June was a very rainy month for us. Various amounts of rain were dumped out of our gauge on a regular basis. 5" one day, .25" the next and on and on. Regular rainy days are still happening. Wish I had kept track of our unusual rain fall from the start of this Summer.
One good thing about living in sand country is rain instantly soaks in. Friends that live about 10 minutes away (same town, different area) say their gardens are a muddy mess.
Meanwhile our woods turned into a tropical rainforest. The sound of chirping birds accompany us, and echoooo. You can hear various songs, but not see who is gleefully singing. Or scolding. Depending on the bird.
The dogs and I peacefully meandered along the trails. Both aging grand dogs wander off trail and require constant attention. Our Tank on the other hand, is the best hiking dog I've ever known. He waits/watches out for me and sticks close by. Sometimes too close lol.
My eyes quickly dart around, looking for anything different that stands out among the lush greenery. After the rains, some June finds are blobby and goey. They instantly make me think of Blogger gal pal Val. I would never have paid attention to things that remind me of snot, had she not made them look so interesting with her awesome Macro photography. Fungi has always popped out to my wandering eyes, and been of interest. I still think slimy moldy stuff is gross, but now it makes me curious. It is a wonder how/why it appears, morphs and then disappears.
Speaking of wonders, here are some from June:
not so cute larger pineapples
Remember the "cute" pineapples I found in May? I truly love pine trees, but pollen from the White Pines "pineapples" coated every.single.thing outside and on our doors. Nothing cute about it. When the wind would kick up, you could see swirling clouds of pollen falling from a distance. It was/is a bad year for allergies.
accumulation of pollen on our driveway
Normally I would get excited to have a chance to photograph an eagle. They have become common in our area. Seen at the river fishing, but also eating/hunting in farmers fields. Spotting an eagle too close to home, only made me worry for our cats. Specifically Leo.
taken from our driveway
We have one less (turkey) hen in the area. Perhaps hit by a vehicle? When Brad drove by earlier he saw the hen alive. It didn't take long for the eagle to spot it and take what it wanted. No, I did not go over and investigate when I returned home. Blech.
circle of life
Our three cats are such good mousers that they bring mice (and other victims) back to our barn!! Leo constantly hunts and most days can be seen in our wide open fields. Our two female cats (Purr & Tinkerbell) are more discrete. No way Leo could outrun an eagle in the field.
front porch safety zone
Just for the record, our cats are free fed dry food 24/7 and share a can of wet food every evening. It keeps them healthy, coming home and yes ~ hunting. I was told not to get attached to barn cats. Impossible!
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False Solomens Seal
An actual tiny strawberry growing on one of many wild plants
white slimy stuff started growing in/on many places, not just wood
goey goopy glop
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flat golden fungi pops up from the ground
first ever changing cute tiny fairy parasols appear!!!
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shelfy 'shrooms
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several huge old aging oaks in the lower hollow
endless white moldy fungi
white coral
fuzzy shelf 'shrooms
Spiderwort is prolific & beautiful this year!
lil’ pinky buds
pop goes the mushroom
After one of our many rainfalls, I pulled back a leaf and found this little guy had taken cover in my robust rhubarb plant. I was all smiles :))
peek-a-boo frog
3 comments:
Wow. There is a lot going on in your little tropical paradise. It’s the wild kingdom around there. Bald eagles hunting around you seems unusual behavior, but maybe all the rainfall has switched up their routines. That pollen, oh my goodness. You found a way to make the fungi look beautiful. Haha! Super cute frog. And yes to spoiling barn cats! You seem to have done well in keeping yours safe and alive. No easy task. But it probably helps that they have such a great barn palace to inhabit.
You found some great fungi! Oh you have rhubarb!! Some cats are hunters and some are just watchers...we had one that just watched mice:)
I enjoyed the stroll err scroll through the woods! All those tiny creations serve to remind us, as the Bible says, to everything there is a purpose.
Barn cats have pretty good self preservation, I think around here it isn't the resident eagles who get them it's those sneaky coyotes. Since Misty's kittens have gone to their new home with my niece, she came back in heat. The two tabbies, Tom and Harley, were happy to take advantage of that! So mid September there should be another litter to find, tame and socialize.
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