Writing Prompt: The text of a letter, email, or diary

A few weeks ago I recalled writing a short story based on an idea I had, but I could not find the story. I went on a hunt for it and for some time came up with nothing. I searched backups and this blog, using every keyword I could think of.

I began to wonder if I’d only thought I’d written the story. I became a little obsessed.

But then a few days ago I found a mention of the story here on the site, in an entry from June 28, 2018: Brainstorming in the USA, specifically:

  • seeing a person on the train, but only as a reflection in the window

This was my first clue that the story actually existed outside my brain. I kept searching and found a reference to my short-lived newsletter, and remembered I’d included a few stories in it. I did a search for the backups to the newsletter and lo, there it was in a file named Prompt 2 of 5000.md

I had written the story in Obsidian, which I used for writing the newsletters. At the top of the file was the second prompt from the book 5,000 Writing Prompts, which is:

  • The text of a letter, email, or diary

I had combined the idea and prompt together and wrote a story I’m now calling Reflections.

Here it is.

Reflections

September 3

Dear Diary,

I figured I would start keeping a diary again, though maybe I should call it a journal because that sounds more macho, heh. I’m not sure if I’ll write in the morning or at night or through the day. I also don’t know if I’ll share super-secret private thoughts here, because there’s always the risk that someone will read this, even though I’m locking it with Touch ID. What if some nefarious person forced me to place my finger on the Touch ID sensor to reveal all?

That’s the first time I’ve used nefarious in about a hundred years. It feels good to write things down again, maybe? We’ll see how it goes.

Later that night: Well, fell asleep on the couch and woke up with a sore neck. That was pretty smart. At least we live in a modern age where we don’t have to rewind VHS tapes to watch what we missed while snoring away. More tomorrow.

September 5

Dear Diary,

Yesterday I was mega-busy and completely forgot about you. Sorry! Hopefully this won’t lead to a cursed or otherwise defective diary experience.

More later.

September 6

Dear Diary,

And by later, I mean today!

So let’s start with a list of what I had for breakfast:

  • 2 donuts, a Boston Cream and dipped chocolate
  • Large coffee, black

To be honest, I felt pretty gross after. I’m trying to cut down, I swear. I’ll tell Joe at work to keep me accountable. I read about doing that on some website like whyareyousofat.com

Work is still busy, dev rolled out a new build and every day for the past week it’s found new ways to blow up, but there’s been no talk about rolling back or anything. Lots of OT on their side. For us in support it’s mostly placating users with empty assurances. I should get into a less stressful line of work, like brain surgery.

Also the commute is even longer now. The train ride is taking forever because of track work. And it’s raining every day.

Later: Holy cats, what a bitchfest. I resolve to post more positive things, diary! I’ll tell Joe that, too. He’ll be my new confidante (sp?) for everything.

September 7

Dear Diary,

Something weird happened on the commute today. I’m on the train sitting in my usual seat (single seat because I am an anti-social mofo) and I look across and I’m looking at the reflections in the window on the other side and there’s a guy sitting there next to the window and then when I go to look at him (the actual him, not the reflection) there’s no one there. I look back at the reflection and he’s still there, just sitting there and not really doing anything. Then I try finding the “real” him again and I can’t see him and it doesn’t seem possible, so I just end up shrugging. I get off the train before he does, so I don’t see how it turns out. But so far it is WEIRD.

I’m not telling Joe this, he’ll just look at me funny. And now that I think about it, I was obviously not looking at the reflection right, if that makes sense. I’m pretty sure that’s happened before. I’m not good at spatial shit or something. Or finding things in the grocery store. “Where is the peanut butter?” “Right in front of you.” “Oh, HA HA.”

Anyway, still stupid busy at work. I kind of hate it here now. I need one of those “Find Your Secret Dream Job” books that make you answer a billion personality questions then tells you to join the clergy.

I ate no donuts today. TRIUMPH.

September 8

Dear Diary,

Holy shit. Sorry for the cussing, Diary, I swear (lol) that I’m trying to cut back. I blame my brother, who was the world’s biggest potty mouth when I was growing up. He had an f-bomb for every occasion. And then some.

