go. (This works well for me as Texting to my US family and friends just isn't an option!)

5) Internet Access - perhaps it goes without saying, but having full internet access is wonderful. Numerous times I've had to find a number or location or opening hours, etc., and was able to just search on the phone for them via the internet while traveling.

6) Games - I admit it. I love games. I've gone through tons via the Application Store. (Maybe I'll start a review service! haha) But I find it relaxing and enjoyable to sit down and play anything from backgammon to Mafia Wars.

7) Sports Updates - One of my favorite sports apps to use is CBS Sports. Live scores from all the major sports PLUS access to my fantasy baseball leagues.

8) eReader - reading books by phone has been going on for years - I've been reading books this way for that long anyway. It's never been a major mainstream activity. However, I've seen more products and hype in the last 2 years then ever before so look out! Personally, I have always used eReader for both the book downloads and the phone software (software is free) and have never had any issues.

9)Audio Books - continuing on with books - if reading them on the phone isn't your cup of tea, how about listening to books via your iPhone? I recommend Audible.com for your audio books. Again, software is free and everything is easy to use.

10) Maps & Geocaching - ever get lost? even in your own town? I've used the Maps app and others to pull up my location. It's fantastic. Also, use the Geocaching app to pull up caches around you along with the description, logs, hint, and map. I haven't used the iPhone to find many caches yet. (Problem with the durability of the phone out in the wild.) But I'm going to test it out on 2 easy local caches and see how it works out. Maybe investing in a hard weatherproof shell is cheaper then buying a Garmin. . .

And there you have it. 10 things I love to use on the iPhone (in no specific order). Perhaps you're wondering about all the time it takes for these. . .well, for me, I seem to have some many blocks of time where I'm waiting. Waiting on kids, waiting for an appointment, sitting on a train, etc. Time just marches by in bits and I use it catch up with all the things I enjoy with my iPhone. (Plus, Mr. usually hogs the TV for his sports so I never get to see movies or tv shows that way anyhow.)

What are you waiting for? Go get one.

Good Summer Read

2009-07-16T09:54:00.003+01:00

I have a recommendation for a summer read: 'Queen of the Road' by Doreen Orion. The book details Doreen's 1 year adventure RVing around the US with her husband on their custom bus.

It's an easy read. Not as funny as it could be but enjoyable.

Mostly it tugs at our inner nomad. The desire to have all of life's pressures taken off of us and free to roam about. Read it and see what I mean - you will be thinking about buying or renting an RV/caravan for sure. :)

She has a web-site too with a blog. The book certainly appears to be doing the book club circuit.

Enjoy!

Getting a Green Thumb

2009-07-16T09:39:00.003+01:00

My thumb is getting green. I'm having these urges to grow some plants really bad. Specifically, growing vegetables. Problem is, I am a complete rookie when it comes to growing most anything.

Actually, there is another side problem. As we are renting, where will I plant? In the UK, a big thing people have here are allotments. Rental gardens if you will. Not sure I want to do that. I'm sort of thinking of doing container growing. But as a newbie, I'm wondering if/when do they have to come in the house at some point? If so, I'm not sure where I would put them. This gardening thing definately takes some planning.

After digging around a little, I found this store that looks promising. Help in the form of holding your hand most of the way, and sales. That works for me. Let me study on. . .

Wanted: Letterbox Stamps

2009-07-13T16:59:00.003+01:00

Since I need to get out there and plant letterboxes - taking the 'if I plant them, they will come' approach - I'm asking for any stamps you might have to send. New or used. Just something good for others to find.

I hate carving. Mostly because I think/know my carving skills are substandard. I'm leaving it to those who are good at it and enjoy it. So, if you have something you would like planted over here in Surrey, England, drop me an email or comment below and I'll get the address to you.

Postage for one (or two stamps) in a No. 10 envelope should be very minimal - $1ish. Now if you want to include a logbook or even the box, that's up to you, but it will be costly to send. (But I'd to receive!)

Anyway, bring them on!

The Going Gets Green and Tough

2009-07-12T22:55:00.003+01:00

I've been reading the new James Rollins book 'The Doomsday Key', and it has me thinking about a lot of future events. Key to the events in the book is the whole concern about global warming and population growth. With uncontrolled population growth will come food shortages. Unfortunately, this is not just all fiction. The upcoming G8 meeting has as its main topic of discussion - food. Yes, there is a lot of concern over future growth, supplying enough food, etc. In fact, if you want to look at from a financial point of view, we all know stocks/equities have been down. Will they get better? Maybe. But what we are in now is a commodities cycle. For the next 10 years or so, commodities will be the investment of choice. It all ties into supply and demand. And brings me back to wondering what does the future hold? I've been digging around various websites and reading about lots of interesting things - growing your own food, living off the grid, living in eco-towns, car and transportation options, etc. It is an amazing amount of information. Should we be concerned about things like food in our lifetime? Our generation is one of the few who have never been touched by such concerns - I mean in relation to war and global effects. (The US I'm referring to here.) Or even local issues - what about the after-effects of Katrina?

What do you think? Are you taking any steps to protect yourself in case of future problems? Will there be anything to worry about in our lifetime?

Missing Boxing

2009-07-12T08:49:00.004+01:00

I've been missing letterboxing this week. Reading about events. Special stamps. Summer walks. Signnn. :( Only option here is to get over to Dartmoor.

But here's the thing with Dartmoor boxing - it's a vast vast open area right. No special trails or fun places to hide boxes. Just grid references. Yawn. I'm just missing the American style of letterboxing. Not grid or GPS references. Real written directions - 'go to the yellow trailhead at XYZ Park', 'continue down the trail until you come to the split with the red trail', etc. And boxes hidden in trees, stumps, signposts, and so on. Not just the same rocks or moss.

I can see I REALLY need to get to a US event soon. If it weren't so dang expensive to fly. . .

On a plus note though, I still have some boxes here to plant. I think you'll see these out in the wild before the end of the year. Finally.

One blog or two?

2009-07-11T16:32:00.002+01:00

Need some advice. . .for the few of you who read my blogs, was wondering if I should continue my separate non-letterboxing/geocaching blog or just incorporate it all into this one? If I incorporate, it will be much more day to day and thoughts and opinions then actual activities. But on the plus side, you would see many more posts here. Hmmm. Let me see if I can post a poll and see what you think. Thanks! (and Thanks for continuing to read!)

Fantasy Football League

2009-07-11T16:28:00.002+01:00

It's that time of the year again - the English Premier League Football/Soccer starts up again next month. If you'd like to join in on our fantasy football league this year, send your email to: teamkinguk@gmail.com. I'll send you the link to join. There is no cost. It's all just for a bit of fun. I'm working on getting a few more UK friends involved so it should prove even more challenging this year. Yikes!

Anyway, give me a shout if you are interested!

Time for Some New Blogs

2009-02-27T22:37:00.005Z

Ah, she lives! Yes, alive and well and thinking I need to make more comments on here. The only thing that holds me back is that I have this blog under an old account - which means always having to log out and back in all the time. Yawn. Oh well. I'll try to keep you entertained with my ramblings.

You know how I love to find interesting blogs. (Keep sending ideas!!!)

Here are some I'm reading now:

http://thedarwinexception.wordpress.com/

http://www.cleeseblog.com/

http://mistressofallevil.blogspot.com/ (scroll to her awards show fashion commentary posts with photos - hilarious!)

http://lordlikely.co.uk/ (parental guidance on this one!!)

http://scaryduck.blogspot.com/

That's all for today. Should give you a laugh or two. None of these are serious content. Give them a read and give me some feedback. I always like the quirky ones that make me laugh. :)

And don't forget for all you crossword fans out there. . .this weekend is the big tournament in NY that was featured in the film 'WordPlay'. http://www.crosswordtournament.com/

New Year

2009-01-06T12:18:00.005Z

Well, here we are again. If you were reading my blog in 2008 to find out about our letterboxing activities, you were surely disappointed. Only twice did I get out to Dartmoor. The last time ended on a bad note as I got dis-oriented in the mist and it made me leave feeling not very good about Dartmoor in general. I don't plan on going back unless I am either with someone, or have an event lined up where I can enjoy the company of others. I just didn't enjoy it on my own.

So, letterboxing in general has just sort of slid off the radar for now. The long drive to get the other boxes in the UK just hasn't appealed at this time. Maybe this year, who knows.

I would like to put some more effort into geocaching in 2009. It is pretty popular in this region of the UK. Tons of caches out there for me to find and not too far from home which works out nicely. I keep looking out for a local group I can involved with but haven't run into one yet. Penny dachshund needs the walks too so a good daytime activity for us.

Will probably be concentrating on my sports blog more this year. But if I do get out caching, I will update on this Wellie Boxing blog. Also will keep the Letterboxing England Yahoo Group going. Not a whole lot of talk on there as there aren't that many of us, but at least keeping it open gives everyone the option of contacting each other and posting news/events/comments.

I STILL have a few letterboxes that I have not planted. I guess not having any boxes in the area has just put me off planting in general. I remember the early days for me when I couldn't wait to plant a box because I knew there were folks around who would be racing out to get it immediately. That was really fun. I miss that. Maybe caching will have to take that place. I haven't placed a cache yet, but maybe this year will be a start.

So, that's the updates for now. Have some cleaning out to do - selling my old Garmin 60CS gps and some geocoins this year. May look into the Garmin Colorado in place of my current Garmin 60CSX. Thought maybe the iPhone would be a good option in place of a gps altogether, but it just doesn't work as well. I prefer my Garmin. That hardy little thing has withstood being out in the constant rain of Dartmoor more than once and it keeps on ticking away.

Happy New Year! Hope its a good one for you. Happy Boxing and Caching!

I won!

2008-11-20T22:02:00.003Z

One of the podcasts I really enjoy listening to is the Cache-A-Maniacs geocaching podcasts. They are short. They talk to well-known cachers. And they discuss equipment and process - which I find really helpful. They just had their 100th episode and I was surprised to hear our name mentioned! We won a geocoin from them. Yeah! And not just any old coin. A TIKI geocoin. Oooohhh. These are all handmade low-count coins which makes them rare and desirable.

Check out their podcast if you enjoy geocaching! I've listened to all 100. :)

http://www.cacheamaniacs.com/

And read up on the Tiki coins here: www.geotiki.com

Sports Blog

2008-11-02T19:43:00.003Z

Just a note that we've started a new blog. It's called 'TeamKing on Sports'. All about our sport adventures.

As the letterboxing has dried up a bit and we haven't been to Dartmoor since the Spring, we started to focus on other activities we enjoy. Thus the new blog. (Didn't seem any point on dumping it all here.) So, if you enjoy sports as much as us, come on over and check it out: http://teamkingsports.blogspot.com/

The Danger of Driving in Devon

2008-10-18T09:39:00.004+01:00

I now officially hate driving around Dartmoor and Devon. It all started last March. . .

If you recall from my blog entry back then, I went to the Dartmoor Spring Meet in Plymouth. As this was my first time there, I was using my car's sat nav to get around. Unfortunately, the sat nav tried to take me down what I now term 'cow paths'. . .one lane roads with no shoulders to pass. I really hate these roads. I find them dangerous yet locals fly down them. So, instead of following the sat nav and taking the quick route to the meet, I decided to go the long way around which took me right through Plymouth. Mistake.

As I was excelerating to go up a hill, I came down the other side fast and 'boom' - a safety camera got me. (These are the fixed cameras all over England that just sit there and collect drivers each and every day. I wonder how many millions they've 'earned' from these things?!) Of course, at the time I didn't realize I was being tagged, but about a month later a notice came in the mail.

