All Treat, No Trick

Lovely day for geocaching, so we ventured out in our new toy to try some. We didn't make it into the woods, but we had a good time just driving around. First we found two caches, and then we spent the rest of the time driving around town enjoying all of the little trick or treaters in their great costumes.


My favorite was a skeleton costume - that doesn't sound very original, but this person actually looked like a real skeleton - it was a great costume. Second favorites were all of the little girls in pretty pink pincess costumes. Some of them looked like real medieval princesses, and their conical hats even had chiffon coming out of the top. They were all very sweet.


Our first cache was in Grace MacDonald Park. We had the place to ourselves. I think everybody else was at home getting dressed up or at the grocery store stocking up on candy!

10/31/2010 You found Cache to Eagle #12 Scenic Trails-Bay Trails Dist
Out for a ride on Halloween afternoon. Brought back many memories. 60 years ago I was a proud and loyal member of Troop 36. Time spent at Camp Greilick was always fun, both camp week in the summer and the Klondike Derby in the winter. Having the field dedicated to Bert Zagers also brought back memories, none good. As the star of the Cadillac HS football team he ran over us.
Took a badge, left a bottle of hand sanitizer. TFTC

The second cache was at the Heidbreder Trails - nice day for a hike.

10/31/2010 You found "Back" to our Roots Visit Log
A nice brisk walk and a quick find on Halloween afternoon. Thanks for the hunt.

Low Expectations

It doesn't hurt quite so badly when you don't have hopes of anything going right. Low expectations can be a good thing when they're justified.

mgoblue:

Robinson Sets Big Ten Rushing Record in Loss at Penn State

10/30/2010

Denard Robinson rushed for 191 yards and three touchdowns to set the Big Ten season record for rushing yards by a quarterback in U-M's (RV AP/No. 25 Coaches) 41-31 loss at Penn State.

That's 41-31, OK? Another defensive struggle. As if.

Our New Toy

We've been thinking about getting a jeep for a couple of years. We've never found exactly the right one until today. We were driving by Fox Motors and there it sat, just waiting for us. It's a two door, rag top, manual transmission '04 Jeep Rubicon - just perfect! It will be great for "backwoodsin'", one of our favorite activities.

Hey It's Good to Be Back Home Again

...a fire softly burning and supper on the stove...

Last Day in A2

Bye bye State and Liberty Streets.




Bye bye Valley Ranch.

We Broke a Record!

Another absolutely perfectly gorgeous fall football day in Ann Arbor. Another 3:30 kickoff. Another loss.

Another record set by the coach who shall not be named. The record is that for the third year in a row we've allowed our opponents to score 30+ points in three consecutive games. Before this coach's arrival, this had never happened even in a single season in the history of Michigan football, going back to 1879. It has happened three years in a row on his watch. He's a real record breaker.

In a similar vein, consider this:

... a team that knew 40 consecutive seasons of never having a losing record ahead of Rodriguez's arrival. Now it's two consecutive on the other side of the ledger (so far).
One of the autumn's more amazing statistics: Mark Dantonio at Michigan State has now won as many Big Ten games at Michigan Stadium as Rodriguez

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20101018/OPINION03/10180376#ixzz12oO2v1aW

Fourth-Quarter Outburst Not Enough in Wolverine Loss to No. 15 Iowa
10/16/2010

Despite 21 fourth-quarter points and nine catches in the game from both Junior Hemingway (134 yards, 1 TD) and Darryl Stonum (97), U-M (RV AP/No. 24 Coaches) suffered a 38-28 setback to Iowa (No. 15 AP/No. 14 Coaches).

Justin and Emily of Wolverine Warriors used our tickets - that was a real bright spot.



Other bright spots - the team did not give up, the defense showed improvement, Tate Forcier rallied the team and played well in the fourth quarter, and the fan whose knees were in my back left early.

Social Day

Hooray for breakfast at Cracker Barrel with friends! We planned to meet Dan there, and were all ready to go when Tim called from Metro and said they were heading our way - so they joined us at the Belleville Cracker Barrel. So hooray for starting the day with Dan, Tim and Susie!

