Endings, Beginnings and an Update

July 2009 ~ Rescued by Lone R

One of the Mennonite Quilt blocks has already been compromised!! It is in New Hamburg near the 10000 Villages warehouse. They are doing construction and ripped out the flowerbed in the process. So… Lone R graciously made the trip to Hidden Acres Camp to pick it up and rehid it near the 10000 Villages store (in a safer location). Thanks Lone R for rescuing this box and putting it back into circulation.

July 15 ~ Met a new LOCAL (yeah!!) Letterboxer

Today I met with Where’s Wendy and her daughter The Happy Bee at Tim Horton’s (coffee shop ~ for those of you Americans who don’t know what that is ) for an exchange. Then we travelled together to Bognor Marsh where I replanted the “Blackbirds” box that had gotten washed away this winter/spring. We also did the escarpment climb to the “Turkeys” box also so Wendy could stamp in and I could do a maintenance check ~ all in good shape.

August ~ Kirbert’s Airport Stamps

I got to looking at the list of Kirbert’s Airport stamps and decided that there were two small airports in this area that really needed stamps. So… I emailed him and he replied… “tell me what you want”. So I went onto websites and found two planes that would “match” with the airports in question. I emailed him the information and less than a month later two stamps arrived for me in the mail. COOL!!! So there are now two Kirbert stamps planted along the trail of the NES, one in Owen Sound and one in Wiarton.

September, 2009 ~ HitchHikers, my first

I’ve been working on a few HH’s for the Box ON! Event (We want to stop at the Hockley Valley HH Chalet and I want a couple to trade out). These make use of the smaller scraps of carving material left over from my other carves. I’ve decided on a small series called Autumn Leaves. I’ve also just started carving (on these small leaves with fine detail) with an exacto blade rather than the gouges and I’ve got to say I like the end result. It gives a crisp, clear image. So… I’ve completed Red Oak, Sugar Maple and American Beech. I made small logbooks by cutting out individual leaf shaped pages and putting them together with scrap book posts. I love the final look, but it is sure tedious cutting out all those pages ~ I did 30 per logbook, so I’m already working on replacement books for when they are full (something I can do when I’ve run out of my supply of pink stuff and can’t afford to purchase any more ~ for the time being).

September 26, 2009 ~ Box ON! Life in the Big Smoke Event

Today I went with Where’s Wendy (and her family) to Toronto, where the two of us boarded the Rosedale Subway for High Park and the Box ON! Event. We arrived at the park early and there was no-one at the pavilion, so we started out with the clues Wendy had printed. We were able to find #2 and #3 of the first series before the event “started” at the pavilion. Then, we went back and found a couple more, but with a few trips up and down that staircase we finally gave up. We had found all of five stamps (one of which was mine) by 1:00p.m when we headed back to the pavilion for lunch. We then spent quite a bit of time in the pavilion stamping in all the event stamps and by then it was raining. However…. Where’s Wendy and Fiddleheads were anxious to find a few more!! So… off we headed to the south end of the park, near Grenadier Pond. Thanks to Fiddleheads, we were able to pick up four more stamps, ending with my Ontario Stockyards, stamped in as it really started to pour!! Then, on our way home (driving) we stopped to get Kirbert’s Fokker Dr I and to put two Autumn Leaves HH’s into the Hockley Valley HH Chalet. So, all in all, I picked up 8 new traditionals today.

October 5, 2009 ~ Quick Drive-By

Had to make a quick trip into Etobicoke to drop off my BIL and SIL at my Aunt & Uncle’s place on the Lakeshore. On the way home I took a side trip to Lone R’s Oh My Stars are We on Mars? Letterbox, near Cheltenham. Brought back a few memories as we were married at the Presbyterian Church just down the road and had the reception at the golf club nearby. A very “cool” stop if you’re driving by the area.

