You can always ask for help. It's best to try to contact the placer off list.
Some folks will be very forthcoming...others might drop a hint or two, but
remain cryptic if they want to you find it on your own.

CSCM and I have sometimes had to ask for hints numerous times before we have
found certain boxes that eluded us (e.g. Dexter!!!!!!! - winks at Team Green
Dragon).

Happy hunting!
-Kim (rustypuff)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I agree with Rusty-puff, it is up to you and the placer if you want
more clues. I have misread a clue and spent hours looking for a box
that I found in five minutes with a small clarification. One thing I
did learn from that, however, is that tricky boxes can be found by
going through the directions again trying to make different choices
than your first run, even if they don't make absolute sense to you.
One person's idea of a forked tree or large boulder can be different
than another person's. And one wrong choice at the beginning can take
me way off route and snuff any chance of finding the thing. And
remember to have fun.

y-nought


--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "Cristy"
wrote:
> Hi, my family is new to letterboxing and have had some difficulty
> even with our first quests. I am wondering, is it appropriate to
> email the placer to ask for further clarification of the clues? Or
> should this indicate to us that we're just hopeless? The ones we
> are following are straightforward directions, not puzzles or
> anything to decipher. We seem to find about half, and half we have
> trouble with and need help. I just don't want to annoy people with
> potential breaches of letterboxing ettiquette.
>
> thanks!
> Cristy in TX

Cristy,

Welcome to Letterboxing from a fellow Texas Letterboxer.

Ask.

Sometimes the landmarks mentioned in the clues change. I and my son went to look for the San Jacinto Letterbox and the concrete picnic tables had been removed by the park. The placer did not know that this had happened. The letterbox has since been confirmed that it still exists and now new clues can be written.

Sometimes clues use the term pace which to one person means one step and to others two steps. We just did a letterbox this weekend where we paced it off using 1 pace = 2 steps and could not find it. We retraced our route using 1 pace = 1 step and were able to find it.

Sometimes, what is clear to the placer is not to someone not local to the area.

Directions using a compass while straight forward, can be a challenge for someone not familiar how to use a compass. (Including the difference between magnetic North versus true North).

Knowing whether you are looking for a regular size letterbox or a microbox (film canister) can also make a difference.

By the way, there is also a Texas Letterboxing talk list at letterboxingtexas@yahoogroups.com. You can subscribe by sending an email to
letterboxingtexas-subscribe@yahoogroups.com


Jeff - Sea Dove





Sea Dove, Peacekeeper, Splish Splash, & Liberty Eagle

Birds of a Feather Family



---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Search - Find what youre looking for faster.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Of course you should contact the placer and ask for clarification. If you
ask them to tell you where it is, then that would be bad, of course, but
asking someone for clarification is always a good things as definitions
change from person to person and perceptions are what we operate on when out
in the field. One man's large boulder may be nothing more than a over sized
rock to another, depending on where you come from.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Steve of Team Rayvenhaus
Visit the National Letterbox Consortium's website.
"We leave nothing but an image to mark our passage."
-----------------------------------------------------------
Imagine a community driven by the community. Imagine a
place where you choose what you want, when you want.
Imagine a life free from Yahoo advertising. Imagine a
database adaptable to your needs. Blog your travels, share
your thoughts, be yourself! Now that you've imagined it,
come and see it - http://www.myndworx.com
-----------------------------------------------------------
When you were born, everyone around you was smiling and
you were crying. Live your life so that when you die, you're
smiling and everyone around you is crying.
-----------------------------------------------------------

Hello Christy! Welcome to letterboxing! I am also a Texan and if you
need clarification searching for any of my boxes, just email me. You
can come on over to the 'Letterboxing in Texas' Yahoo group and meet
the rest of us too. We just had the First Annual Texas Letterboxing
Gathering last Saturday in Bastrop State Park.

In what part of Texas are you letterboxing? I am in South Texas, a
little bit north of Corpus Christi.

Busy Bee/Wanda

Very true! Diane & I have (now) a rule of thumb based on a direction to go between the two fallen trees that were cut for the walkers on a path. We painstakingly searched a bunch of piddly-sized fallen saplings and gave up for the night. We went back and kept going up the trail and O MY! THOSE big, sawn trees! Hence a rule to perservere until a clue jumps screamingly out at me. If naught else, we'd get a good recon out of it.

And you can always ask us about our clues. We won't make it too easy on you, though...

Dave
the von der Insels
----- Original Message -----
From: edwebbe
To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, March 08, 2004 12:50 PM
Subject: [LbNA] Re: etiquette


I agree with Rusty-puff, it is up to you and the placer if you want
more clues. I have misread a clue and spent hours looking for a box
that I found in five minutes with a small clarification. One thing I
did learn from that, however, is that tricky boxes can be found by
going through the directions again trying to make different choices
than your first run, even if they don't make absolute sense to you.
One person's idea of a forked tree or large boulder can be different
than another person's. And one wrong choice at the beginning can take
me way off route and snuff any chance of finding the thing. And
remember to have fun.

y-nought


--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "Cristy"
wrote:
> Hi, my family is new to letterboxing and have had some difficulty
> even with our first quests. I am wondering, is it appropriate to
> email the placer to ask for further clarification of the clues? Or
> should this indicate to us that we're just hopeless? The ones we
> are following are straightforward directions, not puzzles or
> anything to decipher. We seem to find about half, and half we have
> trouble with and need help. I just don't want to annoy people with
> potential breaches of letterboxing ettiquette.
>
> thanks!
> Cristy in TX



------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links

a.. To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/letterbox-usa/

b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
letterbox-usa-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Thank you for all the welcomes and advice! Glad to know we're not
the only ones needing some clarification from time to time. One
place we have visited twice now and still no luck, so I went ahead
and emailed to ask for help. My dh and I are arguing each time over
the interpretation of the directions, so I guess there is a valid
question as to what it means.

