Lagniappe Letterboxing

What is Lagniappe?  From Wikipedia: A lagniappe (pron.: /ˈlænjæp/ lan-yap) is a small gift given to a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase (such as a 13th doughnut when buying a dozen), or more broadly, "something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure."

Basically, it's just a little something extra that is unexpected.  In letterboxing terms, lagniappe is often found in the form of a "quisp". 

I've gone Postal!  And, no, that's not a bad thing. I am trying my hand at a Newbie Ring Postal put together by Littlemonkey , which is where a group of boxers will share stamps and logs in the mail.  When I peeled off the label on the first box that addressed the envelope to me, I found a little piece of a label with a stamp on it. It was a little surprise and I thought it was so cool, that I sat down and carved a stamp so that I can make my own quisps when sending any type of mailing to my boxing friends. It was nice that it was on a label with a peel-off backing. All I did was trim it a little and stick it right in my journal.

After doing a little searching through the Help files on Atlas Quest and reading some of the forums and asking questions from our Postal host, quisps can be a variety of small, flat, hand-stamped images. They can be on pieces of paper or cardstock. Some are even done on Shrinky Dinks. (Didn't you just love those as a kid?) Since they are kind of hidden, I wonder how many go unfound? I see that most Quisps are listed as undersized LTCs.

LTC???  Seriously?  Did you think that letterboxing was JUST taking directions, finding a box, stamping the image and going on about your business? Oh no, no! There are so many little extras to this hobby and I keep finding new ones and I'm having a blast.  A LTC is a Letterbox Trading Card. This is another item that boxers will trade back and forth. These are stamped images (often embellished) that are the size of a business card. You can send one (as lagniappe) in a Postal, you can get into LTC rings and trade with other members of the ring or you can bring them along to events to pass out. I'm sure there are other things to do with them as well, but I'm still learning.

In addition to finding the Quisp, this first Postal box had an awesome logbook made by doglvrs.  It looked so complicated and cool at the same time, but I studied it and figured it out. If you come to Flea Fest in Snook on May 4, you will see my attempt at it. I think it turned out rather well.

Fun-Filled Weekend

This past weekend started off with me taking off work at noon. I headed home, grabbed a bite to eat and started loading up the camper.  I had plans to meet a friend, Open Space, for some letterboxing at Birch Creek State Park and camping at Nails Creek State Park.  Both are units of the Lake Somerville State Park system. +Texas Parks and Wildlife

We walked almost 5 miles in various places around Birch and found several letterboxes. The weather was perfect and it was a great day to be on the trails. With the recent rains, the wildflowers were out everywhere. I love the Baby Blue Eyes that are in bloom right now. Beat the Hell Outta sitting behind a desk! I had brought along a new carve and I added it to one of my existing geocaches and created a listing for the letterbox. I love that spot and I want to show it off. I've already cleared out all the geocaches around here, so there was nothing new yet. No one's placed any +Munzee either.

Before it got dark, we headed over to Nails Creek and I got the camper set up in Site #54. Since I was in the camper alone, I didn't bother to fully set up both sides.  I have been to this park before, but never camped here. Yeah!  A new tent on the map! We got something to eat and I took my shower and then sat by the fire (away from the smoke) and just listened to the Great Horned Owls, frogs and other birds serenading us. She finished working on a new carve that she will be adding out here at Nails Creek. It is a nice one and she did a great job on the carve.

I rose Saturday morning with the Cardinals (like I had a choice). They are quite vocal on quiet mornings. Lots of ducks and coots were out on the lake hunting their breakfast as the sun was coming up over the lake. There were some Northern Shovelers out in the mix. New lifer for me!  We think we saw two immature Eagles fly over. They did not have the white heads, but they were huge and sounded like Eagles. Since there are breeding pairs around the lake, it's entirely possible.

I got the camper all taken down and got my gear stowed and bid my goodbyes to my new boxing friend and headed out for Carmine for our  +LaBahia NPSOT Spring Plant Swap. It was being hosted by our Secretary and her husband. They have an awesome place and she's getting it set up so she can be a grower. Honest to Goodness Growers, to be exact.

Ann gave a tour around the yard and new greenhouse. They have put in a lot of work on their property and it is really paying off. The Martin houses are full and provide endless entertainment and chatter.  MMM! Fresh strawberries! We're glad they shared with us.

