End of One Adventure

This post is about three months overdue! If you are not familiar with Teasel, our boxing buddy, now would be a good time to get acquainted. In August of last year, Teasel left us to begin an adventure that would take him far and wide. He returned to us over the summer with a burgeoning logbook and lots of stories to tell. Here is a brief summary of his travels.
He travelled to 9 different states, met at least 9 other boxing buddies, and got almost 200 stamp images of all kinds in his logbook! He went to parks and parties, bridges and churches, and one very special ultrasound!

These pictures are from his stay with Team Knorr.
Here he met Doyle and Toby, other BBs.
He hunted...
found...
planted...
picniced...
posed...
and examined.

Every one of his hosts did a fantastic job of writing notes in his logbook and including pictures to go along with the stamps. My favorite picture is of Teasel being carried by Shoebee (of HG and the Shoebee Crew fame) in a baby bjorn!

The girls have argued, quite emphatically, that Teasel is OUR boxing buddy and therefore he needs to stay home so that WE can take him letterboxing with US. It's hard to argue with that kind of logic, so our beloved Hedgie is ending his travels and will spend his free time honing his carving skills, helping with box maintenance, and foraging in the flower beds. He has confided to me that he is looking forward to more time in front of the fireplace and less time"scurrying about". Perhaps I will get him hooked on trading cards. I also have another surprise for him, but that will have to wait for another post.

Catching up with Teasel

The last time I wrote about our boxing buddy, Teasel the hedgehog, he was playing with Peanut Girl at Happy Gemini's house. That was way back in September. He has been getting around since then and doing more letterboxing than I have. Maybe that's why it has taken me this long to post about his travels--I am completely jealous! Of a stuffy! After he left HG's, he went to visit Questar right here in Illinois. Only they didn't stay in Illinois. They went on vacation to Florida. We got a postcard from him while he was there and this is what he wrote while lounging by the pool:
Nitrocat & Kittens,
I'm having lots of fun!! I've tasted real Florida orange juice, went swimming and found the "Sand Key Park" and "Save our Sea Turtles" LBs.
Love,
Teasel

Questar and her family were wonderful hosts and when I saw her at the Letterboxing Wedding event in Chicago, she gave me a wonderful surprise for my "Kittens" from Teasel--a Florida coloring book, little bag of authentic Florida sand and tiny seashells, and another postcard with a collage of pictures of Teasel on vacation. He met several other buddies and had lots of fun while he was with them.

After returning from Florida, Teasel headed to visit Kelsey's Kreations in New York. Over the holidays, things got a little crazy around here and I'm afraid I wasn't very good at keeping track of what he was doing. Since I know he is in good hands, I tend not to worry too much. Maybe I can fill in the gap sometime later.
He is currently in South Carolina with Threespoiledboxers. They took him on a trip to Chattanooga, TN. See what I mean by going to more places than me? I did get a picture from him while he was in Chat. They went to find a box near a special bridge and it had something to do with nuts. Sorry, a little fuzzy on the details. Maybe it was Walking on Walnuts?

His visit in Traveler's Rest is almost over and he will be heading to Idhunna's house in Indiana. I can't wait to see his logbook when he comes home! Maybe I should pack myself up into a little box with my stamp and logbook, and mail myself somewhere warm and with a high concentration of letterboxes. I might actually get to do some boxing then! Anybody want to volunteer to be my first host?

Teasel's Mobile Home

On one of those days when housework was Oh So Not Appealing, and we couldn't quite make ourselves knuckle down to the schoolwork, the kittens and I decided to spice up Teasel's priority mail box. The following pictures are the end result of our efforts. Teasel was pleased. The kittens both giggled uncontrollably. And best of all, the laundry remained status quo. Bear in mind that I was taking photos down inside a box, which accounts for the distortion.

The first room is the Kitchen, or according to Teasel, the most important room in the house. The picture on the side of the fridge is artwork by his niece, and the phone number is his favorite carry-out place, Slugs R Us. The other picture was procured through Ancestry.com and is believed to be a long-lost Uncle. More research is needed to confirm the fact though. He also keeps a running grocery list. The curtains on the window were made and sent to him by his Mum. The plants are a blue Cranesbill which he took from cuttings in my garden. The stereo is a garage sale find (which explains it's size) and helps him to pass the time when he is not boxing. He particularly likes the Fresh Aire CDs from Mannheim Steamroller.