I did go check out the Texas Yahoo group and get signed up there as
well, thanks to those who let me know about it! We have not strayed
yet from the cen TX area, though as the weather warms our thoughts
turn to camping so we may venture out of our little niche.

Cristy in TX
homeschooling mom of Kyle (7) and Ryan (6), letterboxers in the
making :)



--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "Cristy"
wrote:
> Hi, my family is new to letterboxing and have had some difficulty
> even with our first quests. I am wondering, is it appropriate to
> email the placer to ask for further clarification of the clues?
Or
> should this indicate to us that we're just hopeless? The ones we
> are following are straightforward directions, not puzzles or
> anything to decipher. We seem to find about half, and half we
have
> trouble with and need help. I just don't want to annoy people
with
> potential breaches of letterboxing ettiquette.
>
> thanks!
> Cristy in TX

> My dh and I are arguing each time over the interpretation of
> the directions

"dh"? Difficult Husband? Distinguished Harpy? Dilligent Hippo?

Dave
the von der Insels
(Of course, husbands are never difficult about directions)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

In this case I would say Difficult Husband, but the beauty of the
acronym is that it adapts to whatever the -H person is being at the
time...

Dear
Darling
Darn
Difficult
Damn
Demented
Dreary
Daft
Dumb...you get the picture ;)


For more than you ever wanted to know about chat room
abbreviations/acronyms, go to...

http://www.cse.ucsc.edu/~shankari/abbreviations.html

TTFN,
Cristy

p.s. I particularly like the Diligent Hippo, that's going to spring
to mind whenever I type dh now!




--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "dave & diane"
wrote:
> > My dh and I are arguing each time over the interpretation of
> > the directions
>
> "dh"? Difficult Husband? Distinguished Harpy? Dilligent Hippo?
>
> Dave
> the von der Insels
> (Of course, husbands are never difficult about directions)
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

>> My dh and I are arguing each time over the interpretation of
>> the directions

> "dh"? Difficult Husband? Distinguished Harpy? Dilligent Hippo?

>Dave


I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Cristy is a scrapbooker. I saw the dh abbreviation in the scrapbooking newsgroups.

If you are happy with him, it means dear (or darling) husband. If you are unhappy with him, it means [large structure for the purpose of retaining or controlling a body of water] husband (censored for those with delicate sensibilities or small children ).
--
___________________________________
California Bear

I am perplexed as to how anyone can think DH could mean anything other than Dead Head.

Irene (Dancing Bear-Bat)
Hikers & Hounds

Note: forwarded message attached.


---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Search - Find what youre looking for faster.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I would like to take a moment, if I may, to point out, being recently
married myself, that there is also the 'dw' abbreviation/acronym as well.
And I've heard that the 'd' part stands for the same things, however, being
newly married you see, the newness has not yet wore off, so, in my case, and
for the foreseeable future, the 'dw' stands for darling wife. I do, however,
reserve the right to void this statement, and replace the 'd'arling with one
of the other words, should the need warrant it.

(Hello honey! (Grin))

-----------------------------------------------------------
Steve of Team Rayvenhaus
Visit the National Letterbox Consortium's website.
"We leave nothing but an image to mark our passage."
-----------------------------------------------------------
Imagine a community driven by the community. Imagine a
place where you choose what you want, when you want.
Imagine a life free from Yahoo advertising. Imagine a
database adaptable to your needs. Blog your travels, share
your thoughts, be yourself! Now that you've imagined it,
come and see it - http://www.myndworx.com
-----------------------------------------------------------
Blessed is the end-user who expects nothing, for ye shall not be
disappointed.
-----------------------------------------------------------

You know, dearest husband of mine, that that pendulum swings BOTH ways !
Suffice it to say that I shall, in time I'm sure, adopt the DH moniker for
use as well....

Of course, given the vows we made, I would never do anything to disrespect
you, my dearest, most loving, wise and all knowing husband...

(Ok, I'm getting sick too ! (*Big Cheesy Grin Inserted Here*))

Kris of Rayvenhaus
A.K.A. RayvenMom

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rayvenhaus"
To:
Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 2:43 PM
Subject: Re: [LbNA] Re: etiquette


> I would like to take a moment, if I may, to point out, being recently
> married myself, that there is also the 'dw' abbreviation/acronym as well.
> And I've heard that the 'd' part stands for the same things, however,
being
> newly married you see, the newness has not yet wore off, so, in my case,
and
> for the foreseeable future, the 'dw' stands for darling wife. I do,
however,
> reserve the right to void this statement, and replace the 'd'arling with
one
> of the other words, should the need warrant it.
>
> (Hello honey! (Grin))