30 March 2011 Oops

We've had some amazing weather with blue skies and no rain. I walked out this morning to blue skies and decided it was a great day for a ride in the miata. About half-way to the office, the weather came on and said it was going to start snowing in the afternoon. Well it started to snow, but the weather report said a trace of snow was all there would be.

When I left the office, all was well until I left the city where my office is. As I moved north, the snow started to pile up and the little miata started to go where it wanted. A small car with little weight, lots of horsepower, and snow is a really bad mix. The miata and I made our way into the Chagrin valley where I stopped for these photos. I needed to get back out of the valley to make it home. I waited for a good break in the traffic for my chance. The little miata behaved perfectly and in a few minutes we were home in the garage. :-) In the end the less than 1 inch of predicted snow was actually 3 1/2 inches.

29 March 2010

27 March 2011 Looking for Ducks (and Caches)

Red-Breasted Merganser

Scaups

Coots

Perry Monument

There aren't that many days along the Lake Erie shore with this much blue and no clouds. It wasn't a very warm day, and I was still dealing with a spring cold, but this was a perfect day to spend walking around Presque Isle State Park. I was surprised to see all the ice still remaining near the beach. We hoped to get the rest of the older caches at this park, but I kept us slowed. We'll be back.

26 March 2011 Dressed to Cache?

Our friends Rich and Barb were married this afternoon. We had some time between the wedding ceremony and the reception and made use of it by going caching. Our first stop was a home in Parma where we grabbed the find for the Geocachers Don't Hibernate Challenge.

Rich and Barb Exchanging Vows

Ali with the Cache

Who Could Tell They Were Just Covered in Wedding Cake?

22 March 2011 First Ice Cream

I was in the Niagara Falls area for business and waiting for a wonderful snow storm while Ali and the dogs stopped at Dairy Supreme and celebrated the return of ice cream stands. Ali captured this while they were enjoying their treats. Gwen doesn't seem to miss me as she eats her cone.

21 March 2011 Eva Resting

Eva loves to play retrieve. She can also be hard on her toys. We recently found a new brand of toy ball that seems perfect. It's soft enough to play retrieve yet durable enough for Eva and Gwen rough-housing. Eva was playing this morning and settled in for a nap. She usually doesn't sleep with her toys, but this morning was different.

20 March 2011 Spring in Oil Creek

This was our second straight day in Venango County and spring was everywhere. We wanted to hunt a cache on the Gerard Hiking Trail and take a long walk on the trail. We got both. Ali spotted a mourning cloak along the trail. It was a first butterfly of the season for us. Of course the suspension bridge was perfect for some serious bouncing. We had finished playing and were off the bridge hunting the cache when a group of four came upon the bridge. It's always good to see I'm not the only person who likes to play on suspension bridges. ;-)

19 March 2011 An Afternoon at Two Mile Run Park

The local news said the Super Perigee Moon was the brightest in twenty years.

17 March 2010 Small Waterfall

I was tired from a trip and wanted a walk in the park. We started at the Arboretum in South Chagrin and worked our way through the woods to this seldom used trail. We heard this waterfall before we spotted it deep in the ravine.

14 March 2011 253 Feet

I was in Columbia City for business and staying in Fort Wayne for a few days. My two usual hotels were booked so I stayed at a different hotel. After dinner, I wanted to take a quick walk and walked to the nearby gas station for orange juice (and a cache). I walked back to my hotel and tossed the gps on the bed. It was then I noticed it claimed the nearest cache was 253 feet away. Hmmmm, I've never slept that close to an unfound cache before. I grabbed a trackable and a pen and headed for a walk outside. It turned out the cache was located in a small stand of trees. I hadn't brought a flashlight so I cached by the glow of my gps.

13 March 2011 Walking Geauga Parks

We wanted to walk a few parks today and settled on Frohing Meadow and Beartown Lake. These are a couple of Geauga's parks which we visit infrequently. This year the park district is placing caches with coordinates for puzzle pieces to find on walks at four other parks. We had two of the first four located and walked to the last two today. While we were out, we scouted a hide location for a possible night cache at Beartown Lake. I had found a possible spot a few years ago, but never applied for the permit. Maybe this year (S)miles to Go Before I Sleep will get published.

12 March 2011 That's Not a Vernal Pool... That's the Trail!

It was a cold and slushy day to be out caching. Our first stop was Longwood Park where we headed out on the trail. As we approached the first trail junction, Ali commented about a vernal pool, then quickly realized the icy water pool was actually the trail. We forged on and eventually reached ground zero which turned out to be a small island. Ali braved the water and made the grab. On our way out, we were treated to the call of a nearby great-horned owl.

It's there...

6 March 2011 Turkey Tracks

We were the first to walk the trail at Whitlam Woods on the fresh snow. At least we thought we were. Once we crossed the creek, and climbed to the ridge, there were turkey tracks everywhere. We were here for some exercise and to find a location for a new cache hide. The turkeys sealed the name. Hopefully we'll have the permit soon and Turkey Tracks can be published.

5 March 2011 Ice Shelf

1 March 2011 Waiting for Daylight Savings Time

It will be nice in a few weeks when I can get home before sunset.

28 February 2010 The Day the Dam Failed

I was sitting in my office when Ali called to tell me the Gates Mills Dam had just failed. The dam had been in place for 100 years and was a fixture in this little town. The failure of the dam raised the already flooded river another foot. The cache we had replaced on Saturday fell victim to the flood waters. Luckily no one was hurt or killed. Later after I left the office, I stopped on my way home to see if the cache was still in place. It was gone. Replaced by lots of mud and some really large bass that were victims of the flood.

The top image was taken looking south from the bridge in this picture. Below the bridge the dam is barely visible.

27 February 2011 Visiting Mogadore

I spent many quiet days here in my boat. This afternoon we enjoyed a quiet walk along the Buckeye Trail.

Look what we found.... first skunk cabbage... spring's near!

26 February 2011 Cache Maintenance and a Twilight Ski

We went out this morning to do maintenance on five caches. The first went easy, but the next two stops convinced us there was way too much snow to reach the caches. After hunting a few caches in the area, we finished the day with a peaceful twilight ski at the Rookery.