Aloha

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03/31/2014	You found  Aloha		Visit Log
Yesterday we did the multi that starts here in Palm City, it took 4 1/2 hours. This one took 4 1/2 minutes. We were dropping off some books and decided to take a look. At first we couldn't figure out how the cache owner attached a magnet to that concrete pole but then our geosense kicked in. TFTC

HomeComing, Caching, and the End of the Basketball Season

Coming home today!  They've had a wonderful Spring Break.

We had a really fun day geocaching - spent the whole afternoon on one cache :)  It was a multi-cache all around Palm City, Stuart and Port Salerno.  Some of the hides were very difficult, but in the end we did them all.  In a coincidence amazing to me, we met up with two caching teams during the day - and we had just met them yesterday!  It's a good feeling to see familiar faces in a new place.

We had a super lunch at the Manatee Island Bar and Grill- right before the final cache.

A lovely, relaxing place with terrific service.  I recommend it!

This is Dick's log of today's multi:

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03/30/2014	You found  Wakey wakey eggs & bakey		Visit Log
This caching adventure has been on our to do list for a couple of months. Stage 1 is just across the street from our condo and we drive through the parking lot 3 or 4 times every week. We talked about doing it but it seems that our round to-it was acting up. Since this is our last week in our Florida home, we decided that today was to be the day even before we met the owner at the KrumBens event. We packed up the cachemobile and pulled out about 10:30. Mrs Bend, the micro maven snagged the first two stages and then things started to go south. (Oh wait, going south came later) A couple of years ago our kids gave dad an iPod mini for Christmas and we have been using it and an iPhone instead of the trusty old Garmin 62s. Unfortunately for us, I have never learned how to load multiple stage coordinates into either one and managed to forget how to plug them into the Garmin. Thus the learning experience began. We slowly but successfully moved along from Palm City to Stuart and turned south. We cleared C through G and moved on to H. Based on the description, I thought I knew what we were looking for. The Garmin put us at the edge of the road but the hint said no. Because I have a solid hatred of palmetto hides, I was sure that was what we were looking for. With no luck, I decided to try to use the mini again and was in the car working on the problem when, who to our wondering eyes should appear but - - gettinlate who we had met yesterday at the KrumBens event. I explained my problem, he told me how it worked on his phone. He set to work on the hunt, I did my best to follow his instructions. Neither one of us could make it work. I decided to give it one last try before calling it a DNF when - TaDa!!! Thar she blew! We followed him on down to I and this time it was his turn. Moving on to J we made a wrong turn and lost gettinlate. We found the right parking lot and the Garmin and I were searching the area of the dumpster when Mrs Bend, without leaving the car said "Hey! It's right here." For K, once again I parked in the wrong place and bushwhacked through a swamp to approach GZ on the wrong side of the fence. Made the find on this one and this time, I stayed on the trail back to the road. Since it was after 1PM and we were both getting hungry, we surveyed the area restaurants and focused in on the Manatee Island Bar and Grill. Their food was excellent, Travis the waiter was special and the Hot Sauce is fantastic, two bottles are packed for our trip north. After a leisurely lunch by the water, we loaded back into the car and resumed our adventure, we found the proper road to approach the final and as we pulled up we saw some more familiar faces. The KrumBens had started yesterday in the rain after their event and had just arrived at the final. This journey has had touches of Old Home Week. After making the find, they insisted that we take the 2nd to find prize because I had stumbled upon it before they did. We took it and the Law Shark T Bug which wishes to visit interesting places. We leave for Traverse City on Thursday and it certainly qualifies as a very interesting place. We will take him to the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes which was voted the most beautiful place in the US by the folks on Good Morning America. We left our card, a pin, and our pen. We got back home just after 3, this was a fun filled 4 1/2 hours. We had smileys on our faces long before we got this one on our profile. Thanks for your effort in placing this series, we think it's special, we greatly enjoyed it. A favorite from us. HOWEVER - This evening, Michigan basketball lost to Kentucky - so sad.  State lost today also.  We were hoping for three B1G 10 teams in the Final Four.  Wisconsin is the only one left.  It was so sad.  So we had a real roller coaster day. U-M Has Tourney Run End on Last-Second Shot by Kentucky Nik Stauskas March 30, 2014 • Photo Gallery  • Game Stats • Postgame Press Conference  (live) Site: Indianapolis, Ind. (Lucas Oil Stadium) Event: NCAA Tournament (Elite Eight) Score: Kentucky 75, #7 Michigan 72 Records: U-M (28-9), UK (28-10) Next U-M Event: Season Complete INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The University of Michigan men's basketball team tied the game on a wild scramble with less the 30 seconds to go, only to see Kentucky bury a deep three-pointer with four seconds remaining in a 75-72 final on Sunday evening (March 30) in the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight held inside Lucas Oil Stadium.                                  ********************************************** The best thing is that our family is back home from Colorado :)

  

getbendgroup

Today's event was an Event :)

We picked up a veggie tray at Publix, and went over to Tradition Square to attend the "Making Madness" meet and greet.  It is always interesting to meet new cachers.  I found it especially interesting to talk to Groupertoes - a truly unique individual!  I also enjoyed Team United Nations and kpub.  And of course our hosts, KrumBens.  Cachers are cachers everywhere you go - friendly and interesting.  Quite an assortment of people!

