And now, for a different kind of adventure!

Several months ago, a bit after I started boxing, I stumbled upon SHH's blog My H'art in Rubber.  It's been quite inspirational to me over the last several months - seeing her gorgeous! carves was what made me decide to start challenging myself with more difficult carves of my own.  And it was the beautiful pictures of LTCs at the bottom of her page that got me interested in doing LTCs myself - after all, I'm unlikely to visit the Pacific Northwest any time soon, and I just had to get my hands on some of those!
Since then, I've seen several people's blogs with pictures of LTCs.  And they are all just fabulous!  So, then I decided, I had to get my hands on those too!

Now, I found myself wondering, "How exactly does one get all these gorgeous LTCs?".  And I learned, you exchange them in swaps or one for one.  So, if I need to exchange for these little treasures, I have to make some of my own!  A new crafting endeavor!  Rastaman is going to kill me!  I signed up for three swaps that are due in March (figuring that March is plenty of time, since school doesn't start back up until late January).

This morning, I broke out the cardstock, my paper cutter, and little cutting template.  And quickly discovered that I apparently can not measure accurately, and that the blade of the paper cutter is really really dull.  So, I tried again - this time with scissors, which worked like a charm.  Then I found that my black ink pad is really dry and that hobby stores are closed on Christmas, and the stamp I carved was way too large.  So, I carved a smaller stamp, and rethought my plan.

After much trial and error, I finally got a working mock-up!  Which was followed by a sideways grin from Rastaman at all of my excitement - who was trying to watch movies at the time.  Two movies later, I finished everything up...  I'm really happy with them.  A lovely tribute to Roy Lichtenstein if I do say so myself!  I can't wait to see the other cards in the swap come March!

Tomorrow, I think I'll tackle the cards for the Labyrinth movie swap...  And Monday, I'll work on my stamp for the Enlightenment swap...I'm so excited - I can see myself running out of PZKut very quickly at this rate.  What a good problem to have!

So, today's Lessons in Letterboxing (or rather Letterbox Trading Cards):

• Measure twice, cut once - applies not just to housework, but paper-cutting as well.
• A variety of inks is important to have, and something I am certainly lacking.
• A variety of cardstock colors is also important - and something I do have!  :-)

Happy Hunting (and Crafting)!
Rogue Artist

A Victoria-n Yule-mas

Friday night, we headed down to Victoria to celebrate an early holiday with my sister, her friends, my mom, my grandma and my family.  We have a hodge-podge of various religious holidays that different people celebrate in my family, so it is fondly called Yulemas.  When my husband and I first started having holidays together, we decided to hold our celebrations on neither of our holidays and to combine the names (that way we were be both equally respectful and disrespectful to both holidays).  This odd tradition of ours has taken hold with the rest of the family.  So, anyway....

On Saturday night, we traveled down to a town called Sinton for a ship holiday party - we had a grand time finally getting to meet the rest of the crew on the USS Joan of Arc.  We had a fabulous time with the Ferengi Gift Exchange, and I walked away with a wonderful copy of the new Star Trek DVD that has a special case shaped like the USS Enterprise.  Which is now proudly sitting on top of the living room TV.  :-)

Sunday morning, we opened presents.  I was absolutely thrilled to get tons of warm clothes (I've been freezing!), a Catholic Bible, a translation of the Latin Vulgate (because I don't plan on learning Latin!), and my very own copy of the Hebrew Tanakh.  Of course, now I have to learn to read Hebrew sooner than later, but that's just a really good excuse to do something I was already going to do anyway!  :-)  Mom and Grandma left in the afternoon, and we all made new character sheets for a game of D&D.

On Monday, my sister had to work.  :-(  So, we passed the time with Agent X playing new games he got, Rastaman watching new movies he got, and me preparing letterboxes for planting.  When we had come down for Thanksgiving, we discovered that the one box in the county had gone missing, so I had come prepared for planting with all of my box making supplies.

This morning, we planted three boxes in downtown Victoria before heading home.  One is a stamp I carved from an eraser on our last trip, and then two boxes with a holiday theme.  I just couldn't resist making boxes that said "Victoria-n Christmas" in them - there's so many pretty Victorian era houses in the area.

