This is for you, JJTally!
All tuckered out after a day of caching!
We are in the process of completing the Kansas Delorme Challenge. I've written about this challenge before...Delorme has created a map book (see the picture above) for each state. The Kansas map on the back of the book is broken down into 65 grids, and each page of the book is one of these grids. In order to complete the Delorme Challenge, goecoachers must find or hide a geocache in each grid. This isn't an easy challenge...Kansas is a large state...it is about 400 miles long and 210 miles wide, covering 82,282 square miles, making it the 15th largest of the 50 states. (http://www.netstate.com/states/geography/ks_geography.htm) The eastern 2/3's of the state are pretty populated and there are lots of geocaches to be found. However, the challenge becomes more difficult in the western part of the state...some of the grids only have 1 or 2 caches!
At the same time, we're working on the Kansas County Challenge. This challenge is similar...you need to find a cache in all 105 counties! Again, this can be difficult since some counties only have 1 or 2 caches in them!
We are sooo close to being able to join the Delorme Challenge Club! But, we are still so far away...14 more grids are left for us to do! All in southwestern Kansas...and another 800+ mile trip!
Geocaching has now become an obsession for us! :)
We had planned several backup caches in case we couldn't find one...in fact, we had to use one of the backups! We had planned to use Twisted Lines as our Mystery Cache, but we had the wrong coords! So we ended up using A Christmas Story to satisfy that requirement. Good planning on Mr. Diecast's part to have a backup!
Speaking of A Christmas Story...(http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=60afb1e2-013b-433b-a80f-8b69c5a62f45)
It's a funny story...we had a dickens (ahahahha...nice play on words, huh??) of a time finding it. Jeff was giving it one last try and went into the wooded area by him self. He crashed thorugh the trees and bushes and scared a coyote away! In the middle of Topeka! Then he heard something walking through the bushes and thought the coyote was coming back...instead, Larry 739, Team Snoot and Saucytoad came around the bend looking for the same cache! What a relief to have found the cache!
All in all, we were successful and had a great day! This was a fun challenge to do. We saw some interesting things that we would never have seen if we hadn't been geocaching!
See you on the trails!
Poison Ivy, a plant native to North America. It grows along fences, in dry fields, and in open woodlands. Common poison ivy is found throughout the United States. It is a climbing or trailing vine or upright shrub. It has alternate, compound leaves. Each leaf is composed of three dark-green leaflets 3 to 10 inches (8 to 25 cm) long. The leaflets are toothed or lobed and have pointed tips; they are usually glossy. The common poison ivy has yellowish-green flowers and greenish-white berries.Poison ivy is composed of three dark-green leaflets.
The plant contains urushiol, an oily substance that is an allergen to most humans. It causes severe inflammation of the skin. Urushiol is present in all parts of the plant, especially the sap, which is most abundant in spring and summer. The poison is spread by contact with the plant or contaminated objects. It is also spread by burning the plant, heat vaporizes the oil, which is then carried in the smoke. Urushiol on clothing, shoes, garden tools, and other objects can remain active for a year or longer.
Symptoms usually appear 24 to 48 hours after contact, but may take 7 to 10 days to develop. The skin develops a red, blistering rash that itches intensely. After about 5 days, the blisters break and become crusty. The skin usually heals within two weeks. The rash is treated with cortisone lotion or cream. Calamine lotion relieves the itching and inflammation and dries up the blisters. In severe reactions, oral doses of antihistamine, benzocaine, and corticosteroid drugs may be prescribed.
Poison ivy plants are killed by spraying with ammonium sulfamate or the herbicide 2, 4-D.
Common poison ivy is Rhus radicans of the cashew, or sumac, family, Anacardiaceae. (science.howstuffworks.com/flowering-plants/po...)
Let me tell you, a poison ivy rash is HORRIBLE! (This picture is NOT me, by the way...nor is it Jacob, who also had a touch of the terrible rash! Instead it is some poor man that I found while searching for images of poison ivy. He looks rather uncomfortable and appears to be saying, "Oh #%$*&@! Look what happened to my arms!) My patches were a little smaller than this poor man's. I had a 4 inch x 5 inch patch on my left shin, a 3 inch by 2 inch patch behind my left knee (now that was bad) and a few smaller patches on my right leg along with small blisters here and there.
I ended up going to the doctor three times. Jacob was lucky since he only had to go once. Both of us were started on steroids. Jacob's luckily cleared up. My luck wasn't so good. I ended up back at the clinic within a week getting a shot in the butt. That still didn't do the trick...the large patch on my shin got infected and I ended up taking more steroids and antibiotics. Of course, with my luck, I was ALLERGIC to the antibiotic and got ANOTHER rash (mind you, I still had the poison ivy rash!) So yet another antibiotic was prescribed. Finally, it cleared up.
The next time I go geocaching in the woods, this is what I'm taking with me.
Jeff has been teasing me and calling me Poison Ivy, from the Batman comics. I think I'll get a tattoo to always remind me of how much I enjoyed my oozy, itchy, scratchy ordeal.