Anyway, I am holy-bleeping because the reflection thing happened again. And it was the same guy! <– exclamation point for emphasis. I mean, he probably rides the same route as me, I see lots of regulars, but still, it just seems to add to the weirdness. It was a bit more packed than usual, otherwise I was going to get up and see if I could really find where the dude was sitting. I did not see him anywhere except in the window. Freaky. Or I’m losing my mind. Can stress cause hallucinations? Let me google that for me.

Crap, it looks like it sort of can. Am I that stressed out? And making people up on my morning commute as a result? Man, think how much worse it would be if it was winter and the commute was in the dark. Actually, scratch that, I don’t need any freaky dreams tonight. I’ll think about kittens for the rest of the evenig.

September 9

Dear Diary,

Hey ho, tested positive for everyone’s favorite pandemic illness, so it’s isolation time for me. I don’t feel too bad, just a bit of a sore throat and some stuffiness. I offered to work remotely, but Reuben (which always makes me think of the sandwich because I am totally juvenile like that) said to just take it easy, so I’m going to do that. No morning commute, so no creepy reflections. Unless the guy shows up in my living room window.

Fuck, I just freaked myself out. Sorry, Diary, I will not write fuck again, except just right there to say I won’t do it again.

I’m going to dig out that hundred year old box of tea I have somewhere in a cupboard and watch really bad TV to help speed my recovery. More later.

UPDATE: I fell asleep on the couch again while watching Moonfall. I think my brain slid out my ear and rolled under the couch, too. That movie was dumb dumb dumb. At least my neck isn’t hurting this time. I skipped the tea because I don’t want to get up to pee in the middle of the night. No other reason, not like I’m suddenly scared to walk around my own apartment at night, haha. HAHA. See? Laughing. We’re cool.

September 12

Dear Diary,

Actually started feeling worse and missed a couple days of work, and this diary. Sorry, Diary, you’re still my best secret journal friend thing. I may need to work on the phrasing for that later.

God I am tired. My body feels like it’s been put into a bag and rolled down a hill made of rocks. But my fever is gone and last night I slept better. I dreamed about the stupid train, but can’t remember anything except I dreamed about the train. Probably for the best.

I did find the tea and made some. I swear I had to pee five minutes later. But it was still nice.

I watched the original Toy Story. The “real” people in it look very strange and creepy. I’ll probably dream about that next.

Should get to work by Monday. Weekend will be low-key and boring. But not as boring as Moonfall (zing! That’s what you call a moon shot, amirite??)

September 16

Dear Diary,

I am finally heading back into the office. I feel OK but not great, but at least I’m not showing any symptoms. I’ll wear a mask because I just love masks. -sarcasm tag here-

I’m curious to see if Mr. Reflection™ will be on the train. I need to come up with a better name. I think I’ll stand instead of taking my usual seat. Will have a better chance to suss him out. Suss is my word of the day.

UPDATE: Too tired to stand so I sat down in my usual seat. Then I fell asleep, which is literally the first time I’ve ever done that on my commute. Missed my stop and had to transfer trains and go back. Grr. So frazzled I forget to check for Reflecto-Man™ (still need a better name).

September 17

Dear Diary,

Well, he was there again. The window dude. Just sitting there, looking straight ahead. Wearing a Seattle Mariners baseball cap, what looked like a white t-shirt, and I think tan shorts. Hard to judge exact color from the reflection. I got up and my head swam. I’ve always read that expression:’head swam’ and never felt I’d experienced it, but I mother-f-bombing did this morning. I think I even went down on one knee, like I was going to propose to the dude. A woman asked me if I was OK and I said something witty, but forget what it was now. When I looked back at the window, the guy was gone.

Now I’m wondering if I imagined the whole thing from the start. More likely he just got off at a stop or changed seats and I’m not all cray-cray.

September 18

Dear Diary,

Holy shit. I’m not apologizing this time. 😛

So, the window guy was back, wearing the same everything, sitting there same as every other time (I feel like I’ve been seeing him for years now). I carefully get up from my seat and walked across to where he should be sitting. I make it sound like a big journey but it’s like two steps. There was a tiny woman sitting in the aisle seat, texting on a phone that was half as big as she was. Next to her, the window seat…was empty. I looked very carefully from that empty window seat to the window and confirmed, window man was there. I could see the tiny woman with huge phone sitting next to him, oblivious to his alleged presence. I looked from the window to the seats, back and forth. I know what I was seeing and it’s simply not possible.

So I guess I am going crazy. I’m going to tell Joe, see what he says.