After meeting and eating, Dick went caching with four or five others.  They called their group getbendgroup - a combo of gettinlate, basswoodbend and Groupertoes.

This is the souvenir we acquired for attending this event today.

Maker Madness
Acquired on 03/29/2014

03/29/2014	You found  tradition 4		Visit Log
We came up to Traditions today to attend KrumBens Making Madness event. After spending some time snacking and talking caching, we joined up with some of the other cachers to circle the lake and find a few caches. It is great to find a traditional sized cache in such an urban environment. After making the find, the log was signed and we left one of our new pens before putting it back where it was found. Thanks for placing and maintaining this cache.
03/29/2014	You found  A Beautiful View of the Madness		Visit Log
The group from the event cache expanded to 4 as we reached this cache site. As we prepared to start the search, gettinlate broke out a tool which put Mrs Bend's magic mirror to shame. Very neat, we'll have to get one. After signing the log and replacing the cache, we considered sitting a spell and enjoying the view but decided to score just one more before returning to the folks at the square.
03/29/2014	You found  A Team Rabit Rad Cache: Caching into Madness		Visit Log
The getbendgroup continued on around the lake on this windy day and as we approached GZ I started muttering. We have logged a number of DNF's on these "typical Florida hides". This time was different. We signed the log and put it back in the same "typical Florida" spot. BTW, this would qualify as a winter friendly hide.
03/29/2014	You found  A Bridge to Madness		Visit Log
After eating and greeting at the KrumBens Making Madness in Tradition Square! event, Mr Bend teamed up with gettinlate and Groupertoes to look for the new KrumBen caches. After a short walk, we scored the find, a FTF in fact, admired the unique container, signed the log, and replaced as found. Thanks for the fun!
03/29/2014	You found  August 6th		Visit Log
This cache was a fitting cap to a fun day. It was much discussed at the event and then a group set forth to search the parking structure for it. The find was made and the log was signed. Thanks to gettinlate it was replaced as found. Thanks again KrumBens.
03/29/2014	You attended Making Madness in Tradition Square!		Visit Log
Our sincere thanks go out to the KrumBens for putting on this event. We enjoyed meeting and talking to some local cachers and joining them in a search for a few caches. Thor, the God of storms and thunder was definitely smiling upon our group today, rain to the south and tornado warnings to the north but we enjoyed a day without either. We were blown away with the event. (Oh, maybe it was the wind) Again, thanks for the smiley and the souvenir.

Elite Win

March 28, 2014

• Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery  | Recap  | Postgame Presser  (NCAA.com) 
• CBS Sports Postgame: Beilein, Morgan  | Highlights  | Final Minute 

Site: Indianapolis, Ind. (Lucas Oil Stadium)
Event: NCAA Tournament (Sweet Sixteen)
Score: #7 Michigan 73, Tennessee 71
Records: U-M (28-8), TENN (24-13)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, March 30 -- vs. Kentucky - NCAA Elite Eight (Indianapolis, Ind.), 5:05 p.m.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The No. 2-seeded University of Michigan men's basketball team (No. 7 AP, No. 8 ESPN/USA Today) survived a last-minute comeback attempt from No. 11 seed Tennessee and held on for a 73-71 victory on Friday night (March 28) inside Lucas Oil Stadium to advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year.

The Wolverines led by as many as 15 points in the second half, and graduate student Jordan Morgan (Detroit, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) drew an offensive foul with six seconds left when the Volunteers had a chance to take the lead with the score at 72-71.

Michigan had four double-digit scorers, led by Morgan with 15 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore Nik Stauskas (Mississauga, Ontario/St. Mark's School [Mass.]) finished with 14 points, and his classmate Glenn Robinson III (St. John, Ind./Lake Central) had 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Fellow sophomore Caris LeVert (Pickerington, Ohio/Central) ended with 10 points and five assists in the nail-biter win.

Fun in Colorado and Fun in Florida

Fun in Colorado!  Bob posted this picture on Facebook:

I think it would be great fun to sit at that table!

This was an errand running day for us, along with continued recovery.  Tennis racket, recycle tiles from the garage, mail, cache for today, lunch at Reubens, Publix, go home and pay bills, set up seasonal cable account, notify USPS of mail forwarding for the summer.

03/27/2014	You found Stuart West Park & Grab		Visit Log
Thanks for placing this cache. Sometimes a P&G is all we want. This day was a blank on our caching calendar and we wanted to fill it in. We were pressed to accomplish a bunch of other tasks and seeing this one we hadn't found so close to the recycling yard we had just left was perfect. Made the find, signed the log and replaced as found.

Even more fun in Colorado!

Maybe the Third Time is the Charm?

First communication from Colorado!

A great boy in a great hat!