Fabulous trip!  Other Texas boxers are discussing Victoria on the Yahoo group we have, and there's a couple who plan on looking for them soon.  Exciting!  :-)  Which means that maybe other boxers will plant some on their way through town, giving us something to find next time we're down there!  YAY!

So, here's today's Lessons in Letterboxing:

• Always bring carving supplies on trips.  Because people leave you all alone and you need something to do so you don't go kill them for abandoning you.
• And bring lots of box making supplies.  Just in case you're in a boxing desert - because one person can change a desert into a mini-oasis for long car trips.
• And remember to print the darn clues for the boxes along the route you ALWAYS take and keep them in the boxing bag! 
  

Happy Hunting!
Rogue Artist

A Puzzling Trek

Without further ado, I present the clues for my new Star Trek series, A Puzzling Trek!
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Starfleet is an international fan organization for fans of Gene Rodenberry's most wonderful of creations, Star Trek.  I am a correspondence member of the USS Joan of Arc, located in Corpus Christi.  There are ships all over that fans create and run - here in the DFW Metroplex, we have the USS Regulator in Weatherford, and a strictly correspondence chapter in Euless called the Space Station Freedom.  Ships will usually meet every month, usually for fun stuff like game night, or to watch a favorite episode.  Additionally, ships all over are involved in community service projects - my ship collects coupons for overseas military families, helps in book drives, and helps with the annual local PBS auction.  Children and adults alike can take classes at the Starfleet Academy - it has fun classes like learning to speak Klingon, but also practical real-world stuff, like first aid, survival skills, and cryptology (important stuff for us letterboxers!).

The world of Star Trek fandom is a wonderful place, and it's a ton of fun.  If you enjoy Star Trek, I encourage you to consider joining your local ship or becoming a correspondence member.  After finding the boxes I've planted, of course!  :-)

Welcome to Starfleet!  Congratulations on graduating from the Academy!  Ensign, you are hereby ordered to report to Walnut Creek Linear Park entrance at James McKnight Park East in Mansfield, Texas, in order to be issued your comm badge and be assigned to your permanent duty station.

In order to locate the comm badge, solve the fill-in puzzle.  Unscramble the letters in the highlighted squares to spell another Star Trek related word – this will be your key to the ciphered clue below.
yiwn usi lpf bbmw gggtzfup ggeluot hedd kw uip gwgkms pq xzx wwvsel uheksfei tefkl, ufvf evnu byh otcs 22 tuptk mf i mbckw kvl pbv xjxv bibe lsl kih #138 py ml,  rfcs dzqeneqdbesj urlhf tw sm kpf clww be i ojnlw tk bif dsmmy ajep sx mym uspi.

Now, you will need to report to your permanent duty station!  Complete the word search – when you’re done, the unused letters will spell out (left to right, top to bottom) your key for the next cipher.
pkjsbjui cgkjr lcsd sk sdi nboqs aijpd kj obrds (jks lbpjbp scagi) cjt dcvi c qics, kj sdi ksdio qbti kn sdi lcsd cjt qgbrdsgy sk sdi obrds yku wbgg qii c soii sdcs dcq aiij qsoupf ay gbrdsjbjr, ykuo qdbl bq cwcbsbjr cs sdi acqi kn sdbq soii, kj sdi qbti nuosdiqs nokh sdi lcsd.

Attention all hands!  We’ve been assigned to an important diplomatic mission to Qo’noS, the Klingon homeworld.  Find the coordinates to Qo’nos by translating the first set of Klingon phrases to English and using the numbered blanks to fill in the acrostic puzzle:

Oh no!  Factions have formed within the High Council and are threatening to lead to civil war.  You must challenge the leaders of the Council to a duel before they will listen to reason.  You can find your weaponry by completing the following translation acrostic:

Congratulations on your success in battle – I’m certain you bring much honor to your ancestors!