I think it was about 60.00 for going 39 in a 30 zone. So be it - I speeded, I pay the price. You have to send your license in with these fines, so I sent in my Texas drivers license and my 60.00. Shortly after that, they came back. My fine was returned and I was given notice that I was potentially driving illegally and I would be 'hearing from them'. (Actually I wasn't. The law is that you can drive for up to a year on foreign license before you are required to get a UK one. I was well within my first year here, so I was legal.) But, darn, this didn't sound good.

So, time ticked on. April, May, June, July, August. Then boom. In August, I received a new letter. A court summons. What?! For a speeding ticket?! I was required to be in court in Devon in October, or I could plead guilty by mail. Oh brother. The new problem was that I hadn't gotten my UK license yet. Now I was illegal and they wanted my license again - I couldn't risk sending the foreign one. Quickly I researched getting a license. I would have to take a theory test and a practical test. There was no switch for a US drivers license for a UK one which I thought was what I would have to do. I would have to start at the beginning. I hurriedly sent off for the Provisional License. The first step. With this, I could now sign up for the theory and practical tests and I was more or less legal.

The theory test didn't seem to be too big of a deal. I figured I better get a little book to study or check around online. Thank God I did! This little test was MUCH harder than I would have assumed. In the US, I could have (and have) taken the theory test with hardly any studying. Its not too hard. Really. Not true in the UK. They do a hazard portion which I found to be quite challenging. At least I now know that English drivers are much more safe than US drivers - you have to fairly competent to pass these tests and drive around here. So, I sweated it out, studied and shot off to Guildford for the test. An hour or so later, I found out I passed. Whew. Stage 2 done. Could I get the practical done before I had to send back this court summons?

The short answer is no. Timing was all wrong and I couldn't schedule the test in enough time to get all my documentation back. So, nervously, I sent back my notice with my new provisional license (as least I passed the theory and it said I had up to 2yrs to pass the practical after that - maybe I would be okay afterall) with thoughts of getting a suspension and how would I get around and get kids to school. . .booo. I was equally nervous because they required me to fill out an income statement. My fine would be based on 'if I was able to pay'. What???!!! How unfair is that? What happened to just a standard fee?! How much would I get charged anyway!

Last week was the court date. I pleaded guilty by mail so didn't have to attend in person. This week I got all my documentation and license back. The verdict? 325.oo fine + costs equal 400.o0 total!! and 3 points on my license. Part of me was relieved it wasn't worse, and part of me was so mad at the fine. Have you heard of anything so ridiculous! For speeding. Yes, I should be fined, I admit that, but let's not get stupid with massive amounts like that. Foreigners get fined extra I guess - only the English pay the proper amount.

I've since purchased a speed detector for the car. It's a really cool one - it automatically downloads as you drive any new info on current working speed cameras from their database. Yeah! Hopefully I'll only see one of those monster tickets. I don't think we can afford too many of those at these prices.

And who said the local councils were poor after losing their money in Iceland?! Between pay and displays everywhere and massive speeding fine amounts, they must be making out like bandits.

Ok, well, maybe I'm a sore loser. . .

Some New ARGs to Try

2008-10-04T12:02:00.003+01:00

Want to try out some new Alternate Reality Games AND help out a charity at the same time? Check out these two:

http://www.tracesofhope.com/?gclid=CIuN49e2jZYCFRKS1QodW1FLFQ

www.operationsleepercell.com

Wanted: Clothes for the Rest of Us

2008-10-03T17:39:00.007+01:00

Every once in a while I run across a funny website or blog that either makes me laugh, tweaks my curiousity, or just seems to hit the nail on the head. After having a depressed moment with clothes one day, I found myself looking on the web for some articles on fashion for the non-stick figure women. (You are aware that it has repeatedly been said that the AVG size for US women is 14/16 - no runway models there.) Anyway, no matter what your size, we all have to find things to wear. But I thought this article about what designers are doing on their end was quite interesting. And the comment about whose bodies clothes are designed for, funny (sorry to all my thin friends out there!). Well, at least it made me feel good for a while. LOL. Anyway, if you fall into the 'yes, I'm carrying a little more baggage than I would prefer but so what?! category', then read on and see if you can relate:

http://www.uppercasewoman.com/wastedbirthcontrol/2007/10/fat-fat-fat-fat.html

September Time

2008-09-23T19:27:00.002+01:00

Well it is now autumn in the UK. Winds are picking up. Leaves falling everywhere. Temps dropping slightly, but not too bad. Maybe I'm just adjusted to it now. :)

This time of year from Oct to Christmas always seems a bit manic. Lots of new things with kids and school. Birthdays galore in November. Then we're back to the states for Christmas! Yeah! Hopefully we'll see some snow and get some skiing, sledding, snowmobiling, and ice skating in. Whew.

I have done no letterboxing at all since my last trip to Dartmoor. And haven't ventured out for geocaches for a while now. I'm not even sure I'll be the fall meet in Dartmoor this year. It gets dark so early around here in the winter - like 4pm - that it really hits into your available time.

As I've reported on one of my last few entries, I've gotten really involved with Second Life in my spare time. I thought it was initially like The Sims and mostly for 20yr olds. But there is the whole spectrum of people there from every walk of life finding their interests. I think I must be so drawn to it because I really love visual communications. Graphics and printing are my background so I'm just in my element with SL. I've decided to write more about my adventures there, but couldn't decide it I wanted to clog up this blog or not. I've finally decided to keep this blog as it, and create a new one. So, if you want to keep up with my Second Life, check out: ripleysaunders.blogspot.com

Finally, a website I've found to be enjoyable to read: www.darkroastedblend.com. No, its not about coffee. It just has the sort of 'bits and bobs' (as we say around here) I like. Check it out and see what you think.

Madonna!

2008-09-12T13:21:00.011+01:00

After 20+ yrs of Madonna, I finally got to see her in concert. Yeah! A long trek with delays to Wembley Stadium in N London via Waterloo (remember what I said before, 'all trains lead to Waterloo') and we finally arrived - completely missing the opening act.. Whatever it was. We had good seats. Madonna was great. Obviously working out 12hrs a day by her looks. She sang, danced, played the guitar numerous times (does she REALLY play?), and chatted to the audience off and on. We were there nearly 2hrs. The only thing I didn't like was this trend with 40+ celebs - they feel the need to suddenly loudly voice all of their social, political, environmental, etc. beliefs. Many of her new songs were of this vein. Yawn. But other than that, a great show. And they had the roof open which was really great - even after all the rain we had, it stayed clear last night.

And, while waiting for her start, a scan around the stadium revealed a few notables: Fergie, Gweneth Paltrow, Kate Hudson and Penelope Cruz.

Good to see all the Americans in attendence. :)

Putting Your DVD Movies on Your iPhone

2008-09-07T01:38:00.003+01:00

Time out for 'TeamKing's Technical Corner'. This episode reviews some software that allows you to put your DVDs on your iPhone to watch.

Since I already listen to my music, podcasts, downloaded TV shows, and one or two purchased movies on the iPhone, the next step was getting my own DVD collection on it. Obviously the memory can't handle tons of movies on these phones, but you can certainly put a few on there. I have about 3 or 4 on mine now along with a few hundred songs. It all fits.

Anyway, putting a movie on the iPhone requires some software to make all the conversions and get the correct file type. I've tried a few different programs. The problem is always the ease of use - most just seem to be a bit complicated. I hate software where I have to go to the manual or users guide to figure out or remember how to use it! Boo.

Finally, I ran across this software and it works like a charm. . .Aimersoft DVD Ripper. It costs $39 but you can use the trial copy which stamps the words 'Evaluation Copy' over the movie if you want to try it first. Since I have a Mac, I was glad to find it works with both PCs and Macs. The best part is that it is so easy to use.

Open up the program.
Insert your DVD movie into your computer. The program will automatically scan the disk.
Then it gives you a quick how to on the screen:
Check over the files on the DVD (this is where I like to delete anything but the movie!)
Check the Profile at the bottom reads: iPhone 3G Video MPEG (mp4)
Put in a title if you want.
Then click Convert.
Viola! The program copies the dvd to a mp4 file.

Now you have to get it to your phone.
If you have an iPhone, you must have iTunes. (No if, ands, or buts. Get iTunes.)
Open up iTunes and drag your file into the Movies folder.
That's it!

Now, next time you sync your phone, your movie file will transfer to your phone for you to watch under the iPod icon.

Enjoy!

New Fun & Games

2008-09-02T13:24:00.004+01:00

Well, the end of summer is here at last. School starts back this week. I'm another year older. And we're starting year 2 of living in England. Whew.

Summer vacation was 2 wks of fun. We did Disneyland Paris for 4 days. Then back in the UK, we went to: Legoland, Chessington World of Adventure, Coral Reef in Bracknell, Drusillas Park, the London Eye, and the London Zoo. I think of this group, our fav was Chessington. It had the most rides which seems to be the biggest kick.

For my birthday, I got one of the new iPhone 3Gs. Yeah! I really loved my Palm, but this iPhone is cool. I just found some of the new geocaching applications for it, so once I'm up to speed I'll report back on that and let you know how it goes.

And for even more fun & games, I've really gotten into Second Life. (If you haven't tried this before, you should definately give it a go. This is where many future games, socials, and business will head - into the virtual world. Doesn't cost anything to start. But you will spend some money on all the extras down the road - only if you want - like clothes and such.) I'm really enjoying it - have found and/or tried: scuba diving, skydiving, golf, horseback riding, yacht/sailing, cars, pubs, searching for the Loch Ness Monster, skiing, skating, flying helicopters & planes, RPGs of various sorts like Harry Potter/Hogwarts, finding worlds withing this world like mermaids, elfs, gors, etc., and visiting cities from around the world and then going to 'Washington' to discuss politics. Oh, and driving around on my chopper. lol. I mean, it is endless! A neat way to meet people, or just wander about on your own exploring which is more my speed. And celebs are slowly getting into the action - U2, Aerosmith, tons of new bands, and various politicians and others all have been there.

I've tried finding both a letterbox and a geocache in Second Life. More about that in another post.

So. . .its all fun and games for TeamKing - as always. Anything fun happening your way? Let me know if you have any comments on iPhone or SL. Would love to hear from you!

Reap What We Sow Commentary

2008-08-28T10:53:00.002+01:00

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning. . .

Commentary.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees.. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a crïeche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein

Disneyland Paris: the Good, the Bad, & the Ugly

2008-08-16T07:38:00.004+01:00

We originally were planning to do our summer vacation in Germany this year. It started off from 2 wks down to 1 wk. Then, after researching the area and what to do, we suddenly felt there just wasn't enough for the kids - at least at their ages. So, we put that plan away for another time, and decided we all really wanted to go to Disneyland. Off we went for 3 1/2 days.

The Good:
Getting there was really easy. In Italy all roads may lead to Rome, but I like to say in England all trains lead to Waterloo. We took a train from our house into London Waterloo. They used to have the train service going from there into Disney, but the direct EuroStar train goes from the newer St. Pancreas station now. Take the Underground Tube from Waterloo to get there, or like us, get a taxi. From St. Pancreas, its a direct shot. You get off right at the station in France right next to the parks (Disneyland and Disney Studios). We didn't go into Paris but I heard someone say its about 1/2 hour away.

I decided that staying at the Disneyland Hotel (the one at the park) was the way to go. It was too and I definately recommend. Yes, you can save money staying down the road. Same as you would if you went to Orlando. But as this was our kids first experience with any Disney park, we wanted the whole effect. A friend later told me that they had stayed at a nearby hotel and although the hotel was very nice, waiting for the shuttle back and forth and standing in more lines was a drag.

