Slow and Steady…by Brad Marks

The Halloween season has come to a close which brings with it a mixture of sadness and relief. We hate to see it end, but it also feels like the steam has finally been released from the pressure cooker. Yesterday (the 1st) was “Spirit Day” as we have come to call it. The night before the haunters were nestled all snug in their beds while visions of ghouls and monsters danced in their heads. Away to the local Spirit “popup” Halloween store we flew like a flash for what to our wondering eyes should appear but an entire store at 50% off. A bundle of props we flung on our backs. We were heard to exclaim as we drove out of sight, we can’t wait until the next haunt night! Actually, there is a little pressure still left in the cooker as I have to find places to store all the new stuff – eh, worry about that another day ha. In addition to celebrating another successful haunting season I also managed to reach an annual running goal. In all the Halloween chaos and injury setbacks, I managed to still hit my 1200 mile annual running goal – 60 days early!

I mainly bring this up as a lead in to let you know Brad will be taking the helm to give me a badly needed rest and because his post happens to be about another trail “speed demon”.

Take it away Brad (and Jan)…

Let me set the stage here for you.

It’s late September.  Jan and I are in a National Park in southern Nevada just outside Las Vegas.  We are in the desert with Red Rock all around.  That’s right, it’s Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, about 20 minutes outside of Las Vegas.  The temperature is in the upper 80’s or low 90’s at 4pm.  Yes, we remembered to bring water with us.

We flashed our Annual Park Pass (surely you all have one of these beauties by now) at the entrance gate and started on the 13-mile scenic drive to see what we could see.  One of the first things we saw surprised us a little bit.

Desert Tortoise by Brad Marks

It was a “Tortoise Crossing” sign.  I figured the chances of seeing a Desert Tortoise were just as high as our seeing a Bighorn Sheep in Arches National Park (still haven’t seen one there, despite the myriad of road signs).  Although the Elk Crossing signs near Estes Park, CO are very accurate.

About four miles into the scenic drive, we came upon a white sedan with its doors open and flashers on, taking up the right side of the road.  We crept past and parked to see if they needed any help.  Two young men (college age I’m guessing) were kneeling in front of the car.  I suspected car trouble.

Imagine the surprise when Jan and I got out of our car to find out what they were doing.

Hit the jump to find out what the surprise was!

Continue reading Slow and Steady…by Brad Marks

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

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

A Fitting Bird for the Times

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.

Halloween Haunted Trail 2023

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.

Female Phainopelpa found at Sunset Park, Las Vegas NV in March 2023

Hit the jump to read about our rather pointy feathered specimen.

Continue reading A Fitting Bird for the Times

Hall’s Pond…by Brad Marks

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.

Hall's Pond by Brad Marks

Hit the jump to see more finds from Hall’s Pond.

Continue reading Hall’s Pond…by Brad Marks

Urbanning Owls

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.

Burrowing Owl found at Las Vegas Urban - Rainbow Owl Preserve in March 2023

Hit the jump unless those yellow eyes are a too intimidating (we’ll understand ha).

Continue reading Urbanning Owls

GAWWS (Great! Another White Wading Shorebird) or Déjà Vu All Over Again…by Brad Marks

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…

Birdman 2023

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.

White Ibis by Brad Marks

Hit the jump to read more about our pink legged friend.

Continue reading GAWWS (Great! Another White Wading Shorebird) or Déjà Vu All Over Again…by Brad Marks