Saturday, 12/27/14

Mushrooms on dead tree.

A fairly soggy day in the Ozarks, not that we actually received all that much rain -- only around three-tenths of an inch.  Jo and the dogs got a little damp this morning.  They got caught by a drizzle while returning home on their morning walk.  Our afternoon walk was a little soggy too.  Don't know if you'd call it a heavy fog or a light drizzle, but you'd get wet if you stayed out in it for a while.

Temperature fell slowly all day, but remained above freezing until almost midnight.  Then, the wet steps and porch began getting slick with ice.  Our forecast contained a chance of snow, but that did not happen.

I cleaned out our wood stove and rebuilt the fire among other piddling chores accomplished today.

Wet leaves.

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Saturday, 12/27/14

Mushroom

(Photo by Jo)

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With all the rain we've had recently, mushroom are really starting to pop up all over the place.  And, they say more rain is on the way. 

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Mushroom

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Turkey Tail Mushrooms

Turkey Tail Mushroom (Trametes versicolor)

According to the Mushroom Expert:

The Turkey Tail is one of the most common mushrooms in North American woods, found virtually anywhere there are dead hardwood logs and stumps to decompose--and, occasionally, on conifer wood too. Its cap colors are extremely variable, but tend to stay in the buff, brown, cinnamon, and reddish brown range. The mushrooms are strikingly "zonate" with sharply contrasting concentric zones of color, and the surface of the cap is finely fuzzy or velvety. Often the zones represent contrasts in texture as well as color, so that fuzzy zones alternate with smoother ones.

Because the colors of Turkey Tails varies widely and because there are similar looking mushrooms, Michael Kuo, the mushroom expert, offers a six-point Totally True Turkey Tail Test on his site. Check it out if you want to learn more.

Turkey Tail Mushrooms

Wandering

Just wandering around taking photos without any particular theme or purpose.




A colorful mushroom growing on a fallen log. There were several of these growing in a cluster.




A relic from a pre-aluminum culture.

Unfortunately, previous owners of our place thought that proper trash disposal meant throwing it over the nearest bluff. This philosophy not only included daily trash but extended to old refrigerators and even automobiles.




Lots of tiny bubbles.


This little winter wetland pond would often be ice-covered in January, but this year's warm temperatures have led to abundant algae growth. If I'm not mistaken, the algae produces all the bubbles. The bubbles cling to the algae so it will float near the surface and, thereby, receive maximum sunshine for photosynthesis.

Wandering

Earthstar Mushroom

Earthstar (Geastrum saccatum)

Other common names: Common Earthstar, Sessile Earthstar, Rounded Earthstar

The earthstar is a common puffball-type mushroom, but is often overlooked because it is small (3/4" or so) and is usually found in thick leaf litter. The two earthstars in the photo above are both immature. The sporocarp on the one in the foreground is about half open, but hasn't even started opening yet on the mushroom in the rear.

When fully open, the rays recurve back underneath the spore sac. In this case, they are mostly hidden in the leaf litter and appear to have damaged areas.

When fully dry, spores are ejected through the apical pore. Rain striking the spore sac or wind blowing across the apical pore aid disbursal.

This group of earthstars was really pushing the limits of their growing season. I took the first two photos on Saturday. That night our temperature dropped into the mid-twenties. I think the less developed earthstars were killed by the freezing temperatures. However, the muchrooms that were farther along appear to have already developed their spores. It was time for them to dry out and disburse the spores anyway. The bottom photo was taken on Tuesday.

Thanks to Mushroom Observer for the ID and to Mykoweb and Mushroom Expert for additional information.

Earthstar Mushroom

Thursday, 7/12/07

The summer rain just keeps those mushrooms coming, and we did get another .6" this afternoon. No work in the yard or garden today.

Thursday, 7/12/07

Friday, 7/6/07

A trio of mushrooms growing out in front of the house.

Another rain shower: Today's shower was later and lighter than yesterday's, but still got the grass wet enough (barely) that I couldn't mow. I returned to my shop in the basement and continued making spoons instead.

Garlic: Jo braved the wet grass an dug our garlic. This project had been bumped back several times because of the weather, but the garlic tops had died back completely and the bulbs needed to be removed from the damp soil before they rotted. The garlic is now supposedly drying in racks on the porch now, but with the high humidity we've been experiencing, that may take a while.

No Internet: Our phone was out again Friday evening.

Friday, 7/6/07

Fourth of July

Have a red, white and blue Independence day!!!

Graphic by Jo.

Fourth of July

Orange Mushroom

Another of the many colorful mushrooms our wet, warm weather has produced. (I'm not going to get into online mushroom ID, but I think eating this variety would do you in.)

Orange Mushroom

Saturday, 6/30/07

Mushrooms: Wet summer weather has produced an abundance of mushrooms. This one was shining so brightly that from a distance I thought it must surely be some sort of plastic litter along the roadside.

No Phoebes: We're not going to have a second brood of phoebes from the nest on the porch. A black snake feasted on the chicks overnight. I would have intervened in the couse of nature had I noticed the snake soon enough, but by the time I saw it in the nest, the chicks had already been consumed. This isn't the first time a black snake has raided a nest on the porch. Those snakes must have an amazing sense of smell for it to have even known the nest was there.

Limited Work Outside: I got in a little -- very little -- work outside today. About the time we normally transition to working outside, a thundershower was threatening. There was thunder relatively nearby for about an hour before we finally got any rain. I'd decided to tempt fate and and was weeding in the garden when the rain finally began falling. We had a modest little thundershower that only dropped .7" of rain, but took out our telephone service.

Saturday, 6/30/07