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TIME TO CATCH UP THIS BLOG!

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

Hello all!

I wonder if anyone still reads this thing, I haven’t updated it for almost 2 months. I suppose I need to do that huh?

I think I’m just going to do a small series of entries. I want to talk about Geocoinfest now that I’ve got some time and I’ll probably break that down into sections. I think I’ll talk about what is in the future for Tsunrisebey Designs and probably just some regular chit-chat type stuff.

I’m currently taking a break from the Groundspeak forums and Facebook. There just comes a time when you need to step back, take a deep breath and take some time for yourself. My regular job has been very time-consuming and chaotic plus I’ve been working over-time and through lunch breaks to try and keep on top of things. I think I’m finally worn out

Dakota, Tristin and Sundance are all doing great. There’s alot of playing and rough-housing going on. Sundance is at the center of it all as he is now a 4 month old puppy who’s finally bigger than the cats and is giving every other animal in this house a run for their money, including me

Weather in Helena, Montana is fluctuating as usual. One day it’s snowing like it’s January and the next it’s in the low 50’s and I’m ready to put shorts back on. Fall is my favorite time of year, great outdoors weather, I’m on football overload and so much to get done before it really does get super cold. I think it’s a time when we all start to slow down and start preparing for hibernation or at least those of us who truly have a winter. I’m sure I’m in for a real treat when the dogs are relegated to the house due to weather and they really start ganging up on the cats. I suppose I’ll worry about that when the time comes.

Ok, I’ll get another post or 2 up by this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday and Sunday!

tsun

Tags: MONTANA GEOCACHING, Sundance, tsun, tsunrisebey
Posted in TSUN CHIT CHAT | 3 Comments »

The Sundance Kid Videos

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

For those of you who wanted updates on Sundance, here are some You Tube videos I have posted.

I have been keeping my Facebook pages updated but not everyone has a FB account, so here ya go

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Noble Fire 9/14/09

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

I’m just trying to catch my blog up since I’m a good month behind on posts. I’ll keep things short since most of what I’m going to post is on You Tube and in pics which is pretty much self-explanatory.

Most people didn’t know that this fire was relatively close to my place. It was directly north and my area was under evacuation. I was heading home after work when I saw smoke coming from the area in which I lived which is north of Helena.

As I got closer I started get that “sick to my stomach” feeling when I noticed that it was just north of my house. Law enforcement wasn’t going to let me back to my house even after I said I had dogs that I needed to get (I had a back-up plan in place - that’s why it’s good to have a truck and 4WD) I actually knew one of the MHP troopers working the roadblock and he told me to hurry up and get my dogs.

I did go home and get them, I also ran around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to grab some important stuff and throw it in the back of my truck. The problem with a forest fire is the smoke is every where and you just can’t see exactly where it is. You don’t know which direction it’s moving, you see helicopters and a slurry bomber working feverishly and every fire truck from miles around headed your direction, it’s a scary feeling!

I can tell you that after my adrenaline rush wore off, I was ready to throw up for about 3 hours afterwards. I did not feel well and the smoke doesn’t help that any. It took about 4 days for all the smoke to lift from the area and for me to feel comfortable that the fire wasn’t going to explode again.

Without going into more details, here’s the You Tube video I posted back then. I took alot of footage but put a few clips together so you can get an idea of what went on. You couldn’t see any flames because the smoke was blocking them.

Tags: helicopter, MONTANA GEOCACHING, tsun, tsunrisebey
Posted in TSUN CHIT CHAT | 4 Comments »

CHECKING IN!

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

Hey all,

I know it’s been a bit since I last wrote here. Life has been pretty busy lately and I wish I could say it was all caching related but it’s not.

My attempt at caching last weekend ended in a DNF more so because there were so many muggles and I can’t stand trying to be sneaky in a campground Too many tents within 25 feet and lots of people walking around. Oh well saved for another day I guess. However the dogs and I did enjoy ourselves!

