Flower garden tour...

Just a walk around the house with my camera... well except for the Queen Anne's Lace and the white clover those flowers were in the yard.

Enjoy

 

Fungus Among--us

Meanwhile the rains and humidity have provided a wonderful world of beautiful fungi/mushrooms. I'm going to just ID these with common names as I could be off with their true identity.

According to 'Google Lens' and one of my ID books, these should be Cany Caps fungi. They are similar to another kind of mushroom, however you have to look at cellular structure and spore prints. I did smell them and they did smell sort of sweet.

I can't believe my luck in finding these. I had walked through a few other places where I always find mushrooms and fungi. I found plenty of deer but not cool fungi.

So, I took a detour to a different section where I usually don't find fungi and was surprised by the amount of cool mushrooms and slime mold I was able to find.

I don't recall seeing any mushrooms in this section of the forest in the past few years of drought. So I imagine the spores have just been waiting for heat and humid conditions.

This fall ought to produce a magnificent showing of fungi.

I couldn't believe my eyes. In a small area, everywhere I looked I saw these.

Angel of Death Mushroom.

Destroying Angel

But.... according to certain sources these are only supposed to grow on the west coast of the US. I am sort of confused because I can't find any other white mushroom that looks like this.

I still think it is a cool looking mushroom. It was easy to spot in the forest and they grew in singles or very small clumps of two near each other.

I'm just going to be safe and obviously not eat them. There are very few wild ones I can identify safely, this is not one of them.

They are quite beautiful though. Pure white with a stunning shape.

I couldn't help but use them in a Rock Monster photo. It seems like Zombies and Monsters would like such a mushroom.

Then there were many spots of 'False Coral Fungi' aka known as Sebacina which don't grow on wood but on forest floor litter. I found so many specimens.

This one was the cleanest.

The Lego Zombies thought it was great too.

Why not get some for supper?
Not that I'd try it, but apparently it doesn't hurt skeletons.

There was so many of them in this little area that I was able to shoot in several spots. 

A vampire knight seems to be happy in this bunch of older fungi.

The mornings have been foggy and of course damp. The past two mornings have been cool along with a heavy dew. Even the flower beds are sprouting little fungi families.

These are more than likely 'Common Ink Caps'. The appear and quickly spore and shrivel up.

Don't eat the mushrooms...at least I don't even try unless it is something I definitely know is safe.

I wonder if the dinosaurs were told to be careful???

Gee, I don't know.

Birds, Bees, Flowers, Wildlife, and Mules

We saw this doe walk out of the woods and pretty soon two fawns came racing from the tall grasses. I don't often get to see a doe nursing her fawn, let alone nursing twins.

Fighting Tiny Titans

not a fantastic shot but you can see the hummers chest thumping each other in a dispute over the Bee Balm and the other flowers in our east garden.
 

It's July. It is hot, humid, muggy, and there is a smokey haze. The yard was still too wet from our rain the night before of 1 inch. So I took a chair out next to the garden used my long lens to observe the goings on in my garden.

A Fritillary Butterfly and a Bumble Bee were both enjoying my Blazing Stars.

A Silver Spotted Skipper [?] seemed to be fascinated with my Forget me nots.

The bees were crazy busy. Even extremely tiny ones. 

I caught sight of some house finches enjoying the feeder also.

I can enjoy photographing the flowers and all of the activity and still be near enough to the house to check on my 'patient'. 

Morning light on a pumpkin flower with a busy Bee Butt full of pollen.

I have several pumpkin plants that did free seeding in the mules lot. I'll have to fence them off later if I want pumpkins for this fall. I also have 3 or 4 plants growing in my flower beds. Why not? Less yard I have to mow!

The sun flowers are beginning to get ready to show off their blossoms and with that, the bees will pollinate and the Goldfinches will get busy at eating the seeds. I let them have plenty before I take and save the seeds for next year's planting.

I'm looking forward to having the mule gals' pasture brush hogged. Hopefully it will help keep down the noxious weeds and the burdock. If I can get a regular schedule for next year I will be a happy person and so will my gals.

Sundance looks over Siera's back.

Sunshine enjoys a weedy pasture, she can swipe irritating flies off her body.

They may look like the same red mules, but they aren't. They are half sisters with the same mom, different donkey dads. Sunshine is 28 and Sundance is 16. I can easily tell them apart by their body shape and their tails which are different shades.

I finally did get out into the woods on Sunday morning. I found some very interesting mushrooms.

More...later!

Another fishing day...

 

We now have to bring Bassy. You know, the Stuffy Fish, along with us when we go fishing. Bassy is supposed to give us good luck.

Here is Bassy overlooking the situation while the two guys have a major fishing discussion on the little dock.

Hubby didn't want me to bring Bassy out on the dock, he was afraid he'd drop it out of his pocket. I was charged with keeping Bassy safe.

While hubby wasn't watching, I crept up and put Bassy right next to his wheel chair. Bassy needed to supervise. 

Steve saw what I was doing and started chuckling.

Some fish were caught. They were too small, but Bassy had to check them out...

Other interesting things were the Damselflies doing their ritual to lay eggs on vegetation in the man made lake. Not the best photo, but I am discovering more things as our friend Steve shares his knowledge regarding fishing areas around us.

So we were at Cazonovia Memorial Park fishing at Lee Lake aka as Cazenovia Mill Pond. It is a man made lake with a dam that has about 58 or so acres of water.

