Dang its gonna be HOT

 When the weather sucks, 

I like to divert my attention

to other fun things.

So I'm going to catch up with what's up with Squatch. Sometimes things in my imagination get side tracked ... and sometimes I go off on a tangent.
Well here it is:

Squatch was feeling pretty down. All the hiking an hunting for relatives seemed fruitless. So he decided to take a nap in a bird nest.

"Hello, there! What are you? You certainly are not a fledgling bird!" a voice said to him.

He woke up and was staring at a tiny fawn.

"I'm a Squatch, not a bird."

"I see that. You are hairy too. I almost didn't see you because your camouflage is better than mine! My name is Fawn."

Squatch sighed, "Well, I came here looking for others like me. I was hoping to find some but so far I've been out of luck."

Fawn said, "Oh golly, can I help? I can ask my mom, Doe, and my pop to keep an eye out for your kind. There's lots of my kind in the forest. I can't imagine being without family!"

Squatch said, "Well, I've had my friend Hobby out looking and she just can't seem to find any trace of them."

"Oh," said Fawn, "I know Hobby. I see her in the forest a lot, but most of us wild critters avoid anything that resembles humans. I mean, we know she is supposed to be harmless and...but we still hide from her."

"Wow, that would be helpful. Hobby is a nice person, she has been very a very kind friend to me. You should meet her," Squatch replied.

"Ahhh. Well. Hmm." Fawn thought for a moment and then said, "Okay, we can arrange it but I hear she shoots..."

"That is just a camera, not a gun!" Squatch said.

Fawn nodded and then ran off. 

Squatch sat in the birds nest and wondered again...

would he ever find any of his family? What an odd little creature Fawn was could he count on Fawn's help? 

To be continued....

Side note:
when I was a kid we used to make up stories for our toys. All toys had a story. Imagine making up a story about a yellow rubber eraser dragon who became friends with a pink kitty eraser.

I imagined that my stuffed animals that lived on my bed came alive when I was at school and had wonderful adventures. The six foot stuffed snake would watch over the kangaroo and the zebra. I was sure that when I slept, they watched over me or went on magical trips.

Toys without batteries was a rule my father had. The toys had to be operated by imagination.
I think it was a wonderful rule.

And so it goes... ~ Kurt Vonnegut

Time Out!

I've been watching the weather and for the past few weeks, it has sort of sucked. It has been hot/humid or rainy/stormy, it seems nearly every day. Any day that it is decent has been a lawn mowing day.

At least with most hot nights, it has cooled off enough to open the windows and enjoy fresh air. Hubby needs the AC so he can breath easier during most days.

Sunday morning was foggy again, but nice and cool. I helped hubby get his breakfast and since he was doing okay, I decided to try something different.

I left early, just after 7:30 to go hiking. It was sunny on our ridge when I left, but very foggy on the drive up 131 along the Kickapoo River. That is normal for our area. 

My goal was to continue working on the Trail Challenge and I had figured out a route that I wanted to take which would complete two very long sections of trail.

I parked and headed out in the fog.

Bridge 10 and the Kickapoo River:

The trail head for Hay Valley Trail [heading North] can be found on Dutch Hollow Trail just a bit south of Bridge 10 on Dutch Hollow Trail.

I was doing Hay Valley from Dutch Hollow going north 2+ miles and then at the intersection for Bail Out trail heading east to Hwy 131 and back to where I parked.

I am so happy that I invested in super moisture wicking light weight pants and shirt. Many parts of the trail go through tall grasses and other weeds. The pants actually resisted the water for a while, but eventually I got pretty wet. 

I didn't mind as I figured the pants would dry off. I wasn't uncomfortable at all and I kept on trucking. I figured the trail would go into the woods soon and I wouldn't have to deal with waist high wet grasses and weeds.

Foggy forest just above the River.

Spidey Webs!

The Muck Hole!

The Muck Hole was a bit of a challenge and it was here I sort of wished I wasn't hiking. It was here that I wished I had thought to bring a 'hiking stick'. Oh well.

