Hi,all! Haven't been posting or lurking in ages, so hope those of you
who might have some passing interest in "statistics" won't mind if I
expound upon a few of my more recent adventures. After the wonderful
May Day Gathering a couple of weeks ago at Quaddick State Park in CT,
I did a quick update of my box count and found that I was only about
75 boxes away from reaching PFX 5000! I also noted in looking back
through my "done lists" that on June 1st of last year I was just
reaching F2500 at "Universal Language" in VA, so then I started
thinking about how cool it would be to find 2000 boxes in one year!
So there I was suddenly with 2 new "personal goals" (and, as anyone
who knows me knows, I much prefer those over "competitive" ones!:-)

Anyway, I'm happy to report that I managed to complete both my goals
in "record time" - that is, well ahead of my planned "schedule",
since at first I was thinking that maybe I could reach them by the
end of this month, and here it turns out that I reached them both,
not only on the very same day (May 10th), but at the very same box!!!
That box was "His Growth", a RI mystery, which also seemed especially
appropriate since Pete and I have always used 3 trees and a sun as
our signature stamp, and that was almost the only clue to that
particular mystery! (even though it has nothing to do with us!)
Anyhow, here are a couple of the adventures I had along the way...

Shortly after the May Day Gathering, I decided to make a letterboxing
run over to western CT to pick up a few of the more recent boxes and
add-ons out there. With over 2000 boxes that I've found in that one
state alone, you can imagine that there are just not that many boxes
left in CT for me to go looking for, but they do miraculously keep
coming out! I'd just gone back for yet another jaunt through
Brooksvale Park near the Sleeping Giant, and was about to stamp
into "Secret Agent Man", when suddenly Pete's little "Mr. Sunshine"
stamp slipped out of my fingers. No problem, I thought - our stamps
are so tiny that's happened lots of times before, and I saw right
where it rolled into the stone wall. So I finished signing in, then
went to retrieve the stamp, but it turned out there was a hole right
under that particular spot in the wall that went way down! (Now what
were the chances of that!?!) Poking, prodding, reaching, and trying
to budge any ot the surrounding rocks were all to no avail, so what
could I do? I just sat there in the woods and cried! It felt like
losing your wedding ring down the sink or something - our little
symbol of 3 years of happy letterboxing together down the tubes!
Fortunately, first thing the following weekend, Pete went back to
Brooksvale with me and a giant crowbar. With one quick, well-aimed
pry, he had "Mr. Sunshine" shining back up the sky! Hurray - a happy
ending for that story!

Meanwhile, I was going around letterboxing closer to home, doing some
of the bigger loops in MA and RI, when what should befall me but an
even stranger adventure - attack by giant bird! No kidding, it was
straight out of Hitchcock! I was about 1/2 way through the 8-mile
loop north of Beach Pond on the RI/CT border where Mike and
Christine's delightful "12 Animals of Chinese Mythology #2" series
is, and was just finishing up signing in (still stampless) at
the "Monkey", when I felt a swoosh go by right over my head. I didn't
think much of it, as there are plenty of hawks and owls in this part
of Pachaug Forest, but then just as I was walking away from the
letterbox site, I heard a high-pitched scream and got knocked down
flat to the ground by a heavy blow to the back of my head! Just to
give some idea of the impact, my hat which was attached by its
chinstrap, got thrown off my head some 25 feet forward to the right,
and my logbook, which was in my left hand, went flying a dozen or so
feet out in the other direction! I looked up from the ground to see
one of the biggest birds I've ever seen - more like an eagle than a
turkey vulture, although Laurette thinks it may have been an osprey,
since she once got "dive-bombed" by one near a nesting site, too!
Anyway, over the years I've been the victim of quite a few vicious
attacks, both emotional and physical, by humans (including a brutal
attack by a woman who started screaming and pulling my hair in a
jealous rage over Pete just 2 years ago today!), but never did I
expect to get attacked by a bird! Since my pastor keeps telling me I
need to protect myself from abusive situations and learn to defend
myself effectively if necessary, I quickly gathered up my belongings
and a big stick - if that bird were going to come back at me, I was
going to be prepared to take a swing and not become some kind of
bizarre statistic: "Woman Killed by Bird"! Fortunately, I was able to
get away mostly just rather shaken, so it certainly seems easier to
understand the bird's actions as a natural instinct to protect its
offspring, rather than the relentless, demented need to hurt or harm
seen in some humans! However, I would still recommend taking a big
stick for anyone going through this area, just in case!

So, shortly after that, with only a slight headache from the
concussion, I got to do my "Happy Hunter Dance" (just a little hint
for those still working on my CIA code name!) at my 2000th box in one
year and my PFX 5000 all in one fell swoop! My F-count at that box
was 4393, and when I compared that to when I reached 2393, it just
happened to be at "Time Travels" in MA exactly one year earlier! So,
it's been quite a year - and to think I hadn't even been trying to
just accumulate "numbers" (as only some people with more jealousy
than understanding could possibly think!:-) I had, in fact, spent
several months doing trail work, theater productions, etc. with
hardly any letterboxing at all! And, as anyone who has boxed with us
can attest, we're pretty laid back when we letterbox and just seem to
go with the flow ("rapid" perhaps sometimes, but never "rabid"!;-) At
any rate, the "numbers" come for us only as a natural outgrowth of
our love for the hobby, so I certainly hope no one will begrudge us
the simple pleasure we sometimes take in adding up and recounting our
various adventures! Thanks to all who make it possible!

Wanda (and Pete)
P75 F4504 X533

P.S.New personal goals? Well, P100 and F5000 in a few months, I hope!
Then hopefully some more trail work trips out west, but this year
I'll have to try to make it back for Chuck's Monster Bash on Oct.
2nd - that promises to be quite the event of the season, and we'll
be looking forward to seeing a lot of you letterboxers there!