As mentioned previously, we are burning the proverbial candle at both ends these days. My desperate attempts to squeak out at least 25 hours in a day has been met with immense…dare say galactic resistance. Pretty sure in response to my efforts the planet has retaliated by speeding up the rotation. The tasks on the haunted trail project plan are steadily being worked, trail training has become interesting as the ankle has started to squawk as I get closer to the target pre-race goal (a bit concerning as that is usually only half of the race mileage) and later today we head to the doctor to get the results of Linda’s knee MRI. The struggle is real people ha! I know, I know, most of my stress is self-induced and almost trivial to what life can throw at you when you anger it. My running mantra grounds me on the trail and at home – “run the mile you are in” which leads is to today’s featured feathered friend sprint.
Going with a quick(er) post today as I need to get back in the haunt lab – our new set of tombstones are being prepped for paint today and our 8′ gargoyle needs the final hardcoat on its new head. Brad and Jan are still exploring other worlds, but once they are back I’ll be leaning on them heavily to keep you entertained in my absence. For now, we will continue the “European” theme from last post ….after the jump!
Howdy folks, hope you are feeling a little more rested than I am at the moment. We are closing in on this year’s haunted trail event and time is becoming a precious commodity. My brother Ron was able to come down last weekend and help get the trail season jumpstarted. We build/fix/buy props year round here at Intrigued, but there are always projects that are lagging for one reason or another – primarily due to nonstop rain lately. With the added help we can hopefully get those over the finish line before we transition into grooming the trail and preparing props for the haul down into the valley (fingers crossed it dries out from all the flooding). The event is the last weekend in September which is the earliest I think we have ever held the haunt. Something tells me I am going to wish I had that extra week from the previous years…also going to wish I didn’t have injuries on my left hand – middle finger knuckle has been “obliterated” and today I decided to see how much pain I can endure by absolutely smashing the tip of my pinky on the same hand – eh, “The show must go on” as they say ha. Just as a heads up, I will be “sparse” from this point on due to the extra time required for the trail..oh, and I still have that little ultra thingy to do in October, so any spare time will be pounding long miles out. Fortunately, I like the challenge…which brings us to today’s featured feathered friend.
I generally consider myself fairly decent in the field when it comes to these feathered creatures…yet this particular specimen..technically specimens had me stumped. Go ahead and take a quick guess at what you think this particular species is and I’ll see you on the other side of the jump.
Every have one of those to-dos that stares you in the face and it just hangs around and around and around? In my latest situation it was an item on my read list. It has been there since 2019, finally got it as gift this last Christmas and then dragged it on two long trips out west and managed to get through maybe 2 chapters at best. Got back, put it on my nightstand, said goodnight to it every night and promised to turn the pages ….the next night. Even more embarrassing it was about building good habits and breaking bad one. The book – Atomic Habits by James Clear (link here). In my defense, I was keeping up on his thought provoking emails in the midst of this (think he stopped sending those or I got dropped somehow through 2025). My summary, probably would have been more useful while I was still in the grind as my “habits” have shifted a bit and maybe honing them isn’t as critical. I do like the core principles, Make it Obvious, Make it Attractive, Make it Easy and Make it Satisfying, however, my big takeaway was his take on boredom . “Anyone can work hard when they feel motivated. It’s the ability to keep going when work isn’t exciting that makes the difference. Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way“. That rang absolutely true with me as I always tell people my superpower is the ability to grind in work (formerly) and sport (ultras). Overall, not a bad read, although, I would recommend first consuming my favorite book – Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter (link here) or Do Hard Things by Steve Magness (link here). Those two offerings pretty much summarize my long held outlook on life.
Steve focuses on developing mental toughness and Michael challenges you to participate in activities you have a 50% chance of absolute failure even with focused training (misogi)…and now you know why I do the things I do ha. Why bring all this up..well, because I am about to do something in this post that is hard, which I should make more of a habit of and yes, there is high probability of failure. Today we are taking on the female Hummingbirds!
Before digging into this, I found myself quoting Theron from 300: “This will not be over quickly, you will not enjoy this, you suck at female Hummers“…or something like that. Hit the jump to see the fruits of my misery ha.
Hi everyone, it’s Brad. Normally Brian writes the intros to one of my stories, but this time he’s letting me have a go at it.
Long time Intrigued readers know that Jan participates in the ultimate community-based fund-raising effort in the country: The 45th annual St. Jude Memphis to Peoria Run (M2P) to raise money for the Kids of St. Jude. In case you didn’t know, Memphis, TN and Peoria, IL are 465 miles apart. Why would anyone voluntarily run that far during the hottest week of the summer? It’s all for the kids.
