Solo Caching

Today I was given the day off because there was"no work."

Actually there is work but the guy I'm working with was having a colonoscopy. I'll let him work solo on that one.

So with my free time guess what I did.

Got my oil changed!


I bet u thought I went Caching. Well I did that too! so 7 1/2 points to those who answered Caching.

I decided that since I didn't have any little Tinmen running around I would go re-visit some DNFs. But first I went for a cache I had not tried yet. It is located in a park in town.

The cache is a micro. I haven't been too lucky with micros but i was feeling pretty good about my caching ability so I wasn't scared! This was a pretty easy one. My GPSr took me to the farthest reaches of the park (about 50 yards from my truck) The only thing in the area was a signpost and some weeds. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. There was a reflector on the signpost. I moved this reflector and located the cache. The cache was easy to find but getting the log out proved to be a little more difficult. The container was a chapstick thingy and the log was rolled up inside. After a short wrestling match and a few power bombs I got the log out.


I signed the log and replaced the cache.

The next one I went to was one that I tried before but didn't get. It is located by the local CVS where my sister-in-law-in-law (my brother-in-law's wife) works. She knew where it was because they can see when people find it. I looked where she told me but alas it wasn't there. I don't know what is going on with this one. I logged a DNF. Maybe the owner will help me out.

The last one was a multi-cache that ends at a bridge. Well I looked and looked and looked but Like the guy in Spaceballs said

So, I logged a DNF for this one. I guess I'll wait until another person finds it, then go look again.

So there you have it, Not my best day. But not my worst. Sure beats laying on the couch eating cheetos and watching Oprah. (Not that I have ever done that)

Over the River

On Sunday we decided to go visit Grandma. So since I am addicted to Cachin' I looked up caches that are on the way to Grandma's house. I picked out 4. 3 of which are located in the huge metropolis that is known as Brimfield. And the other is in another huge community that goes by the name of Williamsfield (or Billtown)

We went to go find our first, Which is by the place "The Brother Of Tinman" works. It was located in a cemetery (not where he works) . We followed the GPSr to the back corner where there was a tree stump. We looked all around it but found nothing. I remembered there were a couple DNFs logged recently so we decided to take a DNF and move on. Had I remembered from the logs that it wasn't in the obvious spot we may have found it somewhere else. We'll have to go back and get this one.

Next we went to was a micro, but it was in the area so I figured we would try for it. This one took us to another graveyard . We followed the road around and my GPS r was reading 10 feet. This gives new meaning to park and grab.There was a tree right there so we started looking around it. We found nothing. We kept looking around but came up empty. Just as we were about to give up I spotted it hanging in the tree. We signed toe log and headed out.

Third on the list was located near the road and a creek. I parked and we all hopped out. I walked right up to it. It was kinda tricky to retrieve. It was located at my feet right at a drop off into a creek. Right after I grabbed it we could hear a muggle mobile heading towards us. I pocketed the cache and pretended to point out something to the kids. We signed the log and replaced the cache.

Our last cache of the day was in Williamsfield. As we pulled up to this one Mrs. Tinman spotted it from the road. This one was well guarded. There was a State Trooper across the street and a "guard" dog in the yard. She made a quick retrieval, signed the log, logged the travel bug, and off to grandma's we went

Changing a Lightbulb

How many Tinmans does it take to change a light bulb?

None! We stand back and say, "That's Electricman's job!"

But that doesn't apply to changing the light bulb on my 02 Chevy Trailblazer. What ever happened to an "easy light bulb change" when it applies to your vehicle? Remember when you had to replace the whole headlight when it burnt out? We were all so happy when some Engineer came up with the idea to just change the light bulb.



It was so nice and easy to lift your hood, reach in behind the light, twist the bulb, and pull it out. What happened to this super simple idea? Have you noticed parts places don't advertise free bulb replacement anymore? They probably don't do free battery replacement. I had a Volkswagen Passat that needed a new battery and the guy at the store told me, "There is an extra fee if you want us to install this battery." Which didn't surprise me once I started to change the battery.

But back to the point. I had to replace a bulb on my truck. It was unbelievable.

If you have a Trailblazer, listen up, here is how you change your light bulb.

First, I had to remove a plastic trim.

Then I had to remove the grill. That's right the entire grill.


After that I had to lift 2 metal sliders that held the headlight assembly. (actually a pretty smart design)

Then I had to remove 3 sets of wires from the headlight assembly. You know those pain in the but clips that have the tiny tab you have to push down to get them to release.

Finally the assembly comes out. all that is left is to remove the weather seal and twist the light bulb out .

Here is my truck disassembled


Oh ya I forgot to mention that it was about 4 degrees out when I did this. So hopefully I helped one person to change their light bulb on their truck. If not oh well I still made you read this whole blog.

Caching in the cold

So, the fam and I are just laying around the house Sunday afternoon. It was about 13 degrees outside. I was bored! So what do I do on the weekends when I'm bored? Geocaching! That's right! 15 more points for those of you who got points on my last blog. I hopped on good ol Geocaching.com
and snagged a few caches. We bundled up (because it's cold Josh) and headed for the first cache. The first one was by a Jeep dealership and is said to contain a couple Jeep travel bugs. We got to the parking area and I hopped out to get my GPSr ready. I told the Fam to stay in the truck to keep warm. (I know, nice aren't I) I found some satellites and we headed out across a field. We got to a wooded area, and kept following the heading. I decided to try something my father once told me.

He said, "Don't hit your brother!"
Sorry wrong flashback.

He said, "Once you get within 20 feet stop and let your GPSr settle down."
So I did this. About this time Totter yells out "Here it is!"
and there it was.



Sadly though there were no Jeep travel bugs. There was however another TB we said "HI" and signed the log and were on our way

Our next stop had about 20 TBs and/or Geocoins. We had no problem finding this one it was about 30 feet into the woods. Once I spotted it's hiding place, I stopped to let one of the kids make the find. Awesome found it in no time.



We signed the log and looked at all the TBs Then we took off.

Our last stop was an Earth Cache. So all we had to do was find a big rock and take a picture of it. Sounds easy right? Well if you know me I like to make things more difficult than they need to be. I pulled into the parking lot where I thought this thing would be but we didn't see it. I looked at the map on my GPSr and it looked like we were on the wrong side of the highway. So as we are about to pull out of the parking lot Mrs. Tinman says"Is that it?" and sure enough there was the rock. Minus Sean Connery and Nic Cage. We ran over and got the pic.



3 for 3 two weeks in a row. I'm getting good at this. I am starting to use more instinct than relying solely on my GPSr. It also helps to have a small army to search in a grid pattern. hope you enjoyed my new blog be sure to read my old blogs if you havn't already