After a couple of hours of lively conversation, we went over to look at the house we lived in when Laurie was born. It was just around the corner, in Quirk Sub. The neighborhood has held up really well - most homes have been added on to and refurbished. I thought our old house looked great.





Then we did some really enjoyable caching on another beautiful fall day. Here are Dick's logs:

10/15/2010 You found SQ - HotTub
We lived and taught in "Da 'Ville" for over 30 years. Many of the names here are very familiar to us. They bring back many memories. Thanks for this unique cache.

10/15/2010 You found Lonesome one
We pulled up and parked along the road and spotted the "Lonesome One" but the "Keep Out" sign on the nearby power pole gave us pause. Made a quick sprint in and out. If we were only there long enough to sign the log does that count as actually being "In" or can we claim we really did keep out?

10/15/2010 You found Quirky
This area brings back a lot of memories to us.
First, a mere 50 years ago, shortly before the birth of our first child, we rented a house on Borgman here in the sub. The houses were built at the end of WWII and sold to veterans for about $6000 with no money down. They featured two small bedrooms, living room, bath, and kitchen on a crawlspace with an unfinished attic. Perfect starter homes for the working stiff. Driving through the area today, you can see that all of them have undergone extensive renovations.
Then,for years, the micro maven taught second graders on this very spot. In time, the school evolved into a senior center before succumbing to the bulldozer.
Many thanks for placing and maintaining a neat hide that gave us a reason to visit here and relive the past.

10/15/2010 You found Take a Break
After breakfast with the Duo and a former co-worker, we said "Goodby" to them and our long time friend and made a short trip from parking. TFTC

In the late afternoon relaxing at home, Melissa P. came over so that Dick could how her how to delete pocket queries from her Nuvi. This really was a "social day".

Bright Day in Brighton

Today we headed up to Brighton to see what caches were up there waiting to be discovered! Guess what? There were several. It was another terrific fall day - just perfect actually. This is my favorite time of the year.

One of the caches (Innovative) was near a big parking lot and an alley. We saw this beautiful fall display set up in that alley - just an ordinary alley in Brighton - I was delighted.



One of our caching friends is called TreePlanter. We noticed that one cache was called Tree Planter by TreePlanter. Naturally, we had to check it out!

Found it 10/14/2010 You found [Traditional Cache] The TreePlanter
What fun! TreePlanter caches are some of our most favorite. This one fit right into our caching schedule this afternoon because after driving up to Brighton/Howell we were on our way back to Ann Arbor by the back roads. It was another brisk and beautiful fall day in southern Michigan. What a fun way to cap it off. TFTC

Some of Dick's logs:

10/14/2010 You found Cruizin' The Avenue #4
Pulled in and found it on our ride. After this grab we decided to take the back roads home. TFTC

10/14/2010 You found Cruizin' The Avenue #3
Just out for a ride on a brisk and beautiful fall afternoon. This time when Nuvi dinged, we pulled over. TFTC

10/14/2010 You couldn't find Scattered Fate - The Sun
GPS put GZ at picnic table but we didn't find it. Expanded the search out 30 - 40 feet but still skunked.

10/14/2010 You found Shrimper's Second
There is so much of Brighton we've never seen before. Part of the allure of geocaching. Took nothing, left nothing. TFTC

10/14/2010 You found The labyrinth
Once again, had it not been for geocaching . . . We wonder what the story is behind the labyrinth. Thanks for showing it to us.

10/14/2010 You found Scattered Fate - The Chariot
We decided to cache around Brighton this afternoon. we knew nothing of this series and will not be able to complete it but it sounds interesting. We have never seen this type of container before. TFTC

10/14/2010 You found "Innovative" Travel Bug Depot
A great urban cache! Thanks for maintaining it. Didn't see any trackables in it so we left nothing and just took some trash. TFTC

Back at Valley Ranch, I couldn't resist photographing these pretty flowers by the mailboxes. This has been a day of beautiful things.

Tom and Ji Ji

She's a real charmer! She speaks a little English - last night when she went to bed she said "Bye bye Tom".







