Well, now that its the day after the event - I think I can safely let everyone know that Team MudCup did not get arrested in Farmington where this event took place. But before I get into the days misadventures, I must do some pre set-up work.
Know everyone knows that Teacup and I like to depart early. So leaving to start our day at 10 am just threw us both completely off. So while I did manage to start a load of laundry (which reminds me, I need to put it in the dryer... be right back.), I was no where near ready to go boxing when I woke up on Saturday morning. And I function much better when I have a limited amount of time to get ready. Having a couple hours - just throws me way off. I normally have everything ready to go the night before. I didn't do that yesterday.
So after I had my coffee, I hastily pulled my stuff together, which included Christopher... oops, need to wake him up! Get food in him, get him in the bathroom and dressed. Now many of these points are critical for the survival of the team. I did manage to get him dressed and sort of fed. I even thought his one trip to the bathroom was enough. But alas, we quickly found out it was not.
I also realized just moments before Teacup arrived in my driveway - that the PT I had posted for the event was still sitting in front of me - unfinished. I'll admit, I've been known to carve stamps at the last minute, but not usually this late in the game. Luckily for me - it was not an intricate carve... more of a statement than anything artistic - so I finished it up and threw it hastily in my bag, without even giving it a first inking.
So when Teacup pulled into the driveway, she was also feeling a touch frantic as she went through the same motions I did. We just do not function well with a late start. But we loaded down her car with all the necessary requirements for a day of boxing. We even remembered the child! Pulled out and headed off for the event. Managed to make it to just the outskirts of Augusta when Christopher decided he needed to go to the bathroom. This was not making me overly happy. But Teacup managed to find a bathroom and Christopher managed to have an ice cream sandwich. Why do they put the ice cream next to the bathroom? Do they not know that ice cream is the food mecca for a 4 year old??
So on we drive closer to the event. We managed to make it to the mystery location without incident... other than Christopher complaining that he needed to go to the bathroom once again. I guess we were not the only ones who's regular constitution was disturbed by the delay start. We met up at Dunkin Donuts and packed in some sugar and caffeine so we could rev ourselves up for the hunt. The start was slated for noon and we managed to get there a touch early - which helped us out a bit. We picked up our goodies and once again headed off to the bathroom. What is it with 4 year old boys and public restrooms? He was fascinated with it... personally I think its the automatic hand dryer. Because he certainly did not use the facilities that often.
We did a few exchanges. So nice to meet Serendipity Joy, Tri-Colored Paws, Faulkari Four, My Golden Angel, Kindercop, The Hammah, and Tucson Parrot. All relatively knew to boxing - some more so than others who even with the smaller size to this event were absolutely overwhelmed at the whole deal! But now they have developed a whole contingent for inland mid Maine, and I'm expecting to see many more events in this part of Maine in the coming future!
Some folks we hadn't seen (other than in logbooks) for a while were there as well. Lady Slpa, Follow the Sun, and mepanj were all there and ready to hit the trails. Lady Slpa even brought a new event stamp to share that was most appropriate for the day! Thanks Slpa! And also in attendance were Sunnyside Seekers (Sporting shiny crutches, which evidently did not deter him from the boxes!), CrabApple and Haint. This was wonderfully hosted by Robin's Nest, Explore Len and Angel Treads. They passed out two clue packets. One was trickier than another, especially for folks from away. But the two sets together, with some hints intertwined in with the anagrams, had us off and seeking for the first of 17 boxes in no time.
So - off we drove to the first one. An easy box to pick up - but the thought of being stealthy was beyond hope. Beating us to the box were approximately 6 from the group. Now sit folks gathered around a fire hydrant in the middle of winter is anything but stealthy! So we opted to head off and try and figure out some of the anagram clues that Robin's Nest had put together. She did tell us that her boxes were all planted on a couple routes, so that narrowed down the territory just a bit.
Heading off we found a sign that sounded just like it might work for one of the anagrams. So turning down the road we followed the rest of the clues to the boxes location (which were spot on.) and found the location which put Robin's Nest on the very sick list. Now evidently Friday night teacup had visited LLBeans (thanks for the support) and procured spanky new gaiters. And she was more than excited to try out these new pieces of apparel. So much so - she parked us up against the snowbank (which was window height) - jumped out of the car and clamored up and over the snow bank and immediately sank up to her groin! Now while this would have normally been very amusing... we were on a time limit! And Teacup was stuck. She managed to pull herself up out of the snow and found the box. Clutching it to her, she made her way out of the snowbank. We stamped up in the car, as the next boxers pulled up behind us. Teacup returned the box to its hidey hole in the snow and we headed off to the next quarry.
We knew that two of Angel Treads were off at the hospital - so hedging our bet - we drove off to get the two that were there. Waiting for us were Robin's Nest with Crab Apple and Haint just ahead of them at the second box. We logged these in our books quickly and Christopher replaced the second box back where it needed to be (though he really wanted to place it inside the building where it was warmer.) and I covered it with the required snow. Onward we must travel! We are on a time limit! Back and forth Teacup and I mused, "Have you figured out any of those anagrams yet? Oh well... let's just drive and see what we can find."
It was sunny and cold, with limited amounts of wind. So for an outside event in January, it was bearable. Thankfully - Robin's Nest had sprinkled a few inside boxes in amongst the snow trapped ones for us to seek out. The problem was just trying to figure out their locations! Because Hap Chip Park does not translate to anything of the same name : ). So a driving we went, looking for stores that would entice Robin's Nest to visit. An avid seamstress... we knew we were in search of fabric stores. Now seeking out storefronts with 6 foot high snowbanks on either side of the road - does make for a small visibility issue. Not to mention, many do not add their street address to their road signs. But we found the second box and stamped up quickly and moved along.
