Author Topic: Geocache..?? (Read 7111 times)

Jeannine · « **on:** July 30, 2010, 03:39:48 »

Is anyone involved with this please.I need some help XX Jeannine

Jeannine · « **Reply #1 on:** July 30, 2010, 23:04:15 »

Paulines7 · « **Reply #2 on:** July 31, 2010, 01:13:36 »

Sorry Jeannine, the answer is no. I didn't even know what it was until I looked it up. ;D ::)

Jeannine · « **Reply #3 on:** July 31, 2010, 01:58:48 »

Thanks for trying Pauline XX Jeannine

Debenvalley · « **Reply #4 on:** July 31, 2010, 06:14:30 »

My wife does it as a great way to get the kids out in the fresh air - sometimes they walk miles and never notice the distance !! I can ask her if you have a question ?

There are geocaches (which are a bit like buried treasure) hidden all over the place which are registered on the geocache website. Some just have a notepad so you can leave a note to say you've found it and some have items of minimal value which you can take leaving something else in its place, often little toys, trinkets or novelty items etc

You can print out directions to nearby caches from the geocache website and then when you get home you log any you find (or don't so they can improve the directions or replace it if it has been removed by someone)

My wife uses an application on her iPhone (which has GPS) to get directions and to log each cache found. Its like hunting for buried treasure, we often see what caches are nearby when we are out and about. It's all good fun :)

Jeannine · « **Reply #5 on:** July 31, 2010, 09:49:07 »

Thank you, I have a problem. I have a large disabled veggie bed at our community gardens lottie which is in a popular heritage park. The raised bed is 1 of about 8 that are just out of the usualy lottie area but are owned by tenants as is my normal lottie.

It was planted out earlier in the year with assorted rare squash and from day1 we had problems, we found the markers pulled out, many of the plants up rooted , clearly someone had been digging about in it.All the other 7 were just fine. I kept popping new plants in and re rooting the ones we could save but they had been disturbed so much some plants died and many just where not growing,

We could not work this out.I have been growing squash for about 30 years or so.

Then 1 day I noticed a small container hidden in the logs that the external part of the high bed was made of. It was a tube with a logbook inside with names written in it.

I took it home as I didn't know what it was, and looked up the web site from the info on it,I then found what the thing was, They had picked my raised bed to hide it in, folks had got the info from the net and found the spot, then dug around to find it.

The plants started to grow.

A few days ago once again we noticed digging again and searched around and sure enough we found another one. We took that one home too.

This time I registered myself on the site, looked it up and found the name and place of the cache I had found, we even read the story of who found it on several occasions ,that it went missing, the info was was taken off the site for a while till the own could check(this corresponds to when my plants started to grow) then the owner went to look ,found it missing and left a replacement, this is all doucumented on the site.Now once again my plants are being disrupted as the cache is back on line, I have now taken the second one a way.

I am not a party pooper but this cache is placed in a garden area that belongs to me and is not part of the park. I can't leave it there for kids to come and constantly uproot it.I would like to ask the owner to take it away and cancel this search or resite it where it can't do any damage but I am nervous to do that in case I annoy the owner and I find all my plants vandalised.

Could you ask your wife what I should do. I am really at a loss here. I guess I could just kee moving them and hope they get fed up, but I am very concerned about my plants, they are running very behind now because of all of this and probably won't take much more and thet are vrey rare species.

XX Jeannine

Debenvalley · « **Reply #6 on:** July 31, 2010, 10:49:09 »

my wife thinsk the only thing to do would be to contact the owner of the cache, explain it is not a public place and ask them to move it to a different location or remove it.

She thinks you should be able to leave a comment on the website as if you had found it but explaining what the situation is. Hopefully once they realise the situation and the damage to your plants they will move it.

You could also put a note where the container is hidden for the owner and people looking for it explaining everything...

I hope you get it sorted out, it must be a right pain !

Jeannine · « **Reply #7 on:** July 31, 2010, 11:14:45 »

I have just left a message on the form asking for help and explaining why. I haven't contacted the owner yet I will see what replies I get, then I will e mail him, thank you, it is an awkwad situation as it looks like fun, the person who stashed this one simply made a mistake with it's placement

XX Jeannine

Chrispy · « **Reply #8 on:** July 31, 2010, 11:38:58 »

There are rules about placing a cache like not placing on private land without the owners permission, and also not placing it anywhere which would cause damage while looking for it.