The best part about the hotel was meeting the characters. Every breakfast, lunch, & dinner they were there. The kids were SO excited. Coming out the elevator and running into Tigger or such gave them the biggest thrill. Any everyone was walking around with their autograph books (I think this item must be in the top 5 sellers at the park) meeting Mickey or whoever, getting signatures, and photos. It was a special quark of staying in the hotel and it was worth it. At dinner, the characters came right up to you at the tables. Capt Hook sat down with us and 'harassed' us at one dinner. It was fun.

The temps. No more ridiculous heat! Sweating it out in Orlando is a necessary evil. Not in Paris. Temps were great and really comfortable. I don't recall ever being at a Disney park when we weren't all hot and sweaty the whole time! Yeah!

In my mind, I wasn't sure what to expect of the parks. 'EuroDisney' always made me think of the poor cousin of DisneyWorld Orlando. But it wasn't. Not sure if it was smaller or not. Couldn't recall all from Orlando. But all the rides I remembered where there - Space Mountain, Peter Pan, Its a Small World, and so on. They are celebrating their 15 year anniversary this year so everything seemed in great shape and identical to its Florida relative (have never been to the California parks so can't compare there). It was good old Disney in just a different environment.

The Bad:
Smoking. I'm pretty sure I don't recall smoking being allowed in Orlando anywhere, but since France is such a big smoking country, it was allowed. I would notice it most when sitting out to eat. Inevitably we would be next to some smokers. Yuck.

Where are the characters? I seem to recall seeing more characters walking around at Orlando. Now its been a quite a few years since I've been so maybe things have changed or maybe I've glorified them in my head. But we didn't see any many characters out and about here. They would pop up at scheduled times at scheduled places, but these lines just seemed ridiculously long. We rarely got any signatures at the actual parks - thank God for the hotel.

Everything in French. I went to a small school system when I was young and it didn't have French as a language option. I sure could have used it this week. Most shows were in French and even the names of the attractions would be listed in French.

Service. In general, I have found customer service lacking in most everywhere I've been outside of the states. Not that people are mean or anything, there just seems to be no sense of urgency. And that normally combines with not enough workers. Disney was the same. Long lines could have easily been improved with a few more people working and working a bit faster. Leisurely strolls around the seats to check you on the rides was almost comical at times.

Best rides for us: Big Thunder Mountain and Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast. Ride that 'lost the plot' as they say around here in England was Crush's Coaster. A spinning coaster type ride on a turtle shell. In the complete dark. If you remember Finding Nemo, when they went in the EAC it was fast and bright and lots of turtles and such flying by. The ride could have brought that whole sense of going through a water tunnel for this attraction. The potential for an awesome experience was there, but they just put the whole thing in the dark. We found it a waste.

The Ugly:
Line Etiquette and Personal Space. We seem to have a different sense of waiting in line in the states. Probably since the way we drive is so organized. Rude people are everywhere but I don't remember having any issues with waiting in lines at Disney in the states. But many parts of the world seem to have a different way and the lines seemed a constant issue with me. First, they didn't do the ropes or lines width skinny enough. Instead of one or two person widths, it would branch out to 8-10ft widths half the time. This just constantly caused people to push past you - and they did. If there was a space, someone would get in it. And don't linger or move up too slowly. The people behind might go around you. There was a huge UK population there and those people weren't the offenders so thankfully the issue wasn't out of control. Just enough to be irritating. Along with the line etiquette I constantly found people standing too close to me. There nothing worse then being annoyed at having to be in a long line and then have the people around you crowding you. It's stifling. And I found my personal space being invaded a bit too much for my taste. I'm sure its just cultural differences, but it was obvious.

Finally, as stated above about the characters, we tried to meet some in the parks. One time my daughter was standing directly in front of Daisy Duck with her book and pen ready when the woman next to her gave Daisy a pen that wasn't working. As Daisy tried to get it to work and was shaking it, the woman suddenly snatched the pen out of my daughters hand and gave it to DD. Just grabbed it without asking or anything. As soon as the book was signed, my daughter grabbed the pen from DD and ran out crying. She is only young and this direct rudeness scared her. Interestingly, she took it out on DD and kept calling her 'that silly duck'. Not in a nice way. We didn't want her to be upset or scared of anyone, so we played along. No Daisy Duck fans here! lol.

Overall, it was a great time. The parks were 100% Disney. Everything worked and was clean. The hotel was great. Getting there easy. Getting around easy. I loved when we would be sitting to eat and you could see like all these families from around the world by you, all speaking different languages, all eating different things, all looking different, but still experiencing this same place together. We had a really fun time.

Night Caching

2008-07-24T14:15:00.007+01:00

I have never cached or letterboxed at night, so when I ran across an event that featured geocaching at night, I signed up immediately. I had to give it a try.

So I went to this event last Saturday - Dusk 'til Dawn - held around the Chilterns in Oxfordshire. We were to start off at 11pm and end at 8am with breakfast at the pub where we were meeting. I thought I would give myself a little room and get there before 10:30pm. Good thing. It took me about an hour and a half and I ended up arriving right at 11pm. (this after the sat nav took me along some one lane 'cow paths' to this pub which must have been in the middle of nowhere. The only good thing about the drive was coming across a real live hedgehog crossing the road - my first time seeing a live one in the wild. lol.)

As I arrived the group was already out front and getting ready to leave. The plan was to do 3 loops of caches. The first was a special loop devised by the event planners. The other 2 were existing caches. After pictures, we headed out on the dark road and into the woods. When I say dark, I mean dark. The US looks so wasteful as we use street lights everywhere. Not in England. There are hardly any outside of bigger towns - at least that I've noticed. I was glad I remembered to bring not only my big flashlight with battery backups, but also my headlamp. Not sure when I actually bought this, but I was patting myself on the back for the purchase. It was perfect for this outing - bright enough to see clearly and kept my hands free. Quite a few of the people there had headlamps.

The first loop was full of creative caches - puzzle clues, reflective dots you had to find on trees in the woods (imagine finding one of these dots which were about the size of a penny or less). Tricky. The clues were fun and a few lead to some creative cache containers. I was thankful the cache owner was with us - even with 20-25 people, we had a hard time with the answers or finding some of them. And one container, which I think I heard was a fake rat, was gone. We figured some fox must have found that one. Poor thing.

I was completely worn out with this loop. Since I was late in getting there, I passed up getting some snacks and more drinks to take with me. My energy was draining. Up and down hills, across moonlit pastures (this was cool as it was a full moon night), etc. It took us just under 5hrs of walking to find 20 caches. (I should mention that I had already spent the day at the Farnborough Airshow walking all around there!)

After the first loop, about half of the group broke off to go home. I really wanted to stay, but I didn't have any more food or drinks on me and my toe was aching in my boot. Besides, I figured, I really thought the next loop - a ramble through the Chilterns - sounded like something that would be more fun in the daytime with the nice scenery all around. We missed all that in the woods. So I headed home arriving back at about 5:30am with the sun already fully up. I hit my pillow and was gone.

The event was really a great experience. I enjoyed myself and hope to do some more.

Dartmoor Again

2008-07-18T10:34:00.002+01:00

Mr. TeamKing has spent the week on his golfing outing. His brother, dad, good family friend Mike and himself. The foursome go on a weekly 'golf tour' about every other year. Last outing was in Hong Kong where brother has an office. This outing was in England. They played Wentworth, Berkshire, our local club, and then spent Thursday at the Open up around Liverpool (I think that's where it is).

In return, I'm spending 3 days at Dartmoor this month. I'm going to do my normal charity walks routine as I find this most enjoyable. I'm also hoping to hook up with a local or two but not sure it will work out as it is during the week.

I was reading about Cranmere Pool and how to get there but if you don't drive the military road to get closer, it looks like about a 10mile walk which I wouldn't mind, but not by myself - for safety reasons and in case of injury. You never know and I find I take less risks as I get older - especially with young kids. So, I'll keep that one on my 'to do' list.

I'm hoping I can get my 200 finds patch after this mini-trip. We'll see how it goes. . .

Fantasy Football - err, Soccer

2008-07-11T17:26:00.004+01:00

Time again to get ready for the next season of English Premier League Football (Soccer)!

If you'd like to join my fantasy football league, put your email in the comments section and I'll send you the link and code to sign up. No cost. Games start mid-August.

Let me know!

Isle of Wight

2008-06-29T22:14:00.031+01:00

This weekend found us visiting the Isle of Wight. We left on a dreary early Saturday morning. Rain was forecast and it looked to hit us any minute. Boo. But we headed on down to Southampton to take our car on the ferry over to the Isle regardless.

By the time we got to Cowes, the weather was great. Blue skies, warm weather. Yeah! This weekend was the annual sailing race around the island. What a wonderful sight to see this non-stop line of boats just off the coast. We stayed at a hotel near the water in Sandown and played on and along the beach most of the day.

Today we stopped at a place called 'Amazon World'. They had a surprising well-done animal park. The kids loved the meerkats, Mr. loved seeing the toucans and ocelots, and I enjoyed the black-footed penguins and the beautiful owl.

After that we headed back to Southampton and then home with plenty of time to spare before the Euro 2008 final.

Great weekend!

Euro 2008: Ole!

2008-06-29T22:10:00.002+01:00

Now you know to listen to Mr. TeamKing when it comes to sports. He picked Spain from the beginning. Oh well. I was rooting for them in the final - I had Torres nearly all season on my EPL Fantasy Football team, so I knew he was good.

Great job Spain! Congrats!

Euro 2008 - Final Four

2008-06-22T22:43:00.002+01:00

Well, I thought Portugal was going to win the Euro, but it wasn't to be. Even Mr.'s choice of Spain wasn't looking particularly good, but at least they are still in it. We think the final will be Germany and Russia. And Russia looked SO fit that we're both picking them to win it all. What the heck. I'll root for them. :)

Time will tell.

Viral Advertising and AR Gaming

2008-06-22T17:52:00.003+01:00

If your tastes run along the more edgy sort of puzzles, I hope you checked out Nine Inch Nails Year Zero internet alternate reality game. I use the term 'game' very loosely. It's pretty cutting edge, so I don't know where I would personally classify it. But these are definately where things are heading for some advertisers. This specific campaign didn't appeal to me, but Trent Reznor is from my hometown. I went to school with him - he was a year ahead of me - and my mom went to school with his parents - so I made sure to check it out. Regardless, look at the award 42 Entertainment won:

June 20, 2008

News Update

Cannes Lions Award for 42 Entertainment

by Jonathan Waite

42 Entertainment has won yet another distinguished honor, and this time, it's a grand prize. On Thursday, June 19, the company won the Grand Prix Cyber Lions award at the Cannes Lions 2008 festival in the Viral Advertising/Viral Marketing category for their alternate reality game. The Cannes Lions awards are widely considered the most prestigious of all advertising awards, so this is definitely a feather in the cap for the company responsible for this enthralling collaboration with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame. Congratulations to the crew, which includes Steve Peters, the previous owner of this very web site.

In picture: Susan Bonds, Producer/CEO, and Alex Lieu, Creative Director/CCO, 42 Entertainment

Treasure Hunting

2008-06-22T11:13:00.002+01:00

A few years ago - I think that's right - I ran across a group called 'The Armchair Treasure Hunt Club'. This looked pretty cool - sort of like letterboxing and geocaching only you have to solve puzzles to find the 'treasure'. I thought I might join, but then saw that they were all UK based hunts. Oh well. Maybe some time.

Well, now some time has arrived. I went ahead and joined this group. In the mail came this packet of papers. Most of them specific hunts - written clues such as stories, picture clips, word puzzles - and you work them out to find a treasure in the wild. Now, I'm not sure what sort of treasures you actually find. In my mind I'm recalling hunts such as 'Masquerade', 'A Treasure Trove', 'Noah's Ark' and 'The Merlin Mystery' - all book based puzzle hunts you solve to find real treasure/money.

