Another Exciting ... Day!

 Of course there has to be fungi, slime molds, alligators, rocks, fishies, rain, picnic, and fishing involved.

I went out early to find my fungi friends and admire slime molds. Yeah, I am strange but I love the beautiful world of the odd things in the forest.

Chocolate Tube Slime mold ... with mold on top of it!

Coral Slime Mold...finger for perspective.

With all the wet and humid weather I have found lots of Deadman's Fingers growing near many of the old oak tree logs. These logs have been on the ground for nearly 20 years. You won't find these on newly downed logs.

This is a curiosity.

It is called Shotgun Fungi/ Shotgun Slime Mold/ Artillery Fungus/ Hat Throwing Fungus... this particular kind grows on Equine Manure.

 I know, gross, but kind of cool. 

The spores can be ejected up to 18 feet.

What it looks like from a distance. What can I say?...

It is so cool and weird at the same time.

This rainy humid weather is awful for so many things. However, it delights me to scrounge around the forest and look for bizarre things.

Not so bizarre is finding Oyster Mushrooms and bringing them home for a side dish.

Wednesday was fishing day.

 Getting Rich to the table was an extra human effort since he can barely walk. But Steve and I got him there. Rich did catch a Bullfish.

Ewww, he tossed it back. Here he is wearing a clear poncho as there was a light rain. He son took it off because it wasn't bothersome.

While the guys fished and Steve baited for Rich and assisted him, I walked around to enjoy the views.

I did spot Cormorants, but they were far way. I've never seen them before so it was fun to watch them fish. I did grab this shot of the Blue Heron that saw me. Mostly, I just walked around and enjoyed watching the guys fish.

The skies looked threatening but only gave us a light drizzle on and off.

Of course, I had to get my Lego folks out.

This is the ME minifig and Charlie....

You never know what to expect at the river!

Be Careful!

Steve is now used to my Lego Antics. When we got Rich to another spot, we really had to struggle to get him through some loose rocks.

This was a good spot and they had a lot of fun watching the turtles try to take the worms. 

Rich did catch a fish!

There was a lot of laughter for that.

Here was my Lego scenario for the trek through the loose rocks.

Life in Hospice can be interesting and bittersweet.

One knows that time is probably short. However it is also a time to shine with friends and family.

I don't know how to explain it. But this time has been more joyful. Pain is managed, and our main goal is comfort and doing things for the patient. Rich looks forward to the times Steve shows up and things happen.

Our Grand daughter Ariel will come for the holiday weekend and stay over. She wants to cook another supper for us and just hang out. 

I wonder what we may do next week? Rich was really tired out from this fishing trip and it took him a full day of naps to recover. However, he is looking forward to the next adventure.

Fungi and Slime Molds...Yipee!

So much fungi, so little time!

 

For my fun with the Princess Sara Quest and journey, I have to figure out who the 'bad' guys are. I swapped a mummy head to this Witch's body from the D&D collection. I thought it would be fun to have her making a potion out of some rather wilted looking fungi.

This dude is a mix up of head, hair, and body. I just put it all together because it made this minifig look rather crazy. He is holding a fungi that grows on old oak logs called 'Deadman's Fingers'. 

I feel it is appropriate for Zombie type Minifigs.

I'd stuffed these guys in my pocket when I went out to check the fence the other morning. I couldn't help but stop and set up these little shots.

My fence inspection found a tree that fell on the fence in the valley so I have to get back and fix that sometime very soon. At the moment I have access to the valley shut off. The mules like to go there on hot days as it is a cooler area.

However, I hit the bonus of all cool things in the forest on my way back home.

Fungi and Slime Molds!

I'm not going to try and ID all of them for you. Just enjoy the shots. Of the ones I know, I will give the names. Otherwise researching these would take up more time away from the pressing chores that are waiting me outside today.

Unknown Fungi. 8 shot focus stack hand held done in camera. Olympus has computational photography which will do an auto focus stack in the proper settings. It will also combine those shots into a jpg. In the past I've used Helicon Focus for this. However, since I like to get the shot and not spend too much time working in a program, I trust my OM-5 to help me out. 

[Not all the shots are focus stacked. Some were just quick shots. I have to keep moving even though I wanted nothing better to do than just explore more.]

This was about an inch and a half tall. I had a little light that I used to light it up from the side.

Happy little fungi on a moss strewn log...
the witch was using some of the wilted ones in her potion....

Here is another favorite of mine. Coral Fungi. It has a scientific name. I've ID'd it before, but I love thinking of it as Land Coral.