Contact the ownwer and tell him to remove it.

GrannieAnnie · « **Reply #9 on:** July 31, 2010, 11:50:33 »

Incredibly stupid and irresponsible of the cache owner! Good grief one wonders about humanity sometimes.

Jeannine · « **Reply #10 on:** July 31, 2010, 11:52:55 »

The thing is,it is not on private land, it is in a public park, our community gardens are open to the public . They have to get permission to put them in the parks,and I guess they were told not the community gardens, but the disabled beds are closer to the entrance and a bit away from the main plots so maybe he thought he was OK, but if the raised bed was maintained by the park they would have been damaging park property not mine. I have both of the caches he placed at home but he may replace it again.

I am just concerned that I mysteriously lose all my plants if I make waves XX Jeannine

grawrc · « **Reply #11 on:** July 31, 2010, 12:01:48 »

To be honest, Jeannine, it looks as though you may lose all your plants if you don't make waves! But you hve to ask yourself what kind of numpty goes poking around in a bed of squash plants?!! You'd think they might go back to the owner via the website to query where the cache has been placed at least !!

Jeannine · « **Reply #12 on:** July 31, 2010, 12:14:39 »

Well I guess the coordinates get them to the bed, then they have to look for it, seeing markers in the ground would be the firt thing, they would pull them up to see if they contained a message, when that didn't work I guess they just started routing around in the very soft soil I had made for my squash.

If they had any sense they should have looked in the nooks and crannies in the logs it is made of, I have noticed there are some holes in there I hadn't noticed before. The funny thing is we have found both of them in quite plain view, so I think they have been jammed into a tight hole, found, and the finder couldn't get them back in so he left them tucked by the side of my trellis one time and under a bit of grass by the base the second time.

I think I will go back on the site, send the owner a message to say he can have his caches back if he changes the specs on the forum to somewhere else.

He may be a kid and I can speak to his Mum.
XX Jeannine

aj · « **Reply #13 on:** July 31, 2010, 12:57:35 »

I'd put a little sign saying 'the Geocache has been removed to xxx - please stop digging up the veg!' and put the new co-ordinates in where the xxx is.

As well as contacting the 'owner' and asking them to desist as they are causing great distress to the people growing the veg!

Jeannine · « **Reply #14 on:** August 01, 2010, 02:35:10 »

Well, I did put a message on the forum, now I am thoroughly upset and in tears in fact so have come over here to feel better.

I did have some useful advice but it seems it was not taken seriously by many folks and I have been accused of being someone else. I am a bit confused as to what this person is but obviously by the comments I received and the ensuoin discussion he/she must have been a big cause of concern.

It is nevertheless quite distressing to be taken for a troll or worse.

I have put another post on there denying it of course, I gave the info as to where the garden is and even told them I am not so bad and invited them to check me out here..so you all be nice now.

Back to the important bit.. I am now even more confused than I was before and am very scared I have got into something over my head.

So still not sure what best to do. I guess I will dwell on it for a bit till I get my balance back

XX Jeannine

GOF · « **Reply #15 on:** August 01, 2010, 03:39:03 »

Hi Jeannine.

I am a geocacher. I am sorry you had such trouble in our forums. Unfortunately your post came in the middle of a spate of trouble started by a particularly offensive forum troll. It also had a bit of the feel in writing style and content of that troll's posts. A bad situation that I am sorry to say you got caught up in.

The cache in question sounds to me like it should never have been placed. Once in a while these things slip through the cracks. When this happens we normally do our best to fix the problem. In this case I think you should use the contact@geocaching.com email address to get in touch with the fine folks at Groundspeak who own the geocaching.com site. They can archive the listing so that folks can't download the coordinates. The problem is that some folks will have the coordinates already loaded in their GPS receivers. That is why some have suggested that you place a sign in your plot letting searchers know that the cache has been removed.

I do hope that this can be worked out. PM me if I can be of any help.

Duane

WRITE SHOP ROBERT · « **Reply #16 on:** August 01, 2010, 04:32:16 »

Hello, I too am a Geocacher, Hopefully you got my email through the site.

Firstly, I'm sorry to hear about the trouble you've had with the plants, and then in our forums. If you can summon the courage to return and read some of what has been discussed after your recent visit, you'll hopefully find out a little more about what a good community we are. More than one person has taken steps on your behalf to help get the problem resolved, and there have been some tongue lashings(if you can do that through a keyboard) aimed at those tho were so rude and dismissive. Please do not feel that the general Geocaching community is fairly represented by those posts.

