From Heck’s Heart, I Stab At Thee

On Friday, unlike Captain Ahab, I slayed one of my proverbial white whales. I went out to find a cache I’ve tried a number of times before at a pavilion on Town Lake. GZ had always been at a tree on the edge of the water so believe me that on many occasions I felt up that tree trying to find it with no idea what I was looking for. The pavilion itself seemed to offer nothing (I examined it on many occasions as well) so I felt confident that the tree was the answer. It never was. Every six months or so for four or five years I took a shot at it and for four or five years I came up wanting. Last year the CO moved it about 75 feet because of construction at the site so I thought that I might have better chance with a new location and the removal of preconceived notions. When I arrives, I went all the way down to the pavilion out of habit and was worried when I found an unhoused man looking out at the water with his stuff. I always try to avoid muggles, but this guy seemed unlikely to wander off and I certainly didn’t want to disturb him while he was having a tranquil moment; he probably got few enough of them as it it. Then I remembered: the new GZ is a bit removed from there. I went back the way I came until I found a short path worn into the ground leading to another tree. I was prepared to start examining it when I took note of a fence there as well. And then it jumped out at me: There was a bison sticking out of a hole. I pulled it out to find a bolt on the other end of it. Whoever had found it last had put it back in backwards! I like to think that I would have figured out that the bolt was what was wrong (there were lots of wooden fences like that one in city parks and on trails and they had all been built without metal fasteners), but I know it would have taken more time than I spent on it. On a certain level, I hate to think that by rival had been bested merely because it had been returned the wrong way. However, I was more than willing to take the win. As I have said on many occasions, victory requires no explanation. Inveni, inscripsi, and reposui (in the proper orientation, of course), and it was done. And once I logged it, despite all my bellyaching the last couple of weeks, I came away with a bird Treasure, my first on in quite some time.