Floyd's Secret Mission

Philbert here...

My humans have FINALLY  decided to try to locate the missing member of our flock. The following is the story of Percy and Floyd. I thought you all would like to be in on the secret. This information is also found on geocaching.com if you would like to know more. Keep in mind this is all TOP SECRET!

Hello, you have intercepted our secret impostor flamingo “Floyd”.  Floyd is a member of the FBI (Fenominal Bird Investigators – birds that can't spell, just investigate).  He is on a secret mission to discover what happened to Percy de Mingo, a dearly loved member of DNRSeekers flock of feathered and not so feathered flamingos.  Percy was trying to get home after a tragic “separation” accident in Colorado back in 2012.  As a result of his accident he was headed back to meet up with his flock at cache GC543V7 (Mary's Mingo Manor Travel Bug Hotel).  All was going well on his trip for quite a while. Hew was checking in regularly.  He had nearly made it home when as suddenly as he had become separated from his flock he went MISSING!   Repeated attempts were made to contact Percy but all met with no success.  Cachers who had met Percy along his journey were interviewed.  All to no avail though.  Percy remains MIA.

The big birds at the FBI decided a new approach was needed to find Percy de Mingo and get him home.  A plan was hatched that involved sending an impostor dressed as Percy to retrace his steps/flaps on the journey to Mingo Manor from Colorado.  The personnel files were preened, I mean combed, for just the right bird to fill the bill.  In the end Floyd Flamingo was chosen.  Floyd is a bird of few words.  He rarely speaks at all actually.  None the less he is a real sleuth (not sloth) in the field of bird recovery.  He will be wearing a disguise that looks nearly identical to Percy de Mingo himself.  Our impostor Floyd will even be wearing the same ID tag as that of Percy.  With this plan in motion we hope clues can be discovered as to Percy's whereabouts!

Our impostor must look and act exactly as Percy did so with this in mind we are unable to equip our impostor with a cell phone to keep us informed as to clues he may discover along his journey or even his whereabouts as he travels.  We are hoping you can help Floyd check in and relay clues and whereabouts during his mission.  Please move Floyd along towards Indiana unless he has gotten wind of clues concerning the whereabouts of Percy.  In that case please help him to get to wherever he needs to go to gather more information that could lead to the recovery of Percy. 

Floyd's mission will end when he is able to return to us and personally revel his findings of his espionage and adventure.  Our flock is anxiously awaiting this news so the sooner the better.  We are all gathered at GC543V7 (Mary's Mingo Manor Travel Bug Hotel). Please send Floyd on that way as soon as he is ready.   Do not revel Floyd’s secret mission to those not familiar with the intricacies of trackable movements and logging.   And  keep in mind he is not the real bird Percy de Mingo who looks and answers to the same tag.  He is just a secret agent bird trying to retrace Percy’s flight home and find the missing bird.

 I sure hope it works!!

This is the original Percy De'Mingo. This is the last known picture of him before his tragic accident.

Getting together with friends on the plane. Percy (left), Arnold Piggywinkle - (a seasoned travel bug with whom Percy became good friends. He is in the center with the big nose), and Philbert (right) get together on the seat back tray table and await the arrival of the infamous "bag of peanuts" on the flight out west with Diane (not pictured).

Floyd Flamingo Private Eye-Investigator Extraordinaire!

Floyd and some friends searching for Percy.

Floyd after another relentless day of searching.

Yes, exhaustion has over come him (or perhaps it was the pint of ale that his friend the moose shared with him? - "Flamingos can't handle their ale too whale" were his last words....)

Stay tuned--I'll keep you updated on Percy, Floyd and their humans.

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

Discovered

I am soooo excited, I can hardly get this out. Yesterday I met a new friend. This is my first non phlamingo friend in quite some time and I just can't wait to introduce him to you. His name is Arnold PiggyWinkle and he is a Geocaching Travel Bug. My people discovered him near a church out in the woods where he had been for a few months, and decided to bring him home, feed him and move him on to another cache. In the meantime, we had a great time together. First of all, we were going to play the Wii.

The problem is, I don't have hands. And Arnold has hands, but doesn't seem to know how to work this thing. I thought he should be an expert in Wii, as I've been told he has gone Wii Wii Wii all the way home. Arnold says he's not that kind of pig.

Arnold is a British pig. And boy oh boy has he traveled! He started his travels in England and has been to places like Germany, Hawaii, Washington State and Arizona. He's not certain how long he has been in Indiana, but his log says he has gone more than 30,000 miles! He began traveling in 2003. Almost ten years of being on the road.

With all that in mind, Arnold and I decided we should make more travel plans for him. I'm thinking of going on the road myself...getting a travel tag and hitting the road. However, I'm kind of dependent on my humans and they really like to pose me in pictures for their Waymarking thing. I have overheard talk...

So while Diane and Rick weren't looking, Arnold and I highjacked Diane's computer. First we went to Travelocity, because we wanted to meet the gnome.

We got a couple of ideas there, but then we decided to do some price comparing. Arnold had heard about some guy that used to pilot a space ship, and since he hasn't been in outer space, he thought that might be a good plan. So we got to talk to William Shatner....

but it turns out that he doesn't drive a space ship anymore. He did give some travel advice on a different website. Good advice!

All that planning made us thirsty, so Arnold suggested we step outside and have a pint. We got all settled in, then realized the state of Indiana doesn't sell beer on Sunday. Not only that, neither of us had anyway to carry drinks outside.

We just chose to bask in the sun. I hear Arnold will be getting a bath soon, and plans have been made for his release back on the road. You'll have to stay tuned to get the scoop on where he goes. In the meantime, I have decided I want to meet another flamingo...my humans discovered they are not the only ones who love the pink birds...I may have kin somewhere named Vooodooo! I can hardly wait to find out if it's true.

Good talking to you all again...

Philbert