Month: October 2023

Happy Haunters’ Day 2023!

The day we look forward to every year has finally arrived and we are giddy with excitement. Some kids grow up looking forward to the more traditional December holiday, we here at Intrigued celebrate the orange and black. The heavy lifting is already done for this season as we hold our haunted trail around the beginning of the month to avoid conflicts with the rest of the parties/events that are scattered across this month. As a result, we get to sit back, relaxing around the flaming pumpkins while watching the ghosts and goblins dance about the place. We wish you similar happiness in whatever manner you choose to celebrate the dark hours.

To help get you in the mood, our “partner in haunt” Paul has already put together our promo video from our recent Haunted Trail. It is impossible to bring you the expansiveness of the trail, but Paul does an excellent job of giving you a feel for the frights and fun to be had in the spooky woods.

Note, if the embedded video will not play, here is the direct link to it – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1FMpBNo3dk

Hit the jump to see a few more of our Halloween scenes to get this holiday kicked off right

Continue reading Happy Haunters’ Day 2023!

Grrrrr!…by Brad Marks

Well, I’m slowly getting my legs back under me – been a while since a run has knocked me this hard. It has been said the recovery period after an ultra is just a forced sanity check to reconsider recent decisions. Note, Linda always sends me off with “Make good choices” knowing good and well I’ve probably already made 5 bad decision in the time it took her to tell me that. On the bright side, there is a comforting sense of knowing I could probably outrun any “breathing” danger that might await me on my runs (assumption roots do not have noses). Just in case, there are always friends around I could kneecap if I needed extra get-a-way time. Don’t feel bad for them, they are thinking the exact same thing – I imagine the amusement a Bear would have if it walked out onto our trail and saw the lot of us whacking each other with hiking poles and making overt suggestions regarding who might be tastier. Speaking of humor and unexpected wildlife encounters, I know the perfect post for today and it comes courtesy of Brad’s recent drop of new adventures. While I continue to rest and ponder some of those recent decision, we’ll let Brad lead us down the trail.

Remember…”Make good choices”…

There were two old guys, probably Wildlife Intrigued retirees, sitting on the porch at a retirement home.  Each had a quilt on their laps and a shawl around their shoulders, happily rocking away in the August sunshine.  There was a long-forgotten elbow brace sitting nearby.  Nothing is said for what seems like forever.  Then Old Guy (OG) #1 says, “I saw a bear once.”

“Where did you see a bear?” OG#2 asks somewhat incredulously.

“One day when I was hiking in the woods.  It just jumped out of the brambles and stared at me,” says OG#1.

“It just jumped out of the woods?  What did it do then?” questions OG#2.

“It went Grrrrr!” replies OG#1.   (imagine a menacing growl)

“What did you do then?” quizzed OG#2.

“I s#!t my pants!” says OG#1 sheepishly.

“I would too if a bear jumped out of the woods, looked at me and went Grrrrr!” says OG#2 sympathetically.

“No, I mean right now when I went Grrrrr!”

(This joke was brought to you courtesy of my father-in-law.  I think it’s one of his favorites.)

Well, that nearly happened to Jan and I.  Except for the old guy part, the rocking chairs at the retirement home, and no quilts or shawls were involved.  Our pants stayed clean, too.  We were in the woods though.

Hit the jump to read more details about this Sequoian sized encounter!

Continue reading Grrrrr!…by Brad Marks

Brags, Stones and Scaups

I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it again, I have no idea how I got anything done while I was in the corporate grind. Even with the forced downtime to recover from the recent ultra race, it still felt like I was “busy”. The bright spot is looking back I was able to get a number of the “Bri-do” items checked off. The break gave me a chance to turn my attention to the Mothership with two mega posts on this year’s Halloween Haunted Trail Prop Tutorials – the new 2023 tombstones (link here)

Haunted Trail of Tears 2023

..and the Radioactive Spiders (link here). Along with those prop posts, also threw in the Bix 7 recap (link here) and the all too painful recollection from the recent 100K ultra attempt that caused the whole extended rest in the first place (link here). Definitely some heavy lifting posts. Now time to get back to the “wild’ side where we have plenty of material to bring you. Brad just sent me a number of new adventure posts you will surely enjoy and I still need to dip my toe into our Texas and Florida adventures. I want to give Brad and family a bit more time to focus on their affairs, so you are with me today….but first a quick brag.