The Cache owner has been contacted about the problem.
The Reviewer has also been contacted(by at least two people)
The Cache page has had an archival request placed.

These steps should get the listing removed from the site so that players will not come looking for it. It still might be a good idea to make a little sign instructing players that the Cache is not there, and NOT to disturb the plants. This will help in any cases where players have not seen the online information.

I wish you the best in getting this resolved, and please, feel free to contact me if you have more questions. You can reach any Geocacher by clicking on their name in most places on the site/forums, and then there is a button in their profile to contact them.

All the best,
WRITE SHOP ROBERT

geobain · « **Reply #17 on:** August 01, 2010, 06:36:15 »

Jeannine,

I would like to publicly apologize for my actions. I mistook you for another poster who has been causing problems on our forums recently. This is not your fault, but mine.

I take full responsibility for my actions and for encouraging others to think ill of you as well.

Please understand that all geocaches are required to have adequate permission before they are hidden. Apparently this was not so in this case. Even if the proper permission was given, there is no excuse for any geocacher causing damage to your garden plot.

I would like to personally apologize for that damage even though I do not live in your area. As a geocacher, I realize that this does not bode well for our hobby.

I have posted a needs archive log in order to have someone look at this cache page. I also contacted the reviewer directly. Please understand that since this is the weekend that it may be a day or so before action is taken on this matter. Once reviewers are made aware of a situation such as this, they generally move quickly to make things right.

I know this probably does not matter at this point, but I would like to send you $30 towards the purchase of new plants. You can email me at geobain@cguys.com. If you do not feel comfortable doing this, I can send a check to the Community Gardens to be used for the beautification of another area of the park.

Again, I apologize for my actions. Please do not think that the way I behaved is in anyway indicative of the behavior of other geocachers.

Regards,

Geobain

Digeroo · « **Reply #18 on:** August 01, 2010, 07:25:26 »

As gardeners we become very attached to our plants and do not take kindly to them being dug up. For us this becomes vandalization. It takes months for a plant to grow, and so if they are damaged it can be a disaster. We have to cope already with a host of pests, but someone else's game is a bit too much.

I think that your hobby actually sounds like a bit of fun But even in a public park I am not sure that I think that digging is appropriate.

Root damage is very difficult to see. Most plants have considerably more going on under the ground than above and some can be very edgy about root disturbance or soil compation.

It may also be difficult for people who are not gardeners to understand just how special particular plants can be to someone. But perhaps pet owners might equate it to someone treading on their dog or cat and killing it.

The problem with your hobby is that when it is small it is fine but when vast numbers of people get involved the whole dynamic changes. Lots of people just treading in a particular area can cause damage, just brushing against plants can knock little bits off. This may be fine for a few leaves but after a while the plant cannot cope any longer and gives up. It would be a pity if your hobby gets out of hand and becomes a victim of its own success.

I actually think I also have one in my garden. Little objects have been arriving on a wall underneath a bush. It is currently not an issue but I feel that the originator of the site should have contacted me about it. All land is owned by someone so the landowners should always be told of the whereabouts of the caches and be able to remove them from the website immediately if a problem arises. The owners of the cache may believe that the wall around my garden is public property but this is not the case. Even Public land is owned by the public. Public footpaths are rights of way but this does not give people the right to hide things.

earlypea · « **Reply #19 on:** August 01, 2010, 07:35:55 »

It's good of you to apologise Geobain, but you're totally missing the point with your $30 offer.

Jeannine is a squash specialist, she doesn't grow any old thing that you can buy. Her seeds are extremely rare, not possible to be bought (priceless).

Then, to grow anything, especially squash which take a long, long time to ripen you've got to sow at exactly the right time of year, you have to plant them out at exactly the right time of year and then they have to grow for a long, long time without being dug up. And hopefully the sun will shine in the right amount, but there won't be a drought or a heatwave or floods and they won't be overwhelmed with bugs or diseases. It's a long and tortuous road.

If that doesn't happen on schedule not only has she missed a whole year of growing and cropping (you can't plant 'em in the Autumn - they'd grow a few inches and then die in the frost) but also a year of saving seed from endangered varieties and seeds get less viable over time.

I think that explains it simply - it's excruciating! I'd be distraught.

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Author Topic: Geocache..?? (Read 7111 times)