----------Team New Hampshire's Letterboxing Tales----------

The Unofficial End to Fall.

2007-11-30T06:55:00.000-05:00

Well, here we are, November 30th. Most if not all the leaves have fallen from the trees and cover the ground like a blanket. We find ourselves working hard in the yard collecting those leaves, putting them in bags, throwing them in compost piles, sneaking them into neighbors yards. Well, maybe not the last one, but there are a lot of leaves.

With the falling of leaves came some wonderful colors. New England gets most of the attention as it has a old feel given to its already vintage areas lined with stonewalls of about 200 years in age. But not to be out done, are the majestic areas around the country that get a bit of different color. The Rocky Mountians that reach higher than any mountain in the states, and the southern states that stay warm for most of the year, lucky to see a snowflake.

About a month and a half ago, I called out to other letterboxers to show me your Fall. Well I didn't get many pictures sent to me and I can't for the life of me, remember who sent them to me, but I can tell you where the pictures came from. I hope you enjoy the pictures and enjoyed the fall season. To find out where these pictures were taken, just scroll your mouse over the pictre and a caption will show up.

2nd Annual Turkeyboxing Day

2007-11-23T08:38:00.001-05:00

Well, I was up at the butt crack of dawn ready to head out and grab some boxes before filling my face with some delicious, mouth watering, turkey. Only, I found one problem this year. The kids didn't wann ago boxing this time around. I have to say, it was probably my fault for that. Last year for Christmas, Sarah had gotten a portable DVD player for the van. I figured because it was wet and cold out this year, I wouldn't drag my youngest out into the woods. A movie to watch for the ride would be nice for him. Only, the other 2 decided they would rather watch the movie then search for a box with me.. Not exactly what I was thinking about when I brought letterboxing into our family. So we ended, sorry, I ended up only finding 3 boxes out of I think 8.The first being Liar's Paradise in Gilford. Saltmarsh Pond was so fogged in, it almost looked scary. Our second box was Bob O Bob-O-Link. This box was located in hard to find Prescott State Park in Laconia. The only reason I knew where it was, was because I have a box there already called Ants. Then after some frustration with searching for other boxes, I headed to find 1 last box before calling it quits. Sturtevant Saga was located in Bean Cemetery, in Center Harbor. This was a bit further north than our house and north of any of the other boxes I found, which meant that there was still some wet snow around. While stamping into the box, my socks started to get wet. Not the most fun for those of you that never had wet socks.

So with the finding portion of Turkeyboxing Day complete, it was now time to head to my Dad's house. I have never seen so much food before. Well actually, it has been a good long while anyway. When I was young, we would always head to my Great Grandpa's house in Holyoke, MA for Thanksgiving dinner. He past away when I was fairly young, but I can still remember the fun times we had there. Since then, dinner hasn't been much the same. The family has spread out a bit, and my parents have split and remarried. But there still was plenty of people at my Dad's house and the food was amazing.

After dinner I went to replant a box flooded out last spring. I wasn't sure I was going to replant this box. First off, it was a store bought stamps. I didn't want to replant with another store bought stamps. I have moved past store bought and can carve whatever I want now. So i compromised. I took the image of the store bought, transferred to some rubber, added a few things, and made it my own. The Blue Spider is now replanted.

With the day now winding down, we played a little chess and, beating Billy badly, and headed off home. I was really tired with the turkey kicking in. With science the way it is, they should fix that!

Where have I been? Part 2

2007-11-14T23:46:00.000-05:00

OK, so maybe your saying to yourself, this picture I just posted isn't really that funny! But in all reality, I think I would rather being doing something like this, then being so time consumed with my gathering I am trying to pull off. My gathering "New Hampshire New Year 2008" is my first ever hosted gathering. I didn't realize there was so much involved in hosting a gather. Over the past few days, I have carved 5 stamps and have been emailing about the same number of people about stamps to carve for my gather. Letterboxers from all over the country were generous enough to carve for my gathering. I have never seen such kindness. And on top of things, others have donated some things for raffle to help offset the cost. I am still looking for a few more things to raffle off if anyone is interested in sending me something. You can email me directly at Gingerbreadjunk@yahoo.com if interested.
So with my gathering closing in, I hope that by the first week in December, I can start heading out and planting boxes. The I need to write out the clues and print them out for everyone to have. It is my hope that with 2 weeks left before the gather, I will have nothing much to worry about. Unlikely, but I can dream right?

Where have I been?

2007-11-14T22:39:00.000-05:00

Well for those who haven't heard, I have been doing nothing at all! Actually, I can't say that. You see, I had kinda lead everyone to believe that I have been really busy doing much of nothing. Way back when, there was a gathering called Frightnight 3. I had mentioned something along the lines of, "I can't come to the gathering because I can't get out of work." Well, I had repeated this and everyone thought I couldn't go. Then a week later, I couldn't keep it completely secret anymore. I told Mainekokopellian I was going and he was thrilled. But, I didn't tell him what I was dressing as.

So the day came of the gather. I drove there and walked in with a plan. For 1 whole hour, I drove people nuts. Not once speaking a word. I had 2 bags by my side. 1 bag contained cards with a special signature stamps image on them, to hand out. The other bag contained a slimy mix of worms and eye balls. Trick or treat is was. So for 1 hour I had fun. Hugging people, kissing hands, getting my rear grabbed in hopes of figuring out who I was, with no luck. For 1 hour, I was dying of heat! That mask was so hot, I couldn't stop sweating. So after 1 hour, I called it quits. I was ready to reveal myself to everyone. Boy were people shocked!

Liquid was something I headed for first after greeting some people. Then I got a chance to meet some new people I knew where there but didn't talk to yet. Ryan, better known by everyone as Green Tortuga, and Amanda from Seattle were in attendance. I had plenty to talk to Ryan about. What a nice guy he is, which is what I expected he would be.
Later in the evening, we headed out for a little trick or treating before taking a hike through the woods for a haunted letterboxing adventure. I have to admit, I wasn't scared, but had tons of fun walking through the woods at night with some of my friends, old and new. The hike we wet after a day of rain, and I was walking around in slippers. Not recommended for a hike through the mud. Ghosts, skeletons, jack-o-lanterns and scary people lurked through the woods, but nothing was as cool as the graveyard behind the house. Much props to the organizers of the gather. I had a long day and a long drive ahead of me, but it was all worth it.

Call me Crazy! I just had to go!

2007-10-21T20:18:00.000-04:00

Well, I have been wondering about the condition of my Police Log Series - Call #1, being that I haven't had anyone mark it as found since April 2006. So with some wonder in my mind, I just randomly decided, because I was in the area, to climb the Mt. Kearsage and check on my boxes. For anyone that knows these boxes, and there aren't many, you don't need to climb to the top of the mountain to get to these 2 boxes. So if your following, I climbed Mt. Kearsage. I really don't have any idea why I did it, but when I got to the top, I didn't regret a moment.
Here in New Hampshire, most of the autumn colors have reached there peak and there really inst much to see. But once you get to the top, nature welcomes you to a whole nother world. First there is some color to see and you can see all that color for miles. You can see the White and Green Mountains in both New Hampshire and Vermont respectively. I'm sure you can even see Maine, but I didn't know what to look for that would tell me "Hi, I'm Maine!" The temperature was well above normal, sitting at a warm 70 degrees, Normally around this time of year, it is around 50-60 degrees. It was a bit breezy. A beautiful day to fly a kite. Oh, it was! Actually, someone was on top of the mountain flying a kite. It was a site to see. Not only was the view beautiful, just seeing everyone at the top, families picnicking, dogs running around, and yes, kite flying, was enough to make me happy. I like nothing more than seeing people out and about taking advantage of what nature has brought forth for everyone to see. Open your eyes. See for yourself.
Oh ya! I guess I might wanna let you know that the boxes where there the whole time. I did find it hard to check up on them with all the visitors to the mountain. But I managed to wander off the trail a bit without being noticed. Box #1 and #2 are safe and sound. Now someone go out and look for these boxes.

Welcome to Canada, now go home!

2007-10-18T07:29:00.000-04:00

Well, I wouldn't suggest anyone do what we did, but it can be done. Canada. A different land with vast space filled with corn. It reminded me a lot of Quaker Country in Pennsylvania. The roads were small and lots and lots of corn fields. I really wasn't expecting that. Kinda thought we would see some Canadian tress. Is there a such thing as Canadian trees? Either way we didn't see many of them, at first anyway.
So we started from the house at 4 in the morning. Nothing to see in both New Hampshire and Vermont on the way to the border because it was still dark. What I did see in Vermont though, was bear crossing signs. I said "Great!" Sarah was sleeping in the passenger seat and woke up when I remarked. She asked what and I told her. She said "Oh." and went back to sleep. She slept most of the way to the Canadian border. It finally started to get light about 30 minutes from the border was I thought kind stunk, but whatever. It would have been nice to see some fall color in the Green Mountains of Vermont.
So we made it across the border and were now in a strange land filled with corn fields. The speed limit changes from MPH to KM. Quite a change for me. A bit hard to follow the speed limit, especially since there were cars behind me that clearly wanted to go faster than we were. Suddenly, I see a sign that looked like a covered bridge sign. Without my wife's permission, we headed down a road that we thought could have been a bad idea. We traveled it for about 2 miles before almost giving up, but there it was. Our first sighting of a covered bridge in Canada. Little did we know, it was going to be our last. I was more excited to see it that Sarah, but I am just weird like that.
After leaving the bridge, it was straight to Montreal. All in all, it took us about 5 hours to drive there, which included the stops for gas and the covered bridge. It was a nice drive, and when you finally get on the highway in Canada, you can see Montreal in the distance. Oh boy! First stop, Parc Mont Royale.
It was in the park, stood a mountain of which anyone could climb. It stands at 764 feet, in the middle of Montreal. It was told that you can get the best views of Montreal from the top, as well as a scenic vista halfway up. And I hate to tell you this, but we got lost on the way to the top. We didn't get any scenic pictures of Montreal from the mountain. But I did take some of the park itself. We would have stayed longer if we actually had stuck more money into the parking meter. All we had was 70 cents U.S. to put in the meter, which it took, but little did we know, it only gave us 8 minutes to look at the park. We still spent about an hour and a half there, but decided we should head off. Sarah was getting cold.
The temperature in Montreal was around 40-48 degrees, which was fore casted before we left. I was fine, but Sarah though otherwise. So we were in the car, ate lunch and headed off for a visit to Olympic Stadium. Olympic Stadium opened in 1976 as a place for the 1976 Summer Olympic to be held. The following year, the Montreal Expos, a Major League Baseball team, moved in and played ball there until September of 04. Now the stadium sits for random spectacles to visit and inhabit for a short time. We went to tour the stadium. Fun thing though, well actually, it didn't turn out to be so funny, when we got there and parked, we walked across the street to the stadium and walked around the side. There were signs pointing to where we needed to go for the tour. Suddenly the signs stopped and there was no place to go. The building wasn't open for tours and there was nobody around to ask. I was frustrated. We tried to walk around to the other side of the stadium but gave up shortly when we both found ourselves freezing. We headed back to the car.
From there we went to Old Montreal. I would bore you will all the historical feature I found out in the Museum of Montreal History, but I won't. What I will tell you is that while you were there, You felt like you were in of old times. The buildings looked old and the streets were very narrow. We thought about taking a tour, but at $45 for a half hour ride, we thought not. We were just as happy to walk around. We stumbled across Notre Dame which was a location I wanted to stop at. If I had food, I would have feed the birds, but instead, let them peck at my hands.
Afterwards we went to watch a show at the Planetarium De' Montreal. This was at 7:15pm. I was tired and so was Sarah. We had a hard time watching the show and by the end, we were kinda disappointed. We both have definitely have seen better. But after a long day, we were ready to head home.
All in all, we had a wonderful time checking out the night life in downtown Montreal before the show. The fall colors in Montreal were still nice and the city itself was as kind as could be. I had ever intention of planting a letterbox in Parc Mont Royale, but I didn't feel safe leaving one there. That and it would be the only letterbox in Montreal right now. But with that said, if everyone gets the chance, I would recommend Montreal as a spot to visit, letterboxing or not. My only suggestion! Spend the night!

Update on Gingerbread Jim.

2007-10-07T08:01:00.001-04:00

The last time we had heard or seen Gingerbread Jim, he had been rescued by the Ryan Family after being kidnapped. Something I'm sure he would like to forget. Well since then, he has moved into a assisted living home for better care. You see, since the winter, he had spent lots of time in the hospital with illness and his girlfriend Sherri couldn't handle it. She got very stressed with everything going on and left Jim. Jim really had no one else left to turn to. We had gone to visit him at the hospital for support and he liked that. The court case began for the man responsible for kidnapping him and he was found guilty and sent to prison for 5 years. Because Jim was in the hospital, he was unable to go to court and stand on the bench. If he was able to do so, the kidnapper would have gone to prison for much longer. Sounds kinda wrong to me. But nonetheless, Jim shortly after that, left the hospital for a assisted living home.
The other day I had gotten a phone call from the home. They had said that Jim had gone for a walk and hadn't come back yet. They regularly allow the residents to go outside for walks for a hour at a time, usually without supervision. Most of the residents do not need supervision. They are there just so they have someone if needed. So back to the phone call. Jim had been gone for about 4 hours now. I was at work and I had asked that they keep looking for them and when I get out of work, I will join the search.
I got out of work around 9:30. I started out around my work and found nothing. From where I work, the home is about 2 miles away, and at this time it had been about 6 hours since he went for that walk. Downtown Concord I started to search. State Street, Pleasant Street, and then there he was. I found him walking Main Street. We sat on a bench and talked for a little bit before heading back to the home. He had stated that he hasn't been feeling well. He has been forgetting things and he was afraid that he would soon not even remember his name. He woke up this past Saturday morning and didn't even know where he was. When he took that walk, he mentioned going to the park. Nothing looked familiar to him. From talking to him, he really sounded as if his memory was slipping away. He had told me most all the stories he had told me in the past except. There was one he didn't tell me. I tried to see if I could mention something that could catch his memory but nothing worked. He had forgot about his 65th Birthday in Belmont. I told him about what he told me and he started to cry. He was now scared and alone.
We got into the car and we started off back to the home. When we got there, the assistance were happy Jim was back. I had discussed things and they told me they have noticed a bit of the same over the past few weeks. They had been walking him closely until he wandered off. They assured me they would watch him closer now and keep me in touch of any changes.

Do to Gingerbread Jim losing a part of his memory, a box has been retired.
The Adventures of Gingerbread Jim #5 - My 65th Birthday
As his memory disappears, so will his boxes.

It's that time of year again!

2007-10-04T08:08:00.000-04:00

Here we are. The beginning of October and the weather is getting to be rather comfortable for letterboxing. The days are starting to become filled with the colors of the season, the bugs are looking for a place to hide for the coming winter cold that will soon be here, and more peopple venture out into the woods for a hidden treasure. But not all those people are out looking for the same hidden treasure we are. This time of year is full of hunters lurking into the weoods in search for something to take home to their families. Not that any hunter would fire at something they couldn't identify first, but to help lower your risk of any injuries, here is a list of hunting schedules for the state of New Hampshire:

Sept. 15 - Dec. 15 - Deer - archery
Sept. 15 - Dec. 15 - Fall turkey - archery
Oct. 15 - Oct. 19 - Fall turkey - shotgun
Sept. 2007 - March 2008 - Small game - dates vary by species and region
Oct. 1 - Dec. 31 - Pheasant
Oct. 20- Oct. 28 - Moose (by permit only)
Oct. 27 - Oct. 28 - Deer - Youth hunting weekend
Nov. 3 - Nov. 13 - Deer - muzzleloader
Nov. 14 - Dec. 9 - Deer - firearms

So what can you do to be safer into the woods? What I do, is carry around in the trunk of my car, an orange hat for every member of your family. Since there are 3 of us usually hiking though the woods, 3 hats. If we have more than that with us, I wouldn't be to worried about it. The orange that shows off the 3 of our heads should be enough of a warning that a deer isn't walking with us. Now we only have orange hunting hats. You can get more orange hunting clothing if you wish. Wal-mart carries an array of hunting wear you can pick up as weel as most other department stores. Actually, I don't think that Target sells anything hunting related. But it doesn't hurt to look I suppose. Either way, I am sending out that reminder we all might need, while hunting in the woods for something that doesn't have 4 legs and a rack. Unless someone planted a stamp of something with 4 legs and a rack. Be safe and wear your orange.

Just in case you didn't realize...

2007-09-24T20:46:00.000-04:00

Fall is officially here. As of sometime Saturday, it happened. But if you were to ask everyone on the street, they wouldn't be able to tell you when fall begins. Especially when it was 80 degrees outside. All over the country, there is record warmth and here in New Hampshire, it isn't any different. So with fall comes the beauty that is fall foliage. The changing of the leaves throughout the White Mountains, Lake & Monadnock Regions, the Great North Woods, and the Seacoast. Reds, oranges and yellows littering the scenery everywhere you look.
So, I will be taking plenty of pictures of course while I am out in the woods searching for boxes. Posting them here for everyone to see. But before that happens, you can all check out the site I provided for you. Click on the picture above and it will bring you to a fall foliage forecast. Scroll your mouse over the days of the calenders and it will tell you when the colors will be a peak throughout the state. Then while you are doing this, maybe you can plan a visit to the state for some leaf peeping up front and personal. I promise the most beautiful pictures full of wonderful colors, but I certainly encourage everyone to check it out for yourselves.
For all those all over the country that follow my blog, thank you very much. To show my thanks, I would like to offer up my blog after the leaves have fallen, and pictures have been taken, to show everyone your part of the country during the fall. Send me your beautiful fall pictures and I will post them here around the middle of November.

Back Out On the Trails.

2007-09-17T10:53:00.001-04:00

It has to have been atleast a couple of weeks since we got out on the trails because school had started. So I took advantage of some of the free time I had and went to go find a few boxes. I can't tell you how nice it was to head out on a cool late summer morning to search for a couple of boxes. Yes New Hampshire, it is still summer! This mornings temperature was 40 degrees when I headed out. It you asked Sarah, she would have told you it was freezing out, but that's where her and I differ. If she had her way, we would live south somewhere where it never gets cold. I love it here though. Chances of us moving at anytime in the future are slim. Just the way I want it. Besides, we would have to change our name to something else if we left the state. I'm not ready for that. Oh sorry, I was rambling on about nothing!
So I actually started the search for these boxes this past Thursday after work. First box I was after was Butterfly Easement. This is an area of Concord that has been set up for the federally listed endangered Karner Blue Butterfly. I didn't see any Karner Blue but I did find the box that was there. After that, I had to do a delivery for work and then went out to look for another box called Helping the Earth. Didn't stay long to search for this box because I had to get back to work. It was to bad to because I didn't find the box. So after I returned to work for a second, I was able to head down at Horse Shoe Pond. The clues were quite unclear and after searching for the box for about an hour and a half, I finally found it. While searching for this box, I saw some deer hanging out on the tracks. I would love to share with you the pictures I took, but none of them came out. I swear I did see some. I did!