We knew there was a box at McDonald's and that it was outside, so that one could wait a bit. There was another one in a fabric shop that had a 3pm time limit on it. That one was a priority in our minds. But across the street from McDonald's was Hippach Park. Not only did Angel Treads plant one there, but we managed to figure out that Robin's Nest had as well. So in we turned to the parking lot. We pulled up to the first one and Teacup headed out in her gear to score us a find. Well what happened next was one of those moments you think - "If I'd only had my camera out." I looked up from reading the clues to the next box and there goes Tea... hands stretched out in front of her as the container tumbled down the embankment. She landed like she was catching a grounder while trying to tag out the runner at home plate, but she was in snow! She managed the save and grabbed the box and clutched it to her chest like it was a Faberge Egg!
She jumped up and flew to the car, tossed the box in and set the car in drive. We were off to get the next one! She flew into a spin so she could right herself in the direction we needed and headed to the 200 yard marker. Parking again - she grabbed box two and we inked them both up. we were caught by faulkari four with the boxes in our car and thought for sure we had led them astray on the first one... but they were actually doing the boxes in the opposite order than we had grabbed them. So we turned around and tried to get the first one back into play while they inked up the second one. Darn, they are blocking our way out, so we managed to get them to stop inking up long enough for us to slip by them - replaced the box and then we were off on our quest once again!
Off we headed closer to the center of Farmington. Angel Treads clues had street addresses, so that helped to point us where we needed to go. All the while we had our heads swinging to and fro like bobblehead dolls! Looking for anything that might lead us to another one of the possible anagrammed locations. We found another fabric store and I quickly ran in and picked up the box. We stamped in and I returned it. The two ladies in the store were rather amused but this hobby and seemed eager to help with information. So I managed to get the location of one of the boxes from her and got enough of directions to head off to pick up one of the others. We needed all the help we could get!
Heading back the way we had traveled, I noticed we had passed the Post Office. The location of another box. Teacup quickly navigated a turn onto a side road that lead to absolutely no where. Not dissuaded as this happens to us frequently, we turned around and headed back the way we came. We were on a time limit as the next part of the Gather was to start at 3pm and the clock was ticking away. We made it to the Post Office box and managed to toss that one about in the car a bit before stamping it up. Cold hands and small stamps do not make for successful first inkings! LOL! But we finally managed to get that little bugger into our logbooks with the help of a couple of tiny eager hands!
Off to the next one! We knew it was on the college campus, but needed to find the correct building. We were heading in the correct direction - but couldn't read the sign. So we looked for the next visible marker - someplace someone might go sledding. And low and behold - after turning into the parking lot - there was the sign me were seeking. By this time Christopher had had enough of being the pacifist in the group - he wanted to get out and dig the boxes out! Off came his sneakers and he pulled out his boots, but in the limited space in the backseat (due to all the supplies we brought to survive) it didn't give him enough room to pull on his boots. So the door flew open as he yelled at me to help him so he could save Ambur! The two of them went up and over the bank and found the box hiding behind a big snowball. Back up over the hill and down again, in the car, we stamped up. No sooner was the container resealed than he decided he was going to put the box back by himself. By now the sun had started to set lower in the sky and a wind burst hit Christopher clear across the face and his instant reaction was... turn and head back to the car! I yelled "Put the box back first!" He looked at me as if to say "Are you out of your ever lovin mind lady before he switched quickly back into boxing mode and hid the box. I helped him retip the snowball and then we rushed back to the car. Thus quickly ending his burning desire to go out and get the boxes himself!
By now we were on the downside of the 2 hours we had started with and we needed a plan of attack if we were going to get all of the boxes. We had two that we definitely knew the locations and they were outside, so we could grab those after the 3pm meet up. We sort of knew where Moose or Mousse was and it was an inside location - so we headed off in that direction. Along the way we say a sign to Titcomb Mountain and both Teacup and I looked at each other finally having the first clue click with understanding.
Well, we found the chocolate store without too much trouble. It was if it was calling to us... But leading two women and a four year old into candy/chocolate mecca can only be described as BAD! I don't even think I registered that there was a moose outside the front door until we came back out! In we went and were handed the letterbox by some other boxers. While Teacup looked at the stamp - I took short order and picked out a half pound of dark chocolate orange creams for my step-mom who is recovering from very recent knee surgery. I then picked out a four pack of truffles for Ashley and another four pack for me for later... meanwhile - Christopher is staring at all the chocolate as if he has just hit paydirt! LOL! He immediately pointed to the milk chocolate non pariels and told the lady behind the counter "I want those." "While I silently think - there is no doubt he's his father's son. Ron eats the same candy!" Well - with a new boost of chocolate laced energy, we packed the box off to Lady Slpa and mepanj and company and headed off to Titcomb Mountain.
At the base of the mountain we picked up another box and looked at the clock. We had less than twenty minutes to get to the restaurant. Hmm... We headed back towards McDonalds and found the Narrow Gauge Theater where one was hiding and were clued into one last box of Angel Treads. we thought that one was missing by the time we got there and then Serendipity Joy's son popped out of the mini van with the box. Yeah! Now we just needed one last indoor box and we could head off to the restaurant. Knowing that the final three boxes were all outside and we had their locations under control.
