One of my favourite features on AQ is the “Create Note” feature on all letterbox clues. There are so many ways to use it.

My finds (and potential finds):

• I always send a public comment but sometimes the owner doesn’t make it public – I put my message in the box’s note field
• Sometimes it’s necessary to answer questions in order to find a box, I’ll put the answer(s) in the box’s note field. The note field with the answers prints off with the clues. Very handy.
• When I figure out the starting location to find the box, I’ll put the address/location in the box’s note field
• Sometimes one needs to contact a planter to get the clues emailed to you. When I get the clues, I copy and paste them into the box’s note field
• When I drop off someone’s HH/Flea I use the note field to remind myself where I placed it.

My plants

• If someone sends me a private message after they find my letterbox, I’ll copy and paste it into the letterbox’s note field.
• When people let me know where my HHs/Fleas was placed (which I really appreciate) I put the location and date in my HH’s note field
• Record answers and passwords to my ecoscavengers
• Record answers and passwords to my virtuals

I posted a question on the AQ boards to see how others use the note field and here are some other ideas:

• If I know something about a box that isn’t in the clues, for example, if somebody posts on a board that they know it’s missing, but don’t update the clues. [TrailTroll]
• I record answers to Personal Travelers b/f going to events. When you print the PT list, the answers print too. [zess the treehuggers]
• I note solutions to puzzle boxes that I know I won’t be able to get to for a while, but I have already solved. [Where'sWendy]
• A lot of my clues involve getting dates/numbers off of a gravestone, landmark, etc. These numbers are manipulated to get compass readings, steps….These numbers aren’t included IN the clues, the finder has to fill in the blanks. I now write these numbers down in my notes, so that I can recreate the clues for myself. [BirdWoman/WP]

Try a search in Google images for:  spraypaint stencils

Here are a few interesting examples:

A big thanks to finders who help me maintain my letterboxes by:

• Wiping out wet boxes
• Letting me know when the logbook is full or almost full
• Putting a sheet of paper or small logbook in my letterbox when it needs it, to tide the box over until I can get to it
• Letting me know when the logbook is soaked
• Letting me know of any issues with the box or the location.

It’s so very much appreciated.

Try a search in Google images for:  soft block carving

Here are a few interesting examples:

I am the fortunate recipient of a letterbox/geocache geocoin. Fish Below the Ice passed it on to me. It commemorates both hide & seek hobbies. A beautiful geocoin with lots of detail. I’m going to pass it along via GAQLBE08: GC-AQ Canada-USA. The letterbox (posted on both AQ and GC) is a collaboration between me in Canada and deniserows in the U.S. Denise’s stamp commemorates both hobbies, using the Frog mascot of GC and the Chick mascot of AQ. Definitely the right box for this geocoin.

Note the detail on this coin:

Letterboxing/Geocaching geocoin front side

Details:

• The date and location where letterboxing began in1854 in Devon, England
• “Don’t trade the stamp” inscribed into the coin

Back of the geocoin

Details:

• NEWS compass points
• Stamped logbook
• LBNA logo

Update: Fiddleheads, in her message below, reminded me that the back is stampable. I recall FBTI showing me that feature back at the Guelph event. So I stamped the image. Here it is:

The stamped impression of the back of the coin

Try a search in Google images for:  lino print or lino cut

Here are a few interesting examples:

While letterboxing today I came upon a small grove of gargantuan ditch weed that I have never seen before. Very very impressive. I really need to know what it is. I’m in zone 5, in Ontario Canada (if it helps with classification). I’m pretty sure it’s not a giant hogsweed.

They are 6-7 feet tall, very square red ridged stems (rubarb-ish), the stem may be hollow (but I didn’t break it open for fear it might be hogsweed i.e. caustic), green leaves the meet at the node like honeysuckle, flowers that emerge at the top of the plant like giant hogsweed.

Here are some photos that I took:

The red square stem

The leaves and stem

The flowers

The grove close-up

The small grove in a ditch

Update:  September 18 – I emailed a local Master Gardeners group and got my answer. It’s a Cup Plant Silphium perfoliatum. Named Cup Plant because where the leaves meet at the stem, water collects. Birds will drink from the water that collects in the “cup”.  It’s actually a native plant, found in wet grasslands.