October 7, 2009 ~ finally reached F100

Where’s Wendy and I made a trip to Guelph to purchase some more carving materials and to do some letterboxing.  We spent the afternoon at the University of Guelph and picked up the Gwelf and Gryphons letterboxes (by Lone R) on the campus proper and then parked near the Arboretum.   There we were able to scout out the Box ON! Puzzle Boxes (5 ~ I already had one from the Box ON event), and the Secret Garden planted by Fiddleheads.  We also found Lone R’s Arboretum stamp and The Phoenix’s Chicka Chicka Boom Boom stamp.  On the way home we stopped in Fergus to pick up the Scottish Games LB (for Wendy… I already had it). Here are a couple of photos of this lovely spot.  (Great carve too that complements both the setting and the clue).

All in all, a great day.  AND, I PASSED MY F100 COUNT TODAY!!!!  Now that I have reached this goal (and sewn my patch on my vest) I am less anxious to be out there LB’ing. That’s not to say that I’m quitting or anything, just that I won’t be spending money I don’t have trying to get out there.

October 15, 2009 ~ NES completed

Today I made the trip into Owen Sound and planted the last of the NES boxes at Inglis Falls and the Centennial Tower. It’s been a slice!! And my carving skills have improved signifiantly… I could not attempt those last two images when I was starting out, hence the “fractured” order of planting the series of boxes.  (I am now at 49 plants… I HAVE to get one more!!)  Anyways… they are all out there and all have been visited by at least one person (Where’s Wendy ~ OK, she’s more local so it’s understandable). But I’ve got to say, it does give one much more incentive to carve when you know someone is anxious to find them!!!

October 28, 2009 – My P50!!! and Logbook making

With the Mennonite Quilt Blocks and the Niagara Escarpment Series completed, I have begun working on a new (more flexible) series called Hubcaps (I had no idea how many different hubcap designs I would have to choose from.  Check out www.hubcaps.com).  These will be drive-by’s planted at Roadside Picnic/Rest Stops that I encounter on my many travels.   The first has already been planted at Mar (north of Wiarton).  I pass this spot at least once weekly and it has been “calling out” for a plant.   I have three more ready to go.

The thing is…. I am using up some of the smaller lock ‘n locks that I have acquired.  They are the 6oz. size and I have about 12 of them.  So… they are easy to cover, easy to hide and fit the stamp quite well.  However…. they do not fit the $1.50 log books (3 x 4 1/2″) that I have bought for my other plants… argh!!!

So I have delved into making small logbooks.  I purchased “cheap” sketch books from the dollar store and am cutting them into 2″x2 1/2″ pages.  So far I have tried two types of books.  1. The Matchbook Logbook posted by Campfire Lady.   Other than trying to drill through all 60 pages at once with my smallest drill bit and not getting the holes exactly straight (ie. they come out the back a bit wonky), I have pretty much liked this method.  Using the drill meant that the holes were all lined up and getting a needle through was really easy.  I had embroidery floss already, and so it was easy to match colours and make it look quite sharp.  (As long as you don’t turn it over and look at the back).  It gives a 2×2″ page for stamping on.    So far I have completed 4 and will do a bunch more.

Also, I am working on more of the Autumn Leaves HH.  I have three more in the works (White Oak, Basswood and Elm stamps are carved).  Again, it is the logbooks that are holding me up.  Hand cutting those pages for the logbooks in the shape of the leaf (matches the stamp) is a tedious process.  I will not do it again!!! But my perfectionist tendancies will not let me complete the series any other way.

I have to say, that making logbooks is so far my least favorite part of letterboxing.   My carving skills are improving with each carve (and images getting more complex), and really, covering the boxes only takes about 20 minutes a piece.  Then it’s a simple matter of putting all the pieces together in baggies and getting them into the boxes.

I have one more LB gathering trip planned with Where’s Wendy (she’s from Owen Sound, so we are doing stuff together, yeah!!!) and then that will likely be it for a while.  We’re hopefully heading for Guelph again next week.

I will continue to carve hubcaps and make logbooks until I run out of stuff (may need another sheet of pink stuff soon) and then we’ll see where it goes from there.