Most of those are all expired now, but if you're keen to try something like these, here are some suggestions:

Books:
Cathy's Book and the new sequel Cathy's Key
The Tower by Graeme Whittle (avail. on www.lulu.com in July)

Websites:
www.professorsjournal.com
www.treasurequestsociety.coom
www.alextreasurehunt.caylixconsulting.com
www.oraclebook.net

Those are just a few I've run across that look interesting. If you end up getting involved in one of them, drop me a line and let me know! Good luck.

And I'll let you know if I have any luck on my Armchair hunts. :)

Coffee Rookie

2008-06-13T22:22:00.004+01:00

Thank God there are like a zillion Starbucks in England. Otherwise I would just have to go mad over trying to make my own at home.

In the states, we had bought a really nice Keurigs machine back in 2006. It was beautiful. I ordered a bunch of the k-cups with all their wonderful flavors. I ordered some teas and hot chocolate. I even got the attachment part so I could put my own ground coffee in it. It was like the coolest thing. Mr. and I didn't even fight over who had to make the coffee either! Success!

So, when we moved here I naturally brought it with us. I would just get a converter to power conversion and continue using it. First obstacle turned out to be that they won't ship the k-cups out of the US. No! Boo! But I figured I could sweet talk my mom into helping me out with getting them here. Then I called a place I found over here who sells the US to UK power converters. He completely blew me off and said 'get a machine over here'. What? No, you don't understand. I spent an arm and a leg on this specific coffee machine. We love it. We want to use it. I don't want a UK one. Then he told me what the cost of the power converter was going to be. It was the same as the machine nearly. Sad. Sad. I finally packed up my nice Keurig after about a month and shipped it to my mom for her to use. Sigh. Then I did nothing.

After finding Starbucks, I just went there and other places and gave up on the whole machine at home. Okay, don't laugh, but we used. . .instant coffee. I know. I know. Have we no taste?! But, I admit, it was actually pretty good.

Then one day I was having coffee with one of the new moms I've met at her house, and she pulls out this huge silver contraption. It was some sort of manual high-end coffee press. I watched her use it and then had some of the best coffee I have ever had. Well, this thing was out of the question for us. Way too expensive and way too much work plus it was like 2ft x 2ft in size. But I started to take notice of what others where using to make their coffee and found out this french press (see photo) is most popular thing. They're quite cheap, so I got one to try out.(I still haven't seen one coffee machine at anyone's house.)

It's really not too bad to use. I already make my tea directly from leaves so pouring grounds and using the little device wasn't an issue.

The issue is. . .I just can't get the right mix. I've tried numerous beans. Numerous mixes of water to scoops. Different 'brew' times. And I just can't get a taste I like. So, that silly little press has been moved to the back of the cabinet. Enter phase 3.

Since I so loved our old coffee machine using the pre-measured cups, I thought I'd go that route again. Research. Research. Do you know that no one in England actually drinks any flavored coffees? LOL. Okay, that was harsh. But I can't find anyone who makes these cups in any sort of flavor. No vanilla or caramel or anything. Boo. After much debate, I decided to just go ahead and get a machine anyway and add syrups if needed.

In conclusion, we'll have had whole beans, partial ground beans (did I mention I burned up our US grinder? I guess the wattage exceeded the converter), instant coffee, and a coffee machine. And I still can't get a decent cup. Hope the new machine works out.

Anyone for a cup of coffee?

Euro 2008

2008-06-13T21:34:00.003+01:00

Anyone watching Euro 2008? Mr. TeamKing and I have a bet going on it. He says Spain will win it. I say Portugal. And we both like the Dutch but don't think they'll win it.

How about you? Any predictions?

http://www.euro2008.uefa.com/tournament/teams/index.html

The Voices of Customer Service

2008-06-12T23:10:00.003+01:00

(Note: the views and opinions expressed below are in no way meant to demean the peoples named. The commentary is on accents and staffing and meant only in jest.:))

Don't you just hate making calls to customer service/technical help depts? Every call in the states like that gets forwarded to India.

So, after you've lost your cool in the first place and had to call for help, then you had to dig out the number from their literature or website (it's the small print on the back page underneath the 5o other numbers, or in some remote corner of their website where they've directed you to their help forums and online directions in an effort to throw you off your path calling them), then you had to push like 10 numbers minimum to get you to the right service center for the correct product and problem, you finally get a warm body on the line only to discover they don't speak your language. Well, okay, they ARE speaking English, but with accents so heavy you both just struggle and struggle to communicate. Don't you find that amazing? I mean, here are companies main contact with their customers, and they put you in contact with people that you just can't understand. Your blood pressure shoots through the roof. The customer service person must be paid some fantastic amount of money to endure the onslaught from frustrated Americans thousands of miles away. They always stay calm and cool. It just amazes me.

Then I came to England. Okay. I need to make some customer service calls. You go through the same exact steps as above. Finally get to the warm body on the phone and. . .they're Scottish! Scottish, of all things! Every call I've made over here. Every one. I'm pretty sure understanding a heavy Scottish accent beats out understanding a heavy Indian accent. It's the only English language I've seen where they SUBTITLE it on films. Really. It's that heavy.

So now I'm convinced there must be some sort of conspiracy on banning all customer service calls to other countries - and other countries with people who have heavy accents. They obviously don't do any sort of vocal test before hiring and placing people in these phone support roles. Anything goes. Knowledge of product far outweighs anything else. I think they want to do away with this cost and just have website support only. Because don't you find that once you've struggled through one such call, you don't normally call again. You end digging through online documents, calling local stores for help, or just living with the problem.

And now, I can't help but wonder. . .who answers the phone when you call from India or Scotland? Do they come back to the US? How about a deep southern US accent? or someone from the Bronx or Long Island? or some rapper from LA?

Wouldn't that be interesting. . .its like the Tower of Babel.

:p

eBooks

2008-06-09T12:23:00.003+01:00

I saw a blurb today for the Amazon Kindle. It's one of those handheld electronic book readers. Retails for $300-400. Huh? I wasn't quite sure I understood the point of it. If you're new to eBooks, here's what I think is a better way - use your phone. Of course, that depends on what sort of mobile phone you're carrying around. If you have a basic function unit with no PDA sort of options on it, then this won't work. But if you're already using a PDA/Smartphone type of phone then you're all set.

How?

First you need a reader on your PDA. I have a Palm OS Treo so I can't suggest any Windows based programs. The best I've used to date (and what I currently use) is eReader. I've been using them for a few years now and have had no issues. The software is free to download. And once you have the reader on your unit, then you're ready to get some books. I like eReader from this perspective too as I feel they have a good selection of books - both old and current releases. Are the prices cheap? No. They're not. It's rather like going to a bookstore and buying. But, it is still cheaper than a new hardback. Plus you can sign up for their newsletter which has a code in it where you can get 10% off your orders. At least it's something. They also keep your account on their site, so you can always go back and re-download any of your purchases.

Once you find a book you want to buy and have completed the purchase, it downloads to your desktop/computer immediately. I then simply drag and drop to my phone and do a HotSync. Viola! A book on my phone.

Why?

Some people have never understood why anyone would want to do this. Read a book on your phone?! Yes. Let me tell you why I love it. I can't tell you how many times I find myself waiting somewhere - waiting on kids, waiting on doctors/dentists, waiting for someone in a restaurant, store, car, etc., waiting in the airport, train station, etc. We seem to wait a lot in our lives. And this is where I love to pull out my pda phone and read a little. Besides enjoying the book itself, t's relaxing and time flies. I actually get through books quickly now instead of them lingering on my nightstand.

If you've never tried one before, give it a go. The most you can lose is the cost of one book if you end up not reading it.

Oh, that reminds me, here's a source for FREE eBooks. These aren't current books though, they're Classics! Which is really good too when you want to go back and read some of those great literature books you never had time for. . www.gutenberg.org

Life of Riley

2008-06-02T00:19:00.011+01:00

Well, we are now all moved into house no. 2. Don't know if permanent yet as we may try to buy it. Time will tell. Regardless, we're really happy with it and our new location in Surrey. We're very near the Devils Punchbowl which should provide some wonderful walks (for me at least).

No geocaching or letterbox updates. Haven't been out for over a month now. Boo. But I am signed up for a nighttime caching event this summer which sounds like a lot of fun. Also hoping I can pull off another Dartmoor weekend this summer. Would be really great with the extended light in the evenings!

Other than moving, I started a new 'sport' - Bowls! Now, don't be like Mr. TeamKing who gave me a hard time for joining as the average age seems to be about 70. I figure by the time I get there I'll have many years under my belt and might actuallly be good! Hah!

We spent this past Saturday at Legoland Windsor. A really good park for those with non-teen kids. I noticed a lot of creative little touches that were as well thought out as anything at Disney.

Then in the evening, we were off to Wembley Arena to the Osmonds 50th Anniversary tour. It was the whole clan (well, other than the 2 older hearing impaired brothers). But even Marie was there. It was really quite fun.

On the postal letterboxing side, I've had to give this up as the postage would be WAY too much for people to send to me now that I'm in the UK. However, I'd been thinking of trying a LTC and finally an opportunity came up. I joined the Bookmark Swap. These aren't actually LTCs. But, I think they sort of fall into the general category. Homemade, handmade stamp, etc. I had fun doing mine so I think I will try a LTC ring or at least some exchanges. I really hate my stamp carving ability, but I'll give it a go. I'll have to show a picture of all the ones I get once I receive.

Anyone watch the 'Survivor' series this recent go-around? I thought it was one of the best ones they ever did - and that's saying a lot as I've watched every single series they've had which is like 9 years or so worth! Only things on here that I'm still watching are 'The Apprentice' (Sir Alan Sugar is a bit rougher than Trump, so it's quite entertaining), and one of my favs that I only got into since moving here - 'Doctor Who'. I see many of the US shows are finally wrapping up their seasons. Way too short. No more strikes! Please!

Finally, upcoming events include a weekend in Wales, a possible summer trip to Germany, and a day trip to the Isle of Wight. (AND Madonna tickets for September. Yeah!) Now if I could just get some to Tina Turner. . .

:)

Scarecrows in May

2008-05-05T18:30:00.016+01:00

The lease is up this month on the house we are currently in, so we've just started to move into another one. It's going to be a long month! But on the plus side, we had a great weekend. After a few weeks of thinking we lived in the hail capital of the world (seriously, it has hailed here like every day for the last 2 weeks. I've seen more hail in the last month than all the rest of my years combined!)

So, I was happy to see something good like this rainbow as I looked out my office window. Was good weather (aka Spring) finally here?

Yes! A lovely bank holiday weekend with 3 days off. Friday night found us driving down to Portsmouth (along with half of London I think on the M3) to see two of my favorite comics - French & Saunders. A really good show. Of course the running gag was who was the bigger UK comedy queen - Jennifer Saunders with Absolutely Fabulous? or Dawn French with The Vicar of Dibley? I don't know. A toss-up on that one. :)

In between moving things, we ended up stopping at a Scarecrow festival we kept passing on the way to the new house. Scarecrows? In May? What is this all about?

Well, this is one of the really fun things I am enjoying about England. This sort of community creativity. I would see sparks around Houston here and there. But these small villages continue to surprise me with their ideas. Case in point - Scarecrow Festival.

In order to help raise money for their local store, one village had its residents make up scarecrows. The theme was 'Song Titles'. A clue sheet was sold to everyone and you walked around looking at the various scarecrows (they were all numbered) and had to figure out not only which one was which, but the song title each represented. What a neat idea! Almost all the songs were things even most kids know, so a good family event. Temps in the low 70s F and no rain, so even Penny dachshund came out with us for a walk around and enjoyed herself. I just think this was the neatest idea. Hardly anything fun happens in April and May.

