JAG Christmas Event

Christmas is forever, not for just one day, for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away like bells and lights and tinsel in some box upon a shelf. The good you do for others is good you do yourself...~Norman Wesley Brooks, "Let Every Day Be Christmas,"

Man what a party!!

We just want to thank all of the JAG Nation for helping to kick off the Christmas season for us with a bang. Our home was filled with friends, laughter and great times till the early morning hours. I think we hit the sack at about 3am.

Leavearock arrived early and helped me fry the turkey in the rain, well we were under a tent but the wind was really strong and he helped me keep the tent from blowing away while the turkey did it's thing. Soon folks started arriving by the carloads and our home was packed with the JAG Faithful.

The food was overflowing and it was awesome. Jessica, Teresa and I had worked pretty hard preparing lots of Christmas candy and cookies earlier in the day and the food brought by everyone had filled the kitchen counters from one side to the other. We have a few really great cooks in our group.

After the meal, we spent time talking with one another, playing games and watching Jimmy Logan show us all card tricks, some of which I still can't understand. Salamander60 handed out our new JAG shirts and caps which look really awesome!!

Soon it was time for our gift exchange and I saw a side of a few in our group I didn't know existed. People stealing gifts left and right. It was really kind of scary!! I appreciate the gifts, especially the Streamlight headlamp!! Nice!

After the gift exchange it was time for our customary sing-a-long and Jimmy Logan and Little Slugger broke out the guitars so we could sing a few Christmas songs.

We decided to play a board game for a while and several of us sat around talking and playing games till we were about to drop. I think we even caught Leah snoring a couple of times.

The night was incredible, I really enjoyed seeing everyone in the Jackson Area Geocachers and their families smiling, laughing and having fun. I think we have something special here folks. An extended family that truly cares for one another. Thank you all for making this night something special to remember. May the true meaning of Christmas dwell in your heart all through the year!

There's a Change Coming!!

"A competent leader can get efficient service from poor troops, while on the contrary an incapable leader can demoralize the best of troops." -- Gen. John J. Pershing

I saw that quote this week and it really made a lot of sense to me. I looked up a few definitions of the word "demoralize" and found it to be quite interesting.

To demoralize someone is when you make someone feel less hopeful or less enthusiastic. It's also when you cause others to feel discouraged by the magnitude of the problem; to feel dispirited, unnerved, shaken, weakened.

Believe me, this is not the type of leader I would choose to be and I can tell you honestly, it's not the type of leader I would choose to follow.

That is another one of the things I really enjoy about JAG, we all "lead" this group together. We actually talk about our decisions as a group and we are very "like-minded." We almost always see things the same way, but when we don't agree, we work together to find a general concensus that suits the group and keeps us going in the right direction.

As JAG continues to grow, we must keep ourself grounded and keep our primary goal just that, primary. You see, we in the JAG Nation are just a group of cachers that like to spend time together and have FUN!! That's right, I said it, we like to have fun.

As far as changes are concerned, there are some new changes coming in our near future. We are moving very soon to a new website and new forums. I am very excited about our opportunities with the resources that will be at our disposal after the switch. If you are a JAG member, be looking for a private email about the change soon.

Another change in the works are some awesome new JAG signature items. Salamander60 has been working hard on providing us with a quality JAG logo that we can now have placed on virtually anything. I'm sure he will have samples at the JAG Turkey Fry event this weekend, don't miss it!! Also, don't forget about the JAG Christmas Extravaganza to be held on December 15th. Location to be announced soon.

We do have lots of things going on in the JAG Nation!! It's a good time to be a geocacher in the Jackson area for sure!! Do we have any reasons to lack enthusiasm here? Any reason whatsoever to be discouraged? I think not! Keep on cachin' and keep having FUN, that's what it's all about!!!

Cat Scratch Fever?

“It is good to realize that if love and peace can prevail on earth, and if we can teach our children to honour nature's gifts, the joys and beauties of the outdoors will be here forever.” Jimmy Carter

I saw this post on River Valley Geocachers site and decided to post it here.....Ted Nugent at his best!!