Off to collect a bird. Now while we are adults, when you have a 4 year old in toe you tend to do things you normally would not... like set all the birds on the display singing. Okay - so we would have done it anyways... but having a 4 year old as a scapegoat is might handy! We logged our little feathered friend and headed off to get something to eat. And when we arrived - we found we were almost early! Only Angel Treads, Faulkari Four, Lady Slpa, The Hammah, Tucson Parrot and Kindercop had beat us. Everyone else was still out boxing! Needing to get all the boxes before the lights got turned off I'm sure.
We all filled up on wonderful Chinese food. Christopher tossed coins in a fountain and drove me crazy disappearing off and on. Once he was hidden under a bench, the next time I found him he had slidden into a booth with two pretty girls sporting snowmobile goggles and he was playing Casanova! I tried to shuffle back to our group - but he was much more interested in entertaining everyone else in the restaurant. I frantically stamped up the few event stamps that were visiting and then we dressed Christopher and said our good byes. We still had three boxes and an hours drive home.
Back in the car, we first visited that ever popular fire hydrant from earlier. Another small stamp - that after sitting in a warm restaurant for more than an hour, made it very hard to hold onto! Hands shaking while the car warmed up... it went tumbling to the floor causing Tea to get out of the car so she could look under her seat to find it! That one stamped into - we moved on to find That's Amore. I had the task of coloring it. LOL. My hands were shaking from the chill - so trying to color in between the tight areas was laughable! But we finally managed to get that stamped into our books and we put the love birds back in their roost. Off to pick up the final box before heading home.
At McDonald's we found the location and I thought it would be easy for me to just grab it. But it was just out of my reach without me stepping into the snow. So once again - here comes Teacup with those fabulous gaiters (who uses them for other winter sports I wonder when they are perfect for winter boxing!) She took a closer step into the snow and I steadied her while she grabbed over the guard rail for the box. It was lower than we thought and it was a bit of a stretch, but she managed to grab it. Yes! Box number 17! Woohoo! We got them all! Gotta consider that a very successful boxing day for an event. Most events we miss one or two or more : ) Now all we had to do was head home.
Christopher was feeling reflective and took a flashlight and looked over the stamps in my logbook again. Oohing and aahing over the images. Then he he turned off the flashlight, hand me my logbook and announced that he was going to sleep. And less than 5 minutes later you could hear the steady rhythm of one very content 4 year old fast asleep.
Once home - we unloaded all our daily provisions and everything we had picked up along the way. Pushed Christopher through the front door where he crashed on the couch just long enough to have himself stripped of his outerwear and boots before he stumbled off to bed. Another testament of a great day of boxing.
So look out boxers! If this is the hint of events to come in the mid Maine area - consider yourself left in the dark if you miss it! Totally fun! Totally engaging and just the right amount of boxes for the amount of time! Thanks for the wonderful goody bags. The temporary logbook already is tucked safely in my bag for our next adventure. The cocoa and the treats consumed by my kids and the pink pearl already with an image on it for a hiker! Totally fun! And just in case you were curious - those truffles I brought home for me - those are all gone too! LOL! I guess we'll just have to go back to Farmington soon. Teacup has a desire to hit up the fabric stores and I need another chocolate buzz!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Snowstorms and boxing
So we all know that snow boxing is not for everyone. But Team MudCup has basic needs. We must get inky - even in the winter months. And since Koko has this wonderful monthly box - we had it on our list - and we had a deadline. Weekend boxing for us is an every-other-weekend kind of deal. Both Tea and my husband work the same weekends - so on weekends when they work - we are left with filling the void on a Sunday morning trip.
We knew where we were heading - well, sort of. We were pretty sure anyways. I mean with mystery boxes, and some direction - we knew once we were close the box would start calling our names... we were counting on it. What we weren't counting on was Mother Nature giving us a hard time - AGAIN! A little dusting of snow in my Bowdoinham driveway - was quickly tuning into much more treacherous driving the further south we went. We actually toyed with the idea of scrapping the whole trip and turning around to head home.
But we needed to get at least ONE of the boxes on our list. So we decided to venture on. We made our way to a cemetery - now there's a surprise - and found our first box! Yeah! Another one off the list! And another one's gone and another one's gone - another one's off the list! (Yes - we do sing this, don't laugh.) And looked at each other. Is it snowing that hard? Really? If we started out - its really not THAT far to Baldwin... now is it? After all - we've already turned against a red arrow confusing a taxi... what else could we possibly do?
So we decided to venture on - and of course - our route led us through Gorham. Teacup and I are pretty convinced ALL boxing in Maine first starts with Gorham. At least it has for us lately. And with us visiting Gorham as often as we have over the past few months, you would think we wouldn't end up lost here in Gorham. Well, we didn't actually end up lost - but we did take a wrong turn heading thru Gorham on our way to Baldwin. And what we want to know is why the fine folks of Gorham had not plowed their driveways? Didn't they knew we would be in need of a place to turn around?? So it was only 9am on a snowy Sunday morning... they obviously do not have their priorities right... LOL!
So once we righted ourselves - off we drove into a never ending road of whiteness. Without any sun to make it blinding - it wasn't too bad but the drive was slower than Mapquest would have liked. And this was a one hour plus trip for us without any driving hindrances. we were hoping to find this box without too much trouble - especially since we were pretty sure it had to be on a main thoroughfare since it was near a train track. But do tell - how does one sight out a Water town with limited visibility?
Well, we found the water tower and tried to park closer - but the foot of snow REALLY was deeper than it looked so we decided to park across the street. Across the street we walked to get a closer look at the tower - yeah that's what we were looking at in the snow! Grabbed the box and back to the car to stamp up. Now we had been teased that Team Dazzling Koko had beaten us to both of these boxes - but really - the only one who beat us was the Dazzler... no Koko stamp in either logbook! LOL Could it be that the newbie now carries boxing supplies with her everywhere she goes and the veteran is being caught at a box without his signature stamp? I say carve a spare and park it with the Dazzler's supplies!
