Another Rally ends

Here it is Thursday evening and we're all but wrapped up another very successful rally. This rally was about/for those involved in the new hobby called Geocaching. I know folks did it, I just didn't know how rabid ordinary retirees could be about being a geocacher. They are almost worse than kids.

For those that don't know what geocaching is all about, it has two parts, the cache owner who hides the cache and posts the location on a web site called Geocaching.com and the hunters who read the web page and go looking for the cache. Doesn't that sound exciting? But it gets even better. The cache may not even contain anything but a marker of some historical geological event. Or it may contain a box which contains what may appear to be useless trinkets And the list goes on and on.

I was not out prowling the highways and byways for the many caches here in the Quartzsite area although I did go looking for (and found) the caches near the rally parking that served as a test case for all of us. I should also say that the hidden cache may not be something the size of a breadbasket. They showed us demonstration containers the size of a fountain pen cover. These small caches are referred to as micro caches. And the list goes on and on.

I did think of two places in my old home town that could use a cache. One is in the city library. Caches have been hidden in libraries in a book with a false set of hollowed out pages. Obviously, this needs the permission of the librarian. The end result of locating a cache is that it brings people into the area. Many caches are located off road on trails that people wouldn't other wise go on. My second candidate cache location is the cemetery where Eugene Ely is buried. Mr. Ely was the first flier to land and successfully take off from navy ship. (It was dead in the water and Ely's plane barely made it, with his wheels hitting the sea water for a few moments.)

Sandy continues to cough and she has finally agreed to visit the emergency room in Parker Friday morning (if she isn't better). It has now been 15 days of coughing and some folks will probably feel that it is “about time”! (In the mornings, she always tells me she feels better. But by nightfall, you wonder about her.)

We're doing well on the desert. We have now gone almost a month using solar to generate our electricity and have never run the generator to bring the battery up to par. Our biggest improvement has been the amount of LED lights we are now using to light up our living room. It is a bit dark to read by, but it is great for working on the computer. LED lighting does not use near the power of an incandescent lamp. There are some newer more powerful LED assemblies now available and when the price becomes a little bit more into our price range, I shall have me some of them.. In the meantime, I have several first generation lamp assemblies that will serve us well. I should say that we also have not used the TV.

Gene