Teditorial: Today's parents raising wimps & zombies
Ted Nugent: Today's parents are raising wimps and zombies

Why imprison kids in bubble wrap? By Ted Nugent Sergeant York worked the bolt on his 1903 Springfield rifle like a shooting ballerina. Germans fell like so many jellyheads on a Tennessee turkey shoot, his bullets hitting the mark, round after round after round. Like so many heroes of our U.S. military warriors, the good Sergeant was raised in rural America, hunting, fishing, trapping, shooting and basically rough-housing his adventurous youth to become a rugged, independent, Johnny-on-the-spot, thinking individual. He was more than capable of improvising, adapting and overcoming. From WWI dogfighting aces through infantrymen who set the bar for courage and effectiveness in combat, they proved and continue to prove that the American Way is the best way to hone a real man's instincts to perform under pressure through the physical regimentation of a rough-and-tumble, outdoor upbringing.
Compare that to the ever-increasing tendency of citified families to avoid skinned knees, bashed heads, scrapes and bruises and other badges of honor of a naturally adventurous youth. They are captives of and contributors to a hyper-litigious society scared to death of kids being kids. Today's often disconnected "living room" youth can thumb a video game all day long, destroying the planet and blowing up everything and everybody in sight, without any danger whatsoever of ripping a fingernail. Wimps and zombies, they are. Poor, underdeveloped, soft, thumbnuts, incapable of manhandling a wrench, changing a tire on a bicycle or skinning a rabbit. Pathetic. When I was growing up in the shadow of the Greatest Generation, following our victory over the evil Japanese Empire and the Nazis, boys didn't sit around twiddling their thumbs and zombying out in front of the TV. We exuberantly sought that road less traveled, our own fascinating passage to manhood.
We built improvisational forts in the woods, dug tunnels, climbed trees, constructed tree forts out of scraps, competed with our Daisy Red Ryder BB guns, hunted rabbits and squirrels, threw rocks and skipped stones. Sometimes at each other. We were all fascinated by guns, knives, wrenches, hammers, nails, saws, crowbars, campfires and the fine art of cutting marshmallow-roasting branches just right. We were all enrolled and studying hard at the Motorskill Manly Coordination University of America. And we studied hard.
Sure, there were plenty of scary trips to the emergency ward - blood and tears flowing all around. But I am convinced that these are the trials, tribulations and essential rituals necessary for boys to pursue in order to become productive, capable men, leaders of households and protectors of family and society. Taking care of business What good is a man who cannot take care of mechanical business? The very act of climbing a tree and tying a rope to a limb for swinging over a water hole teaches much about improvisational creativity, physics and teamwork. It's brainpower coordinated with physical muscle development. That it presents the real, tangible danger of falling and getting hurt is critical in the forming of survival skills and real-world cause-and-effect lessons. Walking and exploring together with buddies. Investigating a rocky hill, a gravel bar on the river. Cutting and sharpening a sapling to form a makeshift spear, and then learning to stalk and stab a fish. These are skills critical to every imaginable scenario that we will all encounter at some point in life.
That kids can't even carry a pocketknife to school anymore is an indictment to a societal negativity and denial that does much more harm than good. Hell, in my youth, millions of kids brought guns to school for ROTC marksmanship drills and during the hunting season, and nobody was getting shot. Discipline at home and at school was the guiding force then. Today, we're worried about "feelings" and arresting kids for carrying butter knives and aspirin. God help us all. So drag that kid away from the TV set. Get them a bow and arrow. Take them to the woods. Teach them how to make a campsite and make a fire. Turn them on with the healing powers of nature and the soulful joys of challenge and independence. It will cleanse their souls and strengthen their bodies and minds.

The Caching Game

"When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bustling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity."
Dale Carnegie

I really do enjoy the game of geocaching. It has provided a great source of fun and enjoyement for me for several years now. We have found out that the way we cache as well as our personal goals associated with this game have changed over the years.