With log number two under our belt - we headed back to the booming metropolis of Gorham. Time to pick up Koko's January box. So we made our way there - and just as we figured - he had not plowed his driveway yet... so we drove past - turned around - and parked at the end of his driveway. I bailed out and scrambled down his driveway to nab the box. With box in hand - I looked up - just as a plow truck pulled up behind Teacup. And he was not moving until she did... so as I made my way back up the hill - she drove off leaving me holding the rubber! Sure - the town plows - but the residents don't and those of us that are minding out own p's and q's get chased away with a BIG truck. Oh well.... I made my way to the top of the drive and waited for a pick-up with Team DazzlingKoko laughing from their window!
Tea picked me up and we drove off to the end of the road, turned around again and parked long enough to stamp in. Hurriedly we drove back so I could throw the box back in its ice chest and get back to the car before the plowing police returned to drive us away again. Yeah! Three for three! A good 4 hours of boxing under our belt. The only thing left was the drive home. Well we made it home as the storm started to abate. Both of us hit the grocery store... and by the time I made it home - the sun was shining and my parking spot was plowed. Yup - even a noxer husband knows where to plow first when his crazy boxing foolish wife leaves early on a snowy day!
We knew where we were heading - well, sort of. We were pretty sure anyways. I mean with mystery boxes, and some direction - we knew once we were close the box would start calling our names... we were counting on it. What we weren't counting on was Mother Nature giving us a hard time - AGAIN! A little dusting of snow in my Bowdoinham driveway - was quickly tuning into much more treacherous driving the further south we went. We actually toyed with the idea of scrapping the whole trip and turning around to head home.
But we needed to get at least ONE of the boxes on our list. So we decided to venture on. We made our way to a cemetery - now there's a surprise - and found our first box! Yeah! Another one off the list! And another one's gone and another one's gone - another one's off the list! (Yes - we do sing this, don't laugh.) And looked at each other. Is it snowing that hard? Really? If we started out - its really not THAT far to Baldwin... now is it? After all - we've already turned against a red arrow confusing a taxi... what else could we possibly do?
So we decided to venture on - and of course - our route led us through Gorham. Teacup and I are pretty convinced ALL boxing in Maine first starts with Gorham. At least it has for us lately. And with us visiting Gorham as often as we have over the past few months, you would think we wouldn't end up lost here in Gorham. Well, we didn't actually end up lost - but we did take a wrong turn heading thru Gorham on our way to Baldwin. And what we want to know is why the fine folks of Gorham had not plowed their driveways? Didn't they knew we would be in need of a place to turn around?? So it was only 9am on a snowy Sunday morning... they obviously do not have their priorities right... LOL!
So once we righted ourselves - off we drove into a never ending road of whiteness. Without any sun to make it blinding - it wasn't too bad but the drive was slower than Mapquest would have liked. And this was a one hour plus trip for us without any driving hindrances. we were hoping to find this box without too much trouble - especially since we were pretty sure it had to be on a main thoroughfare since it was near a train track. But do tell - how does one sight out a Water town with limited visibility?
Well, we found the water tower and tried to park closer - but the foot of snow REALLY was deeper than it looked so we decided to park across the street. Across the street we walked to get a closer look at the tower - yeah that's what we were looking at in the snow! Grabbed the box and back to the car to stamp up. Now we had been teased that Team Dazzling Koko had beaten us to both of these boxes - but really - the only one who beat us was the Dazzler... no Koko stamp in either logbook! LOL Could it be that the newbie now carries boxing supplies with her everywhere she goes and the veteran is being caught at a box without his signature stamp? I say carve a spare and park it with the Dazzler's supplies!
With log number two under our belt - we headed back to the booming metropolis of Gorham. Time to pick up Koko's January box. So we made our way there - and just as we figured - he had not plowed his driveway yet... so we drove past - turned around - and parked at the end of his driveway. I bailed out and scrambled down his driveway to nab the box. With box in hand - I looked up - just as a plow truck pulled up behind Teacup. And he was not moving until she did... so as I made my way back up the hill - she drove off leaving me holding the rubber! Sure - the town plows - but the residents don't and those of us that are minding out own p's and q's get chased away with a BIG truck. Oh well.... I made my way to the top of the drive and waited for a pick-up with Team DazzlingKoko laughing from their window!
Tea picked me up and we drove off to the end of the road, turned around again and parked long enough to stamp in. Hurriedly we drove back so I could throw the box back in its ice chest and get back to the car before the plowing police returned to drive us away again. Yeah! Three for three! A good 4 hours of boxing under our belt. The only thing left was the drive home. Well we made it home as the storm started to abate. Both of us hit the grocery store... and by the time I made it home - the sun was shining and my parking spot was plowed. Yup - even a noxer husband knows where to plow first when his crazy boxing foolish wife leaves early on a snowy day!
The Great Catch-Up
While most folks make resolutions to do this or that, I've spent the first few weeks on 2009 just trying to get caught up on 2008. Logging LTC finds, going thru my logbooks to get those missing logins logged, and trying to find my craft room again. Well, the first two were easier than I thought they would be. The third - not so much. And to make this job even harder is the fact that I have kids that demand my time.
Who would complain about the idea of putting aside cleaning to spend time with your kids. I'm convinced my teenager used this very tactic to get me to do something I absolutely deplore. Go clothes shopping. The 'Come on Mom, it will be fun.' followed by the pouty lip - and I was suckered into a day that makes walking through a tornado seem easier for me. More about that in a moment.