With time and daylight running low, I decided to try and find one last box called A Hike in the City. It is located in beautiful White Park. I got there and started to follow the clues. Headed up a hill like I was told but couldn't find the location the box was to be at. Now, I got married once in the park and I used to live a few blocks away, so I know the park pretty well. I searched the trails there for awhile til it got to dark and I gave up. But now I quickly found myself searching for something else. I lost my cell phone! I looked for my cell with my flashlight all over the place. Everywhere I walked I searched, but couldn't find it. Finally I decided to ask someone in the park for some help. I asked if they could call my phone and they said they would do that for me. 10 minutes later, my phone was found. I thanked them and I was off. Thank heaven for nice people.
So now we come back to this morning. I had to go to the bank to put money in but I wasn't sure as to what time the bank opened, so I grabbed my boxing gear and headed out. The bank was open and I just went searching afterwards. First stop, White Park. The ducks were out and feeding on whatever they could eat. We are not allowed to feed the ducks. I watched them for a little bit and then looked for the box. I found the box this time, but noticed the clues were wrong. Left not right, the box was. After that, I headed back down to 2nd St to locate the other box. There are lots of 2 sister trees. Which one is the box after was the question. Found it after some searching. I mean, isn't that what you do when your looking for a box? Search? I never have a problem searching for boxes, but when the clues are unclear, it tends to be a bit hard. So when the morning was over, I was able to say that I found 4 boxes, even though 2 of them were found a few days ago. Oh well! If was a beautiful morning nonetheless. Couldn't have asked for a better day for boxing.

Spotlight-on-NH : Loudon

2007-09-16T10:28:00.001-04:00

Once a month I will be spotlighting a box of mine for everyone to enjoy. For the first installment of Spotlight-on-NH, I bring all your eyes to Loudon.

Located just outside of the state's capital, Loudon is the home of the New Hampshire International Speedway, where the likes of Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordan, Kasey Kahne, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. race twice a year for the Nextel Cup. Where Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr. once did the same. But I'm not going to just bore you with all the mumbo jumbo about big fast cars that drive around in a circle down the road from where I live. Loudon is more than race cars. Ok, just to let you know, it is mostly race cars. But during my research, I did find out that Loudon happens to be statisticly, the highest at risk in the state for tornados. There were tornados in 1972 and most recently in 1999 which wandered its into neighboring Pittsfield. But destruction aside, there was plenty of contruction in Loudon too. Located in the center of town, is the historic Loudon Congregational Church, built in 1829. It has an interesting Italianate steeple, a dome atop a set of columns and arches, and the double doors, common to old New England churches and town halls. It is an example of one of the last of its kind on the inside: the sanctuary has side pews, two aisles, and one large set of joined center pews in the middle. This style, which had been more common in the 1700s, was, by the early to mid-1800s, giving way to the increasingly popular center aisle design.
Come one, come all. Loudon is even more beautiful in the fall.

Letterboxes in Loudon:
Loudon Congregational Church - by Churchmice
Those Are Some Hot Wheels - by Team New Hampshire

What is That in the Trees?

2007-09-16T08:03:00.000-04:00

Have you ever driven down the street and wondered what the heck that is in the trees? Huge web like nests that show up every late summer! You wonder if is there anything that can be done about it!
Well, let me introduce you to the Eastern Tent Caterpillar. The Eastern Tent Caterpillar (Malacosoma Americanum) is more a nuisance than a threat. While heavy infestations can cause serious defoliation, Eastern Tent Caterpillars rarely kill trees except those already weakened by disease or climate and environmental stresses. These caterpillars get their name from the ugly tent-like nests that they spin in the crotches of host trees. They are native to North America east of the Rockies.
The preferred tree for these pests is the black cherry but they will also infest other cherry trees as well as fruit trees such as apple and a variety of shade trees.
Eastern tent caterpillars are black and hairy with a white stripe and a series of blue dots along the length of the body. At maturity, they range from 2 to 2 ½ inches (5 to 7 cm) in length. The moth is reddish in colour with white bands on the forewings. Females can be double the size of the males with a wingspan of 2 ½ inches (7 cm). Just in case anyone really cares!
Eastern tent caterpillars survive the winter in masses of 100 to 300 eggs noticeable as shiny black bands encircling twigs. Eggs hatch in spring at about the same time as the host tree comes into leaf. The young caterpillars then begin to consume leaves and spin the characteristic ‘tent’ nest in the crotch of the tree. The nest continues to grow as long as the caterpillars keep feeding. When the caterpillars reach maturity, after about six weeks, they pupate in silken cocoons visible on trees, on the sides of buildings and on fences. Moths emerge in July to mate, lay eggs and then die.
There is some hope if they bother you that bad. Eastern tent caterpillar infestations rarely threaten the lives of trees so control is generally for aesthetic purposes. There are commercially insecticides available to combat these insects. Consult with a local landscape or garden professional for details. Tents are sometimes burned or otherwise destroyed at night after the caterpillars have returned from feeding. However, given the dangers involved, this is not generally recommended. One easy and cost-effective prevention method is the use of TreeHelp Bug Bands. These sticky traps prevent tent caterpillars and other crawling insects from reaching the foliage from the ground.

All information referenced from: http://www.tent-caterpillar.com

Real Men...

2007-08-25T23:09:00.000-04:00

So it would seem that a certain person I know thinks that in order to be a "Real Man," you need to do certain things. Well I'm sorry, I might agree with you on certain things, but I must not agree with you with others. Here is my list of those things I think make me a "Real Man."

I do a lot of things that might not be approved as being something a "Real Man" does, but I would have to say that it is OK. I am not out to impress anyone. Let me give you a hundred examples. I eat, sleep, shit and piss, I walk and talk, snore, hiccup when ever, cough like a sneeze and pick my nose in the car. I love cooking dinner but hate clean up afterwards. I would do my laundry if my wife didn't do it first. I play with my cats, hang with my rats, hate the dog that is now in the house, but would walk it if i had to. I collect toys, stamps sports cards, nic nacs, coins rocks and shot glasses. I play video games, watch Law and Order, read books even Harry Potter. I love to walk the beach while the sun is setting, love walking the beach while the sun is coming up. Have I done either of those things? NO, but I would. I take pictures of flowers, tried to grow some but they died. I listen to love songs, including Barry White and Boyz II Men. I write many emails, text messages, and most of the time they include :) ;) :P and sometimes :-D. I wear sandals and I write like a girl, i write poems about, and to a girl, fantasize about dressing like a girl. (Umm wait! Did I just write that? Scratch that!) I travel with a Boxing Buddy, chap stick, a first-aid kit. My car has bumper stickers, rally lights on the front, and a bobble head doll. Justin Timberlake is in my CD player in the car TOTALLY bringing sexy back! I like to shop for things that I don't need, need things I don't shop for, and just ask for them all at Christmas time. When I get sick, I don't complain. I complain because I hate my job, complain because I haven't missed a day of work in 4 years, complain because I wish I was making enough money to quit and find a better job. I could talk your ear off for hours, on the phone, online, or even through a letter. I like pastel colors. Frankly, they look better on my wife.

You know, when I was born, I had a twig and 2 berries just like every other "Real Man" that will read this. And just like every "Real Man" that doesn't. So just in case you didn't already know,
Guns don't make "Real Men!"
Roller coasters don't make "Real Men!"
Loving your country doen't make you a "Real Man!"
-But it would save you from getting your ass beat!

But to be more serious for a moment, I have been brought down to earth many times by some people that want to make me look less of a "Real Man." I have been accused of abuse of every kind known to man or women. Physical, sexual, verbal abuse, all accused upon me. What makes me a "Real Man?" A "Real Man" fights for what is right. He fights to be heard, to be known, to be strong, to be better then those who try to bring him down on his brightest day. Abuse is nothing to consider funny by any means. I would never hurt a women or child as I have been accused of. I might not look like a "Real Man" on the outside because I don't have big muscles or a good looking face, or a personality that would rock any ones world, but my Wife thinks so. She knows who I am. She married me almost a year ago. She knew what she was getting into. And NOT ONCE have I hurt her. NOT ONCE have I beat her, yelled at her, sexually mishandled her. Why?

Because I am a "Real Man."

So before you go running your mouth about what makes a "Real Man," maybe you should go look out the window and notice that any man, big or small, white or baby blue, could be a "Real Man." Not just you!

Where Has the Time Gone!

2007-08-21T21:43:00.000-04:00

Little did anyone know, August 15th was our 2 yr letterboxing anniversary. It was the week before that we decided to head to Cape Cod for a little family time together. We have some timeshare and we took advantage of it. What a beautiful day to use the pool, and then to scope out the beach. Afterwards, we started home but not before eating dinner at Friendly's first. We ate our dinner and after Sarah and I were playing a game with Billy and Elijah. Then Elijah happen to notice Levi was doing something. He was sticking crayons on his ears and nose. This was so funny, I had to take pictures. He might hate me for it when he grows up and has a girlfriend.
This past weekend, Billy, Elijah and I went to Connecticut for the Redding BBQ hosted by Bandaid. I couldn't believe the awesome time we had. Everyone was so nice and had open arms. bandaid opened up her backyard for everyone to come and have a good old fashion BBQ. She planted some boxes around her property which were fun to locate and enjoy. The food was wonderful and her husbands cooking on the grill couldn't have been better. Then if things couldn't have gotten any better, Bandaid and her husband were kind enough to lend a piece of land for our tent over night. Money had been a little tight and I couldn't find a campground around the area. So I now had a place to stay. The next morning, the kindness continued. Bandaid had made us some breakfast and her husband had gone out for some awesome bagels. They totally went over and beyond what I was looking for in land for my tent. They didn't have to do any of that and they did. I am so happy to be part of such a wonderful group of people called letterboxers. Someday I hope to open my arms to someone who may need something.
So after we left Bandaids house, "Sorry Bandaid" we went to New York City. I had originally told Her we were going to my Aunts for a BBQ there, but what I hadn't told her was we were going to NYC first. I didn't dare say anything because I didn't want the boys to find out where we were going. The whole time I was wake around Bandaid and her husband, one of the boys was around, so I hope you can understand why I never said anything. It was a surprise to the boys when we got there. Neither of them had ever been to NYC. We parked the car and spent 2 hours checking out Times Square. People people and more people! The boys were so amazed by the huge buildings and the many people that were there. We checked out Toys "R" Us and it had 3 story ferris wheel. Billy wanted to go on it, but the line was to long. Maybe next time. We saw Superman hanging from the ceiling and T-Rex roaring at everyone. They had so much fun there. But after 2 hours, we had to go. Now we were going to head to my Aunt's house.
After the past 2 weeks of relaxing around our 2 yr Anniversary, we are ready to head back out and box like crazy. But not before "The Search for the Mad Man's Treasure". Stay tuned for further details.

A First for New Hampster!

2007-08-07T21:03:00.000-04:00

Well let me start off by telling you about New Hampster. This box had been on the map for about a month, sitting on AQ with no clues. Then someone who lives in Florida posts about this box that one of her minions will plant for her here in the state. This box had suddenly become a focus of attention. Where is the box going to be planted? Who will find it first? There was some talk that some Mainers would find it first. Frankly, I thought that wouldn't be possible unless there was some cheating going on. I waited and waited, and there it was. A post about the clues being updated. The race was on!
I set my clock the night before for 5am, then I went to bed.
Zzzz Zzzz Zzzz.
I woke up at 7am to find that the alarm clock had been shut off! It would seem that the alarm woke my wife up and it somehow turned itself on, so she felt obligated to turn it off. She didn't even bother to check to see if it was for me! So I woke up and headed into the shower!
Wash wash!
I hop into the car, well I mean I got dressed first of course, then hop into the car, get onto the highway and head up to Bristol, where the box is. While on the highway, I kept lokoing at my gas level. I thought I should get gas now, but if I do that, someone else might beat me to the box. I couldn't have that. So I didn't get any gas. I get to Bristol around 8am. Got to find Wellingtong State Park now. Where are the clues? WHERE ARE THE CLUES?
I left them at home.
I luckly knew how to get to Wellington State Park. So I get there and the park doesn't open until 9am and it will cost me $3. It is 8:30am. I decided it didn't matter. I parked my car at the entrance and walked in. I figured I could pay on the way out. Now without the clues in hand, I had to try and remember what the clues said. OK. Walked some more. OK. Crap! These signs say nothing I remember seeing. Oh heck with it! I'll walk the trail anyway. Gotta find that box! So I walked the trail and walked some further and finally it came. I saw something I remembered seeing in the clues. The only clue it gave to its location is "Don't get stumped!" Hmmmm! What could that me... Oh found it! And after all that, I was the first to find the box. This could have been so easy if I had brought the clues. But it was worth the struggle.
Oh ya, and I ended up later going to work back in Concord and forgetting my store keys at home. My wife brought them to me. She wasn't to happy, but that's what she gets for turning off the alarm clock last night. HA!

My First Legerdemaine Box.

2007-08-06T23:01:00.000-04:00

Well, after a few weeks of planning, I was finally able to head out in search for a Legerdemaine box. This is the first box by him that I have been able to find. Due to this box being a mystery box, I will out of respect of Legerdemaine, not tell you the name of this box or its location. What I can tell you is that this box was very well placed and the location is very beautiful. I can also tell you that it was raining and I got wet!

The Middle Finger is All the Rage!

2007-08-02T23:32:00.000-04:00

It would seem that we all can take at sometimes for granted, how lucky we are to have a middle finger. I mean come on now! If nobody had a middle finger, would there be no gestures we could make with our fingers that would piss others off? Would people start choosing a different finger to piss others off? Now some of you might wonder what I am getting at. I mean besides, I don't usually get pissed off about much of anything that doesn't have anything do to with letterboxing, but you will have to bare with me. By the end of my rant, I will have mentioned something about letterboxing!
It all started on Tuesday. I had gotten out of work at 4pm and was heading home. I had to get ready for a softball game later that evening. On my way home, I had to get some gas and as I pulled up to the entrance to the station, some girl was wanting to pull out, but hogged the whole entrance to the station so I was stuck in the road waiting for her to move. I made gesture like "what are you doing?" She looked at me and flipped the bird like I was the one that did something wrong. The nerve! I couldn't believe what had just happened. I got the finger for doing nothing wrong at all! Ahhhhhhhh! I got gas and paid and started to head home again, but not before encountering a women speeding into the same station lot, almost hitting my car. She gave me a dirty look like I had did something wrong and flipped the bird too! This was starting to upset me! I mean come on now! The worst of it came when after the softball game, I had to return to work and pay for a pizza I took home earlier. I was traveling down the road which was double lanes. I couldn't pass 1 car so I had to pull in behind that car, but there was another car coming up on us and apparently the women driver and her boyfriend didn't like the fact I used my blinker and pulled in front of them with plenty or room to spare. Do I need to tell you what happened next. I will tell you, it was accompanied by a horn blowing and tailgating. The boyfriend was waving his hands out the window, trying to get me to move or something. None of which I was contemplating. With that car still behind me, we came to a intersection with a red light. Ready for this? Boyfriend sticks his head out the window and starts calling me "f****t"! More middle fingers flew as the light turned green and I sat there now trying to figure out what just happened. He just called me the "F" word! I didn't want have anything to do with these guys now. They had really pissed me off now. If they had done anything else, I could have snapped. And I did.
As I pulled up to the light I had turn turn off on, The car was creeping beside my car and I hear "I just spit on your car you f****t!" I headed towards the turn and made a U-turn, sat at the light, the light turned green for them and I pulled out behind them. Trash was now being thrown at me and more middle fingers. My intention at this point was to scare the women driver. With exception of the middle finger and the horn blowing at the beginning, she hadn't really done anything else. So I decided to ride her rear bumper. I also looked really pissed. I backed off some and just as the turn came up that I could take, I sped up and acted like I was going to ram her bumper, slammed on my brakes (there was no one behind me), and turned off down a road. I was now shaking now because of my actions.
I don't approve of what I did that day. The whole situation could have been turned around if she had slammed on her brakes and I hit her. The police would have been involved and I would have been at fault. I would have fought it, but I would have been in the wrong. After thinking about it, I remembered that there are plenty of stupid people out there. That whole day, I hadn't used the middle finger at all. I have been better about it, not that I ever really use that finger in that manor. New Hampshire is supposed to be a courteous state! So much for that!

Oh yah! Check out my box called The Rage in Hopkinton New Hampshire!
Told you I would mention something about letterboxing!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!

2007-07-30T04:57:00.000-04:00

So for the first time since the horrible news had come out of Connecticut, we headed down to check it out first hand. We were limited on time because we were going to visit my Grandmothers too! The last time we came down, we had gotten a box from every state we passed through, but this time, Connecticut was on our minds. There were only 4 boxes we were after today. The news was not good, but bare with me.
Our first stop was in Preston. We tried to look for Max's Dog Walk. The park was nice and the walk was equally as nice, but unfortunately the box wasn't in the wall were it should have been. The rocks that were supposed to be covering the hole which housed the box wasn't even put back in the right spot. The hole was wide open, so if by chance the box was there, it certainly wasn't now! The day didn't start off so well. Next we headed off to Norwichtown to the Old Norwichtown Cemetery. I used to drive through the area all the time and never knew that the cemetery was located there. See what letterboxing has done for me! I love history and this place was loaded with it.The cemetery also housed 2 boxes. I have some good news and bad news though. I was able to find Patriot, but not Minnehaha Falls. Now before every thinks that that box is missing, we were not able to find the area the box is supposedly housed. I wrote the clues out and I think I missed something, which would make it really hard to locate the box. We will be back!
Then we went to visit my Grandmothers and we went to TJ's in Baltic for dinner. It was nice and the food there is always wonderful.
After eating dinner, we went and brought one of my Grandmothers home and started heading off towards home, but using the detour route. We were off to find Lunette - John Walden located in the Woodchuck Hill Cemetery. We would have probably found the box if we could have found the cemetery! We drove around several times and couldn't find it. We did see some deer in a field. I guess that was pretty cool though. But after it was getting really dark, we finally headed off home. After a long day of not finding boxes and kids acting up, we were all happy to be heading home. In a few weeks, we will be back to search for these boxes and more again. Hopefully we have a better outcome.

Crying for Connecticut.

