Clue 1 We are family.

Clue 2 = Males

One new guess accepted by 8 am on 8.08.2025.

Sorry for the delay. Traveling all week. Left at 6 this morning and just back to office.

Clue 3 = The sixties.

Response through 8 pm saturday. Will post clue 4 either late saturday night or Sunday morning. Cannot wait to get back on the road again, for family reunion weekend!

Years ago, a craver had a Mauder's map from the Harry Potter movie. She created a postal tracker and we all craved feet and sent them around. When the postal was finished I created a tracker and sent Padfoot back out. A number of people on the tracker had asked if they could crave a set of feet and add it to my postal, Padfoot and Friends was born. It hasn't gone out since 2018. I was curious if anyone would be interested in this postal if I decided to create a new tracker and send it back out.

Thank you for responding.

🍂 Fall Postal Ring – Changing Leaves Tracker #12145
A seasonal postal adventure to celebrate the changing leaves and the beauty of fall!

This is a postal ring, which means your letterbox will travel in a circle, visiting each participant before returning home to you. Inside your box, include:
• A fall-themed carved stamp (leaves, acorns, pumpkins—anything autumnal!)
• A small logbook
• Optional: a tiny fall trinket for extra fun

📦 How It Works:
• Each participant will be assigned a number in the ring order.
• You mail your box to the person after you on the list.
• When you receive a box from someone else, stamp in, log your visit, and send it to the next person on the list.
• Your own box will travel to every participant and return home stamped and logged.
• Mailings are one per week, so be sure to budget time and postage (small First-Class packages usually work well).

Example:
If you are #1, you send your box to #2. When you later receive box #13, you send it to #2 as well. The flow is always forward in the list, so every box makes a full circle.

By the end of the season, you’ll have stamped in to every box in the ring and your own will be back home filled with everyone’s logs.

🍁 Theme: Changing Leaves – Fall colors, crisp air, and seasonal magic.
📅 Season Run: September 22 – December (one mailing per week)

We now haveca few correct answers for the main subject. This does take also answering an additional specific topic related to the main. This clue can be used for both purposes.

Clue 4 = Glen Campbell?

One guess until noon 8.11.2025

I will now start a combo clue. 5.1 are for those still searching for part 1 of the solution. 5.2 will be for those narrowing down the 2nd portion of the solution.

Clue 5.1 Mike, Dennis, Carl, and Brian

Clue 5.2 Banana

Please do not get discouraged by the double part solution. You know there's an answer if you just think hard enough and look deep enough into the Internet!

One guess for 5.1 and another for 5.2 until noon 8.12.2025

Apologizes for not responding and not providing a new clue. Had a last minute work trip to the mountains. I've been off the grid without internet, phone calls, texts, and cloud documents. How did we live with this in the 60s? Drove about 5 miles back to some spotty coverage. Will be back home on 5G tomorrow night. Of course you know there is a math clue on the horizon. If you dont hear someting by Thursday Bigfoot probably has me captive.

Apologies again for having to go away for awhile from the mystery clues. Work continues to be a changing landscape but at least I am back off the road. WV is a beautiful state and I love the country roads, but very tiring when driving through the mountains in the rain for hours.

I am publicly announcing the answer to part I is the Beach Boys. Over ten people already have guessed correctly, and the members first names sealed it for many of you.

Moving forward we are just guessing on the second part which is related to the Beach Boys! Remembering I also promised a math question. Mhahahaha!

Clue 6: What prime number when squared, cubed, or calculated to the 4th power all will generate a palindromic number?

God only knows how hard this has been with all my work interruptions and travels. It seems like trying to herd cats just like a classful of young, excited students. Anyway, here comes lucky 7th clue. Related to the fact that there are already seven successful boxers. To see if you made the cut so far check out the tracker. Those that have been successful are listed in the order of getting it correct. Three more spots to go so be quick.

Clue 7:
Rubber Soul and Sgt. Pepper?

Clue 8 Im Here Today and Wouldn't it be Nice to get a tenth correct answer!

Will remain open for guesses until 4pm Monday. First correct answer closes the tracker. Everybody with the correct answer is already been added to the tracker.

