Hotspur.us

so the temps were starting to rise, the sun came out and I though (as I always do in such situations) GEOCACHING!!!! And since both my Dad & Chad suffer from some genetic defect where they are rendered unable to say things like, “NO. We are not participating in this MADNESS.” I had company! (And that was Chad’s observation, not mine).

I’d had some delusions of insanity grandeur where I contemplated going after Soggy Bottom & Rocky Top. Thankfully I have geocaching friends who tell me I am insane talk me down from foolish ideas as such.

Having been talked into some semblance of sanity, I switched gears and thought a Rail Trail cache would be nice & easy. Please note, not a soul suggested that perhaps the rail trail system would still contain feet of snow layered on it. No one even made a peep that most likely we would be breaking a trail for 1.2 miles. Nope. They just went along with me. I need better support. (Although truth be told, I’d have insisted on going even if someone had pointed all that out to me.)

Upon arrival it became clear that A. There was a lot of snow left on the trail. B. No other idiots had been out on the trail. C. The distance to the cache was 1.2 miles. For those of you who know me and have cached with me know that I laugh at a mere 1.2 miles on the rail trail. Oh really, that’s just a warm up. One point two miles? Seriously? I thought we were going to get a workout. Yes, I would say things like that. I won’t be saying things like that any more. Nope, not after trudging a brutal 1.2 miles (ONE WAY) in snow ranging from 6 inches to 2 feet deep. Now typically I can knock off a mile at a decent walk in 20 minutes, 15 if I kick it up a bit. So how long did it take our merry (and I use that term loosely) group to make it 2.4 miles? Try over THREE hours. Yes, you read that right. Over THREE hours.

Good news is I did find the cache. (Yeah, I had also failed to factor in the possibility that the cache might be buried under 25 feet of snow). Fortunately for a change, Mother Nature (who is typically such an evil witch) had been kind. The cache was nicely nestled at the base of a tree. Said tree was at an angle. And the snow must have been blowing in from the side opposite the cache. What’s that mean for your intrepid cacher? It means that there was a nice little hollow at the base of the tree and the cache was…..wait for it…..clearly visible despite being surrounded by two feet of snow. Other wise I would have cried. And then started flinging snow.

But next time, someone stop me. Please.

[Show as slideshow]

 

Early February brought about a snow storm that led to another snow storm that led to yet another. And we spent our time either shoveling, huddling inside, bundling up to go in search for delicious bacon or complaining about how much February sucked. And trust me, it sucked. Garfield the Cat referred to February as the “Armpit of the Year” AMEN to that.

And for the record I can say that (because I am a huge slacker & so far behind in my posts) that Sunday, MARCH 14, the snow finally disappeared from our yard. yeah…that’s over one month.

[Show as slideshow]

 

Thanks to Mr. K (aka sidekick engineer) and his Rock Star status, Team Kuclick scored the biggest suite at Bedford Springs Resort for New Year’s Eve 2009. Oh yeah. Just call Chad and I the posse (two does not qualify as entourage sadly).

Sadly we did not live up to the room’s expectations – or rather the expectations we surmised from the previous tenants who managed to get chocolate pudding on the wall and did something that required the paint to be touched up before we were able to move in. That’s not to say we didn’t live like rock stars….we just lived like neat and tidy rock stars. We’re ‘sponsible like that you know.

[Show as slideshow]

 

[Show as slideshow]