Huron Expositor, 2007-11-14, Page 6Page 6
The Huron Expositor
• November 14, 2007
Opinion
Geocaching catches the imaginations of two
technophiles who also love the outdoors
From Page 4
Mitchell.
We had to wait for a weekend I
wasn't working to go on our first
expedition. Then we wrote down
the coordinates and coded clues
for the caches in Seaforth,
Dublin and Mitchell. Finally we
set off to find the Seaforth one.
That didn't work out.
It was only rated a two out of
five as far as difficulty goes, but
it beat us. We found the general
area it was hidden in easily
enough, but the thing about geo-
caching - as we had read and
then discovered for ourselves -
is that since most handheld GPS
units "aren't 100 per cent accu-
rate, you follow the GPS as close
as you can and then have to
search.
"You have to figure," Christa
said as we searched fruitlessly,
"if your GPS is out by five metres
and theirs (the geocacher who
hid the cache) is out by five
metres, you could be 10 metres
off in total."
However off we were, we decid-
ed to call it quits on that one for
the day and headed off to
Mitchell.
This was a multi -stage cache,
which means the first cache
would have coordinates to the
final cache - the one with the
stuff in it.
The GPS led us a short dis-
tance down a path and then told
us we were within a few metres
of the first stage.
Christa combed the area while
I stood and looked around and
thought about where I would
have hid the thing. After a few
moments I went looking in the
place I would have hid it and she
),'U ari Invited to attend tilC)t arca criurcllcs
ST. THOMAS
ANGLICAN CHURCH
A Congregation of the Parish of The Holy Spirit
Jarvis St. Seaforth 519-527-1522
Sunday, Nov. 18
Worship at 9:30 am
followed by Coffee Time. Kid's Zone
Sunday School at 9:30 am. Everyone
Welcome. ACW Christmas Sale - Sat.
Nov. 1710-1. Parish Council - Sat.
Nov. 17 at 10:30 am
BETHEL BIBLE
CHURCH
An Associated Gospel Church
126 Main St. Seaforth
519-527-0982
Sunday School • All Ages • 9:45arn
Sunday Worship Ilam
Pastor Mark Kennedy
EVERYONE WELCOME
NORTH -SIDE
UNITED
CHURCH
54 Goderich St. W.
Rev. John Gould
Sunday, Nov. 18
Worship llam
Sermon: Signs and Portents
Everyone Welcome
ST. JAMES
ROMAN CATHOLIC
CHURCH
Welcomes you
14 Victoria Street, Seaforth
519-527-0142
Sunday Mass Ilam
St. Patrick's, Dublin
Sat. Mass 5 pm - Sun. Mass 9am
Fr. Chris Gillespie
EGMONDVILLE
UNITED
CHURCH
Sunday, Nov. 18
Pastor Steve Hildebrand
WORSHIP AT llam
Sunday School 10am
Everyone welcome
FIRST
PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH
Goderich St. W., Seaforth
Rev. Henry Huberts
Sunday, Nov. 18
11:15am Service: 140th Anniversary
Service. Ren. Ted Nelson & Rev. Henry Nutats
i.unch & social time to fellow
Photo directories may be picked up
reached the place I'd been stand-
ing.
She found it and the new set of
coordinates about a foot from
where I had stood while I was off
poking through a pile of leaves
20 feet away.
That's probably when she got
hooked.
Twenty minutes and 500
metres of trail later I was think-
ing that this game wasn't for me
while the GPS unit babbled non-
sense and Christa combed the
area for the final cache.
I stood there again, this time
looking for a break in the natur-
al pattern of the woods.
Eventually I saw a small and
seemingly random collection of
underbrush that just didn't look
right.
I walked two feet off the trail,
reached into the collection and
pulled out a tupperware contain-
er wrapped in camouflage tape
that had been visible from two
feet away.
All my frustration was instant-
ly transformed to glee as we
opened the cache to find a num-
ber of small items and a logbook.
One of the things was a collec-
tion of homemade fridge magnets
with the geocaching logo and
words that went something like,
"I use multi -billion dollar mili-
tary satellites to find tupperware
hidden in the woods. What do
you do?"
We signed the logbook but had
forgotten to bring something to
leave in the cache, so we took
nothing. That went down in the
log as TNLN (Took Nothing, Left
Nothing).
We won't forget next time.
I want one of those magnets.
News
Huron warden offended by inference
that closed meetings are abused
Susan H u n d e r t m a r k
Huron County Warden Deb Shewfelt told
county council Wednesday that he takes
offence at the idea that municipal govern-
ments abuse their right to go into closed ses-
sions.
"On behalf of Huron County, I say it's not
abused. It's only done for the proper reasons,"
he said.
Shewfelt had read a column in the London
Free Press critical of councils for going into
closed committee of the whole too often and
said it "was certainly off base."
"To link us all into that package, discredits
all municipalities," he said.
Changes to the municipal act in January,
2008 will allow members of the public to com-
plain about closed meetings of municipal
councils and those complaints will be investi-
gated by the provincial ombudsman or a local
investigator.
I Own a Piece of My
Insurance Company.
As a policyholder of one of Ontario's 45 mutual
insurance companies, you not only become a
shareholder—you can help direct the company as an
elected member of its governing board.
It's a benefit enjoyed by people who believe
in neighbour helping neighbour.
People like you have made the organization
one of Canada's strongest financial institutions.
alONTARIO'S MUTUAL
INSURANCE COMPANIES
Ownership has its benefits. 1 Like That!
Connect with Your Local Mutual: www.mutualconnect.corn
Home • Auto • Commercial • Church • Farm