Puffed up Proud

This last weekend we took a road trip to Austin to celebrate the end of the school year. We visited friends we haven't seen in a while, saw a Round Rock Express Game, watched the Bat Emergence & lots more.

I think I'm as puffed up as proud as a peacock about the boys and how well they did this year. My oldest son won the district science fair for 3rd grade, chemistry and his OM team took 4th at the State Tournament. He developed a better sense of responsibility too. Younger brother successfully survived the wilds of kindergarten with his sense of humor intact. Me? I staggered through the end of the year whirl too, and am committed to volunteering a little less next year so I can enjoy the whole thing a little more.

So for now, we get to relax and enjoy summer! 12 weeks of nothing to do but hang out, swim, and hopefully squeeze in more letterboxing.

Speaking of letterboxing, we found 9 boxes in Austin. Not that many for almost three days. But, considering how much we crammed into those 3 days, I was more than thrilled with the count. I have to balance letterboxing with other activities so the whole family has a good time. It would have been one more find if the Brown Knight's Mexican Bat box wasn't missing its stamp. Cool hide, though. We'll definitely have to come back for that.

Our oldest son debuted his new signature stamp. He is officially Mushroom Hunter...at least until he changes his mind again (about as often as he changes his socks). The younger Dragon Boy is switching to Baby Turtle, as soon as I can carve his custom-designed stamp.

These pictures were taken at Mayfield Park, a nature preserve in Austin. There are ostensibly no letterboxes in the park. But there are lots and lots of peacocks and other wild creatures. It's a really unique place and I highly recommend it. I'll probably post some other pictures with other other Austin Highlights later on in the week.

P.A.L. day

A monarch caterpillar on the Mexican milkweed in our backyard. Butterflies keep laying eggs and we keep finding new caterpillars. I just bought some ladybugs to help with the outbreak of milkweed aphids. The caterpillars do enough damage to this hearty plant without the aphids and ants! This plant has gorgeous red and orange flowers. The park where I planted my box has a hearty population of monarchs & milkweed, along with some information about monarch migration.

Originally, I had some big plans for Plant A Letterbox Day. But, this was the last week of school around here (and yesterday was the very last day-yippee!). So, there was kindergarten graduation, switch day, teacher gifts to plan and get, parties to attend and more--so everything had to be scaled down. I had 1 1/2 hours allotted to plant a box yesterday in the morning (there's a mystery box I've wanted to plant forever called Space City), but that ended when the room mom called with a party emergency. Ooooh well, Space City has waited this long (I carved it last summer).

Then, after school, it was off to the movies for celebrating the end of school and then the kids were fried and refused to go plant one.

I like participating in these sort of collective events. I think it's fun. So after dinner, I dug out a stamp I'd already carved (there are dozens around here stuffed in drawers) and used for this coaster project I'd finished in December, put together a simple logbook and walked over to the small nature park near my house.

I love going to this preserve as every visit I find different plants or animals. Today I saw a new variety of thistle and a pair of cardinals chasing each other around. And, I planted my box so that others will come and see this wonderful park (and save it from development). Clues to this one are only on Atlasquest...it's called Arts & Crafts Rose. I hope you all enjoy it.

Our Special Friend

We've been feeling very lucky, as we have a friend living in our backyard: an owl!

One day, we saw a lot of bird poop on the back patio, looked up, and there he was!

He's been hanging out with us for about six weeks. We've identified him as a screech owl and it's so fun to have a feathered friend. He lives in a perch in the massive oak--but just above our patio table where we can look up and see him all day long. This photo is a little dark, as it was taken at dusk. We check on him and say hi--he seems fine with our presence. He follows us with his eyes (when he's not asleep). He leaves in the evening and returns home from the nightly hunt at about 6:30 am.

Recently, we've been dissecting the owl pellets he's left us to see if we can identify what he's hunting for at night. There's a great book called Owl Puke that helps you identify the bones. The kids (and the adults) feel very special to have such a unique visitor. I'm sure he'll move on eventually (he may find a mate), but for now, we really enjoy having him.