Like I said before - I've been trying to catch up on 2008 to sweep up enough room for 2009. So I do need to catch up on a couple of December adventures. When I last wrote, Teacup and I were off to have dinner with HappyDaze and a few other friends. While I'm sure Teacup is still looking for oxygen over the fact that there would be no stamps - and our pre-dinner boxing walk was a total wash - but we made it there ahead of Team DazzlingKoko and a few others (fearing we would have been respectfully late) and settled in for some friendly banter and some tale telling about Live and Breathe. Some remarks were made that while humorous - if I posted, my friends would banish me to the great white north (though they do have boxes there as well.)
But I am still wondering how Alice can keep one whole room in her house untouched and if Dave had to sleep in the doghouse for not knowing which sheets he slept on. Though I'm convinced my husband couldn't tell you what ours look like - but he could tell you the make and model of the motorcycle that zooms down the road in front of our house on one wheel doing 90 during the summer. And I think he knows the name of all of the fireworks that were set off by our neighbor on New Years morning. But I digress. The games were side splitting funny - and Scott is tragically competitive! The only thing I'll compete about is... well, nothing. You want it first - go get it, you need to be there before me - have at it. Life it too short to worry about being first. But he's good natured about it. And as a turn of events - Jiffy was driving that night... so Scott - while wanting to be first - was definitely not in the best form for performance.
HappyDaze did a great job at making us all welcome for having a bit of non-boxing fun. And while there was no rubber to be inked up - we all managed to survive. I'm still trying to catch my breathe! Can't wait for the next time!
Moving later into the month... Beans never really got busy. While we worked weekends - it was mainly because of Mother Nature as apposed to commercialism. So to support the lack of income from overtime - I did something I haven't done for 15 years - I catered a Christmas Party in the middle of Peak. To make things more challenging - we lost power for a little more than a day right before the event - making me have long days followed by longer nights trying to bake to catch up. Thankfully I have a very supportive family who likes to help cater... especially when I pay them! LOL.
Well - to make long stories shorter - I managed to survive the catering event. They were beyond thrilled - and I was even more thrilled that I was able to use their kitchen to clean up! Ron didn't end up leaning over the bathtub washing catering supplies for two hours! I came home with everything clean! Yippee!!! And for a few hours of work - I made a decent profit which made up for the loss of overtime hours - and was much more rewarding!
Christmas marched closer - and the work never really did pick up. On the Monday before Christmas Team MudCup we decided we were going to run out of time to get Nolanbear's Christmas series if we didn't get to Gorham soon. And we know we never spend nearly enough time in Gorham! So on a bitter cold evening after work we bundled up Christopher and headed down to Gorham... and mud actually drove! Wow! We pulled into their driveway and parked and headed up this trail in search of the boxes. The path was too cute and recently plowed so we could get to the boxes without trudging thru the newly fallen 12" of white stuff.
They boxes were still a bit off the cleared path, and unknown to us - on the other side of a small dip. We found this out when Christopher stepped in to grab the first box and sunk up to his waist in short order! We managed to pull him out with the wind whipping at our faces. Thankfully Koko had made the designs simple and not requiring excessive coloring. The second box I attempted to 'toss' Christopher over the dip to the box. Tossing a wiggling snowsuit bundled 60 pound sack of kid is not easy wearing mittens! So all I managed to do was throw him back up to his waist into the dip again. Oh well - so much for bright ideas!
Teacup and I grabbed the rest of the boxes after that - well, Christopher would go after them and when they were all repackaged up again - he would toss them back into place... sloosh... the new snow giving them a soft landing and allowing the plastic to slide back into their hidey holes. At the last box, Koko had placed the series from 2006 for those of us who didn't get it previously. Those we took back to my car to color and stamp up as Teacup already had them. Just getting out of the bracing wind made it easier to manage. It took us about 60 minutes to do the whole thing and we were once again heading home. Another set off Tea's list!
We all made it home safe and sound - and after all of that 'exercise' in the wind - even Christopher was more than willing to hit the pillows early. I woke up a couple hours later to tragic news. My 28 year old niece had died unexpectedly while being prepped for emergency surgery at Eastern Maine Medical. This hit Ron very hard. Kristen and Heather (his daughter) are the same age and they were always together growing up. The news put our whole house in a blue funk. I managed to work through part of the next day and at noon finally told my boss that I couldn't 'play happy' any longer and that I needed to leave. We were off from Wed through Friday but were going to work on Saturday. I told him I wouldn't be at work because I was sure the funeral would be on Saturday.
So all of the seasonals that I worked with over the previous few months I said goodbye to - wishing them a Merry Christmas - while not feeling very merry myself. To not drag this out too much - we made it through Christmas. Though with every passing year - it just doesn't seem as joyful to me as it had in years past. I spend way to much time worrying about work and everything else - that by Christmas morning I'm spent. And with Kristen's death still fresh on our minds - it just wasn't easy being joyful.
The funeral was on Saturday and we drove to Lincoln, Maine - a three plus hour trip in freezing rain and icy snow. The funeral itself was also longer than any one I had ever been to. Touching and sad, members of the family, community and friends all spoke about Kristen. Ron was still almost silent during this, tears freezing at the edge of his eyelids, not wanting to fall. My heart broke for him and his family. More because they either wouldn't deal with the reality of death or because it ripped them apart. Kristen's dad - who in the eight years I've known him has never said more than 25 words collectively and is famous for standing in a doorway and falling asleep, got up and spoke about his daughter. He spoke for nearly fifteen minutes and every words sounded like it was ripped from his soul.
