Bibliophiles Unite!

I'll be you never suspected that I, Philbert, Pink Phlamingo Extraordinaire, Leader of the Phlamingo Phlock, is also an avid reader. I get this from the D half of the dnrseekers, who loves to read. To be fair, the R is a library lover, but he is not as into the reading as D and I are.

So. In the course of our geocaching and waymarking, we found "Bookcrossing Zones". A book crossing is a place where people have dropped off their previously read tomes so that someone else can pick it up, take it home, read it, and then pass it along. It's not exactly hopping with popularity. But it's still a fun way to go.

Bookcrossing has its own vocabulary. Placing a book isn't called "laying a book", which is what I would have called it. Placing a book is called "releasing it into the wild". Finding a book is called "catching" a book. I've had to get used to this vocabulary. As a bird, being released into the wild conjures up thoughts of NO MORE FREE MEALS! Getting caught is eerily reminiscent of a bird cage and BECOMING SOMEONE ELSE'S FREE MEAL! But Diane and Rick have assured me that this is not the case.

It is fun for me to release a book into the wild...or "lay a book" as I would have called it. Just today we dropped one off at a local sporting goods store...someone had left one there before. So we logged it as a waymark visit since someone else said it was a waymark, and logged it on the Bookcrossingzone.com website. It will be interesting to see if anyone picks it up and logs it in as found.

I've never known anyone to release an ebook into the wild. Wouldn't that be great? Instead of one book, it would be TONS of books! But in the meantime, what a great way to recycle and show concern for the environment. Free books...free reading...life is certainly grand. OH! And just so you know, it's not unheard of for a geocacher to leave a book hidden in a geocache. There's a little extra incentive for you to go out hunting...

Since I don't have any photos of me actually "laying" a book, I thought I would show you some of the things I have mistaken for Phlamingo Eggs. Uncle Philbert got caught reading outside a Carnegie Library in Union City, Indiana. Here's the proof! Until next time...

Happy Reading

Philbert

(just for the record, sometimes I get confused about the difference between "on" and "in". And I just learned eggs are more oval than round. Who knew?)

Oh the Things People Hide

This geocaching things is getting out of hand. I think I've told you about this hunting for hidden treasure thing. My humans really seem to enjoy it, but I don't get to pose quite as often. But I go along for the ride. I have to say that those geocaching folks are really clever. They found a way to hook my human Diane. It was all started on a business trip. Diane did a visit, then she and Rick went to find a cache. They had already visited a lot of way marks in that particular community, so they thought they'd find a quick cache instead. And in it was a special gold coin...

Granted, it's an awful picture.

Rick was laughing at Diane for taking the picture of this, but she was THRILLED! If you are not of the literary variety, John Grisham is an author, and The Racketeer is his latest book. Diane says it's been years since she's read a Grisham book, even though she likes them, but I know what she did later. She went and ordered the ebook version. Somehow or another, geocaching and great marketing are all tied together. There are a limited number of these "trackable" coins out there. This one hadn't been incredibly far, so we took it with us. But if you asked Diane about it, her answer was something along the lines of "I don't know what you are talking about."

So on the next caching adventure, Rick and Diane took me along to observe. There was some talk about mountain goats in hints, but since I'm a bird, I figured I could fly up a hill if need be. But Diane fell...well, slipped on some wet leaves. Rick had to be chivalrous and help her up the hill. But they were successful.

If you're curious about what a cache looks like, here one is...

And that thing that Diane says we didn't have...well, it's in the upper left hand corner of the box. If you want to see it in person, go to www.geocaching.com and look up cache number GCH3DA. Who knows--that gold thing might even still be in there....

I hear Diane and Rick have two more trackables in their possession from a day of caching in Fort Wayne. One is to be heading back to Denmark...they are trying to figure out the best way to move it along closer to the goal. Since neither are planning to Denmark, and Diane was just in Ireland and not thinking about any transatlantic flights any time soon, they may have to do some big city caching. They also found Lefty...a trackable little left foot shoe that is looking for his right foot shoe...oddly enough called Righty.  Who knows. I'm just waiting to be back in the photos.

Oh--and if you've been following this blog, Percy has been picked up from the cache Diane lost him in.  We're hoping he will be able to find himself heading back to Indiana soon. Arnold has also moved on a bit. Remember--it's always good to have friends.

Until next time,

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Philbert

Good Bye Arnold!

It's always nice to make new friends. Arnold was certainly a great pig. It's wonderful to be part of a flock, but it's even better to have friends. One of my humans, Diane, took her mom to Colorado to visit her sister. Arnold, who had been discussing moving on and travel plans, had booked a flight with the travelocity gnome. Oddly enough, he ended up on the same flight as Diane, her mom and me! I've been mentoring a new "phlock" member as well...Percy. I decided to bring him on this flight also. He's not the brightest bird brain of the bird brains, and I worried he would get lost. But we started at the Indianapolis International Airport. We went to Denver, and then sat outside the house we were visiting.

It was certainly a nice place to visit. Diane took us geocaching. Sure enough, Arnold was ready to be on his way, and he went to visit a nice piney kind of place. Good bye Arnold!

And then...the unthinkable happened. Percy did get lost. Diane and her sister were out in some grassy area and Diane found the cache...and then...Percy fell right in. Diane has heard from some other nice geocachers they will try to help Percy come home. I guess every bird has to stretch his wings and fly sometime! Hope he makes it home.

So then I was alone and kind of bummed out about it. It's lonely when you are part of a phlock to find yourself alone.

But since we were in a new place, Diane took me to see some of the sights. We went to a zoo...but it was the weirdest zoo I've ever seen...I did feel better because I got to see a wiener puppy dog...

play guitar in a heavy metal rock band...

and drums

and go fishing...

All this was very well and good, but then I almost got eaten by a two headed monster.  HELP!!

Fortunately Snoopy came to rescue me...and we flew off to fight the Red Baron!

Since I've been back from Colorado, I've had many more adventures. I'm getting writer's cramp tonight...it's not easy to write with wings!

Signing off for now...

Philbert