Shoes and pants can be cleaned so I made my way through and it wasn't as bad as I expected.  I crossed a shallow stream and was back on my way up towards the fog and the ridge.

Bluff edge overlooking the River
below which I couldn't see

because of the forest canopy.

More cool spidey webs!

Other noteworthy parts to the trail. 

A rubber bridge or perhaps you'd call it a boardwalk. 

I wonder if my mule would walk 

over this? 
I doubt I'll ever know

as I have no truck

to pull our trailer.

Neat Rock Shelter! 

This is worth checking out in

the middle of winter!

A hole in the rock wall!

A place to chill out next to 

the rock ledge 

and cool creek water.

I found the intersection of Hay Valley Trail and Bail Out Trail. I've had two hikers with me that I've taken past these signs. Finally I got to check out Bail Out Trail.

It is noteworthy that it was probably an old road at one time. It is rather straight and wide.

I traveled this section rather quickly and came out on Hwy 131 as planned. The walk back to where I parked was easy and not unpleasant.

Route:

Things learned. 

Early morning is great, but I need to be prepared to get wet in the morning dew. 

The bugs were minimal except when I stopped in areas with tall grasses. 

Cool mornings are the best in my opinion. However, I really want to do this hike in each of the seasons. 

I'm looking forward to a late fall or early winter hike. And of course, a spring hike to see all the amazing spring flowers along Hay Valley Trail.

Section 40 is definitely going to be one of my favorite trails.

I was home by 10:30, just as hubby was waking up from his morning nap. 

My timing was perfect and I had my inner peace restored.

The Hug that saved the Week

What a week.

I really enjoyed my Mobility Classes this week. Our teacher/coach for this class has 10 children. You read that right. 10.

I have her as my weekly and sometimes twice a week coach for work outs to challenge my 'bones' with recommended workouts for people with severe osteoporosis. 

One of her daughters stayed with us at the gym to do Mobility on Thursday evening. Her name is Gracie. Her mom said she could do the movements with us but had to be in a separate part of the gym as the class was for adults.

I'm a sucker for cute kids that are well behaved. Gracie and I ended up near enough to each other to chat while her mom was busy helping some of the other adults.

I made faces when the stretches were hard and Gracie giggled. Hah! Captive Audience.

At the end of the class, the adults gathered to put on their street shoes and get ready to leave and talk. Gracie sat on the couch next to me. I talked to her while I put on my shoes. She jumped up to show me how she could bend over backwards and walk. 

Ahhh, to be 9 again and as flexible as she was!

I stood up and we were all getting ready to leave while the coach's older son ran around and tidied up the gym and got things ready to close up.

Gracie ran across the small entrance area and wrapped her arms around me in a huge hug. It was a true hug. You know, the kind that takes you by surprise and spreads warmth through your heart and soul.

Friday was a whirlwind day. Hubby had his PT class and hadn't been feeling well for his last one. I told him that he had to go with me either to do his class or to see a doctor. His choice was to just quit and go back to bed for the day. I wouldn't hear of it.

Dyspnea means short of breath-difficulty breathing-air hunger-feeling of suffocation. He described it as feeling not quite right, he figured it was the change in meds doses that did it and insisted that he just stop taking a bunch of medications. 

In short, the PT people decided that he was in enough crisis to warrant putting him in a wheelchair and taking him to the ER. 
After a few hours of testing and treatment for dyspnea caused by a COPD Exacerbation, he was released.

I had to explain to him what the doctor had told him a few times. I think he understood when I was a bit more blunt than the doctor. 

He refuses to do his nebulizer because the meds make him a bit jittery. However two sessions of Nebs in the ER brought him right out of his crisis.

I reminded him that when he chose not to do the Neb, and he had an episode of not getting his breath, that he was killing his heart off in chunks. I demonstrated that by making a stabbing motion and an ugly face.

I didn't explain the lab reports that were concerning but expected with his stage of COPD. My job is to make the rest of his life as comfortable as it can be for him. 

Gracie's hug saved the week. The memory of it still makes me smile and feel good inside.

Well now

No Slime Today

Aren't you relieved?