Mr. TeamKing was also happy to see that a cricket game was going on at the same time in the village.

Writers Rooms

2008-04-30T07:08:00.002+01:00

Continuing on with writing posts. . .here's a neat link with photos on various writers rooms (UK writers I believe). . .

http://books.guardian.co.uk/writersrooms

Journal, Notebook, and the Need to Write

2008-04-28T21:02:00.004+01:00

Are you someone who loves notebooks and journals? I love them. I can't go into a bookstore or art store without browsing the notebooks. I find I am pretty hard to please on them. Only certain ones will do.

My latest notebook fad is the Moleskine ones. I don't recall seeing these in the states. That's not to say they aren't there though. I did see some similar but not this exact brand. It's a great book and quite well known in artist/writer type circles. In the UK, you can pick them up at Waterstones bookstores (online too if you want to order from the US). A bunch of different ones - plain, ruled, various sizes and so on. It's hard to pick.

Finally you pick one you like - whether Moleskine or otherwise. Then what? Do you journal? I find keeping a journal too much. I do like to journal now and again. My notebook sort of takes on a scrapbook sort of life. Writings, bit and pieces I tape in, glue in. Sketches. Doodles. A little bit of everything really. I just find I have a constant need to write things. Not every day. More of a 'as they come' sort of activity. It unclutters my mind.

That brings me to a few blogs I like listed below. If you like seeing creative notebooks, search around the archives on these sites. Really neat ideas. It just makes me want to get my Moleskine out and jot something - anything - down!

http://www.moleskinerie.com/my_moleskine/index.html

http://notebookism.com/

It's All a Mystery

2008-04-28T17:50:00.009+01:00

I love reading mysteries. Especially the cozy mysteries - with the same characters, same setting book after book. So when I ran across this online game, I thought it looked perfect for me. It reminds me of the I SPY games with all the detail.

Check out Agatha Christie at

www.reclinergames.com

Big Cats and Foxes

2008-04-25T23:00:00.002+01:00

I've been having some weird fox things happen to me this past week. I'm starting to be a little concerned about this.

Eyes in the Night -

This has happened to me twice. I let Penny outside in the backyard to do her business. I wait a few minutes, then open the door to look for her. Our yard is not fenced. It goes from grass to woods, and the neighbors on one side are only separated from us by a line of shrub-like trees. I mostly have to monitor Penny outside because of my neighbors constant need to put bread out in the middle of their yard. This is for the birds. Penny thinks it is for her. And since dachshunds are the type of dog that will eat until they explode, she has to be monitored. Anyway, back to the eyes. I open the door to get her back in the house. She's not anywhere in my sight. Darn. Get the flashlight. Since the woods are at the back of the yard, it is pitch black out there. I can see out about 20ft or so, then darkness. I call Penny and shine the light out there. Suddenly, I see 2 eyeballs in the light at the edge of the woods. Oh good, there she is. She starts running towards me. As she moves forward, I realize I am STILL seeing eyeballs back there at the edge of the woods. Wait. Penny is running across the yard, I can see that it is her as she nears. What the heck is that back there in the woods?! Cat or fox? I don't know. That was the first episode.

Second episode happened last week. Same thing, I shine the flashlight out there looking for Penny hopefully somewhere in the yard. I see her eyeballs. 'Come on, Penny!' I yell. She starts running towards me. Suddenly, rustle rustle near the bush 10ft from the door. Out pops. . .Penny! Huh?! Penny is running towards me down the yard. . .isn't she? No. She's here by the house. Then WHAT is that animal out there?! It gets closer but it's so dark out I still can't make out what it is. Suddenly, it dives for the neighbors shrub line and disappears. I could make out something red like and in the size realm of a cat or fox. Hmmm.

Jumanji Revisited -

Have you seen the movie 'Jumanji'? One of my favorite scenes is when the aunt is stopped in her car and this whole line of stampeding animals goes by then the rhino comes by about 5 seconds later and she is just watching it run by. The look on her face as she turns her head from left to right both times just cracks me up.

The other night I was cutting through a residential area in my car on the way home. It's late. It's dark. Not a soul around or even any cars. It's just quiet houses and me. I come to a T type of stop and have to go left or right. As I look left, I see this dog trotting down the sidewalk across the road from me. He's all alone. Just mildly trotting down the sidewalk. I sit and watch for a second to make sure he isn't going to cross the street in front of me. He doesn't. He just continues down the sidewalk like he's out for some nightly stroll around the neighborhood. As I watch him go from left to right, I see as he gets in my headlights that he is not a dog. He is a fox. This is my Jumanji moment. Just sitting watching this fox trot down the sidewalk in front of me as he never leaves the sidewalk and just continues down it until he is out of sight.

Back to the backyard. Cats. We have a number of cats who think they own this yard. They walk through. They sit in the grass. They hang out under the trees. They stare at the bird feeders. They are annoying. What they don't do is run. These cats are HUGE. Big old tomcats. A white one, a black one, a browny one. All big and all not scared of anything. Penny tries to chase them once in a while. They just hold their ground. Not scared. Not worried that a 30lb brown slow moving torpedo is heading right at them. I think they only move because Penny is making so much noise that it hurts their ears. (People two roads over can probably hear Penny barking. They make up for their size with their voice. Come to think of it, I've met a fair amount of short people who fit that description too.)

So, I'm now on the hunt for finding out what exactly is in the woods. Cat or fox? I was hoping it was something exciting like a badger. But I'm sure it is probably just one of those big cats wandering around at night like they do. Mr. TeamKing has a good laugh ever time he sees me grab the flashlight like some psychotic housewife looking for intruders. Oh well, glad I entertain someone.

Viva Italia!

2008-04-18T23:39:00.011+01:00

With kids still on term break last week, we took advantage of grandparents and scooted over to Italy for 5 days visiting Venice, Florence, and Pisa. Weather could have been better (only one really nice day), but the crowds were very manageable, thus a trade-off.

We also came to realize that at this stage in the game, we're past the backpacking through Europe idealogy. We're on the 'save up your money, get a good hotel, and eat out at the best restaurants you can' stage. Oh yeah. That's the way to go for sure!

Your Favorite Blogs & the NY Times Crossword

2008-04-16T17:01:00.005+01:00

Continuing on the last post . . .

I love hearing about new and fun blogs. Got any good ones you really like? Tell me! Tell me!

Of course, most blogs tend to be specific to a certain area, i.e. computer lovers writing about computer stuff. Or, if they aren't specific, then they are sort of what I call 'a day in the life' blogs. Someone writing about what they did today, etc. These can be great either because you like the person, or you just enjoy their writing - meaning they could write about anything and you'd read it.

The blogs I follow tend to be the specific kind. Usually I pick up on a blog after becoming interested in a new subject.

Case in point: The New York Times Crossword Puzzle

After watching the movie, Wordplay, I started getting interested in crossword puzzles. I have fond memories of my grandma sitting in her comfy rocking chair in her bedroom in the afternoons and working the daily puzzle in the newspaper. But I never was interested in doing them myself. Never. But after the movie, I found out that my mom does the crosswords, and my cousin, and my other grandma used to do them too, and so on. . .hmmm. Give it a go, I said.

We don't get the paper daily here like we did in Houston, so I had to find another source for puzzles. Enter the NY Times. The cream of the crop in crosswords. Yep, you can get an online crossword only subscription and get the daily puzzle. (Not to confuse with the NY Times puzzles you get in your local papers - those are syndicated and run something like 1-2wks behind when they originally appeared in the Times.) So, now I'm ATTEMPTING the crossword puzzle daily. Since these are like serious level puzzles, I definately need some help. After digging around a bit, I found some good blogs where the real fans do the puzzles daily and then report on it in their blog. I love it! Not only can I get help on answers, but they tend to explain the puzzles theme.

http://madness--crosswordandotherwise.blogspot.com/
http://www.xwordblog.com/

Now that's the sort of blogs I like - ones that address whatever hobby, interest, project, commentary, etc. I'm interested in.

I'll dig around and list some others I like concerning letterboxing/geocaching/related activities.

How about you? Blogs? Blogs? Anyone?

RSS - An Easy Out

2008-04-16T16:46:00.003+01:00

I have to say that I find RSS a real pain. I don't know if its because I'm using and interacting with multiple sites, i.e. Yahoo and Google, but I just can't seem to get the feeds sent to me for the blogs I read. Boo.

So, I gave it up a long while back and just keep the links in my bookmarks and check in from time to time on blogs I like. Thankfully, sites like AtlasQuest can keep me current on the letterboxing blogs I follow - as I assume you do the same if you're reading this. But outside of AQ, I just can't seem to find the easy solution.

However, today I found some success. Check this out:
http://rssfwd.com/

You just put in the URL of the blog you want updates on, then you enter your email. Whenever a new entry is posted that blog, it's sent direct to your email! Ah! Success! The easy way to follow blogs - at least for people like me who are on broadband and email is always open and dings when a new message comes in. Ha-ha.

So, if you too just can't seem to sort out RSS, give the above link a try and see what you think. I'm sure there some good decent instructions on how to get RSS feeds the 'proper' way, but they tend to be more involved and technical than I feel up to attempting.

Dartmoor Spring Meet - Sunday

2008-04-03T16:02:00.022+01:00

After a crummy Saturday, I was feeling a bit bleak about Sunday. But I awoke to a beautiful blue sky day with scattered clouds. Yes! No rain! Of course, things like my boots were still wet. That was no good. But still, most everything was dry and I was ready to go. The meet didn't start until 10am so I took my time with a nice breakfast in the hotel restaurant and then headed off to get a geocache I knew was along the way. Lovely walk to pick it up. Temps were warmer than Saturday too.

The distance from the hotel to the Lee Moor Public Hall was 4-5miles. Perfect. Except. . .that it was 'as the crow flies', which meant the sat nav was taking me on the infamous one-lane, high hedge rowed lanes. I HATE those roads. I suppose if you grew up with them, you don't think twice. But they make me tense with locals whizzing down them sight unseen. I decided I didn't want the stress and I wasn't in a hurry, so I took the long way around via Plymouth. Took twice as long, but it didn't matter.

So,I arrived around 10:30am or so. Cars
were already lining the road. Wow. This place must be big, I thought. Ha. Surprise to me - it wasn't. This little public hall venue is woefully undersized for the amount of people visiting. Stamping in was crowded and difficult and it was hard to see what was actually at each table unless you were right in front of it. I admit I'm spoiled after only attending US events - and all of those outside - space has never been an issue.

Anyway, I surprised to find the meet was part market & part meeting and stamping. Some folks had tables selling things: ink pads, logbooks, cut card stock for stamping, etc. Kountry Kit was there from Tavistock. (I love that place. We stayed in Tavistock on our first visit to Dartmoor and were so pleased to find this outfitter just down the road from the hotel. They have all the clothing and gear you could want PLUS have some stamps at their stores.) Some people/groups had tables where they were selling their charity walks - not to make a profit - these walks raise money for the various charities or local civic type groups who put out the boxes and maintain them.

I wandered around and ran into a few people I knew. Many others I recognized but didn't know their names. I guess the serious regulars were there. At one point I was stamping at a charity walk table paying for the walk when I realized that the man standing next to me was Godfrey Swinscow. Oh, how cool is that. I think I heard he was 89. A small man with a cane, he was just going from table to table like me and buying a few charity walks. I wondered if he actually still gets out as many of these are a bit strenuous, or if he was just supporting their causes. . .? Curious.

