Pretzel City Sports sometimes puts on night time trail races in addition to their awesome selection of daytime trail races. There have been two night races since the pandemic, and a bunch more before that. In the past there was a "Ghouls and Fools" and a "Dark and Dirty", with the Ghouls and Fools usually being around Halloween and the Dark and Dirty being some other time. Regardless, it's usually around 10K or so - see the 2025 course map. The numbers aren't great so I'm not sure it will happen again. I run a lot of PCS's trail races that are in Reading (Mount Penn specifically) or start in French Creek State Park.

This year I felt I ran really well, given my age and lack of serious training. I registered as a Clydesdale (fat person) and "won" second place in that division. There were only 99 finishers, so it was an easy award race. I got beaten by an 11 year old - we sprinted to the finish and he beat me. Darn.

We often take our granddaughter Emily aka 'Peanut' to a cafe called Nudy's on Thursday mid-mornings, right after her nap. The manager also named Emily at Nudy's is very fond of little Emily. This last week we went Thursday and Friday because Emily was out on Thursday. Emily takes Emily around on a tour the restaurant, peeking into the kitchen (she doesn't go in), working the register, etc., with little Emily in her arms.

Joe the waiter is very good to us. He fills our iced tea constantly.

We had some warm days in late October and early November. When it rained one night and it was still warm, I walked a few miles on the leaf covered trails of the McKaig Nature Center. It was really hard to see the toads with the leaves being down and wet. Normally I look for the reflections of the toad's eyes but the rain drops on the leaves look similar. I found one toad and luckly she cooperated for a bunch of pictures.

My frogs in my pond get darker in the fall - it helps them blend in with the fall leaves and also helps them absorb more sunlight.

Sightings of the frogs get more and more infrequent when the temperatures drop. Also the sun comes in from a more southerly direction and my house and some tree block much of the sun during the winter months.

In the winter of 2015-2016, my son Ben did his senior project in the McKaig Nature Center removing invasive Euonymus alatus (aka Burning Bush or winged euonymus). He and I gave it quite a beatdown, but it is time for another pass and I have time on my hands. Also, the nature center acquired a new piece of land which has lots and lots of the stuff on it. It is listed as a class b noxious weed in Pennsylvania.

Adam used to be the janitor at my work - I've known him since 2004 or so. He's big into Halloween - decorates the outside of his house with lots of stuff. I've visited his setup every year for many years.

I mooch off my sister's hospitality enough that I need to help out with some of the basic maintenance as well. We raked the leaves which were mostly down at this point. Some stubborn leaves remained on the stubborn birch tree. We'll get them in the spring.

Hunting season starts in earnest in November but I was still afraid to wander much during this trip - I stayed on the trails. Although the water was too cold to swim in, it sure looked nice at night.

Pulpit rock is a great place to view a sunrise. Unfortunately for me it is 71 minutes from my house. So I go when sunrise is the latest - end of October, early January and right after the time change in March.

Sunrises look best with a few clouds. This morning was exceptionally clear.

I have a new step-daughter-in-law! My stepson Paul married Mary near West Point, New York. It was a beautiful day. Mary and her family are very nice. The hotel that hosted the reception has a great view of the Hudson River and is right next to the West Point campus.

I was away for this bike ride, but my biking buddy Matt had his 2025 hats4toads.com emergency kit with him when he encountered this toad on the trail. He stopped so hard on his bike that he injured himself. But the toad was saved and educated in the value of wearing a hat.