UPDATE: Joe says and I quote, “It’s probably stress.” And I wanted to say that’s bullshit, I know what I saw, but I already goggled it and know that stress can cause hallucinations. I don’t like this shit. It’s not fun or funny, it’s just freaky and wrong. Maybe I’ll take some time off work. Or start taking the bus (haha).

September 19

Dear Diary,

In support of the “Going crazy” thesis, today when I saw The Man in the Window™ and saw the aisle seat next to him was empty, I quickly moved over and sat in it. I turned to “look” at him and dearest Diary, I felt like I was going to piss my pants, which would have made for a very awkward entrance at work. There was no one there, of course, the seat by the window was empty, but now that I was sitting next to it, I could definitely see that the reflection was of some guy who was right beside me, but not showing up. Sort of a reverse vampire, I guess. Shows in reflections, but nowhere else.

I said, “Hey” in the way guys say “hey,” like I was talking to him, but kept it kind of low because I didn’t want everyone in the car to smell the CRAZY coming off me. I looked at the reflection and I swear (without actually swearing this time) that I saw some kind of reaction, like he heard me. For some reason I suddenly thought this was some alternate dimension thing and he was “stuck between worlds” or something, but that’s pretty stupid. I watch too many bad movies. The reaction actually made me feel a little more at ease.

I still think I peed a little.

I got up and didn’t say anything else for the rest of the trip. Didn’t look back to check on him, either. Don’t know what I’ll do tomorrow.

September 20

Dear Diary,

So it occurs to me I haven’t really been writing anything except Weird Guy in the Window stuff, so let me update on other things:

  • Still donut-free
  • They did a rollback of the upgrade. Users are happy, dev is not.
  • I applied to a place hiring a junior dev. Pay is actually a little worse to start, but would be nice to get out of support.
  • Applying to junior dev position has nothing to do with it also meaning I’d have a different commute. NO SIR, totally unrelated.
  • Did not watch any bad TV
  • Listened to music on the bed like I was 17 again. Fell asleep that way. I’m getting very good at falling asleep anywhere now.
  • Had pizza for dinner. It remains the perfect food.
  • Opened a dating app, threw up in my mouth a little, closed the app. I’m good with being single for another 20 years, really.

NOTE: I did not go into work today, they asked me to cover chat support, so I just logged in from home, hence no creepy guy on train update. Sorry if you were expecting one. Kind of nice to not have to deal with it.

September 21

Dear Diary,

I’m not sure how to describe this. I’m not even sure it happened. I guess it did.

First, I’m OK. Physically, I mean. Mentally, my brain has gone through a cheese grater.

So, you’re probably thinking Window Dude. Correct.

But first, let’s start with the train. Going along at its usual speed, starts to approach the next station, still moving pretty good and WHAM. That WHAM is the emergency brake coming on. You would be surprised at how quickly the train comes to a complete stop. I was not paying attention and whipped forward from the jolt and bonked my head on one of the poles. I got a bit of a bruise on the forehead now. I guess I am not 100% physically OK when I think about it.

So judging from where we stopped, there has probably been a track intrusion alarm. The PA stays quiet, though. I begin thinking that horrible thought, that it might have been a jumper. It didn’t feel like the train hit anything, though. But would it? I have no idea.

And I’m not googling that shit. I will enjoy my ignorance on the matter, thanks.

The PA is still quiet and people on the train are starting to get restless, craning their necks and looking around. Someone picks up one of the emergency phones and I can hear her asking what is going on, why is there no announcement?

Finally, the PA crackles to life. The voice coming through is calm. To my recollection, this is what he said: “Attention passengers. Due to a medical emergency your train is being held at the station. Medical personnel will be on the scene shortly to attend to the emergency. We ask that you remain on the train at this time and thank you for your patience. You will be instructed to exit the train when the medical emergency has been cleared.”

The train consists of four cars. I’m always on the fourth car, because it’s closest to the station exit for my stop. I can walk into the third car, but the first and second are separate. I can’t see what’s going on at all, but there is a definite sense of unease in the air. It feels way too quiet.

As minutes go by, I finally remember about Window dude and look over. Yep, reflection in place and accounted for. But there’s more. He’s there. He’s actually there in the window seat. I’m not sure how to describe what I felt just then, but it was like when you get a cup for your soda at Wendy’s and go to the machine that lets you add whatever flavor you want and you motherfucking add all of them. Wait, that is a terrible analogy. Let me just explain what happened next.

