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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
Hit the jump to read about how the race turned out and the tragedy that occurred before it.
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.
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.
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.
Hit the jump to see a few more shots of this patron duck of ultra runners.
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.
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.
There are plenty more fails on the way, simply hit the jump to bask in the fail army glory.
I am officially half way through my hellscape with one event down and one event looming at the end of this week. We put an official wrap on this year’s annual Haunted Halloween Trail late Sunday night as we finished pulling all the props out of the woods. Based on the feedback we have received so far, the scare division had another successful year. I’ll let Brad weigh in on how he thought it went.
To be honest, the trail doesn’t happen this year without a lot of people pitching in to help me out. My injury really put a strain on all the things that needed to be done to put this event on: prepping the trails, pulling everything out of storage, loading up the power sources, organizing the items into their zones, hauling it all down into the valley, putting it up, turning it on and then in a state of total exhaustion, pulling it all back up. A special shout out to my brother Ron who came down several weekends including the three days leading up to the event to help work out the kinks and keep everything rolling. There will definitely be posts coming to cover the highlights of this year’s haunt.
With that out of the way, I can now focus on the upcoming 100K attempt that launches 5am Saturday. Like with the Halloween party, a lot of things will have to go right to get through that. Now doing my best to catch up on sleep and tamper down some pains and strains that cropped up from last weekend’s efforts. In honor of what has past and what is to come, I bring you today’s featured feathered friend.
Hit the jump to read about our rather pointy feathered specimen.
Going to be setting a new land speed record for getting this last post of the month out – check off another successful meet on the Intrigued post quota. At some point my superiors are going to stop accepting that as a “stretch” goal ha. Have good news for everyone, we have “proof of life” for Brad. That sounds a lot more exciting that it really is as in today’s day and age, it simply means we got a text he’s on his way home. Probably dating myself here, but it feels just like the Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom show. If you recall (assuming you are old enough), Marlin Perkins would sit back in his smoking chair with a snifter of Scotch while Jim is out in the field getting mauled by a pack of Hyenas. “Honey, I would like to get this bird located here {spins globe stopping it with a well placed finger}, what do you think?” “There!!! HELL NO..send Brad.” “Good idea, where’s my snifter?” I am sure he will have a number of future posts covering his adventures. In the meantime we are pulling one of his queue to keep you entertained while I tend to things that go bump in the night.
Three short little days until the first night of the Haunted Trail..as they say..or rather sing “No Sleep ‘Till Brooklyn” (link here). Sure wish I had “Eight days a week”.
Kick it Brad…
If you’ve ever been to Boston, you know how frantic life can be there. Like any other large city, there are big buildings, crazy people everywhere “driving” with a coffee in one hand and a smartphone in the other, and other people with a smartphone in one hand and a cup of coffee in their other hand posing as pedestrians. Of course, nearly everyone has obligatory earbuds firmly ensconced. Jan and I were visiting Boston for the umpteenth time (really, I’ve lost count over the decades) for our goddaughter’s high school graduation. Knowing I’d like to see what birds were living in and around Boston, our friend Connie suggested I try a little pond near our hotel in Brookline.
When I first arrived at Armory Park, all I could see was a giant dog park (very few were picking up, BTW, so watch your step if you visit) and a half dozen tennis courts with players who thought they were getting ready for Wimbledon. It was then that I noticed a heavily wooded area behind a fence with a swing gate; that’s where I headed: Hall’s Pond. I went through the gate, wandered along the wooded trail, and came upon a serene little pond with a small deck extending over the water. The pond is roughly 150 feet wide by about 200 feet long. The surrounding gardens and wooded area may only be 3-4x as big as the pond itself.
I’ve already spent too much time covering all the things that are on my platter at the moment, so no need to dwell on those items. This is probably the last time I’ll have a chance to check in on the blog for at least the next week. Brad is planning to be back from assignment before the end of the month and he’ll be officially closing out September for us – assuming he makes it…we received some garbled DM about poison darts, shrunken heads and vats of human soup. I am sure it’s nothing to be concerned about. As concessions for being out of pocket, pulling out one of my favorite featured feathered friends.
Hit the jump unless those yellow eyes are a too intimidating (we’ll understand ha).
We are now in the pressure zone, a mere two weeks before the big haunt and my days are starting to feel like back to back ultras. The good news is we are making progress – a lot of that thanks to my brother Ron spending multiple days down here helping me out. Probably have maybe 3 or 4 days max to wrap up the new props before clearing the trails and starting the mind-numbing battery installation phase. Last year required well over 300 AAs, 50 AAAs, 120 9vs and a myriad of other formats – with all the new props those numbers are going to jump significantly. Note, things would go a LOT faster if the younger generation(s) would stop sucking on batteries causing that #$%@#%@#$# little screw to be on all the battery compartment lids. Fortunately in all this chaos, I have been able to get in a little birding…
You might have noticed I am back to using my injured elbow…how about we just keep that to ourselves for now, first rule of Fight Club – “Don’t talk about the elbow”. While I toil away, Brad is stepping in to once again throw me a lifeline with one of his birding adventures. He is currently out in the field on assignment, so responses will be dependent on his connectivity – if we are lucky he will stumble upon some forgotten jungle tribes with Internet access points and let us know how it is going. Well, “I Bis” be getting back to the haunt work.
Take it away Brad…
I think I’m finally beginning to understand why Brian has such a backlog of bird stories. When he and Linda travel south during the winter, he racks up 200+ birds per “vacation.” Jan and I encountered 56 on our trip to Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina last February. As I was reviewing photos for other stories, I noticed this unassuming bird in the background of many of the photos. I started writing this story just after our trip. I guess it was on my keyboard too long because in the meantime, Brian published a story on this exact same bird (link here). Well, not the precise bird, but a bird of the same species. So, what to do, what to do . . . Should I scrap it or continue writing about the same bird, but with a different perspective and habitat? After a week or so I chose to continue the story.
I have to admit that initially, I was going for the herons and egrets. But our featured bird today is no less exciting than those are. Granted, its name is grander than the lighting in these photos allows. Jan and I found these wading birds very early in the day, less than an hour after sun-up.
Hit the jump to read more about our pink legged friend.
Life Intrigued 