Crabby is Back!

It has been some time since I have written about the adventures to my little crab....he had a grand one when he arrived back in Wisconsin last week. It seems as though the post office thought he was a real crab in real life! Now we all know that our buddies are "real" but usually in the regular world they are not. I went to the post office to mail out some postal letterboxes and the clerk said, "oh yeah, get her crab from the back." I said, "Crabby's here!!!" and she wondered aloud if he was still alive. I looked puzzled and the clerk said, "you mean it's not real? We treated it as a live animal and rushed it right in because of the label!" HA HA HA!!! Pulled one over on the post office! The label said "CAUTION: box contains a crab." Crabby had wanted me to put that on there because he did not care to be jostled on the plane. That was all.
I quickly headed for home so I could get Crabby unpacked and introduce him to my new buddy that I was hosting.
Next post: Joy and Sorrow

Crabby's First Boxing Day in NH

This in an entry that Crabby's Host, skier4444 wrote for Crabby's Blog:

We went off on adventure to a place for 14 Boxes called found poetry in Bow, NH. Crabby was surprised that all the stamps were just words and they had 2-3 stamps in container.
He said to me ..they should count each stamp..then we would have so much more stamps.
He was also disappointed that the 14th box- final one, had no stamp, asked you to write poetry. Now crabby didn't happen to have a poem handy to write in the book. We tried for 2 more boxes- one was to much water and Crabby and I didn't want to get our feet wet.
The second one we just could not find. skier4444

scrapping weekend!

Finally the weekend for scrap booking arrived! Holly, Crabby and Wormy were excited too. Holly's logbook was going to get finished, Crabby's was going to be made (finally) and Wormy was to get his stamp and a logbook! I also had plans of making my LTCs for some swaps that are coming up. All this to do and 263 pictures ordered from Snapfish to scrap...can you say I am a little overscheduled? Well, the pics arrived from snapfish and all the faces were blurry so I guess I don't have to worry about scrapping those! I started on Crabby's book. Here are the friends with the finished project: Crabby is very impressed with his new book! Look closely at Holly in the top picture...can you see the Cootie that she picked up in the hotel? Crabby is laughing at her that she got "cooties". He wasn't laughing a little bit later because he found one on him too! Holly got the hospital germs cootie and he got the necktie cootie. We were so surprised because now I actually know what a cootie is! Here I thought it was kind of like a Quisp...a piece of paper htat you put in someone's bag; but it really is just a tiny little letterbox complete with stamp and logbook! After the initial disgust of getting cootied the friends are anxious to make their own and send them out in the wild! The only problem is that we don't know too many letterboxers in the area...maybe there will be another meet soon???? (HINT HINT)
Since it was a Halloween crop we made (and received) some Halloween cards from the members there. This one was Crabby's favorite...he really loved the little pumpkin on the fence.

The adventurous three wanted to check out the pool but thought that the water was probably way too deep for them to be swimming! The chlorine fumes were also very strong and Holly got a headache right away...I took them off to the room and put them to bed for a nap. They snuggled right down in the sheets and drifted off! I guess it was a lot of activity for the buddies in one day! The best part was that we had two more days of scrapping, chatting and eating to go!!!
On the following day we even got to do some letterboxing! There was a box right in town that the Girl scouts had planted. As usual, it was a park that I did not even realize was there! I just love the discovery part of this hobby!

Boxing in Florida

So here we are getting ready to head off for our boxing trip. My nephew {B0nehead} and my niece {FireDrake} are holding Holly, Crabby, Wormy and Shamu. (who just came along for the ride) We are headed off to Downtown Disney in search of the Santa's Helper Hitchhiker Hostel. What a busy place that was! Crabby was really disgusted wit me because I forgot the camera in the car so I couldn't take a picture of him with the pirate at the Crabshack! Holly wanted one with ALL of the princesses that we saw. (I am kind of glad I forgot the camera!)

We next visited a holtel where Crabby, Holly and B0nhead had a nice rest on a hammock! It was a good thing that they rested up because Crabby and Holly got down in the sand then to look for Tricky Mickey and Tiki.
"Dig, Dig DIG"--shouted the Crab,
AAAH--a nice relaxing time at the beach. "we will never find the treasure unless you DIG!"

As you can see from the picture Crabby really got into the digging part so I would ay that his wish for the Florida trip was fulfilled...all he really wanted to do was to dig in the sand at the beach...well, and find some Letterboxes! Holly was not as thrilled--she kept saying that it was TOO HOT!