Real life work has been very busy and then I come home to work on coin stuff and getting ready for Geocoinfest. 2 months may seem like a far off time frame but when it comes to coins, it’s nice to have an extra week or so of a buffer since it takes about 2 months to get a coin done if all goes smoothly. I must have 6 or 7 coins right now, all in different stages with the mint and then working trying to get my booth stuff ordered/designed and help arranged seems to be taking up all my time. It got so bad lately that I actually contemplated quitting caching and coins and I’m serious about that. I’m used to only working on 1 design at a time that this has become a real chore and sapping all my free time. But in the end, I’ll probably be happy I did it and thank goodness I won’t have to do it again for awhile!

Cache Hoppers and the Anasazi should be arriving in the next couple of weeks (Anasazi GCF versions). Neptunes Compass and ET Oceania remint versions are on order and I expect them to be in late August. The Hoo Doo coin which has not been seen by anyone is close to being approved but I will say this; 1 version is almost entirely GLOW! I’ve never used glow enamels before but this one is going to look so cool in the dark. This coins was done exclusively for GCF also and the Glow version will be an exclusive there so if you’re not going, I’d find someone to buy a version for you!

The Baby ET will have an order put in by weeks end and will be offered at a reasonable price to encourage releases and the Armadillo has been sent in (a bit behind schedule) so I’m hoping that will be done in time for GCF. I don’t know if Pax will be done in time or not but I”m leaning toward not because I just haven’t had enough time to correct the mint artwork and I don’t want him done in anythng less than 100%. Libelula is riding the fence, I have the artwork done but I’m not sure if I’ll mint that one for GCF or not. This stuff isn’t cheap especially after adding tracking numbers so we’ll see.

Hopefully this weekend I can get out andplay a little bit but my truck has been under the weather and once I get her fixed, I should be able to get back in the mountains!

I shall be back this weekend with another post! Thanks for reading and have a great week all.

tsun

Posted in GEOCOIN DISCUSSIONS, TSUN CHIT CHAT | 2 Comments »

The Sundance Kid Close-Ups.

Sunday, July 26th, 2009

I is cute and cuddly :)

Look mom, my eyes are open :)

Tags: montana, MONTANA GEOCACHING, Sundance, tsunrisebey
Posted in TSUN CHIT CHAT | 4 Comments »

SUNDANCE AT 3 WEEKS OLD

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

Here’s a collage of pictures of Sundance at 3 weeks old. He opened his eyes a couple days ago. Right now they are blue but are expected to get darker. What a little stinker!

The Sundance Kid at 3 weeks old.

Tags: Sundance, tsunrisebey
Posted in TSUN CHIT CHAT | 3 Comments »

THE ONLINE GEOCACHER; AN E-ZINE

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

Joe the cacher behind the “catsnfish” name emailed me one day asking if I would submit a story about geocoins to his online magazine. I told him I would and to give me a couple of weeks to put something together as I was busy and wouldn’t have a chance to get to it. However I think that was well over a month ago and I still haven’t wrote anything for him. I know, I know, I’m a terrible! The problem is, I have so little free time that sitting down to try write something for someone else seems daunting and one more thing to add to my “tsun: to do pile”.

I did ask Joe if he would like to be featured on my blog since it was geocaching related and I didn’t mind helping get the word out about his e-zine. So I wrote out some questions for him and said just answer and I’ll put a little article together on my blog. He made time and answered my questions, so I suppose I better write him an article for his e-zine too, huh?

So here is my article dedicated to THE ONLINE GEOCACHER e-zine with the help of Joe answering questions. I hope you’ll check his e-zine out and consider submitting your own articles and pictures to keep the e-zine interesting and hopefully inspiring you to continue your caching adventures!

The website address is http://onlinegeocacher.com/ it’s free to everyone and is a labor of love to the geocaching community. It was originally started by Ed Manley who is known in the geocaching community as The AlabamaRambler. He created the e-zine after someone in the forums had spoke of creating a print magazine about geocaching. Ed offered to start the e-zine as a not-for-profit venture as a gift to the geocaching community.