I went over to look at the dam which I haven't seen since 1996 when I stayed in Caz on a Wagon Train adventure.

It looks much different now. What 29 years will do to an area!

Best of all, the ol' fellas had another great day as I did too. 

I love the welcoming sign.

This Piers for You
In Memory of Mikey

Another great quiet spot for two old friends to spend the day.

Gardens, flowers, birds

 I'm really enjoying my flower gardens around the house. Yes, all the way around the house. Each little garden has flowers that will flower at different times all summer which provides me with joy and colorful subjects to admire.

My short sunflowers are getting ready to show off their blossoms. The blue cosmos have overtaken the zinnias but the zinnias will preserver and have their time to show off also.

In front of the house we have our Oriole feeder and it is getting quite busy with both Orioles and their fledglings and other birds. I think these are house finches and it seems the sparrows have found a taste for oranges also.

The hummers and more interested in the Borage, Forget me Nots, Bee Balm, and Hosta flowers. Each day I gather a few flowers to bring inside.

I guess having to stick around the house all of the time has made my gardens cleaner and prettier. At least I think so!

The birds continue to entertain us at the feeders. Here is a 12 second video of birds at the Oriole feeder. Note that sparrows, Grosbeaks, and Orioles use it. Not shown is the hoards of house finches [?] that are swarming the feeder at different times also.

The Orioles are bringing their fledglings to the feeder too and feeding them. I haven't caught that in a photo yet, but I'll try.

I did do a still life...with dried mushrooms I found in the yard and garden Phlox petals.

This is for Miss Merry:  [It started raining this morning! Again!]

Wednesday was fishing day and adventure day. We both got worn out but had a great time...I might even write about that adventure later....

Now to enjoy the rainfall because that means I can take a nap and not worry about mowing the yard that is too soggy.

Just another ordinary week.

When one day feels like a whole week....

Sometimes I can get out for a walk and to beat the heat, the last few walks I've done have been at sunset. I set hubby up with a TV show and go for long walk on the ridge. The woods are thick with brush and skeeters at this time of night.

Usually there is a breeze on the ridge and if I am lucky, the skies are beautiful also.

The shot below is looking back at our house as I head up the driveway.

This one is taken at our mailbox on the ridge looking east.

I turn around here and head back home, I know how long I can be out and about and time the walk with the end of the show.

After putting him to bed, I headed back out on to the porch to see the moon come over the trees. It was nice to look at.

I couldn't resist trying to take another shot[s] of the fireflies. I guess they have been my obsession this year since I've been watching them since late May.

They were quite active. I imagine the heat and humidity keeps them going. [The moon was not that large, I put it there to hide the smear of light from the long exposure.]

I spent the morning working on the wreck of one of my favorite little pastures.

I am lucky that my mules obey one single hot wire and don't bother it. There is a fence in that mess, it is a 4 strand barbed wire fence that had a single hot wire running on the inside of it. The mules have lived with this boundary for 20 years and have no desire to push through it. They have plenty of feed on this side of the fence.

I put a single hot wire over the trees and inside the pasture away from the mess.

I went back to check on the forest and saw this.

I need a chainsaw gang to cut through this mess or just let the animals find a way around it. I'm going to shorten the availability of the forest and lessen my fencing work.

There are 3 more trees down across the fence above the creek. I'm going to pull the hot wire and this fall pull the posts. The gals don't need to go all the way down there any more.

I've made an executive decision to have the southern pasture [field] mowed. I'll hire the guy that did my trees last year. I have some work for him to do so this place doesn't look like a disaster area.

I did take a break and worked on my Echo weed eater.

I thought I had it fixed and ... I didn't. I may need a 'new' head for it. However, I did get the trimming done with only one line attached. When I ran into the tough stuff, the machete worked out well.

It seems that I get the yard mowed, we have inches of rain, humidity, ... I catch up a bit on the garden and the trimming ... and 

back to mowing. I have an inner sense of time. I do some work, run to the house and check on hubby, go back out, work...come inside, meds...lunch... and then chill out time for a bit in the heat of the day.

I DO find some time to chill out.

In fact I decided to take a hint from Aurora ... I decided to make a raft for my Legos. It was a way that my husband could be amused and I could spend some quiet time indoors.

Hot glue, strands of twine, moss to cover the mess.... and...

It looks like a pretty neat little raft...

It won't float for real..., but this guy can use it in his escape from dinosaurs...

at least when I get around to setting that up....

Here is this little piece of serenity. Bachelor Bucks in Velvet having their night out.

Today is Tuesday and I have a major car repair that can't wait. Wednesday sounds like a fishing day with Steve. Yesterday we saw the Social Worker and his nurse. I'll be firing our Respite Gal after today. I cannot cannot trust someone who is not responsible enough to get to her job on time with my husband's care. 

He doesn't trust her any more either so it is no longer a good fit.

The pressure is on and I am working details out on how to continue care here at home and do the things I need to do.

Last night I went to the hill north of the house to watch the sky and the field. The moon rose behind me and I enjoyed the show. 

I LOVE fireflies, this summer they have given me hope and courage with their bright lights and flickers.

PS-- Hubby needed my help while I was up there and he opened up the bedroom window and rang the cowbell.

😉😊😁😀...and that my dear friends worked so well!