Finally, after buying the new letterbox catalog (now only put out once a year in the Spring) and the supplemental Travellers catalog (where I listed my two personal travellers I had in the US and still carry with me), it was time to get out of the packed room and get out to some boxes.

A quick look at the few walks I had and locations had me picking a walk around Cox Tor. This tor I remember for being quite popular with walkers because of its car park and easily accessible location. Normally I would have avoided places with people, but after being on my own yesterday, I welcomed others.

I was glad to see that it wasn't too populated. Lots of walkers around, but most of them weren't up as high as I was. As I got to the first box on the walk, I saw two men just leaving. I ended up following them for the first few boxes, but then a bit of distance got between us as I wandered off to get a nearby geocache. (I had to have one or two caches from Dartmoor!) The weather was just lovely. Sunny and breezy. At one box, I suddenly felt like I was being watched. Quick look. Yep. I had a small herd watching me stamp in. They didn't seem to be bothered at all - just curious.

Not long after losing the first pair, another pair caught up with me. It was the Dartmoor Jedi. A young couple from the area. They had a great dog that was trying to sniff out the boxes. How cool would that be?! We got the next bunch of boxes together and then separated again as I wandered off to find the second geocache along this letterbox walk.

Finally, as I neared the end of the walk - which circled the tor - I decided I had to go to the top and see the marker up there. Love those sorts of things. A quick walk up and then back to final box. It was time to go. The walk took a few hours to do, so it was like 5pm or so. Tea time? or cocktail hour? :)

I got back to my room and started sorting out my finds for the day and filling in the numbers I was missing. I guess it is a good system that everything is numbered and cataloged, but it does take a little getting used to - at least in relation to the US system. I finished up and packed up for the trip home on Monday.

I still didn't have enough to get my 200 badge, but I'm close. Just need another trip over there - I'm thinking I might be back for the fall meet .

Dartmoor Spring Meet - Saturday

2008-03-31T22:26:00.011+01:00

Well, finally, I was able to get all the stars lined up correctly to swing getting over to Dartmoor for the weekend. It was clock change time which only meant one thing - Spring Meet.

I left about 5:15 Saturday morning and breezed over to Devon. Best time yet at just over 3 hrs. I guess no one was on the roads yet. Wonderful time to be driving - early morning - especially after the clock change as it was so light out by 6am. My favorite part of the drive is going by Stonehenge. You go by about 500yds from it. Amazing view. Although I HATE driving by here at night. It is DARK. I mean not a house light or street light anywhere - other than the cars, complete utter darkness. Anyway, I had my plan of attack to do a charity walk when I got there, which would take the rest of the day and then head over to the hotel after, so the early start was required.

Let me stop here to go over how I went about determining where to go. . .

First time I went to Dartmoor, I was lost. I didn't have good bearings on where I was, how to read the OS map, how to read my compass properly, etc. When I drove out there this past September, I did a lot better. It really helped with my bearings as I studied my map, and driving around let me see various tors and their relation to various towns. Very helpful. So, what I decided to do this time was to find a good hotel with a good location and get on an organized walk. I tried scavenging first time I was there, and I came to the conclusion that it works best for locals. If I lived close by and walked there all the time, I would probably enjoy just scavenging around. However, when you're just visiting and don't have a day to waste just wandering around, boxes with known locations is the way to go. I sent my money in for one of the walks last Monday and got it back the Friday before I left (nothing like waiting until the last second!) A long walk but 21 boxes. Yippee! What really sold me on the boxes was the fact that they had 10 digit grid references. Perfect. So, I quickly spend some time on Friday night inputting all the box grid references into my gps.

I mapped out my route so that I would go to the correct tor for the walk, and then continue down the road to my hotel afterwards. Great.

Weather was nice on the drive over - until I got to Exeter. Suddenly it was cloudy and dark. Oh no, I thought, not rain. Yep. A light rain started and from that east side of Dartmoor. When I got to the car park, it was still raining but only very lightly. I hopped out and got outfitted - rain pants, boots, fleece, raincoat, hat, gloves, backpack, everything in backpack in baggies, backpack rain cover, food, drinks, and walking stick. (Actually I forgot the walking stick and had to walk back about 1/4 mile to retrieve it. I only remembered when I passed an ewe with her lamb and I released that if she ran me, I had no protection!) I felt like I was going into the mountains in the middle of winter with all these clothes and gear. It was about 45F outside which isn't too bad - not until you're wet.

And wet I got. I'm pretty sure I haven't been this miserable outside ever. It all started out okay. Hardly anyone around - just me and the sheep and an odd person or two off in the distance. The hard rain started about the time of the 2nd or 3rd box. My logbook was getting wet so I pulled out a little umbrella I carry to try to keep the rain off as I stamped and it got nearly torn away. Did I mention the wind? Not just a breeze - GUSTS. Big serious wind gusts. Blow you over if you're feet aren't firmly planted wind. So, see what I mean about a miserable day - 45F, raining, continual heavy wind which turned the rain into ice pellets smacking me in the face, every rock wet with easy to slip on mossy surfaces, and slowly getting soaked through all clothing.

I got to about the 8th box which was on the back side of the tor and in the middle of a firing range when I called it quits. My feet weren't cold, but I could feel the water sloshing around in my boots. My hands and face were freezing. My gloves - not waterproof - had to be wrung out every 10 mins or so. I hadn't seen a soul in the last hour and was feeling a bit uncomfortable with being on my own. I headed in. As soon as I got to the front of the tor, I came across a couple out letterboxing. Relief. The rain was letting up slightly, but I was so soaked (and my backpack was soaked even with a rain cover) and my electronic goodies like camera and phone were wet, not soaked, but wet. Not good. I continued to the car. (Okay, I just happened to be passing by where a geocache was located so I had to stop and look. No luck. Boo.) I felt like a drowned rat as I walked down the path to where the car park was located. Then I heard a noise behind me. A guy on a horse. Brother, I thought. Poor horse out in this mess. He went by. Then I heard another noise. I turned around to see the riders and hounds. It was a hunt group coming in. Here they all came soaking wet trotting by me in their nice red jackets and gear. At least I wasn't the only insane one.

I checked into the hotel in my wet clothes and wet hair looking like some mad wanderer. Dry at last! Ah. Later when I talked to Mr. TeamKing, he said he heard where they had to rescue someone at Dartmoor out in the nasty weather. Oh my. Well, I could only hope Sunday was better. . .

Easter Snow

2008-03-25T02:48:00.002Z

White Easter for millions as Britain suffers worst seasonal weather in 25 years

Last updated at 23:37pm on 23.03.08

Britain woke up to a white Easter Sunday today as blizzards and snow showers spread southwards across huge swathes of the country, heralding yet more misery on the roads this Bank Holiday.

Drivers were told to avoid going out as heavy snow overnight brought widespread travel disruption, with one police force describing the conditions as "horrendous".

North-east England, Yorkshire and Staffordshire were the hardest hit by the weather which would be more in keeping with the Christmas break than Easter.

The North West Ambulance Service have also been hit hard by the storms with two of its ambulances trapped in heavy snow in Cumbria.

Scroll down for more...

The snow in Yorkshire was so thick that snow ploughs had to go out on the roads

Communications manager Andrew Kirchin said: "We've not stopped working. At 6am we put that warning out, and it was simply because that's the time that people start to get up, we get an increase in calls, and we were just saying please only ring if it's an emergency."

Elsewhere snow has caused difficulties for ambulances in the south of Cumbria, east Lancashire and north Manchester.

Mr Kirchin said: "In Manchester the roads became so treacherous that we had to send the Rapid Response Vehicles back to the station because the roads froze over."

Bitter gales, sleet and snow have already whipped much of Britain in the start to the holiday.

But now the weather has closed in still further, bringing significant problems for those hoping to return home today and tomorrow.

Snow ploughs and gritters were sent out but they too found the conditions difficult and struggling to stay on the roads.

Even London was affected after lighter snow showers during the early hours gave way to full-blown blizzards by mid-morning.

Met Office forecaster Chris Almond: "There is no sign of spring out there, to be honest."

Scroll down for more...

This gritter slipped off the side of the road in Horbling, Lincolnshire

A spokesman for North Yorkshire police said he had driven just six miles into work this morning and that conditions were "the worst I can remember for a long time."

He said: "There is plenty of snow and the major problem is with the roads. It is horrendous. The snow came down suddenly. Our advice is only drive if you really must.

"It is very icy and very cold. We have had no major incidents, just minor bumps but it is not very nice out there."

Durham Police said there had been heavy overnight snow across the whole of the county, particularly in the south. The force has had to close the A66 trans-Pennine route for the second night running due to heavy snow.

In Staffordshire, people are also being told not to travel because of the snow and freezing temperatures. The north close to the border with Derbyshire and areas around Leek and Cheadle were the worst affected.

Sergeant Geoffrey Knight said: "We are warning motorists not to travel in the Moorlands area. Snow is falling very heavily and drifting in the area and on high ground.

"If you are travelling, take warm clothing and drive with extreme care."

Scroll down for more...

It may be daffodil season but there is snow on the ground at this church in Heather, central England, after the weather closed in overnight

The view above Huddersfield this morning after it was blanketed with snow

Laura Gilchrist, of Meteogroup, said the snow would only settle briefly in most areas before disappearing later in the day as temperatures rose but also predicted the cold snap would continue for much of the week.

"It will be a bit brighter later this afternoon, but we think it will be cold for most of the week. It might get a bit milder towards the end of the week," she said.

The Easter weekend has been the worst in terms of weather for a quarter of a century, with high winds lashing much of the country on Friday while temperatures plummeted.

Parts of Scotland, North-East England and the Midlands woke up to a blanket of snow yesterday, delighting children who had the unexpected opportunity to dig out their sledges.

They will be set for more winter fun today as far more of the country sees snow falls, and several inches settling on the ground.

Scroll down for more...

Police are warning drivers to avoid travelling today after snow fell across much of the country

The chances of snow at Easter were increased this year because Easter Sunday falls on the earliest date for nearly a century – just two days after the official start of spring.

Records show April 1-3, 1983, was the snowiest Easter, when Scotland, the Midlands and Kent had up to four inches.

________________________________________________________________

As for us, we saw snow flakes on Easter as well as most of the weekend. Today we went out golfing and it snowed on us. Yikes! That's a first! But nothing sticking on the ground like up north. (Can't even make a snowball. Boo.)

Hope it warms up a little for next weekends Dartmoor Spring meet.

The Wolf Man

2008-03-14T16:44:00.005Z

Well, looks like I missed seeing Harry Potter. Went over today to see the set, but was told they were gone. However, not all was lost.

They are now filming 'The Wolf Man' ! Did a little walk around but didn't have time to get closer and see the gypsy village or any cast or crew. The movie stars Benicio Del Toro as the Wolf Man with Anthony Hopkins co-starring. Security told us they will be here for a few weeks. Penny and I will definately be back for a walk! Found this photo from the filming. . .

Directed by Joe Johnston who did one of my favorite movies - Jumanji.

Harry Potter?! Here?!

2008-03-12T01:07:00.005Z

Today, a friend was telling me that she took her dog for a walk down the road from her house into the woods area and was surprised to see a bunch of trucks and cameras. She asked what was going on and was told they were filming a commercial.

However, on her way back home, she run into a security guard and HE told her they were filming the next Harry Potter movie. So, is it a cover-up and they really are filming the movie there? or are they pulling her leg?

Well, I found this comment below from the March 3rd The Sun newspaper. . .seeing as she lives in Farnham, I say its the real deal!

