[BakRdz]

Glad to be a part of the moment. You certainly earned that one. Great caching muddies!

Cache on! 8)

[BakRdz]

Wow. This is getting out there. I still don’t have a strong opinion on the whole topic, but I think I’ve come to the opinion that:
– if it ticks off the CO, then it’s bad form.
– if the CO is the kind to shrug it off (like I am), then no big deal.
– if you don’t know the feelings of the CO, then assume it’s bad form.

In response to Sandlanders and Johnny Cache’s remarks to my comments about WSQ ALRs, I’m going to redirect to my resent post in the Cemetery caches…and more ramblings….. thread so I don’t distract anymore from the original intent of this post. I had only brought it up here as an example of finding your own way to cache.

BTW JC…I’m a he.

[BakRdz]

Great points. When I first started caching, you wouldn’t get me near a cemetery. Too morbid. Bad flashbacks of funerals. Etc. Now they honestly are one of my favorite “take-a-break” caches. You just never know what you’ll find (literally!). Today was another great example.

Stopped at WSQ Bluffton Cemetery. On the way in I was all about finding the cache. On the way out, I let my eyes wander. Here I had walked right past one of the most unique markers I’d ever seen.

I wasn’t looking for it, but I spent quite some time by it appreciating it and wondering about the person who was laid to rest there. The person who crafted it obviously wanted people to notice and appreciate it or else why spend the time on it. Sure, it’s a nice memorial for the person who was buried there, but there has to be more to it. I’ve now come to appreciate markers as works of art dedicated to the fallen. And like works of art, it is the impression the viewer gets back from it that makes it important to the viewer.

Without WSQ caches, I would miss out on treasures like this. I’ve said in another forum that I’m probably not going to bother posting the ALR pics on Marc’s 9XX caches, but I really appreciate the placement of them and completely respect the time and intent behind them. It is only because I want to make my OWN discoveries and not be on the hunt for anything else while there. When I’m focused on hunting something, I miss discoveries that make an impression on me…like today…and that is why I do this… to find things I didn’t know were there, not just a container with a piece of paper in it.

[BakRdz]

A big congrats! Cache on! 8)

[BakRdz]

@RSplash40 wrote:

Did the officer cut open the tongue?

Not that I know. Matter of fact, I don’t know if he even removed it.

Actually, the more research I’ve done, the more I’m convinced this was part of either a Hoodoo or Santeria silence spell. The cut had 9 cross stitches, which fits the description. If this is true, inside could have been the person’s name.

From another website:
“Turn the paper 90 degrees and write your name over theirs, crossing and covering their names nine times, and as you do so, say, nine times, ‘[Names], i cross and cover you. Come under my command. I command you to hold your tongue.”

For GLS and the previous finders sake, I just hope the cache wasn’t stitched inside!

[BakRdz]

@EnergySaver wrote:

doing a little googling … this is likely an Occult thing … I’m finding references to graves, nailing cow tongues and rooster heads into trees.

Did some googling as well. Found this on a witch/pagan site.

COW TONGUE ‘HOODOO’ SPELL FOUND IN CORNFIELD
“A severed cow’s tongue with notes and a woman’s photo sewn inside was discovered Saturday inside of a box placed in a shallow hole on city open space, according to police. The package was wrapped in a black cloth and tied with a yellow cord. Once police determined it was not an explosive, an officer opened it and discovered what police believe was a severed cow’s tongue with stitching. The officer cut the plastic thread of the stitching and found a photo of a woman dressed in white and four folded notes written in Spanish with red ink. There was also a powdery substance in the tongue that officers said looked and smelled like it contained pepper.”
This is a tradtion Hoodoo spell to shut the mouth of the person at whom the spell was directed. Hoodoo is a very literal tradition of magic so it you wanted to “tie someone’s tongue” you tie a tongue. Originally, a Shut Up spell using a cow tongue was associated closely with court case magic so that those working for the prosecution couldn’t speak against the defendent. However, as a Hoodoo practitioner, I would have tied the tongue with black thread, not yellow, as well as tied the picture of the target. Likewise, I would have burned a black candle on tongue dressed with Shut Up or Tapa Boca Oil and Powder. Today, a Cow Tongue/Shut Up Spell is used for more than just court case work.

[BakRdz]

@EnergySaver wrote:

doing a little googling … this is likely an Occult thing … I’m finding references to graves, nailing cow tongues and rooster heads into trees.