The ride home was even more harrowing than the ride up - but by this time Ron was emotionally drained. He drove part of the way on slushy frozen roads before finally pulling over at a rest area to have me drive. While I hate driving in the winter, I know when my driving skills are not strong enough to be tackling the job. I was driving on sheer ice. Managing to stay approximately 10 car lengths away from the car in front of us, while going at a break neck speed of 30 miles an hours, we knew at the rate we were travelling - the 3 hours drive up would be crushed by the almost 4 hours drive home. I was almost okay until we saw the blue lights ahead of us...
As we approached, there were two cars off in the ditch on one side, two more off the road on the opposite side and just past a section with guard rails on either side of the road - you could see where the two more stopped vehicles had played pinball with their vehicles up against the guard rails. My knuckles were now beyond white. Thankfully - we have friend who lived at the next exit and we stopped and visited them for about an hour - long enough for the state trucks to get out and sand the roads ahead of us. And long enough for me to convince Ron to drive once again. By the time we made it to Augusta, the roads we wet - but not slippery anymore. Our driveway was a truly welcome sight!
So the holidays over - there are boxes over the border that were just screaming "You have to go get them." I'm sure many of you heard it... I heard it in my sleep! But the problem remained - how does one get Teacup over the border while she still has boxes on her Maine list? Guilt her into it! LOL! Actually - it helped that she got a brand new logbook from Gargoyle Girl JUST for boxes she procures while over the border. And an empty logbook is a sad, lonely logbook. One that is just itching to have stamps in it. So what better way to do that than to head to MA for the O Christmas Tree series. So on Tuesday the 3oth, Team MudCup with Christopher in tow, headed south to grab some boxes. We had to stop along the way to get a couple in NH. Our first stop was slated to be at the submarine - but a persistent police officer would not pull out of the driveway. So off we went to seek out a tiny little bear hidden but Gollygee. This wasn't too bad - and we only managed to get snow up to our ankles - and since it was in a sheltered area - the wind was minimal.
Feeling optimistic - we decided to head back to the sub for another crack at the three boxes there. The police were gone - and the museum was looking like it would open - so we pulled in and stepped out - onto a skating rink - barely hiding about an inch of water. Now mind you - knowing that we were seeking out drive-by boxes - we were all wearing sneakers (except for Christopher, I put boots on him) so the thinly veiled pond was a little intimidating. And we hoped for the best as we navigated to the walkway. Approximately 30 minutes and two pictures later we were good to leave... we had to walk past the lobster exchange that had set up in the parking lot... but made it back to the car, again feeling pretty good that we now had 4 finds under out belt.
Further south we ambled, stopping at a rest area for another box. Then began the long section of our drive. The traffic wasn't too bad - but the wind decided to pick up. And pick up did it! By the time we made it to Bellingham we were in dire need of a cemetery. Now I had failed to mention that Ron bought me a Magellian for Christmas... and I had it set for Travelers Four's house. So every time we did a side trip - it would promptly speak up and tell us we needed to make the next available legal U-Turn. Tea and I were convinced Maggie was going to have a nervous breakdown. Because - if you've read any of our other trips - you know we are nothing if not a side trip. And if there's a cemetary near by - you KNOW we are all over that!
Then there's the side stops for Sweet Tea, and today - nuggets for Christopher... this all working on putting Maggie over the edge. And when we did find one cemetery - we surely could find another one! The second one high atop a hill smack dab in the middle of wind central! But we found the two cemetery boxes we were seeking out - missed the point that a series was at the same hilltop cemetery until after we left it and headed off to T4's house. We managed to find T4's house and pulled in and parked. The wind whipped around us... and as folks ran to the toppled tree and back to their cars - we also did the same. Gathering up about 6 packages to stamp into the car and then run back to the tree for more.
Ellen came out and visited by the car door before she went off to visit a friend nearby. This impromptu mini meet came to full swing - when we all briefly braved the cold long enough to do exchanges at the picnic table. We waved at folks we already knew who stayed huddled in their cars to finish inking up. Ellen warned us that it would take approximately 2 hours to get all of the images. What she didn't tell us was we would have a 4 year old who would have a bathroom crisis while we had approximately 15 boxes in Tea's car. But a crisis it was - so off we drove to the closest Dunkin Donuts for a bathroom break, coffee and donuts. I even picked up two pounds of coffee for my mom since it was 2 dollars cheaper than the sale price in Maine! Now we never hijack boxes from their home unless a dire emergency arises - but we felt if anyone was truly worried - they could see we hadn't gone too far - the DD was the next building over on the other side of the intersection - and we could be seen through the treeline!
We made it back with the boxes and reparked. By that time - the rest of the boxes we handed off to us... we now had them ALL in the car. Everyone else had a head start on us - and they were all heading back to CT. We moved the car into the sun as it was dipping below the treeline - and even being in the car - the wind felt like it was leaking through to us. we finished up all of the stamping - trying to sort out the boxes at our feet... with Christopher wanting so badly to help - and us wanting just as badly to just finish before we lost the rest of the daylight hours. All boxes bagged up and placed back in T4's foyer...we headed towards home.
Now don't expect Tea to log those boxes any time soon - they are all safely tucked away in her 'over the border logbook' for easy logging once all of the boxes in Maine are found. But the way we spend so much time visiting Gorham - don't expect that to be any time soon! But this was Team MudCups last adventure for 2008. And a grand time we had. Wind and all! For us - it was almost Extreme boxing!
