A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

spring

Bring on baseball!

With the end of the Super Bowl …

… it’s baseball season!

Yes, it’s that time of year. It’s when the best sport comes to the forefront of it all. And I, of course, will enjoy that baseball is upon us.

I’ve already started looking at where I want to go this year. And though I’ll stay a little more “local,” I plan on still hitting a bunch of baseball games. The reality is, though, I don’t want to be away every weekend like I was last summer. I don’t mind going to a game on a Saturday night or something, but it’s nice to be able to be around in the summer as well.

That also means I need to gear up for some baseball posts over the next month and change … to get myself ready, of course.

So in that time period – I plan on finishing all of my stadium reviews from last year, as well as a couple of reviews and recaps. Part of blogging every day last year was that I had a problem keeping up with certain things – such as stadium reviews and baseball recaps. Still, that’s all well and good as it’s just about spring training and it’s when I am really pumped – so hopefully I can get all caught up and maybe some others will be interested in going to some of the stadiums I hit last year.

Another thing – I am working on the second edition of the Can of Corn Challenge. This will, again, be a summer-long writing challenge (once per month, March-October) with a baseball-related theme. Now, to be honest, last year was kind of a flop. There were a few people early, but by the end, it was just me.

My plan and hope for this year, though, is to make it a little friendlier to those who might not be rabid fans. Maybe we can get some others involved in the challenge even if they aren’t massive fans. I’ve found many people have baseball memories and thoughts, so I want this challenge to be something maybe everybody can get into.

Therefore, the themes this year will be a potpourri of baseball items. Some might go toward the baseball nerd, some might be toward the average baseball fan. Pick and choose. I will have the themes for the whole summer (and dates) posted here likely by the end of February. Then you can get in any of the ones you want. You don’t have to be in every one of them – just pick and choose.

I’m going to do it either way as I love baseball. But it would be cool to see some others join in, just to see what everybody has to say. I’ll be working on the announcement post and themes soon.

The weather in my area might not be feeling like baseball yet, but when the Super Bowl ends, I officially start getting ready.

My goal this year is to be around 50 games. I hit that 75 mark last year and, with other things going on, it was a bit too much – even for me. This year, there’s one “big” trip planned and then probably more of hitting the “area” teams – such as Binghamton, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Syracuse, and Tri-City in Troy. I, obviously, would like to throw in a few IronPigs games, being they are the AAA affiliate of the Phillies.

If all goes well on one of the bigger trips, I’ll get to add several new MLB stadiums to my list, including Milwaukee, Detroit, Chicago (both Cubs and White Sox), and possibly Toronto. I keep saying I want to hit up Fenway, so maybe this will be the year. And I always catch a couple of Phillies games.

Needless to say, baseball is around the corner and I couldn’t be more excited. Time to make sure I have my Baseball passport and get my scorebook in hand as before I know it … games will be here!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Geocaching season is picking up

This past weekend, I got out on a sunny but cool Sunday afternoon. The goal was simple, to find some spots to place a few geocaches in a local state park.

Several of the spots are for a geocaching challenge the parks in this region are doing this summer (launching Memorial Day weekend). Others are for me to place as there are some good spots.

trail

It’s always nice to get out and spend a day in a park, hiking around and geocaching.

I did this solo, which I don’t always do when it comes to caching. But it was nice, nobody was around, and I needed to get this done.

And it was nice.

But it also made me realize that I want to do some caching soon and take advantage of the expected good weather. So off I went.

For the day, I hiked around the park and logged a bit more than four miles, according to my FitBit. I explored parts of the park I had never really been to, finding good spots for geocaches in each of those spots.

It really is a cool park. It’s great for walking, the elevation changes aren’t bad, and it’s scenic.

Spoiler alert for some local cachers – I also found what I thought would be a good spot for an event and contacted the park today. Though there is a nice picnic area at the parking lot, my idea for this event is to get people out to walk some and see some other parts of the park. We’ll see how it goes.

But it also made me realize I need to cache more. I miss getting out to places like this and finding caches. I am not a massive fan of caching solo, as I think I’ve mentioned here before. It’s just not as fun. Of course, much of that is based on urban-style caching. If there are caches out in the woods, or on a trail and I feel like I can do it without being watched, I’m OK with it. That can actually be fun in a solo capacity.

I’ve been peeking around for some upcoming summer trips. I think I’m going to get the Empire Pass this year (free admission into state parks) and see if I can investigate some, even if it’s a solo trip somewhere. It should make for some good photography and hopeful geocaching. I need to push myself a bit more to hit up more than the quickies. After all, it’s about the journey, right?

How about you? Any spring/summer geocaching plans?

(Note: For those who like certain aspects in geocaching, there should be a couple of “surprises” in the featured photo at the top!)

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

The spring… is it really here? Time to geocache then.

Sun?

Warm weather?

What in the name of … am I still in the Northeast?

It was Easter when we were still getting snow. Now all of a sudden Mother Nature seems to have released her hold on winter.

Spring seems to have arrived. (Don’t worry… there’s talk of rain coming in, and maybe a morning with snow showers).

I can’t complain, that’s for sure – especially with blue skies and sun aplenty in recent days.

Now, I’m sure rain will be coming soon enough. We always get some spring showers. And it’s still cold in the overnight, which includes frosted windows on the car in the morning. But that’s fine. Seeing the excellent weather is outstanding.

That also means geocaching. It also just means getting outside a bit more and trying to do more things. Softball season is quickly approaching as the season is supposed to begin the week leading into Memorial Day.

Time to get out and geocache!

Time to get out and geocache!

