Lenoir Sculpture Festival 2014 (Part 1)

Today the family and I took a trip to the Broyhill Walking park in our current home town of Lenoir North Carolina.  Here are my favourite sculptures of the many we saw.  Starting with this dragon.

This rather impressively large sculpture turned in the wind.

 The look on this eggs face is awesome.

I am a *huge* sucker for art made from discarded metal bits. This one reminds me of an excited puppy, eager to please his master,

Another gorgeous metal sculpture - this one of an egret.

This carved head is well done.

 A crystal bowl made from chunks of glass.

If you don't understand why this sculpture speaks to me, you clearly haven't been paying enough attention to this blog (a hint is in my profile).

This looks like some sort of amulet, but its 4ft across.   Could also be the head of a wizards staff.

 This sculpture, called Abundance, is well done. Looks a little fragile tho.

Continued in Part 2.

Vanishing Village

Believe it or not, but  400ft across this field likes the remains of a village.

The Village of Josephine sprung up as a flagstop along the North Simcoe Railway in 1879.

In its day it was known for Jopseph Budds sawmill (the town was named after his daughter, Josephine).

The saw mill remained operational up to 1914, at which time it stopped operation, and the village slowly disappeared into obscurity.

This is just another cool piece of history that I never would have found if I wasn't for geocaching.

Here are a few pics of the remains of the village.  There isn't a great deal left.

Childhood Wisdom Redux

Look at me!
Look at me!
Look at me now!
It is fun to have fun,
but you have to know how!
 - Dr. Seuss

Americana: Krispy Kreme

Discovered this old Krispy Kreme sign in Spartanburg South Carolina.

Travel Bug Race 2014: August Update

Drone #1 in Colebrook Ontario

In April I sent 16 geocaching travel bugs out to the 4 corners of the world, and started an epic race to see which bug would get back to my home town first.  Details here.

Drone #1 has made some great strides and is now in the lead.  It started near Ottawa Ontario, and is now in Charlotte North Carolina, just an hours drive from its destination.

Interestingly two drones, #2 (released in Holland), and #3 (released in Germany), are both currently visiting separate islands in Spain.

Drone #4 has visited the Love Love... Espinho 2014 Portugal Mega event last week, which has awesomely clogged up my inbox with dozens and dozens of discover logs.

Drone #3 visiting Altenberbg Dom Cathedral in Germany

Drone #5, released in Australia, has made the jump across the pond, vacationed in Hawaii, and is now in a cache in California.

Drone #9, last seen where it was released in Scotland,  is in the hands of a cacher with promises to get it to Chicago shortly, which will be the second drone to cross the oceans.

Drone #10 is the second closest drone.  Released in Seattle, it has made its way to Lumberton NC, about 3 hours from home.

Drone #11, released in Michigan, has gone walkabout, and is currently travelling around South Australia, making it the drone that has gone the farthest in the wrong direction. It has, however, travelled 16,278 miles so far, making it also drone that has gone the farthest in any direction.

Drone #13, released in Tokyo Japan, has also made the pacific crossing and is in a different cache in California, tho it did take a detour thru Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Drone #14 enjoying the Arabian night life.

Drone #14 is having a wild adventure.  Released in South Africa, it has made its way to the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Singapore, and is currently located in the Czech Republic.

Finally, Drone #15 which was released in the Czech Republic, has travelled to Finland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy, San Marino, and is now in Germany.  Making this drone, by far, the one that has been in the most countries.  Hopefully it will soon be finished with its European vacation and will make the hop over the pond to the Americas soon.

So with two drones in the target state of North Carolina, and several more closing in, this is going to be a tight race.

However it is still anyones game.  The previous race saw the drone that was released the farthest away (Australia) be the only one to complete its mission.

This could end up being a real cooker.

Stay tuned for updates.

Whatzit?

While these may have been available since the early 1900's, the popular commercially-made variations of this object did not appear until the early 70's.

This particular variation has a spring loaded arm which can be released to exert pressure on the inserted object/coin. I have little doubt nearly everyone I know has seen a variation of these before.

So, what is it?

Update #1: HINT:  Invented by a Bernardin.

Update #2: HINT:  it is not a practical thing, but a play on words.

Update #3: ANSWER: is in the comments.

Drop your guesses in the comments below. (Special thanks to my good Geocaching buddy brdad for coming up with this brain stretcher). 

Going Caching MMXIV: Lego Edition

My self-banishment from TV for a week in an effort to get myself out of a rut continued this evening, and it seems to be working.  However I seem to be fixated on creating Lego themed images.  Tonight was no exception. (Hey, Lego is awesome!)

I am planning on attending the Going Caching MMXIV Mega Event in Rome GA in October, and I am soon going to be shifting into deep planning mode for it.  However before I dive off the deep end, I used my creative juices to come up with this scene, keyed off the events Roman theme.

So, I present to you, Going Caching: Lego Edition.

Hope to see some of you there! Details of the event can be found here: Going Caching MMXIV (GC4AHKM)