Whew!!! & holy heavens!!! Take a weekend off & all
your Lb pals decide to yak it up on the group board.
I'm supposed to be working, but no, I'm indulging yet
again in this double life I've begun. Trying to catch
up with all the new posts.

New finds: Went to Auburn & found three nice easy
boxes--Old Auburn a particularly nice stamp. Didn't
know about Lemony Snicket yet. Travelled to Lincoln to
visit Penni's Lincoln & haunted house, but I was too
early for the latter (duh, I wasn't thinking), so I
missed my first possible exchange and also possible
fright-induced incontinence. Went to Grass Valley and
had a nice walk just before sunset to find Empire Mine
box, then to Nevada City to see some ladies of the
evening. (Just for conversation, mind you.) It was
fully dark at this point, and instead of turning for
home, we went to see the play "The Nerd" (not the
Steve Martin one, unfortunately) by the Foothill
Theater Company. The sets and acting were good, but
the play sucked! I think we were the only ones who
thought so. It was just so weird. We left at
intermission, spent the night in a funny little motel
on Hwy 49, then found Lone Grave in the morning.

Travelled up Hwy 80 and tramped up through knee-deep
snow to find First Cabin. This was my second attempt
(it got dark on me the first time), and when I found
the box, some finders complained in the log book that
it was a hard find. I thought the clues were pretty
great, but I have a couple of ideas, so I'll send
those to the placer. Also did second attempt for I-80
Box #2, don't know why I'm having so much trouble
finding this one. Can't seem to find the right Vista
Point.

Re scanning the log of a microbox: my feeling is that
the log should be for finders' eyes only. Would there
be a way to set it up with a password that you plant
in the box, so that only finders would have access to
it?

Re gathering in Old Sac & stamp demo: I'm definitely
up for both of these events. Late April (after Lea's
exams) is perfect for me--I help run a seasonal
landscape nursery, and by May we are rockin' (think Da
Kool Kats in early April) and then it is hard for me
to get away before the second half of July. Old Sac
sounds great, and if we agree on this location I will
get busy planting, planting, planting! I think there
must be bunches of great locations there. I don't know
how much I can do to help with planning, but I could
be on call on an as available basis. (How's that for
hedging?) The stamp demo could be fun, too, I just
don't know what my availability will be for the next
few months. Just read Mimulus' post regarding
demo--I'd do my best to be there! (My mom lives in
Healdsburg and always likes a visit). (Also to
Mimulus: around the 28th of September, I tried to find
Twine Country, but to no avail. Do you know if it is
alive and well?)

Re new boxes vs. hitchhikers: hmmm, which is better, a
hundred dollars in twenties or ninety -nine dollars in
ones? I love new boxes, but I also love the surprise
of finding a hitchhiker, and take it seriously that it
is under my care. I think if it is too much for
someone to entrust herself with the care and feeding
of a hitchhiker, she should just leave it in place for
the next finder. Pretend it wasn't there. Some of us
love them!! I found one this weekend that actually has
its own box, so now I have to find its next hostel. My
planting thus far kind of follows these guidelines: to
commemorate a place, I plant a box. To commemorate an
event, a day, or a person, I plant a hitchhiker.
Personally, a hitchhiker is a vicarious way for me to
get around to all kinds of cool places, visit with fun
people and see some art! Of course, I do also have
that pang when I send it out in the world perhaps
never to be seen again, but I know that is the risk I
take with a HH. My only other thought on this is that
I certainly do not want the number of HHs to exceed
boxes! So I plant more boxes than HHs.

Ok, I really do have work to do.

artTrekker



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