Ruger Fastcat Beginner Title October 22, 2023

Congrats to Linda and Ruger who earned their Beginner FastCAT Title yesterday. Basically the 100 yard dash for doggies. Found something Ruger was basically born to compete in and he absolutely loves it. In previous runs he was in the 19.5mph range – dialed it back this weekend to 18.5mph which is still amazing (they had two patches of straw on the course covering muddy areas which he didn’t like and basically leaped over it each time likely accounting for the slower time).

Guessing about now you are wondering if we are ever going to get to the featured duck of the day. Without further delay…

Greater Scaup found at Sunset Park in Las Vegas in March 2023

Hit the jump to see a few more pictures of our yellow-eyed wave runner.

Continue reading Brags, Stones and Scaups

Project Drop Dead Legs

Sitting here relaxing after a long day of trying to get the Haunted Trail back into storage – heavy stuff is taken care of now, so it shouldn’t take too many more days. In between this effort I have actually been able to get a couple of easy 5 mile runs in as I try to get the crust shook off from the ultra race a couple of weeks back. My running coach (aka Brad’s wife) has ordered me to take a couple of days off to let the body heal. I am physically (maybe more mentally) unable to just sit and relax which means it’s post time! Been trying to focus more on the Mothership this month to appease the less “wild” side readers out there. Cannot think of a better time to tackle another Haunted Trail prop project.

Project Drop Dead Legs for Haunted Trail of Tears 2023

Hit the jump to learn all about how this giant spider (and his brother) came about. Note, you are forewarned as these posts get into the nitty details and until I get proficient at the video format I’m stuck with stills…lots and lots of stills.

Continue reading Project Drop Dead Legs

The Pain Cave Taj Mahal

Well, crap, I might as well get this post out of the way while I’m lying here still trying to recover. A little over a week ago, I embarked on my 2nd attempt at the 100K ultra distance. This was billed as the redemption year having failed to get this distance checked off last October (link here). For a year that bitter pill hung in my throat and was right there every time I thought about missing a training run or even cutting one short. I knew I needed to be better prepared and more importantly, a better strategy to keep from losing my feet per the last experience.

Farmdale Trail Run 50M 2023

I know some of you are just curious about the results, so I’ll go ahead and reveal that and get you back on the road. Results: same place, same event, same disappointing results. Once again, fought my way through 50 miles for my third buckle in three years, but opted out of the bonus loop to officially reach the 100K goal. For those of you who want the tortured details, feel free to hit the jump, the rest – see you again next year, same place, same event and hopefully better results!

Continue reading The Pain Cave Taj Mahal

Project: Afterglow

Trying to take it easy today to give the back a chance to mend from the ultra race damage. since I cannot just lie here doing nothing, figured it would be a good time to get one of the mega Halloween ’23 project posts out. These tend to be rather involved with all the technical detail and accompanying images. New tombstones for this year’s Haunted Trail is no exception. Hopefully the DIY haunters out there will enjoy this project and hopefully get you well on your way should you want to add this type of prop to your own Halloween displays.

To give you an idea of how these new lighted tombstones look, here’s a shot of one of this year’s new stones on our haunted trail.

Halloween 2023 Decorations

Hit the jump to learn how this (and several others) came to be. Warning, your browser image cache is going to be smoking by the time you get to the bottom of the post ha.

Continue reading Project: Afterglow

Bix7 – The Comeback

I was getting all prepped to make a post covering the recent 100K Ultra Trail race attempt and then discovered I had entirely forgotten the only other race thus far into the 2023 season. Yes, we are talking about the event that started my entire racing career some 20 years back – The Bix 7 held in Davenport, IA.

Bix 7 Davenport IA on July 29th 2023

Hit the jump to read about how the race turned out and the tragedy that occurred before it.

Continue reading Bix7 – The Comeback

Black Forest Pie

Today’s post comes with some sadness as a member of the extended Intrigued family was laid to rest this afternoon. From wonderful stories learned and the good people that surrounds her, clearly she had a far reaching impact and will be truly missed by all. With deepest sympathies to the family, relatives and friends.