I’m still looking for employment and hoping that it doesn’t take too much longer for something to show up that I can do well.  It likely will involve a move, so in the mean time I’m trying to get stuff sorted, organized and purged in preparation.

All in all, it’s been a good boxing year ~ may it continue to be so!!

Box Maintenance and a New Letterboxer

So… now that I have so many plants (43), I now find that I’m having to do some maintenance on them.   A couple have gone missing ~ one that needs a completely new stamp, logbook, etc ~ and a second that fortunately got rescued and now needs to be rehidden in a better spot.

AND…… there is a new letterboxer in the area!!! Yahoo!!!! So… now there is some real incentive to get the Niagara Escarpment boxes completely finished (I have 3 left and one recarve to complete the whole set!)

Mennonite Quilt Blocks planted

They are all in place and all clues are now posted on AQ and LbNA.   What fun this series was and…..  I made the top 10 (actually was third with 14 plants) on PAL Day and now the Log Cabin Quilt Square has a blue diamond.  Wow…. I am honoured!!!

Spring Chick’s Carvings

OK: I just followed a link from Lone R’s blog and took a look at Spring Chick’s carving abilities and creativity and I’ve got to say I’m in awe…. some day….. Go here to see. http://www.flickr.com/photos/springchick/396032356/in/photostream/

mid-May Update

So.. on May 2 I went to check on a couple of my letterboxes…. not too successful. This is what I encountered.

The beavers had been busy at work and the water levels had risen high enough to separate the boardwalk far enough that I could not cross.  So… I bushwacked around the end of the pond to the “island” in the middle and discovered that the section of boardwalk the box was under had completely floated away…. no sign of the box whatsoever.  MY FIRST LOSS  ;(  So I am working on a recarve and a replant (currently listed as unavailable until I can get back out there).  And then when I went to go “up” the escarpment, I couldn’t even follow the road (didn’t have my hip waders on that day).  So… I’m guessing that the box on top of the escarpment is still OK, but I’ll have to get back and check it out another day.

Major spoiler coming up…. if you don’t want to see pics of stamps DO NOT LOOK!!!

I have been working on my “Mennonites of Ontario ~ Quilt Blocks” series, getting them ready for Plant-A-Letterbox day.  It has been a lot of work, between researching quilt squares and then researching Mennonite history and then figuring out what significant locations to plant each one at.   Anyways…  I have already hidden one, but here is a pic of the other 19 squares…. it looks so cool, I just had to show it (I won’t normally do this… but an exception!!).  All will be planted and clues posted on May 26… coming soon!!  So this spring, most of my letterboxing has consisted of carving and planting.

Mayday ~ Thoughts, Reflections and more Upcoming plants

So… I week ago today I lost my job.   Lots to think about!

But… in the meantime, I am carving and planting a whole bunch of planned LB’s.  I have finished up my Bruce Peninsula, Niagara Escarpment Series carves…. one last one to plant in Tobermory today.  I have two images to finalize for Owen Sound letterboxes (NES #3 and 4) and then 1 – 20 will be completed!!

And yesterday I carved 11 new quilt squares as well as looking up an additional 6 more.  (I only need 2 more patterns to finish up the 20 block quilt).   So I am busy carving, and prepping boxes to be hidden in the Kitchener-Waterloo area.   I hope to be able to make a trip down there next week to hide them all in suitable locations, as well as spending time writing up the specific clues to go with each.

So, Ontario boxers, get ready for some boxing.

Letterboxing Trip to NY, PA, MD, WV and Virginia

Last week I attended a camping conference in PA.  It began Tuesday afternoon and ended Thursday afternoon.  So….. I decided to go down a day early and stay in Binghamton, NY overnight (I have an aunt & uncle there and there are a bunch of letterboxes that I wanted to revisit in that area).  

We began our LB adventures in Grimsby where we picked up the Canada Nurse at the St. Andrews Presbyterian cemetery.  What a picturesque place (and a great hiding spot).  Very unique grave stones (I’ve never seen them this way before).

