Sleepless in Peoria

We are only two weeks out from our annual Haunted Trail event and let’s just say there is a LOT of work still to be done. Technically, with tremendous help from my brother Ron, we are ahead of schedule from last year’s effort….but, we grow by at least 10% every year. Many of the tedious tasks are out of the way (ex. putting batteries in all the props and our proprietary controllers, testing them and fixing everything that broke during the tear down last year or just from being stored for a year in changing conditions. In all of this the training for the October ultra continues leaving little time for bonding with my pillow. As previously noted I will be leaning heavily on Brad and Jan to get us through September. Just so they do not get too overwhelmed, jumping in today to bring you the One-Offs. Those shots are just hanging in the photo queue because they didn’t have an engaging story and/or just not enough images to entertain you – also sneakily doesn’t require a lot of writing/prep as it is really just meant as eye-candy.

Various finds from our trip out to Arizona in March 2025

All of these images have a common thread – they are all outtakes from our trip out to Arizona back in March 2025. Hit the jump to enjoy this cornucopia of tins.

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Fuzzy Butters

Greetings everyone! Good news, we survived the storm that passed through Galveston Island last we chatted. I can only imagine how terrifying it must be to be in a trailer with a Tornado barreling down on you. We only reached 60mph gusts and that still put a rockin’ on our small RV. As promised, headed out to the beach to see what interesting things were brought ashore as soon as Mother Nature gave me the chance. Combed the beach and found some really nice (intact) shells, first giving them a nudge to make sure I wasn’t disturbing the sea version of a mobile home – beyond the blue jellyfish washed up everywhere (already gonners), no creatures were harmed.

The plan was to publish the latest from Brad’s queue while we started our trip back to the tundra. Checked the WordPress drafts and shock, it wasn’t there. Craptastic! Hoping it isn’t in the bit-bucket – will check on that when we stop for the night (worst case I have the original copy and can just paste it back into blocks). In the meantime, a perfect time to get a post out I promised B. (from across the pond) several months back. Now for the disclaimer – if you want to see incredible Butter pictures, go to his site (link here). My long-rig is not designed for these delicate looking creatures and my species knowledge would barely fill a thimble.

Butterfly found at Quinta Mazatlan in January 2022

When the birds are slim in the field, I start looking for other targets to keep me entertained – no Dragons, no furries, might as well give the arms a workout and target these rather spastic flappers. Hit the jump If you want to see some of my better clicks – again, Linda won’t let me take her macro in the field without some ridiculous amount of honey-do commitments, so soft shots it is ha!

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