2007-07-26T07:39:00.000-04:00

As most of you probably have heard by now, there is something fishy going on in Connecticut these days. First of all, when a box goes missing, we usually are always quick to blame a muggle for the incident. But this is a bit different. From what I understand, about over 150 boxes have been reported missing in Southern Connecticut over the past few weeks. This kind of act is unheard of. In the past, there have been isolated locations with problems, but nothing as large a scale as this. Who would do something so ignorant? Who would think for one second that this would be a fun idea? What this/these people don't understand, for most of us, this is our way to spend time with family, a way to get out into the great unknown, a way to show off a special someplace that otherwise would never have been found. Connecticut is under attack by something huge right now. I can't stand to hear the loss that is going on.
Connecticut is my second home. I was born in Norwich in 1978 and lived in Taftville for 12 years before coming to New Hampshire. My relatives live there and I visit them often. I have done little in the way of boxing there so far, but every time we head down to visit, we always made it a point to find a few boxes while we're there. It is something I don't enjoy thinking, but it seems that our fun may be hampered a bit with this current activity going on right now. The time spent in the woods is just fine for me with the added bonus at the end. It is the rest of the family that may not enjoy that time as I have, if the box isn't there. This could make or break letterboxing for Team New Hampshire as a whole. For me, I will not stop until every last breathe is taken by myself. It concerns me that others who have inspired me to carry on in the past, may not be around much longer. The nimrod responsible for this horrible act is winning right now. Just the contemplation of leaving letterboxing means that the responsible party is winning. If even one letterboxer that helped pave the way for other future letterboxers like myself, leave, a tear will fall. Enough tears have fallen for Connecticut already. Please don't let there be more tears.

Anyone See My Kite Crash and Burn?

2007-07-22T14:29:00.001-04:00

So! While most of the world was out getting Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I was awake making sure all was set for our trip to Cape Elizabeth, Maine for the Come Fly a Kite Gather. Finished my kite, 2 stamps (1 for the kite and 1 to plant), and a couple cooties. It was 6:00am when it was time to head off to Maine. I hadn't gotten any sleep. This was going to be fun.
The travel out to the coast was the part of the drive that was hard for me. I stopped to get some caffeine and after that I was fine. Headed to Portsmouth first to check up on one of my boxes reported missing. Well, I am glad to say that Portsmouth Alarm is right where I left it, safe and sound. The walk was nice to and from the box and the fresh air helped wake me up a bit more too! After that, it was a straight shot to Cape Elizabeth. In hand we had clues to 4 boxes. The only one we were able to find was In Memory of Dad. Being on Route 77, I needed to plant a box before we finally made it to the gathering. That's when we came across Robinson Woods. We got out of the car and we planted Sean for President - "Your Maine Koko!". Now we finally headed to our final location on Cape Elizabeth, Portland Headlight.
The weather was perfect. Well for most of the day anyhow. But don't get me wrong. If the sun was out any longer than it was, my sunburn would be 10x worse. I didn't want that. Also with more clouds around, there was more wind. More wind equals flying kites. Unless you have my kite, which didn't wanna fly any higher than 5 feet of the ground. I made this kite during the week and I must have done something wrong. First off, it looked like a pizza. that wasn't the wrong part about it. I had made a crust for it and it ended up grounding the kite. The crust was to heavy. Normally I guess, you could probably fix it, but Dave from the Wildcats and I couldn't get it fixed to fly. Oh well. I'm sure everyone had a wonderful time watching me try to fly it. Thanks for laughing! I usually charge for the entertainment by the hour. Muddy Paws showed the children how to make kites and they had a wonderful time flying them. She asked if I wanted to make a kite, but I was feeling bad about my kite, so I declined. Thanks though.
After a bit, we all ate and chatted some more before we headed out to find some boxes. The area was so beautiful and the park was full. I got some really nice pictures of the lighthouse there and the children liked to climb on the rocks. Maine is known for its rocky shores. I made sure the children didn't get to close.

After we found all the boxes in the park, we decided it was time to start heading home. We said our goodbyes to everyone and headed off. We found a bunch more letterboxes on Cape Elizabeth. 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird was located at Robinson Woods, the same place I planted my box earlier. These boxes were very well done, but the last box was really hard to find. After finding the 12Th box, we came across The Thompson Twins looking for box 13. We both searched for this box before trying in a further location. In the end, we found the box and got a chance to spend time with The Thompson Twins. Then we couldn't get out of the lot because someone had been pulled over and they were right behind our cars. Oh well. You play you pay!
Once we got to leave Robinson Woods, we found a few more boxes, stopped one more time to visit my Mom in Sanford and wished her a happy birthday, then went home. Got home at about 11pm and went straight to bed. Woke up and 11:30 the next morning. :)

Come Fly a Kite in Maine.

2007-07-17T21:02:00.000-04:00

Well, it was about sometime last week, that I found out that I would be heading to the gathering in Maine called Come Fly a kite. This gathering is being hosted by Happy Daze and Maine Kokopellian at Portland Headlight on Cape Elizabeth. For more information, feel free to click on the link provided.
For this gathering, there is an option to bring a kite. I suppose you could buy a kite or you could make one. I choose the making a kite route. Now I have to be completely honest with everyone, I have never made a kite before in my life. I just took a vision that was in my head and went with it. So far so good. I have a kite all made and dressed up. There is only one real problem. There is no wind to test out the kite. I tried to run across the yard, but it went a few feet before coming back down. I guess I am going to have to wing it when I get to the gathering. I would rather know if my kite will fly, than to watch it crash and burn in front of everyone. I like the way my kite looks. you'll have to wait until the gathering to see it for yourself. Hope to see you there.

Move Over CQ, Here's My Review!

2007-07-05T19:09:00.000-04:00

So on the 4th of July, the boys and I headed to the movies to see Transformers. Let me be the first to say, if you haven't already have heard, the movie was AWESOME! Shia Labeouf, whom most of you may know from Disney, plays Sam Witwicky. Other than the Transformers, he is the main chracter in the movie. He plays a young kid who is dying to get attention. Mostly from the girls. Megan Fox plays Mikaela Barnes, the girl that Sam dreams at getting. Jon Voight plays the Defense Secretary trying to defend the country from a threat he has never seen before. Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson both play miltary officers who survive an attack from Blackout, a Decepticon. Of course, this movie had plenty of hype even before a relaese date was announced. Everyone in this movie played there parts as well as I could have expected. I felt that there were no bad scenes and there were plenty of funny parts to make the movie far from boring. I went into this movie with as level a head as possible and left with a smile that reached to both ears. Just be warned, the movie is 2 hours and 23 minutes long. Use the bathroom before you watch the movie. I wish I did!

Boxing with the Wildcats.

2007-07-04T00:03:00.000-04:00

So it be Monday when I we were boxing with Dave and Alice of the Wildcats, and yes it is 12:06am Wednesday morning when I am posting this. But come on now! Some people have to work you know!
Nonetheless, I am here posting about our day with the Wildcats. It started out like no other day. In the morning. Ha ha ha! Oh sorry.
They had showed up at our house at about 10ish. They really hadn't thought about which boxes to visit first, only that it was up to us, which boxes we were going to. Now the problem with this was, I have just about gotten every box within 20 miles of my house. There was 1 box that had been posted the day prior though. It was on our list. So we headed off to find some of my boxes in town. A wonderful way to check up on the status of some of my boxes. First we were off to Polly Puffer Fish. Alice had said that they tried this box and couldn't find it. According to Mapquest, they send you to another location. Alice had mentioned that my clues were pretty good at that location, but they couldn't find the box. Now at the right location, they didn't have any problems locating the box. I in no way helped in the finding of any of my boxes. I did to much talking.
Next we headed off to replant Concord's Cool Cat. This box had been pulled for awhile now. It was about time for the box to make its way back out in the wild for others to find. It was while replanting the box that the Wildcats met Dozer. Dozer is a boxing Buddy that I have been hosting for a little while now. These were the first boxers he has exchanged with since he started traveling. They were happy to meet Dozer as he was with them.
After we left from there, we headed off to find the new box in town, Run to the Stars. It was located in a familiar area for me so finding the starting point wasn't an issue. The problem I had was that my printer had run out of ink so I quickly wrote down some of the important clues. Unfortunately, I didn't write enough of the clues down. We searched for that box longer than we should have before we actually found it. The walk was nice and we talked some more. Talk talk talk. You couldn't shut any of us up. And I didn't think that was a bad this either. I don't get to talk to many boxers like this. It was nice.
Now it was lunch time and we all sat down for some pizza at my favorite pizza joint, Sal's Pizza. OK, so I also work there. I am a loyalist. I won't eat any other pizza other than Sal's. Sorry!
Afterwards, we walked down to where a box called Howard's Clock should be located. It had been reported missing for quite awhile, but we wanted to make sure. I had been there 4 times prior to this visit, but it never hurt to look again. Sure enough, we still didn't find it. This time, there were 4 sets of eyes looking for this box, and many more eyes wondering what we were doing I'm sure. So we gave up and drove off to our final location, St. Paul's Cemetery. This was my second box ever found by us back in 05'. I had one heck of a time finding this box. If I remember correctly, I gave up on the clues and searched around until we found the box. Don't know how we did it, but we did. The Wildcats started out as we did, lost! But then, suddenly, they knew what they were doing. They found the box with the clues. Now of course they made perfect sense after the clues were explained. I just have one question. How the heck did we find the box then if we had no idea how to read the clues? The important thing is that we found it and no harm was done. So after some stamping in, we took a picture and we were on our separate ways. A day spent with the Wildcats, and well worth it too! I can't wait to head to their neck of the woods and search for some boxes there.

Fishing In The Dark.

2007-07-02T00:37:00.000-04:00

Well, this past weekend, I was unable to attend the gathering that was in the next town over from where I live. The Keep it Simple Keep it Plain, a New Hampshire Picnic Gather was in Allenstown at Bear Brook State Park. I favorite place of mine to hike and box all at the same time. Of course, up until now, all the boxes in Bear Brook, were mine. In one day, everything changed.

So unfortunately I had to work, so I couldn't be at the gather. I did however stop by before and after the gather. I came by before to plant a new box in the park called The Mask of the Mad Man. The clues should make you a bit mad. Well maybe not, but it was nice to think so.

After working 11 hours, I headed back to the park and met up with those who camped there for the night. We chatted it up for some time and then we decided to go searching for some boxes in the dark. Now I have gone boxing in the dark before, but usually those boxes I have searched for were drive-bys. These were not drive-bys. A group of 10 of us headed into the dark in search of 7 boxes. A series of boxes called "Let's Go Fishing," and another box called "A Day at the Beach." I would have to say it took us about an hour and a half to find all these boxes, and it couldn't have been a better night. It did manage to rain a little towards the end of our journey, but it wasn't like it down poured. During the walk, I had some quality time to talk to Uneksia. I also met and talked with Nature Posse, Kreppy Kelli, CPAScott, and MaineKokopellian. We all had fun out in the woods and I would definately do it again. Just one problem! Where do I go?

Boxing Another Way!

2007-06-22T00:00:00.001-04:00

Now I have been letterboxing for almost 2 years now, adn there isn't much I haven't done while letterboxing, but I found something. I have letterboxed as the sun was rising and I have boxed while the sun was down already, but never while the sun was setting. I couldn't believe I forgot how beautiful the view is in the mountains while the sun sets. So today, I got the best of both worlds. First stop was in Ossipee, in search for Constitution Park. When we got there, even before we got out of the car, the bugs were flying around the car. They could smell us! We jumped out of the car and quickly sprayed ourselves with bug spray. Oh ya, the bugs left us alone after that! So we headed to the box bug free. That usaully doesn't happen all to often. It was nice. After that, we headed off to Wolfeboro and on the way, I had to stop and take a picture of the sun setting. I couldn't get enough of it. The kids really didn't care much for the stopping, but oh well. Soon enough, we made it to the next box location, to find The Carry. Yet another beautiful very from another beach showing off the sun as it sets behind some clouds. The sky pink and purple. Hmmmm. I think I gotta do this more often. You should try it to if you haven't yet!

A Shot at Extreme Boxing on Father's Day!

2007-06-18T07:41:00.001-04:00

Earlier in the week, I wanted to go hike a mountain on Father's Day. Have a little me time. Then as the week went on, plans changed and I was thinking of taking the family to the highest peak in New England, Mt. Washington. Mt. Washington's elevation is 6288 feet. Oh, for those of you that don't know, there is an auto road to the top. I couldn't expect the family to hike a mountain that high! But anyway, as the week past, Sarah thought she had heard about the Cog Railway, which also heads to the top of Mt. Washington, had a Father's Day special. After some research, I found out it wasn't for the Cog and driving was still the thing to do.

Soon, Father's Day came and we headed to Mt Washington. The weather was so beautiful when we left the house, but became not so much when we arrived. At the base of the mountain we were warned of 10 foot visibility at the summit. I really didn't think that was a big deal until we got close to the top. I was scared for my life! But it took some time to make it to the top. Normally it would take someone 25 minutes to drive to the top, but not today! After we found a parking spot, which was really hard to find in the fog, we walked in a straight line to the main building. It was 50 degrees at the summit. A 20 degree difference from what we had at the base. Once in the main building, we warmed up a little. My Dad was taking the Cog up and we were going to meet at 2:00. He arrived and shortly afterwards, we went looking for the letterbox outside.

When we got outside, it was still a bit cold and the wind was blowing at 35 mph. This box we went looking for was a visual clue box. Only 1 problem. We couldn't use the distant portion of the clue to find the box. The visibility thing again. We tried to find the rocks in the picture. For about 30 minutes we were out in the rain and wind and cold looking for this box only not to find it. My Dad and I had no problem with that. It was really cool to have experienced that kind of weather. We were "Extreme Letterboxing!" We got back inside and warmed up a little before we headed back down the mountain. The drive down wasn't nearly as bad as it was going up.

So even though some people probably wouldn't drive the auto road under these conditions, I would do it again in a heart beat. Mt. Washington is know for having some of the worst weather on the planet, and it was nice to be able to experience a small bit of that.

To the Coast I Come!

2007-06-11T23:04:00.000-04:00

So today Levi and I headed out to the coast for some letterboxing. We hadn't been letterboxing for quite some time now. So we were actually heading out to Portsmouth to replace the logbook in my Portsmouth Alarm box. Since we were going in that direction, I decided to go looking for boxing alone the way. In Epsom, I went to go looking for Webster Park, but Levi had already past out in the back seat, so I had to continue on to the next location, which of course was in Epsom too! Had to pass it by too! So as I was heading out to the coast, Levi woke up and I was able to stop for a box finally. Except we weren't so lucky looking for Minneapolis Spoon Bridge in Durham. This box is one of a handful of boxes in NH that were involved in the Great Atlas Quest Letterbox Exchange of 2007. We were at the location the clues tell us to go to, but we didn't find the box. Hopefully we just missed it. So once we decided that we couldn't find the box, we traveled on to Kittery Maine in search for a box called It's Cookie Time. We found it in a nice little park in the middle of a traffic circle.

Back in NH, we headed to visit the USS Albacore in Portsmouth. Located there was Thank a Veteran. A wonderful tribute to the veterans of wars present and past. This would be the first time I had ever seen a modern day submarine. The last time I had seen a submarine was in Vicksburg, MS. The submarine there was a civil war submarine. Actually, now that I think about it, I think my parent met while working at a naval shipyard in Groton CT making submarines. Anyhow, I seem to be getting off track. After the visit with the Albacore, I went to replace the logbook and started of home.

We returned to Epsom and went off to look for Bird Sanctuary. As the sun started to set, the mosquitoes started to bite. They really hadn't been a problem until now. With some swatting, I managed to find this box. We were the first finders of this box, but I got a bit confused about the stamp though. It was of a dog holding a bone in it's mouth. Bird, dog, bird, dog. Maybe it was a bird dog. Or maybe the dog ate the bird and the bone in it's mouth was left over from the meal. I don't know, but one thing I did know, we were heading back to the car as fast as we could. Next stop, which was our last, was Webster Park again. We found this box as easy as the mosquitoes found us. The woods were full of green. Little plants covered the ground like a blanket. What a nice shot. Running back to the car yet again, we ended our day finding 6 boxes, one of which was a first finder for us. After a long day, it's time to crash.

What a Busy Weekend!

2007-06-05T20:45:00.001-04:00

So I know it is Tuesday, but they say it is better late than never, I suppose. But nonetheless, my weekend started on Fridy, which usually doesn't happen. Oh and I guess I should warn you, I may only mention letterboxing once or twice.
Friday, I had to head up to North Conway for rehearsal for my Fathers wedding on Saturday. You have no idea how hard it was to not want to point out every location that had a letterbox. I do it everytime we head north. My wife always tells me that I said that the last time we headed north. So anyway, we were up in North Conway for the rehearsal and that went just fine. After that we went to Madison, letterbox there (sorry), for the reheasal dinner. It consisted of a crappy band and crappy pizza. This dinner wasn't supposed to be anything special, being the real meal was to come after the wedding. But we all made due with what was given to us. Besides, we were not there for the food and entertainment.The next morning, after breakfast, we all went swimming. My Dad had gone out kayaking the lake and then came to swim with us for a little while. After some swimming, I thought that kayaking sounded fun, so we headed out to the lake. By this time, it had started to sprinkle a little. Nothing to really scare us from kayaking or anything. We started off onto the lake and it was a nice little journey across the lake, atleast until the sky opened up on us and the sky sounded angry. We turned around and started back. The rain came down harder and harder, the rumble of thunder got louder and louder, and it seemed like it was taking forever to get back to shore. But we did though, and no sooner did we make it back to shore, did the loudest rumble of thunder sound. Luckly the weather let up and we all got ready for the wedding. It was back up in North Conway in a nice little church. Everything went just as planned. My dad and his fiance, now married. To make the story shorter, the reception was nice too! Except for the crappy music that played again. Long story!
Sunday came and the weather was kinda the same way, but not until later in the afternoon. Of course, that was a good thing. The 2nd Annual Project White Sands needed good weather to be as big as a hit as last year. Well, I think the threat of bad weather took a toll on those who were going to come. The only people that came were the Pembroke Con Com, and The Wildcats. We did get a lot cleaned up, but it could have been a bit easier with more hands. I give lots of props to Dave of The Wildcats for doing a lot of the heavy work. Here here! They came up all the way from Mass to support my cause. Thanks guys for coming.
So in closing, I did no letterboxing, but it sounds like next week, I'm having a field day!

Plant-A-Letterboxing Day as it was.

