These offerings , I think, are the solution. Or get more creative with your plants. We had a hide once, a cow patty made from expanding foam, that was right out in the open. It stayed in place, unmolested from noxers for years. I worry far less about unscrupulous 'boxers than I do from looky-loos, non-players or the aforementioned 'nosey little creatures'.



I'm not sure these suggestions will help in this case. The boxes I've looked up of the OP's appear to be drive-bys. I don't know if the purloined boxes were the same, but if so, I doubt they were taken by 'boxers. We usually list boxes on both sites. I know folks around here like to put high restrictions on boxes, but my personal opinion is that it discourages newcomers to the hobby.


Right!? The nerve!

I also, agree that donating your LTC stamps is the way to go. Nobody likes to have their stamps go missing but ultimately it's part of the game.

You know what kind of stamp never goes missing? Un-carved and un-hidden ones. 😉

One other idea for protecting a box: make it a mystery! A lot of folks see that the box is a mystery and run screaming in the other direction. Even a fairly easy code like this one can help weed out beginners who may not yet know how to be stealthy or rehide a box well.

Where was it that it didn't look out of place? I would expect that even something like this near a trail will be kicked. Out in a wild field would become lost in the weeds.

I like this type of hide. I would like more details.

Yes, people, in general, avoid mysteries. I like to make them and to try them. I have placed at least two mystery letterboxes, listed on this site.

Does making it a mystery qualify as a restriction? I'm guessing that it doesn't but I'm not sure.

It does not, as evidenced by the collection of purple diamonds that Dingus Dufus has earned. (For those who don’t know, a box can’t qualify for Box of the Week if it has any type of restriction.)

The stamp requests expire and delete themselves. That's why I've always made an "other" tracker for stamp requests.

“other” meaning a personal tracker? Or there is an AQ set up?

How do I locate a past date request?

You need a tracker requesting stamps for your event. You can look at other trackers to get an idea of what to do. Then use the stamp exchange to share the tracker and give it visibility.

https://www.atlasquest.com/trackers/

I love that idea

Yeah, I think the Ohme one was too obvious. Ugh! I know better! Lol

Thank you. Great idea ♡

I've never done a personal traveler. I'll have to look that up ♡

Brokeback Mountain being re-released in theaters for 20th year anniversary

Definitely want to see it on the big screen again.

Where we used to live there was a large public space that was bound on one side by private property. The private property (a cow field) had an easement running through it to allow access to the park. I slid the hide a foot or two under the fence. There were no weeds to speak of as the cows kept them eaten down.

To make the hide, I took a jar turned it upside down on a piece of cardboard and 'artfully' 😉 covered it in expanding foam. Before it cured I littered it in dirt and straw. After it dried, I painted it to approximate the real thing. The funny thing is the longer is sat out in the elements, the more real it looked.

To note if you plan on making one, temporarily wrap the lid with something about 3/4" thick (i used rolled up newspaper) to allow a space to grasp the lid. Also, if you wish the jar to stay in the pie, wrap it with wire so the foam has something to grab on to. For extra strength, I hot glued the wire after wrapping it.

Thanks Rocklun for the example of the mystery box. Love that it practically does the work for you! Also would be helpful when decoding a box with the way it is set up!

I checked your profile maps and I only see... North Carolina is shaded in on your finds map not your plant map!

OK I just read that it was an added option to the carver!

The requests was for stamps only, not an event. It was posted on the exchange/request board.

I suppose with no actual tracker the request is deleted from the top 10 readily viewable on the board after a while. However, I searched into 2023, but I do not see the request. Why would the request be missing?

Still needing an answer (waiting on the “possible bug” board…)

Old Requests just auto delete eventually.

To clarify, trackers are not just for events.

PuggleMom

wow, 20 yrs already. Time really does fly.

Very nice details. I will have to find a place to try this.


However, I still need more detail on this.

I live in a place where there are cow pies not to far away. (There used to be cattle across the fence from my bedroom window, but now there are houses going up.) I can actually go find a real one, make a plaster cast and use that to make a fake one. I could go across the fence from my back yard to find one.

So, I know that it will take a thin bottle to make this work. What do you use?

Ew.

It doesn't have to be touched to do so.

I could always find a way to hide a letterbox with one of these. (This is much less likely though.)

It doesn't have to be that thin. I used an old cream container of ECP's. Something very similar to this.

I don't have a pic of the finished 'container' but it but it looked like this.

To color it, I used a combination of acrylics, wood stain and spray paint - just stuff I had on hand. First I dabbed it with some stain. It worked surprisingly well. This got the base color on it. Then i took some water based acrylic paint and added light and dark spots. Finally i Took some black spray paint and lightly dusted it around the base.

ETA: to prepare the jar, I wrapped it in some wire. Then just coated the wire with hot glue so it will stay in place. Around the lid I wrapped some loosely wrapped newspaper. When removed, this creates a space to grab the lid.

Diagram: Link, click me!

Ya gotta love a site where somebody posts a picture of cow poop, and it is flagged as "Educational"...

The fact that the box of the week is completely toast themed by a guy named I dig toasters 😂

Anyone interested to trying out micro-postals? I have a newbie ring available! Click here for more information: https://www.atlasquest.com/showinfo.php?trackerId=12034

Small correction--I dig toasters is a woman, and she's a very talented carver of toasters and other things. :)

That box totally deserves a PD!! The museum is amazing, and so is the stamp!

This is one of my all-time favorite finds. Anytime you can find a box by i dig toasters, do it!

To say nothing of the fact that you can actually buy "Fresh Organic" cow poop on Etsy. You gotta love that last pic of the maker photobombing... As the Wicked Witch of the West said, "What a world, what a world".


And, yet, here we are...

^{Maybe some folks don't get out much?}