This doesn’t make me feel any better. Yeesh! I’ve always been a little leery about graveyards at dusk (that’s when the dead rise from the grave you know), but now I have to worry about having a hex placed on me when geocaching! 😯

[BakRdz]

Seems a pretty varied response so far, which I guess goes with my thought on the subject.

I am not the puzzle junkie that some people are. I’ve done a few “doozies” that gave me headaches, but the puzzle was part of the overall experience for me. However, it’s not an experience I want very often. Sometimes I just want to go and grab a bunch of guardrails and cemeteries to break up a day. Sometimes I’m looking for a unique adventure and I don’t care if I only do one that day. It’s about what kind of adventure I’m interested in at the moment. For puzzles, there has to be something special about it FOR ME to spend the headscratching time on it.

Another example of not following the intent: I’ve done plenty of Marc’s cemetery caches where he would like me to post a picture of some example of a headstone I’ve found. I’ve yet to do it. Probably never will. (Not that I’m the only one either.) Why? I DO like spending the time looking around at the other headstones often (which I think is the intent), but I don’t have the patience to collect and post photos just to log the find. That is a part of the experience that doesn’t interest me. Does that make it wrong?

With that said, it’s no skin off my back if people want to “skip” the intent of my caches and group find them. I place puzzle caches for the enjoyment of others, not to prove how devilish or clever I can be. I just want the experience to be fun for people. If ganging up to solve it is fun, then go ahead. If you don’t think it’s going to be fun, don’t do it…and certainly don’t complain to me that it wasn’t fun afterward. That’s like asking someone to pinch you then complaining it hurt.

But…personally, if I spend the time solving someone’s puzzle, you won’t get the answer from me unless you do, too. I believe it is up to the CO to decide whether you have suffered enough for the solution.

Final thoughts: Unless the cache in a once in a lifetime area and I just couldn’t get the solve on my own, I won’t even bother with it. After all, it’s just a container with a piece of paper in it. There will be lots more of those.

[BakRdz]

Pretty confident it was a cow tongue. What made the whole thing creepy was not just finding a chunk of a cow where I did (not that finding it laying in the middle of the woods or on a trail wouldn’t have been a little odd), but the fact it looked to be cut open and stitched back up. All I could think of was some sort of voodoo curse thing or witches hex placed on the person whose grave it was near. Either way I didn’t want anything to do with it and I’m not sure the officer did either!

Those are some other pretty odd things mentioned so far!

[BakRdz]

Nice milestone and some amazing numbers!

Cache on! 8)

[BakRdz]

Thanks again for the invite (and the “muddybars”). Even without the “better half” it was a great time. Happy to pass along a couple of sticks from the “family” to good home. Hope we can get them all together for a reunion some time.

[BakRdz]

@MuddyBottoms wrote:

Unfortunately Ruth, the better half of MuddyBottoms will be working and will not be able to join us,

🙁
Well…I suppose finding the cache is still enough of an incentive even if it is with the “not so better half.”

I’ll still see if I can rustle up two sticks even if we are one bottom short.

[BakRdz]

@MuddyBottoms wrote:

Maybe Jay could even rustle up another log or two for team MuddyBottoms??

I’ll take a look under all the snow through the pile of Roosevelt’s siblings and see what I can find.

[BakRdz]

I’m generally not a GC collector, but I think it’s a great idea and would get one. Just to be clear, are we talking about a 2010 coin or a 2011 coin?

Also, has there ever been a theme for past coins? I know a lot of annual item design contests (i.e. posters, events, etc.) have a theme for the year. While having a theme would require a decision to be reached on what it would be, it does make the decision process of choosing the winner easier because you are basing it not only on the design, but how well it fits the theme. It also gives the potential designers an area to focus. (ex: 2010 theme – “CITO/EarthDay 40th Anniversary” or “Wild Wisconsin”; 2011 theme idea – “10 years of WI caching”)

Just a thought. Putting it out there for discussion.

[BakRdz]

@CodeJunkie wrote:

Maybe – This is close to home, but I “got permission” to go to Marc’s event this week. Hopefully I can talk my way into this one. I’ll have to be on good behavior. 😆 😆 😆

Tell your “warden” that you need to pick up your new hiking stick. It just happens that the pick-up location is the final to the cache. 😉 Plus, you can make it up to her the day after on Valentines Day.

Either late afternoon or AM would work for me. I have other things I need to attend to that day, but I can squeeze them around something like this. What ever works for you muddy ones.

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