Sunday, September 17, 2023

Cats, dogs, leaves, fungi

Charlie sits on the porch bench and surveys his domain. 


Eleanor takes a nap in the sun next to the old garage.



Our neighbors got Eleanor for the purpose of getting their garage and workshop rid of mice. She is spayed and has had her shots.

Eleanor prefers to hunt in my two sheds, sleep in the piles of hay, and annoy Charlie. Such is a cat's life. With her around, some of the varmints seemed to have moved on. 

My neighbor puts out cat food for her and she still seems to prefer our place although we do see her trekking back up the hill once in a while. On hot days I put water out in a few spots for her so she doesn't have to climb the stock tank and take a drink.

Charlie has decided that since Eleanor will run if he chases her, she is good game. He will never catch her, but he sure tries.

Eleanor is definitely not a house cat and she won't let humans get too close either. However, she seems to be doing just fine.

We had extremely dense fog yesterday morning. When Charlie and I went for a walk in the forest to look for colors in the leaves, we found this:





A huge 'Flush' of Chicken of the woods that was very fresh. I was able to pick about 4 lbs of them and I texted Olive to see if she wanted some. 


I made a supper of Chicken Fried Chicken of the Woods, rice, and a salad with Nasturtiums on them.


It was delicious! 

We did find some leaf color in the woods and I hope to get out and look for some more [leaves and fungi!] today.

In the photo below with the Maple Leaf, there are some dried up Oyster mushrooms--not good to eat or pick in this condition. But I was still rather surprised to find them.


The afternoon sunlight really popped the colors in this slippery elm tree. However, a quick thunderstorm moved in ...


and we had to run for cover!

The winds blew, the thunder roared and the leaves from the trees swirled!

Slow motion video clip of 26 seconds.


I'm looking forward to a quiet Sunday of processing carrots and Chicken of the Woods to make mushroom stock for winter soups.




7 comments:

  1. Feral cats are the best- no litter boxes to clean! Maybe your neighbour can get another one for her place. Charlie looks quite handsome and noble.
    I wonder if we get Chicken of the Woods around here- I will have to ask the locals.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Apparently Eleanor gets around she has been up on the ridge too and has visited 3 other homes so she is very active!

      Delete
  2. Eleanor looks quite content. I wish I liked mushrooms, but I don't. That was a storm you had, hopefully you found adequate shelter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We got under the porch roof by the time that hit!
      These mushrooms actually taste more like chicken and have huge amounts of good protein in them. I wonder if you'd like it as a mushroom broth for soup?

      Delete
  3. Oh, those cute little faces. Charlie is so adorable and Eleanor surely is an independent woman!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She is! She also travels about a bit from what I understand.

      Delete
  4. Boy the leaves really came down. Nice that you got some rain, we need some badly. Nice to have a mouser...maybe your mice are very tasty!

    ReplyDelete

Please include at least your first name if you are commenting Anonymously. Thank you.