Then we stopped in Niagara, near the place I grew up (Stevensville) to plant a couple of boxes commemorating my family history and the place where I spent my high school years along the Niagara River.  (Two new Niagara, ON letterboxes to find!!!!)

Once we had crossed the border (at Lewiston) it was on to Darien Center (near Darien Lakes Theme Park) to pick up the Knot Quinn’s Knot.

We spent a great portion of the day heading down across NY state toward Binghamton.   Towards dusk we stopped at Asbury Church near Nicols, NY.   As we drove up to the church, the lights were blazing and the parking area was full of cars.  However, as we watched, we realized there was no action outside at all.  In fact, there was a loud generator (we figured it was pumping heat into the church where the band was practicing) on the back porch to mask any noise we might make.   So we went ahead and did our find… stamped in in the car and replaced the box in it’s hiding spot without anyone ever being the wiser.

We ended up in Binghamton (and supper) after dark.  Early the next morning we were up and going.  We first went to the Spring Forest Cemetery in Binghamton.  What a lovely spot.  It is a large cemetery built on the hillside and there were actually five letterboxes that we searched for.   The first was “the Overall Factory” (my favorite).  It told the story of a fire in a clothing factory where 19 young women died.  The stone in the cemetery listed all of them.  The hide was very clever and the stamp was well worth the time and effort.  This was my second attempt (the first trip down there was too much snow to make the final find.)  Also, with this find I reached the 50 mark!!  Others in the cemetery were also neat finds with their own individual searches.   A very cool place to explore.

Next we went over the SUNY Nature Reserve to redo several that I needed to replace in my logbook….. Maggie’s Nightmare and Heron Tracks.  Since the weather was nice and the going not too mucky we took the time to find Great Blue Heron and Uncle Wiggily.   UW was a gorgeous stamp in a very peaceful wooded location… very cleverly done.   My Dad had Uncle Wiggily books which he read as a kid.. and then got read to us and now our 8 1/2 year old loves to hear the stories when we visit Grandma and Grandpa.  So I was very impressed and pleased with the quality of the stamp when we finally found it.  Well worth the trip!!

Next we drove south through to Scranton, PA.    We refound another of my finds at Bull Hill, just north of Scranton ~ again another peaceful location.   When we pulled into the parking lot there was a car already there… which made me a bit nervous.  However, with the two of us, we decided to go for it.  When we got back to the parking area, another vehicle was there and they were flying their radio controlled model planes.   So we watched for several minutes as they took off and landed and did loop-de-loops in the air with their little planes.

Then… time to move on to Mercersburg, PA for our conference, where I made good connections and had lots of great conversations with old friends and fellow camp staff.  On our way in to camp we passed a fishing store.  I have been looking for a fishing vest but unable to find one (due to no fishing stores in our area).   So, Wednesday afternoon after lunch before my session, I skipped in to the fishing store in Fort Louden, PA.   When I walked in the door there was a rack of vests right in front of me, with a “Clearance Sale” sign on them.   I struck up a conversation with the owner while I tried on and purchased my vest.   I loved boxing with it.  It made stamping in so much easier.  Everything in pockets within easy reach rather than rooting around through a bag and spreading everything out on the ground.  I highly recommend it!  Also, I have a couple of patches already sewn on… so if you see me on the trail there will be no denying that I’m a boxer.  (My husband has taken to calling me Indiana Dellanna.. well our last name is Dell’Anno!!)

On Thursday afternoon after our last meal (of the conference), I headed south across the PA border into Maryland.  Unfortunately, by the time I crossed over the border (about 20 minutes south of camp) it was raining quite heavily.  So I stopped at the Dollar Plus in Hancock, MD and purchased a large umbrella.   A short walk along the Potomac to the 100 Acres Along the Potomac LB ~ a cute walk and hiding place, but I wasn’t very impressed by the store bought stamp when I got there.  It didn’t match the clue or the location at all.  (OK: I would have been OK with store bought had it matched the clue).    Anyways… my first find in MD.  Then I was off to the Sideling Hill just west of Hancock.  The higher I climbed up the “mountain”, the thicker the fog settled in.  By the time I reached the visitor centre at the pull-off, I couldn’t see more than 10 feet in any direction.   However, that made it very easy to be discreet with my find and rehide of the box in question Sideling Hill.  This was a very cute carving.   Then I continued westbound (to the next turn-about) and stopped again at the east bound pull-off at Sideling Hill to find the I-68 Sideling Hill, MD ~ again close to the car where I took the box back to stamp into.   This box required some repairs and extra logbook paper ~ notified the owner.