This evening I saw the biggest puffball I’ve ever seen. Here it is:

A puffball is a mushroom. They are called puffballs because a cloud of brown dust-like spores is emitted when the mature fruiting body bursts. But before it matures the entire body is a white firm flesh, no gills, no stem. If collected before spores have formed, while the flesh is still white, it may be cooked as slices fried in butter, with a strong earthy, mushroom flavor. It can often be used in recipes that would ordinarily call for eggplant. Last year I brought one home and fried it up. It’s very mild, very spongy.

How does it tie into letterboxing? It’s just a few steps away from one of Fiddleheads’ letterboxes.

11 days later, it’s no longer white – starting to look more like a small grey brown boulder.  I would have kicked it to see if it would “puff” but I didn’t want gooey shoes.

Update: October 20 2009
The mushroom has dried out, forming a crusty shelf. This time I did give it a soft kick. A cloud of spores emerged — puff! Very cool. First time I’ve watched the evolution of a puffball from large white mass to spongy brown/grey mass to dry puffing mass.

I’m in a funky grumpy mood so I may as well use this opportunity to list a few letterboxing pet peeves.

• Geocachers who hide letterboxes just for the icon – not to be creative, not understanding what a letterbox is. Some of the following is what I’ve encountered:

• • a letterbox hybrid without a stamp in the box (on purpose, because the owner thinks letterboxing is about finders stamping into the cache’s logbook using a signature stamp).

• • letterboxes with any old stamp from the kids’ toybox – unrelated to the location or the box theme e.g. they hide it at a covered bridge and the stamp is a Winnie the Pooh stamp.

• • the clue page states “threw a stamp in for the letterboxers” – like the owner is throwing letterboxers a bone.

• • letterboxes with commercial stamps you can get at any dollar store or Michaels craft store  (e.g. Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, teacher stamps, happy face stamp, puppy stamp, kitten stamp, star stamp, etc.). This is also solicits a big sigh out of me when letterboxers do this.

• Letterboxers who denigrate geocaching but insist that the best thing about letterboxing is the hike and the locations,  saying that it doesn’t even matter if there’s a stamp in the box.  If it’s all about the locations and hikes and not about the stamp then why is it so different from geocaching? Some of the best hikes and location visits I’ve ever done were because of geocaching.

  There’s no need to put down geocaching especially if you don’t geocache. Both past times are fun and provide nice hiking and tourist-like visits.

  To find some good caches: read the description, use google maps (satellite view), read the logs to see if finders are complementing the experience, look at the photo gallery.

• Letterboxers who don’t geocache but insist that geocaching destroys the environment.  Stating without proof that almost all hiders don’t provide clues/hints, almost all coordinates are so poor the cache is off by 30 feet or more, almost all geocachers trample on every plant in a 30 foot circle because they have no respect.

  A few caches may be a problem but the vast majority of caches and cachers are decent. Same is true for letterboxes and letterboxers – most provide a decent experience with good clues and good locations.

  On the other hand I have found loads of dump sites (old cars, tires, farm dumps), old camps (garbage, clothing, tarps), broken beer bottles, Tim Hortons cups, kids forts with lots of boards and rusty nails all over the ground, kids bike ramps, grafitti, etc. Way more damage out there then I’ve ever seen made by geocachers (or letterboxers).

• Another geocaching peeve:  TPTB (the powers that be), the managers of geocaching.com are silent. They rarely respond to problems and requests and suggestions. Sometimes they placate us saying they are thinking about a request but nothing gets done – no updates. I think it’s a way to stop discussion.  Kudos to Ryan Carpenter, webmaster of AtlasQuest for being so involved in the AtlasQuest site. He is on the discussion groups everyday and responds quickly, always with a well thought out explanation why he has implemented new features, or removed other features, or why a suggestion someone made won’t be feasible or why one might be good and when he thinks he might implement it. Always fast, always well thought out replies, always patient, always available even when he’s travelling.

Try a search in Google images for:  pumpkin patterns

Here are a few interesting examples:

Presidential pumpkin patterns (you can download the patterns (pdf)):