I believe this is a purple finch. Hubby has been spotting them and I am usually too late with the camera to catch them.

Catching it in flight was completely an accident.
 

Most of the afternoon I hung out on the porch and did weeding and watering those plants that don't get much moisture because they are so close to the porch that the eaves keep the rain off them.

I was awaiting a return phone call after being shuffled around by the VA Community Care People. 30 minutes after being transferred 3 times, I got voice mail.

Community Care is sometimes frustrating. Communications between a non VA provider and the VA itself is tenuous a best. A medication was ordered for hubby two months ago. He still had a 'rescue' inhaler so it wasn't a vital medication.

However, the non VA provider followed her instructions that the VA provided and ordered the medication. It went 'somewhere'. I followed up by contacting several people and finally landed on a person who said she'd handle it.

That was 4 weeks ago. So I looked up hubby's info in MyChart and noted that the CC gal had called the local doctors office and gave the clinic the info for faxing or calling in meds.

The local doctor's office used HER name in ordering the medication. The VA pharmacy said no one by that name worked in that pharmacy. And that is where it was dropped.

So there was miscommunication between CC, the pharmacy, and the local doctor's nurse.

I need to draw them a chart on how to order meds, I think. 

Today I made more phone calls.

The solution was simple, whoever wrote down the fax number for sending in medications, wrote one digit off. A 1 instead of a 7. Or perhaps the handwriting was sloppy? Who knows?

Well now.

So it goes. 

Navigating Health care sure takes a good deal of effort on any person's part.

It's too bad that they named it Slime Mold

Nature provides an incredibly beautiful wonder in slime molds. They feed on decaying things which is not a bad thing considering all of us gardeners who love enriched soil.
Basically, slime mold works on just these sort of things.

Decaying wood is its food of choice so it shouldn't be too alarming to see it in your mulch or on a stump in the woods.

Red Raspberry Slime Mold is a beautiful red color when it first appears. It can be found on oak logs.

Their color is a show stopper.

It is so small and pretty with such a pure red color. Indeed it looks like tiny beautiful raspberries.

As it ages, which is rather quickly, it changes colors and becomes brown. 

Below: Fresh Red Raspberries Slime Mold

Below: 24 hours later in the same spot.

View from the side:

24 hours later:

I had someone tell me today that they thought my slime mold photos were 'gross' and I laughed and said they were absolutely beautiful, mysterious, and exotic living things. 

They don't fit in plant, animal, or fungi categories and are considered plasmodial or blobs that eat bacteria. It is more complicated than that, but this part of nature is absolutely fascinating.

US National Parks has a nice easy to read article on slime molds. You can read it here. 

Every time I turn around I seem to find something new that amazes me in the forest. The really cool thing is...

I only have to walk out my door and start to look to find incredible beauty in tiny things. Yes, I have been taking a magnifying glass with me!

It is such a shame it got a yucky name. 

To tell you the truth, it is fun to look for them. It is sort of like a game of Where's Waldo.

Last up, two pretty white ones that probably turn brown and will disappear after they send off spores.

Coral SM:

White Finger SM:

There it is. My adventure of two and a half days of searching out slime molds. The conditions were perfect for them. Rain, humidity, heat, and decaying logs in the forest.

Who knows what the next weather event will bring to the forest?

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?

Fun stuff

 The Gritty Girls

This is just going to be ...

the Fun Stuff. 

Why not? 

Mirth is out picking mushrooms. I think she is looking for those psychedelic ones!

We TOLD Harriet NOT to play with the food!

Hobby enjoys wandering the woods looking for cool fungi. She found Scrambled Egg Slime Mold aka Dog Vomit Slime Mold. Real name: Fuligo Septica 

Hobby and Susan stop to cool off in the creek after hiking.

Garden Gargoyles discussing the Welcome Friends sign. Obviously they are not impressed.

It is obvious that some of the gals need a bit more education on how to carry a load on a skid steer...

No one was injured.

This weather has been bad for mowing and some outdoor activities. But if one likes fungi and slime molds, this is absolutely great weather.

More on that soon.

Sneak peek: