Second Annual Eugene Coffin Race

 Today is a grey day, overcast with sprinkles and threatening heavier rain.

Mark and I went on a hike around Spencer Butte.  The leaves are turning red, yellow, and orange--and a some are beginning to degrade to brown.  The mushrooms of a few weeks ago have become large, dark growths, which have toppled over into the mud.

We ended up at the Raptor Center.  I've never been to the Raptor Center, but, alas, it is closed until November 2, 2019.  I imagine they have owls and various hawks.

Yesterday (10/19) were the Eugene Coffin Races.  Think soap-box derby with a Halloween theme.  Mark and The Child declined to go; there's a lot of standing around waiting for things to happen, and the various vendors' and Typical Eugene Activity tents don't appeal to them.

I enjoy seeing some of the artistry in the various carts.  I think the most creative entrant was the Eugene Skinner Grave:  that team went to the Pioneer Cemetery and recreated the large slab covering Eugene's founding father.

The most technical entrant was a re-created ladder truck, from the Eugene-Springfield Fire Department (it had two steering wheels).

The funniest entrant (for me anyway) was "Coffin' and Sneezing", which was a giant tissue box driven by a nose and pollinating flower ... although the "Roller Toaster" (a bathtub body surrounded by electrical appliances) from "Dead Bath and Beyond," was pretty funny, too.

Other entrants were more Horror Film oriented.

I managed to get some photographs of the qualifying safety-check races before the actual race (a majority were foiled by the auto-focus deciding I really wanted a shot of a stray twig or guy-wire).  There was one crash that I saw, but it didn't seem too catastrophic (unlike last year, which featured at least two high-speed crashes--one involving an obelisk impaling a hay bale-- and one wipe-out).

If I were going to make an entry into the Coffin Races, I'd want to do a riff off of the Strettweg Cult-wagon.

On the Gym Front:  Went to the gym Friday (10/18) and did the regular routine.

On the Writing Front:  One of my flash stories has been short-listed; there's a something-to-fifty percent chance (according to the market) it will be actually published.  I've only been trying to break into this market for almost a decade, and this is the first piece I've submitted to actually make it past the first hurdle, so it would be nice if this flash was accepted.

Looking at this month's submission history, I should get more stories into the mail; August currently holds the record for most stories submitted in a calendar month.