This is a few days old so it is turning brown. But this log ought to provide for more beautiful formations this summer.

Mark that log!

Some of my ALL time favorite Slime Molds!
Chocolate Tube Slime. I laid the lighter on the log for perspective.

Isn't this little forming one cute?

and then there are its big brothers...

the first shot was taken in the morning. The second shot was taken in the early afternoon so they could have been drying out. This stuff is usually gone in about 24 to 48 hours. 

What a lucky find for me! I haven't seen slime mold for a while since we've had such dry years.

The log I found it on. They look like they are marching across the log.

Another favorite. Deadman's Fingers. They get creepier as they get a little larger. But pretty neat in my book.

And last but hopefully not the last I find this weekend. A pretty little gilled mushroom on a moss covered log.

I mean, who doesn't like cute fungi and slime molds???

Fungi, Slime Mold, and Bumble

Cool damp dew-y mornings are the best times to go look for neat insects. I know, it probably is not on your list of things to do bright and early in the morning.

But that is my 'quiet' time to myself so I go and enjoy the nice easy slow walk through the pasture weeds on the edge of the forest. The birds and a few deer are my company as I stop and peer closely at yarrow, ox eye daisy and other plants.

I was rather disappointed. But finding this bumble bee was pretty exciting. The bumble has heavy dew on it and if you can see the photo large, you might be able to find the Bee Mite on it!

So...that slime mold that looked like fish eggs? 

24 hours later...it looked like this....

The log it was found on...

The yellow slime mold went from this

to this in 24 hours

The third day it turned brown and white. No photo of that. 

Slime molds are very hard to ID. So any ID will be a best guess. I am going with common names as I think they are more fun.

The white stuff could be White Finger Slime mold. The pinkish blob should be Wolf's Milk.

The next shot is of the log I found it on.

Note to self: Tie a piece of orange twine above the 

log next time! Because...
I wasn't able to find it again.

Oh, it has to be easy to find this stuff right?
Here is my boot from the morning walk.
See the little white spots on the log?

These are those little white spots. 
I could not ID this at all!

[I suspect that they are in the family of
Tube Slime Molds]

Just for size comparison, here is a dime 

with the tiny little fungi/slime mold?

I figured I had struck gold in discovering these little things. I tied some twine to the tree next to the log so I can go back and see how it changes.

I slowly walked through the damp area and peered at logs and just when I gave up to go home and check on things I saw something that caught my eye.

Chocolate Tube Slime Mold 

getting ready to fruit!

On another log nearby I found immature 

Chocolate Tube Slime Mold!

As it matures, it changes color

How amazingly lucky I was

to find these in different stages

in the same area!

Fruited CTSM:

I had company coming, so reluctantly headed back towards the house. 

I was bummed in a way because I'd read that these little slime molds change rather quickly and if I couldn't get back before too long, they may fruit and disappear.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered more 

Deadman's Fingers

They are so alien looking that I just had to add this Lego Alien to the photo. I've found this fungi several times this year and I wonder why I've never spotted it before?

Can you guess what I'll be doing today?

Fungi and Chocolate Slime Mold?

I'm slowly trying to catch up with things while at the same time limit my 'screen' time. My eyes seem to tire very easily. So I am doing a lot of things to keep the eye strain down to a dull roar.

Crab Spider waiting to pounce on a woolly aphid aka known as a Fairy Fly...

Club Fungi close up and then with an SD card next to it for getting an idea of how small this was! [If you click on the photo, you should be able to see it much larger.]

I'm pretty happy about finding the club fungi. This was the very first time I'd found it and actually knew to look for it.

Old slime mold that has dried up.

Slug on a rotting stump with tube slime mold.

Drum roll please...

Chocolate Tube Slime Mold.
It has other names but I thought this was the neatest.

I'll wrap up with just a pretty little fungi that reminded me of an umbrella. It had a blue tint to it and by the afternoon it had drooped and 'melted'. I imagine it belongs to the tiny ink cap family.

I need to get back out tomorrow morning before the heat and humidity get too intense and look around on the logs.

I did watch Fantastic Fungi on Netflix today and the photography and time lapse photography was quite beautiful.

It was pretty interesting and if you like fungi and mushrooms it might be worth your time.
It also had some interesting interviews regarding the use of the ingredients of the Psilocybin Mushroom and PTSD and depression.

There are rains and storms predicted for tomorrow night so I may be out hunting the strange world of slime molds and fungi again this weekend.