Merry Christmas from Team New Hampshire

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As we spend the day with our friends and family, we would like to wish everyone the happiest of Christmas Day's.

For Those That Don't Know Him

For quite some time now, I have been writing posts for this blog, but this blog isn't the only one I write for. For over a year, I have been writing Boxing Buddy stories for a Pig called Hamlet, and his cat Yorick. He has done some traveling with me but, for the most part, hasn't done much in the way of letterboxing. He is always in my car and if I find a spot that I think would fit well with a story, I will pull over and take a picture with Hamlet and Yorick. Now you might wonder why I even bother bring this up. You might not even give a darn about my other hobby which yes does include a Boxing Buddy. But as the winter sticks it's head out and dumps snow on the ground, my letterboxing ventures have come to a halt. I will not be planting anymore until the snow melts and we will be doing very little in the way of searching for letterboxing. I know, this post isn't up your alley, but I have a story to tell which includes Hamlet.

The other day, I headed up to Tilton, NH for some Christmas shopping. I still need to find something for a few more people. While I was up there, I thought it would be a cute idea to take a picture of Hamlet and Yorick at the outlet center. I didn't want to take a picture in the stores or along the walking path from store to store, in fear that people would stare and wonder. So after I bought a couple of items, I started to scout out a location to take a picture. It was in the middle of the parking lot where the outlet center could be seen in the background. I had purchased a small paper gift bag the looked like he got after shopping, wrapped it around his hand and set him on the ground. I put Yorick on the ground next to him with his front paws on Hamlets boot. It was quite breezy so I had to put my wallet in the bag so that it doesn't fly away. So now they were set for the picture. I turn the camera on and make sure the picture will come out good. Just as I take a picture, a car stops right where I was taking a picture. They were opposite the direction of the picture, but I knew they stopped. As I stood up, I turned and noticed the passenger window was rolling down. Two women were in the car and the one driving spoke to me. She said, "Now there has to be a story behind this!" I had told her about how I have been writing stories about the journeys of Hamelt and how I post them on the blog. She replied straight faced, "You are very creative! I give you kudos! Keep up the good work!" She then drove off and I packed up Hamlet and left for home. I couldn't help but keep thinking about what that women said. There really is nothing more that I would like, than to get more notice for Hamlet and the stories I write for him. So because of her words, I am here letting you know about this other venture I have going for me. This winter, I will probably be posting more for Hamlet, than for myself. So if you would like to check out Hamlet's blog, feel free to visit Having it with Hamlet. Enjoy.

Mt. K-K-Kearsarge was C-C-Cold

So here it was, Sunday, when Spider Writer and I were gonna hike Mt. Kearsarge with a crew from Massachusetts. The Travelers 4, Choi, and the Woodland Wanderers. We had planned to meet at a park and ride in Concord at 9:30. Problem was, I was not gonna be there at that time. Don't get me wrong, I'm the one that asked them to meet me there at 9:30. I live just outside of Concord. The problem came when I started my car early so it can warm up, and I managed to lock my keys in the car. WHILE IT WAS RUNNING! So after about 15 minutes, I managed to get into my car with a butter knife and a long thin brass pipe. And now you know how to brake into my car!

I showed up at the park and ride about 15 minutes late. I get out of the car to greet everyone and thank them for coming and everyone immediately noticed I was the only one wearing shorts. Was I crazy? I was left with the impression that the day was gonna be beautiful, and for the most part it was. Anyway, we hoped into our cars and headed off to the mountain. About a half hour up I-89, we arrived. Hmmmm, the weather doesn't seem so beautiful, but I am one tough cookie. I can handle it. Right now anyway!

Now before we even start heading up the mountain, I think it is important that everyone know how prepared Rhonda of the Woodland Wanderers was. She had the biggest warmest hat, she had a layer under her pants, and she wore something like 10 shirts UNDER her coat, and gloves. Now she came prepared. Of course as we started up the mountain, those layers she was wearing started to come off.

The hike up the Winslow Trail which was Choi's idea, was beautiful. It started rough for some of us, but as we continued up the mountain, it became much easier per say. The rocks we had to climb over were still there and sometimes they did get bigger but our bodies were getting used to the climb. The air was nice and the french we all got to listen to was pretty cool too! French you ask? Ellen from The Travelers 4 and Steve from the Woodland Wanderers started conversing with each other in french. Sometimes throwing swears at each other. In fun of course. But I though it was rather cool of course. I am trying to learn some french myself, but they knew far more than I did. Well, while they weren't talking in french, we got to listen to some of the sounds, the mountain had to offer. The site if the mountain got us too! I was left with the impression that I was the only one to ever climb Mt. Kearsarge. So as everyone was viewing all the beautiful sites, we managed to wander off the trail and follow what looked like a trail. But it was not. We headed back up the trail and shortly there after, we found ice.