When we first started geocaching, we were really obsessed with numbers and first to finds. At the time, we thought it was cool to grab a new cache before anyone else, and I must say, we still enjoy a good FTF every now and then. But now, I am just as happy to see caches being placed throughout the Jackson area for us to find when we have the chance. We don't have the chance to cache quite as often anymore, but that just makes it more special when we go.

My goals associated with this game are now just to find time to go out and have fun with my wife and my friends. Numbers no longer hold any big interest. Now, event caches have now became our favorite caches!! We absolutely love going to events and we make every effort to attend all the events in our area.

The picture above is from Monkeybrad's Amazing Georace. What a great weekend! I'll never forget the fun we had and all the friends we made.

To me, that's what this game is about, making friends and having fun!

Singing Around The Campfire

Nothing’s better than the wind to your back, the sun in front of you, and your friends beside you.

~Aaron Douglas Trimble

Time spent with good friends is hard to beat! I really enjoy my JAG Nation friends, and after spending a weekend camping with them, I can't wait for the next event.

Geocaching offers many different things for many different people. Of course there is the fun associated with finding Tupperware hidden out in the woods or film cannisters hidden under a light pole. We all know about that part of this hobby. But think about the other things that Geocaching can offer you. First, there are the various forums. I belong to about twelve different Geocaching related forums and participate in them by reading and posting on them on a regular basis. I have developed many friendships through these forums and really enjoy this part of the hobby.

Another part of the hobby we found ourself addicted too was Geocoin collecting. Geocoins collecting can really be fun, but it can also become very expensive!! We have hundreds of geocoins, averaging in price around $5 each. Our coins come from all over the world and come in all different shapes and designs. We have really slowed down on geocoin collecting, just don't have the funds to keep up any more. If we find one we really like we'll grab it, otherwise we just trade with others from time to time.

To us, the best part about Geocaching has to be the events. We love gathering together with the Geocaching friends we have met along the way. Whether it is just a dinner after work, a camping event for the weekend, or a milestone celebration. We really love events!! We have participated in events around bowling, putt putt golf, baseball games, camping, ice cream socials, among others and always have a blast.

I encourage everyone to participate in Geocaching events. It is a great way to get to know the Geocachers in your area and the friendships you develop are absolutely wonderful.

Sitting around a campfire, roasting marshmallows, singing songs and sharing caching stories, what else do you need? Hope to see you at the next JAG event!!

The JAG Nation!

Those who think it is permissible to tell white lies soon grow color-blind. ~Austin O'Malley

It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place. ~Henry Louis Mencken

Anybody who really knows me knows I am an honest person. My word actually means something! If I say something to you, you can rest assured I mean it. It has been brought to my attention that recently a few individuals thought it would be fun to try to spread rumors about me. To that I say, these people really need to get a life!! Moving on.........

JAG hosted a couple of fun events over the weekend that helped me remember why I love being a part of "The JAG Nation". First, we had a breakfast event that was very well attended. The food was great and it was really nice to see several new cachers from the area. We ate a great breakfast and then sat around and talked about caching for a while. Soon everyone was ready to head out for the next event.
We headed toward our next JAG event, mini golfing!! On the way there, we headed up a caravan of geocachers and grabbed a few caches here and there. When we arrived at the event location, there were already several cachers there sweating in the heat and before you know it, the entire golf course was full of JAG cachers whacking at little round balls of every color in the rainbow. It was a blast!!
After we all finished our games, it was time for the awards ceremony. Salamander60 placed first, Sweet Thang, (his wife) placed second, and Mrs T placed third. volnuts son Little Slugger even made a hole in one during the game!!! WTG!! There were tons of door prized handed out and just about everyone received something.
After the awards, I allowed everyone in attendance to go log my Special K cache which was very close to the mini golf course. (I had planned to change out the container so it could hold larger items anyway!) Everyone seemed to have a good time on a group cache hunt with only two GPSr's between them!!!
By this time everyone was starting to get hungry again so we headed over to Zaxby's for lunch and some much needed air conditioning!!