I mostly felt some kind of relief, like seeing the actual guy sitting there meant that normalcy had been restored. But that feeling only lasted a moment and was replaced by something else, something sour and off. Without thinking, I got up and took the empty seat next to the guy. I said hey again.

He turned his head to me immediately. Still wearing the Mariners baseball cap. But something was off. His face looked…wrong. It was smashed in, the nose was just a bloody nub. One eye was sagging out of its socket. His lower lip was torn off. Blood was everywhere. His white t-shirt was soaked through. An arm was bent in a way that arms don’t bend. He was facing me, looking at me, and raised a hand toward me, a few of the fingers clipped off and showing exposed bone. He opened what was left of his mouth, as if to speak, and I rocketed out of the seat so fast I knocked over some asshole standing nearby, clean knocked him right over, like a bowling pin. I apologized by saying, “Sorry, sorry, sorry” over and over, like a mantra. He swore at me and moved into the other car. I crawled into my original seat and scrunched up, taking only a moment to look over.

The dude was gone. The physical one, I mean. The reflection version was still there, sitting as calm as ever, facing forward. I closed my eyes and tried to shut my brain off.

About ten minutes later another announcement informed us that we would be escorted off the train by transit personnel. We were all moved to the third car, which had stopped just as it entered the station. By going to the door farthest up, we could exit onto the platform. This was one of the stations where you could only go in one direction off the platform, so we dutifully marched off and out.

I had to look, of course. As we walked down, I could see a group of people gathered on the platform at the front of the train. We would be walking right past them as we headed to the exit. They weren’t making any particular effort to conceal what was happening. Maybe they assumed everyone already knew. By this time I became aware of someone crying, somewhere near. I never saw who, though.

I looked down because I had to know. The view was only a tiny bit obscured. A young man was on the track and it was very clear he was not alive. I saw the baseball cap and the strangest thought hit me: How did he put it back on? Because it was laying a few feet away from him. A bloody Mariners cap. Maybe he wanted to make it unmistakably clear that he was the Window dude. There in the reflection, there in the seat, here on the track.

September 22

Dear Diary,

I called in sick today. I’m going in to interview for the junior dev position. Getting there by bus. I don’t know what I saw, why I saw it or what any of it means. I feel like I’ve been given something I never wanted and won’t be able to get rid of.

At some point I’ll have to take the train again. Maybe the other company will make me an offer on the spot and I won’t have to. Ha, fat chance. That happens in movies maybe. I could take the bus. It would add about 20 minutes to the commute, but that’s a small fucking price to pay, I’d say.

But he might not be there now. Maybe it’s over.

–no diary entries made after September 22–

Run 1,038: Bad country song

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: Clouds and dander.

I missed Friday’s run for reasons, so I wanted to take it a bit easier today. It helped that my seasonal allergies have been relentlessly beating me up, so I’m not exactly brimming with pep.

I headed out late again and it was a bit warmer at 17-19C. As a result, my pace was nearly the same as Friday at 5:50/km but my BPM was higher at 150. I generally felt fine, though right at the end of the cottonwood Trail, just before the sharp turn to the left and downhill, I suddenly felt very warm, like I was glowing radioactively. It passed and I was back to normal for the remainder of the run. I suspect a combo of no wind/warmth contributed.

Today was also Victoria Day, but although there were more people, it was very manageable, despite a few cyclists (one was slow and looked rather sheepish) and a few off-leash dogs.

Four more cyclists were near the dam at the start. I walked back to the 0K marker to start my run and when I made my approach to the bridge at Silver Creek, which is not far from the dam, they were all walking their bikes back to the dam. I suspect someone told them NO RIDING HERE. They also looked a little sheepish.

And also, another new sign since my last run:

They’re back! Or at least the signs are.

The coyote signs are still up. If I see a coyote riding on a bear, I am giving up running.

Good news: My right shin did not bother me at all on the run. It felt very slightly tender after.

Weird news: The title of this post comes from an incident just over a km into the run when I swallowed something. It could have been a seed or a bug or a bug clutching a seed. All I know is I felt it go into my mouth and into my throat. I decided to try to ignore it, thinking anything I might do could only make it worse. Eventually, I spat to get some stuff out of my mouth and this indeed led to me coughing so hard I had tears in eyes, like a bad country song.

I was largely fine after that and didn’t ingest anything else on the run (to my knowledge), though cottonwood dander was piling up all over the place.

Still, an overall decent outing.

Still Creek, post-run.

Stats:

Run 1,038
Average pace: 5:50/km
Training status: Maintaining
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 12:56 p.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 29:22
Weather: Partly sunny
Temp: 17-19°C
Humidity: 52%
Wind: light
BPM: 150
Weight: 169.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 7,015 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (285/513/798)

Music: Shuffle play

Birding, May 16, 2026: FEED ME, written and performed by Young Song Sparrow

Where: Brydon Lagoon, Blackie Spit (Surrey), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Cloudy with some sun, 11-16°C

Unlike recent outings, the weather was unseasonably cool today. I still wore shorts.

Brydon Lagoon

Brydon Lagoon, under a brooding sky.

The last time we were at Brydon, we saw a bounty of birds or BOB. Today, the bounty mostly came in the form of every kind of swallow, gulls and Mallards. Except for a few Ring-necked Ducks still noodling around, the winter migrants are gone. We are cootless again.

The wind was quite brisk and it started out only around 11C. This may not sound cold, but we’ve had summer-like weather just long enough to get used to it.

That same wind provided a benefit in trying to shoot swallows, though, as they slowed noticeably when pushing against the wind. Nic took about a billion shots, adjusted his camera’s settings and regularly cleaned stuff from the sensor, which is apparently cursed by black magic to always mysteriously attract stuff to it. But this all paid off, as he got several very spiffy shots.

I only tried a few times, my camera mostly refused to lock on, but I did grab a few where you could look at the photos and say, “That’s a swallow.”

The highlight here, though, was the normally unassuming Song sparrow, as a young and fuzzy one was sitting in a bush, demanding to be fed, and a parent was obliging, stuffing seed and whatnot down its gullet. We both got very nice shots of the feedings. Once sated, it flew off.

As did we. Well, we didn’t fly, we had to drive.

Blackie Spit

Another Xtreme low tide at Blackie Spit.

Here I added a light hoodie to my other light hoodie, as Blackie Spit is on the ocean and even though there was another extreme low tide, the wind was still kicking up high enough to threaten sweeping the cap off my head.

We saw an Anna’s Hummingbird sitting atop a small tree, looking even more like it was ready to kill than usual, but it was likely just leaning forward into the wind to avoid being blown off the tree.

Blackbirds were out and about, some festooned with crumbs and seed all over their bills, as is their way. And we saw our first ducklings, though they were in the south creek, which is mostly obscured by bushes. Nic got one so-so shot, I did not get any, sadly. The ducks seem to be lagging behind the geese in making babbies. This does not bode well in saving us from goose domination.

Although I didn’t get shots, Nic managed to capture some Hudsonian Whimbrels, which are shorebirds with long bills that hook down. Maybe we’ll see them again when the tide is not a kilometre away.

Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake

Sun and clouds, with a grooming Sandhill Crane.

This was our first visit with the Nature House open for the season. We did not go in, but I took a photo of the sign. We observed no Bird Police on the pier, but also didn’t see anyone feeding the birds. There was a pile of seed on the ground, though. To be fair, it looked like healthy seed, not like half a loaf of stale Wonder Bread.

It was still windy as all heck, but had finally warmed up to 16C. With winter migrants gone, I focused mainly on cowbirds, wood ducks and the Sandhill Crane, which was back and very into grooming itself.

There was word of a Red-necked Phalarope at Piper Spit and lo, there she was! We got plenty of photos, but the phalarope stayed conspicuously away from the pier, so they were not great. The phalarope did not drive a monster truck or shout “Yeehaw.”

The one goose nest near the pier now looks empty and we did see a group of rapidly growing goslings by Eagle Creek, with a protective parent going ape on every other bird in the vicinity. The other birds seemed nonplussed.

Nic also took another billion shots of swallows. I took a few. I’ll be more motivated when it’s warmer (and harder to shoot them).

In all, a decent outing, with the weather actually being a tad better than expected.

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto. Some scenery captured on a Samsung Galaxy S26.

