Friday, January 9, 2015

Invisible - Day 5 of the Chill

As I go through the list of topics for the 20 days of Chill Challenge, I'm trying not to get too far ahead of myself.  I've actually been writing these posts a day ahead of time, so I don't have to worry about coming home and then thinking about something to write about that needs to be posted that evening.  I've discovered that it's much easier to write it a day ahead.  Then, when I come home, all I have to do is hit the publish button and I'm good to go.  

 The first day, I even tried to get Blogger to post it at a certain time for me, hoping that it would already be posted before I even got up, but for some reason that didn't work.  So I'm just posting them when the computer comes on in the afternoon after work.
Today's theme or prompt is Invisible.  I can relate to this very well, because I deal with invisibility every time I go out geocaching.  I'm sure most of you know what geocaching is, but those of you who don't, geocaching is an electronic Easter Egg hunt.  People go out and hide things (caches), then post the geographic coordinates onto the Geocaching website.  Then other people, like me, go out and find the caches that are hidden using our GPS units and our wits.

 Since most cachers like the challenge, the fun is seeing how well you can make your cache blend in to the environment and make it invisible.  The trick is you don't want to make it so hard that it can't be found, but you want to make it hard enough so geocachers can find it, but non-geocachers, or what we call muggles can't find it.

 This past Sunday, I spent probably half an hour looking for a cache that was well hidden.  The camouflage on the container blended in very well.  There was another geocacher there when I walked up and he hadn't found it.  We both looked for about 15 minutes before I had to go.  I took my leave and walked to church.  After church, I came back and started looking again.  I looked at the cache page and noticed that the other cacher had found the cache.  (He told me he had been there another 20 minutes or so until he found it).  

 I read his log and realized that I was standing right where he was when he found the cache.  I looked up and there it was right in front of my face.  How had I missed it before?  I had been looking in that spot previously and yet somehow missed it.  After I replaced the cache, I could see it very easily.  It was no longer invisible, even though I'd replaced it exactly the way I'd found it.  And it always happens that way.  Once you know where something is, it almost always sticks out like a sore thumb and is spotted very easily.

 So I guess the question remains.  What's invisible in my photo?
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9 comments:

  1. KatherineJanuary 9, 2015 at 6:55 PM

    I've had two like that. One was hanging from a rope in a TREE!!! You had to find the end of the rope and lower the cache down. It was COOL. The other we looked for and looked for... it made us crazy. Then we realized we had stepped over it countless times. It was in the woods and someone had taken a small thin log like all the ones at our feet and hollowed it out then just put it right back down. After we finally found it, it was no longer invisible!

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  2. LindaJanuary 9, 2015 at 6:58 PM

    Once you find finally something you wonder why it was so hard since it's obvious now. I love the deer in your photo!
    About auto publishing on blogger - once you set the date and time of publication, click done and then click publish. That last step messed me up the first time I wanted to schedule a post. Just make sure the post is final.

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    1. Paul MyersJanuary 9, 2015 at 7:00 PM

      That's probably what I didn't do, was hit the publish button. How many deer did you find?

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    2. Tami Von ZalezJanuary 10, 2015 at 1:30 PM

      Ditto re the Publish info Linda posted. On your post list the post will then note as "scheduled" rather than "draft." You can still change it to publish automatically if you want to.

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    3. Paul MyersJanuary 11, 2015 at 3:41 PM

      Thanks.

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    4. LindaJanuary 12, 2015 at 7:52 AM

      I took another look and I see one more for sure and I wondered if there might be yet another.

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  3. P.J.January 13, 2015 at 6:51 AM

    Good post, Paul. And I try and keep a few days ahead during the challenge as well, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way. I've been good enough to have them all done at least a day in advance.

    As for the geocache... sometimes I like caches like that, sometimes not so much. I'm getting to the point where I'd rather go on a good hike for an easy find than park and look 30 minutes for something. Though, there are times I like a good challenge. I think my biggest issue is there are times people attempt to make something near impossible to find. That's all well and good, but the goal is for people to find your cache. And me trying several times and posting DNFs just isn't always fun. Glad you found it though. It is always fulfilling when you find a tough one, that's for sure.

    As for the photo, I think I see three deer.

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    1. Paul MyersJanuary 13, 2015 at 4:59 PM

      P.J., It's one of the reasons why I prefer geocaching with a group of people. Someone's bound to see something that someone else doesn't notice. Makes it much easier and enjoyable that way, plus the conversation is a lot better than when you're alone.

      If I remember correctly, there were 3 deer in the photo.

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