Then I travelled south across the Potomac into West Virginia.  I headed east towards Hedgesville and Martinsburg.  Part way there I picked up Pleasant View in a peaceful little roadside park beside Sleepy Creek near the hamlet of Pleasant View.   It was a short walk along a burbling creek.  The horse-shoe shaped tree was really neat!  I gave this one a 4/5 because the stamp was beginning to fall apart and not in the best shape.  But otherwise… a great find!

Just east of Hedgesville I attempted the Travelling by Donkey LB near Falling Waters Presbyterian Church.  It was a cute little country church (I love these old rural churches with their pioneer cemetery’s) and I’m sure I found the right stone and the right bush… alas, no letterbox.  (I even crawled right inside the bush and searched around through the damp leaves… by this time it had stopped raining).    Then I travelled south through Hedgesville to the Butler’s Chapel Methodist Church and up the hill to the Bird’s Eye View.  Again, the fog settled in heavily as I ascended and I could see nothing of the view.   And… I could not find the box in the ledge.

By then it was after 5 and I decided that if I wanted to make it down into Virginia before dark, I’d better get going!  So I hit the I-81 south to Winchester and then SE to the Virginia State Arboretum.  By this time the clouds were lifting and the sun was coming out.  It was a beautiful warm spring evening when I pulled into the arboretum around 6:30.   I was able to enjoy the smells (fresh moist spring air), sounds (the birds were singing happily) and sights (the redbud, forsythias and daffodils were in full bloom and there was a haze of green on all the trees and bushes).   There were four boxes hidden here, all in very peaceful, unique locations.   This stop was the highlight of my trip and made me long to be gardening (still too chilly here at home).

I then headed north to Berryville (reached by about 7:30) and proceeded to rush around the  Clark County Park just west of town to find the series of 4 All Aboard boxes.   I managed to find the first two, the engine and the coal tender, but it was too dark to be able to see the compass and locate the box car in amongst the trees.   The caboose however, was close enough to the edge and the directions easy enough that there was just enough light to finish stamping it into my own book and stamping into the logbook at the end.   (And I need to carry a flashlight with me to finish up those boxes in the dark!!)

By then it was 9p.m. and I headed back north into West Virginia.  There was one more country church I wanted to check out so I stopped in to Franklintown, WV (another Dollar Plus) to pick up a flashlight.  Back across the Potomac into MD, past Antietam and through Boonsboro,  I found the Benevola Church Rd., but no LB.  (However, it was dark and I was using a flashlight so… it may just have been that I was in a hurry).    I decided after that it was time to head home for the night.

It was really neat to drive through Civil War country and to see familiar names.  Being a Canadian, I am not that familiar with Civil War history, but it did inspire me to look up some of the events and some of the places that I was driving through.  I was imagining trying to bring troops around those hills, through the valleys and over the creeks and rivers to actually conduct a skirmish… quite a challenge I’m sure!

On Friday morning we headed for home (Ontario).  We made only one stop on the way, at Punxsutawney, PA.  I had brought along my Wiarton Willie LB (marked as temporarily unavailable) so that he could visit his fellow prognosticator in PA.   It was a lovely sunny morning and just at the right time for a break in the drive.   A short 10 minute walk and a fairly simple find…. but an amazing stamp… well worth contacting the placer to find.  And although it’s not normal practice it was fun to stamp Punxy Phil’s logbook with Wiartion Willie’s stamp (and vice versa) in addition to the normal stamping that’s usually done.   I let the friend I was with take care of that and I think she enjoyed being able to participate… she had never boxed before.  As we drove through town we saw a number of these Punxy Phil statues dressed differently depending on which business they stood in front of.

