I'm a Tropical Bird! Really!

The problem with living with humans who waymark in Indiana, is the weather. It gets COLD in Indiana in the winter. Now some of you who have visited this fine state in 2012 might find this difficult to believe. It was a freakishly warm winter last year. But now it's January, 2013, and it is COLD!

Now this wouldn't be so bad if I could hibernate in my nest. Or in my travel bag. But no. Those intrepid waymarkers, Rick and Diane, tore out of their warm home yesterday to do some exploring. The entire phlock had to go along because the bag got thrown into the back seat. I took the lead and warned all my phlock to keep quiet--perhaps they wouldn't remember we were there.

This plan appeared to work. They explored Henry County--just to the east of where they live. They found abandoned cemeteries and places where old pictures had been taken. They found places of which they had read where long ago people lived and died. Rick was in and out of the car, taking pictures in the same location and same view. To think that trains called "Interurbans" actually ran between towns!

The light was fading. It started to snow. Rick and Diane stopped for human fortifications and I thought the phlock and I were safe. But then it almost happened. Rick had one more place he wanted to compare an old photograph to a current place. (You see, there is this waymarking category of Photos Then and Now. Pretty self explanatory.) It had an address--based on the grid system. Easy to find. So off we went. To be fair to Rick, it was on the way home. To give you an idea of what this is like, here is the "then" photo.

And here is the "now" photo. With snow flying...

Do you see me in this photo? No. I am not in this photo. I am snug in the backseat of the car, safely hidden in my traveling bag. So off we went again, heading for home where there is a fireplace. I was so excited. We were going to make it! We were going to stay warm and tropical.

But through the snow and in the dusk, Diane spots an Indiana Historical Sign. Out of her mouth comes the words "That's already a waymark!" I was done for. Posing on signs is my specialty, especially since the wire surgery. Diane pulls over, Rick selects me from the bag as I knew he would, and out into the biting cold we went. I am a dedicated bird, but I was freezing. Rick placed me on top of the sign, but he didn't secure the wire. Down I went. Face first. Into the snow. Rick plucks me out and puts me back on the sign.
At least he moved quickly. Picture taken, off we went.

So here I am...

This one shot logged the dnrseekers team three visits. This sign has to do with nine Indians being massacred. White people actually were tried and convicted and hung for the crime. Pretty sad piece of history!

Well, Rick and Diane assure me I home going to the tropics next week. They say we are flying down..by flying Southwest. Clearly Florida is South EAST! I sure hope we actually make it. Humans flying? Should I be afraid? This could be one messed up trip. I've seen how they drive. I can only imagine how they fly.  Regardless, this bird has snow on his feet and its time for the feel of sand between my toes.

Florida here I come!

Philbert

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

My humans have been celebrating the holidays and have been staying pretty close to home. So for the New Year, I thought I would share with you their profile as listed on waymarking.com. It kind of explains how I came to be....

Why play Where's Waldo Waymarker when you have pink flamingos to fill the world? Doesn't make sense to you??? Well read on...

Rick and Diane enjoy exploring and finding the odd and unusual. Both of us are somewhat camera shy, so we've allowed Philbert to adopt us and stand in to verify we were actually at all the places we say we were. Philbert is a "phlamingo"...actually, an entire "phlock" of "phlamingos" available for photo opportunities of all sorts. You will find him either obviously, or not so obviously in most of our visits and many of our own waymarks. It all depends on the setting as to which Philbert has his photo taken. It's great fun and he has turned out to be a inspiration for us to keep waymarking. We have turned it into a game to find new ways and poses to slip him into our photos. 

The only down side to all this frolic is our friends (the few we have left...) seriously question our sanity. With our ever handy bag full of pink flamingos ready to be pulled out at moments notice the raised eyebrows seem to grow exponentially. None the less while most think our capacities have flown the coop we think we have only begun to tap the potential of this most admirable pink avian creature. They are undoubtedly destined to replace those silly white geese and their outfits adorning everyone's front lawns if given half a chance. 

Yes, given the direction our country is headed its only a matter of time before everyone is able to realize the American dream of owning their very own pink plastic flamingo and joy of placing it in the front yard as a symbol of their undying patriotism. It is with abundant gratitude that through waymarking we, dnrseekers, are able to introduce this amazing pink bird to noteworthy sites throughout the world and share the love! (It's hard to believe some people don't take this waymarking thing seriously isn't it???)


My resolution for the new year is to look as phabulous as I possible can and to not fall off of signs when I am put there. I would say it is to blog more regularly, but I have to rely on either Rick or Diane for that. 

Happy New Year!

Philbert--the newest phlock members and me...the uncle

Look Who Came to Visit!

It's Christmas time! Ah, the chill of the 50 degree weather, the rain falling gently on the pavement...WAIT! This is Indiana! It's supposed to be cold and snowy. Oh well, I'm sure it's coming.

With all the Christmas lights and activities going on, my humans haven't been out way marking or geocaching much. They've been busy decking the halls.

To ring in the season, Diane and Rick have welcomed Santa Mingo and his Rein Mingos led by Rudolph the Red Nosed Rein Mingo to their home. If you want to come by and honk, I'll wave a feather to you. And they will leave the glow of electric sex from the leg lamp in the upstairs window on for you.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Philbert

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

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