NOTE: Normally I present the photos in the same order as they were taken, but for this gallery I opted to end with the young Song Sparrow sequence because it’s adorable.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Robin
  • Anna’s Hummingbird
  • Barn Swallow
  • Brown-headed Cowbird
  • Cliff Swallow
  • Common Yellowthroat (heard, not seen)
  • House Sparrow
  • Northern Flicker
  • Northern Rough-winged Swallow
  • Purple Martin
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Song Sparrow
  • Tree Swallow
  • Violet-green Swallow
  • White-crowned Sparrow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Canada Goose
  • Double-crested Cormorant
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Hudsonian Whimbrel
  • Mallard
  • Red-necked Phalarope
  • Ring-necked Duck
  • Sandhill Crane
  • Wood Duck

Common:

  • American Crow
  • European Starling
  • Plenty of gulls
  • Rock Pigeon

Raptors:

  • Bald Eagle

Non-birds:

  • Assorted pollinators, mainly bumblebees
  • A bunny

Things you expect and things you don’t: Windows 11 and Linux

Thing I expect: File Explorer remains a hot mess. It takes a long time quite regularly to do simple things, like display contents of a folder, often displaying “Not Responding” before finally acting.

Thing I don’t expect: Last night I was going through my birding photos with Nic and thought, “I’ll do it in Linux Mint because its file manager is not burning trash.” Which is true. The files copied over from my SD card quickly and I used the built-in Pix program to go through and view the JPG files. Until the entire system locked up without warning or explanation. I ended up rebooting the system.

For all the crap that happens in Windows 11, I don’t remember the last time it hard-locked on me. I’m not saying it hasn’t, but if it has, it’s been too long for me to remember.

And now I’m wondering what caused the Mint crash and will it happen again, etc.

I am consternated.

hello world

Yes, this blog still works for posting things that are not running or birding related.

The lack of posts (other than for the topics mentioned above) has made me think, which happens occasionally. Why am I not posting much? Is it a general sense of contentment that leaves me so fulfilled that I don’t have any inclination to post about concerns, complaints or conundrums here?

As the kids would say, lol no.

I think it’s a few things:

  • A broken habit is hard to restart
  • I have actually been busy, which means I prioritize, and other things have been winning out lately
  • My seasonal allergies have been hitting especially hard lately, which affects mood/desire, etc.
  • Diablo 3

I think about writing a lot. This is actually a good sign, as it usually means I’m on the verge of getting back into the habit.

And now, typing cat:

Run 1,037: The shin, squirrel and shoe

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run. Cloudy and cooler, with a chance of crazy squirrels.

With my right shin feeling tender, but not on a love story way, after the last run, I got up this morning and went back and forth over whether to run today, do a shorter run or something else.

In the end, I opted to do a short loop counter-clockwise at the lake. This would shave off a not-insubstantial five km of additional walking after the run.

The walk to the lake went fine, though I could feel the right shin. I started off slow, feeling things out. I slowed even more on the second km, not because the shin was hurting, but, as they say, out of “an abundance of caution”. I picked up and returned to my initial pace for the third km and by then the shin wasn’t really bothering me. Was it endorphins masking the pain? Maybe! I picked up the pace for the final two km and finished overall with 5:49/km, a slight improvement over Monday. My BPM, thanks to the cooler temperatures, was down to 144.

Okay, that was the shin, which I will continue to monitor.

The squirrel? As I neared the halfway point of the run on the Piper Mill Trail, I saw a Douglas squirrel on the right edge of the trail. They don’t seem as twitchy about people getting close and sure enough, the squirrel did not immediately react to my presence as I jogged by. Then it got weird. The squirrel took off–in pursuit! Yes, it began running after me. It was so close to my right foot at one point that I was worried I might step on it, so I put on a little extra burst of speed and left it behind. I have no idea what it was doing. Did it think I had nuts? I mean, I do, but they are reserved for human use only.

And finally, the shoe. Not long after the squirrel incident, as I reached my turnaround point, I felt a sharp jab in my left foot, the telltale sign of an especially jagged little piece of gravel getting into the shoe, under my foot, then getting squished into my foot. After a few steps, it shifted and the pain stopped, but IU did not want to risk further incidents, so I paused the run to fish it out.

