Writing, Reading, Tricking & Treating

It was one busy October, with lots of activities, writing, and traveling to keep me out of trouble, at least kinda. The final week of the month was non-stop but very gratifying. After returning from New York last week, I went whole-hog into revising my old story, "The Horrible Legacy of Jacob Rigney," for my customary dramatic reading at the office Halloween fest, which we had on Friday afternoon. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that no one chucked heavy objects at me—although I narrowly avoided being shot by a stun dart (thanks, Kitty).

I have, in fact, posted the new version of "Jacob Rigney" in the Free Reads section of my website, so please give it a look. You'll tremble and weep. Or laugh. Whatever. It's here: "The Horrible Legacy of Jacob Rigney."

Saturday, it was off to Martinsville for a friend's Halloween/birthday bash. Beforehand, got in some enjoyable hiking on the Dick & Willie Rail Trail, which also included stomping around in the woods to drop off some trackables in a couple of my caches. There's an old foundation and chimney near one of them, right on out there in the woods; if you squint just right, it's pretty creepy, especially at this time of year.

Yesterday morning, got up long before the sun to make the traditional journey to Mabry Mill, on the Blue Ridge Parkway, where they grow the best buckwheat pancakes anywhere. Managed to grab a few caches both coming and going, so...yay! Last night, dinner with my young neighbors, Paul and Jamie, followed by an evening in the yard around a very comfortable fire in the firepit. No trick-or-treaters this year, which was something of a surprise; we usually have at least a handful come by. No matter; that's just more chocolate for me. Wait—did I say no matter? Silly me....

Took today off work, but a big ol' Siamese lying on my head roused me quite early, so I got on up, fixed up a couple of cache containers, and went out to the new Shallow Ford trail system in Alamance County, where I planted two new caches. Parties unknown have taken it upon themselves to construct some entertaining formations out of rocks all along the trail, one of which resembled an owl (or a penis, if your mind works along those lines), which was just the place for one of the caches.

It's an owl, for crying out loud.