D'oh! - 2/28/17

Today's puzzle takes us to Canada's Alberta province.  Everybody makes mistakes now and then ... fortunately it's not usually in front of millions of people.  It was a shame that the Academy Awards had such a huge mix-up the other night just as things were:

Drawing to a close

Tomorrow we'll be in California.

Bless you! - 2/27/17

I was thinking recently that I hadn't done a nice little pencil and paper puzzle in quite a while.  Not long after that I happened to come across this example in Ohio:

Zehnergitter Conundrum (gesundheit)

Tomorrow we'll ...

Georgia, Georgia ... 2/26/17

Today we travel to the Peach state.  Now:

Is Georgia on your mind?

Tomorrow we'll ...

Venus de Milford - 2/25/17

I'm planning to be back down to the Tri-State (NY-NJ-PA) area for another of my friend Captain Math's big geocaching seminars today.  I am curious how much snow there will be down there. Two years ago I went down for the event a day early and we ended up getting walloped with snow overnight.  The event was postponed, so I had to go home and come back two weeks later.  Before my first trip to the area, three years ago, I had solved all kinds of puzzle caches in preparation for my visit, but I only found a couple of them.  I tried lots of others but it basically turned into a tour of the area's finest puzzle caches covered in 18 inches of snow.   This was my first stop:

Venus de Milo

Tomorrow we'll be in Georgia.

How insulting! - 2/24/17

Today's puzzle takes us to California.  A while back I came across a Shakespeare insult generator (I can't remember if it was a flip-style book or a set of magnets ... there are also several of them online) but until that point I hadn't realized how creative the Bard was in his put-downs.  One of the ones that was generated for me was: "Thou rancorous milk-livered pigeon-egg!"  I wonder what he would have had to say about these:

Primitive Babes

Tomorrow we'll ...

A Blue Ribbon Puzzle - 2/23/17

Today we go back to Minnesota for another one I received as a recommendation:

Save My Place

Tomorrow we'll be in California.

Case Study - 2/22/17

I attended a meeting the other day at which part of the discussion involved a math course focusing on different applications in business like calculating a break-even point, figuring out how much product to order and how to price it most effectively.  Then I met up for lunch with a fellow cacher who, in a rather remarkable coincidence pointed me to this New York puzzle:

Case Study: Mittman's Geocoins

Tomorrow we'll be back in Minnesota.

#FlakeNews - 2/21/17

Today we travel to Rhode Island.  It's been all over the headlines lately:

#FlakeNews

Tomorrow we'll ...

Presidents Day - 2/20/17

Today we travel to Massachusetts for a puzzle that's just perfect for:

Presidents Day

Tomorrow we'll be in Rhode Island.

Out & About - 2/19/17

We're having a very typical winter here in upstate New York ... frequent snow showers interspersed with occasional larger storms.  Fluctuating temperatures make it possible for us to get rain, sleet, ice, and snow all in the same day, which is not particularly enjoyable.  Add in a little wind and things can get downright nasty.  I suppose after last winter's unusual warmth there are snowboarders, skiers, and snowmobilers that are very happy.  As for myself, I'm looking forward to spring when I will feel more like getting:

Out & About

Tomorrow we'll ...

Hit the Slots - 2/18/17

You may remember me mentioning that I have been known to enjoy a little low-stakes gambling now and then.  With today's New Jersey puzzle you can participate in a little no-stakes gambling at the:

Riverfront Casino Cache

Tomorrow we'll be in New York.

Superior Donuts - 2/17/17

I happened to catch the first few minutes of a new TV show recently, as it appeared at the end of my DVR'd episode of The Big Bang Theory.  The name of the show was Superior Donuts, and in the brief bit I saw, Judd Hirsch and Katey Sagal were featured.  My first thoughts were, "Why is Leonard's dad running a donut shop, and Penny's mom now a Chicago cop?" (Side note:  You can tell that it's Chicago by the checkerboard pattern on the hat ... is it just me, or are there an awful lot of shows set in Chicago these days?) Apparently it's more than a coincidence that the actors are appearing together again so soon after recently guest-starring on TBBT ... from what I can tell Judd encouraged Katey to take this new role while they were working together on that show.  It's always interesting knowing a little bit of the behind-the scenes story.

I also have a behind-the-scenes story for today's California puzzle.  Recently I had an e-mail exchange with the CO and I happened to mention a particular puzzle type I was thinking of featuring soon.  It turned out he'd been thinking about putting together one with that theme for about five years, but hadn't gotten around to doing it.  Over the course of the next few days we talked back and forth about his design and the implementation, and he came up with some quite superior:

Chocolate Chip Doughnuts

Tomorrow we'll ...