My 11th street owl stamp, a tribute to another owl visitor (a barn owl who came visiting in our yard one day), is in need of repair (it split). Maybe I'll add a second species and make it a series.

If you have older elementary readers interested in owls, I really recommend the Guardians of Ga'hoole series by Kathryn Lansky. My 9 year old avidly devoured them all (he can't wait for the next one to come out July 1st), and the six year old enjoys having them read to him at night. They're a little bloody (the owls do a lot of battling), but it's amazing to find a series that the kids just love.

First Boxes

Do you remember the first box you planted? The excitement of waiting for the first finder...checking it regularly to see if it had been found? My kids were so excited on the day that we discovered that someone had (finally) found our box. That anticipation is one of the reasons we try to find people's first boxes.

Today we found someone's first. It brought back some memories. It made me wonder if we could teleport back in time what advice I would give the just-planting-for-the-first-time us.

• Be more selective in your locations. Really think about the finders' experiences. Why are you leading them to this spot? And, is this really the best hiding spot you can find for this box? Are you sure?

• Not everyone will appreciate your efforts. Drive-by boxes and those without a twist to the clues get a lot more action. BUT, go ahead, plant what you love and don't worry about how many finders the box gets. Some people will really love the boxes you do create and you'll come to appreciate planting just for those finders.

• Try to picture this box in all four seasons. Will winter's bareness expose it? Will summer's brambles make it impossible to find? Will the falling leaves obscure the hiding place? What happens when the park is full of kids scrambling around or maintenance workers pulling weeds?

• Don't worry so much about if your efforts are good enough. Realize that most people prefer a bad hand-carved stamp to a fancy store-bought one. So what if the carving's not very good compared to others you've found. You'll get lots better, I promise. And you'll always treasure that first carve.

• Understand that it may go missing. You plant a box, you take a chance. It's still worth it.

Mushroom Man shows off a tadpole he caught barehanded. Don't worry. He released it.

Boxing with Sam

I got to pick what we did for Mothers Day, so of course, we went letterboxing!

A fabulous day (any day in Houston with low humidity is a fabulous day) was spent in Huntsville, Texas...on the hunt of many Raven-related boxes. Sam Houston is such an integral part of Texas history, and there are many tribute boxes to him in and around Huntsville. We hiked in Huntsville state park, visited his grave (that's the photo above) and even got some history at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum (where a Silver Eagle Box is hidden). At the adjoining park, I toured Sam's house and law office while the kids fed the ducks and played frisbee.

Batrick has changed his trail name to Mushroom Hunter, because he's gotten very interested in fungi. This is actually a really great development, because he is more amenable to letterboxing trips because he can look for mushrooms. His brother turns out to be a good spotter. Right now we're taking photos and using the Audubon society guide to try and identify them.

To top it all off, we even found a mystery box, so it was a great day all-around. The final count: five boxes found and about 20 different species of mushrooms.

Art Cars

Allright, so this isn't exactly letterboxing related...except in a dream way. The proliferation of art cars to me perfectly exemplifies the wacky part of Houston I love. Someone has a dream (a vision) and then they make it happen (no zoning helps). Similar to letterboxing in some ways, except usually on a much larger scale. You used to see this all over town at odd places like Hog Heaven (a purple house dedicated to pigs), the Beer Can House and more. Lots of the physical tribute locations (like the OK Corral) have disappeared because their owners died or they were too expensive to maintain, but the mobile masterpieces continue! The photo above is one of Scrap Daddy's creations. His studio is near our house (as is the art car museum), and I've been scouting for an appropriate location nearby to stash a box.

I am also depressed that the original Pig Stand on Washington Avenue closed recently. I may do a RIP, pig box at nearby Glenwood or Washington Cemetery. I should replace my Beer Can House box too, while I'm at it. People should visit these places while they're still around and I want to encourage that.

Photos from the annual Art Car parade, this year held May 12, 2007.