2007-05-26T01:42:00.000-04:00

So I would have to say that the only thing that I didn't like a bit about International Plant-A-Letterbox Day, would be that I had to work for 6 hours. I had been up until 4:30am the day before P-A-L Day just making sure I had everything ready, and I did. All my stamps in boxes and ready to go. I woke up at 8:00am, which I didn't want to do! I wanted to wake up at 6, so I could get a head start on planting before I went to work at 10. I did manage to plant 1 box Bragfield Pond in Pembroke before work called Polly Puffer Fish. Then I went to work for 6 hours before getting out in the heat. I headed to a place in Concord, NH I had planned on planting a series of boxes at, which doesn't have a name from what I can tell, but now it has an 11 boxes series called Animal Cracker Zoo. From there I headed to Manchester to a few places to plant The Evolution of the Blue Spider, and W_nn_ B_y _ V_w_l? The heat still in the air, I tried to plant a small series of 2 boxes around the Manchester Airport, but found that the spot that I want to use as a plant site, ended up being worked on, so now I have to find another location for the series. It was about 6:30pm now and daylight was starting to dwindle. I headed for the highway and headed to Andover MA to plant my first box in Massachusetts. The box is called A Frog Out of Water.
It took me a half hour find a location I felt safe with, to plant the box. I feel this is one of my best carved stamps, so I wanted to make sure this box wouldn't go missing after a week or two.
Planted a week before P-A-L Day, specially for P-A-L Day was The New Hampshire Tour Bus. Anyone interested in this box should click on the name/link highlighted in red. This box is a box that moves from location to location, so if you want it, you may want to keep close tabs on it.
So P-A-L Day was a huge success with only a couple of flaws. 1 being work, another being the inabilty to plant a series of 2. Oh ya, and somehow I managed to not notice a box in the front seat of my car. So I have to make that 3 boxes I didn't plant. I guess that I will have to head out sometime soon and plant these boxes too! Besides planting lots of boxes on P-A-L Day, I did see a beautiful sunset.

In Preperation of Plant-A-Letterboxing Day.

2007-05-21T10:37:00.000-04:00

Now you would think, that after a weekend of rain, I would get my butt outside and do some letterboxing. But, I find myself carving stamps for the 2nd Annual Plant-A-Letterboxing Day. I have been carving for quite sometime now. Actually since the winter began. I have a tin full of stamps and no home for them YET! Just to give you an idea of what is coming for the state of NH, I have a series of 13 stamps called "Animal Cracker Zoo." There is "W_nn_ B_y _ v_w_l?" "Polly Puffer Fish", "A Frog Out of Water," "The Evolution of the Blue Spider," "Beauty Within," "My First Flight - 2007 Edition," and the introduction to "The New Hampshire Tour Bus." Oh this is going to be fun. Of course, i'm going to have to figure out how I will be able to plant all these as well as work 6 hours. I have 3 days to figure this out. Can I do it?

What a Beautiful Day!

2007-05-08T07:43:00.000-04:00

Oh, what a beautiful day to be out and about. Over the past few weeks, since I was on vacation in Louisiana, I haven't been feeling that well. Still trying to rid of this cough I can't get to go away. A week ago, I also had biopsy done on my back, which meant I had to watch what I do. I couldn't lift heavy things or the stitches in my back could ripe out. Fun fun fun!
So I finally decided that enough was enough. Since the last few weeks have been hell, I made sure there was nothing to do on that day. Ok, if there was something to do, it now became 2nd fiddle. I was taking a day off, and Levi was coming with me.
We left for the White Mountians, here in beautiful New Hampshire. I had a whole list of boxes in the mountians to look for. I wish I was able to find them all. Driving up there wasn't a problem. Just a straight shot up I-93 to Lincoln. We headed to Beaver Pond in Woodsville first to look for a box, and thats when reality set in. Box #1 wasn't a success. Now it is not to say it wasn't there, it was the fact that I had to carry Levi around through the woods. He is heavy and my back wasn't ready to do all that carrying yet. I abandoned the search for that box and decided to enjoy the view there.
Heading back towards Lincoln, I skimmed the clues I had printed down, just to make sure that the other boxes were not going to be as hard on my back. They were stroller friendly. A few were able to be grabbed by jumping out of the car.
The first box we found was Indian Head in Lincoln. I always love visiting the stone indian. They have a observation tower you can climb, but they were painting it today, so we couldn't go up it. I probably wouldn't go up it seeing I would have to carry Levi the whole way up, and down. Next, we continued to head north for Boise Rock. Just a huge boulder really. It sits in a valley of much bigger boulders. Just look up and you will see what I am talking about. Then we went and found Governer Gallen Memorial Bridge. This bridge used to be part of the highway system running from MA to Canada. Since the expansion of the highway, another bridge was built and the other bridge was saved. It is used now for walking, hiking, biking, or viewing Mt. LaFayette. It still had snow on it. Baa Humbug! Afterwards we headed to Cannon Mt. in search for Mittersill. I had never seen this side of Cannon Mt. before. Not that there was anything special on the otherside, but I didn't know that there was another side to Cannon Mt. Well anyway, we found this box and it ended up being our last box.
Levi had decided that we were done. He feel asleep. I wanted to do atleast 1 more, but it had already been a long day for the both of us. So we headed home. I couldn't have asked for a better day. Actually.........

To Grandmother's House We Go!

2007-04-24T08:50:00.000-04:00

Well, it was definately a long time coming. We haven't been down to Connecticut, to visit my Grandmother in quite sometime. She hadn't been feeling well, and with some stays in the hospital, she was unable to make it for our wedding back in October. Of course, we have 2 Grandmothers that live in Connecticut, in the same area, but 1 was off in Newport, RI. So what to do the whole day. I mean we couldn't possibly spend the whole day at my Grandmother's house. I would just go insane! I mean, I guess you would just have to know her to understand. So when we found out we were only seeing 1 Grandmother, I through out there the idea of letterboxing on the way down. It was a go. Our first real letterboxing trip of the year. Boy was it beautiful out.
Our first stop was at RAIL TRAIL BIKE in Nashua, NH. This is quite a different spot then I have seen. There was lots of houses going up around the box, but if the box had been put back where it belonged, it wouldn't have been in pieces. We did find the box, oh and now that i remember, it had a HH in it, called Christmas Cheer Wreath. Looks like it may have come from South Carolina and got stuck in Nashua. Well I have it now. Anyway, back to the box. When we found it, it was a mess. We found it in pieces, hidden where it shouldn't be, so we did what we do best and then rehid it back where it belonged.
Our second stop brought us to Bolton, MA. Here we were going to look for 2 boxes, Lime Kiln and Bolton Quarry. Well, we were 50/50 on this one. We searched for Bolton Quarry, but was unable to find it. We looked under the slab of granite like it said, and nothing. On a brighter note, we did find Lime Kiln. We had never seen anything like it before. the Quarries that were in the area, were nothing like we had seen. They were not like the huge ones you may have seen on T.V. They were just dug out of the hills, leaving craters behind which are now filled with small ponds of life. Elijah had a hard time seeing the frog i found before it jumped into the pond, but he did see it.
We were going to find at least 5 more boxes before finally arriving at my Grandmother's house, but we decided on a series of 3 boxes, to be our last stop. Lenny's Favorite Phrase was in Dayville, CT. This box was located at Owen Bell Park. It was a beautiful park that you can see from I-395. There were ball fields, a pond, and a playground for the kids. The trails located in the back, where the boxes are, are twisty and a bit confusing at first, but once you figure out where you are going, you will have no problem like we did. After finding all 3 boxes, we stopped for some pictures of the geese in the pond. They were very photogenic. Or maybe they were hungry.
The sun was hot and we where now heading for some shelter at Grandma's house. We made dinner for her, chatted a bit, cleaned all her dishes for her, said our goodbyes, and headed home. Sarah asks "How long does it take for us to get home?" I told her that it takes about an hour and a half. When we got home, she says "Sure it takes that long!" This was 2 and a half hours later.

Escape From LA! That's Louisiana of Course!

2007-04-14T23:50:00.000-04:00

So, I have to say that I thought this was going to be an event free vacation from home. Well almost. So My trip to Louisiana started out just fine. Until I got there and it was almost as cold as it was when I left New Hampshire. It still seemed warmer to me, but my brother was freezing. He picked me up at the airport and we headed to lunch at the San Francisco Grill, at the Louisiana Boardwalk. Man that was good. Better than what they had on the plane.

The next day came, and we headed off to Arlington Texas for a Rangers, Red Sox game. On the way, I saw something I never thought I would ever see in Texas. You see, there was something white falling from the sky. Gosh Darn it all! It was SNOW! I just can't get away from the stuff. Thankfully, it didn't collect on the ground and after a brief flurry, it was over. The drive to Arlington, seemed long, but we made it in good time. Stopped at the hotel first, then headed to the ballpark. It was now colder, than when we left in the morning. Once again, my brother was freezing. My hands were my only issue. Yes they were cold. After standing in line for a bout a hour and a half, we finally got to go into the stadium. We headed to our seats, which were the the 2nd to last row at the top of the stadium. They were high up, but I thought we had the best seats in the house. The game was a record cold at game time (38 degrees), loud, and sorry Red Sox fans, they lost.

The following day was Easter Sunday, and we headed back home in LA. I cooked my brother dinner and we watched some movies. It was then my throat started to become sore. It was mostly from the screaming at the game, but it soon would become more.

The next morning, all was lost. It was now clear that I was getting sick. A cough had set in and my vacation started to turn for the worst. Today though, I have to say we went out to lunch at Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger. This place is known for thier 1 pound cheeseburgers. If you can eat a 1 pound cheeseburger, they take your picture and put it on the wall. Oh ya! I did it! I could of had another on too! Unfortunately, all I would have gotten for that burger, is another picture. Later we went to go see the movie 300. Rather impressed. Great movie.

The next day, we didn't do much because I wasn't feeling well and my brother was tired. We hung out at his place until later, when I was to meet some local letterboxers at a local coffee shop. I met up with An Elusive Butterfly, The Purple Ladybug, with her daughter and husband. They were some awesome folk from the south. We talked for an hour and a half. I think the coffee shop wanted to kick us out. They had no business since I showed up at 6:30. Oh well.

Finally, the day for searching and planting of letterboxes came. We headed to C. Bickham Dickson Park in Shreveport in search for 2 boxes there, and to plant 1 of my own. The park was so beautiful. After I planted my box, we left to look for a missing box of mine. We didn't find it. So i planted a replacement. They went looking for 2 more boxes, only to come up empty handed. After that, we traveled north to Blanchard, to plant 2 boxes I adopted. It was nice to replant boxes that I had adopted. Mulligan Madness happened to be the first plant by Inspector Gager. I was honored to plant that box again. You know as the night went on, it got a little warmer out and I was starting to get a little itchy.

The next morning, I found out why I was itchy. Poison Ivy. It had nothing to do with being hot. But it had everything to do with a very interesting day to come. Time to head to the airport and fly home. News of a storm in the Northeast has been brought to my attention. It should be fine, I suppose. I flew from Shreveport to Houston, TX and headed to my next flight to Boston. I get to the gate and the flight is on time. 5 minutes later, the flight was delayed 15 minutes. I head off for some food, and when I got back everyone was gone. It seems that we were moved to another gate. I get there to find out the flight was delayed an hour now. Well atleast I had time to eat my food. We finally get on the plane and hear that we are delayed another 20 minutes, which actually was 45. After all those delays though, we managed to make it to Boston only an hour late. But I still got home at 3am. And I had to be at work at 10am.

Now I need a vacation from my vacation. And oh no! What is this I hear! ANOTHER STORM IS COMING!

PLAY BALL!

2007-04-03T08:56:00.000-04:00

Well for those of you who were like me, the season has finally started. The grass has been mowed, the bases have been set, the plate has been sweeped off, and the stands are now full of eager fans hoping this will be thier teams year. So, as I sit infront of the television watching baseball, I couldn't help but think about the outdoors and how nice it will be once the weather clears up for me on a day off. Again today it is gloomy out. As a matter of fact, all week it is supposed to be gloomy out. Well, you know what I have to say to that. Louisiana, here I come! While in LA, my brother and I will be travelling to Arlington, TX for a Rangers, Red Sox game. Not being a fan of either team, I will be supporting spring! GO SPRING! Although, I will be sporting my Cinncinati Reds jersey. Come on, PLAY BALL!

May all your teams have a great year and have a great run towards the playoffs.
Some of our teams need it!

Happy Birthday Billy!

2007-03-29T08:55:00.001-04:00

Well, the boy is 1 year closer to hitting double digits. 9 years old and the kid still acts like he is 4. But he is growing up nonetheless, and we had a birthday party for him this past sunday. Many of his friend came out for his party and brought gifts. Unfortunately, the ground outside was pretty muddy, so everyone had to stay inside. We had enough space, but anymore and it would have been really crowded. Besides all of the best gifts he got, he also got carrots by yours truely. Kinda fits, seeing that 2 years ago, i got him a bundle of bananas. Boy, I can wait until next year.

Just when you think it's over......

2007-03-25T08:06:00.000-04:00

So, all week I have been complaining to everyone that comes in to work and mentioning how nice it is outside. The problem is when ever I have had a day off over the past few weeks, it has been cold and there has been snow on the ground. When I have to work, it reaches about 50-60 degrees out and all the snow melts. So of course, it snowed yet again last night. Now even though it only snowed about an inch, IT STILL SNOWED! I want to get out and start planting and finding some boxes. With about 15 stamps already carved, I am getting a bit antzy. Where is Spring? It started 3 days ago! Don't make me open a can of woopy on ya!

15 Minutes with Robin Williams

2007-03-24T00:21:00.000-04:00

It was just the other day that I thought it would be nice to talk to someone I have never met in my entire life. What better person than the one and only Robin Williams. I called him up and after a few trys, he finally allowed me to ask him a few questions. These are only a few questions he was willing to answer for me.

In all your acting roles, which do you believe was the role you most enjoyed?

Well my boy, I would have to say Mrs. Doubtfire. As a child, I had always wondered what it would be like to be a women. To put on a dress just like Grandma Williams wore, stockings like the cafeteria lady way back in high school, and to burn my chest over the stove just like my mom used to do while cooking Thanksgiving dinner.

Who do you think, you had the most fun working beside?

Henry Winkler. What some of you may not know, I was in 2 episodes of Happy days. I would enjoy hanging out with the Fonz! Hey! Of course the reason I was only on the show for 2 episodes is because I wouldn't stop saying Henry's lines. Hey!

Now I understand that you were considered for the role of Frank in Little Miss Sunshine. Why did you turn it down?

Because I was an idiot. I was doing a movie called Man of the Year at the time. Who in thier right mind would turn down a movie that made tons and tons of money at the theater. I have been in movies that have made millions of dollars and movies that make monkeys throw crap at each other. You know, there comes a time in every actors life, when you look at yourself in the mirror and pick your nose. That time came last night.

Before we got off the phone with each other, he had told me about some of the better times he had as an actor and a comedian. He passion is to made people laugh he said. Nothing in this world makes him feel better than making people laugh. He told me of a movie he is currently working on, but never mentioned the name. As the converstaion drew to an end, he had suggested that I call him again sometime. I told him I don't think so and hung up the phone.

The Mills at Salmon Falls Gather

2007-03-17T22:32:00.000-04:00

It was a long cold and snowy night. I'm talking about Friday night of course. The night before, when about 120 letterboxers were to come out for New Hampshire's first gathering. But first thing first. I need to shovel a little bit.

I woke up at around 6:30 and started to get the boys ready. I started to cook Salmon Pea Wiggle for the gather, and get together all the stuff we would need to bring to the gather. I put my shoes on and headed outside to..........a.....foot......of......snow. Now this wasn't easy to shovel. The area I had shoveled had been covered again by drifting snow, which had been weighted down by some ice and rain. So the walk way was clear. Now I had to get the car out of the drive-way. Easier said than done. My road who haddened been plowed yet. After about 30 minutes of fighting to get my car out and up the road, we were off to Rollinsford, NH to The Mills at Salmon Falls Gather.

The drive out was touch and go the whole way. Slippery spots everywhere. Getting stuck behind 2 snowplows, traveling 25 MPH. Slowly, we made it to the Mills. When we got there, not many had shown up yet. There were only a few so far, but like everyone says, "If you host it, they will come!" Some people had problems finding the Mills, so I went out and helped post signs.

When I had come back to the Mills, some other letterboxers had shown up. Lock Wench, who came in Friday, was already there. I sat down with her and started in on some of the boxes that were hanging around to be found. Soon, other letterboxers would show up. Maine Kokopellian came, and Warrior Women came, Lundy and Vickster, Wildcats, Uneskia, and many others came. I finally got to meet MK after some trying over the past year or so. It seemed as though everyone was hanging out at the one table. What a awesome time we all had talking it up.

Now as for the food. It all looked good. Hot or cold, it didn't matter. There was such a variety, it was hard to choose.

As for the Cootie Crew, the boys debuted the Crew as they ran around planting cooties. There seemed to be a problem though. After they ran out of cooties, they had nothing to do. You see, veryone that had a cootie planted on them was to busy chatting it up with everyone else. What fun is that? The debut of The Cootie Crew and they had nothing to do. I came to the gather with around 15 cooties and I came home with none. What a bummer. Oh well.

The important thing is that eveyone had a wonderful time, even though the weather outside was as wonderful. A big shout out to Karolyn of Dunhom5 and the support of her husband in this venture. They are wonderful people and hosted a gathering that no one will soon forget.

And The Weather Is...........?

2007-03-14T22:26:00.000-04:00

Ok, so the latest weather forecast for Saturday's gathering in Rollingsford, NH is......... Well, I don't know. It seems that no matter what channel you change it to, it is either going to rain or snow. Some say, so much snow, it could be a Nor'easter. Now just when we started to see a sign of spring, winter decides to stick it's ugly head back into our lives and make things interesting. I don't remember anyone giving permission to the winter gods to give us snow.

So I guess we will have to see what happens. Well, no matter what falls from the sky, drive safe.

Are You Ready?

2007-03-05T15:22:00.000-05:00

Well, I gone done did it! I went and started a club for the children. I would like to introduce you to the Cootie Crew Club. For all those children of yours that enjoy running around at a gathering doing nothing but cootyinging others, this is the club for them.
The idea came when I was out in New York at the Desperately Seeking Sun Gather. If you have read my post about the DSS, you would remember my original plan in regards to cooties. Thanks to Cain and Gweny and anyone else that got my kids going. So now the Cooite Crew is born.
With the Cootie Crew , comes a tee-shirt with the Cootie Crew logo on it and a patch to put on your hiking bags. You also get a cootie kit (lots of kits donated by Lock Wench, thanks) and I am working on a Cootie Crew Membership Certificate. Your Cootie Crew membership with all it's awesome goodness, is right now $15. After St. Patrick's Day, the price will become $18. I got my work cut out for me.
And, as a little bonus, all the money I make off Cootie Crew sales, will go back into letterboxing, and at the end of the year, I would like to donate some of that money to a charity. This charity will be voted on amoungst Cootie Crew members at the end of November.

Keep up the Cootyinging!

Desperately Seeking a Shovel!

2007-02-19T17:29:00.000-05:00

Alright, where do I begin. Hmmm. Well, everything started early Saturday morning, the day of Desperately Seeking Sun Gathering. Early, like 3 in the morning early. I had no problem getting up that early, but the boys on the other hand.... So we were off for New York. The trip out there was rather boring so I won't bore you to death.

New York, New York. Where in the heck did you go? I had to get out the shovel in the back of my car to find you. What we found after that was a wonderland of Letterboxers and well, more snow. Brewerton was so nice and the Arrowhead lodge the gathering was located at was so awesome. We all went inside and the fun began. Now before we all went in, i told the boys about cooties and how they should avoid them at all cost. Cooties were to be bad. Well it only took about 15 minutes for some Cain of CathCainGwen to get the both of them hooked on those little cooties. Running around they did the whole time planting cooties on people. Then of course, Cain planting them on my too! You can't take your eyes off of any of those kids, because they were all doing it! It was madness!