Solution = The Beach Boys Pet Sounds album.
Clue explanations:
1. We are family – Four of the five original band members were related. Three brothers and a cousin.
2. Males – The band name includes boys and were all males.
3. Sixties – The band was prolific in the 1960s. Pet Sounds was made in 1966.
4. Glen Campbell – Glen Campbell didn’t strike me as a Beach Boy but filled in briefly for Brian when he stopped touring. Glen played on Pet Sounds.
5. 5.1 Mike, Dennis, Carl, and Brian – Four relatives from the band
a. 5.2 Banana – Banana and Louie were Brian’s dogs. They can he heard, on the album. This was a rabbit hole possibility with the Minions’ The Banana Song being a parody from the Beach Boys’ Barbara Ann. I had planned a further parody reference with the clue Pancreas. This was a Weird Al song parody of Pet Sounds.
6. Prime number when squared, cubed, or to the power of 4 is a palindrome (same forward and backward). A single digit of course cannot be a palindrome and of course the number 1 is NOT a prime number. Eleven squared is 121, cubed 1,331 and the 4th power 14,641. Pet Sounds was the 11th studio album.
7. Rubber Soul and Sgt. Pepper. Brian attributed the Beatles Rubber Soul as the inspiration for Pet Sounds. The Beatles had mentioned that there wouldn’t have been a Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club album without Pet Sounds.
8. The dialogue had two song titles from Pet Sounds album.
Brian stopped touring and spent the time creating Pet Sounds which was definitely not your typical Beach Boys sound.
There were three additional clues (song titles from the album) buried within my apparently rambling dialogue in the board posts. You just never can be sure what will be an actual clue.
Clue 5 You know there’s an answer
Clue 6 Away for awhile
Clue 7 God only knows.

Watch for Mystery 2503 in early September.

To see the rules for this postal visit the postal tracker at: https://www.atlasquest.com/showinfo.php?trackerId=12166

Good luck!

Clue 1: ¾ of a gross

One first clue is accepted until noon on 9.03.2025

Clue 2 = blue

One additional guess allowed until noon on 9.04.2025.

Hope everyone has gotten kids back to school. We have been in a drought in my neck of the woods. Raining and cool today. Enjoyed driving in the rain this September morn. Hope all are staying safe!

Clue 3 = Diamond

Another guess is accepted until noon 9.05.2025.

This has been a long work week for only four days. Feeling very Old today! Hopefully I will feel more perky tomorrow and have a great boxing day with temps in the 60s!

Clue 4 = gold

Another guess is allowable until noon on 9.06.2025. I will be traveling tomorrow but will still try to post sometime in the morning. Somewhere between driving, boxing, and playing golf. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Sorry for missing a day. Sitting on the 9th tee now. Certainly have enjoyed traversing many country roads this weekend. On the way to one more rural waterfall before taking more windy road home.

Clue 5 = Denver

One guess until noon on Monday!

Clue 6 = 75.4 miles

One guess until noon Tuesday 9.09.2025.

Wow! I am surprised that y'all are not getting this one with six clues already. Stay calm and do some more digging through those resources to come up with a solid product. We have had one correct boxers and two that were really warm before that number clue! Hoping to wrap this up soon and definitely before the weekend. This clue is an odd phrase that might get you a funny look in my neck of the woods.

Clue 7 - yunz

Another guess accepted until noon on Wednesday 9.10.2025

I am surprised the last clue didn't give things away. If you are still down a baseball rabbit hole you should probably have noted that the Diamond clue was capitalized meaning it was a proper noun!

Clue 8: miners versus mills

Hopefully this will be the final clue. Definitely need to wrap it up by 3:30 Saturday!

Clue 9 = Rivalry

Let's Goooooooooooooooo............

Sorry this is so long winded, they don't call me Jabber for nothing.

There are three kinds of Postals: Micro, Standard, and Heavy. Micro is a #10 envelope less than one ounce. Standard is carte blanche usually less than 13 ounces. Heavy postals can contain a Book or a Jigsaw Puzzle no limits to size or weight. All are still valid.