We’re receiving an urgent message on the encoded subspace channel from Starfleet Command:
... - .- .-. - .. -. --. / ... .. --. -. .- .-.. / .- - - . -. - .. --- -. / . -. - . .-. .--. .-. .. ... . ---. / .-- . .----. ...- . / .--- ..- ... - / .-. . -.-. . .. ...- . -.. / .-- --- .-. -.. / - .... .- - / .- / .-. --- -- ..- .-.. .- -. / ... .... .. .--. / .... .- ... / . -. - . .-. . -.. / - .... . / -. . ..- - .-. .- .-.. / --.. --- -. . / .- -. -.. / .. ... / .... . .- -.. . -.. / ... - .-. .- .. --. .... - / ..-. --- .-. / ... - .- .-. -... .- ... . / .---- ..... .---- .-.-.- / .. -. - . .-. -.-. . .--. - / .. - / .. -- -- . -.. .. .- - . .-.. -.-- ---. / --. --- / --- ...- . .-. / - .... . / -... .-. .. -.. --. . .-.-.- / .... . .- -.. / - --- / - .... . / ..-. .. .-. ... - / -... . -. -.-. .... / --- -. / .-. .. --. .... - .-.-.- / ..-. .-. --- -- / -.-. --- .-. -. . .-. / --- ..-. / - .... . / . .- ... - / ... .. -.. . --..-- / .... . .- -.. / .---- ..--- ----- / -.. . --. .-. . . ... / ...-- ..--- / ... - . .--. ... / - --- / .- / .-.. .- .-. --. . / - .-. . . .-.-.- / - .... . / .-. --- -- ..- .-.. .- -. ... / .- .-. . / .... .. -.. .. -. --. / .- - / - .... . / -... .- ... . / --- -. / - .... . / ... --- ..- - .... / . .- ... - / ... .. -.. . .-.-.- / . -. -.. / --- ..-. / -- . ... ... .- --. . /

His presence here is a threat to the entire Federation.  You must capture the captain of the enemy ship immediately and turn the villain over to Starfleet command immediately. 

Xlmgrmfv lm kzgs fmgro blf ivzxs gsv hrtm uli qznvh nxpmrtsg kzip dvhg.  Svzw gldziwh gsrh kzip.  Uiln gsv qfmxgrlm, xlfmg vrtsgvvm xlmxivgv yolxph.  Gsv vero ilnfozm Mvil rh srwrmt yvsrmw z sziwdllw gszg szh yvvm levigzpvm yb ermvh lm gsv ovug hrwv lu gsv kzgs.

Well done, indeed!  Take a nice shore leave on Risa to reward your crew for their hard work!


A couple of usual notes - please clean the stamps and put them back in the felt bags in the boxes, rehide the boxes well after you've found them, add some extra sticks and leaves.  The Mansfield Parks Department would (I'm sure, but not asking them) appreciate if you helped keep the area clean by not littering.

The stamps range in size from 1x1.5" to 3x3" and 1.5x4". Recommended colors for marker users - black on the first, grey on the second, red and black on the third, grey and brown on the fourth, dark blue and forest green on the fifth, and black on the last.  Although several of the stamps would look nice in sparkly inks, please (please please!) do not use metallic inks on them - metallic inks leave a bit of sparkly residue even when cleaned well that makes it hard for future finders to get a good impression.

 
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If you would like to make notes, or log a find, the series is listed on AtlasQuest here and on LbNA here.

Happy Hunting!
Rogue Artist

I'm so excited!

I'm so excited!  I have my clue all typed out, all pdf'ed, all properly formatted in HTML and everything, and scheduled to post tomorrow afternoon, since I'm planting the series tomorrow morning and might not make it home right away.  Of course, then the waiting for people to find the boxes will begin, and that's the hardest part.  And I'm thinking that it might take a while. 

I'm just so excited, I'm beginning to think I might not sleep tonight.  :-) 

Happy happy day!
Rogue Artist

In the end, a good day

Well, today started off not so great.  I dragged my dear friend out of her house to do some boxing with me.  The first box we went after was no where to be found.  The second box had been eaten by animals - no bottom to the container, an eaten ziploc baggie, and no logbook or stamp to be found.  So, I took it home, not wanting to leave trash laying in the park.  Disappointing to say the least.  Oh, and I conked my head really good on an errant branch, and started bleeding. 