After sometime inside, we had now decided to venture outside into the snow. Um, well, back at home we have a foot of snow. Finding letterboxes in New Hampshire is quite easy in a foot of snow! Finding boxes in 4 feet, well, you try it! We started to look for our first box, Flaky Box - SB. We showed up and Buggylou, Phynstar and Sahalie had the box already. They gave it to us and I started to stamp it in, only to notice that they couldn't start the thier van. I finished with the stamp and I jumped the van as Buggylou put the box back. What a way to start the day. Our second search wasn't quite as interesting. Well, ok. I was kidding. We went out to look for Flaky Box - TM. We were the first ones out to look for this box and we really didn't have any luck. The only thing we found was a stream and more snow. Come to find out later, we passed the spot where the box was and crossed the stream we weren't supposed to. It never said to cross the stream. I had no idea there was a stream there until i was in it. And then Billy went in it because he wasn't paying attention to me.

Back to the Lodge we went. A few lonely NH boxers with no luck. We stayed inside and collected all the boxes in there. 1o Demented Valentines, Battlefield Betty, My Favorite Flavors, and Two Flaky Characters. There were more, but oh well. The food there was so good. Everyone should be commended for the awesome food there was.

We decided to head out again one last time before we leave for the after party. At our first box, we met up with Scout, Eagle Eye and Maggie. We found Flaky Box - SS. Then we were handed Flaky Box - TF. We put it back and headed to find some more. Now the fun began again. Our next box, we ran across Buggylou and crew again as they were searching for a box. The boys went to help them find the box and I went to look for a box not yet found. Flaky Box - OM was a first find, not to hard to get to, and Flaky Box -SF, which was found by Buggylou and crew, was rather easy to find too. As we were finishing up, along came Scout and her crew. She talked about a box that seemed impossible to find. I was cold and wet already, so what the heck. We left that group to search for Flaky Box - EW. Back in the deep snow and really had no luck. Scout and Eagle Eye had met back up with us at this spot. Eagle Eye and I were in the snow digging for this box. It was around here. I think an hour went by and finally, FINALLY, the box was found. We stamped in and I thought we were done. We were convinced to look for 2 more boxes. We went to go find Flaky Box - WS and Flaky Box -DD. More running trough 4 feet of snow. We all found it, even Phoenix was there too! More help to find a box. SWEET!

Finally we were done searching for boxes. Now for the after event. Desperately Seekin Suds. This was held at a cute little pub/bar type place. There were a lot less people there which was nice. We could finally talk about the time we spent out look for boxes and what-not. We had lots of fun, but we were ready for some sleep.

The next morning came and we had to leave. There was just enough time for us to grab a quick breakfast and for Scout and Maggie to Cootie us. Sneaky! Now for the 6 hour ride back home. It was kinda boring until I ran out of windshield washer fluid and then got pulled over for speeding. I couldn't leave NY without a gift from the state. Oh well.

BIG props goes out to Lock Wench for everything she does for letterboxing. She is an awesome person and she deserves a whole bunch of credit. We can't wait for next year. We are already signed up for Desperately Seeking Sun 2008. Oh the fun!

2 and Through!

2007-02-14T07:03:00.000-05:00

Well, with our first real snow fall in the Northeast, I thought it would be a wonderful idea to head out and try to find 6 boxes before being covered in a foot of snow. I woke up at 6 am, which is kinda rare for me, left the house at 7 and headed to Manchester, NH. The first box I was to look for was Beaver's Rock Garden. Listening to the radio all the way there, what I heard was the temperature outside in Manchester was 5 degrees. No big whoop, right!

I get there and head out to find the box. Hmmmm, it is a bit cold out here! Well after a little bit longer, it was more than a bit cold outside. It started to really feel like it was 5 degrees out. So I did continue to search for the box. I figureed, I was already out in the cold, I can do it. Got to the location where the box was and looked around for it. Nope. No box. Ohhhhh, silly me! Wrong rocks. Continued a little bit further and found the rocks I was supposed to be looking for. Of course, the box was covered with another rock and it was frozen to the ground. With some fancy foot work, the rock became unlodged. After that, the fun really began. I took my gloves off to stamp in and let me tell you, I barely made it through that process without losing a finger! My fingers were so cold! I finished what I was doing out there, and I did manage to grab a few pictures while I was trying to warm up my fingers. Afterwards, I headed back to the car.

4 more boxes were left to get in Manchester before heading back home to look for another. After what I just went through looking for 1 box, I just decided to head back home and search for the box down the street from my house. I wasn't going to freeze my fingers off 4 more times! So, of course there is a story with this box, Freedom, Rasing the Flag. It was this past Saturday that I went to go find this box and be the first finder. I went out to search for the bo before work, found it, went to go stamp it in and noticed I forgot my inkpad at home. With no time left before work, I had to leave it behind with the chance someone would find it and claim first finder before me. Oh well. So back to today, when I knew where the box was located and easily headed back to the box and began to do my thing. Opened the box and, and, I was still the first finder. I swear I wouldn't have been the first finder. How could this had happened? I mean, not that I am complaining or anything, but I have a box across from my house, Our Seasonal Friend, and LBers that have stamped into that box, should have found this other box, but didn't. I don't even know if they knew it was there. But either way, I was the first finder! Yippie skippie! And then I said enough was enough, because my fingers were freezing again and I hated that feeling.

So now the boxes are going to be covered in a foot of snow and there is nothing I can do about it. Bring it on Mother Nature! We've been waiting for you!

Beaver's Rock Garden - F354 - Manchester, NH
Freedom: Raising the Flag - F355 - Pembroke, NH

Our Seasonal Friend

2007-02-04T22:36:00.000-05:00

What did you do before the Super Bowl? Let me entertain you with what we did before the big game. Since we had no idea where to go sledding without running into the plenty that want to as well, we decided to go out and make a snowman in the corn field across the street. Now for anyone that lives in the New Hampshire area, we all know that this snow isn't the greatest for making snow. The snowman started off pretty rough, but I had come up with an idea. I remebered about my beach days and how we went about building a sand castle. With a bucket. Well, I ran to look for a bucket of some sort,and the only thing i could find was an empty kitty litter pail. Works for me. So we were now cooking. We made the base of the snowman and the kids were thinking we were almost done. We started on the body of the snowman, and again the kids thought we were almost done. Build the body twice as big as the kids thought, and they wondered about the head of the snowman. "How are we going to make the head?" they would ask.
I proceeded to build the head and they were amazed by how tall the snowman now was. The snowman now was taller than both the boys. Elijah couldn't keep his mouth shut about how much he liked the snowman and how he had never built a snowman this big before. Now it was time to put on some eyes, a nose, mouth, buttons and arms. Seeing we were a the corn field, corn stalk stubbs were plentiful. so we found everything but the eyes. Rocks! Oh wait a minute, all the rocks are under the snow. We searched and searched and finally found a couple rocks behind the house under the deck. The snowman was now complete. Our Seasonal friend has come to life. Now for those who are interested, I have also planted a box at the edge of the field for our seasonal friend. You are more than welcome to come and visit him and grab a stamp at the same time. Just be aware, this box will only last for as long as our seasonal friend does.

Our Seasonal Friend - P73 - Pembroke, NH

My Name is Jacque De La Roe.

2007-02-01T09:11:00.000-05:00

Hello, my name is Jacque De La Roe. I am a hunble gentleman from the fine country of France. I have traveled to your country for a reason. That being, as all of you well know, my country things of you are warriors. My country doesn't care much for Americans because of the way you think, the way you go on with life. Since the war in Iraq had began, my country had taken your offer for support in the war and through it back in your faces. In return, you show your innorance by renaming foods in attempt to hurt our feeling. Freedom fries, freedom toast, freedom dipped rolls. How mature!

So i am here in the states to show my country, that you are not all about hate and war. I am hear to find out about your past. To find history about how your counrty came to be, the hardships you endored, and the ways you over came those hardships. For the next year, I will be in your country, and when the year is over, I will return home and send my report to the government in hopes to allow them to warm up to your American ways.

My first stop is Little Rock, AR. Little Rock just so happens to be located in the center of a state called Arkansas. Now, even though some Spanish fellow beat us to the area in 1541, Little Rock, or La Petite Roche, was named by a Frenchman named Bernard de la Harpe in 1722. An area largely populated by Native people called the Quapaws. These people would eventually be forced out to surrounding areas for the access to the Arkansas River and its land. In 1812, a settler named William Lewis became the first white settler to locate to Little Rock. 7 years later, Little Rock became the capital of the Arkansas Territory, and then 17 years after that, Arkansas became the 25th state.

Being a slave state at the time, the state found its self a confederate state in the Civil War in 1861, with action during the Brooks-Baxter War, in Little Rock, in 1864. After the war, there was still so tension with blacks for years to come. In 1957, some unwanted attention was brought to the area when, Arkansas Governor Orval E. Faubus and the Arkansas National Guard tried to stop the integration of a local high school. The President got wind of the goings on and sent trrops to the area to protect those who needed it. To this day, marks can be found all through the landscape, but better times did come.

It really wasn't until, William Jefferson Clinton was elected as your President in 1992, that the focus of the city, turned more towards the birthblace of a president, than a location of past conflicts. Mr Clinton had also become the youngest Governor in state's history prior to his presidency. But he too had to stick his nose into Iraq, but for a diffenent reason I suppose. This president of yours would help bring light to a tunnel, that the city needed, never once forgetting his roots. Accepting the presidency on the steps of the Old State House in 1992, and celebrating his reelection in 1996 on its balcony.

I have now decided to move on to another area of the country. It seems that Little Rock, was a little bit of a dissappointment to me, but it is not me you need to impress. It is a beautiful city, that has gone through its ups and downs. May I wish this fair city a goodbye.

Jacque De La Roe - Le Petite Roche - Little Rock, AR

The Beginning and Ending of My Day!

2007-01-30T22:20:00.000-05:00

so, today i had decided to go out and box after holding out for the past 3 weeks due to the cold weather in the northeast. i had 5 boxes on my list to find. i always joke around about others sneaking boxes into my town without me knowing, so i had to go looking for this box right away. it would only be right, if i found it first.so i head out to find this box, and i knew where it was because the children and i used to go sledding there. i knew i couldn't bring them, because they would ask to go sledding, since we hadn't gone in the past year or so. anyhow, i am out looking for the box. the clues talk about sledding down a hill and then climbing it only to follow the trail at the top, to the left a ways. i continued as it told me, passed the next sledding trail as it told me, and found the sledding trail to head down.

now looking at the trail down to the bottom, it looked as if i could walk down. one step to the side of the trail, and i was on my rear. i couldn't stop even if i wanted to. all the way to the bottom, collecting snow up my shirt and all over my pants. a little snow, i thought, whatever. the clues stated to look for the big tree at the far end of the clearing. the box will be there. so i look around to both ends of the clearing, and see no big tree. i began to look anyway, only to not find the box.so, i decided that i would give up on this box and when i get home later, ask for maybe a better clue as to what the tree looked like. i climb the hill, far beside the sledding part, get to the top, and decide to read the clues one more time. looked at the area from the top of the sledding hill and still saw no big tree. i had given up finally, and started heading for my car. only to round the bend and find a police car parked across from my car.

i keep walking to my car and the police officer comes out of his car and asks me nicely what it is i was doing. after about 5 minutes of explaining, he got it. he had explained to me the this was private property and there should be no one on this land without permission. and he said seeing the owner lives somewhere across the country, permission was unlikely. he took my liscence and scanned it, 5 minutes later, he let me head on my way. only one problem.

i lost my keys. so he took off as i was looking for them, he didn't know they were missing. he drove out of view and i started heading back to the sledding hills. i ckeck the area at the top and noticed they were halfway down the sledding hill i slide down. and no, there was no way of getting my keys without going down the way i did the first time. so hoping the police officer didn't come back to see if i had left, i hurried back up the hill and to my car with no more problems. it was at that point, i said the day was over. it was only noon time then, and i was pooped!

Gingerbread Jim Has Been Saved!

2007-01-26T08:31:00.000-05:00

Gingerbread Jim has finally been found. It was early Tuesday morning, that Jim had been found in the woods of New Hampshire. He had been found after months of being captive by a man, not yet identified. Found in poor shape, he is now in a local hopsital, where i have been told, he is bad shape. Family and friends are releived that Jim has been found and now can work on getting life back the way it was before all this happened. Be his side, is is long time girlfiend, Sherri, who never seemed to give up the fight. She had planned a last ditch effort to cry out to the community on Friday, in hopes to get more volunteers in the search, but is relieved se doesn't have to do that any longer.
The Family and friends of Gingerbread Jim, would like to take this time to thank those who went out looking for Jim. And thank you to The Ryan Family, for finding him in the cold woods of New Hampshire.

A Long Few Weeks!

2007-01-22T11:24:00.000-05:00

Well, we asked for it and look what it did! It has been a long few weeks and the weather seems to be lightning a little bit. Unfortunately, the ice that coats the ground hasn't. Now covered with a thin sheet of snow, which if anyone knows, makes things interesting while walking through the woods, our trips into the woods have left us with no luck. The temperatures have become warmer again, but the winds have picked up, evening out the score. Hopefully within the next week, we will be able to finally head outside and start looking for some boxes again.
On a brighter note, I have had some time to draw some pictures to carve. Jacque De La Roe has traveled to Little Rock, AR and will have his first report on his findings soon. A letterboxing exchange is in hand and a stamp will soon also make its way out to Ohio, as well as a stamp being sent here from there, by the Travelin Turtle.
So the weather hasn't kept us completely down. It has given me sometime to sit down and plan a massive build up of boxes for the spring. Keep your eyes open.

More Rain Than Snow!

2007-01-08T22:53:00.000-05:00

Well, I wish I had some tale about letterboxing this week, but unfortunately it has been raining on my days off. The ground is so soaked from all the rain lately, I wouldn't be able to make it out of the front yard. I mean, WHERE IS THE SNOW? This time last year, we didn't have much snow either, but atleast we had some. There is one upside though. Plenty of time for carving stamps. Oh ya!

"A Postcard From Jacque De La Roe" will be debuting at the end of the month. This is a new series of boxes I've created that will run every month until the end of the year. The story behind the boxes goes as follows. Jacque is a gentlemen from France. As some of us know, the French really don't like us since the beginning of the war in Iraq. He has come here, in hopes of finding something he can report back to his home country that will get them to change their feelings towards us. A bad rap, he feels we have gotten. At the end of every month, see what he finds. Maybe you too, will learn something about the country.

Help Baby Giovanni!

2007-01-04T23:41:00.000-05:00

Meet baby Giovanni. Giovanni was born July 24, 2006 an apparently healthy baby to Christina M. Poulicakos and Michael A. Guglielmo. After six-weeks home, Giovanni had an elevated fever and was taken to his doctor. He was sent home under the belief he simply had a cold. After several days his temp persisted, he wasn't eating and he was very irritable so he was taken back to the doctor. Since then he has been in and out of the hopsital, on different drugs to try and kick this illness he had, but to no avail. Soon he would be transfered to Boston Children's Hospital in Massachusetts. He is in need of a bone marrow transplant in which the insurance company will not pay. The family of baby Giovanni has reached out to the community for help raising money for the surgery.

This holiday saeson, my employer at Sal's Pizza in Concord, NH, had come up with an unusual idea this year. He had done this before, but he had given each of his employees $100 dollars to donate to someone or a family we do not know. After some searching, I found my cause. For most of you that follow my blog, I lost a son a few years ago. He had become ill and spent time at Boston Children's Hospital as well, but for a heart condition. When I saw the news report on WMUR, I knew what I had to do. For me, it was a no brainer. My money went to a worthy cause.

With the permission from the parents, I am allowed to post this in hopes to draw in more donations for the family. They live in Belmont, NH and it is a 1.5 hour drive to Boston everyday. You don't have to if you don't want to, but it doesn't hurt for me to try. Anything you have to donate will be enough. All the information about baby Giovanni and where to donate, will be on the website www.helpgiovanniguglielmo.org

Thank you!

2006 - A Year To Remember!

2006-12-31T23:48:00.000-05:00

Well, 2007 is here! Where did 2006 go? Let me tell you where it went!
2006 began like any other year. On January 1st! Team New Hampshire was only about 4 months old at the time. I climbed Red Hill Mountian in Center Harbor, NH, when it was dang cold out. February brought me to Fabius, New York for the Desperately Seeking Sun Gathering, hosted by Lock Wench. It was there that I met the great Wanda and Pete. It was also there, that we hit F100. March sent me south for a visit with my brother in Shreveport, LA. While visiting, I boxed in Houston, TX - Little Rock, AK - Vicksburg, MS - as well as others alone the way. In April, we were visited by the always awesome, Irene from Hikers n' Hounds. Did a little boxing with her before she flew back home in PA.
May took us into unchartered territory which was MA. Carlisle, MA was the location of our second gathering called Ice Scream Sunday. Up until then, we hadn't boxed in MA, which was kinda weird since we boxed in every state around MA, but not MA itself. Well we took care of that in 1 day. Met many more people there and introduced Billy and Elijah to thier first gather as they did not come to NY with me in February. It was here, we reached F200. May also took me to a local hotspot for my first annual Project White Sands. This was an area down the street from my house that tends to become very littered throughout the year. With letterboxers and community involvement, Project White Sands was a huge success. Again, thank you all for coming. June was spent at the coast or out in the Keene, NH area. Many O' boxes were planted too! My favorite being Portsmouth Alarm. July had come and seemed to never end. On the day my first born would have been 7, I lost my bestfriend Rocky. Of all days, it had to be that one.
August came with my better result. The Alien Invasion of PA was on! We invaded French Creek State Park and abducted several before being defeated by Cyclonic during a battle of Rock, Paper, Scizzors. September was rather quiet due to the future wedding coming in October. Which brings us to October. On the 14th of October, 2006, Team New Hampshire became a family. Now the kids didn't go on the honeymoon, but Sarah and I did. We flew to England and also spent a few days in Paris. Didn't find any boxes in Paris, but we did travel to Dartmoor National Park and found a few boxes there. Oh and I left 1 too! When we got home, there was preparation for our first visit to Cape Cod for the Haunted Halloween Hunt. Oh man, that was so fun! November helped us reach F300. A short time later, we had our first Turkeyboxing Day. Boxing all the way to my Mom's house in Sanford, ME.
Then there is December. The last month of the year! It came quietly, and left with a bang. We met tons of new people. Tons! We made plans again to head to Cape Cod for the Letterboxing Tree located in W. Yarmouth. Estimated time there was about 2 hours to log in all 27 boxes. I think that was about right. 2 hours in the cold, logging in boxes while talking to everyone. The talking keep me from thinking about how cold it was. It just didn't work so much for the boys. We all had a great time anyhow.
So the year is over! Let 2007 begin. May the new year be as kind, if not kinder, than the last.