Yep, it helped me appreciate "The JAG Nation" and all the good friends I have here. Friends who know when I say something, they can trust me. Not because of some rule or contract, but because we're friends and that's just what friends do!

JAG Goes Camping

You all look like happy campers to me. Happy campers you are, happy campers you have been, and, as far as I am concerned, happy campers you will always be. -Dan Quayle

I had a really great time attending the 1st Annual JAG Campout and Midnight Weenie Roast over the last weekend. The turnout wasn't quite as good as I had hoped, but we had several really good friends who came out and braved the heat and it made this weekend very memorable.

We sat up camp on Friday at Mousetail Landing State Park on the edge of the Tennessee River and the fun quickly began. Mrs. T and I started grilling some chicken while we sat up our camp and soon had a very cool site in which to spend the weekend. I will add that we didn't really "rough it" this weekend as we had water and electric hookups at the site and brought our fan, electric skillet, coffee pot, toaster, radio, etc. to make the weekend even more fun.

RiverNWick and lilriver already had their tent up, and before you know it JoGPS, yogi and dolphin and jj77, The Shamrock and LLC had their camp sites up and we were enjoying fun around the campfire. We roasted marshmallows and talked for hours.

On Saturday, we popped up out of the bed early and brewed up some coffee and then had a great breakfast of eggs, sausage and bacon, and toast with butter and jelly. Hard to beat!!

Our day consisted of sitting around camp for a while and catching up with our friends and then for lunch we went to the first event of the weekend, JAG Nations First Annual BBQ. The event was held at the Mousetail Pavillion which turned out to be a great place to host an event I might add!! Several other cachers started showing up for this event including Keymaker, salpal and tennis40Love, cedarbear, horner58, turkey creek and tictac, and many more.

We watched yogi sweat over the grill while cooking up the hamburgers and hotdogs as all the other cachers sat around and talked to one another. After eating, a few cachers headed out to hike the trails and a few went on a cache run, but several of us sat around and played Mexican Train dominoes for a long time. It was fun to relax and not think about much of anything for a while.

After the event was over, we headed back to the campsite and sat around talking for a while, just relaxing around the campsite. It wasn't long before a few other cachers started showing up including The Bluff Boys who had been out caching during the day.

Before we knew it, it was time to head over to our next event, The JAG Crew Goes to the FishHouse. We made our way over to Perryville and waited around till our room was ready and then had a great meal as we talked around the table. The catfish was awesome!!! Then it was time to head back to camp again where we built one of the biggest campfires I have ever seen.

Everyone sat around the fire and talked, sang songs, and just enjoyed each others company till it was time for our next event, the 1st Annual JAG Campout and Midnight Weenie Roast The fire was so hot, we could barely get close enough to roast the weenies and marshmallows without getting burned, but we made do and soon it was time to hit the sack again.

After another good nights sleep, we were up and had another great breakfast at the campsite, and then it was time for the last event of the weekend, JAG Crew Cleans the MouseTail We all CITO'd around the campground and then broke camp, packed up and headed on our way.

It was a good time, and everyone who attended really seemed to agree we would like to schedule another campout again later in the fall. I hope the fall event will be attended by a few more cachers, but if not, I know those who attend will have fun just the same. At least I know I will!!

Good Friends, Good Times

A friend is one who knows us, but loves us anyway. -- Fr. Jerome Cummings
Remember, the greatest gift is not found in a store nor under a tree, but in the hearts of true friends. -- Cindy Lew
Who finds a faithful friend, finds a treasure. -- Jewish Saying
"Your friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you." -- Elbert Hubbard
"Who finds a faithful friend, finds a treasure." -- Jewish saying