All in all, a very successful and enjoyable trip… and I was glad to be able to get south as far as Winchester, VA and to get my first boxes from Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia….. sweeeet!!!

After arriving home Friday night, I had to do a bit of grocery shopping in town (on Saturday morning)… so I stopped and picked up a head lamp for my LB vest.   So I will be fully equipped next time around.     I am tired and glad to be home…. but I had a great boxing trip and my finds are now up over 60  (I can afix my F50 patch on) and my plants are at 19 ~ soon to be 22… so it’s not long before I will reach 25 and be able to afix my P25 patch (both are coming in the mail this week!!  Yay!!!)

Spring Boxing Trip and more carving

I am geared up for another season of boxing.   It has become a tradition each March to make a trip to PA for the Mennonite Camping Association Conference.   Each year I have boxed down and back.   This year, the conference is in the far south of PA and so I am taking an afternoon/evening boxing trip at the end of the conference to find boxes in Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia, as well as a few more in New York and PA.  This year I am also “revisiting” a couple of past boxes to get a new imprint in my new log book.  The old one got wet and all the images ran together, so I am trying to replace as many as possible (crazy, I know… but I’m still new enough to want to do that).

One of the coolest things for me this year is a chance to visit Punxsetawny Phil ~ the famous weather prognasticator.   My own “Wiarton Willie” was the first letterbox I planted and I thought it would be fun for him to visit his oft-times rival.   So…. I will pull Wiarton Willie for a few days and take him on a vacation to PA where he can exchange stamps with Punxy Phil.   How fun is that.

I am thinking of carving a couple of stamps highlighting my own family history (and the place where I grew up) that I will plant in Ontario before we cross the border to the states.    There doesn’t seem to be many boxes on the Canadian side down in that neck of the woods.  

I also got motivated the other day and carved up three more of my     Quilt Block series, highlighting Mennonite History in Waterloo County.  So I just need to figure out hiding locations for  them and they are ready to go.  That should happen within the next few weeks as the weather improves.

So… back in the swing of the things and ready for another boxing  season.

Spring melt is almost upon us, as the local photo reveals.  Yeah!!

First Plant of 2009

Well, it took a bit of thinking and searching (I wasn’t initially planning to try and plant letterboxes in winter), but I found a location for my first Quilt Stamp ~ Mennonites of Waterloo County.  This is the beginning of a series of 20 quilt stamps that will take you to different “Mennonite” locations in the extended Kitchener-Waterloo area.  (I have the 20 quilt squares picked out, but not all yet carved).  This one is in St. Jacob’s, the hub of Mennonite country.  It was a lovely excuse to get out of the truck and go for a short walk and get some fresh air and see some of the countryside.  (When I travel to KW I am spending 6 hours in the truck minimum).   I personally don’t enjoy the “hum” of the town as much as I enjoy the solitude of the trail.   There were lots of winter birds feeding along the trail and I got this picture of a downy woodpecker just after it left a suet ball.   It was a lovely afternoon jaunt ~ and there’s a new LB out there with a HH in it ~ for those of you in Ontario to search out.  Have fun!!!

First Find of 2009 ~ Blair Sheaves Tower

Today I made a trip to the KW area and decided to take in a letterbox (so I could send my Nativity: Shepherd HH on it’s way).   I chose Blair Sheaves because it seems like it gets a fair bit of traffic ~ LB traffic that is.    A lovely spot (on a crisp, sunny winter day) and a cool stamp ~ well worth the trip.  BUT….. it was a smaller box in an altoids tin, so no room for my HH.   So now I have a bit of a dilemma.   I need to get the HH on the road.   AH HAH!!!  I just got a brain wave.   Make (and plant) a new box in that area that all the active boxers will want to come and find and put the HH in it.   OK… I’m off to carve another stamp!!!!