P74 F353 X94

Christmas Shopping and Boxing Too!

2006-12-21T23:21:00.000-05:00

Now with the rush at the malls, I had to wake up really early to start my day. 6am early! Not something I do on a regular basis, but anyhow. I was off to Dover to find Audubon Wildlife Santuary and plant 2 new boxes called We Need Names!. It was such a beautiful day today. You would hardly believe it was the last day of fall.

After my find and plants, I headed up to Somersworth to meet up with Dunhom5 and Sixstars. What wonderful people. Check them out sometime. So they only had enough time to help me search for 1 box, Letterbucks, but it was time well spent.

After that, we all went our seperate ways and I started shopping. What to get the wife!? Hmmm. Well I didn't find anything right off, but I did find time to look for 1 more box. In Newington, where the Fox Run Mall is, there was a box called Wilderness 1 and it is located in a National Wildlife Perserve. This place was beautiful. I only wish they had more trails. I found the box, took some pictures, and returned shopping. I did find something for my wife. Now I hope she likes it!

Audubon Wildlife Santuary - Dover, NH - F324
Letterbucks - Somersworth, NH - F325
Wilderness 1 - Newington, NH - F326

We Need Names (2)
-Planted in Dover, NH
If I Were You I'd.....
-Planted in Somersworth, NH

The signs are here, winter is coming!

2006-12-13T08:02:00.000-05:00

Well our journey today brought me out to Deering, NH for a report on a missing box. After a brief investigation, I have come to the conclusion that the box is probably in the pond. There was no signs that it was bruised or beaten before its final fate. But there is no proof that the box is in the pond either. I figured if you were going to go through all that trouble to trash a box that isn't yours, you wouldn't take it with you.

Anyway, so while in Deering, I though I should go search for a few boxes. First stop was to look for "Lovely Weed". This box had gone missing and was replanted. Finally able to get it after 2 tries, a lovely stamp to add to the collection. Next I headed down the road to "Deering Overlook" for a look for the box. Found the box is great shape. Then headed even further down the road to the Appleton Cemetary, to look for the "Clan Ramsay Letterbox" This is a stamp that was planted for the niece of RTRW. It is beautifully carved, as all her stamps are, and planted in the cemetary in which her niece was buried. Team New Hampshire is sorry for the loss. We know of the feeling.

Canterbury Shaker Village Meadow Pond Trail - Canterbury, NH - F320 - 11/29/06
Lovely Weed - Deering, NH - F321
Deering Overlook - Deering, NH - F322
Clan Ramsay Letterbox - Deering, NH - F323

Even the rain can't stop us

2006-11-28T23:31:00.000-05:00

Ok, so it wasn't raining that hard, but it was still raining. Yet again, we are to visit Auburn, NH for some fun by Lake Massabesic. The Series of boxes called "Under the Sea" took us through some mud and brush, but neither could stop us from finding all 6 boxes. This series is nicely done by New Hampshire's own Monkey Girl. She takes everyone through the woods and gives everyone the time of their lives. I suggest everyone visit her boxes before they are gone. They do seem to go missing often, causing another one of her series "Glamour Garden" to be pulled. Vandals are to be blamed for that series to be pulled.

After we got out of dodge, we headed to the Amoskeag Fishways in Manchester, NH to find "Have you ever seen a fish go up a ladder?" by skier4444. This is another well placed stamp, bringing us to a place we didn't know existed. We didn't go in the fishway to see fish today. We were a bit limited on time. But we did get to find the box.

So a little rain never hurt anyone. Carrying an umbrella never did either.

Under the Sea (6) - Auburn, NH - F318
Have you ever seen a fish go up a ladder? - Manchester, NH - F319

1st Annual Turkeyboxing Day!

2006-11-23T21:01:00.000-05:00

Well, Team New Hampshire's 1st Annual Turkeyboxing Day went off with out a hitch. We went out to find 11 boxes and plant 2.
We started at 5:30am and headed to Hooksett, NH to get on our "Hands and Feet" and then hopped on the highway to Concord, NH to find "Don's Happy Hiking" boxes. This is a series of boxes made for Kayakkritter's brother who died recently while hiking Mt Sunapee. It is a short hike through the woods, but it is well worth the trip. The fresh air and the views are spectacular. We finished around 8am and headed home to regroup.
We were heading to my mothers house in Sanford, ME and on the way we decided to collect som boxes in Somersworth, NH. At 10am, we were off to our first box, "The Dog Walk Box" at Willand Pond Recreational Area. Also located there was "The Bear Box HH Hostile". There is where we dropped off a new HH I had carved the other day. From there we headed up the way a bit to Noble Pines Park to find "Play @ the Pines. kinda easy, but finding the road without a map, wasn't. After that we off to find an area that housed "Willow by the River" and "The Birthday Box". All was found successfully. We even found some time to plant a new box special for Turkey Day. After that, we headed to mothers house for some delicious turkey and fixings.
All in all, we a thankful for a great time finding 12 stamps and planting a box and a HH. We are thankful for the food we ate and the life we have to do so. Happy Turkeyboxing Day.

Hands and Feet - Hooksett, NH - F301
Don's Happy Hiking (5) - Concord, NH - F306
The Dog Walk Box - Somersworth, NH - F307
The Bear Box HH Hostile - Somersworth, NH - F308
Remembering (HH) - Somersworth, NH - F309
Play @ the PInes - Somersworth, NH - F310
Willow by the River - Somersworth, NH - F311
The Birthday Box - Somersworth, NH - F312

Pardon Me - Somersworth, NH - P68
Which Way Did He Go? - Somersworth, NH - HH2

A Prescription for Finding F300

2006-11-13T12:15:00.000-05:00

LBNASIA is prescribed to treat letterboxing addiction (LA).
If you take any medicines that have nitrates in them (like nitroglycerin for chest pain)—every day or even once in a while—you should NOT take LBNASIA.
Discuss your general health status with your doctor to ensure that you are healthy enough to engage in letterboxing activity. If you experience chest pain, nausea, or any other discomforts during boxing, seek immediate medical help.
The most common side effects of LBNASIA are headache, facial flushing, and upset stomach. Less commonly, bluish vision, blurred vision, or sensitivity to light may briefly occur.
In rare instances, men and women using LB5 inhibitors (addiction medicines, including AQUESTA) reported a sudden decrease or loss of vision. It is not possible to determine whether these events are related directly to these medicines or to other factors. If you experience sudden decrease or loss of vision, stop taking LB5 inhibitors, including LBNASIA, and call a doctor right away.
Although letterboxing ventures lasting for more than 4 hours may occur rarely with all LA treatments in this drug class, to avoid long-term injuries, it is important to seek immediate medical help.
If you are older than age 65, or have serious liver or kidney problems, your doctor may start you at the lowest dose (25 mg) of LBNASIA. If you have prostate problems or high blood pressure for which you take medicines called alpha-blockers, your doctor may start you on a lower dose of LBNASIA.
Remember to protect yourself and your partner from natures transmitted diseases (EEE).
LBNASIA is one of a few options for treating LA that you and your doctor can consider.

Gracee the Princess Cat - Penacook, NH - F300

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T11:27:00.000-05:00

It was a dark moon lit night. The wind whisping through the trees, picking up leaves and tossing them around like snow in a blizzard. The streets where dark and all that could be seen were 5 pumpkins on the front porch. There were 3 of us that night, Billy, Elijah and I. We had drivin for what seems to be miles and have now found the place, 40 Mockingbird Lane. All of us tired from the ride, get out of our vehicle and start for the front porch when.....
"Hello!" speaks a female voice from the darkness of the front yard.
The person introduced herself as being the one and only Cape Cod Lightning Bug. She told us of our quest to find 13 boxes and then left us to ourselves. With a black light in hand, we started our journey. We found bugs and skulls, tomb stones and ghosts and bats. But there was nothing scarier than the talking tree that wasn't really that scary, but it just wouldn't shut up. I mean, just imagine sitting with your Grandmother and have her tell you the same thing over and over and over. Oh geez, sorry. Well it was scary nonetheless. We found ourselves stuck with only 10 boxes when we decided to split up. Not the best thing to do when it is a dark and scary night, but we did anyhow. If we were ever to leave, we had to split up. We found box 11, and then 12, and then finally box 13. Our Journey was just about over. Suddenly the female voice spoke again.
"How are we doing out here?" she spoke.
She was coming towards us rustling leaves as she did.
"We have completed our journey," I replied. "and we would like to go home now."
After some convincing, she had become kind enough to let us go on our way back to where we came. But only on one condition.
She said "Have a safe ride home, tell your friends, and make sure you come back again."
With that, we ran to our vehicle and jumped in. Started up the vehicle and sped away as fast as we could. we thought, out of all the adventures we have ever been on, this one was the scariest. We will definately be back.

Haunted Halloween Hunt (13 of 13) - West Yarmouth, MA - F299

The time has come, Team New Hampshire is now 1!

2006-10-23T21:10:00.000-04:00

So here we are. Our first dance. She looked so beautiful. I wish I could have invited everyone I knew, but I couldn't. We got married at The Castle in the Clouds in Moultonborough, NH. The sky had not 1 cloud in it. O.k. it had a cloud in it. Serious, there was only 1 cloud! The temperature was just right. Ther was some concern that it would be to cold for her. She hates the cold, but it was just right.

After the wedding we flew to England fo our honeymoon. My first time in another country. Stopped off in Shannon, Ireland before landing in England and then spent a few days in Paris, France.

Didn't find any boxes in Ireland because it was a 4 hour layover, but hopefully we will go back someday. We did go looking in Paris for 1 box, and came up unsuccessful. It was in an area that drew lots of attention. The clues mentioned security being a problem and I was suprised we didn't draw that kind of attention. It was kinda hard to not be noticed by others in the park. But oh well. We tried. The sites were beautiful there. The Eiffel Tower was huge. Pictures don't do it any justice. We went to the top and I am the one who is scared of hieghts and it was Sarah that was flipping out. Kinda funny I think.

After those few days in Paris, we came back to England and drove 5 hours to Okehampton, to do a bit of LBing in Dartmoor National Park. It was a bit harder than I thought it would've been. It was very nice there, but cold and windy. I did manage to find 2 boxes, 1 in the Museum of Dartmoor Life, and plant 1 of my own. Oh and back the car up into a rock and leave a nice hole in the bumper of the rental car we had. Opps!

Well, we made it back home in 1 piece and we are looking forward to finding more boxes in our home land of USA.They can have thier wrong side of the road driving, small roads and roundabouts. The one thing I did like was the lack of speed limits on the highways. I wish I could do 110mph here and get away with it. Ahhh, it's good to be home.

Guardians of Row Tor - Dartmoor National Park, Okehampton, England - F284
Louise's Lookout at West Mill Tor - Dartmoor National Park, Okehampton, England - F285
Museum of Dartmoor Life - Okehampton, England - F286

We Found Time To Do Something!

2006-10-09T23:25:00.000-04:00

Well, with all the planning for the up coming wedding, Elijah and I finally found sometime to hang out together and that we did. We visited the Charter Hill Apple Orchard in Hopkinton, NH and guess what we did? Duh, we picked some apples. O.K. so we didn't go out letterboxing. We can really only go apple picking during the fall. Well anyway, Elijah and I were out looking for apples and poor Elijah couldn't barely reach any. Low and behold, he found one he could reach. Boy what a great apple that was. He picked it and it was such a happy little boy. Now, yes we will get back to letterboxing, but not yet. First we have a wedding to tend to. Then Sarah and I will be heading to England And France to find some international boxes. Oh fun fun. I can't wait.

It has gone all wrong!

2006-09-18T21:05:00.000-04:00

So I can't say that I am a good friend. You see, I shipped Gingerbread Jim out to the West Coast to be planted in a letter box called "The Adventures of Gingerbread Jim #10 - Kiddnapped". It turns out that he never made it to the West Coast. Now Jim is out there somewhere and I have no idea where he is. I didn't put a tracker on him, first mistake, and I asked for help from a muggle, second mistake. The muggle was very happy to help. The muggle was to keep my doings out of Letterboxing eyes, so that no one knew anything. It has all gone wrong.

Ransom Note and clue?

2006-09-05T12:10:00.000-04:00

This ransom note and what looks to be clue to Gingerbread Jim's location, was sent to me over the weekend. It has been sent to the authorities and they can't seem to make heads or tails of this. So now it is your turn. This person seems to mean business and we only have a month to find Jim. Can you help me find Jim and return him back to New Hampshire. Jim's girlfriend Sherri as well as the rest of us, miss Jim very much and would like for him to come home safe and sound.

Ransom note:

clue:

Post all your suggestions in the comment box and the suggestions that we feel best locate Gingerbread Jim will be entered and mentioned on the messageboard to assist others in finding him. Thanks for all your help.

A Day in York Maine

2006-08-28T23:34:00.000-04:00

So we started our day heading out to Portsmouth, NH to look at the site of where my box, Portsmouth Alarm, is supposed to be. You see, something fishy is going on. For the second time now, this box has come up damaged, the boxes smashed, but nothing taken. An animal couldn't have done this. I think it was muggles. So after checking the area for clues as to what happened, we hung out at Pierce Island, where this box is located, and looked for crabs and shells and such.

Once we got back on the road, it was time to head to York, ME. It was there that we did some boxing and more crab hunting, picture taking and meeting up with The End and her daughter Meow II. She had rescued my box and kept it from any further harm. They were such nice Maine folk. We did some boxing together before heading off to do our own thing. Went to find a few more boxes before heading up to Ogunquit to swim at the Inn Season Resort.

Nubble Light - York, ME - F276
Happily Ever After and Longer (1 of 2) - York, ME - F277
"Bubba" The End's PT - F278
Bienvenue - York, ME - F279
In a Jam - York, ME - F280
Waddle We Do Without You - York, ME - F281
Sharing is Good - York, ME - F282
Clean Water For All - York, ME - F283

Gingerbread Jim has been kidnapped!

2006-08-23T00:09:00.000-04:00

Well, I have no idea who would do such a thing, but this picture of Jim was sent to me in an email. There was no note but only this picture.

The year that was Team New Hampshire.

2006-08-16T03:27:00.000-04:00

So with 1 year behind us, I have no idea where to start. We have been all over the place. Starting in New Hampshire, our beautiful home, boxing is done mostly here. The White Mountains to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, hosted a clean-up at White Sands in Pembroke, boxed while at Employee Appreciation in New Castle. New Hampshire is growing, and with the love of letterboxing, we can all make this state so much more beautiful.
Now that doesn’t mean all the other state should be left out. We did box in Maine a little. My mother lives in Biddeford right now and we have scaled the coast for a few boxes from time to time. We have relatives that live in Connecticut and have headed that direction too! Figured, New Hampshire neighbors Vermont too! Couldn’t forget about them. Hmm, who am I forgetting. Oh, Massachusetts. Ya, for some reason, we didn’t box there for quite some time. We neighbor Massachusetts and I have traveled through there on many occasions to box in Connecticut and never once thought about boxing there. But we went to the Ice Scream Sunday Gather and were on our way.
Desperately Seeking Sun Gather was our first gather. Bringing us all the way to Fabius, New York for some fun, cold weather, and a bit of boxing too! Don’t think I was going to go there and do no boxing. We met lots of people there. I don’t care what people say about those from New York, as long as your not talking about the Yankees, your good in my book. New York ultimately took me to Rhode Island. A somewhat crazy idea to head there after the gather for a weekend full of boxing fun. It wasn’t as cold as New York, but yes, it was fun.
This past March, for the first time we flew. My brother lives in Shreveport, Louisiana and we headed down for a week. While down there, we saw the awesome beauty of the south. How different it was, and warmer too! It was in the teens when we left home. Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, all wonderful. Didn’t run into anyone, but we had such a wonderful time.
Then there is what came recently. The Alien Invasion of Pennsylvania. This was the first time we had been to Pennsylvania to box, and wow. The people there are so nice. The invasion was a success and we were welcome with open arms. Even if we were a threat for take over. No we weren’t. But since we had so much fun, it sounds real good that we will be back again next year.
With a wedding coming, we will be heading of to England and a visit to Dartmoor. What the rest of the year holds, only time will tell. Until then, we would like to take this time to thank everyone who has ever been nice to us and been there for us when things got down. It has not always been easy, but we manage to get though it. With such a wonderful group of people, we plan on being around for years to come. Long live letterboxing.

Pennsylvania Invasion!

2006-08-16T02:41:00.000-04:00

Well o.k.! So our little list of LB's we were going to get on the way to Pennsylvania didn't work out. I knew there was another reason I hated NYC. First being the Yankess. Second being the TRAFFIC! Kinda put a hamper on the whole Alien stoppng in every state leading to PA. I did manage to stop at the NH, MA, and CT boxes though. Didn't see anyone, but it was cool though. But once we got through the madness of NYC and even more in NJ, we took a detour into Baltimore. Home of my beloved Orioles who really don't play well enough to be beloved anymore, but I'll stick with them anyway. So we hung out there before finally heading to French Creek State Park, to set up tent.

The next day we did some swimming before meeting up with those who were to stop the alien invasion. Cyclonic, Lightnin' Bug, Tony Tony Chopper, Janila and Lil' Milkmonster of Team Little Dog, Sheba and Death Moose, Indigo Vulture, Mizscalet, and Brandy, Your a Fine Girl, who made a surprise visit while passing through. After 3 abductions, Cyclonic became victorous in defeating the aliens and sent the aliens packing. It was so much fun.

Later that evening, we roasted some marshmallows and burned others, before heading to bed. Around midnight, I was waken by someting outside our tent. Now with all this talk about aliens, I was freaked out. We had 2 coolers and 1 shut tight and the other latched. We hadn't latched that one before heading to bed. Of course I had no idea what it was. Was it an alien? I kept hearing the cover open and close several times. I lied there hoping it would just go away. Then a bright idea came to me. I grabbed my car keys which happen to be in the tent with us, oh the boys were sleeping through the whole thing, remote started the car, and watched the shadow of a racoon take off up the tree next to our tent. I let the car run for about 5 minutes before turning it off. Now don't get me wrong, I didn't want to go outside yet, so after I turned the car off with the remote, I listened for a couple minutes and turned the car on again and headed out of the tent to see what it got into. It ate half our bag of marshmallows. Silly goose!

So after a heck of a night, we started out for Hershey Park. Stopped by for some Intercourse first, I mean, the town of Intercourse. Amish Country. Oh the boys got a kick out of the Amish and thier buggies. I had some explaining to do. They were getting a bit frustrated when they would wave at them and they wouldn't wave back. So I explained on the way to Hershey Park. Once we arrived at the park, the fun began. Or atleast a little bit of fun. You see Elijah is a bit small for some of the rides. ALL the rides Billy wanted to ride. It kinda made it hard for all of us to have fun, but we made due. T'wards the end of our stay at the park, we made it a goal to get pitures with all the Hershey characters. We only found 3. Oh well. So we headed back to camp after.