A couple of days ago, there was a pretty descent storm. It brought rain to most of the state but snow to the higher altitudes. Mt. Kearsarge sit at a height of 2,937 feet. So things got a little bit icy as we continued up the mountain. Then we began to see snow. The snow was a welcome site as it covered some of the ice and left it not as slippery. We soon stopped for a photo shoot at our first scenic vista. Everyone loved the view but nothing prepared them for what they would find at the top. An hour and a half after we left the parking lot, we arrived.

There was ice, snow, and lots of wind! This is were I could have used gloves. Of course, everyone was so nice to offer up there gloves so I could warm up my hands, but I stayed strong and kept them warm in my hoodie. Yes, I said hoodie. We grabbed a box by Uneksia called The Wanting, and I planted my box, Mt. Kearsarge. After some more pictures, we headed back down the mountain, down the Barlow Trail. Again Choi's idea. The top of this trail was quite slippery. I hit my can on the ice several times and I know others did too! The trail had quickly gotten much better and we just as quickly enjoyed the trek down. I can't say how long it took for us to get down, but once we got down, we were happy to be there. We rested a bit before getting into our cars and heading off. We did find a couple more boxes on the way back to Concord, but if there was one thing I learned, make sure you bring gloves. Even if you don't think you need them. I thank everyone for coming. Even those I didn't know were coming. It made a wonderful hike even more wonderful. I think they enjoyed the hike too!

It's Starting to Look Like Christmas....Kinda

Now that Thanksgiving is over, up will pop the Christmas trees. Yes, there has been a tree up at someone else's house in town for about 2 weeks now. A bit early for me. Just before Thanksgiving, the children and I went to The 'Fez'tival of Trees, held by the Shriner's of New Hampshire in Concord.

At this 'Fes'tival of Trees, there are about 20 or so trees all decorated by business and organization from around the area with different themes. When you walk in, you are given a paper with a list of items that you need to find on the trees. Airplanes, feathers, whisks, etc. We were able to find all of the items on the list in great time this year. Last year it took us so long to find everything. So another thing we needed to do was vote for which tree we liked the best. Someone liked the TY tree and there was the Webkins tree that was a favorite, but I ended up picking a tree that was more traditional. After I picked that tree, Billy had mentioned he noticed it had a ribbon on it. I was told that the tee was in 2nd place so far. There were still a few more days for people to vote.

So I bring up the 'Fez'tival of Trees for a reason. There is no snow but as I said, the Christmas trees are going up. Including the Letterboxing tree in Bellingham, Ma. The Travelers 4, for yet another year, will be hosting the tree. She has opened her backyard for visitors from all over to come and collect some images of the season. This year, the theme is Christmas songs. Can't make it? She will be hosting a Letterboxing Tree event for those that wanna get together for some fun, snow, and stamps. January 2nd of 2010, O Letterboxing Tree 2009-2010. Come and collect some stamps! You might get lucky and meet The Travelers 4 and get some hot cocoa out of it!

Thanksgiving at Home

So, usually, we head out to either my Mother's or my Father's house for Thanksgiving. This year, we decided that we were going to stay home. Which means we will need to cook all the food. Which means that we don't have to spend at least an hour in the car. Which also meant we would not be Turkeyboxing this year.

For the past 3 or 4 years, we had been what we call Turkeyboxing. We letterbox on the way to either my Mother's or Father's house and plant a letterbox that is Thanksgiving related. I had thought about carving a stamp this year and planting it around town and finding some boxes down in Manchester, but I have been so busy lately, that I welcomed the rest. None of the children mentioned anything about letterboxing so it seemed they welcomed the rest as well. I did however finish a stamp and you all will be able to look for it soon.

So Sarah cooked all the food. Turkey, stuffing, mash potatoes and so on and so on. I think this would have been the biggest meal she had eve cooked. And we are a family of 7! She did a wonderful job. After dinner we had some pie and then we all rested some more. Some of us even feel asleep. As I watch some football, I can't help but think about those that didn't have the meal we did. They didn't have turkey, stuffing, or mash potatoes. I wish there was some way that they all could have what we had this year. I was actually surprised we had all that food. Sarah had suggested we invite my Mother for dinner this year and I said I just wanted to make sure we had plenty of food to feed our family first. I think next year, we might do something in the community to feed those that don't have what we have.

