Today I’m excited about something else altogether (it doesn’t take much..LOL).  I stopped at a pet store “just to look”, which of course, always means I’ll bring home a little something.  I brought home a couple of irrisistible plants, even after promising myself that I wouldn’t buy any more plants until I could upgrade the lighting.  I’ve lost several plants due to inadequate lighting, but I justified the purchase because it would help with water quality, algae, fishy entertainment (my puffer loves to check out new additions to the tank), as well as aesthetics, even if all these benefits only last a couple of months before the plants succumb to poor-lighting-induced death.  And who knows, maybe before that happens I can upgrade the lights….but I get off topic…the plants are great, but I’m most excited about what else I got, for free :).  Snails -a very specific type that I’ve been looking for.  Most pet shops give them away as “pests” so they are hard to find if you want them, and innumerable if you don’t.  In doing much research about planted tanks, I learned that Malayan Trumpet Snails would be very beneficial to my setup.  They eat all the disgusting stuff that nothing else will eat that dirties up your tank, and what’s better than that is that they don’t eat the live plants, and they spend a lot of time burrowing around in the substrate, which aerates the plants’ roots!  Of course, they multiply quickly, but with a puffer who is an avid hunter, I doubt that all those baby snails will grow up, so it’s a perfect balance!

I am also glad that my honey will get to do some treasure hunting with us over the weekend, and that it is time to start a stricter training schedule for my first 5K. So it is a good day, as I hope it is with you as well!

Blah, Blah, Blah

We started our geocaching/letterboxing adventure last evening.  Very, very fun – if you’ve never tried it and you like the outdoors and a bit of thinking – you are missing out and must check it out!  We met some friends at a local park where they provided clues to a nearby letterbox, and we brought coordinates for a nearby geocache.  The letterbox was a pretty easy find, and we collected the first stamp in our logbook!  The geocache was not so easy, however, and as darkness began to fall, we had to postpone the mission for another day.  No one present had much experience with a GPS, so we did a lot of learning, quite a bit of walking, and some deductive reasoning in figuring out how this is supposed to work!  I do love a good challenge, though, and I can’t wait for another go at it!  My reluctant teen even enjoyed the adventure despite himself (hee hee!)

I’ll try to put on some links to good sites for your hunting pleasure.  I’m new at this, so be patient!

Discovering Geocaching

Well, I am very exciting about this whole geocaching thing!  What brilliance – why didn’t someone come up with this before and why didn’t I take the time to check it out until now? 

I had gotten a bit of an introduction to what geocaching/letterboxing is several months ago through our home school group, but I saved the messages with links in my inbox, and there it has stayed.  A friend recently brought it up and I was reminded that I had wanted to see what all the hype was, and that it did sound fun.  I have spent the last couple of hours on the net filling my brain with information on this cool thing to do.  I’m not so thrilled about the trading items part, and although I was excited about the stamping part at first, I am now more excited about using a travel bug and finding benchmarks. 

O, how I love to go.  My honey and I often just get in the car and go “juking”  (pronounced to rhyme with looking).  We have done this for 17 years.  For me, it starting when I was a kid, and was spending the night with my aunt, who suggested that we all (she, my siblings and I, and cousins) go juking.  Since we didn’t know what it was, she showed us.  We drove around with no destination at all in mind but just went where the roads led us, stopped to get a Slush Puppy, and blasted Chuch Berry the entire time!  I particularly remember hearing “No particular place to go” – Chuch Berry must’ve liked juking, too, I thought. 

I love to see new places and I cannot think of a place on this earth that I would not love to see.  I’ve been blessed to have gone to a lot of places, and all were wonderful experiences.  I can’t travel as much as I would like (sell the house and let the world be my home), but the idea of sending a travel bug to go where I can only dream of going is just too much fun! 

 Another thing is that for years I have searched for the perfect photo collection for myself.  I was first inspired when I met someone who collected photos of post offices.  I thought that was a grand idea, since post offices can be elaborate architectural masterpieces, or trailers.  I didn’t want to copy the idea, though…I was looking for something else, I just didn’t know what.  Years later I met someone who takes and collects photographs of places in Kentucky (and has made a profitable business selling them, I might add).  It seemed like such fun to do.  All of his photos were beautiful and really made you want to go there, too.  I have considered for my photographing adventure collection: bridges, out-houses, state welcome signs, park entrances, capitol buildings, but none were a perfect fit for the amount of traveling I get to do, or just weren’t that thrilling – just lacking something….but benchmarks may be just what I have been looking for.  I plan to find a few and see if it peaks my interest. 

I really don’t want to explain what everything is here.   If you are as clueless as I was about letterboxing, geocaching, travel bugs and benchmarks, and would like to know more, I would suggest you start with www.geocaching.com  Happy hunting!

First Blab

My first diary blogging.  Cool.  I have some pages started, but with limited time haven’t been able to just sit down and dump my brain.  Here it goes…

Well, we are at the end of the academic year, (if home educators have such a thing)!  And I am ready for a break from the day to day schedule….whew!  I’m planning a trip to my mom’s in a few days and I just can’t wait.  There’s nothing like being away from home for a few days if you work at home, and it is always nice to spend some time with my mom – I don’t get to do that much.  The kids are all pumped up, too!  Cousins and summer weather, time with Mamaw, extra goodies and different meals and bedtimes than they have at home….

I sit here daydreaming about all that while the tv spouts warnings for us about taking shelter due to tornado warning and baseball sized hail that is on its way.  The room has become quite dark for late afternoon, huge raindrops have polka-dotted the patio and the storm sirens are blaring.  It’s actually beautiful.  My first diary blog is interrupted by a summer storm.  Any storm that dumps water on this parched area may just be welcome!

I’ve got to take the necessary precautions, so I suppose I’ll get back to this later:)