After a beautiful weekend, with no rain, of course it had to rain while we packed up. And it stopped just as we got done. So now that the car was all packed, we attempted to find a few boxes before heading home. We did find 1 of 3 boxes we searched for, and planted 6 too! 1 is better than none I guess! So off for home. We visited Valley Forge and then stopped into Philadelphia for a look see downtown. Saw Independence Hall and walked down to Hard Rock Cafe. Then headed home taking my chances with NYC again. It was much better this time around. Got home at midnight. Now it's time for bed. Nice cumfy bed!

Where in the world is Gingerbread Jim?

2006-07-30T04:13:00.000-04:00

So I received an email from Sherri, Jim's girlfriend. She has become very worried, becasue Jim hasn't been seen for 2 days now. This is very unlike him. She says that since they met about a month ago, they have always gone out together and walked together, and are basicly unseperable. Every week Jim used to email me with his visits and tell me whats up in life. It kinda had been some concern with me that we hadn't written lately, but now with this email from Sherri, I am now worried. Has anybody seen him? Please help Sherri find Jim. She misses him so much. I hope she finds him soon. Stay tuned for further updates on Jim's where abouts.

Getting the taste back in my blood!

2006-07-24T22:56:00.000-04:00

Ahhhh! It was just like sinking your teeth into a juicy steak. Out and about doing some things, i couldn't help but want to go find a box or 2 on the way. So i visited the Loudon Congregational Church in Loudon, duhhhh! I was the first finder! What a find as I make my return to boxing. So I brought my car up to Belmont for a car appointment, and then headed to Sanbornton on search for 1 of Skier444's many boxes. Wasn't a fist finder, but I had fun looking for the box.

Loudon Congrebational Church - Loudon, NH - F260
Sanbornton Rest Area on I-93 (2) - Sanbornton, NH - F262

Rest In Peace - Rocky

2006-07-20T23:18:00.000-04:00

Sometimes we lose things for a reason. Sometimes it was thier time to go. Unfortunately it wasn't Rocky's time. His life had been take short by some retard that couldn't read a speed limit sign. From what I understand, the next door neighbor heard the car coming and heard a thud outside. They went outside to find out what the noise was and found my best friend lying there helpless. How could someone do that? I know it is illegal to hit a dog and run, but why isn't it for a cat? I would like nothing more than to hut who ever did this down and beat them to a pulp, but that wouldn't bring Rocky back. What that person doesn't understand, is that Rocky has been there for me through thick and thin. The worse of times and the best of times. I bet the person whi hit him didn't have what I had. And I emphasize HAD! Somthing was to be done about this and something will be done. I plan on fighting in his honor. He might be a cat to others, but he was everything to me. My he always live on in my heart. Rest in peace Rocky. Daddy will never forget you.

Remembering Jaeden - Happy Birthday Buddy!

2006-07-20T01:27:00.000-04:00

--Hands--

I loved when we first touched hands.

I saw four candles light up in each corner of the room

of which we stand.

one for each season of love.

you grasped my hand tightly

as if time wasn't on your side,

ending quickly.

so i find myself staring at you hopelessly

and watch as the candle flames flicker

off the mirrors of your eyes.

like the stars in the skies.

flickering to your every heartbeat,

flickering to your every breath.

either way, it was beautiful.

so beautiful that i would never want it to end.

and if for some reason those four candles burn out,

one by one.

I will be there to light them again

with a flame of my own,

high and mighty.

till those candles can burn no more,

when our hands part.

--Jaeden E. Baril Field--

July 20, 1999 - January 19, 2001

While I was gone I....

2006-07-12T01:34:00.000-04:00

While in hiding, I had plenty of time to recover from being sick. Most of the time was spent with the family. We went out to New Castle for Employee Appreciation Day with my work, visited my Dad several times, went swimming with everyone and watched the fireworks on the 4th of July. Now I can't say I didn't go boxing. I did find 1 box. It happened to be at The Common in New Castle. I grabbed a few of my work buddies and went to find it with them. So with exception of that 1 box, it has been some well needed time off. While I was down, I do want to say that I have noticed everyones support. Thank you for caring and I have never felt so welcome anywhere. The past few weeks have been hard, but left and right, things started to come back together. Soon enough, I will be back, adn I know the pefect time to be back.

Up and Down - New Castle, NH - F259

Oh and just to warn everyone, the 4 Meet Team New Hampahire boxes will be retiring on August 15th. Our 1 year anniversary. Time is ticking.

The Adventures of Gingerbread Jim - Motorcycle Week

2006-06-20T00:30:00.000-04:00

Wow! I have never gotten such a wonderful letter from Jim. He told me he had the best week of his life. You see, he went to Motorcycle Week up in Weirs Beach, NH. On his way up to the Weirs, he stopped at a bike shop in Concord. When he got there he was looking for a new helmet. A bird hit it on the highway and cracked it. Wouldn't do him any good if he got into a accident wearing a cracked helmet. He found the helmet area and just as he was going to try one on, this girl came over and asked if he needed help. He turned and looked at her and fell in love. You see, this girl was beautiful and Jim had never seen anyone quite like her. He asked her name, and it was Sherri. He asked if she was someones girlfriend, and she said no. He asked if she would like to go out for dinner, and she said no. She was kidding. She said that she noticed him the moment he walked through the front door. They went out to dinner after she got out of work and had lots of laughs. Jim asked if she would like to travel with him, and she said she would love to. For the whole week, they enjoyed the Lakes Region together during Motorcycle Week, swimming, bike riding, and hiking Mount Major in Alton. I have to admit, I hope that Jim's luck continues, because I like seeing him happy. Jim and Sherri look good together. Lets see where they go for the first time as a couple next week. They didn't say where they were going.

4 of 5 Isn't Bad!

2006-06-20T00:12:00.000-04:00

So I happen to be showing my lazy side now. It has been 2 days since I went boxing and you would think that i would have be so excited about my good news. On sunday, I went boxing in New London, to look for "The Granite State Series". Now I don't ever remember these boxes showing up in my emails, but nonetheless, i went out to look for this series. 4 boxes and all 4 boxes were first finds. While I was looking for these boxes, I also found a fox, a deer, a turtle, and lots of frogs. 1 was so kind as to let me get close enough for a picture. After my stay in the woods, I went to (oh ya I can't say) to look for "Darjeeling". Well when I got there, I thought I was the first finder. I read the logbook wrong. So, 4 0f 5 really isn't bad at all.

The Granite State Series (4) - New London, NH - F257
Darjeeling - Mystery, NH - F258

Let the sun rain down.

2006-06-13T09:08:00.000-04:00

Well, Monday came and went and the all that was on the menu, was sunshine and letterboxes. For the first time, I traveled to the lower western corner of New Hampshire, in Keene. A quick stop in Hillsboro for "Small Group #1" and some pictures before ultimately making it to Keene. Beautiful seems like such a weak word for how awesome this small but big city. While in Keene, I visited Otter Brook Dam for a box and had a adventure of a time walking the 2 mile walk at Ashulet River. Catapillers, frogs, and turtles, all watchers of the people walking through their neighborhood. And of course while I was there, I pulled out my camera and took a picture of this critter. How can these things be hated by so many. They are so cute. I will surely be going back. One, because there are more boxes, but two, I love the feel of the city. You got to check it out.

Small Group #1 - Hillsboro, NH - F251
Otter Brook Dam - Keene, NH - F252
Ashulet River Park - Keene, NH - F253

Painting a Masterpiece (5)
planted in Pembroke, NH
P50

The Adventures of Gingerbread Jim - At the Prom

2006-06-12T19:08:00.000-04:00

The date was, June 10th, 2006. Jim was invited to a blind date. Little did he know, that is was a blind date to the prom. Jim said that when he found out he was going to the prom, he was so excited. He didn't get a chance to go to his prom, because he was ill. So he got a second chance. The girl he went with was his friends girlfriends sisters bestfriends cousin. They all went to school together at South High School, in Fargo North Dakota. The night of the prom, Jim still hadn't met his prom date. He mentioned being real nervous. It wasn't until he went to go pick her up at her house, that he met her. He said he was standing at her door and when the door opened, she was standing there. She had this blank stare in her eyes. And then she screamed. To make a long story short, when they got to the dance, she distanced herself from him. She barely paid any attention to him. He was to short. Apparently, she was embarrassed about his height. Dancing with him was out of the question. If you carefully look at the picture above, you should easily notice which one is Jim's date. Well, Jim did have lots of punch at the prom and did get home in time to watch some Game Show Network at 9pm. Lets just say he wasn't invited to the after party. It's o.k. Jim needed the rest because he was heading out early for Motorcycle Week at Weirs Beach, New Hampshire. Hmmmmm, this could be interesting.

Rockin and Rollin in the Granite State - Portsmouth

2006-06-05T23:51:00.000-04:00

Portsmouth, New Hampshire
population 20,784 (2000)

Settled in 1630 as Piscataqua, this beautiful town sits on the strawberry banks, as it would soon be known, of the Piscataqua River. 53 years later, Portsmouth finally got its name in honor of the colonies founder, a captain of the port of Portsmouth England, John Mason. Fishing and ship building was the towns main industry as well as being a perfect location for trade with numerous upstream industries, such as logging.
In December of 1774, Paul Revere, more known for his famous ride a year later, rode into Portsmouth to warn of the possibility that the British may be coming. He also urged the colonists to attack and capture Fort Constitution, now known as Fort William and Mary. Some concider this attack to be one of the first acts of military force in the Revolutionary War.
Now a days, you can still visit Strawbery Banke and explore one of Portsmouth's oldest neighborhoods. Many of the homes has been restored to thier colonial, georgian, and federal style architecture. Visitors to such marvel were George Washington, Daniel Webster, John Hancock, as well as other well known early colonial famous.
The Jackson House, built in 1664 by Richard Jackson, is one of the oldest remaining wood frame houses in New Hampshire and Maine. The Jackson House resembles English post-medevil prototypes but notably American in its extravagant use of wood.
Known by locals, a unexplained event, which happens regularly, can be seen in the South Cemetery. The Glowing Tombstone, no matter the weather conditions, seems to glow in the night. Locals try to explain the mysterious glow as a reflection off the pond, or a traffic light, or even a street light from a near by street. Whatever the case may be, the glow can be seen up to 200 yards away. To see this glow, visit the South Cemetery by entering the South Street entrance, walk down the path to the pond (right). Look across the pond for the glowing stone in the middle of 3 squarish stones in a row. I have not seen this, only read about it.
Portsmouth was also the home to William Whipple, who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Before is early death, he served as an associate justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court.

Local Boxes:
Sea Coast #2, Prescott Park, The Weight of Water, Saved Our Shipyard, Portsmouth Alarm, Forest Oasis

Visit these sites for more information:
www.portsmouthnh.com
www.strawberybanke.org

The Adventures of Gingerbread Jim - Texas

2006-06-05T22:46:00.000-04:00

So Jim has made it safely to Texas after his not so safe visit to Boulder Colorado, but as you can see, he still has some bumps. Nonetheless, Jim had a friend down in Houston. When Jim got off the plane at William P. Hobby Airport, he got on a bus to the car rental place to pick up his car. Well, when he got there, they only had 1 car left. It was a nice Volkswagon Jetta. Wow, Jim thought he was in heaven until he left the parking lot. Once he left the parking lot, he started down the street and turned on the radio only to blow out the speakers. Someone had left the stereo up real high. Then he got pulled over by the police for running a stop sign he had no idea he had run. He got lost, pulled over to ask for directions, only to find that everyone he asked spoke no english. Found a pay phone and put in his only 2 quarters, just so he could call the wrong number. Oh ya, he got a flat tire too! Luckly, his friend had gone out to look for him, worried that something had happened. They hung out later that night, caught a baseball at a Houston Astros game, and then went home a watched some Game Show Network. His visit with his friend did end up better than it started, but Jim is looking forward to a time where nothing bad happens. He didn't happen to say where he was going next week, but only that it was a secret. I guess we will have to wait and see.

And the best part of the day wasn't boxing!

2006-06-05T22:13:00.000-04:00

Hmmmm, how do I say this without sounding like my adventures in letterboxing were not fun. Well, let me tell you. On my way out to Portsmouth, I happen to be traveling on Route 4 and saw a turtle on the side of the road. Now I am not one to pass up a chance to take a picture, so I pulled over. Well, just as I was getting out of the car, the turtle started to head into the road. I began to run for the turtle and got there in time to get him to safer grounds. He than stuck around and stared at me and bolted for the hills. Then I had a bit of trouble boxing. Some of the boxes I searched for, were hard to find or not there at all. Either way, it was a good day. The only thing that would have made it better, is if the sun came out.

Wagon on the Hill - Durham, NH - F244
Prescott Park - Portsmouth, NH - F245
The Weight of Water - Portsmouth, NH - F246
Forest Oasis (3 of 3) - Portsmouth, NH - F249
Have Your Cake - Carlisle, NH - F250

Portsmouth Alarm
planted in Portsmouth, NH
P45

Letterboxing for Idiots - Poison Ivy

2006-06-03T00:48:00.000-04:00

So, I don't know how to really say this without being mean or hurtful. STAY THE "beep" AWAY FROM POISON IVY! Now for those of you that don't know what poison ivy looks like, look very carefully at the picture I have supplied you with. I had no idea what poison ivy looked like until I got it for the first time and looked it up on the world wide web. Now, us being letterboxers and all, will encounter this plant from time to time. Some of us will brush it and some of us won't. Some of us that brush it may develop a rash and some of us won't. For those of us that will develop a rash, and I became a first timer, life will become a living H-E-double hockey sticks. I used to be able to roll around in the stuff and laugh at my brother because he couldn't. look who is laughing now!

Poison Ivy can be contracted by brushing up against the plant itself or by rubbing up against an animal (cat or dog) that has. The oil from the plant, called urushiol, once on yourself, enters your pores and begins its one truly dreadful task. Making your life miserable.

For those of us that thought we weren't able to get poison ivy rashes, I have some bad news. You can. We all change. And to make things worse, they say that because of the change in global temperature, the amount of poison ivy growth, has increased 70%, meaning there is more of a chance that we will develop that dreadful rash. Not good for you and I.

So do yourself a favor, if you go out into the woods, wear long pants, a long shirt adn remember one thing. If you see leaves of 3, leave it be. Or buy some extra strenght itch relief spray.

For more information:
www.poison-ivy.org

Month in Review - May

2006-06-01T07:54:00.000-04:00

Well, I can honestly say that this month has been quite a treat. The month started out with a bang with the success of Project White Sands. Just over a dozen people showed up to help clean the area that was littered with trash. A week later, mother nature delt her cards and opened the skies. It rained for a week and there was so pretty bad flooding. Boxing was halted for a week and a half until the waters came down. We had to save 3 boxes and repair only 1. Once the water level lowered, I headed to the White Mountains and started my boxing again and boy was it cold there. We finished the month of heading to Massachusetts for a bit of boxing for Memorial Day. A little slow going this month, but there's always next month!

New Hampshire - F97
Massachusetts - F50
Connecticut - F35
Rhode Island - F15
New York - F11
Texas - F8
Maine - F6
Arkansas - F2
Vermont - F1
Louisiana - F1
Mississippi - F1

Boxes planted - 13

P44 F243 X72

3, 2, 1, IT'S A BOY!

2006-05-30T23:10:00.000-04:00

Well, let me tell you about my day. Monday, Memorial Day, May 29th, 2006, was a day I will never forget. Let me start from the beginning. First, we started by planting a box in Bow, and then planting another box in Hopkinton. Then I travelled to Tamworth for yet another box before heading a bit further north, to welcome in my first nephew. I'm an Uncle now!. My day was filled with plants of 3 boxes, a 2 hour drive to see 1 little boy for the first time. Oh boy what a day!

Wesley Alan Savary
Born - May 29, 2006 at 10:42 pm
weight - 6 lbs, 11 onces

If I were You I'd....
planted in Bow, NH
P42

The Rage
planted in Hopkinton, NH
P43

Hidden's Creature
planted in Tamworth, NH
P44

The Adventures of Gingerbread Jim - Boulder Days

2006-05-30T15:14:00.000-04:00

This Memorial Day Weekend, Jim sent me a picture of him in Boulder Colorado, for Boulder Days. He said he had never seen so may boulders before in his life. There was this race in the center of town called Boulder Dash. The idea of the race was to run from the center of town to a huge hill in the park about a few blocks away, and roll down it like a boulder. Jim signed up for the race and was very excited to be involved in such a awesome race. He had always rolled down the hill at his home when he was a child. Mom didn't like it much, because she was the one who did the laundry. Oh well, but anyways, the race started and Jim was somewhere in the middle of the pack, when someone said his shoe laces were untied. Just as he looked down, he tripped on them. Jim banged his knee on the ground but was O.K. He tied his shoes and continued on. Well things got a bit worse. He made it to the hill and proceeded to ball up and roll down the hill. Now Jim hadn't seen this hill before now. Did I tell you it was Boulder Days in Boulder Colorado, and the race Jim was in was called Boulder Dash. Well if you haven't figured it out yet, there were boulders all down this hill. Jim never finished the race. He had to go to the hospital for cuts and bruises. Don't worry, because Jim is O.K. He has since been released from the hospital and is doing better. He did have fun, but Jim looks forward to being in Texas somewhere next week. Somewhere where there is no boulders.

Rockin and Rollin in the Granite State - Concord

2006-05-29T16:33:00.000-04:00

Concord, New Hampshire
Population 41,823 (2003)

Named the capital of New hampshire in 1808, Concord sits on the Merrimack River which was onced used for shipping. The Merrimack River runs all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, passing though Southern New Hampshire and Northern Massachusetts.
Concord had a very rough beginning. In 1727, the area was settled by immigrants from Massachusetts and called Penacook, and 6 years later to Rumford. And in 1765, the name Concord was finally incorporated. The area prior to immigrant arrival, had been inhabited by Native Americans and didn't take to kindly to the immigrants and attacked them any chance they could. After many years of fighting with the natives, Concord finally began to shape itself into what it is today.
In 1819, the State House was built, which today is the oldest State Capital in which the legislative branch still meets in thier original chambers for session. In 1823, the Tuck Library was built and named after Edward Tuck, which was to house The Historical Society. The Historical Society is the nations 5th oldest "statewide" historical society. The society's mission is the same as it was almost 200 years ago. Educate a diverse public about the significance of New Hampshire's past and it's relationship to our lives today. The Museum of New Hampshire History can also be found down the street.
On a sad note, Christa McAuliffe, who lived in Concord and taught at Concord High School, left for NASA with a chance to head into space. When she left, she actually wasn't the one who was to go into space, but a puppeteer named Carroll Spinney. He was known for dressing up like Big Bird on the hit childrens show Sesame Street. When he dressed up and headed into a test shuttle, the costume was found to be to big. Christa McAuliffe was called to duty. Little did she know, that on January28th of 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger was to lift off and never come back. Since her sudden death, Concord as many other cities around the country have, hosted a planetarium in her name for those interested in Christa's life and legacy and the great beyond.

