Where's the Snow?

What do Snowplowers do when December arrives?  We stand and stare constantly at the sky, hoping, wishing and praying for snow so we can go to work.  So far, it's been a pretty quiet December and one of the latest on record for our first good snowfall.  What do we do while we impatiently bide our time???  Geocache of course.

Louie and I grabbed the caching bag and headed out to the woods to grab a couple of caches.  This first one was  placed as a 2000 milestone cache for a friend of ours....

There was a definite chill in the air when we set out, about 18 degrees with the wind chill.  I thought this tree fungus was interesting with the frost still on it....

While I was busy taking pictures, Louie was busy hiding behind the tree.  He thought it was hysterical that I couldn't find him.  We are so mature!

I really liked this cache - it was placed inside a real animal skull.....

We did quite a bit of bushwacking today.  Bushwacking is when you hike off trail and pretty much scramble over fallen trees, around logs, through vines that grab and hold you and try to trip you up and past burrs that somehow manage to get all over your clothes and stick in your hair.  It's really lots of fun.  Really....  LOL!

The last cache of the morning was the easiest one to get to and I dropped another TB that I picked up at Festivus....

We got 5 caches for the morning and we also had one DNF (did not find).  We're going to have to go back and try again because I hate to DNF.

In the meantime, could it start snowing???  Please????

Geocaching Slang

As you begin to geocache, you will come across some terms that you need to know.  Some terms are slang and other words are acronyms.  A lot of the time these terms and acronyms are used in the on-line logs, so understanding what they mean will only help you in the long run.  Let me give you a few examples. 

Muggles:  non-geocachers

FTF: First to Find.  After a new cache is published, the first person to find it claims FTF honors.  Cachers who love to go after FTF's are commonly called "FTF Hounds."

TFTC:  acronym for Thanks For The Cache.  Just a polite way to thank the cache owner for putting out the cache.

TFTH:  acronym for Thanks For The Hide.  Again, just a polite thank you on your log for the cache owner.

SWAG:  acronym for Stuff We All Get.  This is the little trade items you leave in caches for other cachers to take.

TNLN:  acronym for Took Nothing Left Nothing.  This lets other cachers know that you took nothing out of the cache and left nothing in the cache.

TNSL: acronym for Took Nothing Signed Log.

I just want to make a note here that it is a common courtesy to leave a swag item in a cache if you take a swag item.  Some common SWAG items are coins, marbles, shells, patches, stickers, fancy pencils, legos, balls, magnets, and plastic animals.  The more you cache, the more you'll get a feel of what people leave.  I like to leave fishing bobbers and sea shells.  I like to take foreign coins. 

BYOP:  acronym for Bring Your Own Pen.  The cache owner will usually put this on the cache page to let you know that the cache container is too small to house a pen, so bring your own pen to sign the log.

DNF:  acronym for Did Not Find.  If you couldn't find a cache, you can go to the cache page and log a DNF.  This just lets other cachers know it was difficult to find, or maybe even missing.  If a cache gets several DNF's in a row, then the cache owner will have to go check to make sure the cache is still there.

GPS:  this is for the GPS unit you own and use to find your caches.

CITO: acronym for Cache In Trash Out.  This is an ongoing environmental effort to clean up as you cache.  In other words, cache on your way in and stuff trash in a bag on your way out.

So there you have it.  These are some of the most common terms that you will run across while caching.  If you want to study up on more terms, please visit the official geocaching page at:
http://www.geocaching.com/about/glossary.aspx

Happy caching!