America's 15 Best Football Cities

Fodor's published an article about America's 15 Best Football Cities, which acknowledged the band! Check out the article here.

Atari 2600 Tributes: Missile Command & Pac-Man

Atari 2600 Tribute: Missile Command!

Atari 2600 Tribute: Pac-Man!

And my phone died after that picture :-(

Porto Caelestis

Porto Caelestis

I'm a little proud that I found this cache, in that it was a "lonely cache" - it hadn't been found in over a year.

BMR Royalty Show 9/27/15

Geocaching Proving Grounds

Today was a good day for me. Tom agreed to go to Cedar Lane Regional Park (aka Geocaching Proving Grounds) with me to go in search of several geocaches there. After looking at the map of the area on Geocaching.com, it looked like there were several Premium Geocaches there. I couldn't access the descriptions or coordinates of those caches, since I'm not a Premium member (Premium Membership is a pay feature, and I'm not ready for that purchase, yet), but I did print out the map, with the intention of doing a cursory search, but nothing too intensive. In the end, we found three regular geocaches, we located the fourth, but I need a ladder to get at it, and surprise, we found three of the five premium geocaches! I definitely want to take Dad and Dodo there, both to show them the area, and to get the last couple of caches!

Hello & Goodbye

Well Excuuuse Me! (premium)

Scuba Divers Delight

51 Cards? Not Playing With A Full Deck Revisited (premium)

I spotted the corner of a plastic bag hanging out, but I need a ladder for Ghost to the Post. I'll get to it another day.

________ Stanley

Give that Fan a Contract (premium)

I 95 Park and Fry

I 95 Park and Fry

I actually found this one last night, but there was no log in the box, so I wasn't sure if it was the correct location. After messaging the cache owner, he confirmed that this was the correct location, and allowed me to log the cache as found.

Blythedale Guard

Blythedale Guard

Strawberry Cheesecake Bites

Last of all, dessert.

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. fresh strawberries, rinsed and pat dry
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Graham cracker crumbs, optional

Directions:

1. With a paring knife, cut off the strawberry stems. Cut around the inside of the strawberry, hollowing out slightly and creating a well for the cheesecake. (You can also do this with a small melon baller). Cut off a small portion of the pointy strawberry tip, so that each strawberry can stand. Place each on a large baking sheet.
2. In a medium bowl, with a standing or handheld electric mixer, beat cream cheese , sugar, and vanilla until fluffy, about 2 minutes on medium speed. Place mixture in a pastry bag and pipe into each strawberry, adding a little extra to the top. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
3. Optionally, sprinkle graham cracker crumbs on top of each stuffed strawberry.

Enjoy!
TIP: Don’t make more than 5 hours in advance , or your strawberries will sweat and may become a bit soggy.

I slice the strawberries in half, cut a little off so they would lay flat, then topped them with the cheesecake mixture. Too good.

Bacon Jalapeno Deviled Eggs

The epitome of finger foods, the deviled egg. Who doesn't love a deviled egg? This is the one I chose to make for this event.

BACON JALAPENO DEVILED EGGS

INGREDIENTS

• 12 large eggs, hard boiled and peeled
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
• 3/4 tsp ground mustard
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
• 6 pieces bacon, cooked, crisp, and crumbled
• paprika

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Slice the hard boiled eggs in half, lengthwise
2. Remove the yolks and put them in a mixing bowl
3. Mash the egg yolks with a fork
4. Add the mayonnaise, rice vinegar, ground mustard, and sugar to the mashed egg yolks and stir until well combined
5. Mix in the jalapenos and bacon
6. Put the mixture in a ziploc bag and cut a small hole in the corner of the bag
7. Fill each egg hole with the mixture
8. Sprinkle with paprika
9. Chill until ready to serve

Yum!

Cucumbers with Herb Cream Cheese and Cherry Tomatoes

Between Mediterranean Stuffed Cucumbers and this recipe, this won out with the co-workers.

Cucumber Bites with Herb Cream Cheese and Cherry Tomatoes

Ingredients

• 1 (4 oz) block of cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 1/4 cup ranch dressing
• 2 tablespoons dill
• 3-4 cucumbers, skinned and cut into 1 inch slices
• 15 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
• Sprinkle of salt
• Sprinkle of dill for garnish
• Sprinkle of paprika or Cajun spice mix for garnish

directions

1. Mix cream cheese, ranch dressing and dill.
2. Pipe into cucumber slices.
3. Add a tomato half to the top of each round.
4. Sprinkle with salt, dill, and paprika/Cajun spice mix.

They were beautiful, and tasty. The tomatoes were grown right here!

Ham Roll Ups

After polling some co-workers, this was a popular choice.

Ham Roll-Ups Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 pound deli sliced ham
• 1 block of cream cheese
• 1 jar of Lynnae's Gourmet Pickles in Hot Mama or Mrs. Pickles Spears variety

Directions

1. Lay each slice of ham flat and spread a dollop of cream cheese around the center. Place a pickle spear in the middle and roll the ham around the spear. Cut in half. Serve using toothpicks.

I used sweet gherkins, not bad.

Crab Stuffed Celery

A bunch of us at work have been planning a surprise wedding shower for JoAnne and Johnny. We found out last week that our initial date for the shower was no longer a surprise, so we had to scramble, change the date, let everyone know, and still find a way to pull it off. It was planned for right after the safety meeting, and the food and gifts would be wheeled in on carts. We decided on finger foods, and this was my first offering.

Crab-Stuffed Celery Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 carton (8 ounces) whipped chive cream cheese
• 1/2 cup crabmeat, drained, flaked and cartilage removed or imitation crabmeat
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon onion salt
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
• 6 celery ribs, cut into serving-size pieces

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Transfer to a small resealable plastic bag. Cut a small hole in the corner of the bag; pipe mixture into celery sticks. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 2 dozen.

Good stuff.

No DialTone

No DialTone

TRaptures Big Red Box #10

TRaptures Big Red Box #10

Bison Bank

Bison Bank

Sign of the Times

Sign of the Times

Big Easy

Big Easy

Park-N-Grab - Aberdeen

Park-N-Grab - Aberdeen

For the Perryville Bookworms

For the Perryville Bookworms

Swedish Ingenuity

Swedish Ingenuity

Adjusting the TARGET

Adjusting the TARGET

Yellow Box #14

Yellow Box #14

A Scout is Reverent

A Scout is Reverent

Solar Sailing

Solar Sailing

I also dropped by the Smithsonian's Castle and completed An Englishman in DC, but unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures - they were closing the building early for an event.

Pointing Skyward

Pointing Skyward

Time and Navigation

Time and Navigation

NMNH GeoTour

I did Ralph a favor by working a double on Labor Day, so in return I got to have today off. Tom agreed to go to Washington, D.C. with me, so that I could start on the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History Geotour. After finding the first cache of the day, I got the District of Columbia souvenir.

Things That Fly

What's a Colossal Head 4?

Elm Tree #1

"Caterpillar Does All the Work,*

Banded Iron

Petrified Wood

The NMNH Geotour has nine total caches, and as of today, I've found six. One day trip to Alexandria, VA via Laurel, MD and a trip to Pennsylvania, which I may be able to piggy-back off of a planned trip to Gettysburg in October, and I will have completed the Geotour. Pretty cool!

Yellow Box #15

Yellow Box #15

Red Shoe Box Hide - #3

Red Shoe Box Hide - #3

Atari 2600 Tribute: Space Invaders!

Atari 2600 Tribute: Space Invaders!

Webster

Webster

Take a Break

Take a Break