My good friend dalls just reached his 1K milestone and in the geocaching world, that's big news!! dalls has found over 1000 geocaches and in recognition of this achievment, the JAG Nation held a special event in his honor.
His real name is Dallas, but I guess that name was taken when he started geocaching so he stuck with the name dalls. He does go by a few other names as well, but I won't go into them here!!!
Dallas has told me that I was somewhat responsible for getting him into geocaching. He read an article in The Jackson Sun back in 2005 that was written about me and Mrs. T and how we started geocaching and it set into motion what has now become a geocaching machine.
I have had the priveledge of going on several cache runs with dalls and always enjoyed his company and sense of humor.
I guess you could say that dalls was the creator of the geocaching team "The Bluff Boys" and he was involved in hosting the First Golden Circle GeoRace. To say the least, he has been very busy and very involved in the geocaching world in the Jackson area.

The event to honor his achievement was held at Corky's BBQ in Jackson and we packed the house!! I think he received more ammo cans at his 1K event than any other event we have attended. Not only did he get the customary Golden Ammo Can, but he also recieved several pink containers, a "Little Gay Bluff Boy" ammo can painted in rainbows and pastel colors and he recieved a red ammo can with an unforgettable picture of The Bluff Boy himself. He recieved a few Care Bears too as well as the usual SWAG.
After the lunch at Corky's, we all went over to watch the Diamond Jaxx baseball game and then stuck around to watch the fireworks show afterwards. AWESOME!

I haven't known Dallas very long, but I know he is the kind of guy who will do anything to help out a friend and he's also a good guy to have in your corner when things go sour.
Dallas is hapily married to his beautiful wife Angela, and he has three awesome kids, Brittney, Ripley, and Bryson. I don't think Angela is into the whole geocaching thing. Seems like Brittney cached with dalls a few times, but like most teenagers she has other things to do. Bryson is a little young to do much caching, so Ripley has become dalls main caching partner and a good caching partner she is!!

Well, I know we all had a great day celebrating dalls 1K, it was a great day with Good Friends, and Good Times!

Hero?

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. —Charles Dickens, David Copperfield (1850)

I will say right up front that I'm not the hero of my own life. I know what kind of person I really am and to be honest, I'm not all that impressed!!

I do however hope that in some small way I am a hero in the life of my children. I have been Blessed! The Lord Blessed me with two of the best kids ever.

My son Dakota has always been a great guy. He has never caused me any of the sleepless nights many of my friends with kids have faced. He has earned my trust! Dakota played football all four years in high school, and was President of his Senior Class, all this while he worked two jobs, dishwasher at a local restaurant and DJ at a local radio station. He was has always been very active in his church and has really grown up to be one handsome young man.

He now attends the University of Memphis where he is working on a degree in History and Political Science. He currently has a 4.0 for this semester, but this is finals week and I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!! He plans to attend law school upon graduation and actually hopes to have a career in politics. Mays for President in 2024!!!

My daughter Jessica is such a beautiful young lady. I have so much respect for her, she is a really great girl. Jessica was a cheerleader for many years, but last year decided to start playing soccer. She never backs down from anything!! She is a Junior in high school and plans to attend the University of Memphis upon graduation. Currently she plans to study to become a teacher and I'm sure she'll be the best teacher ever!

I'm sure I haven't always been the best father, there are so many things I would do differently if I had the chance to do them over again, but I have tried. I have always tried to be there for my kids. To give them direction, to be their friend, and just to let them know I love them. I hope they feel they can come to me and talk about anything, because they can!

Hero? Probably not, but I do hope they know I love them no matter what and I would give my life for them at any time. That kind of sounds like the job of a hero, at least a little......

Jackson Area Geocachers-A New Beginning

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. —Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859)

The best of times....

I can say without hesitation that I have had more fun geocaching in the last four weeks than in the previous two years. You see, geocaching is simply a game, a hobby not unlike golfing. But for me, there is one difference, the friendships. I have played golf with many friends, but have never considered my golfing buddies as family. My geocaching friends have become somewhat of a family for me. I care about them and enjoy talking with them every day.