Ji Ji and Daddy Peter:


Tom says she's the luckiest little girl in the world.

Life Goes On

Yes, there is life after losing the big game.

First of all, we dropped Tom off at Metro and hugged all around and waved bye bye until December in Florida. Bye Tom! All day we kind of looked around for him, but he was definitely gone.

We both napped - sleeping off the exhaustion of defeat.

But happily, we had a 10/10/10 event to go to over in Southfield, so we went on over and it was a great distraction. There were good conversations, good food and kindred spirits ro enjoy. Hooray for a multi-faceted life.

Tom is Here!

We picked up Tom at Metro last night, and it was such fun to have him here this morning. We had a chance to catch up with his plans for the week. He's heading to Boston Sunday morning to visit Peter and Laura and their newly adopted Chinese baby Audrey (Ji-Ji). Well, she's not really a baby - she's three years old. Those adoptions take a long time, it seems.

Then he's going to be spending the week in Boston going to see Amanda Palmer in Cabaret - it sounds like he's planning to see it three times! Jana will join him on Friday or Saturday to see Cabaret with Tom and Peter.

There was a football game this afternoon. It was a designated "Maize Out".



During the National Anthem, a parachutist from the 101st Airborne landed on the field with the game ball. It was very impressive and so compelling that everyone forgot to sing the National Anthem!





We were both thrilled to have Tom with us at the game - sorry that it wasn't much of a treat for him. We're happy in these pictures because the game hasn't started yet!







The first half was better than I expected, actually. The second half was just exactly what I expected - oh dear. We're not happy with the coach, of course. And of course we're not happy with Michigan's defense. Our disappointment remains beyond description.

We're committed to the "be true to your school" philosophy - we love our alma mater and the football team even though we don't love the coach. To remind ourselves why we're so loyal, Dick photographed our brick at the Stadium and Main entrance to the Stadium. Four Generations of Maize and Blue Faithful:


The Sad Finale


Back to the apartment for pizza, rehash, and more football on TV!

AA to Adrian

This was an absolutely gorgeous fall day. We began with breakfast in Saline and then headed in a southwesterly direction, stopping whenever a cache looked inviting and do-able.

This area of southern Michigan is a picture-perfect farming area. The farms are huge, well-maintained and extremely neat and tidy. It is a real pleasure to drive the country roads and see one pleasant farm after another with multiple outbuildings and impressive barns. As far as we could tell they seem to be growing mostly corn and soybeans. Most of the outbuildings and barns are painted red, but we did see several white farms where everything was painted white. Judging by the size of the farm equipment that we passed on the road, I thought maybe those big farms were corporate. Dick says that they could be co-ops instead.

We went through many small towns and villages. A couple of them were not well known, at least to us! Saline, Mooreville, Macon, Clinton, Tecumseh, Wellsville, Palmyra and Adrian -what a lovely drive.

We had a great time. Here are some of Dick's logs:

