Sprowkey’s current base camp, the Pathway to Panache, has seen a deluge of rain over the last several days. The area is becoming flooded, and though it seems as if the downpours are only temporarily stalled, Sprowkey will be taking this opportunity in between downpours to relocate his base. When and where he lands next is anybody’s guess, but hopefully it will be much further west, and that much closer to his goal.
This just in: Sprowkey is back on the grid, having just settled in at his third camp! He had narrowly escaped the local inhabitants at his previous camp, having had to backtrack and change directions multiple times in order to completely throw them from his scent. After regaining his bearings, the search for the next suitable base camp continued, and he is now in a secure container (a full-sized cammo ammo can) getting much-needed rest before his next westward adventure. It is an idyllic location to make camp, being that it is within close proximity to water and is heavily fortified. With the weather being as beautiful as it is, however, this sojourn may not last long. “Westward, Ho!”
Well, it looks like I spoke entirely too soon about my perceived avocado pit fail. I was meandering past it this morning, and was totally shocked to see that it is now very much split open! It’s a darn good thing I didn’t throw it away. The increasingly longer days, warmer weather, and more intense sunlight must have finally triggered the germination process. I guess the big takeaway lesson here is patience. After almost three long months of waiting, we’re finally in business, baby!
My avocado pit that has been sitting on the windowsill since the Super Bowl has yet to sprout. At this point, I think it is safe to say that it’s not going to happen. I was supposed to keep it in a warm place, and my hunch is that sitting on a windowsill in the dead of winter was just way too harsh of an environment. Now that it is spring and things are warming up, I think I’ll give it another go. Time to make some more guacamole!
For St. Patty’s Day this year, each of our kids will have to follow a rainbow to their very own Pot O’ Gold! I purchased rainbow-colored crepe streamer from Party City ($1.99) as well as some chocolate gold coins ($.99 per bag plus some additional colored ones at $.10 a piece). Each of the little laddies will have their own rainbow, which they’ll have to follow throughout the house in order to find their Pot O’ Gold.
You can buy little plastic pots or even use small cooking pots if you’d like, but we opted to make our own paper mache pots. We’ve been working steadily on several other paper mache projects, so I just added in a balloon for my daughter to practice on. Once dry, we cut it in half, added legs, painted and glittered them, and voila. She’ll be surprised to see what their paper mache project was actually intended for, and even more surprised to find the edible treasure inside!
Stop the presses! Sprowkey has made his first move! After several weeks in the wild, our favorite geocache adventurer finally began his quest, traveling almost six miles west. He is now taking cover in a new hideout, awaiting his next move.
So far, the only danger that Sprowkey has encountered has been bitter temperatures and persistent, blustery winds that slowed his pace to crawl. At first, the howling winds played at his fears of traveling alone, but they soon became such a familiar part of the landscape that he no longer even noticed they were there. In fact, he had gotten so used to fierce winds, that he didn’t even take notice of the stirring sounds of mysterious local creatures around which he was selecting his new camp location. He had stumbled right smack in the middle of their village!
What’s in store for Sprowkey? Will the strange creatures detect his presence, or will he confront them first? Will he take off and make a run for it? Will he slip by unnoticed? Anything can happen. Be sure to stay tuned for the next chapter in Sprowkey’s Adventure!
Special thanks to SCPA Backpackers for facilitating Sprowkey’s maiden voyage.
Special thanks to SCPA Backpackers for facilitating Sprowkey’s maiden voyage.
Allow me to introduce you to Sprowkey (my daughter named him), a geocaching trackable figurine that we customized and unleashed into the wild last week. He is made of polymer clay that was sculpted around an official geocaching identification tag called a travel bug. If you have never heard of geocaching, it is a growing hobby akin to a treasure hunt, that uses smartphones or other GPS devices, as well as online clues, to track down and find hidden geocaches. Although modern technology can help get you in the vicinity of caches, you’ll probably still have to do some serious old-school hunting as well as some problem-solving to find the prize.
There are many types of caches, ranging in size from large Tupperware containers to micro-containers the size of a pen cap. Then there are virtual caches, where the goal is to find a specific location as opposed to a container. Inside the cache there is typically a log book for geocachers to sign, trinkets and other swag available for trade, and if you are lucky, you may even find collectible or trackable items, like Sprowkey, that have specific goals. Geocachers may remove trackable items, log them online at geocaching.com, and move them to other geocaches.
Sprowkey’s insanely ambitious goal is to travel all the way to California, or as far west as possible, and for his adventures to be recorded along the way. Surely his travels will be chock-full of suspense, mystery, and all kinds of mayhem, and I’m hoping that fellow geocachers will play along and send me their own stories of Sprowkey’s exploits so I may highlight them here on this blog. Will he meet new friends and confront old foes, traverse difficult terrain, perhaps even fall in love? Time will tell.
As spring approaches and you yearn for some outdoor family fun, give geocaching a shot. Still not sure? Try looking at a map of your area on geocaching.com. You’ll be surprised at the number of caches quietly hiding right under your nose that you never even knew existed. There could be fantastic treasures hiding just around the corner….and maybe, just maybe, you’ll even stumble upon Sprowkey.
We just made some great guacamole from a very simple recipe. I chose the easiest recipe that I could find online because I needed to throw it together very quickly. At first I was a bit leery of trying this because it calls for garlic powder and salsa instead of the traditional, whole ingredients. That being said, it was done and on the table in a few short minutes and everyone was happy with the results. Even my just-turned-two-year-old liked it. Another nice thing about this recipe is that it is easily adaptable to any number of avocados that you may have on hand, so you can make it with as little as one avocado.
Most importantly, we saved the seeds in order to attempt to grow our own avocado houseplants. We found information on how to grow and care for an avocado plant on the California Avocado Commission (CAC) website. A glass of filtered water and three toothpicks later and our seeds were prepped and ready to grow. Now all there is to do is sit back and wait. Let’s hope these babies sprout!
Today we have an old toy toaster and a broken kiddie cup. The toaster is solid upper body material, while the cup lid looks like it may make a good helmet. The kitty is already wary of this whole situation, which, on a side note, reminds me of a fun game that we play on the iPad called Robot Wants Kitty.
Is it weird that I started saving toilet paper and paper towel tubes without having the slightest idea what to do with them? I guess that must make me either a brilliant artist, a hoarder, or an impoverished Martha Stewart. Or, perhaps, all of the above.
Secret Dad Society 