The left shoe is always double-laced, so I had to work on the carefully tied knot for a bit to get the lace finally untied. Then I had to take the shoe off, get the gravel out (success!) and, because my left foot was on a gravel trail without a shoe, I also had to somehow make sure I didn’t put even more gravel into the shoe when putting it back on. I’d like to say I have the poise and balance of a flamingo and can stand on one leg and remove a shoe without wobbling over, but this is not the case. I wiped my left foot on some nearby grace, did a regular bow (hoping for the best) and finished my run without further squirrels, rocks or other weirdness.

In the end, the shin issue seemed to fade, much as it had on previous runs, so I am cautiously optimistic it will be OK.

We’ll find out Friday!

The view just west of the Cariboo Dam, post-run, looking lush and green.

Stats:

Run 1,037
Average pace: 5:49/km
Training status: Maintaining
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW, short loop)
Start: 1:14 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 29:13
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 14-16°C
Humidity: 73-69%
Wind: light
BPM: 144
Weight: 168.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 7,010 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (280/500/780)

Music: Shuffle play

Birding, May 9, 2026: Cleaning crows

Where: Rocky Point Park (Port Moody), DeBoville Slough (Port Coquitlam)
Weather: Mostly sunny, 21°C

Today the weather was more seasonal, but still a bit warmer than normal. It was warm enough for a lot of birds to go bathing, however.

Rocky Point Park (and environs)

Looking west across the inlet.

Our first stop was the heron rookery just past Old Orchard Park. We did see plenty of nests and plenty of adult herons, variously grooming, snoozing and staring out, but no baby dinosaurs were visible–yet. We may have to return in a few weeks. Or rent a drone or something. Or a Great Blue Heron costume, along with tree-climbing skills, the latter of which I’m fairly certain you can’t rent.

Bottom line: no baby herons on this trip.

We headed along the trail to Rocky Point Park and along the way spotted a number of Killdeer and out and about and bobbing, along with a flock of seagulls enjoying the cool of the water flowing in from nearby creeks, as well as a murder or two of crows doing the same. The crows would carefully (and sometimes trippingly) make their way to a shallow spot in the water suitable for bathing, then energetically splash about before hopping out to let the next one in. Very civilized. The gulls, being swimmers, were just bathing wherever, or snoozing in the shallows while cooling their butts.

We also saw a number of herons variously stalking, flying or creeping under the pier and disappearing. A bird condo out in the water had what appeared to be at least one Purple Martin couple shacking up.

And as always, the lower number of birds is compensated for in part by some pretty nice scenery.

DeBoville Slough

The DeBoville Slough, sloughing along.

The last time we were at the DeBoville Slough, we were shooting icy fronds. Today I wore sunblock. Apparently there was enough sun to scare off most of the birds, as we saw even fewer than normal, but we did see a peppy spider and a bee both working their way along the trail (unsure why the bee wasn’t, you know, flying). There were also geese honking here and there and the mountains and the slough providing scenic views, but the piling that previously had an osprey nest is nest-free this spring, boo.

Sadly, there wasn’t much activity here, so I can’t really elaborate more. Pretend there are a few paragraphs below detailing birds of paradise or something.

But despite the relative lack of birds, it was still a perfectly pleasant outing.

The Shots

Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American Robin
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Common Yellowthroat
  • Purple Martin
  • Song Sparrow
  • Tree Swallow

Waterfowl and shorebirds:

  • Canada Goose
  • Common Merganser
  • Double-crested Cormorant
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Killdeer
  • Mallard

Common:

  • American Crow
  • Plenty of gulls

Raptors:

  • Red-tailed Hawk (probably)

Non-birds:

  • A distant squirrel
  • Some butterflies
  • A bee trundling on the trail
  • A spider

Run 1,036: Slow-roasted and tender

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: Warm and sunny.

My watch wanted me to run for 38 minutes today at a pace of 8.6 km/hour.

Instead, I ran my usual 5K in just over 29 minutes. What the watch apparently didn’t know is that it was much warmer this morning. I started out exactly where I ended overall–5:50/km. A bit pokey, especially compared to Friday, but it’s fine. BPM was higher, likely due to the temperature, at 149, but anything under 150 is still good.

One area of concern is the ol’ right shin. Unlike the last run where it started tender then gradually got fine over the run, today it started out feeling a lot less tender, but then kind of stayed there for the run, a low-grade tenderness as the sun slowly roasted me. I don’t think it affected my pace and as I type this, it’s not hurting or anything, but it is now on my proverbial radar.