Who would complain about the idea of putting aside cleaning to spend time with your kids. I'm convinced my teenager used this very tactic to get me to do something I absolutely deplore. Go clothes shopping. The 'Come on Mom, it will be fun.' followed by the pouty lip - and I was suckered into a day that makes walking through a tornado seem easier for me. More about that in a moment.
Like I said before - I've been trying to catch up on 2008 to sweep up enough room for 2009. So I do need to catch up on a couple of December adventures. When I last wrote, Teacup and I were off to have dinner with HappyDaze and a few other friends. While I'm sure Teacup is still looking for oxygen over the fact that there would be no stamps - and our pre-dinner boxing walk was a total wash - but we made it there ahead of Team DazzlingKoko and a few others (fearing we would have been respectfully late) and settled in for some friendly banter and some tale telling about Live and Breathe. Some remarks were made that while humorous - if I posted, my friends would banish me to the great white north (though they do have boxes there as well.)
But I am still wondering how Alice can keep one whole room in her house untouched and if Dave had to sleep in the doghouse for not knowing which sheets he slept on. Though I'm convinced my husband couldn't tell you what ours look like - but he could tell you the make and model of the motorcycle that zooms down the road in front of our house on one wheel doing 90 during the summer. And I think he knows the name of all of the fireworks that were set off by our neighbor on New Years morning. But I digress. The games were side splitting funny - and Scott is tragically competitive! The only thing I'll compete about is... well, nothing. You want it first - go get it, you need to be there before me - have at it. Life it too short to worry about being first. But he's good natured about it. And as a turn of events - Jiffy was driving that night... so Scott - while wanting to be first - was definitely not in the best form for performance.
HappyDaze did a great job at making us all welcome for having a bit of non-boxing fun. And while there was no rubber to be inked up - we all managed to survive. I'm still trying to catch my breathe! Can't wait for the next time!
Moving later into the month... Beans never really got busy. While we worked weekends - it was mainly because of Mother Nature as apposed to commercialism. So to support the lack of income from overtime - I did something I haven't done for 15 years - I catered a Christmas Party in the middle of Peak. To make things more challenging - we lost power for a little more than a day right before the event - making me have long days followed by longer nights trying to bake to catch up. Thankfully I have a very supportive family who likes to help cater... especially when I pay them! LOL.
Well - to make long stories shorter - I managed to survive the catering event. They were beyond thrilled - and I was even more thrilled that I was able to use their kitchen to clean up! Ron didn't end up leaning over the bathtub washing catering supplies for two hours! I came home with everything clean! Yippee!!! And for a few hours of work - I made a decent profit which made up for the loss of overtime hours - and was much more rewarding!
Christmas marched closer - and the work never really did pick up. On the Monday before Christmas Team MudCup we decided we were going to run out of time to get Nolanbear's Christmas series if we didn't get to Gorham soon. And we know we never spend nearly enough time in Gorham! So on a bitter cold evening after work we bundled up Christopher and headed down to Gorham... and mud actually drove! Wow! We pulled into their driveway and parked and headed up this trail in search of the boxes. The path was too cute and recently plowed so we could get to the boxes without trudging thru the newly fallen 12" of white stuff.
They boxes were still a bit off the cleared path, and unknown to us - on the other side of a small dip. We found this out when Christopher stepped in to grab the first box and sunk up to his waist in short order! We managed to pull him out with the wind whipping at our faces. Thankfully Koko had made the designs simple and not requiring excessive coloring. The second box I attempted to 'toss' Christopher over the dip to the box. Tossing a wiggling snowsuit bundled 60 pound sack of kid is not easy wearing mittens! So all I managed to do was throw him back up to his waist into the dip again. Oh well - so much for bright ideas!
Teacup and I grabbed the rest of the boxes after that - well, Christopher would go after them and when they were all repackaged up again - he would toss them back into place... sloosh... the new snow giving them a soft landing and allowing the plastic to slide back into their hidey holes. At the last box, Koko had placed the series from 2006 for those of us who didn't get it previously. Those we took back to my car to color and stamp up as Teacup already had them. Just getting out of the bracing wind made it easier to manage. It took us about 60 minutes to do the whole thing and we were once again heading home. Another set off Tea's list!
We all made it home safe and sound - and after all of that 'exercise' in the wind - even Christopher was more than willing to hit the pillows early. I woke up a couple hours later to tragic news. My 28 year old niece had died unexpectedly while being prepped for emergency surgery at Eastern Maine Medical. This hit Ron very hard. Kristen and Heather (his daughter) are the same age and they were always together growing up. The news put our whole house in a blue funk. I managed to work through part of the next day and at noon finally told my boss that I couldn't 'play happy' any longer and that I needed to leave. We were off from Wed through Friday but were going to work on Saturday. I told him I wouldn't be at work because I was sure the funeral would be on Saturday.
So all of the seasonals that I worked with over the previous few months I said goodbye to - wishing them a Merry Christmas - while not feeling very merry myself. To not drag this out too much - we made it through Christmas. Though with every passing year - it just doesn't seem as joyful to me as it had in years past. I spend way to much time worrying about work and everything else - that by Christmas morning I'm spent. And with Kristen's death still fresh on our minds - it just wasn't easy being joyful.
The funeral was on Saturday and we drove to Lincoln, Maine - a three plus hour trip in freezing rain and icy snow. The funeral itself was also longer than any one I had ever been to. Touching and sad, members of the family, community and friends all spoke about Kristen. Ron was still almost silent during this, tears freezing at the edge of his eyelids, not wanting to fall. My heart broke for him and his family. More because they either wouldn't deal with the reality of death or because it ripped them apart. Kristen's dad - who in the eight years I've known him has never said more than 25 words collectively and is famous for standing in a doorway and falling asleep, got up and spoke about his daughter. He spoke for nearly fifteen minutes and every words sounded like it was ripped from his soul.