Although we didn't stamp into anything, my friend enjoyed our outing so much that we're going to do it again.  She has no idea what she wants as a trail name, and I'm getting to carve a sig stamp for her.  We're going to go to the Botanic Gardens next week, so I've decided to call her Bekah Boop, and I'm going to carve her a Betty Boop stamp (she's a huge fan). 

When I got home, I e-mailed the placer of the second box to let them know it's deceased condition.  Then, since I wasn't sure I did the right thing by removing the box, I e-mailed the TX letterboxing yahoo group to see if what I had done was a huge faux pas and asking if the placer was still active (the box had been planted 5 years ago after all).  I got an off-list response from someone who had done the same thing a while back, and apparently some people (no matter the decimated condition of the box) do consider it a no-no.  So, I'll be re-planting the decimated box, along with a microbox that I had that will contain an emergency replacement logbook and a note about the eaten condition of the box.  So, I'll just have to wait and see if I get griped at for all of this, but I'm chalking it all up to the learning curve.

This afternoon, I got to find places for my new series, and worked on translating my clues into my ciphers.  And I learned how to embed pdf files into the blog, so my puzzles for the clues will show up right.  And I learned how to do the new reserve a box function on AQ, so I have a box number to put on my "In case you found this by accident" cards.  And now I'm on to translating Klingon....  Oooo, this will be so much fun!!!!

So, today's lessons:

• If you bring them letterboxing, they will convert.
• Do not remove boxes from their spots, no matter how horribly they've been destroyed.  Because it apparently still counts as a find, and that's apparently important to some people.  Even if the box hasn't been logged on LbNA or AQ in over two years, this is still a no-no.  (Which sorta confuses me, because I hear all the time about people finding wet boxes and pulling them for maintenance, telling the planter, and then replanting it after fixing the box?)
• Klingon is a difficult language, and ciphers are entertaining.
• Embedding pdf files is tricky, but will be oh-so-worth-it.

Happy Trails!
Rogue Artist
(who is still nursing her head wound)

Finals are finally over!

So, I've been in school, and taking 17 credit hours.  Which has unfortunately left me with no time to letterbox.  But....as of 12:12pm today, my finals are over!  Yay!

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, we went down to Victoria to visit my sister.  My step-mom and I attempted to find the one box in the county on LbNA that doesn't have a note about pulled for maintenance or whatnot in the clues.  Alas, we found the right spot (I'm sure of it), and it was no longer there.  We found a plastic ziploc that was pretty decimated, so I believe it's safe to say that it's been gone for a while.  We fought I don't even know how many thorny vines that had grown up around the hiding spot.  Proving once again, that no matter how far I travel, the Thorny Vine Mafia is still out to get me.

I carved a new stamp from an eraser, with every intent on planting it while we were there, at the park we had fought the thorny vines at.  Never got around to it, and we were in a bit of rush on Sunday on the way out of town.  So, it's sitting in my bag, waiting for later this month when we visit again.  My sister showed me a neat place downtown that is close to where she works that she thought might make a good spot - I took a couple photos so I could carve something appropriate for the area.  So, I might be planting 2 boxes when we go down there in a week.  And my sister has been so kind as to offer to check on the boxes every so often - very kind indeed considering she's not a boxer.

Now, there was a reason we were so rushed on our way out of town.  The Texas Tour Bus had been hidden in a town known for it's chicken and sausage.  I made a deal with the hubby that if we took a different route home, so that we could stop at Lockhart State Park, he wouldn't be forced to stop for the five boxes on our usual route.  Lockhart is known for it's barbeque chicken and sausage, and it has a state park with a golf course (hey, the clue said something about flags!).  So, we went.  And the park ranger wouldn't let us on the golf course.  And my DH kept insisting that no one would put the Tour Bus on a golf course (the voice of reason that one is!).  And I was so intent on finding the Bus that I wouldn't listen, and we spent the next hour on trails trying to find a way onto the golf course. 

Finally, I gave up, and sent a message to the keeper of the box that I couldn't get to it.  And lo and behold....

We were at the wrong park.