"With news a bit slow on the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince film front, UK paper The Sun has a doozy of a story tonight that just might get your attention. The tabloid is reporting that location filming for the sixth Harry Potter movie is currently taking place in Farnham, Surrey, England, and a couple of visitors made an unexpected appearance during the shoot. The paper claims “two male streakers” caused a bit of chaos by “darting naked through undergrowth during a woodland scene. Stars Daniel Radcliffe and Helena Bonham Carter retreated to their caravans while security chased the pair off.” The article continues to say the pranksters then “crept back and made monkey noises at the location shoot in Farnham, Surrey. A source said: “Seeing naked bodies was a laugh-but the joke wore thin.”

Seeing as this is like 1-2 miles from my kids school, I think I might need to do a walk or drive-by just for the fun of it!

The Big 200!

2008-03-08T00:11:00.002Z

Finally! Did 200 geocaches. Whew. That took forever for some reason. Seemed like doing letterboxes went much quicker.

I was at 195 today and decided to get those last ones. So, of course, I wake up to a rainy day. Boo. So much for that. But by mid-day it was sunny and nice out. Found a series of 4 caches not too far away and Penny dachshund and I went to get them. Had a nice walk. Passed a few dog walkers, joggers, horses. Found the caches easily enough. Then had just a little bit of time left to find one more. Decided on a travel bug hotel as these tend to be easy to get. It was, except just as I was about 100ft from my car parked alongside the road, I turn to see a whole troop of army soldiers running by the car. I thought for sure they were coming my way. Afterall, this week I saw the mines (pictured in the last blog entry), and near that there was a military helicoptor practicing landing in a big field. Then I see the troops today. Since the British Army is in nearby Aldershot, we see them often. But the upside is that tons of land around here is MOD and open to walking and such. You wouldn't see that in the states. Getting so close to military training operations.

Regardless, I hit 200 finds today! Yeah!

There's a Cache WHERE?!

2008-03-04T20:06:00.010Z

You sometimes find geocaches in the strangest places. . .

. . .in this case, right near some interesting neighbors. . .

. . .both of these within 5 min walk from the same cache.

(near Fleet, Hampshire)

Thanks Oscar

2008-02-25T21:19:00.002Z

After a paltry showing last year in the 'Pick the Winner' Oscar contest organized by Archimedes Screw, I came back in 2008 to win by one point! Yea! Victory!

The prize for winning is an Archimedes Screw carved stamp - winners choice. I'm trying for a personal stamp for Penny dachshund.

Stay tuned to see what happens. . .

State of My Plants Address

2008-02-24T20:48:00.003Z

Current status of my planted boxes:

-51 actual live boxes (excluding all retired ones and multiple stamp listings)

-30 of the 51 carved by me

-live boxes currently in: US (Pennsylvania, Virginia, California, and Texas) and England (Berkshire, Wiltshire, and Surrey counties)

-The two Texas Tour Bus boxes have a split update. The original TTB box started back in 2005 and retired when the box was so full it couldn't fit one more - it had/has 41 stamps in it - has been lost for over a year now. I recall it was last picked up by a new boxer and never returned to the wild. On the plus side, nearly every serious letterboxer in Texas got to find it, so it certainly filled its role. The second TTB box which came out in late 2006 when the original was retired is still alive and moving around the state. Since I'm not able to physically check on this box, I don't the current number of stamps inside.

-I don't plan on re-carving any of the stamps for my boxes. If they go missing or I pull them, they are retired.

-As stated in a recent post, other than some more hedgehog stamps I need to plant, I won't be planting any other boxes this year.

-However, I do have some new ideas for my letterboxing in England including a tour bus like box. So. . .stay tuned.

And that's where everything stands.

Live at the London Palladium

2008-02-24T00:06:00.005Z

A night out to see 'The Sound of Music' at the London Palladium.

Great performance with Connie Fisher as Maria of an Andrew Lloyd Webber production (whose company owns the Palladium).

And speaking of which, who should we see come in and sit just 2 rows in front of us but Mr. Andrew Lloyd Webber himself. Cool!

A Book & a Cuppa for a Friend

2008-02-20T20:45:00.020Z

Hats off to Texan letterboxer, Ruby Tuesday of the Celtic Lions (standing in black in photo with sons to her right). She lost her fight with ovarian cancer this month. Ruby T (aka Sam Aulson) was one of the first letterboxers I met. We drove up to Dallas to letterbox back in late 2004 and met up with her and her husband in a Starbucks. It was really nice - and a big relief to me - as I realized this letterboxing 'thing' didn't look to be full of strange and odd people. LOL. It was her first exchange.

She was a real force in Texas - trying her hardest to get interest and people boxing in the Dallas Metro area. Back then, she was nearly the only one. At least the only one actively planting. Her boxes were fabulous. I was lucky enough to not only get her boxes in the wild, but also get her postal letterboxes which she also really enjoyed. I consider her one of the queens of the plb world. Her boxes and stamps were fabulous - well thought out and original. I've included pictures of her 'Mary, Queen of Scots' plb and her 'The Office' plb (she was a big fan of The Office). The stapler in the jello stamp is one of my favorite stamps.

I remember being First Finder on her 3 box series 'Tut Takes A Holiday' in Moody Gardens on Galveston Island. The day we went they were holding a mini-festival right where the boxes were all located! Talk about being stealthy - hordes of people streaming by right next to me! But I got them all!

One of the last gatherings she attended was 'The Great Book Adventure' hosted by Dewberry and myself back in 2006. Her health had limited her, but she still came down and joined us in Houston.

She was a neat lady, and will be missed. I look at her personal traveler and think no one else will ever get this.

So, here's to you, Sam. Thanks for helping me get started in this letterboxing world. I'm going to finally pick up that book series you loved and recommended (Lymond Chronicles).

And I remember that tea you chose for the plb Tea Ring we did together. They probably don't have that brand in the UK, but I'll start the book with a cuppa and remember you. Goodbye.

Losing the Groove & Carving Withdraw

2008-02-20T12:02:00.002Z

I've lost my letterboxing groove! Can you help me find it?

The other day I finally decided I might try this LTC thing. Afterall, it's a way I can participate with the US boxers as the postage would only be about 2 US postage stamps sending these cards in the mail. So, I set about looking up examples and trying to come up an idea. I finally got a quick idea and put it together. Very simple. But. . .I didn't like it. Well, maybe I should say, I liked it, but I don't think its in the league of what others are doing. I'm not a scrapbooker, but I admire people that can put together lovely assembled pages and cards and also put lovely carved images together in an artisitic way. A neat talent. But not one I have. So, I've put this LTC stuff on the shelf for now. Don't think it's for me.

This leads to another issue. I just don't want to carve anything. I don't like carving. It's my least favorite part of letterboxing. Some people love it. And I love seeing the awesome images they carve. But I can't do that. Sigh. . .

(Regardless, I thought this was a neat tutorial . . .http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/franontheedge/RubberCarving.html)

Perhaps the main issue is that there is no one to carve or plant for around here. It's not like I can go out and plant a box and the next day someone has found it. It may be months before someone gets to it. It may be long gone from the elements by then (I seem to be having a poor time with planting recently). Hard to get excited and motivated without some fellow letterboxers in your local area.

So, what to do? I'm going to put carving and planting away for now. I do have the obligation to plant some others boxes, and I will do those. But nothing I created. Not yet. I'm going to focus on finding. Just getting out and finding.

The same requirements for letterboxes as geocaches apply for me though. . .I've wasted so much time and energy on looking for boxes in crummy areas, with vague clues, with complex clues that frustrated me, etc. But I decided I just want to have a nice walk, a nice time outside, not think hard, just enjoy. And if one comes along that will take much more effort, I'll just decide how bad I want to get it.

This approach is not for everyone, obviously. We each find our own little letterboxing groove and focus on the things we like about it. I've had to resign myself to only letterboxing a few times a year now - when I can get over to Dartmoor or off to another area of England where some boxes are planted. Or maybe a trip to the US here and there.

Until then. . .

Slow and steady. . .just enjoy.

Going to Chelsea

2008-02-11T23:25:00.000Z

This is the story of going to a big football game in London. . .

On Sunday, Feb. 10th, we went to see the Chelsea vs. Liverpool game. Tickets were from BIL's company, so were expecting great seats, a great game, and a good day out.

Normally, from this far out of London (1 hour), we find it easiest to take a train into Waterloo station, and then get on the tube to get to a specific place. This was our plan to get to Stamford Bridge. Quick, easy, and low stress.

First obstacle: Mr. TeamKing got the train departure times wrong. Can't get a train from here in time.
Resolution: Drive halfway in to another station and get the tube from there. Nix train.
Result: Yes, we did drive to another station, got stuck in gobs of traffic. Had a hard time finding a place to park. Finally got a parking place in a neighborhood that seemed possibly dodgy. We get to the ticket counter only to find engineering works have resulted in no District Line (the line we need to go straight to the stadium).

Second obstacle: Stuck at a tube station with no lines going to where we need to go.
Resolution: Take the bus.
Result: Packed off down the street to cram our way onto a double decker bus. Bus was going so slow, that I saw people walking faster than us. Traffic was horrible. Bus came to standstill in Hammersmith area. We decided to ditch the bus and find another tube station and make the necessary transfers.

Success! We finally made it to the stadium with 15mins before kickoff.

Third obstacle: Where are these seats?!
Resolution: We see lines of people pouring into the stadium in a set of main doors. However, the seats we have mean another door entrance. We go over. No line. Cool! These seats must be good! Up we go on the stairs. Up? After about 4 flights, I'm starting to have doubts on these seats. Are we on the roof, or what?
Result: We get to seats. We are one row away from being as far from the field as any seat in the stadium. We are so far up, that the roof rafters block the scoreboard and the entire opposite side of stadium seating (don't let photos fool you, they are all zoomed). Seats are designed for people approx. 5' 8" and 130lbs or less. If you are bigger than this in any direction, it's a tight fit. Being over 5'8" myself, my knees hung over the seat in front of me. The poor woman sitting there could hardly sit back. That's how tight it was. (Note to UK: measure out a US seat and row in the future for assistance.) And no beer at the seats, but you can get some at the concession. . .is there a point to that? (Oh wait! I know. It's that whole rubbish collection thing again, isn't it?)

Anyway, the game was horrid. Just about the worst that Chelsea and Liverpool have played the whole season. Nil-Nil thriller (as we call them.) Boo. Disgrunted with game and seats, we're ready to leave. Then we hear the announcement on the loudspeaker - more tube problems - we need to walk to another tube station about 2 away due to ? I don't know.

Obstacle 4: Walk to tube station in unknown location in the dark.
Resolution: Just follow the crowd. 41,000 people were at the game. There must be quite a few going our way.
Result: Off we go. In the mass exodus of people crowding up the street in the direction of the desired tube station. So we walk, and walk, and walk. 45 mins later, I've had it. We have no idea where it is and we are now in South Kensington. Lovely stores and restaurants, but we're trying to get home. We ask directions. We missed it about 1/2 hour back. Another one is 1/2 mile away. I finally demand a taxi. Mr. TeamKing reluctantly agrees but moans about the cost. We hail a taxi to go straight back to our car.

Obstacle 5: Is there always bumper to bumper traffic in London on a Sunday night?!
Resolution: Sit tight. No other option at this point.
Result: We jump in the taxi and. . .sit. . .plod along. . .watch ambulances, motorbike delivery drivers, and walkers pass us by. Slowly, slowly. It takes us 40mins to go 5 miles.

Finally! Finally! At the car. Mr. TeamKing grumbles on about spending 20 pounds for the taxi. I block him out. We jump in, roar out of the city and make it home in a new land speed record.

What an adventure.

We have tickets to see Chelsea vs. Middlesborough in an upcoming match. Upon second thought, we're going to give them back to BIL. Let's sit home and watch on our TV instead, we decide. Ahhh. . .

