Stephen Mark Rainey's Blog, page 31

Ain’t That the Shit, Part 1 (Probably)

Water troubles in the homeplace have always been the bane of my existence. Sometimes, I really hate the fact that water is among life’s critical elements because it has caused the single most financially crippling issues ever since I became a homeowner, way back in the dark ages. Flooding, clogged pipes, broken pipes, backed-up sewer lines, and — in this case — a broken sewer line.

The worst problem here is that, originally, the builders ran our sewer line run far onto the adjacent property, and the break is under our neighbors’ driveway. We had a couple of well-rated plumbing firms come out, and both told us we'd need a whole new sewer line cut on our property, as the code is now such that it can't extend onto the neighbors (and I suspect it might have been that way when the houses were built; of course, the builder is now long gone).

Because our house lies down a steep hill, the sewer line is very long and very deep where it connects with the city line at the street. The exact words of both companies describing this situation were “Worst-case scenario.” One company was somewhat less expensive, but they did not seem as thorough in their evaluation or as knowledgeable about working at the depth necessary. The current complication is that they’ve encountered a massive layer of bedrock between the surface and where the line has to go (which is probably why the builders routed it the way they did at the time).

In any event, the financial damage is monstrous, and the front yard — what remains of it — is currently a disaster. It will cost another small fortune to restore it to any sort of respectable state, since the work crew isn’t obliged to do much more than fill the (currently) hazardously deep pit that occupies the entirety of the upper eastern quadrant of our lot.

I’m certain there will be more lovely updates to come. Stay tuned, especially if you enjoy chuckling at others’ tribulations (no guilt here, for I have done so; well, sort of; maybe).

Till then.

Kolchak, Dark Shadows on Rondo Award Ballot

Although not solely for my own work, it’s mighty gratifying that two books to which I contributed are on the ballot for the 21st Annual Rondo Awards (for work published in 2022). First, in the Book of the Year category (#11 on the ballot), is Running Home to Shadows  (Becky Books), edited by Jim Beard and Charles R. Rutledge; second, in the Best Graphic Presentation category (#22 on the ballot), is Kolchak: The Night Stalker 50th Anniversary Graphic Novel (Moonstone Books), edited by James Aquilone (this one has also been nominated for a Bram Stoker Award).
The Rondo Awards are cooler than fuck. Yes, they are! You can check out the ballot and vote here: The 21st Annual Rondo Awards

Evil Dr. Evil

In this case, “Dr. Evil” refers to a series of “extreme” geocaches, placed by a handful of local geocachers, deep in the subterranean labyrinths of numerous North Carolina cities and towns. Some of these hides are more difficult (read “potentially deadly”) than others, but all offer physical (and sometimes mental) challenges to geocachers who appreciate venturing into deep, dark underground culverts and catacombs to claim their smileys. I’ve found a fair number of “Dr. Evil” hides, and so far I’ve made it home in one piece (though inevitably filthy dirty).

