Owl Banding Today

At our neighbors (also cousins) farm today, the game commission banded the owls that are about to leave the box/nest.

Making necklaces

With the boys away at scout camp, I'm attempting to  work on one craft a day.  Today was jewelry making.  :-)

Citronella Lanterns - Before & After

$3 lanterns from Family Dollar. I love them because I can fill hem with citranella oil and burn them on my deck to keep the bugs away..  but I really am not a fan of the bright colors our store had in stock.

I had some "hammered brown" spray paint leftover from painting my bike.  Much better!  :-)

Book - The Invisible Bridge

Wow, was this ever a long book. The story covers about a decade of time? Enough that at the end if you think back to how the book began, it's rather unbelievable that it was all one story.

I love books with some historical background. The chapters on the war can be overwhelming - there's so much sadness, but the book is so rich in detail and feeling.. it's worth reading. 

There's enough sex that I wouldn't put this on my 14 year olds reading list, but not so much that it ruined the book. 

There have been so many books written about the 2nd world war, but this one is based on the view of a jew, in Hungary, and is different than any other perspective I have read. Granted it's fiction, I wouldn't use this as a text book, but it's thought provoking enough to make me want to learn more, which is a sure sign of a great book in my mind.

Area 81 Geocaching "Fizzy Challenge"

GC1A6YE Area 81 - Code Name "Fizzy Challenge"

"To be able to claim a find on this cache, you will need to first find at least one cache of every difficulty/terrain combination (81 unique combinations). As part of those finds, you'll need to have at least one of each of the cache types below (the different cache types DO count against the 81, so if you find a 3.5/3.5 multi-cache, it fulfills both requirements.)"

And if that was not complex enough - 

All finds (except the Event and CITO Events) must be on caches that were"Published BEFORE March 26, 2008"

I created a google doc to help track your progress with this cache - see it here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Nf6RCxs0QbldPdQuvtJoW12zRzNNNPl_C2dB88qlwd4/edit?usp=sharing

Our Progress:

First, we have to have found one cache of each type:

Traditional Cache -
Multi Cache - GCHVNE Guts
Mystery Cache - 
Virtual Cache - GCB619 Standing Tall
Letterbox Hybrid - 
Earthcache - GC13AMQ Watkins Glen State Park Earthcache
Webcam Cache - GCMHEM Pirate & Craftys Webcam Cache
Event Cache - 
CITO Event - 

NEXT, we need one cache for each terrain/difficulty combination

(my plan is to fill in the GC number in each block, once I sort out which caches we have found that qualify)

Terrain ------>

	1	1.5	2	2.5	3	3.5	4	4.5	5
1	GCMHEM		GCB619
1.5	GC13AMQ				GCAE2
2
2.5
3
3.5				GCHVNE
4	GCM91A
4.5
5

At first I was confused as to how to even start tracking this - It's Not About The Numbers, which is referenced in the cache description, no longer exists.  Then I saw in the logs that others had taken screenshots of their stats from their geocaching.com profile.  Go here: http://www.geocaching.com/my/statistics.aspx

Scroll down, and you will see:

   Difficulty and Terrain of Caches I've Found

and under that will be a grid like this:

This doesn't tell me if all of the caches were hidden prior to March 26 2008.  But this clearly shows what I am definitely missing, at least.

Geocaching - I've Been Everywhere Challenge - Pennsylvania

GC2A6HW - I've Been Everywhere Challenge -- Pennsylvania

GOAL - Log a cache in each of the following towns listed in the Pennsylvania adaptation of Johnny Cash's song, I've Been Everywhere (In Pennsylvania) By Earl Pickens 

To prove that you 'have been everywhere' find a cache within the following 93 places in Pennsylvania:

 *Some of the smaller towns may not have caches. After doing your search choose the cache closest too the city.

Conshohocken,

 Millview,

 Rockview, 

Waterloo,

 Lackawanna,

 Fairview,

 Bellevue, 

Sweet Root, 

Susquehanna,

 Lewisburg,

 Stroudsburg,

 Elysburg,

 Orbisonia,

 Harrisburg, 

Pittsburgh, 

Wellesrburg, 

Robesonia,

 Mountain Top,

 Glen Rock,

 Flat Rock, 

Sunbury, 

Saint Marys,

 Shickshinny,

 Big Shanty,

 Bellefonte,

 Southmont,

 Westmont, 
Womelsdorf,
 Nordmont, 
Dormont,
 Lebanon,
 Hummel's Wharf,
 Cedar Springs,
 Boiling Springs,

 Chest Springs, 
Center Bridge,
 Centerport,
 Leesport, 
Williamsport, 
Brackenridge, 
Lumber City, 
Central City, 
Lake City, 
Clearfield,
 Westfield, 
Winfield,
 Richfield, 
Beech Glen,
 Wilpen,
 Tunnelton,
 Conestoga, 
Bakerton,
 Curry Run, 

Smoke Run,
 Sanatoga, 
Slickville, 
Smithville,
 Flicksville, 
Maxatawny,
 Youngwood, 
Edgewood,
 Hopwood, 
Punxsutawney, 
Whitehall, 
Blue Ball, 
Centre Hall,
 North Apollo, 
Delano, 
Renovo,
 Loretto, 
Stump Creek,
 Penn's Creek, 
Pine Creek, 
Chambersburg,
 Middle Creek,
 Blakeslee, 
Falls Creek,
 Shippensburg, 
Johnstown, 
Allentown,
 Shepherdstown, 
Lords Valley,
 Daisytown, 
Doylestown,
 Downingtown, 
Cherry Alley Cafe,
 Plain Grove, 
Mill Grove,
 Mechanics Grove,
 Swissvale, 
Ferndale, 
Carbondale,

Monongahela

Logging The Final - 

The physical cache location is only about an hour east of us (East of Watsontown PA)

Redoing The Deck

 

I started with an after picture.  Because it makes me so happy!  :-)  

I didn't take a good before photo of the deck.  It was last stained in a dark brown, more then half of which was peeling, and a good half the deck was green with mold and mildew - it's a fairly shaded area.

This is the "during" photo.  This is after spraying it with a deck wash, and then hours of power washing.  At this point I've just started spraying the railing

I didn't really choose the deck stain color.  We went to Lowes for me to choose it, and in the "oops" pile was a huge can of deck stain.  $30, for $150 worth of stain.  Yes, that color will work just fine..  :-)

Next is the furniture I got free along the side of the road.  

When I saw the price of replacement cushions, I knew why it was free.  You can buy new furniture cheaper then you can buy new cushions!  Thankfully, I can sew.  :-)

A close up of one of the chairs, before - 

First I stained all the wood - along with an adirondack love seat and a few tables that I'm using on the deck, using leftover stain from the last time we stained the deck.  Then I went to my favorite outdoor fabric store - Surplus City, and bought outdoor fabric - $30 for 5 yards.  5 yards was almost exactly what I needed - I used the last scrap to make a pillow for on the swing/hammock.. so there is literally not a one inch scrap of this fabric left.  Not bad for guessing how much I would need!

I'm so happy with the result.  Here's the same chair, after - 

I bought a flat of the flowers shown here, and added them to two old metal pans I had kept in the shed to use for something like this.  

On the other side of the deck I added a new hammock/swing, and to the far right  I am fixing my broken table (the glass shattered in one of our storms last year) and I got a pretty new umbrella..  I'll have more pics later.

Each morning I come out here with my coffee, open the canister of sunflower seeds I keep on a table, and sing to the peacock, peahen, and 5 peachicks.. who come running as soon as they hear me sing, knowing I'm going to toss them sunflower seeds.  It's the favorite part of my day!