Lent Update

Well, I've been on the no soda, no computer at home after 5:00 for 4 1/2 days now and have managed to survive. Can't say I've gotten a whole lot of other stuff done yet, but I haven't spent my evenings after work playing on the computer either. Early days, folks. Early days.

A Treasure's Trove

I found the coolest thing today. I was at the library and on a whim looked up letterboxing. They had one book, The Letterboxer's Companion, by Randy Hall, which, of course, I already have. Out of curiosity I thought I'd go and see what other books are shelved near by 796.14. I found this interesting book called The Official Solution Book to A Treasure's Trove by Michael Stadther. The pictures on the cover looked interesting so I flipped through it. I saw some images that I thought my amazing carving friends might like so I decided to take it home and see if anyone had it yet.

Imagine my surprise when I looked at it further and discovered this was the ultimate letterboxers fantasy. This guy created a story called A Treasure's Trove in a children's book, illustrated it with clues hidden in the illustrations to 12 tokens that were hidden across the country that could be exchanged for one of 12 animals in the story made of precious gems. The 12 gemstone animals were worth over a million dollars together! Now that all of the tokens have been found he can tell the full story of who, what, why, and most importantly, WHERE!

This is AMAZING! I have yet to look at the actual book but the Solution book tells where all the information is hidden in the pictures. I am in awe. This guy is an amazing artist and has a very intricate mind to come up with some of the stuff explained in this book.

No one let Maiden anywhere near this book. She will start making clues so hard my head literally will explode. I solved this clue of hers last night. Yeah, that's right. It leads to a letterbox! A very cool letterbox that I was first finder on, I might add.

Anyhoo, I'm off to look at my book and marvel some more.

It's Time!

It's time to decide on those Lent activities for 2011. I am going to do the no soda thing again this year. It really is bad for me and I continually hope that by giving up diet Coke for Lent I will be able to give it up forever. Not yet.

I'm also adding an additional challenge to this year's Lent. I am making a goal to not use the computer at home after 5:00 p.m. I'm wasting too much time on the computer doing stupid stuff, so I am cutting myself off. I have to specify that is just at home because I have Budget Committee hearings starting soon and I don't imagine anyone will be thrilled with me if I tell them I can't use my computer after 5:00 for religious reasons.

So don't expect to see me on the computer in the evenings. I will be putting my time to better use...somehow. I will still check in the mornings and I can play in the afternoon if I want, but not after 5:00.

2011 Iditarod

It's that time of year again! I get to bore everyone with the Iditarod updates. This year I am rooting for a Kiwi named Bob Storey. Bob is 65 and a Rookie for the Iditarod. OMG! I can barely take the dogs to the park and this guy is doing his first Iditarod race at SIXTY-FIVE! Go Bob!

New Simon's Cat - Sticky Tape

Yay! A new Simon's Cat film!

More Letterboxing

Today I went with some of my bestest letterboxing girlfriends out for some more boxes. We:
**saw the world's narrowest bridge (also the world's narrowest animal crossing)
**saw the world's tallest totem pole
**saw the school they used in the Twilight movie
**found the world's lamest geocache
**got 9 wonderful letterbox stamps
**read in the bathtub

Here's the world's narrowest bridge, also known as Nutty Narrows.




Isn't that cute? We didn't see any squirrels using it, but I think we all entertained the locals by taking pictures.

(Info copied directly from Wikipedia)

The Nutty Narrows Bridge is a bridge dedicated to squirrels in Longview, Washington. It has the title of the "World's Narrowest Bridge" and also the "World's Narrowest Animal Crossing." The Nutty Narrows was named by a local councilwoman after the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

Before the bridge was built, squirrels had to avoid speeding traffic by running across street to eat a nutty feast at an office building and back again to a park with large trees.

On March 19, 1963, Amos Peters, after seeing many squirrels be flattened, decided to protect squirrels and give them a way to cross a busy thoroughfare without getting killed by passing cars. The original sky-bridge was built over Olympia Way near the Civic Center in downtown Longview.

Designed to look like a mini-suspension bridge, the 60-foot-long (18 m) span and made of an aluminum piping covered with a retired firehose to create the roadway. The total cost for the bridge was $1000.

We also went to the Kalama Totem Poles where we found the world's tallest totem pole.





from Cowlitz County Deptmt. of Tourism brochure...

The four totem poles feature mythical forms, symbols and creatures of Pacific Northwest Native American culture. The poles were carved in the early 1960s by native American artist and craftsman, the late Chief Don Lelooska. the tallest pole, at 140', was carved from a 700 year-old Western Red Cedar. Easily visible for miles, the totem poles give a sense of long-ago Native American lore and tradition to the beaches and recreation areas along the modern scenic Columbia River. Marine Park is a beutiful and relaxing family day-use facility and provides walking and picnicking adjacent to the historic Columbia River.

I didn't take pictures of Kalama High School, which was used as the Forks High School in the movie Twilight. It was pouring down rain by then. Here's a picture I borrowed off the internet:

It's a neat looking school.

I also don't have pictures of the world's lamest letterbox, because it was just too boring to take a picture of it. It was a small, magnetic key holder with a pre-made "log book" in it with nothing filled out on it and absolutely nothing in the box. Huh? Why bother?

I won't post the pictures I have of people looking for boxes in case I give away a clue, but we found 9 boxes that were just terrific. Some of them hadn't been found since SEPTEMBER! What a shame since they were spectacular.

We went to the coolest library in Longview. The box is in the children's area and we spent a long time playing around here it was so neat. Here we are in the bathtubs they provided. They were surprisingly comfortable!



There was a mini-Nutty Narrows inside the library. Cute!


So there we have it. A wonderful letterboxing day with wonderful friends.