So, now I must patiently wait for it to resurface.  And now that classes are over, as long as it's in the next week or two, I'll be able to hop in the car and be part of the usual mad scramble for it as soon as it shows back up!

In celebration of the semester ending, I went boxing this afternoon.  It was a bit chilly, but I didn't really care, I've missed it so very very much.  I had a couple of errands to run in Fort Worth, so I printed out a couple of clues that were on my way there, and I was off! 

First, I headed after Kantexan's Jazz Quartet: Drumset at Deaver Park in Arlington.  Some of the clues were a bit tricky - it was planted some time ago, and hadn't been logged in a while, so I wasn't sure if it was still there.  There's only one set of bleachers now, so I had to figure out where exactly would bleachers have been.  And there were two tiny trails, which was a bit confusing.  But, I finally found the multi-trunked tree, and there it was!  Laying out in camo-taped glory for all to see.  Oh my, What a rush!  What a thrill!  You could feel the excitement in the air!  Quickly followed by the frustration of the tin being rusted shut.  Fortunately, after some finagling with one of my key-chains, I was able to pry it open.  There was a bit of moisture in the tin, which I dried out.  The logbook had gotten wet at some point, but was dry now, so I proceeded with stamping in.  I cleaned up the rusted edges as best I could, and hid it in the manner that the clue said it was hidden in.  An absolutely lovely Drumset stamp now lives in a beautiful brick red shade in my logbook.

Next, it was off to find the next of the series, Jazz Quartet: Bass Guitar just down the road at the Cliff Nelson Rec Center & Park.  It was a lovely jaunt along the gully amongst the fallen leaves.  The smell of the recent drizzles hung in the air, and the sound of the fallen leaves under my feet put a smile on my face that not even the cold winds could wipe away.  A mom with her adorable little son and a black lab were walking along the sidewalk, and the little one decided he wanted to come check out the gully.  Fortunately, my logbook is a hardbound sketchbook, so I just pulled out my markers (which I still haven't figured out how to use very well) and pretended to be an art student drawing the trees.  Worked well enough, and the mom told the kid to stay out of the creek bed, so they didn't bother coming to see what I was doing.  Again, the box was right where it was supposed to be!  This one wasn't even rusted shut!  Woohoo!  The fabulous Bass Guitar now resides in an appropriately fabulous blue shade in my book.

Unfortunately, time ran short and I had to stop boxing for the day.  I did have errands to run before the kiddo arrived home from school after all.  Agent X actually managed to make it home 10 minutes before me - good thing he has a key! 

I'm looking forward to more boxing tomorrow...  probably the two boxes I printed off today that I didn't get to.  Or, maybe, even better - yes, definitely now! - I'll go plant my 6 box series that I've been holding onto.  I mentioned it in my last post - it's all based on Star Trek, and I think it's a pretty clever clue, if I do say so myself.  I will give you the hint (now that I'm sure it'll get planted within the next couple days!) - each box in the series that uses a cipher (not all do) has a different cipher.  I will say, I'm hoping that the whole clue will take people about an hour or so to figure out.  And, I think I'll have to post it all on the blog here, since several parts of the clue are going to be picture files.  I guess we'll see tomorrow or Monday, won't we?

So, we come to the conclusion of another post, which means it's time for today's Lessons in Letterboxing!

• Boxes might not always be where they should be, but it's fun figuring it all out anyway.  I might not get the stamp, but it's awfully satisfying to know that I can determine exactly where Disc-golf basket #3 used to be.
  
• The hubby is not so thrilled when I make us go two hours out of the way to the wrong park.  So I doubt that I'll be able to convince him to stop for boxes again for a good long while.  :-(
• Clever clues take a ton of work.  I think they're worth it - I mean, I did spend a good 10 hours carving those six stamps, it's perfectly fine for me to require some work to be put into actually getting to find them!
• The middle of the day on a cold day is the perfect time to box around here!  Everyone who goes to the park to each their lunches is staying in their cars, and not in my way and snooping around!  
• I've determined that the TVM is everywhere, and they are all out to get me.  Little do they know that I've figured this out, and now I'm actually paying attention to where those pesky vines are before they stab me in the eye.  

Happy trails!
Rogue Artist