Play Fantasy Baseball With Us!

2008-02-09T00:45:00.000Z

We have a private league set up for just 10 teams in the CBS Sports Fantasy Baseball League. Come and join in!

The info:

-free league
-head to head format
-both AL & NL player selection
-LIVE DRAFT (but I recall you can go in mark it to draft automatically if you can't make it)

March 8th
5:30PM ET

How to sign up:

http://www.sportsline.com/fantasy

-click on Fantasy Baseball
-click on Fantasy Baseball Free sign up button
-create a team name
-then it will give you a list of leagues to join
-search for our private league: Wellies in the Outfield
-password is: baseball08

That's it! You're in. Remember the draft day & time, and log in to get your team.

We'll probably have a few non-letterboxing friends, but you don't mind, do you?

Hope you will join us!

Shelfari

2008-02-04T16:51:00.000Z

Ooooh. Neat. Deleted my old text section of recently read books, and added a Shelfari widget. Love the visual of the books. (You can see mine at the very bottom of this blog.) Although I'm curious just how long do books stay on the 'recently read' shelf/section? I mean, if they stay there forever, then the length must get ridiculous. Hmmm. Do I have to specify something about this somewhere? Probably. . .

Anyway, have a look. Try it yourself. And if you want to add me as a 'friend', look under the name TeamKing. We'll leave the kettle on for you.

:p

Runnymede

2008-01-29T13:54:00.000Z

A day out on Sunday found us about 3 miles outside of Windsor at Runnymede. Famous for being the site where the Magna Carta was signed. On the other side of the meadow from the memorial, the Thames runs by and you can see the planes taking off from Heathrow. A bit different than the scene back in the 1200's!

We had a nice walk around the memorials here, then walked along the river. The river seemed a bit high and fast-moving. We saw a poor little duck trying to make it from one side to the other, but he just drifted by sideways, unable to fight the current.

A stop at the nice little cafe for a light lunch, then off to Windsor Castle for scootering down the long walk.

When You're Home Sick. . .

2008-01-17T22:57:00.000Z

. . .you discover some interesting things.

Like who creeps around your house during the day. . .

And how your dog makes a good doll for bored children. . .

Fascinating Lives

2008-01-14T18:46:00.000Z

Over Christmas, we went to see 'Peter Pan' panto. It was quite good and enjoyed by all. Since then, we had to get out some of the movies of Peter Pan - the Disney animated version and 'Hook'. As they take place in London, I was doing a little reading on James Barrie, the author of Peter Pan (who met the Davis boys in Kensington Gardens who were the role models for the story.) That brings us to the title of this blog entry. Barrie (1860-1937) had quite an interesting literary life. Check out this bit from his Wiki entry. Can you even imagine having friends like this?!

"Barrie traveled in high literary circles, and had many famous friends. With Arthur Conan Doyle he wrote a failed musical. With Robert Louis Stevenson he conducted a long correspondence, but the two never met in person. George Bernard Shaw was for several years his neighbor, and once participated in a Western that Barrie scripted and filmed. Jerome K. Jerome introduced Barrie to his wife; H. G. Wells was a friend of many years. Barrie met Thomas Hardy through Hugh Clifford while he was staying in London. Conan Doyle, Jerome, Wells and other luminaries such as G. K. Chesterton and A. A. Milne also occasionally played cricket with a team founded by Barrie for his friends, the "Allahakbarries". (The name was chosen under the mistaken belief that "Allah akbar" means "God save us" in Arabic; in fact it means "God is great".)"

"Barrie also befriended Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott and was one of the seven recipients of letters that Scott wrote in the final hours of his life. He was godfather to Robert's son, Peter.^[2] Another close friend of Barrie's, theater producer Charles Frohman, who was responsible for the debut of Peter Pan in both England and the U.S., died famously, declining a lifeboat seat when the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat in the North Atlantic. In doing so, Frohman reportedly paraphrased Peter Pan's famous line from the stage play, "To die will be an awfully big adventure."

"On several occasions he met and told stories to the little girls who would become Queen Elizabeth II and her younger sister Princess Margaret."

Check out the Peter Pan statue next time you're in Kensington Gardens. Sounds like a good place for a letterbox!

Jam & Jerusalem

2008-01-13T11:48:00.000Z

Anyone watch this show? It's called 'Clatterford' in the states. I watched it in the US when it first aired about a year or more ago. Being a fan of Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, I couldn't pass it up. Then we moved and I forgot all about it. Until this month. I finally found the UK version 'Jam & Jerusalem' and have now been watching it again.

I bring it up because this last episode they went for a ramble on the moors at Dartmoor! (The show is based on a village in Devon and centers on the womens guild.) So the ladies were out for their walk and the mist started to come in. They all sat down in a circle and talked while the mist took over and surrounded them. Finally, even though the mist was still thick and all around them they decided to move on. But when they stood up, all their heads popped out over the mist to a bright sunny day. It had only been a few feet in height. LOL.

In general, the show is not hilariously funny. Very subtle humor that you catch more and more as you watch and get to know the characters. As it is a womens guild, no doubt it will appeal more to women. But with the comic talents of Saunders, French, and even Joanna Lumley making appearances from time to time, I think it's good. Plus, what fun that they are located in Devon so you can get some Dartmoor shots from time to time.

Welcome 2008!

2008-01-01T07:21:00.000Z

Here we are - Welcome 2008!

We spent a week in Suffolk with family over Christmas. Christmas day wasn't nice at all, but Boxing Day brought the sun and the beach front (the North Sea on the East Coast of England) was very busy with everyone out for walks. Penny Dachshund was a little timid on the beach at first, but then she found a Jack Russell to chase around and had a good time.

One afternoon was spent at Southwold - a popular UK destination. I have to say it didn't really impress me much. It vaguely reminded me of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina. Of course, you have to take winter trips to summer destinations with a grain of salt. We weren't seeing it at its best.

New Years Day will include watching football/soccer. We're off to Reading to watch Reading vs. Portsmouth. Our first Premier League game.

Goals for 2008. . .to finally hit 200 on geocache finds. I'm so close! Then hit 1000 letterbox finds- a lot harder as a trip to Dartmoor or a major gathering will be needed to get the numbers. Speaking of trips - events planning on attending this year include the 'We Live and Breathe' event in Oregon in September; the Spring meet at Dartmoor; and the UK-USA meet in June.

A revised sig stamp is forthcoming. And I'd like to try some LTC creating and trading.

Whew!

Should be a good year!

Box Hill

2007-12-14T18:09:00.000Z

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

2007-12-13T13:12:00.000Z

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

2007-12-12T00:45:00.000Z

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?

2007-12-11T20:11:00.000Z

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

2007-12-10T11:35:00.001Z

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.)

:)

In a Land Far Far Away

2007-11-25T18:35:00.000Z

Random thoughts for the week. . .

- this was the first time in my entire life I didn't have a Thanksgiving. I was really missing the family dinner and watching the Macy's parade. Next year we'll hopefully be settled in our own house so I can start a new Thanksgiving tradition. Although the ovens look tiny.

- cars. . .I like cars. Personally, I've been a Jaguar fan since I was 16 (I've had 3), but I still notice and enjoy the cars that are out and about. The #1 car I've seen around this area (and remember this is one of the wealthiest counties in England as it's right next to London) is the Land Rover. Yep. They're like pickups in Texas - everyone has one. Have also seen three 3-wheel cars. Now THOSE are interesting to see!

- on Saturday we were driving through Farnham when I spotted this man in colonel clothes walking though town. Fancy dress ball? Nope. He's the town crier. Seems like a lot of the villages have these. They have a bell and handouts to announce any town activities. In this case, it was the Christmas lighting. That's a neat tradition. I wish I had had my camera.

- I was reading the article in Outdoor magazine about the upcoming US presidential candidates. It was giving their views and agendas for the environment. After reading the whole article there wasn't one person worth a flip. No matter how good they talked the talk, their outside relationships and voting showed a different story. That was depressing. Someone who actually did sound interesting was Richard Branson. He's doing an amazing amount of 'green' things. Of course, is he really doing it for the greater good? or just for his own benefit? hmmm.

-Haven't done any geocaching or letterboxing this past week. Got excited that a new lb was at Box Hill, but then found I had already gotten this one elsewhere. Boo. Still need to go there though to plant one of the hedgehog boxes. I REALLY want to hit 200 caches by the end of the year, but not feeling very motivated lately. Temps in the 30s and 40s, so a bit cold to me. I normally spent the last 10 years in shorts at this time of year, not hats, scarfs, boots, gloves, and scraping frost off the car window in the morning. I'm just hoping I can get all these hedgehog boxes planted soon. Still have about 6 to go.

- Something I used to do over the post-Thanksgiving weekend was to go down to this Hallmark store and pick out a new Dept 56 Dickens Village house. I only did one a year - at Christmas. Then I'd race home and get all my others out (about 6, LOL) and set them all out. I really enjoyed that. But now, I have a two-fold problem - the electric plugs are US not UK, and no one sells them around here. I found a similar line - Lemax. UK based. But it just isn't the same as my Dickens Village. :(

-To consol myself over the above, I got us all a Hornby Hogwarts Express train set. Oooohhh. Cool. I had some second cousins who used to put up a really awesome train and village scene around their tree every year. I always thought that was so neat. So, once I get the train laid out, I'm going to see if I can add Village houses to it. If not, I may just have to jump ship and make and buy the train houses and scenery. Next, I'll be up in the attic like Alec Baldwin in Beetlejuice. :)

- TV. . .haven't watched much TV at all really. Mr. TeamKing usually plants himself in for the football (soccer) games. So, I've been downloading some of my favorites from iTunes and watching them that way. Grey's Anatomy, Survivor, etc. I love that I can still see my US shows. Although they don't have The Amazing Race as a download option. Boo. Still, I'm happy with what I can get. Is the writers strike over yet?

- Went to the Windsor Theatre the week before and saw a really great show 'Absurd Personal Singular'. 3 couples and their interactions. One of the funniest plays I've seen in a long time. One of the stars was Jane Horrocks - she was Bubble in Absolutely Fabulous, and the lead role in the film Little Voice. I think I'll have to go to some more.

- That's all for now. I'll ponder some new things this week and let you know all about them. LOL.

Cheers.

Pathtag to Trade

2007-11-20T19:39:00.000Z

Are you a geocacher and have a pathtag to trade? If you're interested in trading with us, look us up on the Pathtags website.

We're always willing to trade with a letterboxer or cacher who reads this blog!

New Sig Stamp

2007-11-13T16:32:00.000Z

I've been wanting to update my sig stamp for a while now. I actually really like it, but a lot of people don't realize it is a Wellie boot, not a riding boot (although I am doing some riding!).

But the problem was in how to change it? I want the same size, my same favorite font - Goudy Old Style, same layout, same green color. I just wanted to change up the boot somehow. Finally, I think I have found a solution. If you recall a month or so back, I mentioned I was in the process of ordering some pathtags. I'll post a picture of them here once they arrive, but basically they more or less look like my sig stamp - only better. I had one of their design people do the layout for me and she made my boot look more like a Wellie boot - yea!

So, for 2008, my goal is to get this new sig stamp carved and completed. It will then look like my pathtag thus giving me a complete 'corporate' identity. So remember, green Wellie boot = TeamKing. LOL.

Speaking of pathtags. . .I haven't met any cachers around my area yet, so I don't even know if they 'do' pathtags around here. I may just end up with a bunch of these things collecting dust! Even so, I'm really interested in doing either a new special pathtag for Penny dachshund, or my own geocoin. This will be another 2008 project. So, if you collect pathtags or geocoins, let me know! Maybe I'll do something fun to give some away!