Wanted: Letterbox Stamps

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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!