A First To Find (FTF)

Some may know that I'm a geocacher.  I'm a wimpy geocacher, often giving up if I don't stumble upon the cache in a few minutes, or if it involves a steep climb or contact with wasps and such.
However, I seem to have to my credit several friends who have gotten the "bug" from me and taken off on their own with much more determination and persistence than I ever had.


I've also placed 4 caches which mostly rate as being very difficult and therefore generate very little traffic or interest.  Two of them were placed last summer in Maine while sailing on the Isaac Evans, and a few days ago I got word that someone found one of them.  That's a First To Find or FTF in our language.  But WHAT a story!!


Location: Maine, United States
darterkitfox found Brenda's Booty (Traditional Cache) at 4/19/2011

Log Date: 4/19/2011
This is certainly going to get a favorites icon from me, not only because of the view and the beautiful island but because of the experience I had of getting it.  Oh, and FTF too.  Cleaning up an oil spill under a business on Main Street, I was on the island for 3 days, staying at what appeared to be the only motel, The Tidewater.  The weather was great today and we got done with our work early.  I really wanted to try for this one but I couldn't find anyone with a boat to take me for less than $150.  I decided to rent a kayak.  Now I've only been on a two person, sit on top, kayak down in the Caribbean and wasn't expecting a kayak that was only as tall as I was.  My size 15 steel toed boots only fit sideways inside too.  Not being able to swim, I wasn't very inspired on my chances of survival.   My next problem was getting close enough to launch with my method of transportation being a 31 foot box truck.  I ended up driving down a road called Crockett something, which was only wide enough for my truck with both sides being mud.  When I finally met someone coming the other direction, she had to back up almost a quarter of a mile until she could pull off.  I got out to talk with her and luckily she wasn't mad but was surprised I was down there with that truck.  I told her what I was doing and she told me there was a place I could park and launch not much further up the road.  When I finally squeezed into the kayak in a foot of water, all I did was wobble back and forth.  I made several attempts at stabilizing it, but it just made it worse and I almost tipped over.  I decided I was out of my league and since the water is about 40 degrees I would cut my losses and go back to the motel.  Then I figured I'd just go along the shore in the inlet and if I fell out, it would only be a couple feet deep.  Then for some reason I got the hang of it.  With more confidence, I headed along the shore and then cut across a narrows to another little island.  GPS showed less than .3 at this point and I decided to cross the open water and go for it.  When I made shore, I had a harder time getting out of the kayak and ended up dragging myself up over the bulbous seaweed, getting myself wet and slimy.  Finally, on my feet again, I went the few hundred feet to the cache which I found almost immediately.  By the way, it's barely a small, and definately not a regular.  Signed the FTF but can't figure out why the note on it said it was placed last summer but it was only published recently.  When I got back to the kayak, I found out that the seat back pops out and I had been sitting on that instead of down in the seat itself.  What a much more stable ride when you actually sit down in the seat with the back behind you!  Who knew!  Well worth my $25 rental for the experience and my coworkers didn't have to come find my body either.


It warms my heart!  The reason it didn't get published for 7 months was that I wasn't allowed to place a cache so far from "home" because I couldn't maintain it.  In February, I found a local... Brenda, herself, to be the custodian.  Hopefully it will enjoy a few finds this season.

A Knitter's Cruise

My knitting of choice:  We spent 4 days on a schooner in Maine... Not a knitter's cruise unless you consider that 8 out of 24 on board were knitters!  I chose socks at the last minute.  Stopped at Wooly Ewe in East Aurora, NY pre-cruise and looked for yarn that would be a muted colorway to do justice to the Sunshine pattern in my favorite book, Sock Innovations.  I renamed the pattern "Windward" to celebrate the cruise.

The Windjammer Sock.

Socks in Lang Aktion and baby sweater by the newest knitter.

Dog bones for the Doggy sweater.

More socks finished.

Our own "Cookie" whipped out a hat and began another hat from the "not just socks" book.

Lots of knitting was completed:

And there were lots of happy sailors!