I’m also in search of my 4,000th geocaching find. At this moment, I’m at 3,838. That means, I’m 162 away, so I should have no problem reaching that goal… but it’s when I do it.

I always attempt to make my 1,000 milestones something special. For 1,000, it was The Spot (GC39, the oldest active geocache to the East of the Mississippi River), for 2,000 it was Europe’s First (in Ireland), and for 3,000 it was the final for the New York Delorme Challenge.

I’m hoping 4,000 can be at Geowoodstock XIII on May 23.

This could be easy or it could be hard, all depending. First, I’m going to, obviously, have to do some caching between now and then. But it’s the two weeks leading in that scare me. The week before, I will be heading to ASP Geobash 10, a mega event in Western New York. I’m figuring on a day of about 25-40 geocache finds, all depending.

See, the thing about this is that I need Geowoodstock to be the exact 4,000th (I will log whatever is my 4,000th find as I keep things in order and won’t change things around to make it work), and I plan on going down the Thursday night before and have all day Friday to cache. So I don’t want to make it so hard where I have to go super crazy to get it, but at the same time, I don’t want to have to skip caching the day before just to make Geowoodstock my 4,000th find.

This is going to take some planning, that’s for sure.

But the good part of this is that the weather is changing and I’m getting interested in being outside to geocache again. This past winter… I couldn’t have cared less. In fact, I went January-March without one find. And heck, my only find in December was an event.

I’m truly looking forward to hitting some megas this spring and summer, too. As of now, I have plans for four – ASP Geobash, Geowoodstock, Berkshire Geobash, and the NY/NJ Mega (which is on my birthday).

I’m also looking at going out to Seattle for the Groundspeak Block Party in August, and I’m really interested in going to the Midwest Geobash in July, but the latter two are all pending on travel and finances. Honestly, it might be more of a … do one or the other. As much as Groundspeak’s Block Party would be a lot of fun, I wonder if I wouldn’t be better off going out to Seattle in a different month for cheaper flights and just visiting Groundspeak etc. Either way, that decision needs to be made soon as I don’t want to wait much longer to buy flights.

Honestly, though? Those last two are icing. The other ones are easily done and I’m looking forward to them.

Truthfully, I’m just looking forward to getting outside and being more active. And catching a few baseball games. And playing softball. Maybe I’ll even play a round or three of disc golf. And geocache. Oh yes, there will be geocaching.

Now get outside and enjoy the warmth. Winter will be here before you know it!

Side note: I figured out how to darken the type here a bit… that makes me happy. Now I have to figure out how to make that default.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Ahh the spring… please stay!

Could the spring finally be here?

Here’s hoping for it.

This has been a pretty brutal winter. From snow to bitter-cold weather, I don’t recall a winter this bad in our area in a long time. We’ll sometimes get snow or the frigid temperatures, but it’s not often each are so prevalent at the same time.

It was so bad that I didn’t even worrying about finding a geocache. In fact, I haven’t found one since the end of January. And disc golf? Forget about that. I don’t even know the last time I threw a disc and, until the health situation is covered, I don’t know when I’ll throw one.

Alas, it didn’t much matter. This winter was awful.

Hopefully this is a sign to come.

I usually don’t mind going out and doing a few things in the winter. I can handle the cold and, depending on depth, the snow. But when they are both there and you add in the shorter days of light and it can be depressing.

Then, when we hit the time of the year when spring is supposed to be here and winter keeps hanging on, well it’s not easy.

Not one bit.

Now that my foot is fixed and appears to be on the mend (outside of this picc line), I am chomping at the bit to get out and do something. And the weather looks positive, too, with it being in the high 40s/low 50s for much of the 10 days.

I need to get active and outside. The schedule can be tougher, but I need to find the time. I’d like to hide a bunch of new geocaches to get others out and finding them. I’d like to also break out the camera and just go take some photos. I haven’t done that enough in 2014 and really need to get back into it.

This is going to be a different summer than the past couple, being I’m employed. It’s going to be nice to walk out of work and know there’s daylight to do something and know your day isn’t just applying for jobs and trying to make ends meet.

Well, I think I will always be looking to make ends meet!

As long as the area softball league keeps going and everything, I look forward to that this summer, too. It will be my 25th year (sheesh!) playing softball as I started when I was in high school.

But first, the spring.

It was 66 when I left work today. Here’s hoping this is a sign of the season finally changing.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Hey Mother Nature — get away from the bottle!

Apparently Mother Nature has a sick sense of humor?

After dousing our area with nice to hot weather for a week or two, she showed her teeth once again. On Mother’s Day, it was extremely cold and windy. That made any attempt at the annual golf outing that day tough. Nine holes was all that was accomplished. The sun was starting to pop out at the end and it was warming up, but still way too windy.

Monday comes and it’s quite cold again. I went out for a few things and saw a few flurries. I laughed it off.

Flurries on Monday may have not looked like this, but it sure felt like it!

Driving back a couple of hours later, I went through stronger flurries. Boy, that was fun.

A couple of people in the neighborhood covered plants last night.

Why, you may ask?

A freeze warning! Seriously. Something in the 20s was possible. Oh joy. I saw frost on my car last night before turning in for the night. That’s always nice.

Especially in May.

Apparently, according to the local news last night, our area set a record because we got a trace of snow. That hadn’t been done on May 13 before.

The latest we’ve (well, Binghamton area) has seen snow?

May 18.

Hopefully that record won’t be broken this year.

Today is slightly blue skies with some clouds spread out. The sun is shining. But it’s only supposed to reach the mid-50s.

That’s a start.

Maybe Mother Nature will get off the bottle yet. It’s obviously clouding her seasons.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!