The ride home was even more harrowing than the ride up - but by this time Ron was emotionally drained. He drove part of the way on slushy frozen roads before finally pulling over at a rest area to have me drive. While I hate driving in the winter, I know when my driving skills are not strong enough to be tackling the job. I was driving on sheer ice. Managing to stay approximately 10 car lengths away from the car in front of us, while going at a break neck speed of 30 miles an hours, we knew at the rate we were travelling - the 3 hours drive up would be crushed by the almost 4 hours drive home. I was almost okay until we saw the blue lights ahead of us...
As we approached, there were two cars off in the ditch on one side, two more off the road on the opposite side and just past a section with guard rails on either side of the road - you could see where the two more stopped vehicles had played pinball with their vehicles up against the guard rails. My knuckles were now beyond white. Thankfully - we have friend who lived at the next exit and we stopped and visited them for about an hour - long enough for the state trucks to get out and sand the roads ahead of us. And long enough for me to convince Ron to drive once again. By the time we made it to Augusta, the roads we wet - but not slippery anymore. Our driveway was a truly welcome sight!
So the holidays over - there are boxes over the border that were just screaming "You have to go get them." I'm sure many of you heard it... I heard it in my sleep! But the problem remained - how does one get Teacup over the border while she still has boxes on her Maine list? Guilt her into it! LOL! Actually - it helped that she got a brand new logbook from Gargoyle Girl JUST for boxes she procures while over the border. And an empty logbook is a sad, lonely logbook. One that is just itching to have stamps in it. So what better way to do that than to head to MA for the O Christmas Tree series. So on Tuesday the 3oth, Team MudCup with Christopher in tow, headed south to grab some boxes. We had to stop along the way to get a couple in NH. Our first stop was slated to be at the submarine - but a persistent police officer would not pull out of the driveway. So off we went to seek out a tiny little bear hidden but Gollygee. This wasn't too bad - and we only managed to get snow up to our ankles - and since it was in a sheltered area - the wind was minimal.
Feeling optimistic - we decided to head back to the sub for another crack at the three boxes there. The police were gone - and the museum was looking like it would open - so we pulled in and stepped out - onto a skating rink - barely hiding about an inch of water. Now mind you - knowing that we were seeking out drive-by boxes - we were all wearing sneakers (except for Christopher, I put boots on him) so the thinly veiled pond was a little intimidating. And we hoped for the best as we navigated to the walkway. Approximately 30 minutes and two pictures later we were good to leave... we had to walk past the lobster exchange that had set up in the parking lot... but made it back to the car, again feeling pretty good that we now had 4 finds under out belt.
Further south we ambled, stopping at a rest area for another box. Then began the long section of our drive. The traffic wasn't too bad - but the wind decided to pick up. And pick up did it! By the time we made it to Bellingham we were in dire need of a cemetery. Now I had failed to mention that Ron bought me a Magellian for Christmas... and I had it set for Travelers Four's house. So every time we did a side trip - it would promptly speak up and tell us we needed to make the next available legal U-Turn. Tea and I were convinced Maggie was going to have a nervous breakdown. Because - if you've read any of our other trips - you know we are nothing if not a side trip. And if there's a cemetary near by - you KNOW we are all over that!
Then there's the side stops for Sweet Tea, and today - nuggets for Christopher... this all working on putting Maggie over the edge. And when we did find one cemetery - we surely could find another one! The second one high atop a hill smack dab in the middle of wind central! But we found the two cemetery boxes we were seeking out - missed the point that a series was at the same hilltop cemetery until after we left it and headed off to T4's house. We managed to find T4's house and pulled in and parked. The wind whipped around us... and as folks ran to the toppled tree and back to their cars - we also did the same. Gathering up about 6 packages to stamp into the car and then run back to the tree for more.
Ellen came out and visited by the car door before she went off to visit a friend nearby. This impromptu mini meet came to full swing - when we all briefly braved the cold long enough to do exchanges at the picnic table. We waved at folks we already knew who stayed huddled in their cars to finish inking up. Ellen warned us that it would take approximately 2 hours to get all of the images. What she didn't tell us was we would have a 4 year old who would have a bathroom crisis while we had approximately 15 boxes in Tea's car. But a crisis it was - so off we drove to the closest Dunkin Donuts for a bathroom break, coffee and donuts. I even picked up two pounds of coffee for my mom since it was 2 dollars cheaper than the sale price in Maine! Now we never hijack boxes from their home unless a dire emergency arises - but we felt if anyone was truly worried - they could see we hadn't gone too far - the DD was the next building over on the other side of the intersection - and we could be seen through the treeline!
We made it back with the boxes and reparked. By that time - the rest of the boxes we handed off to us... we now had them ALL in the car. Everyone else had a head start on us - and they were all heading back to CT. We moved the car into the sun as it was dipping below the treeline - and even being in the car - the wind felt like it was leaking through to us. we finished up all of the stamping - trying to sort out the boxes at our feet... with Christopher wanting so badly to help - and us wanting just as badly to just finish before we lost the rest of the daylight hours. All boxes bagged up and placed back in T4's foyer...we headed towards home.
Now don't expect Tea to log those boxes any time soon - they are all safely tucked away in her 'over the border logbook' for easy logging once all of the boxes in Maine are found. But the way we spend so much time visiting Gorham - don't expect that to be any time soon! But this was Team MudCups last adventure for 2008. And a grand time we had. Wind and all! For us - it was almost Extreme boxing!
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