Yesterday, the No-Dead-Weight Irregulars — Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott), Fishdownthestairs (a.k.a. Natalie), Old Rob (a.k.a. Old Rob), and Old Rodan (a.k.a. me) — decided to try our luck at “Dr. Evil Visits Sanford,” a relatively old cache (placed in 2010) by the late, lamented Moncure Bee Dude (a.k.a. Lonnie, may he rest in peace). No one had found it in something like six years, so we figured it was time someone made the attempt. As with many in this series of hides, the online cache page offered only minimal information about the cache and the challenges awaiting intrepid hunters. The first test was finding access to the underground route, since no starting coordinates were given.
A thorough study of the Google Maps aerial view of the location clued us into a likely starting point, and once we arrived there, we appeared to have hit the jackpot. Maybe too much of a jackpot, as we found not one but three culverts that led in roughly the right direction. A brief incursion into each dark maw convinced us that the middle of the three was our most likely suspect. Now, let it be known that Old Rob does not do tunnels. He is not a tunnel rat. He offered to spot us from above, as best as the series of manholes and drains on the surface allowed. So, we three brave (read “possibly insane”) members of the crew hunkered down and began a long, uncomfortable duckwalk into the pipe, from which a prodigious stream of water poured with unbridled enthusiasm.
After some distance, the concrete tubes changed to corrugated metal — and the diameter of the passage decreased by a good ten percent. The water made the metal surface very slippery, making forward progress even more difficult. Eventually, we heard Rob calling to use from a drain opening above, indicating we’d gone a couple of hundred feet. We now came to a series of brick-lined shafts that led up to manholes on the surface (the iron-rung ladders in these are frequently used to hang cache containers, but we had some distance to go before we reached ground zero). Almost 400 feet in, we heard Rob calling that he was standing above our heads at the posted cache coordinates — but there was no manhole there. We found this odd, but — sure enough — not far away, we saw another vertical shaft, where we assumed (and hoped) we would find our quarry.
It didn’t take long to determine why there was no manhole at ground zero — the vertical shaft had been blocked with concrete.
[Insert lots of heavy sighing here.]
By all indications, the cache no longer existed. We assumed that at some point during the past six years, for whatever reason, the shaft had been sealed. And so, we retreated in defeat, soaked with both water and sweat, covered with all kinds of muckity-muck, and just about tuckered out from the exertion of a long, difficult duckwalk-slash-crawl. And that might have been the end of the story but for a note we received from a geocacher who had found this particular Dr. Evil back in 2010. He insinuated the posted ground zero might not be entirely accurate because, when he found the cache, the newer concrete and metal pipes gave way to old brick-lined tunnels — and there was actually a memorial plaque on the wall where the cache resided. The indication here is that we may simply have not gone far enough... if his description of the setting still applies after so many years.
Anyway. I don’t know whether I will ever return to this particular Dr. Evil hide in hopes we might find it by proceeding some unknown distance farther in the tunnel. From where we ended up, the corrugated metal tunnel continued as far as our lights could reveal, and I’m not sure this old body is as up to so taxing a physical challenge as it used to be. In fact, these days, I’m more of a mind that if the tunnel is too small to stand in, it’s probably too small for Mark.
I shan’t worry too much, though; there are still a lot of taller tunnels out there with caches in them. Maybe even another Dr. Evil.
This morning, I went out and found a new, much easier cache (a first-to-find, at that), with friends Diefenbaker and Night-Nawk (a.k.a. Tom), and then I placed a new one of my own, this one called “The Spider.” It’s a little mean but nowhere near as evil as a Dr. Evil. Still, I’m betting that a few hunters will bitterly curse my name.
[Insert evil laughter here.] The No-Dead-Weight Irregulars (Old Rodan, Old Rob, Old Diefenbaker, Relatively Young Fishdownthestairs)
relaxing after the Dr. Evil experience

Take a Stalk on the Wild Side

Today, I had the pleasure of running into more fellow geocachers out on the trail than I usually see at a geocaching event. My newest geocache, “ Take a Walk on the Wild Side ” — GCA551P (see “Take a Walk on the Wild Side” February 21, 2023 ), was published early this morning, and shortly thereafter, friend Old Rob posted a DNF (Did Not Find) log. Now, Old Rob is anything but an inexperienced geocacher; in fact, many of you already know that he is one of my regular caching partners (and anyone I allow to go geocaching with me must at least be able to find his way to his own front door; so far, Old Rob has not failed at this). I thought he might have spied the cache from the ground but opted not to climb after it, since reaching it does present a moderate terrain challenge.
No; he just never saw the thing.

So, to satisfy myself that the cache had not gone missing before anyone had even hunted it, I drove out to the Osprey Trail and hoofed it out to ground zero. Sure enough, all was well with the cache. (I may have to rethink Old Rob’s geocaching qualifications.) I verified the coordinates were okay and started to head back to the Rodan Mobile when I saw a familiar figure on the trail heading for GZ. It was friend Rhodorooter (a.k.a. Dave), en route for a possible first-to-find. He checked out GZ for a while, without success, so I finally guided him to a location where he could better get an eyeball on his quarry. Once he had the location locked down, he performed the minor acrobatics necessary to procure the cache, but he very sportingly decided that, since I’d been on site and given him a substantial nudge, he would decline the first-to-find honors. After that, we headed back to our respective vehicles and bid each other adieu.

