What's that Crunch?

So what do most folks do on a cold, crisp Sunday morning in November? Snuggle down deeper under the covers and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist for a little while longer? Maybe brew a pot of coffee and bake a pan of ooey gooey cinnamon buns to share with your family?

Pish posh... that's what you whimps do! Team MudCup packed up our letterboxing supplies and headed off to the booming metropolis of Gorham? Why Gorham you ask - well we only had 18 hours left to get the latest box at Chateau d'Koko... oops, wrong town. It was at the leir of Koko. So we travelled there admiring the frost that frosted the tops of the trees and everything below them.

The frost was definitely thick every direction we turned. But we would not be scared off by a little bit of frost... we had come properly dressed in... oops. We both forgot our boots and were dressed in sneakers. But Teacup had her mittens and scarf... and I had my clipboard to protect me from the morning bite in the air!

We pulled in and grabbed our bags of caned goods to trade for this seasonal box. I opened the cooler... but where's the box? Maybe its under the cooler? Nope - not there. Dang. I thought briefly about banging on Koko's front door - but out of respect for his guest, I opted to leave the front door unassaulted. Instead, within a fifty foot reach was another elusive box.

We tromped off down the hill, closer and closer to what we hoped would be a sure find. Yup - sure enough it was there. Safe and sound, sort of. It was frozen solid in a bucket of ice. So back up the hill we took the box and the bucket. One nice thing about Koko's house - he has a paved driveway! So we dropped the bucket on the driveway... it stayed put. One more drop to the pavement (with a little more gumption this time) and spew! Like Mt. Vesuvius it erupted from its icy capture. I grabbed the box... the Lock n Lock was encased in a tomb of ice. A few more strategically placed whaps to the pavement and I was able to release the lid!

One would have thought - with all the nice, laughter and racket we were making - someone would have woken up by now. It was 7:35am after all. Who sleeps this late on a Sunday? Why aren't they up and boxing? Surely they have boxes on THEIR lists to get off? I hear there's a new Lighthouse series without any finders... And a good CBB boxer should have been up serving us refills on our coffee and tea by now. But alas, we went away without the BOM... seems the Dazzler stamped up late and it didn't make it back outside. Next time - we're knocking on the door! So you are forewarned Koko! Team MudCup does their night boxing in the wee small hours of the MORNING, not the night!

So we mozied off to Dunkin Donuts for a refill on liquids and breakfast. It was 8 am. Time to use my phone a friend! Dang! Even at 8am Koko isn't awake! How on earth does he get any boxing done? Half the day is gone! So off to Portland to visit the Ninja Hideout by Genesha. Safe and sound and no one saw us at all. We we very stealthy! Okay - so no one else was even up, but that's besides the point. From there we strolled around the Eastern Prom. Poking around a tree or two, trying to get some bearings that would fit, but came up empty - so off towards home. This was a quick trip today, and we were down one from the start.

Time to pick up a sure thing, one nice thing about having a boxing buddy that has a list much SHORTER than your own, its a safe bet you'll pick up at least one sure bet : ) And a lovely box it was - too. We pulled into the parking lot... and my cell phone starts ringing. Tea - its our 'phone a friend' life line.

"So Koko, where's the box?" "Wait, I can't here....." dang, I lost him. I'll try that again. "Koko, sit still, I keep loosing you!" "You're where?" Dang... gone again! "Koko! Get out of bed! Every time you roll around I loose you!" Damn! Lost him again. Well he told me the box is outside again if we want to go get it! "Koko! We are heading into the woods... "

And the gauntlet is thrown! It would seem Team Dazzling Koko picked up the latest CBB box before us! We tried for it... but we were afraid the Portland Police were beginning to get suspicious about all our u-turns in parking lots : ) So we opted to park the car and head into the woods to pick up a Weathergleams instead. Fear not Jiffy! I now know where another of your boxes is... well get that this weekend : ) LOL!

So - this leads me wot wonder. If anyone else needs a phone a friend... do you also have bad reception as Koko rolls around trying to get a signal? And what time is a good time to pound on the front door to have the owner pony up the box? I wonder if Koko got the message we left on his car window etched into the frost? Or did it disappear in the morning sunlight?