So this Thanksgiving, I hope you all had a wonderful time with family and friends. I hope you ate lots of bird, and I hope that we at some point thought about someone we all know that would love to have what we had. It wouldn't take much for any one of us to be in that situation. Be thankful for that we are not.

What's Outside of Your Letterbox?

So, letterboxers spend so much time talking about what others should put on the inside of your letterbox, that I thought it would be a great idea to discuss the outside. To some this might sound very simple. But there is actually a debate going on as to whether or not you should put a ziplock bag on the outside of the letterbox for extra protection. I will give you the pros and cons of doing such a thing, and ultimately tell you how I feel about the ziplock bags.

First, let me discuss the pros of ziplock bags as protection for your letterbox. (1) If you happen to use a not so good tupperware container for your letterbox, this could be of some help. Depending on where you put your box, you might set your box up flooding. The ziplock bag will help a little to protect your box from being water logged, but........ (2) A ziplock on the outside of your letterbox will help protect your box from ice in the winter. Now, if your box is planted in a location that will be prone to snow and ice, sometimes during the colder months, it does warm up, causing ice to form. If ice gets to your box, it could cause your box to crack and then water will get into your box causing the insides of your letterbox to become damaged.

Now, since I can't think of any other pros for ziplocks on the outside of your box, let me discuss the cons. (1) Ziplock bags attract animals. For what ever reason, they smell the bag and begin to chew on it. Once the animal realizes that plastic doesn't taste as good as it smelled, the damage has already been done and the bag is left with holes. Therefore leaving you with a ziplock bag that no long serves its purpose. (2) Letterboxers that tend to be careless, new and old, may not zip your ziplock back up well enough causing it to fill with water during rain periods. This will then test the durability of the tupperware container you choose. If the container you choose isn't that great, plan on replacing everything inside the box. (3) We take pride in leaving not a trace. If we are putting ziplock bags on the outside of our letterboxes, and they are being chewed, plastic pieces are being littered around the area where the letterbox is planted. We then are leaving a trace.

I am sure there are many other pros and cons, but these are just a few that I came up with. In my opinion, ziplock bags should be kept inside the letterbox. I used to use ziplock bags on the outside of my letterboxes when I started letterboxing 4 years ago, but it didn't take me long to realize that they did nothing. I would find that animals were chewing them apart and not actually doing any good.

In closing, I must also mention one more thing. DO NOT put a ziplock bag around someone elses letterbox, even if you think it needs one. If someone was to do this to one of my boxes, I would be rather upset. Contact the planter and let them know about the condition of their box and whether or not it needs tending to. Replacing a ziplock bag on the inside of the box is different than putting a ziplock bag on the outside.

Looking for The Beautiful Place

One of the things I always tell people, I go letterboxing more for the places that I go, then for the images I collect. I think it is very important to always look at the places you've been because you never know when you'll be back. Monday, I went looking for a box called "The Beautiful Place" in Chichester, NH. I have been to Chichester and have a box planted there in Carpenter Park. This box was actually on a trail across from the park. I didn't know there was a trail across the street from the park! I think it was a snow mobile trail, but a trail is a trail.

Heading down this trail, I couldn't help but notice the trees. They are some of the most wonderful trees I had eve seen. They reminded me a lot of the trees in Carpenter Park! The area must be full of these kind of trees. Not that I am complaining of course! Anyhow, I follow the trail around when finally I made it the beautiful place, and that it was. The thing that amazes me more is that, all these places never look the same. You think that you might have seen a pond or a swamp before, but you haven't. Every place has something different about it that gives you that AHHH felling inside. Oh, the letterbox! It was planted by the Icecreamfamily. The box was huge and for a good reason. Inside the box was a giant plastic ice cream cone with the stamp inside. I now wanted ice cream! I stamped in the box and put it back, covering it up better than I found it, and started to head back to my car. I past a stream and an opening where you could see horses. They weren't very close and there were "No Trespassing" signs to make sure people don't walk through the field. Oh well, I had seen horses before. I got back to my car and drove off feeling, AHHH! Thank you Icecreamfamily for bring me to the beautiful place. After being so busy lately, I needed that today.