Next in line is the Living Room, where he can enjoy reruns of his favorite show on the Discovery Channel: Porcupines, Extreme Defenders. It is also where he keeps his pet tetra, Argon, and a few mementoes of his travels. The poster is a reminder that his American citizenship is getting closer all the time! The bureau is another garage sale find and holds his collection of rose petals and other more mundane household items. The plant is a banded arrowroot, or prayer plant, that folds up its leaves in the darkness.


As we move into the Office we can see the computer where Teasel spends lots of time reading clues and following the threads on the message boards. The pictures are of his family. Mom and Dad are in the green and blue frames, and his brother, Spoke, is in the yellow frame. His backpack is all ready to go and he has a flashlight handy for those midnight trips to the fridge. The plant is a division of the Mother-in-Law's Tongue that everyone in my family now has at least one piece of. The art print, of course, reminds him of his childhood home in England.


The last room is the Den, complete with overstuffed chair (leather simply isn't practical for a hedgehog), reading lamp and his favorite books. The list of books includes: Watership Down (c'mon, don't tell me you don't know about Yona!), Hedgie, O Slug-a-Moon and Other Songs, and The Quill, a quarterly hedgehog newsletter. The framed collage on the wall is from Beatrix Potter's lovely story about Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, one of Teasel's spinster Aunts on his father's side of the family.

Agreeably, the floor is not very exciting, but it does still tell us a little bit about him. The green rug is a souvenir from his trip to Macchu Pichu in Peru, while the blue striped monstrosity is yet another garage sale find that I cannot prevail upon him to get rid of for all the bulk Salami at Sam’s Club. But for all of his stubbornness, he is good at keeping in touch, as the letters on the floor will tell. He uses his laptop while in transit, when he does not have access to electricity (all of his other appliances run on solar battery packs, except the refrigerator, which is kerosene). The newspaper is actually a back issue of The Herbal Companion, which he stocks up on and saves for trips as a special treat.

We hope that you have enjoyed this little tour of Teasel's pad. The author fully acknowledges that this post is in complete rebellion against the fact that I am stuck in the house on a quintessentially beautiful day cleaning my desk (well, that's the premise at least) when I'd rather be out in the woods looking for letterboxes, fuzzy caterpillars, tree fungus or anything else even remotely more interesting than piles of empty CD cases (in our house, that has taken the place of socks without matches), old catalogues and "Oh, Look. Another medical bill that was supposed to be paid weeks ago."
Raspberries.

Teasel the Hedgehog

After practically an all-night session (that's what happens when you are working with nocturnal stuffies), our first boxing buddy is nearly ready. Let me introduce you: This is Teasel the Hedgehog. He was named after the dramatic looking weed with the spiny seed heads. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teasel He is completely lovable and only causes trouble occasionally; mostly when he forgets to wipe his paws or gets things caught in his prickles. He loves to forage through the leaf litter in the woods and in doing that he accidentally found his first letterbox. He has been "stuck on it" ever since. Because he digs very gently, so as not to mush the grubs he is looking for, he is a very good helper when it comes to hunting letterboxes. Fat worms, slugs and grubs are his

first choice when it comes to food, but he can be persuaded to eat the occasional mosquito; although he says they taste like eating kleenex. For the most part he has adapted to our diurnal lifestyle, but if he comes to your house, don't be surprised if you find him rummaging in the fridge for bologna in the middle of the night.

He wanted to make his own logbook, so I stayed up with him last night until he was satisfied with how it turned out. He has been practicing some carving and finished his sig stamp in the wee hours this morning. I am quite proud of him. He didn't complain once even though I couldn't find the handle for my exacto knife for him and all I had was PZ Kut. He says he prefers the Speedy Stamp.

I will tell you that he is not very brave. At the first sign of danger (perceived or otherwise) he rolls up into a ball and won't come out until he thinks it is completely safe. He can be quite stubborn about it. Moppett is the absolute sweetest cat and I am sure she was just investigating a remnant of olive loaf he missed.

Teasel's family is originally from Europe. His parents and siblings were captured along with him one evening on the English countryside. They were stuffed in windowless crates and shipped overseas. We discovered him in a shop window several years back and rescued him immediately. Through a service that works to reunite families that have been separated, we have heard that one of his brothers is part of a traveling animal education program. He visits schools and day care centers along with the other animals in the program to help children learn about being good pet owners. Recently, we also received word from his parents. They are well and living with a retired gentleman on the east coast where they help him by patrolling his garden at night. We can only hope that the others are also okay and being looked after.

If you would like to host Teasel and take him letterboxing in your part of the world, he would love to visit. Just contact me here or through AQ mail and we will set it up. He will also be listed on AQ as an "other" letterbox so that you can log him as a find. (Note: I changed him to a postal box so that I could add him to the tracker I created)