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)