Later this afternoon, I decided to go out on another maintenance run at one of my night caches (I’ve been on a vigorous cache maintenance jag for a few weeks now) on the Laurel Bluff Trail, not too far from the Osprey. As I passed the Osprey Trailhead, I saw about eight vehicles parked along the road, a few of which I recognized as belonging to geocachers of my acquaintance. So, I pulled over, parked the car, and trucked on down the trail to see if I might catch any of this crew in the act of finding my new cache. Indeed... not far from the cache site, I saw them in the distance. So, using a certain amount of stealth, I positioned myself on a hillside above the cache, snapped a few shots of the crew at work, and texted the photos to them. This, as I suspected it might, inspired a few exclamations of surprise.
In the photo above & left, you’ll see the caching crew going about their business, blithely unaware of the mad horror-writing-geocaching fiend photographing them from afar.
So, it was my pleasure to stalk friends Night-Hawk (a.k.a. Tom), Canter Girl (a.k.a. Jeannie), Skyhawk63 (a.k.a. Tom), Punkins19 (a.k.a. Linda), and — Ha! — Old Rob (a.k.a. Old Rob) as they made their successful FTF effort. From there, all but Rob were moving on to other caches, so he and headed back to the trailhead, and from there, I headed on to the Laurel Bluff Trail to perform any required maintenance on my night cache, “ Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? ” ( GC9KG68 ). None needed to speak of. Anyway, on my way back from there, I then ran into friends MWFerrell65 and dgnc, from the NC Triangle, along the trail. We yakked for a bit, and then I made my way back to the car and Casa di Rodan.
After a long weekend doing artsy-fartsy things in Hillsborough, Ms. B. returned home this afternoon, so now the household cats have their mom to bother, rather than just dad. What a time! Panoramic view of the host for "Take a Walk on the Wild Side"

Congratsto editorJames Aquilone — and allthe contributo...

Congratsto editorJames Aquilone — and allthe contributors (hey, one of them is me!) — for theKolchak: The Night Stalker 50th Anniversary Graphic Novel making the HWA Bram Stoker Award final ballot. This is a dynamite book, and Iam mighty proud to be a part of it.

Check Out Kolchak: The Night Stalker
50th Anniversary Graphic Anthology
From Moonstone Books Here!

Congratsto editor James Aquilone — and all the contribu...

Congratsto editor James Aquilone — and all the contributors (hey, one of them is me!) — for the Kolchak: The Night Stalker 50th Anniversary Graphic Novel making the HWA Bram Stoker Award final ballot. This is a dynamite book, and I am mighty proud to be a part of it.

Check Out Kolchak: The Night Stalker
50th Anniversary Graphic Anthology
From Moonstone Books Here!

Take a Walk on the Wild Side

Another geocache maintenance outing today, again to the Osprey Trail up by Lake Townsend. I hiked out to work on a couple more of my supernatural/scary–themed caches — “ The God of Moab ” (GC690ZK, indeed named after my novella of the same name) and “ Oren Grey ” ( GC705P2 ). While out there, I came upon a spot that appeared to be screaming for a new cache, one with at least a moderate terrain challenge. So I undertook the challenge (hence its title, “Take a Walk on the Wild Side”), hung a cache, and submitted it to geocaching.com . I hope it will be approved and published in the next few days.

If you look carefully, you can actually see the container, dead center in the photograph above. Yeah, take that walk!

Things You Find Along the Trail

I frequently find odd things when I’m out trail hiking, and some of them make one wonder “Why this?” Today, it was a plastic bag containing a couple of hard-boiled eggs, one of which was decorated for Easter. I’d gone out to do maintenance on a couple of my night caches along the Osprey Trail in north Greensboro, and on my return hike, I happened upon these items near the banks of Lake Townsend. I sort of wonder if they've been out in the lake since last year —or perhaps longer — since it’s still a few weeks until Easter. Since I wasn’t hungry, I didn't eat ’em.
Both night caches — “The Tripods” (GC690XE) and “The Witch’s Woods” (GC70RY0) — did need maintenance, more than I could perform with the supplies I had on hand, so I’ll be making another trip out there quite soon, preferably at night, which is the way to experience these caches anyway.
The Osprey Trail is one of my favorites in the area as it’s usually less crowded than most (I saw only one other human being out there on today’s venture), and it’s got some of the best views of the lake. Not far from the Church St. trailhead, there’s an old chimney standing next to the trail, all that’s left from some old homestead going back Yog knows how many years. Once upon a time, there was a cache at the top of the chimney, courtesy of friend Ranger Fox (a.k.a. Christopher), which required particular tools of the trade or a very dexterous climber (if I remember right, we fashioned a tool out of a long, forked tree branch). Sadly, that cache is long gone; it was something of a local classic.
It’s supposed to rain all day tomorrow, so it’s not likely I’ll be out there to finish up maintenance until probably next week. Bummer, sort of.

The Fugue Devil Goes to School, the Old West House, and Kau

A full day, generally a good one, winding to an end. Up early this morning to give a Zoom presentation about horror, writing, and the Fugue Devil to friend Leverett Butts’s literature class at the University of North Georgia  in Gainesville. I’d met Lev in person on my last trip to Georgia back in October (“ Sabbatical 2: Return to Georgia ”), and he’d invited me to speak to his class. We had it set up for today, and I was originally planning to head down there to make a personal appearance, but circumstances didn’t work out so well for the trip. Regardless, it was a fun hour, and I felt like the presentation went swimmingly.

Immediately afterward, I set out for the West House Trail over by Lake Brandt with Old Rob, who wanted to do maintenance on a few of his caches. I went along just for the walk, and it turned out to be exceedingly pleasant. A couple of miles of hiking in moderate terrain and perfect weather.
For the rest of the afternoon, I did freelance graphic work for The Mailbox, which is good for some bucks, although I didn't manage to fit in any writing. Tomorrow, I should finish up the graphic stuff, so I figure I’ll be able to either finish or come damn near with my latest work-in-progress.
Last night, for Valentine’s Day evening, friends Terry & Beth came around for dinner at our place, so tonight, Brugger and I went out to Kau at nearby Revolution Mill,  a quite nice establishment with good drinks and decent food. Kim had a Funky Bleu Cheeseburger (excellent), while I had a Braised Brisket sandwich (fair; very tender and would have been tasty, I think, if it hadn't been overwhelmed by Dijon mustard). An enjoyable outing, though, and not so crowded on the evening following Valentine’s Day.
I sleep now. Old Rob in front of the old West House I think the wonky weather has confused the flowers in the woods about the season A nice post-Valentine’s Day celebration at Kau

The Fugue Devil in Literature, the Old West House, and Kau

A full day, generally a good one, winding to an end. Up early this morning to give a Zoom presentation about horror, writing, and the Fugue Devil to friend Leverett Butts’s literature class at the University of North Georgia  in Gainesville. I’d met Lev in person on my last trip to Georgia back in October (“ Sabbatical 2: Return to Georgia ”), and he’d invited me to speak to his class. We had it set up for today, and I was originally planning to head down there to make a personal appearance, but circumstances didn’t work out so well for the trip. Regardless, it was a fun hour, and I felt like the presentation went swimmingly.

Immediately afterward, I set out for the West House Trail over by Lake Brandt with Old Rob, who wanted to do maintenance on a few of his caches. I went along just for the walk, and it turned out to be exceedingly pleasant. A couple of miles of hiking in moderate terrain and perfect weather.
For the rest of the afternoon, I did freelance graphic work for The Mailbox, which is good for some bucks, although I didn't manage to fit in any writing. Tomorrow, I should finish up the graphic stuff, so I figure I’ll be able to either finish or come damn near with my latest work-in-progress.
Last night, for Valentine’s Day evening, friends Terry & Beth came around for dinner, so tonight, Brugger and I went out to Kau at nearby Revolution Mill,  a quite nice establishment with good drinks and decent food. Kim had a Funky Bleu Cheeseburger (excellent), while I had a Braised Brisket sandwich (fair; very tender and would have been tasty, I think, if it hadn't been overwhelmed by Dijon mustard). An enjoyable outing, though, and not so crowded on the evening following Valentine’s Day.
I sleep now. Old Rob in front of the old West House I think the wonky weather has confused the flowers in the woods about the season A nice post-Valentine’s Day celebration at Kau