Sorry this is long!!
We have a story teller among our geocaching friends who likes to spin a good
tale. Talk of the Naughahide hampster reminded me of one of his recent
tales. I had imagine the beast to be bigger but now I wonder?
January 20 by yrium (141 found)
As Gromit and I finally found the park entrance we had to agree that it fits
the title HIDDEN PARK perfectly, so as we set out on our short hike we were
wondering if it would be A REAL CHALLENGER! The park is well groomed and
lush but immediately after you enter it you can see that the cache is hiding
in some unimproved land across the way. Whoa Did I just use the word
UNIMPROVED to describe a parcel of native California land populated with
scrub brush? I think maybe developers have programmed my brain somehow to
cause my fingers to type that word. Hope nobody took offence. Gromit likes
the natural landscape better because his nose goes into hyperdrive once we
leave the manicured lawn area and start walking on the tiny trail leading up
the hill. Wow that was a short walk. We are almost at the cache

Suddenly I spot a grouping of plush Naughahide upholstered sofas rummaging
in the bushes up ahead. They dont notice me and Gromit approaching and the
faux leather herd continues rooting around, maybe for sasparilla seeds or
perhaps armor-all berries its hard to tell from our vantage point. I
caution Gromit to be quiet so we dont spook them. The wonderdog settles
back on his haunches and I hunch down and we watch in wonder. Its not often
you see furniture this majestic foraging in our arid landscape. I cant get
a good count on how many couches and settees make up the herd but its at
least a dozen. I see a few that would look good in the living room but Im
not a poacher so we just continue to watch these ponderous yet graceful
creatures as they slowly milled around gently rummaging in the weeds.

continued in note...


January 20 by yrium (141 found)
Abruptly all the sofas froze motionless and at first I thought that they had
seen Gromit and me watching them but I was wrong. Appearing to the left side
of the herd was a pride of Adirondack chairs. It looked like an Alpha Male
with his harem of brides. They slowly slinked towards the sofas stealthily
moving to encircle them. But before they could surround them the Sofa herd
bolted and it was instant pandemonium! The Adirondack chairs abandoned their
slow approach and leapt forward Cheetah like. Although much bigger the
Naughahide sofas were clearly terrified of the predatory chairs and they
squealed in terror as they ran in a frenzy to escape. Most all did but of
course Darwin dictates that there is always a weak one in every herd and
this one was no different. It was three or four sofa-lengths behind its
fellows when the first Adirondack hit it from behind instantly knocking it
off its little three inched knurled wooden legs. Then the rest of the chairs
tore into it. Gromit dont look I yelled as all the sofa cushions were
disemboweled in the Adirondacks hurry to get at the meaty springs and
hardwood inside. Oh it was a terrible sight to behold as the chairs ate the
insides, the foldout bed frame, the thin mattress Its almost more than I
can describe. I covered Gromits eyes to spare him from having nightmares
later. Finishing their meal the band of Adirondacks loped off in search of
further prey, their carnage here complete. All that was left of the once
graceful and majestic Naughahide couch were piles of cushion stuffing
scattered here and there all around, slowly being blown first one way and
then the other by the wind, probably only fifteen or twenty feet from where
I found the cache later. So if you see all that stuffing when you visit the
cache youll know where it came from. I hope Ill recover from my emotional
scarring.

After the savage scene we had just witnessed it was good to have a cache to
find to take our mind off it. There were no leaves on most of the bushes so
I figured wed find the cache instantly but it actually took us ten or
fifteen minutes or so. We were circling the wrong clump of vegetation
looking inward. Once we changed to the next clump over we quickly found the
cache.
There are also two follow up logs that continue from fellow cachers who
enjoyed the story at
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=50901&log=y&decrypt=

I think this shows that even geocachers have vivid imaginations to make the
simplest cache fun.

ttfn
Jane
aka JANE8276

ps Thanks for posting the new San Diego LB in Torrey Pines. Hope to look for
that this w/e.
"Women are like teabags. We don't know our true strength until we are in hot
water!" Eleanor Roosevelt




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