The St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN is the premiere children’s cancer research center in the world (my humble opinion). Danny Thomas (“Make Way for Daddy” fame) said that “no child should die in the dawn of life” and founded the hospital in 1962 in Memphis to treat, and now cure kids with cancer. Forty-five years ago, former Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy had “One Crazy Idea” to raise money for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis by hosting a running relay from Memphis to Peoria. In 1982, 21 runners completed the 465-mile journey raising $22,000.
Fast forward to 2026. This was Jan’s 18th year participating in the Memphis to Peoria (M2P) Run. Runners leave Memphis about 11am on Wednesday to the thunderous cheering of hundreds, possibly thousands, of St. Jude employees lining the roadway. Runners then run, 24×7 relay style, back to Peoria over the next four days and nights. Two teams of runners, Gold and Blue, tag-team for eight hours at a time all the way back to Peoria. Jan is on the Gold Team. When she’s not running, she’s also showering, eating, helping in a chase van, and driving a motorhome to the next stop for the team along the route. This means precious little sleep time. Because of her spectacular organizing skills, she is able to eek out a couple of hours of sleep (literally only two or three) each day over the four days. As Mike McCoy is fond of saying, “it’s a fund-raising event, not a running event,” but you’d never know it by the number of runners that participate.
The M2P Run ends at the Peoria Civic Center with not only the 180 runners from Peoria (including more than a few former St. Jude patients), there are 35 doctors and staff running from the St. Jude Children’s Hospital, and another 2,000 or more from 33 satellite runs all over Illinois converging on the Civic Center to start the fund-raising telethon. This year set fund-raising records again. Not only did the M2P smash its efforts from the prior year with a record $1.9 million, the entire telethon (all of the satellite Runs, golf outings, talent shows, corn boils, lemonade stands, etc.) raised over $12.6 million dollars for the Kids of St. Jude this year.
Since 1982, the combined efforts from M2P and all of the satellite runs has raised over $101 Million for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; much of it from right here in Central Illinois. That’s what I call long-term, unwavering committed communities. This is what a community’s heart looks like when banding together to support Hope for children and families seeking cures.
Now that this year’s M2P Run has completed, the motorhomes have been returned to their respective rental companies, the runners safely returning home, and the confetti cleaned up, Jan can rest. Well, at least until next year’s M2P prep starts. As you would guess, Jan’s more than a little tired. She puts on a brave face when she tries to convince me, “but it’s a good tired.” I’ve made the one-night, no running required, bus trip to Memphis many times. Heck no, I’m not a runner; just a huge cheerleader for her. But I know exactly why she continues to run for the Kids of St. Jude.
For now, Jan is resting and recovering. BTW, in a couple days I’m taking her on a fabulous vacation so she can rest and recover in style. Shhh! Don’t tell her it’s also part of another photo assignment.
Take it away Brad. (that sounds funny coming from me)…
During retirement, Jan and I have taken up various activities besides birding. Shhh, don’t tell Brian, he thinks we focus on birds 24×7. We hike with a friend Trish when our schedule allows. While on spring hikes at a Spring Creek Preserve (SCP), I like to listen to the birds to see what’s out there. I can by no means identify all of them by their call, but I can recognize a call when it’s new to me, or the area.
The last few springs, usually from May to late June I heard a bird call that rises in pitch and accelerates the higher the pitch. At first, it reminded me of a staccato slide whistle, stopping to hit all the notes all the way to the top of its range. This song definitely stands out from the chirps and chips and warbles we normally hear on our hikes.
SCP consists of three reclaimed farm fields that have been allowed to go back to nature. Each is full of young trees and grasses native to the Illinois prairie surrounded by mature woods tucked into the folds of the river bluff. There are also plenty of hiking trails through the woods for all ability levels. We seldom have to worry about water in the creek separating the fields, but when it runs, it runs full.
In the first of the hiking fields next to the parking lot, let’s call it Field A (that’s its real name anyway), I can usually hear an escalating song. As we walk along, I hear it again. But by the time we’ve reached the end of Field A, I can no longer hear it. Hiking the path around Fields B and C, I don’t hear the song at all. Turning around, and taking the fields in reverse alphabetical order, C to B to A, I begin to hear the song again once we near the end of Field A by the parking lot. Taking out my trusty bird listening app, Merlin, it identifies the singing bird. But when I go to enter it into eBird later, it tells me it’s very unlikely to hear that bird at that location. Ever. One app says it is, the other says it isn’t.
Talk about calling your [bird] shot, hit the jump to read more about this rather pretty rarity..so the experts say.
Wildlife Intrigued 