In the beginning, at the dawn of AQ, there was a Yahoo Group. From 2004 until 2017 postal letterboxes mainly consisted of a good sized carved stamp (regular thickness--maybe even mounted) and some kind of creative logbook. Usually in a 6x9" bubble mailer, but carte blanche ruled the day.

The recipient was expected to take the package to the post office for weighing and postage and send it on its way. The price of postage was about $1 in the beginning for a well-crafted 6x9" bubble mailer. Postage just kept going up.

AQ developed Trackers, the Yahoo Group disbanded and migrated to AQ. The make-up of Postals continued as they always had been, big and heavy. Then someone came up with the idea for the MicroPostal and gradually we all got on board learning as we went. These lightweight beauties have become the default. A #10 envelope and a Forever stamp--no trip to the PO as long as you had a supply of stamps on hand.

The old Standard 6x9" is still valid just not the default anymore. They cost upwards of $5+/- in postage and a trip to the post office for the recipient. MicroPLBs cost the recipient one Forever stamp, and are required to include extra postage only if one Forever stamp is not enough. There are many requirements for MicroPLBs besides size and weight such as: thickness, rigidity, lumpiness, not violating barcode area, aspect ratio...it doesn't help that the PO keeps changing the rules.

Descriptions for Postal trackers should include information regarding what's expected. The word "Micro" or #10, or carte blanche, 6x9, extra heavy (there's an attribute). If there's confusion ask the person who owns the tracker.

Everything you want to know is in the Wiki Help on AQ.

All the stuff you'd ever need to know:
https://www.atlasquest.com/about/wiki/browse.php?catId=4

Specifically regarding shaving off the back: https://www.atlasquest.com/about/wiki/browse.php?catId=33#q792

Specifically regarding setting up a Tracker
https://www.atlasquest.com/about/wiki/browse.php?catId=42

There are not any additional clues. You may want to read things on my profile. Free guesses until 3:30 p.m. Saturday the 13th. Hope to be singing Country Roads by 7:00 pm.

Just an add-on to


I was able to by-pass the trip to the post office by using my digital kitchen scale at home for the weighing, and PayPal to print and pay for my tracked mailing label. I Dropped off the package with the out-going mail at work. So nice and easy!

Now that I’m retired, I still weigh packages and print labels at home. In our area, we can leave letters/small packages in our mailbox for the letter carrier to pick up, but we usually take the packages to the PO and just drop it in the packages bin (no waiting in line).

When I list a postal tracker these days, I always say if it is a Micro, or a Standard, and if it is a Standard I also give its weight, so people can make an informed decision whether or not to join.

For the postal I mailed today, including its inkpad, USPS Ground postage was $7.60, plus I paid $1.99 for the 6x9 padded mailer.

That's exactly why micro-postals have become by far the most popular today. And I would emphasize the importance of the host making clear in their tracker listing, what mailing method will be needed for their postal, so participants don't get an unexpected and expensive surprise.

This is the boxer’s first tracker and only my second postal. In addition to the stamp and full-size inkpad, the logbook was a little hardcover journal about 1/2-inch thick.

The three items arrived in just a plain business envelope with two Forever stamps. However the envelope was torn, and I’d guess the post office had to hand-cancel it.

Thanks for the backstory. I wasn't around and I remember getting a package instead of micro. Was not planning on that.

I think going forward, if its not listed what type of postal is, I have to try to remember to ask if its a micro.

Also check to see if the letterboxer is new because most likely they wont know the difference.

Great post.

Congratulations to the winners.
Expect the next mystery in October.

Mystery Postal 2503 Solution and Explanation of clues:
The answer is the Backyard Brawl. This is the name of the WVU(West Virginia University) -Pitt (University of Pittsburgh) rivalry in football. Sometimes the annual basketball and baseball games also go by that name.

Clue 1 ¾ of a gross =108 This is the number of times the rivalry has been played.

Clue 2 blue. This is one color of both rivals.

