Apparently, I accomplished more than I thought capable last month!

Below you’ll see that I published a new Tahoe Trail Guide article (Learning to Learn, part 2), and a couple of YouTube videos. One of which is a summer recap that includes a bunch of footage from my 32-mile run on October 7th. The other is a “short” of my first xc ski session of the season.

The reason I’m surprised that I did so much last month is because I had spent so much time boxing up collectibles. I may have briefly mentioned this project in a prior newsletter. However, the long and the short of it is that my roommate’s brother died of cancer back in March, and he left behind a ton of collectibles. Star Wars, Star Trek, Transformers, Voltron, Dungeons & Dragons, World of Warcraft … you name it, and it was probably in that collection.

When my roommate was first on-sight to deal with her brother’s belongings, she described just how much he had. And it was a lot! But it was too valuable to just drop off at a thrift store. So I offered to deal with the collection so long as she could get it up here. Mind you, he lived in Las Vegas, so she and her mom and another friend loaded up a U-Haul truck and drove it up. Then we stored it in a facility in Gardnerville, NV.

In the meantime, I found a company in Wisconsin that deals with large collections. They’re called Noble Knight Games, and they have a slick operation. They send you shipping labels, you send them your stuff, and then they offer an appraisal of it. When you accept their offer, they mail you a check. I guess if you didn’t like their offer you could have them return it. However, that wasn’t going to happen in this case. Our goal was to give the collectibles a new life by putting them back into circulation. And, in the process, recoup some of the costs of dealing with it. In my opinion, it was the least we could do for her brother because all of that stuff clearly meant a lot to him.

Highland Lake on October 11, 2026 © Jared Manninen

Last spring, when she first brought up the collectibles, I initially shipped 20 boxes. But I had to take a break over the summer because work and trail running took priority. Once I was finished with my summer job, though, I got back on it because I didn’t want to deal with this once the snow started to fly. So I made a big push this past month and shipped the rest of the collection. That involved a lot of back and forth trips from the storage facility, as well as to acquire more shipping supplies, and then to drop off the boxes at FedEx.

Believe it or not, the total box count for his collectibles was 82! This fall I shipped 8, then 12, and then I cranked it up to 11 and sent the final group of 42(!) boxes. Crazy, but I’m so glad it’s finished. Well, technically, we have about 8 light sabers laying on the bed upstairs in the spare room that I have yet to ship. However, that’s small fries compared to what I’ve already done!

Oh, and there’s probably about 30 board games still upstair – haha! To be honest, though, my roommate and I were planning to inventory each game over the winter. And maybe even play some of them while we’re at it!

It shouldn’t be too surprising, but this experience has compelled me to start inventorying my own collections. So I may end up shipping some of my own stuff to the game shop. But not 82 boxes, thankfully 🙂

Learning to Learn (Part 2): Seeking, Accepting, Applying, and Assimilating Feedback

Yay! I made the time to finish writing the second installment of my mini-series of articles about learning to learn.

Click on the title above or the adjacent photo to read it at Tahoe Trail Guide.

For a couple of weeks last month, I prioritized wildlife photography. And it was super fun!

Although I didn’t travel far, I visited the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge (near Fallon, NV) for an overnight mission. I’ve visited that refuge each fall for the past few years, so it’s been a pet project of mine to document as many species there as I can in the fall. Although I’ve only recently begun to post those observations on iNaturalist, so I have a huge backlog yet to submit!

What I’ve enjoyed most about this birding hotspot is the volume of raptors that I often see as they migrate to and through this zone. However, my visit last month was at least 1-2 weeks earlier than normal. So instead of seeing a bunch of raptors, I observed many other species that I don’t normally find there. For example, I saw tons of shorebirds like Long-billed Dowitchers, Greater Yellowlegs, American Avocets, American White Pelicans, Double-crested Cormorants, White-faced Ibis, and Least Sandpipers. Then, I saw other smaller birds that are usually gone by the time I arrive, such as a Townsend’s Warbler, Say’s Phoebe, and a Spotted Towhee. In addition, I finally got eyes on a Sora and Virginia Rail at this location. Although I saw a handful of raptors, like a Red-tailed Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, Barn Owl, Great Horned Owl, and some Northern Harriers, their numbers were low. Literally, I only saw one Red-tailed Hawk compared to normally seeing countless of them later in the season. So, I just believe that I was visiting Stillwater earlier than I normally do. If I can manage it, I’ll go back there later in November or December to test that theory. All in all, I logged about 55 bird species in the 24 hours I was there. It was quite overwhelming!

In addition to visiting Stillwater, I’ve been driving back and forth from the Carson Valley this past month. Mostly it’s been to retrieve my roommate’s brother’s collectibles (described above) from a storage facility in Gardnerville, NV. So, I’ve been combining that with birding. I love that I have the opportunity to drive, not too far, to see a whole other set of birds (including lots of raptors). And it reminds me that I need to get out more!

Here’s a decent selection of birds that I saw this past month. Of course, I’ve seen more than this, but seeing and taking compelling photos of them are two separate things 🙂

As I mentioned last month, I used footage from my 32-mile trail run in my latest Tahoe Trail Guide update video. See below.

Lake Tahoe received its first most significant snowstorm of the 2026-27 winter on November 1st (second video). So I grabbed some xc skis and went for a (very!) short first xc ski session. As much as I wanted to find more snow, the reality was that the high country received 4-6+ inches on top of bare earth. So, for xc skiing, this isn’t exactly ideal conditions. Without any kind of base (of snow), you tend to bottom out in the fluffy stuff which means that you’re often gliding over rocks, gravel, roots, shrubs, grasses, etc. So I just skied for a short while and spent most of that time marveling at the beautiful landscape.

I’m excited because during our last big snowy year (a few years ago), it also started on November 1st. So maybe this is a preview of things yet to come!