FLORIDA

Crabby and Holly were so excited to hear that we are taking a surprise trip to Florida! We headed out on the plane on Friday and just got back late last night. They both enjoyed the flight but what they are most excited about it bringing home another buddy! Yes...we brought home "Wormy" who is a buddy that was just launched by my nephew who lives in Florida. Since he is a very special guy, B0nehead(my nephew), is only letting him travel for a limited time. Wormy is going to box with us here in Wisconsin until it snows and then he will be heading back to warm, sunny Florida. B0nehead has never seen snow so he thought it would be fun for Wormy to see it for him. I wonder if he will try to smuggled some back home?

Back to "The Wrong Park"

walesflyermary had so much fun boxing with my buddies that she wanted to head out and get some more boxes with them on Wednesday. Besides, I told her of our failed trip the week before and she figured that she could be a "a new set of eyes." So off we headed to the park. We took a picture of us on the sign this time...can you see us? I told her of my troubles the week before and pointed to the places that I had already searched. We went to the other end of the park and tried for the boxes I hadn't looked for...no luck! The trails and landmarks just didn't seem to match up! (DUH!) Crabby was scuttling around and said, "Hey, what's this?" I took a look and it was a beautiful mushroom! I set it aside for later identification and we continued on. It the woods Holly found another mushroom. THis one I knew was a Hen of the Woods so I set that one in a spot so I could find it again. By this time Mary was getting very disgusted that we hadnt yet found a box...I was pleased because I had MUSHROOMS! Crabby said that that was the good thing about having a lot of hobbies, no matter if you are having trouble with one, another pops in to take it's place! I had never thought of it that way and I was glad that he pointed it out.
Holly is on the Bolete and I am on the Hen of the Woods

We headed back to the car to check out maps again and that was where we discovered that one of us was saying "PB" while the other was saying "PD"and we thought we were saying the same thing! Oh brother! Puting the car in gear we headed off to the "Other" park!
Now we had another dilemma...our time was running short! there were two ways to go onto the trail so we picked the closest one. Turned out to be the wrong way but we were able to figure out the clues between the four of us and did the series backwards! I can tell you that it is much easier to do a series in the right order. Mary got happy again and it was a successful day. We did not have time to get the other ones we wanted but that was OK with me and Crabby...we had MUSHROOMS!

OMG We Are In the Wrong Park!

After boxing in two places with Sarge, Crabby and Holly, I decided that there was enough time to at least get 2 of the 4 Ice Age Trail boxes. We headed to Verona to a park that i was sure was at M and PB. We looked and looked and did not find those boxes. The park had undergone some renovation and the trails did not seem to quite match up with the clues...HMMMM? It was getting late so we decided to hang it up for the day and head back home. We were disappointed but the day was beautiful and at least we got a few boxes!
Holly and Crabby left for the weekend to attend the 10th anniversary of Boxing in WI Event with Walesflyermary and Peabody. They got lots of exchanges and even got to go boxing with them! Crabby says it was a fantastic time and this was echoed by Holly. I think they are a little bored now that they are back home!

Boxing in Mount Horeb

As promised I took Crabby and Holly boxing the next day. We brought along Sarge "the real boxing buddy" to help us. We were pretty excited to be the first finders of the Mount Horeb Troll...but that was not happening...several people had already been to the box! Here we are on the way to the box: Sarge kept breathing on Holly and Crabby and they were really upset. I told them to "cool it, this is like going boxing with 3 year olds!" After that they settled down and we were able to get to the location of the box. At the beginning of the clues we were to see the "Tricycle Troll" so we had to take a picture of us with that! Unfortunately Sarge couldn't climb up on the troll with us we didn't get the whole carving in the picture. You can get the idea though! In this town there are a ton of Trolls all over...it is known as the troll city and there is even a main highway called "the trollway." It has trolls all along it.
After we visited Mount Horeb we went on to Bluemounds. This box is right near "Cave of the Mounds" which is a national treasure. Crabby's Mom has never been there even though she grew up in WI so maybe we will head back that way and explore the caves! That will be really fun!
So we found a fantastic park that our next box was in. The trails were great and you could even camp there! We are thinking about going there sometime...too bad the horse couldn't come along! We started looking for "Ebenezer says..." it was a fun box to look for with really clever clues! It took quite some time but we found it! Sarge really helped with his great sense of smell! Unfortunately the box was right out in the open and soaking through and through! We decided to take it home and dry it out and contact the placer to see what he wanted to do. (M-Clan if you are reading this PLEASE CONTACT ME!) When we saw the scenery we knew why it was called "Blue Mounds" Those hills in the distance looked so blue--I don't think the picture really does the view much justice! Terrio said that we had one more bunch to go for so we headed to the East side of Verona to another Park...next time---WRONG PARK!

