Hobby Thread - March 29, 2025 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies(TM) a spin and it shuddered, wobbled and squeaked. Enough of that. The Wheel clearly needs servicing. We will try something else in the interim...

Saw this recently on X:

Since this is a smart military blog (at times), seems like the Horde might have thoughts. What have you sent or received? Any novel or unique ideas? Anything that was a memorable hit? Anything that worked out...poorly? Any good intentions gone terribly wrong?

Socks are nice but what do people REALLY want or appreciate?

What is the craziest thing you sent or received? What is the craziest thing you saw others send or receive? Epic care packages must be the stuff of lore and legend. What did you hear was sent or received but didn't see for yourself?

Do you send care packages to those downrange? Do you send to people you know personally or do you work through an organization? Have you adopted a unit (if so, how did that work? How did you get started?)

Are military care packages a hobby? Yes. Do you send things you make? Perhaps you crochet blankets? Do you include items for the recipient's hobbying in theater?

If you were deployed, did you do any hobbying?

What are you hobbying these days? Does spring weather open up new options for your hobbying? As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. Your participation does not need to limited to the theme. All hobbying is welcome. However, politics, current events and religious debates can live in threads elsewhere. Play nice. Do not be a troll and do not feed the trolls. Pants, as always, are optional.

These responses to the main post on X caught my eye:

Many ideas are for hygiene, comfort, entertainment, food and a glimpse of home.

Are there tactical or operational things that are not military issue but are highly valued? This video asks each person about their favorite thing received and one said a bore snake to help clean his weapon. I never would have thought of that.

My Story: The Best Way to Know What to Send

Knowing what to send is the hardest part about sending a care package. But if I learned one thing from the service, it's that you should listen to your service member! When I was in the Navy, I used to play catch on our flight deck on Sunday afternoons. As accurate as we may have been, we'd lose baseballs over the side as the ship rocked back and forth. I put the word out to my family: send old baseballs in the next care package. And from then on out, each military care package I got had a couple of beat-up baseballs in it. My grandfather even sent a whole box with just baseballs and a simple note: "Hope this helps." Well, it did, and I still remember that care package all these years later. It was like a treasure trove for a young sailor who just wanted a bit of normalcy on those long deployments.

But for every baseball I got, I also loved the things that came along with it. And frankly, if all anyone sent me were baseballs, I'd run out of space! That's why variety is key.

Soldier's Wish List from Yellow Ribbon Support Center

More at the link, but here are some of their suggestions:

Disposable cameras
Flashlights
Small fans, mist fans
Small microwavable bowls
White cotton socks (new)
Ziploc storage bags (all sizes)

Comic Books, Coloring Books
Games (hand held, electronic, board)
Mini Darts & Board or Basketball & Hoop
Model car, airplane kits with glue, paint & brushes
Paperback books
Pens, markers, colored pencils, crayons
Playing cards, Rulebook (According to Hoyle)
Puzzles (crossword, sudoku, word search)
Silly putty, Yoyo, Squirt guns
Sports equipment (Footballs, baseballs, soccer balls, basketball, table tennis equipment, Nerf toys)

Horde hobbying - polynikes has been busy painting!

San Fran Japanese Tea Garden

Fishing Town

Very nice! Thanks for sharing.

Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week? We talked horde quilting. The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.

Notable comments from last week:

Words of wisdom:

"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).

If you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, hijack the thread for your hobbying as you see fit. We will feature a different theme next time. What are you hobbying? We love showing off Horde hobbying. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Do mighty things.

posted by Open Blogger at 05:30 PM

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