NESTING NEAR BY

Here in CNY we are currently between two rain storms. Yesterday (4/21) was a total washout, but the promise of getting at least one letterbox done today looked pretty good. Armed with all type of weather gear for whatever may befall us after church, away we went. It did not rain but it was damp and cold. We had a couple other boxes on our list to try and get, but ended up just doing one that was planted by dear friends of ours from church. She wanted us to let her know how everything was doing with her box because she had not been out to check on it in a long time. This box is located along the tow path of the Old Erie Canal that goes from one end of NY to the other going West to East (or East to West). Most people know the history of the Erie canal even if you are not from NY State.

We had no trouble finding the box and it was in great shape. I will have to tell Mrs. B that she needs to put a new log book in and the main zip lock camo outer bag is not closing and everything inside is in danger of getting wet. She only has two empty pages left on the log book! Mrs. B makes very nice handmade stamps.

The canal just seems to be endless and go on for miles and miles and miles. (Which it does!) We started to get cold and I still didn't feel good coming off of some virus, so we called it done and didn't do the other boxes we had talked about doing. I think we would have if the sun was out and a few degrees warmer.

ON MY ARMOR

Scott and I don't do an awful lot of "city" letterboxes. Not because we don't like them, but when we are in the city it is usually on errands that we do not have time to stop and letterbox etc. We decided to pick up a city letterbox because we actually had wonderful weather and time on this early Saturday night. It was very easy to find, it was behind a small school. No school in session, but the big problem arrived AFTER we found the box and was logging in. I imagine that the summer time will hide the area where the box is hidden better than right now, but I know that all the neighboring backyards were able to view us fully while we reached in where the box was hidden. What also didn't help was in one of those neighbor's backyard was a HUGE dog and he announced plainly that we were bothering him! We still were fine and went to the nearest spot to sit and log in:

All of a sudden appears a full grown man (out of nowhere!!!! I suspect one of those neighboring backyards) who "pretends" to start throwing hoops. He signals to another person (in the direction of the same backyard) and a young man shows up on a motorized scooter. We now have a full fledged audience! We calmly finished up logging in, packed up all our things, including the letterbox and walked to the car to drive away. We both agreed that we would come back when it was dark and rehide the lb because it was impossible to do so with our inquiring minds watching us. It was a little inconvenient, but it was necessary. I think that is also another reason why we don't do too many city locations. Too many people and too many things can go terribly wrong. Now swinging back to replant took about 10 minutes out of our time, but what if you were just passing through a city on a trip and something like that happened? I am not sure what we would have done! I guess if I could talk to the people who plant letterboxes in cities I would strongly suggest that they think about ALL the seasons before putting it in a spot that, in the down seasons, the place would be directly out in the open! Nice stamp and it still was nice to find!

P.S. The pictures are small because we forgot the camera so I took the shots with my cell phone.

WHISTLE CODE AND HIGH FOUR

We could not stay home on such a wonderful Easter Sunday, even though we had company coming around 5:30! One of our favorite questions is: Do you want to do a quick letterbox? Usually neither one of us has to ask twice - and it's out the door we go. Scott and I are very familiar with the Link trails sprinkled all around our area BUT had not been on this trail where the letterboxes were planted and had a wonderful time exploring new territory!! And so close to home!

It is part of the old railroad bed that ran all through the hills of Madison county in the 1800's. Still able to see lots of signs of the tracks, rails, spikes etc. laying all over the ground. It is still early spring so everything in the photos look pretty blah right now. There is a tiny tint of green in there if you look hard enough though. The above photo is of the trail heading north and this photo is of the trail heading south.

We missed the High Four box on our way south, but we were rewarded for our extra walking with this spectacular view of the countryside and this HUGE gorge!!! Not just a ditch or a drop off but a gorge! It was deep and it was awesome! I bet in the fall it was just alive with colors. We made a point of saying that we will come back in the fall to check out the colors. The boxes must have just been planted because we were the first!

Happy Easter to all!

CENTER STAGE and REMEMBER

It is always so much fun to expose a newbie to letterboxing. My daughter's college roommate was here from Boston visiting her so we brought her along for the adventure. She actually has letterboxed with us before and when we attended her wedding last October there actually was a letterbox on the property where the wedding was taking place! It was just the best of all worlds!

The first box we went to was in Caz on the little pond in the village. We were the first ones to find the box so we got the first prize! Never had that happen before! Great fun!

It was a rainy cool day so the pictures are not very exciting. We had fun and the girls (adult girls) were thrilled with their first prize!!! Then on to Manlius (we were heading into the city to do some shopping so letterboxing fits into any situation!) and so we stopped at the duck pond.

Here are Julia and Jessica sitting on a nice bench while doing their stamping. Here is what came along to keep us company.

Pretty isn't he? Here they are working hard at their craft....... having a grand time reading all the others that had been before them.

It was a wonderful time and I believe that Julia had a great time. I suggested that the next time her and her husband come up for a visit that we take HIM out with us. Julia thought that he would enjoy it very much! Always love winning someone over to the light!!! lol Happy LBing!