10/07/2010	You found A very old resting place
We spent the day caching from A2 to Adrian. The return trip had been nonstop along the back roads until our Nuvi dinged for this one. As we read the description, we just couldn't pass it up. We have found 7 cemetery caches on this trip and were discussing the segregation of the Catholics and the Protestants. Was it that the Catholics didn't want to be buried with the Protestants or was it the other way around? Who rejected who? What did they do if someone who died was Jewish? Oh well, found the cache about 4:30, signed the log and drove home. Thanks for bringing us to this unusual place.
10/07/2010	You found Fair Haunting Grounds
We started out this morning in Ann Arbor with the goal of having breakfast in Saline and caching our way to a late lunch/early dinner/supper in Adrian, so here we are. We found this one at about 3PM. Signed the log and went off in search of food. If a combined breakfast and lunch is a brunch, I guess we are looking for lupper or linner. TFTC
10/07/2010	You found A Room With A View
Yoik!! I'm gettin to old for this stuff! We wanted to give this one a shot because we think this is how SQ caches should be placed if possible, off the actual site and away from the graves. Although I was carefully inching my way down the slope, (The silly Garmin was pointing to a spot about half way down.) suddenly my feet went out from under me and I did a kiester plotz. Luckily I grabbed a bush and pulled my self back up to my feet. Now the blankety blank GPS was pointing back up the slope. So just climb back up! Easier said than done, but slowly I pulled myself up, only slipping back a couple of times. I knew I was close because I found a Pokemon card. I didn't know it but I was searching the wrong side of the hide.The better half of the team was saying "That's enough!"as I clambered up to the top You know how it is, just one more peek. SCORE!! Signed the log and left a Pokemon card. Thanks for the adventure!
10/07/2010	You found I Ain't No "Old Shed"
When we started out this morning with the idea of caching our way to Adrian, we didn't focus in on cemetery caches but we did wind up with quite a few. We find it fascinating that these old sites in southern Michigan have tomb stones that are so much older than those we are familiar with up north. We are surprised to note that so many of the early settlers lived to such a ripe old age. It appears that, for the most part, if they made it through their teens, they were good for 70 or more years. Thanks for the history.
10/07/2010	You found Good Lord!
We are caching our way to Adrian and here we are in Palmyra, a town we've never heard of before. Thanks for giving us a reason to stop, thanks for the history and thanks for the cache. Signed the log and left a smilie pencil.
10/07/2010	You found STOP !!! BUCKEYES ADVANCING #1
Palmyra. Palmyra? Palmyra! Are we still in Michigan? Never knew there was a Palmyra. We almost bypassed this one just to see what Palmyra looks like. But Hey! How can you just drive past #1 TFTC
10/07/2010	You found STOP !!! BUCKEYES ADVANCING #6
Today's goal was to cache our way along the back roads from Ann Arbor to Adrian. Traveling from cache to cache in a south westerly direction on a beautiful fall afternoon we were struck by the cleanliness, neatness and beauty of the farms. Almost every one was well maintained and orderly. It was extremely enjoyable. Thanks for another smilie!
10/07/2010	You found Treasure Trove
What a great spot! From the great number of stones in German, we're guessing that the Lutheran church must have stood near to here in the past. Our question though is about the mound. With all the surrounding land being flat, could this square mound be natural? Did the settlers using teams of horses scrape the land into a mound? If so it doesn't appear to have affected the surrounding top soil. Or perhaps this is the site of an ancient settlement of the mound builders. We really appreciate it that you brought us here. The camo on the tin is falling off, we often have some in the cachemobile but couldn't find it today. We added a little heart to the stash after we signed the log. TFTC
10/07/2010	You found STOP !!! BUCKEYES ADVANCING #5
When these caches pop up on our route we have to grab them. This weekend we aren't worried about stopping the Buckeyes, can we stop the Spartans. We are quite apprehensive about sitting in the Big House Saturday and being subjected to the worst pass defense in the nation (120th of 120 teams). But thank you for another smilie on our caching expedition down to Adrian on an absolutely fantastic fall afternoon..
10/07/2010	You found SQ - Holloway Hide
Thanks for a hide that we could decipher. We just had a run of 3 DNF's so any find looked great. There were no trackables in the cache. The zip lock is torn but we did not have a replacement. We got quite a chuckle over the nearby name "Freshcorn". Thanks for the fun. (We're always respectful in the cemetery areas, but we did find this unusual name and respectfully photographed it.) 10/07/2010 [Traditional Cache] Adam's Adventure Michigan Visit Log Didn't find it 10/07/2010 [Traditional Cache] These events have SO moved me Michigan Visit Log Found it 10/07/2010 [Traditional Cache] EAGLE TRAIL CACHE: COMMUNICATIONS MERIT BADGE Michigan Visit Log Found it 10/07/2010 [Traditional Cache] FACT: The Un Zipped Mail.... Michigan Visit Log Didn't find it 10/07/2010 [Traditional Cache] Dont forget them Michigan Visit Log Found it 10/07/2010 [Traditional Cache] Service's 1st hide Michigan Visit Log Found it 10/07/2010 [Traditional Cache] Thanks Dad... Michigan Visit Log Found it 10/07/2010 [Traditional Cache] Big Oak On A Hill