8:45 a.m. - B12 injection

Breakfast at Mulligan's - Blueberry pancakes - just the best!

noon - arrive for third paracentesis

Blood draw

Third paracentesis - 5.9 liters
Chrissie and Brad, Dr. Bailey

Home to rest

Mountain Man

Searching Florida's Counties

Having found a cache in all of Michigan's counties,  and at least one in every State, we now have a new goal.  We want to find at least one cache in every Florida County.

 We have several already, because we've been coming down in the winter for five or six years now.

Today we added Orange County, and Seminole County.   We also found one in Volusia County, but then we realized that we may have already found one there - no big deal.

We had lunch at Beef OBrady's in the town of Oviedo,  Seminole County.  We loved it.

Orange County was a bit of a shock.  The area we drove through was a depressed area for sure.  We aimed for Christmas, which we were sure was an actual town or village.  It's really just an intersection, and the surroundings are just a little creepy.  The cache we found is called "Christmas Forever", and that display is unique:

Dick is standing inches from the cache, but he doesn't know it  :)

03/25/2014	You found CHEYENNE FIRST CACHE		Visit Log
Our major problem with this cache was finding a clean route in to it. It has taken me a while but I have finally learned not to try a bushwhack in Florida wearing shorts. Found the container sitting out in the open so the clue made no sense. Signed the log and replaced the container where it was found. I did take some time to attempt to save it from muggles by covering it a little bit. This is our first find in Volusia County. We have established the goal of finding at least one cache in every county of the state like we did up in Michigan. This is number 19, only 48 to go. It's a lot easier making finds here in the winter than it is up there with 3 feet of snow. TFTC
03/25/2014	You found  The Return of LostMyMarbles		Visit Log
We are newly created "Snow Birds" working on a goal of finding a cache in every one of Florida's 67 counties. Today we are in this area finding towns we had never heard of and didn't know existed. After Christmas we find Oviedo. I guess we had better spend more time reading Florida history books. After spending some time watching some very cute toddlers, (aren't they all?) the find was made, the log was signed and the cache was replaced. Thanks for showing us this neat little town, the athletic facilities blew us away! TFTC! Now on to Valusia.
03/25/2014	You found Christmas Forever		Visit Log
Although the day started out rainy down in Palm City, the farther north we came the sunnier it got. It turned out to be another fantastic day. We came north to find a few caches in counties that we have not yet made finds in. We became "Snow Birds" this year and will be spending our winters down here. In Michigan, a few years ago, we established a goal of finding at least one cache in each of the 83 Michigan counties. Since we will now be spending significant time down here, we decided to do the same for Florida's 67. This is our first Orange County find. It would have been a DNF except that Mrs. Bend, the micro maven made the find in a spot which I thought I had just finished searching. (And she didn't even need her magic mirror) We signed the log, which is nearly full, replaced as found, and then took a little time to wander the grounds. Thanks for showing us this spot and Merry Christmas!!

It Only Happens Once a Year

The day began with three bouquets of flowers and two cakes!  The carrot cake is for us, and the chocolate cake is for the Quail Meadow Block Party this afternoon.  I put the maize and blue bouquet next to the TV to inspire the Michigan basketball team by remote control later today!

Go Blue!

This was followed by a floral delivery - a beautiful arrangement "From all of the Eggs".  (inside joke)

Everyone knows - I love yellow roses!

Laurie and Dylan stopped over with gifts, hilarious cards, and even a balloon! There was a real "party" feel to the whole thing. She called San Diego and we all got some face time with Tom in California!

Hi Tom!

Dick and I went over to the Block Party for about an hour and a half.  Laurie was house-sitting for us to take delivery of our new chair. We enjoyed talking to Linda and Mike, John, Millie, and Marianne.  We drove Barbara back to 3624.

I just fell in love with this chair

March Madness is in full swing, and to make it a perfect B-day for me, Michigan beat Texas to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.  What a great day!

March 22, 2014

• Game Stats | Box Score | Notes | Photos  | Highlights  | Quotes  | NCAA Bracket
• CBS Sports Postgame: Highlights  | Press Conference  | Beilein/Robinson 

Site: Milwaukee, Wis. (BMO Harris Bradley Center)
Event: NCAA Tournament (Third Round)
Score: #7 Michigan 79, Texas 65
Records: U-M (27-8), TEX (24-11)
Next U-M Event: Friday, March 28 -- vs. Tennessee or Mercer - NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen (Indianapolis, Ind.), Time/TV TBA

MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- The No. 2-seeded University of Michigan men's basketball team (No. 7 AP, No. 8 ESPN/USA Today) advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the second consecutive year, making a tournament program-record 14 three-pointers in defeating No. 7-seeded Texas, 79-65, on Saturday (March 22) inside the BMO Harris Bradley Center. Sophomore Caris LeVert's (Pickerington, Ohio/Central) triple at 14:18 of the first half put U-M up, 9-6, and for good.

Sophomore Nik Stauskas (Mississauga, Ontario/St. Mark's School [Mass.]) led Michigan with 17 points and tied his career high with eight assists. Graduate student Jordan Morgan (Detroit, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while sophomores Glenn Robinson III (St. John, Ind./Lake Central) and LeVert each scored 14 points.