No Birthdays for Old Grumps

"It has been written since the beginning of time,
even unto these ancient stones, that evil supernatural
creatures exist in a world of darkness."

Per my personal tradition, I took my birthday off from work and went geocaching, among other things. Last night, I headed up to Martinsville for a nice birthday dinner with Mum, and then, bright and early this morning, took off for Fairy Stone Park to hunt a relatively new cache. I found the hide readily, but I also discovered a ton of trash scattered around ground zero, which is the barest remnant of an old stone foundation, for what was at one time a fairly sizable structure. It would be interesting to find out what the place was back in its day. In any event, being the ever-grumpy but always civic-minded geocacher, I went back to my car, grabbed a garbage bag from my stash, and spent about 20 minutes picking up litter. I filled up most of the bag and left the area about as close to pristine as it can be left, so that was my good birthday deed. (I hope no one expects any more today, as they are liable to be disappointed.) On the way home, not far down the road from Fairy Stone, there was a major traffic checkpoint, with numerous local sheriff's deputies and the Virginia State Patrol running license checks. A bit later, on my way back to Greensboro, I encountered another one one near Sandy Level, VA, on the backest of back roads. I gather someone did something bad, but this time, at least, I'm pretty sure it wasn't me.

The real bad ones are the human garbage that called my mom the other night, impersonating my daughter, claiming to be in trouble and needing money to be bailed out of jail. Apparently, the scam was uncannily convincing, for Mom would swear she was actually talking to my young 'un. If you have elderly relations, please, please warn them against believing such a story; these scammers hit you right where it counts, emotionally, and they're sophisticated enough to make a trusting person believe it's true. Here's a website that explains the scam in detail, and it matches down to the letter what happened to my mom: Grandparent Scam

Don't believe it. Not for an instant.

A portion of ancient Kadath showing just above ground?

Cache in, trash out.