Local Boxes:
NH Forest, Concord's Cool Cat, Meet Team New Hampshire (L is for levi, B is for Billy, E is for Elijah, David & Sarah), The Adventures of Gingerbread Jim (#4, #9), St. Paul's School Cemetary, Howard's Clock

Visit these sites for more information:
www.nhhistory.org
www.starhop.com

Memorial Day Weekend

2006-05-29T00:41:00.000-04:00

So for the first time in years, we are having beautiful weather for Memorial Day Weekend. Now I know that maybe many of you were out camping and even heading to the beach, but this nut case was off out boxing. I headed out by myself today to Windham, NH to Deer Leap (as seen in the picture). Then to Salem, NH for a few before finishing in Andover Mass, collecting Quilt Codes. Now I did hit a bit of a problem today though. Ummm, the mosquitos were some crazy. There were so many, that I couldn't stamp in a few of the logbooks. I'll go back, but when the coast is clear.

Deer Leap - Windah, NH - F231
Salem Burial Ground - Salem, NH - F232
Field of Dreams - Salem, NH - F233
Quilt Codes (10 of 10) - Andover, MA - 243

Letterboxing for Idiots - Hitchhikers

2006-05-25T21:02:00.000-04:00

Ok, so you want to know what a Hitchhiker (HH) is? Well, I'm going to tell you that I'm not going to win any awards for my editorial on letterboxing for idiots, but i'm going to make this as easy to remember as possible. Brace yourself, because here it comes.
Basicly, a HH is a smaller, more portable letterbox with not home at all. It can be found in any size container and come in different shapes and sizes. There are no clues on where you can find one, but if you listen to the talk sites, someone may slip once and awhile and reviel a location of one. That is a BIG NO NO! HH's are ment to be a surprise. An extra gift if you will.
The fun begins when you find a HH. What do i do with it? Well you have 2 options. Take it with you or leave it for someone else. Either way, you should log it into your logbook. If you decide to take it with you, first you need to recognize when your going boxing again. You don't want to hold on to it too long. If your going boxing in a week, feel free to take it and log it in at home. Now when you decide which box your going to replant the HH, you need to do as follows. You need to stamp the placement box, into the HH log book as you did with your own stamp. Then stamp the HH into the replacement boxes logbook. At this point, the HH is no longer yours and will be picked up by the next boxer.
HH sometimes has long travels. Sometimes they don't. Just remember, that when you pick up a HH, place it somewhere that might send it off somewhere far away. Somewhere It may have never been. Someplace the owner never thought imaginal. Oh and let him know where it been by contacting him/her directly. If possible.
Have fun.

Boxing with Dad.

2006-05-23T12:57:00.000-04:00

Well for the first time in 2 weeks, I finally got out and did some boxing. And wouldn't you know, my Dad came along. He goes by the name, Taz. I only found 1 box, but we planted 1 box and I helped him get 4 boxes. Not very productive, but I liked spending time with my Dad. The weather was quite chilly in the White Mountains. We were going to plant a box at Tuckerman's Ravine, but the way Mount Washington looked, no way man! All in all, it was a good day. I also got plenty of ideas on where to place future boxes, so look out New Hampshire. Here I come again.

Welcome to New Hampshire
planted at Mount Washington, NH
p40

Let's Ride the Skateboard (HH) - Concord, NH - F229
Kind Hearted Women - Wolfeboro, NH - F230

Rockin and Rollin in the Granite State - Tamworth

2006-05-22T22:15:00.000-04:00

Tamwoth, New Hampshire
Population : 2,540 (July 2004)

Tucked perfectly between the White Mountians and the Lakes Region, Tamworth is both beautiful and quiet. Once home to such people as President Groover Cleveland and Dr. Earle Remick. Visited by poets and painter and miners of ore.In the late 1700's, an ore deposit was discovered on the Bear Camp River. The Ore was mined and nail making became the industry that ultimately formed Tamworth in 1766. Shortly thereafter, in 1833, the Tamworth Hotel was built. It housed mainly those who traveled the Concord, Mass to Conway, NH stageline, now known as Concord Trailways based in Concord, NH. The Tamworth Inn, as it is known as now, has 3 floors holding 28 rooms and 4 bathrooms. The Tamworth Inn also houses a restuarant if your hungry. In 1928, President Groover Cleveland purchased a home at a time when tourism became the towns primary industry after running out of ore years before. Now visitors can come to the area, stay over night or even 2, hike the many mountain trails that are within 20 miles, and even ski. Cross-country or downhill. Also in town is "The Oldest Professional Summer Theatre" in the country. Opening in 1931, under the direction of Francis Cleveland, son of President Cleveland, Barnstormers would open on Tuesdays and Rap up on Saturdays just as it still does to this day. Barnstormer remand under the direction of Francis Cleveland until his passing in 1995. Just up the road from the center of town, you will find Ordination Rock. It is at this location in 1792, where Rev. Samual Hidden was ordained atop a large rock and founded his church there. Across the street, you can find his burial plot, located under a tomb like table balanced on 6 granite legs. Finally, there is the Remick Country Doctor Museum and Farm which is open year round at no cost to you. Inside you will discover a working farm museum that explores the richness and diversity on country New England life. The Remicks spent about 200 years in Tamworth and help give us a picture as to how life was lived on this historic landscape.

Local Boxes:
The Blue Spider, The Blizzard of Last Year, Yankee Smokehouse

Visit these sites for more information:
www.remickmuseum.org
www.tamworth.com
www.barnstormers.com

The Adventures of Gingerbread Jim - At the Carnival

2006-05-22T07:43:00.000-04:00

Well, Jim has sent me a letter from Macon, Georgia. He is down there visiting some of his friends. He says that there is a carnival in town and just had to go. Jim loves rollercoasters and they had this huge one. He wanted to go on it, but they said he wasn't tall enough and that there was a kiddie coaster he could ride. So he waited in line for 20 minutes and finally got on, and sat next to this little boy. Ummm, this kiddie coaster didn't go fast or high at all, but the boy next to him thought so. He screamed for his mother the whole time and just when the coaster came to a stop, he barfed on Jim. On the bright side, they said Jim could stay on for another ride if he wanted, but he said no thanks. Jim did clean up and stay for a bit longer and ended up winning a few things at the carnival games. Things like a toothpick holder and a small bag of fake pennies. He played $18 just to win two silly prizes. Well Jim normally loves the carnival, but I think this wasn't one of his best visits. Oh well. Next week Jim said he will be in Boulder, Colorado for Boulder Days.

My Life in Season

2006-05-21T09:59:00.000-04:00

-Nature's Deception-

~~~

Though " all summer long",

has a timeless sound.

It's almost gone

'ere you turn around.

Wildberries are picked,

goldenrod's in bloom.

The maple's ablaze,

the sun's low at noon.

I look and I sigh,

alas, I have found.

That "all summer long",
is a deceptive sound.

~~~

-Mary Lane-

The Adventures of Gingerbread Jim - Visiting flooded New Hampshire

2006-05-15T22:37:00.000-04:00

Gingerbread Jim has made his way up to New Hampshire to see for himself the flooded areas. In this picture, Jim was in Epsom at Webster Park. He had told me that the last time he had visited Webster Park, it was a beautiful day and he was on the river canoeing. Nothing he would consider doing right now. Not with the river so high. Many people in the area were under water and out of there homes. He said that lots of roads are closed and even some are passable, but slow going. As you can tell in this picture, Jim took a step into the mighty Suncook River and almost lost his footing. Jim would like to take this moment to let everyone know, what he did was not smart. Flooded rivers such as this, could easily take you down stream and possible take your life. Defininately not the smartest thing Jim has ever done, but he made it bad to shore safely and thats what matters.

Jim added that he will be writing me every week, so keep your eyes open for The Adventures of Gingerbread Jim.

Round 2 - Rain rain go away! Let us box another day!

2006-05-14T18:46:00.000-04:00

All these pictures were found on www.wmur.com

Unfortunately, New Hampshire is been met with yet another blow. For the second time in less than a year, we have been hit with some pretty bad flooding. As of sunday morning, Concord had already recieved about 10 inches of rain and the rain will continue all week into next weekend. Hardest hit in October was the south-western part of the state. So far, it looks as if the lakes region south and east has been the hardest hit. I'm sure that the Red-Cross will be doing a Drive to raise funds for the flood victims as they did in October. I encourage everyone to please lend a hand even if you can't. I did before and will again. New Hampshire would do the same for you. 1-800-HELP-NOW - attn: floods in New Hampshire

All of my boxes will be placed on notice until i can figure out if they are still there or not. When the time does come to go out and box again, please do excercise great boxing judgement and be very careful around any moving water.

Wedding bells are ringing!

2006-05-09T00:46:00.000-04:00

Ok, so they are not letterboxers! But they are both now related to one. My sister made the big jump into marriage on Monday, May 8th, 2006. So all and all, today was a good day. It didn't start off that way. Besides planting "The Blue Spider", I went up to Lower Falls on the Kancamagus Highway and no way was I going to cross the river there. Or today for that matter. Then I went to Crawford Notch for 2 boxes and found niether of them. Things were not looking good, but then things started to get good. I found 4 boxes before calling it quits and headed off to my sisters wedding in Chocorua. I'd say it was a good day, wouldn't you?

The Blue Spider
planted in Tamworth
P39

Seal of the Mountian - Mystery, NH - F225
Glen Ellis Falls - Jackson, NH - F226
Eastern Slopes Inn Riverwalk - North Conway, NH - F227
Fall Foliage - North Conway, NH - F228

Meet Team New Hampshire - David

2006-05-07T22:53:00.000-04:00

So, I saved the best for last. Well, I guess that's up for debate. Anyhow, I just happen to be the one and only that found the art of letterboxing. The picture to your right is me in Vicksburg Mississippi. I've been to 11 states and I plan on adding more to our list very soon. I am so addicted that some may say that that I need help. Ummmm. O.K. maybe I do. Naaaaa! I love to be rockin' and rollin' in the granite state. Box on!

The Adventures of Gingerbread Jim - #9 - Puzzled
planted in Concord, NH
P38

Project White Sands - A Success!

2006-05-07T13:51:00.000-04:00

Well, I have to say, I didn't think that this was going to be so awesome. 3 days before the clean-up, I had only 6 people coming. Then I recieved a phone call from a girl from the local school. She said 10-15 people will be coming from the school. Well, not everyone came but there was still a dozen or more people that showed up. I have never been happier. I just need to thank everyone that came to help out. Uneksia, GreenthunbNH, Fibrohugs, Little Man, Little Lady, Wimpy, and of course Rubaduc. Thanks again. Project White Sands was a huge success. I thank you, Pembroke thanks you, and the state of New Hampshire thanks you. Rock on in the granite state.

Happy 1st Birthday to Levi!

2006-05-02T22:32:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Levi!
Happy Birthday to you!

So our little boy has turned 1 today. WOW! How fast they grow. It seemed like yesterday that he came into our lives. Maybe tommorow he will be moving out. I hope not! Atleast not yet.

Footloose Caboose - Lebanon, NH - F223
Fuller Public Library - Hillsboro, NH - F224

15 minutes with Young Tom Dittle

2006-05-01T22:06:00.000-04:00

So today I had a chance to sit down with Young Tom Dittle. He once had a farm in Bear Brook State Park, located in Allenstown New Hampshire. He decided to sell it and move to another part of the country and start over. He was nice enough to spend 15 minutes with us for our first interview ever. I hope you enjoy.

So what happened to your farm and why did you leave?
-Well, I had to get rid of the farm because of all the problems I was having with the farm.

What kind of problems?
-Animal problems. I had a horse, pig, sheep, and my chocolate moo moo cow.

Where are you living now?
-In Northern Massachusetts

What is your most favorite memory?
-Well there was that one time, in band camp, when I found a dollar. I thought that was the luckiest dollar I ever had. Then the next day, I was playing kickball with some friends and got hit in the face with the ball.

If you could be anyone, who would it be?
-I think I would like to be that guy on the skittles commercial that has that beard. You know the one where his beard moves and flips skittles into his mouth. I think that would be cool.

What does the future hold for you?
I'm hoping that someday I will write a book about my life. Maybe make it into a movie.

To find out more about Young Tom Dittle, take a peak at the story of Young Tom Dittle's Farm.

Young Tom Dittle's Farm
planted in Allenstown, NH
P36

The Adventures of Gingerbread Jim - #8 - DRAWKCAB YAD
planted in Chichester, NH
P37

Month in Review - April

2006-04-30T21:51:00.000-04:00

April 2006, brought us many places while we saw many faces. The weather this month was quite warm and perfect for letterboxing. From the coast of Maine, to our first time boxing in Massachusetts. The Ice Scream Sunday Gathering in Carlisle Massachusetts, to night boxing in Alfred Maine. Finding True Love and leaving Yellow Snow. What a month we had.

New Hampshire - F86
Massachusetts - F40
Connecticut - F35
Rhode Island - F15
New York - F11
Texas - F8
Maine - F6
Arkansas - F2
Vermont - F1
Louisiana - F1
Mississippi - F1

Boxes planted - 7

P31 F222 X66

Finding True Love

2006-04-30T21:25:00.000-04:00

Now of course, finding True Love wasn't easy. I mean it was first a long walk, and I had Levi with me in his little green wagon. You know, finding True Love actually wasn't the hard part. For some reason, we decided to continue on down the Mad Dog Road all the way to Rte 31. Oh man was that a bad idea. As you can tell, both Billy and Elijah were not to impressed. And Levi was out like a light. After this walk though the woods, I could have used a nap too. What a way to finish out the month of April.

True Love (7) - Washington, NH - F222

Meet Team New Hampshire - Sarah

2006-04-29T23:53:00.000-04:00

Well, this is my beautiful partner in crime. We have been together for 2 years and are scheduled to get married October 14th 2006. We have 1 wondeful child together, Levi, and she has 2 others, Billy and Elijah. We met at my place of employement 8 months after I started there. I had no idea she had been coming in for pizza since the day I started. Finally I had noticed her and made my move. We have been together ever since and we've never been happier. Sarah can be found on the trails not as often as myself or Billy, Elijah or Levi, but she does love to get out every once and awhile and enjoy the fresh air that is included in searching for letterboxes. A rare find she is. Everyone should meet her sometime, if your lucky.

Project White Sands - May 7th 2006

2006-04-29T22:56:00.000-04:00

Come one, come all! Come down to White Sands in beautiful Pembroke, New Hampshire for a day of clean-up. This effort is led by myself and backed by the Concervation Commision of Pembroke. They are fully aware of my intentions and know that I am a letterboxer. With my efforts, I will also make my own stamp for Project White Sands for those that show and I am working on getting pizza donated by my employer, Sal's Pizza. So please, please, please, come on down and help keep New Hampshire clean. Meet some new people, exchange and find a few boxes littered within 10 miles of Pembroke. I will be down at White Sands at 10am and I don't plan on leaving until the area is clean. For Directions, feel free to email me or print out directions on the LBNA website. Thanks to all that attend.

Storytime with Gingerbread Jim.

2006-04-26T00:31:00.000-04:00

Today, I had a chance to sit down with Gingerbread Jim. He had plenty to say, but a story and some advice stood out. His story about the Bow Alien and his advice on Making a Friend. Now, I'm not sure about his story about the alien. He got a little upset after he told the story because he expressed that no one ever believed him. I tried to tell him I did, but he didn't believe me as other do him. It must be hard. His advice on making a friend was great. I mean, I have many friends, but I have lost more than the many I have. Good friends are hard to find. Gingerbread Jim is a wonderful person. Feel free to check out his 2 stories and others.

The Adventures of Gingerbread Jim - #6 - Making a Friend
planted in Canterbury, NH
P30

The Adventures of Gingerbread Jim - #7 - Bow Alien
planted in Bow, NH
P31

The Adventures of Gingerbread Jim - #1
-Gingerbread Jim-
The Adventures of Gingerbread Jim - #2
-Jim and the Lucky Lizard-
The Adventures of Gingerbread Jim - #3
-The Horrible Incredible Unforgettable Sneeze-
The Adventures of Gingerbread Jim - #4
-Up, Up, and Away-
The Adventures of Gingerbread Jim - #5
-My 65th Birthday-

Ice cream sundae at Ice Scream Sunday.

2006-04-23T22:28:00.000-04:00

So I don't think I could have another scoop of ice cream. I found so many boxes and had so much ice cream and had a so much fun. And it barely rained like it was supposed to. What a great day. Billy, Elijah and I traveled down to Carlisle Massachusetts for Ice Scream Sunday Gathering. The boys had a grand time searching for letterboxes inside and out. There was so many people there. IT WAS CRAZY!

Junior Ice Scream Sunday (6) - Carlisle, MA - F172
Bandaid (PT) - F173
One Cool Chick - Carlisle, MA - F174
Summer Cone - Carlisle, MA - F175
Ice Scream Social - Carlisle, MA - F176
Name That Flavor - Carlisle, MA - F177
The Scream - Carlisle, MA - F178
Louisville Slugger - Carlisle, MA - F179
Ozma of OZ - Carlisle, MA - F180
Whipped Cream, Nuts, and a Cherry on That? - Carlisle, MA - F181
Spammerman (PT) - F182
Poisen Ivy Cootie - Carlisle, MA - F183
Happy Boxing 2006 - Carlisle, MA - F184
Box O' Sox - Carlisle, MA - F185
The Laughing Cow - Carlisle, MA - F186
Hello My Name Is... - Carlisle, MA - F187
The Boch Circus (4) - Carlisle, MA - F191
Guest From Hell - Carlisle, MA - F192
Ice Cream Stand - Carlisle, MA - F193
Ice Cream Social - Carlisle, MA - F194
Hillbilly Cootie - Carlisle, MA - F195
The Altered Book (3) - Carlisle, MA - F198
Tea Box Gathering '06 - Carlisle, MA - F199
Rootbeer Float - Carlisle, MA - F200
Another Scoop Please - Carlisle, MA - F201
Squirt the Moose - Carlisle, MA - F202
Cherry on Top - Carlisle, MA - F203
Sunday Sundae - Carlisle, MA - F204
I Like Ice Cream Too! - Carlisle, MA - F205
Milk and Bones - Carlisle, MA - F206
Drips - Carlisle, MA - F207
Banana Split Anyone? - Carlisle, MA - 208
Crack This Oyster - Carlisle, MA - F209
Game Over, MAN! (PT) - F210
Kid ICARUS (PT) - F211
Bob & Karen's PT (PT) - F212
"Dippers" Birthday Cladaugh (HH) - Carlisle, MA - F213
I Love Art (HH) - Billerica, MA - F214
The Matrix : Blue Pill (HH) - Billerica, MA - F215