That appears to be it. I'll have to look for it when I'm down in that area. It isn't that far, but I don't get down there for letterboxing as much as I'd like.

Yeah, the pencil erasers harden over time too. I forgot to add to my list the giant "Big Mistake" erasers, as well as the "themed" Halloween or other eraser types where the image to carve is already part of and the shape of the eraser itself (i.e. a pumpkin, bat, tooth, toothbrush, zombie, etc). Those are fun to carve :)

I've carved on many materials but my favorites are #1 the thick Japanese. I love the denseness, firm but soft to carve on; #2 right now I have some good pink stuff that I am rather enjoying carving; and #3 SLQ, although I haven't carved on this for awhile. I have a couple pads of it now waiting to try out again. I've tried some Chinese material and the clear gel-like material was was good but hard to see and very expensive.

I tried the butter-kut from Stampeaz and originally liked it, but it has a texture that I didn't care for. My real no-nos are the cheap blue stuff, and from Dick Blick there was some tan material and some really think dark gray that were unusable.

Wow, has it really been 5 years since Fairies ...? How time flies.

Thanks; that made all the difference.

Sad News from Minnesota
The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 75.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin.

Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth , Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch.

The grave site was piled high with many flours.

Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded.

Born and bread in Minnesota, Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes.

Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crusty old manand was considered a positive roll model for millions.

Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children: John Dough, Jane Dough and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart.

The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

If you smiled while reading this, please rise to the occasion and pass it on to someone having a crumby day and kneading a lift.

BoxerLover47 is correct. It is Trixie.

We enjoyed our visit to Utah and hopefully will find our way back there someday. Super folks there, great letterboxers.

Seems like just last week we were totally engulfed in fairies. I guess the really good times stay close by the heart.

I loved the old PZ Kut, and currently use OZ Kut. I haven't had a chance to try the new stuff yet. I find Pink is too soft for me.

BB

Being from Minne-snow-ta .... I thought that the doughboy character was acturally being retired.
Whew! our homeboy is only being puntastic!!

I’ve been stung a few times, I pointed out the letterbox to you at West Rock where it happened getting the Seeing Red series. Luckily I’ve never had a really bad reaction.

Oh my goodness! Lol, almost had me... thanks for the laugh! =)

It can be managed without consent, by controlling who is maintaining which boxes. The last time we did it, we set up lists that limited each person helping with the maintenance to boxes they had already found. That way, they knew where the boxes were (at least in general terms) and we weren't giving away any secrets.

Agreed Artemis! Good point!

So what you're saying is…he's toast?

Cheryl of Team Mad Dawg is celebrating her 14th anniversary on AQ today--by chance we are boxing together this weekend.

We became friends through boxing when she accosted me--err,introduced herself--at a local trailhead 15 years ago, and have boxed together ever since, including 13 Boxing Days (Missed one due to surgery). She is truly one of my closest friends and I treasure our adventures when we are the "Mad Mamas"

Here's to another 15 years of inky fingers and sides sore from laughing!

Mama Stork

It is with great embarrassment that I report the discovery of a black hole in my basement--preliminary exploration has resulted in :

A box from the 2004 Hocking Hills Gathering (I hosted, so not so bad)
2 Hitchhikers (and a parasite) last stamped 2005
1 Hitchhiker last stamped 2007
and
a Postal from 2005

I have attempted to contact the owners of each box (majority of which are still quite active)and will be returning, planting etc. per their wishes.

Mama Stork

I have carved: many iterations of Pink, starting with the old good stuff and moving through the range of "new", Orange PZKut, White (MZ, NZ, OZ, PZ and mystery), Eco Karve (brown), new Gray-Z and Tan-Z( the thin test materials and I'm now trying the thicker material), Linoleum, and Japanese SEED. I have a sample of SLQ, but haven't used it.

Hands down, Orange was my favorite. I am primarily a knife carver, though I switch back and forth between knife and gouge easily. Orange was a joy to carve with an X-acto knife... beautiful thin lines, easy to cut, easy to go back and make lines thinner, inked up nicely. Old Pink and white PZKut would be my next favorites.

Are you kidding me? That's exciting!!! I hope I run into one of those HHs!

As a blade carver, I am strictly use Pink Stuff. The only other material that I have liked is PZ Orange; I really miss that.

I am able to carve pretty significant images using the pink. I realize that it can be relatively soft but I'm able to do what I need. Magnification and light allow me to get really fine details.

As a blade carver, I find that the harder materials more difficult to work with as they don't tear the way I need it to.

Hey, I love it when people who became a black hole just up and admit it, get the stuff back to the owners and we all can move on. :-) I love hearing when stuff is unearthed and returned to it's rightful place/owner!

BB

Its like a time capsule reopened.

Maybe some day he'll rise from the grave.!!!!

HI Everyone.
I had to adjust the Halloween blackout event date to a week before.Life happens :)
There is a small chance I will need to cancel this event for this year, but I am hopeful that the change in date will be sufficient.
Thanks
MK

Had no idea you were hosting an event. Now that I look at it, it’s listed for “planet earth.” I’m think that if you want more than 5 other people to participate, you may want to list a more specific location, maybe even so much as the address where your holding it. “Planet Earth” doesn’t come up in my event search criteria.

Hello everyone,

I'm hoping to start a postal soon and relaunch my Marauder's map postal with all the new stamps that were added the last time. I am having a hard time locating it right now, I hate when I put something in a safe place so I won't lose it...lol.

I'm hoping there will be interest. This postal hasn't been sent out in a few years.

More information to follow

whoseywhatsis -(hoo-see-wut-sis) -one of my best friends used this all the time

Definitely interested in it here!

Me, me!