Clue 3 Diamond. This refers to Neil Diamond (capitalization distinguished this from the common diamond so this does not apply to baseball although that was the rabbit hole for many.) The Pitt band traditionally plays Sweet Caroline at the end of the third quarter. It is a lovely song but WVU fans add a few extra lyrics for the three beats after Caroline (E.S.P.). Just google WVU Sweet Caroline to find multiple clips of the crowd singing the song. A Neil Diamond song title was also in the message board dialogue September Morn.

Clue 4 gold. The message board included a capitalized Old word in the dialogue. WVU’s second color is old gold. Pitt is just gold.

Clue 5 Denver. John Denver’s 1970s hit County Roads was played in person at the opening of the current WVU stadium in the fall of 1980. This immediately became a traditional way to celebrate a WVU win by linking arms with anyone around swaying and singing loudly for all to hear. Another rabbit hole for some living in Colorado of course went Rocky Mountain High and based guesses including the Rockies baseball team. The dialogue of course had me discussing my weekend road trip via “county roads”.

Clue 6 75.4 miles. This is the current distance based on Google Maps between the two football stadiums.

Clue 7 Yunz or Yinz or Yuons is spoken in Pittsburgh and western PA in comparison to Y’all used in WV. It literally was a term identifying which side of the Mason-Dixon line you were raised. The Mason-Dixon line forms part of the border running east-west between Morgantown and Pittsburgh.

Clue 8 Miners vs Mills. This was how the original rivalry was portrayed. Working man cities based on coal mining and steel mills. Yes, that is where the NFL Steelers name also is derived.

Clue 9 Rivalry. The Backyard Brawl has been a bitter rivalry for my area since 1895. I have attended a few and fortunately all were WVU wins. The most gut-wrenching loss was in 2007. It was the final game of the year. WVU only needed a win at home on senior night on a frozen field to finish #1 in the nation and play in the championship game against Ohio State. Pitt was 4-7 and not viewed as a threat, but that is when a rivalry really can bite you. WVU had the most prolific offense in the nation but only managed 9 points and also missed three field goals. Pitt finally scored a TD late in the 4th to win 13-9. The offense played very conservatively and of course it was found that Rich Rodriguez had already secretly met with Michigan to leave WVU. Don’t think he threw the game but was ultra conservative. He certainly was distracted by flying that week for a clandestine interview. LSU with a similar offensive style as WVU crushed Ohio State for the title.

As fitting in any good rivalry this game went OT. A monster WVU win! Unfortunately, the rivalry will be on hold until 2033.

Jabber is making me nostalgic for the good ole' days when postal boxing was prolific. Just about went extinct other than a few annual ones. I personally hate the micro postal movement but totally understand it from a cost and convenience standpoint. My biggest difficulty is cutting down the thickness and of course carving shallower than normal.

There are a few annuals still going such as the Springbok Puzzle ring I have hosted for many years but did not create. Mailing is once a month, so it is a yearlong experience with 11-12 new puzzles to solve. These can go in a flat rate priority padded envelope for around $11 which is still cheaper than buying a new puzzle every month. Pieces go in a large baggie and just a single sheet of paper with the image. The back of the completed puzzle serves as the logbook. When I retire it is likely this annual tradition may need to pass to a younger boxer. I also continue to run a USPS commemorative postage stamp each year since 2009. This is now a micro and there are still spots open for 2025 stamps if you want to join.

Some other interesting postal rings were musical and books. For the musical one you burned a CD (yeah obsolete technology) of songs related to a topic. My favorite CD was one with songs including cowbells. A takeoff of the SNL skit of Blue Oyster Cult's Don't Fear the Reaper with Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken called "More Cowbell". The book one was a monthly mailing throughout the year. It involved mailing a paperback with a stamp image related to the book.

There is also a hybrid yearly one called Box of the Month. Unique in that it is a postal and a traditional rolled into one experience. It is a postal ring, but the stamp is planted as a traditional for three weeks at each stop before heading back into the mail. The traditional box is the same location with a series of 12 stamps that cycle through being activated and retired as they are received and mailed on. Since this requires a monthly visit in hot and cold weather, I typically make this a driveby. I have been in and out of this one in both Martinsburg and Culloden. I rejoined for 2026 since they were looking to fill out this one. Looks like there is a spot for one more person.