We ate and then the swap started. We had LOTS of plants brought out by attendees and we counted off and started picking our favorites (and watching other members take them before it was our turn).  We had several rounds and then it was a free-for-all for what was left.  I took home some leftover Goldenrod that I brought along with new plants for the yard - Rough-leaf Dogwood, Viburnum, Flame Acanthus, Mistflower, Inland Sea Oats and more. I even got a Plumeria for a pot. I know it's not native, but they smell good. More pictures from the Plant Swap can be seen here.

After I got home and got everything unloaded, I got several of the plants in the ground and pulled lots of weeds. I think Ann inspired me to make my yard look better. I hope my new transplants do well in their new home. More of the plants in the yard are blooming now. The Cross Vine is blooming in time for the hummingbirds. Wow! What a day! I was whipped.

After church, I decided to mow the yard then I spent part of my Sunday afternoon just relaxing in the breeze on the back porch. Guess who showed up?  Two hummers!  I had one of the feeders partially filled since I knew they should be here any day. I love watching them dart back and forth. I got a couple more feeders filled and ready for more diners.

God granted me a good weekend filled with some of my most favorite things. Colton had spent most of weekend with his cousin and got to do some night airsoft, so he got to do some of his favorite things too.

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NPSOT Spring Plant Swap

Our LaBahia Chapter of the Native Plant Society is hosting a

NPSOT Spring Plant Swap and Member Gathering Every new season is the start of the best ever!   Transplants, cuttings and seeds, Oh My!   It's Spring and time to start thinking about preparing for the new growing season. Home of Ann and Richard Thames 1452 Schoenberg Road Carmine, TX  78932 979-203-3455 Saturday, April 13, 2013 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Lunch provided Come visit with other avid gardeners for a garden party.  Bring extra plants you have and swap them for new and exciting plants you don't have.   Don't worry if you have nothing to swap, there is always plenty to go around. "Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes" ~Author Unknown

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Flea Fest

May the 4th be with you! 

This is going to be a come and go event from 9am-3pm. The thriving metropolis known as Snook, TX will be having its hometown festival on this day. There will be a BBQ cookoff, games and petting zoo for the kids, arts & crafts vendors, food vendors, a car show, antique tractor show, parade and more. More info on Snook Fest can be found at facebook.com/SnookFest

Snook is between College Station and Somerville on FM 60. In Snook, turn onto FM 2155, go past the school and go straight on the FM 2155 Spur (the main road veers left). The Spur will T into CR 269. Turn right and you will be able to see the festivities from there.

NativTxn (me) and flower71 will be having 2 booths in the craft vendors area. We will have a log book (or sheet) to stamp in. We will also have a cootie/flea catcher. We will supply name tags for you to stamp and wear around the festival so you will be identified as someone who could be "cootied". Come out and enjoy the day and check back at the booths to see what new fleas and cooties will be hanging around. Look for the Texas flag canopy. 


You are welcome to bring any event boxes and leave them at our booths during the day. Between now and then, I will work on getting some door prizes. I will pull tickets and write the numbers on a board so you can check back throughout the day to see if you've won.

For anyone that is a geocacher, this is also the day of the WWFM X (World Wide Flash Mob 10). Cachers will be at the booth from 12:00-12:15pm.

Atlas Quest Event Listing (Official RSVP)

Google+ Event so you can add it to your Google Calendars.  Watch this listing to see updates on Door Prizes.

Letterboxing...Again

Today was a very windy and overcast day, but I still couldn't stand being cooped up in the house. This afternoon, I headed over to Birch Creek State Park (I'm getting good use out of my Parks Pass) to find a couple letterboxes that I hadn't found.  Since I was there, I went around and found 3 others that I had already found about a month ago, but somehow lost the card with the images. The wind was crazy, but when I was on the trails, the woods blocked it out for the most part. I added about 4000 steps to my daily total.

The last one that I found was in one of my favorite areas of the park and it had a high concentration of bird life. The Brown Headed Cowbirds were in a HUGE flock and they were very loud when they lifted off and moved around. There were coots and herons out there and a couple of gulls.

I cut out all of the images and a couple that I had found between the lost images and today's finds.  All are now applied to my journal and it is up-to-date. I THINK I have my finds marked off on both Atlas Quest and Letterboxing.org if they are cross listed.  I prefer the ones on AQ better because I like seeing messages that previous boxers have left.  Is it a cool stamp? Is it in good shape?  Missing?  You can also rate boxes there.

I'm up to 69 boxes found, not including Event boxes and Hitchhikers/Fleas/Cooties. I think I've found all of the geocaches in this park.