As you can tell from the post output as of late, I am still trying to recover from last weekend’s run. Getting antsy as sitting around (technically in this case, laying around) isn’t my thing and Linda knows all too well that a non-running Bri starts to get the crazies – NOBODY WANTS THAT! For now, trying to get through while doing my best to get ahead of the monthly quota for a change. Honestly, a bit of a win-win for all of us ha. Last post I brought you the Redhead Duck, If you recall, I mentioned with one possible exception, that species is pretty distinguishable in the field. At the time I was thinking the Canvasback Duck could cause some confusion. B. across the pond (link here), pointed out their Pochards are similarly colored and after some research on this UK Duck, I can absolutely confirm, not only similar, but basically doppelgangers. Fortunately for us, the two species do not overlap that much. For those Stateside, thought I would go ahead and cover the one we might have difficulties with.

Canvasback found at Sunset Park in Las Vegas, NV in March 2023

Hit the jump to see a few more shots of the Canvasback and a bit of a discussion on the similarities and differences between them and Redheads.

Continue reading Black Forest Pie

Red Back, Red Elbow, Red Feet, Red Knees and Redheads

I should probably start by addressing the elephant in the post – another year, another attempt at the 100K ultra run and unfortunately, the exact same results. Last year, extremely disappointed missing the 100K mark, this year ecstatic I made it one mile much less 50. Full summary in an upcoming post, but the synopsis is the master plan of completing the 50 mile race, tossing that finish for a DNF after one loop of the 100 mile category fell short (again). Called it after completing the 50 mile distance and accepted the finisher belt buckle. Too much to overcome – the elbow still in recovery and unable to stand up the day before the race thanks to blowing up the back tearing down the trail. Already missed the 50K this year, wasn’t going to miss this start. Again, details to come, but I lathered up with Tiger Balm before each loop and gritted through the 10 mile repeats. Bad enough, but tragedy struck on the second loop – nailed a hidden root in the middle of a prairie crossing and crashed down on the bad elbow. When it rains it … Anyway, on the 40->50 mile loop the back screamed it had enough, the elbow was pissed and the roots were living rent free in my head ever since the sun went down. Essentially 49 miles more than I had any expectation of completing, declared victory, graciously accepted the buckle and set my sights on next year. All things come at a cost as I am now paying the “pain toll”. Thought it appropriate to get out this year’s Fail collection while I recover (link here).

Going to be a bit of time before I’m back on my feet, so wanted to make the best of it and get a few posts out starting with today’s featured feathered friend.

Redhead at Sunset Park in Las Vegas March 2023

Hit the jump to see a few more shots of this patron duck of ultra runners.

Continue reading Red Back, Red Elbow, Red Feet, Red Knees and Redheads

It’s Fail Time

So, as evident by this post, I did indeed survive the big race on Saturday. Survive is a loose term at the moment as I am sitting here wondering how many days it will be before I stand, much less walk without grimacing. I’ll be back with more details on the run, but for now I am just going to lay here and try to cut through the lingering pain with some happy pills otherwise known as another round of Fails. Been saving this up for a while now and decided it was time to release them in the inglorious spotlight for laughter, shame and dare I say mockery to those who had a hand in their creation. Yes, folks, it is time to call it like I see it.

Leading off this parade of misfits is Gadsen, AL. Noccalula Falls has become one of our favorite places to stop on our bird migration trips down to Dauphin Island. There is a nice campground nearby, the falls are lovely and best of all, there is an awesome set of biking/running trails to get some training runs in during the trip. There is also a pizza joint near the falls that has become a lock for at least one of our meals during the stay called Blackstone Pizza. Our visit this year came with a side of ..well, sideways.

Fails 2023

I am not referring to the bright pink hair of the waitress, I couldn’t care less about individual choices on clothing, hair etc. If you are trying to get a rise out of me for some form of self-validation then you’ll have to wait for the next person. No, what I found quite hilarious is the menu orientation. You will see this theme throughout this post – it isn’t so much its existence, rather the number of individuals who clearly saw it and convinced themselves there was either not an issue or someone else’s problem and thus never addressed. You might want to think about your hiring practices.

Fails 2023

There are plenty more fails on the way, simply hit the jump to bask in the fail army glory.

Continue reading It’s Fail Time