EEK! and Other Ramblings

Gosh, darn it! More mice are running around the house again. I am lucky that Ward usually sets the mouse traps around here, but he's been away for a few days helping his father, who had major surgery last week. I guess I'm gonna have to put on my big girl pants and put some traps out myself. As far as the mice are concerned, the only thing I've done about them so far is to wear shoes in the house. A friend was talking about a mouse that ran across their feet last week while they were standing in the kitchen. Now I know they are just little, mostly harmless creatures, but I'd rather not have a close encounter like that.

Last night, after seeing at least two scurrying around, I pretended that I was camping so I could go to sleep. It's funny how, if the mice are outside, I don't have any problems with them. It's when they come inside that I get a little lot skittish.

Ward examining the damage.

In other news, Debby came to town last week and took down an apple tree in the backyard. It was an older tree, so we were not entirely surprised, but very sad all the same. The good news is that it was far enough away from any buildings and our new fence that its fall did no damage. The apples on it aren't ripe, so we will process it when it looks dead, hoping the apples will ripen more. 

Debby's rain brought some other surprises. Mushrooms are popping up everywhere, and we had one in the front yard that was 10 inches tall. A simple but fun thing that had everyone in the neighborhood talking when they saw it on their evening walks. It had enough interest that we mowed around it when we cut the grass. A few days later, it collapsed under its own weight.

I'm tired, so I think I better stop before my ramblings don't make any sense.

Until next time...

A Second Look--October 5, 2011

We took our Second Look this week in cold, drizzly weather, so it's only appropriate that we noticed changes that come with Fall including the weather. The leaves are just starting to turn different colors and the mushrooms abound. Also, for the first time, I noticed a subtle change in the color of the deer's coat. The reddish brown of the summer has changed to the grayish brown of the winter. This is one reason that I enjoy doing a second look. So much there to see, like the changes in the deer's coat, that I never noticed before.

Wally took the Second Look with me this week, so some of the pictures are his and some of them are mine.

This lovely mushroom actually had three protrusions growing out of it. One is hidden in the back.

Over the last month, the pink sedum has changed to a dark red. This is a very red year for sedum. It usually stays some shade of lighter pink. (Top picture taken beginning of Sept. and bottom picture taken beginning of Oct.)

The oak leaves are starting to go from green to brown. However, you can see that most of the tree is still green.

The tulip poplar leaves are starting to go from green to yellow . However, most of the leaves are still green as with the oak.

The maple tree, that has been virtually destroyed by a sapsucker, is desperately trying to save itself by producing large amounts of seeds.

I've discovered a new invasive vine in the yard--an Asiatic bittersweet.

Since I can't get too close to the deer, it was hard to get a shot showing the difference in their coat color. Even though the lighting is different in these shots, the colors are pretty true to what the eye sees--reddish brown for the summer (left) and grayish brown for the winter (right). Also, you can see that the fawns have lost their spots and are getting bigger. In addition, notice in both pictures, the mama is watching me ready to alert the others to danger. The fawns are clueless. Life is good when mama is watching out for you.

A Second Look, September 21, 2011

This week, it really started to feel like fall with cool evenings and warm afternoons.The moderate weather, along with the rain we have been having, has started a new round of blooming. Some are plants that went dormant during the hot weather of August and others are fall bloomers only.

Also, this week's Second Look had a second look. Wally asked if I had walked around the yard yet and had I seen the big mushrooms. Well, I thought I had looked all over the yard, but I missed what he had seen. I guess that's why we need to do a second look sometimes. So after my pictures, you will see what Wally found interesting this week.

Sternbergia lutea
At first, I thought they were fall crocus.

The newly blooming sedum was teeming with bees and common buckeye butterflies.
(Thanks to Aunt Martha for the butterfly identification.)

Blanket flower. Another flower from this plant won a blue ribbon at the fair last week.

Four stages of black walnuts from freshly fallen to already eaten by squirrels.

The tree that the walnuts fell from.

Wally's Second Look--The Fungus Among Us

A Second Look--September 14, 2011

September is National Mushroom Month, so I'm focusing on mushrooms and other fungi this week in the Second Look around the yard. It's curious that in one area, where there were several white mushrooms, all of them were knocked over. I'm not sure how that happened, but in earlier days, I would have suspected Wally and Theodore. Also, I know essentially nothing about fungi, so I welcome any help in identifying things.

Here's what I found.

One of the white mushrooms that was knocked over. I've heard that squirrels and deer like mushrooms.

I don't know if these are little mushrooms are somehow related to the moss they're in.

Little fungi growing on mulch.

Orange, wavy fungus on stump.

White-edged fungus on rotting stump

Tan, flat-topped mushrooms

White fungus on rotting stump

Cluster of orange mushrooms

Hat Tip: A Place to Reside