Probably (?) unrelated, my left foot was feeling just slightly sore in that “need the orthotic” way after the run. I haven’t used the orthotics since getting the Peregrine 15s because the insoles they came with were a cushy fill-in, but after 275 km of runs and a lot more walking, they may be reaching their EOL. I suppose I should get new shoes, maybe go for something more cushiony this time.

I have surgery in 11 days, which is going to keep me from running for a bit, so the shin issue may be something that solves itself in a roundabout way.

The trail was dry and a bit dusty and the Avalon parking lot has huge piles of gravel ready for the resurfacing of the Brunette Headwaters trail, slated to begin May 19th. The area around the second boardwalk continues to be closed “for repairs” despite no sign of repairs at all. The detour is fairly short, so it’s not a big deal. Also, Hangdog was out.

In all, not a bad start to the week.

Still Creek, post run, being itself.

Stats:

Run 1,036
Average pace: 5:50/km
Training status: Maintaining
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 10:49 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 29:21
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 18-20°C
Humidity: 56-51%
Wind: light
BPM: 149
Weight: 169.2 pounds
Total distance to date: 7,005 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (275/493/768)

Music: Glass Houses, Billy Joel

Run 1,035: 7,000 km!

View of the Brunette River, pre-run: So green!

Due to a rather late start, I opted to run the river trail today and also, sometimes it’s just nice to change things up.

Conditions were similar to Wednesday–cloudy and 14C. I got off to a false start because one of my AirPods wasn’t sitting in my ear correctly. After fixing that, I got off to a slightly longer false start when I remembered I had to tie up my shoes, especially the evil left shoe, which requires a double bow.

I then continued my run for real, uninterrupted. The trail was pretty sparse, with a few cyclists and walkers, but no one else.

My right shin felt tender at the start, which was a concern, but it eventually settled down again, so…we’ll see!

I started strong, flagged a little in the second km, then finished strong, with an overall pace of 5:37/km and a BPM matching Wednesday of 145. My last two km were 5:29 and 5:23, respectively. The main difference here was the actual location. The river trail is pretty flat and wide, unlike the trail at Burnaby Lake, which is more like an actual twisty, windy trail. Here’s a typical view of the river trail, taken post-run:

This also reflects my view for most of the run, with few people around.

Anyway, getting in a zippier run and beating the heat again was a nice combo and a good way to end the week. And as the title mentions, this run marked 7,000 km officially tracked, enough to take me across Canada and drop me off somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.

The river, post-run: A bit low, due to a relative lack of rain over the last few weeks.

Stats:

Run 1,035
Average pace: 5:37/km
Training status: Maintaining
Location: Brunette River Trail
Start: 12:21c p.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:13
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 14°C
Humidity: 63-60%
Wind: light
BPM: 145
Weight: 167.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 7,000 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (270/480/750)

Music: Private Eyes, Hall and Oates

Run 1,034: I’ll drink to that

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: Cloudy and cooler.

Despite a later start, today’s run was cooler–a mere 14C, which is practically seasonal. It was also cloudy, so no need for sunblock.

I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the lake, because the drinking fountain by the dam was working again. I celebrated by sipping water from it. To my further delight, the fountain was still operating after my run, so I sipped again. Oh happy day.

The watch suggested a recovery run and because I missed Monday, I was good with that, so I adopted a somewhat more leisurely pace. My overall pace of 5:45/km is maybe a tad misleading, as I did pick up for the final km, coming in at 5:31/km, which brought my average down a good bit. Still, I felt fine throughout, had no issues and my BPM was a spiffy 145. Thank you, clouds and lower temperatures.

There were no shirtless joggers today.

I still have yet to see a coyote. I’m not saying I want to, I just haven’t.

In all, a fine mid-week effort.

Still Creek, post-run: A mix of gray skies and green banks.

Stats:

Run 1,034
Average pace: 5:45/km
Training status: Maintaining
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 11:03 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:57
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 14°C
Humidity: 76-74%
Wind: light
BPM: 145
Weight: 168.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 6,995 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 15 (265/473/738)

Music: Kick, INXS

This site, January 2005

Before I installed WordPress on this site, I coded up something in HTML for people to enjoy in the interim.

Here it is:

I believe that’s supposed to be a trademark symbol at the end that didn’t translate properly. But the page loaded superfast.

I remain an internet dork.