Sapphire Jubilee - 2/16/17

Ten days ago marked the 65th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's ascension to the throne. That's quite a milestone, so it seemed fitting to share this London puzzle that created in her honor:

QE

P.S.  To get a sense of how long 65 years really is, just consider the following image

:

Going in Circles - 2/15/17

I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes from finally sorting out a puzzle that you had thought you understood at first, and then realized that you actually hadn't.  I got that feeling the other day with today's California puzzle.  If I had a different linguistic background I might say I was "dead chuffed" to find myself capable of some:

Rotational Reasoning*

*Hey!  We're in the GC7's now!

Love is in the Air - 2/14/17

It's Valentine's Day again, and in response to my request someone suggested a perfectly themed California puzzle to share with you today.  I guess I'm lucky that some people want to fill the world with silly:

Love Songs ♡

Tomorrow we'll ...

Multiple Intelligences - 2/13/17

Recently I was part of a training exercise focusing on the idea of multiple intelligences.  I found it interesting to explore the ways that I process information, and I couldn't help thinking about how it might apply to how I approach the different geocaching puzzles I look at. If you're unfamiliar with the concept, you can read more about it here. In today's puzzle from Denmark, we are encouraged to use our logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, and bodily-kinesthetic intellegences:

Fingerspitzengefühl

Tomorrow we'll celebrate Valentine's Day.

Spike! - 2/12/17

Today's Minnesota puzzle relates the historical story of the:

Golden Spike

Tomorrow we'll be in Denmark.

Mantorville - 2/11/17

Today's Minnesota puzzle assures me I'll have something to do:

When In Mantorville...

Tomorrow we'll wrap up our week in Minnesota.

Carbon County - 2/10/17

Today finds us back in Minnesota, where I learned that there are four places in the US that share the name of:

Carbon County: MT, PA, UT, WY

Tomorrow: another Minnesota puzzle.

News flash:  There's been a lot of buzz in the puzzle world over the last day or two about the website that hosts the "evince" geochecker being down.  If you have puzzles that use this checker you may want to consider updating to a new checker ... this one may not be back.

Mrs. White - 2/9/17

Today's Minnesota puzzle is a little game of:

GEO-CLUE: What Does Mrs. White Know?

Tomorrow, another Minnesota puzzle.

Shredded - 2/8/17

Today we continue our week in Minnesota.  Shredding is one of those chores that I tend to let pile up on me.  Instead of doing things one at a time I always end up with a whole bunch at once.  Then I try to do too many pages at once, for too long a time and I end up either jamming the machine or causing it to overheat, leading to more delays.  And have you noticed is much more volume the shredded material takes up than the originals?  For today's puzzle you'll need to sort out a description that's been:

Over Shredded!

Tomorrow, another day in Minnesota. 

Word Crimes - 2/7/17

Today's Minnesota puzzle requires investigating some:

Word Crimes

Tomorrow, another day in Minnesota.

Pinball Wizard - 2/6/17

I recently got a nice batch of suggestions for puzzles in Minnesota outside of the usual area we visit around the Twin Cities.  I'll be sharing several of those with you over the next few days.   First up, a little game of:

Geo-Pinball v.2

Tomorrow we'll have another from Minnesota.

Valentine's Day is next week ... if anyone has any suggestions for a themed puzzle to post in honor of the occasion, please send them along to me!

Super Bowl Sunday - 2/5/17

Today's puzzle takes us to Pennsylvania.  It's that time of year again ... for a few hours today many of us will be a:

Super Bowl Couch Potato

Tomorrow we'll be in Minnesota.

Loving the Emojis - 2/4/17

I mentioned recently that I've been using more emojis of late, and it seems like I'm not alone in that. My neighbor commented the other day that she's started sending messages completely composed of emojis.  I tried that myself yesterday, closing out a conversation with my husband with a text consisting of this:

To which he replied "My emojis are insufficient to respond."  I got a good laugh out of that. :)  Today's puzzle takes us to Rhode Island, where there are a whole bunch of emoji-based puzzles.  Why not try your hand at:

💑

Tomorrow we'll be in Pennsylvania.

Cold War Cache - 2/3/17

Today we pay a visit to a puzzle from London that was recommended to me recently.  It features an interesting glimpse of some history that really wasn't that long ago:

Cold War Cache - Protect and Survive

Tomorrow we'll ...

Groundhog Day - 2/2/17

Will the groundhog see his shadow today?  It's hard to believe it's already Groundhog day again.  I honor of the occasion I thought it might be fun to feature this puzzle from Utah, where:

Everyday is a HOLIDAY!

Tomorrow we'll ...

Piet in the Park - 2/1/17

 I've long believed that there's an art to creating an enjoyable geocaching puzzle, and today's Norwegian puzzle is a fine example of that.  For your viewing pleasure:

Piet in the Park - tomahg #66

Tomorrow we'll be in ...