Elm Creek

I went geocaching after vacation up by Kyle's house.  I needed to pick up Luna (she didn't eat one of his combs this time) and I had the day to myself, so I spent it hiking around in the woods.  Elm Creek wasn't nearly as rich a geocaching environment as the Woodville Trail.  But at least no dogs tried to eat my ankle.

It was chilly out.  Which was good.  Running away from this next full of wasps might have been more difficult during high summer.  Toward the end of the day, I looked for a cache at a place called "lake view" or something similar.  After stomping around a big tree for a long time I thought, "maybe it's a diversion, and the cache is really at that nearby bird blind."  I poked around the bird blind, and then went to reach behind the sign in the blind that listed the birds you might see.  At the last second, I hesitated, withdrew my fingers, and took a peek.  Behind the sign was another wasp nest and half a dozen groggy wasps.  I took it as a sign that caching was done for the day.

This nest was NOT a cache.


But this bird is a cache.  You have to fish a small rolled up log out of his cloaca.


Out at the moose cache, which I almost skipped because it was almost a mile from the previous cache, there was a particularly interesting choice of loot.  I'm glad I didn't take the Casey Scott album because a.) it's a little boring if you look it up on YouTube, and b.) the First 4th of July has to do with printing presses, so it gives me some insight into Kyle's worklife.  I'm much more in tune with the day-to-day struggles of a friend.


I know they're just child zombies, and it's not their fault, and I should feel bad for them.  But they're zombies in the end and they'd eat my brain given half a chance, so I had to call in the troops.  A lady on a horse asked me if I'd found a cache.  I bet seeing a guy playing with toy soldiers and zombies on top of a thermos top isn't something you see every day while riding your horse in the woods.  I think Lewis Black once made a joke to that effect.


It doesn't look nearly as sinister as it was.  I followed trails in a circle for what seemed like forever.


Back at Kyle's house.  I really enjoy this picture because it looks like some sort of official Ford advertisement for a Fiesta.  It's just his front yard.


Doesn't his yard look beautiful?  You can really appreciate it if you don't have to do any of the raking.

New Camera!

It's been over four months since I last posted a picture I took with my camera (at least according to Flicker). This is because I loaned my camera to a gaggle of 8 year olds to make movies about the pros and cons of Jello (seriously), and they did something that knocked out my colors, forcing me into a world of greens reminiscent of the shallow waters of Lake Nokomis. I know this from experience, having swam there in the algae despite the very real threat of brain-eating amoebas. I biked over to Target to take advantage of a good deal on an Elph 100, only to find it was the only camera that was out of stock. The clerk graciously offered to find me an alternative store. I asked him if it was within bicycling distance. So I went home and upgraded to an Elph 300 (Cannon) on Amazon. Nice camera. Beautiful shots. And the movies are so much better than the last camera that it's a bit surreal. More storage space, but it was about time I had an excuse to go find a 1TB drive and a new desktop machine (the wireless card on the old one has died, and I figure it's easier to just buy a new machine and move over the content via the portable hard drive). BUT I DIGRESS! Yes, yes I do. I have a new Cannon Powershot Elph 300 HS. It will serve me well on vacation. To test it out, I took random photos for you to enjoy. First, Mean Mr. Mustard mimicking his boss by downing 12 Super Hot Buffalo Wild Wings in 6 minutes! That's right - it's a magical camera, you can see pictures of vegetarians eating meat. Or not. But it does take pictures of leaves. GLORIOUS LEAVES! Truth be told, they're kind of pretty with an HD point and click. And...wait for it...my front yard! That won't be the view for too long. That river birch is a thorn in my...eye. One third of it is dead. One third is over my house, though recently whittled way back. And one third threatens my neighbor's house and his innocent tree. I have worries that if I remove the 1/3 that's dead, the other two thirds will take out my garage, his tree, and perhaps his living room, depending on how far it manages to lean during hari kari. Two guys from work came by to take a look. Unbonded. They're pretty sure it's not an option given their limited insurance. I uploaded a video as well, but HD video is 129 Megs for 30 seconds of video! I wrote this whole post, and there are still 12 minutes of upload time remaining. I'm going to go do some shit on Facebook. Maybe make fun of Kevin. Then I'll be back so you don't miss this enormous video that shows you nothing but leaves rustling while I read Lev Grossman's "The Magician King".