So I had asked Joe how he came to take over the magazine, to which he said that Ed had posted in the Groundspeak forums that he was looking for someone to take over because the submissions were slow in coming in and he didn’t want to make a “job” out of having to find people to write articles. (oh man do I feel bad now - guess I better write something this weekend). Joe said he saw the thread and discussed the issue with his wife because he felt the e-zine was a great way to relay his own stories and that he truly believed in the concept of the e-zine. He contacted Ed and made his “offer” which Ed accepted. So here Joe aka catsnfish is trying to offer the geocaching community a fun place to share stories, pictures and videos amongst our own kind You have to admit, geocachers are definitely a breed of their own.

According to Joe, anyone can submit a story and I highly suggest you contribute or share with the geocaching world your experiences. You have to admit it’s fun to read about people who are out there doing the same thing as you and having similar experiences. I love looking at pictures and fun videos. I did offer Joe to check in on my blog and take a story and pictures from my place if he felt it might be something worth posting to his e-zine.

The Online Geocacher e-zine discusses everything from caching, geocoins, benchmarks, to tip and tricks. If it’s caching related, they’ll use it. You don’t need to be fancy with words or an expert photographer. The idea is to share stories and geocaching items of interest. Joe mentioned they have submissions from other countries like Greece and the Netherlands. Again, there is no cost associated with the magazine for those of you who enjoy reading geocaching.

I asked Joe about his 2 year goal for the e-zine and he mentioned he would like to see the e-zine on Iphones, Blackberries, Cacher’s PC’s, and articles written in their native languages. My personal opinion is that this is very accomplishable with a little bit of help from all of us!

Some of the geocachers who are a part of the e-zine are; catsnfish, TheAlabamaRambler, Rockin Roddy, GATOULIS, and KC5NVJ and then the contributing public. So I say thumbs up to those who are giving their time to give us a free geocachers e-zine!

A little bit bout Joe himself; he found the geocaching obsession in 2007, I know he’s at least a part-time coiner cause he’s been a customer of mine so that makes him a great guy in my book, lol. He’s located in Omaha, Nebraska (are you a Husker fan Joe? I’ll just assume he is) and he enjoys giving back to the caching community through this e-zine.

Ok, that wraps up my discussion with Joe aka catsnfish. Now having written this piece and knowing how much time I put into blogging, keeping in touch on FB, doing this geocoin desiging/minting amongst other geocoin/caching related stuff in conjunction with my real life (haha), I know this kind of thing is very time consuming and is usually a labor of love which many times is underappreciated because of the lack of understanding of just how much time and money a person puts in behind the scenes. So my thoughts to you are; let’s make an effort to help Joe and his crew out by submitting some articles, pictures and even videos if you take them. Check in and read his e-zine when you have time and I promise to do my part! I like to see the “little” guy succeed and I know just how tough it can be to keep chugging along.

Thank you Joe for your time and effort and that goes for the others associated with the venture along with the contributions sent in by the public. Thanks for your time in answering some questions and for giving back to our global community!

tsun

Tags: geocache, geocoin, magazine, MONTANA GEOCACHING, tsunrisebey
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TSUN IS GOING TO BE A MOMMY AGAIN!

Friday, July 17th, 2009

I told my sister-in-law that I was expecting again to which she replied; “you’re getting another puppy.” I said “yes” and told her congratulations on becoming an Auntie again

My family has learned to play along with me when I say I’m expecting (hahaha). It’s become more of a silent moment on to the; “oh, you’re getting another dog?” Geesh, it’s not like I have a problem buying dogs or something

So yes, tsun is adding to her ranchette by welcoming a new Mini Aussie to the family. He was born 7/7/2009, so he’s about 2 weeks old right now and weighs just over 1 lb. He has blue merle coloring (like Cowboy did) and I should be able to pick him up sometime in early September!