Just over a month ago, I helped form a new geocaching group in the West Tennessee area called the Jackson Area Geocachers, also known as JAG. We have a new forum http://www.jag.eamped.com/ and in these four weeks have already had almost 5000 posts!! We already have 42 members and by members, I mean real cachers who actually post on the site and attend our events!! It's a great group of people, friends, people I can count on. People I really like to talk to.

We have done more in the last four weeks to promote geocaching in the Jackson area that was done in the previous three years!

Our group is open to everyone with one distinction, you must obtain a sponsor. Pretty easy to do, just attend one of our events or personally contact one of our Charter Members. When you obtain sponsorship, that means you have been accepted by the group and it was determined you were here with the same goals, to talk about geocaching and having fun! One thing we will not allow is membership to people who have proven themselves to be troublemakers on the site we left. We left the trouble and we don't want it here. We have a set of forum rules that I borrowed from Kentucky Tennessee Area Geocachers as well as DixieCachers and we intend to make sure these rules are followed. Something that the site we left failed to do.

The Worst of times....

The idea to form JAG came out of what I consider to be some of the worst times I have experienced as a geocacher.

You see, I was a founding member of the Geocachers of West Tennessee and I served as it's second president. After my term as president was over, the group became more concerned with arguing and fighting, voting and politics, than geocaching!! You see, two or three of it's members began a campaign to take over the group by force, a coup so to speak, with the distribution of misinformation, private messages to the membership, and attempts to irritate and aggravate those with whom they disagreed.

Essentially it seems the disagreement started with the fact they misunderstood that the person with the most votes in the general election wins. (A fact that was clearly posted in the forums prior to the general election.) Trying to even explain it here almost makes me laugh at how silly they actually were. I have been monitoring their attempts to change the bylaws and update the rules over the last few weeks only to end up right back where we started, the person with the most votes wins!! Give me a break!

Anyway, the active membership quickly polarized into the "Us vs. Them" mentality. I attempted to stay in the middle, voicing on several attempts to both sides that we need to find a middle ground and make this thing work, but to no avail.

People I considered really good friends began to post nasty, evil things, lies about me and many others I call friends. One thing to note, these people had control of the forums and when comments were stated they didn't agree with, they would lock the threads or simply make them disappear, over and over again.

Needless to say, we felt our hands were tied. Stay in a group where we felt we had no representation, no voice, or leave the bickering behind and form another group. I had been contacted by several of my friends for weeks about starting a new group. Over and over again, I stated that was not the right thing to do, but after careful thought and consideration, I began looking at the idea with new eyes.

Good times...

You see, it is a long way from Memphis to Scotts Hill, the town in which I live. It made it very difficult to attend events in the Memphis area, where it seems most events seemed to be held. The idea of a Jackson Area group started to make more sense. The people I frequently cache with, talk with, go out to eat with are for the most part located in the Jackson area. So with prompting from many of my geocaching friends, I created the Jackson Area Geocachers site. And I might add it was a good decision. WE have fun on our site, we talk about caching and we are truly interested in the lives of our caching friends. There are no officers, no bylaws, no dues, just friends that love to geocache and have fun. When there is a decision to be made, we discuss it on our forum and come to a conclusion. It is amazing when folks are like-minded how easy it is to come to an agreement!!

I will say we have made the choice to move on and leave the old troubles from the other site in the past, but for some reason, they cannot do the same. Posts on the old site to try and bait our members into a response are a regular occurrence on the old site as well as dissertation-long blogs by some of it's members. It is really amazing how much they must miss us!!!

Reading one of these blogs I see they are looking for the "olive branch" to be extended their way. I don't think that will be something they will see for some time. You see, that olive branch was already extended to them once and it was refused.

No, I am not concerned with those who feel the need pretend to be your friend when you are face to face, but become a completely different person when they get behind a keyboard.

Winter of despair? I don't think so Mr. Dickens, to us, the members of JAG, we are in the spring of hope. Hope for a continued success to one of the best geocaching groups in the state of Tennessee, the Jackson Area Geocachers.