Crabby and Holly Become Friends

After Holly talked Crabby into being my boxing buddy they started hanging out a lot together and talking all the time! When I asked Holly (because I really didn't know Crabby that well yet) about what they were talking about, all she would say is "stuff." I started to feel really bad that they were hitting it off so well and I was still all alone doing my "boxing thing!" Then one day I went out to the pond to sit and think and there they were! I came around the corner and guess what I saw? Holly was teaching Crabby to use the compass and trying her best to place the Hyacinth bulbs in exactly the right place according to the planting guide! I asked them what they were doing and they said that they were going to surprise me next spring with the bulbs coming up in exactly the way the diagram showed. Holly said she thought her excellent compass skills would help in the planning where the hole should be dug and Crabby felt that if the shovel didn't work e could always use his claws to make the holes. I explained, after thanking them for their thoughtfulness, that Mother Nature is pretty much in charge of when and where the bulbs will come up. They did not understand that sometimes creatures decide to dig them up and eat them or move them to someplace else. They both thought that it would be a good idea if we got the squirrels, rabbits and chipmunks into letterboxing instead of wrecking gardens. I whole heartedly agreed with them!

Well, I guess this turned the tables for me and Crabby because he started to be alot more friendly and well, less crabby! Because he was being so nice I decided that we would try a letterboxing trip to Madison and points West that week. They were so excited to be able to finally go boxing together! After much cheering and singing we headed into the house for dinner and a movie. It was Crabby's turn to pick and we watched "The Little Mermaid" this time. Unfortnately the movie reminded Crabby that his greatest wish was to see the sea...Holly and I winked at each other...we knew the 10th anniversary trip was coming up and at least Crabby would get to see a really BIG lake---to get his claws wet you might say...next time--"Boxing in Mt Horeb"

Crabby is Born

The plan....Holly would try to find a boxing buddy for me since I was so crabby that I couldn't attend the Anniversary Event....Holly started looking all over to find me a buddy. One day we were out working on my pond in the back yard and she wanted me to put her on the new log that I had just placed so she could look down into the water. I said that she had to be very careful not to get wet! She sat on that log and started singing and called a little crab right up out of the water! I was amazed....

Then she started to tell the crab about how disappointed I was that I could not go to the event. She told him all about letter boxing and how fun it was. Then she invited him into the house because he seemed interested in it all. They sat in the back room and had some snacks. Holly must have done a good job of convincing the little crab to become my buddy...he even said that his name could be "Crabby"!

So that is the story of how I got my very own boxing buddy! Next: "Crabby and Holly become really good friends!"

My First Buddy

Ok so where did I leave off? Hmmm....oh yeah I need to write about my very first boxing buddy so I can get into the story about Crabby! Since this sounded so fun I started looking at all the boxing buddies available to host. There was one in particular that cought my eye because it said that she has a "scrap booky type log book. Of course scrap booking is another love of mine so I sent the woman a note. She and her kids were very excited to send me their buddy; she had never been to the North before! So Holly the Moose from Kansas came here to Wisconsin. I was so excited when she arrived and wasted no time in taking her to find some letter boxes.

Walesflyermary and I went to Baraboo with Holly first. we took lots of pictures of her finding and hiding boxes. We even got a shot of her eating ice cream at Culvers! Man, she did like the ice cream! We found several Circus Train boxes to add to our logs too. I found out that it was really fun to box with a buddy! (even though she was a stuffed Moose) I got to thinking that it might be really fun to have a buddy of my own!

We had an event coming up here in WI called The 10th Anniversary of Boxing in WI. It was being held in Door County which is a gorgeous place to visit in the fall. Unfortunatly I had already committed to attending a wedding on the very day of the Anniversary! Wouldn't you know it! So Holly and i started hatching a plan......

A New Hobby is Born

I have a friend that I introduced to my scrap booking group; she got totally obsessed with that hobby. Now she has told me about letter boxing...I an now obsessed with her hobby! Well,put it this way-we are obsessed together! I, not nearly so as she however!

We frequent Atlas Quest and have made lots of friends there...but this blog is not about me and Mary...it is about Crabby my Boxing Buddy. Now I need to explain about boxing buddies in general. They are little friends that you create that can go boxing with you. They have their own log books and their own personal stamps. What is really neat about them is that they can travel to other such obsessed letter boxers and can go boxing with them, earning all the stamps that the buddy and the host find together! Now the reason that this is so cool is because when the buddy comes back home you can look at its log book and it is almost like you were actually there! So in essence, you are boxing vicariously through your buddy!