I was picking out names that I thought I might like for him. Tristin was named for Brad Pitt’s character in the movie “Legends of the Fall”, Dakota was named after a western town and I loved the sound of Dakota. Cowboy was named for the little cowboy kid on the ranch he came from. I have decided to name my little guy after another movie character from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” His name will be Sundance and he will be very loved!

Here is his first picture and as I receive more pictures as he grows, I’ll post them here. So to my little Sundance, I’m waiting patiently to bring you home :) tsun

Baby Sundance

Posted in TSUN CHIT CHAT | 6 Comments »

Gateway to Freedom Airshow: Helena, Montana

Sunday, July 12th, 2009

The above is video of some small clips I took at the Airshow. The show was back in June and I’m obviously behind on putting things together. I do have some other video clips of the airshow that I’d like to get posted, portions of the skydivers and Thunderbirds. I’ll do those on a rainy day

This video is of the Army’s forest fire fighting capabilities by air. It’s not uncommon to see them here in Montana or out West during fire season. I have a special interest because my dad is retired military and he now flies the Helena Heli-Attack Crew (UH-1-Huey) to forest fires and then he does the Initial Attack on first reports of forest fires. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to watch him dipping the bucket during forest fires. Anyhow, I just thought this was pretty cool, so I had to get this one up first.

~ tsun

Tags: airshow, blackhawk, chinook, helicopter, tsunrisebey
Posted in TSUN CHIT CHAT | 1 Comment »

Wet weekend in Helena, Montana

Saturday, June 20th, 2009

I swear Montana weather is so unpredictable that even the weather forecasters can’t get it right. Just a couple days ago the weather for Saturday (today) was suppose to be mostly sunny with a small chance of scattered thunderstorms. I was going to play outside and even break the kayak out. I woke up to the sound of tiny drops hitting the roof. It has rained all day today and I’m kind of cranky because of it. I guess I shoudn’t whine because it could be worse.

I accomplished very little today; a little cleaning, a little cooking and I took a shower and drove to the local gas station to buy a pizza and ice cream I stood at the front door while it lightly rained and watched a few sparrows gather underneath my truck to stay dry. I even saw a tiny sparrow fight well more like some serious squawking and a few mean pecks over territory under the truck. That was the most excitement all day at my place.

So, tomorrow is Father’s Day and I’m going to head up to my parents place and spend a few hours up there. If it’s not too bad, I’m going to try for a geocache on Canyon Ferry Lake by kayaking to it (although it’s suppose to rain all day) so we’ll see.

To all you great dads out there, I hope you have a wonderful day! I’ll share a quick childhood memory of my dad, post a couple of pics from earlier and than log off for the evening. I’ve always thought of my dad as a hero and kind of a superman as I was growing up. Much like other kids, my dad was the smartest and toughest and I expected everyone to love him like I did. Anyhow, my dad has always been a Harley man so my brother and I grew up on Harleys. Back when we used to live in Minnesota, we lived in a small town called Circle Pines. During the summer when my dad would come home from work, he’d always be on his Harley, if our friends were over, my dad would take time out of his day to give each of our friends (usually 4) a ride up and down our street. My brohter and I also got a ride too so there was usually a good 6 kids getting a ride. I remember how each kid would have this big smile on their face as they took off and came back. When it was my turn, I would hold onto my dad and I would have this huge grin on my face. I was so proud that my dad was the coolest dad in the neighborhood (at least in my eyes). How many dads do you know who had been flying all day (he is a pilot) and then come home and give all us kids a ride?

Now as an adult, I don’t get many rides around the neighborhood but I still get rides on the Harley. Instead of taking neighborhood kids for rides, he takes my sister-in-law and my niece and nephew for a short ride here and there and I still see the same look in their eyes as I on did my childhood friends. When it’s my turn, I still smile and I still think my dad is the coolest. I just appreciate these moments much more.

Happy Father’s Day dad, I love you!