Nature Post! Fungi Included!

[rubyelf]

 It's been a strange sort of spring... switching between scorching summer-like heat and rainy, frost-tinged winter cold. And it's been a busy one so far, without much time to get out to my lake. On this day, I'd decided that instead of walking around at my lake, I'd go check out the trails at the environmental center that borders along the state

Comments

[smittenbyu]

wow!! What a find!! The fungi are beautiful! Our friends are collecting logs to grow some for fun in their backyard!! Can't wait to see all that. The bones as always.. how fascinating!! And that joint... wow...

[rubyelf]

You'll have to take some pictures!

[ragnarok_08]

Whoa, those pictures are lovely, and the fungi look glorious :D

[rubyelf]

Thank you!

[bluegerl]

WALKIES!!! Bless you Elf.... super super paddles and pokes and smells, and the FUNGHI!!! Oh goodness. I love those teensy thin shelf ones - so FINE they look as if a drop of rain would break them off.
And as for the skeleton... No big predator wild life to munch and tear at and spoil the shape, just small beetles to chomp quietly and remove the flesh from the frame. That wonderful leaping galloping breathing ALIVE frame, like a human being walking...

I am AMAZED that we are - HOW we are, filled and fleshed with stuff that dissolves until only, one day, our tiny toe bones are left - and there ARE matching ones here for each hoof side. OOOOOOOGHHHHHH YUMMY.

I wonder what he died of? no sign of attack? my goodness. Good old Dawkins. (I hate my genes, they're not behaving well at all!!! teehee)

[rubyelf]

Actually... I spotted it last night after I posted, looking at the pictures... see the second picture of the bones, with all the ribs? Look down the right side toward the bottom. There are several broken ribs. And those weren't broken after it died... you can tell from the way bone breaks. That shattering with the bone still flexible is perimortem... this was a gunshot. You can even see the rounded edge of one of the fractures. Got hit, hunter was probably tracking it, but it ran down into the ravine and they couldn't find it. It was a pretty isolated little corner where I spotted it. Would have been dangerous to try to follow a deer down there in winter.

I'm so glad you could come with me on this walk, darling, even only in your mind. I treasure them with you.

[bluegerl]

I'm getting as far as shops now! JUST! not exactly wild life walkies! But yes, I see the ribs... he must have been a young beast - his teeth are so SHARP! Hardly worn at all. oooh all this detective work is such fun. And Looking again at those shelf funghi...I LOVE the treacley ones... all sort of hard butterscotch tasty looking. And those delicate ones to start... seriously, they melt into ink? We do have quite a lot of that variety here... I used to love poking them and watching them dissolve. (horrid me).

Hell. lst June tomorrow and it will soon BE time for our autumn Funghi... and coloured leaves. How are your peregrines? My hosp taxi Driver Christophe went to Scotland for his hols to find EAGLES... and I told him where to find them so I hope he did! I also hope he ate some real river mounting salmon from a Loch.

Feel better today, just a wee bitty each day... just keep taking the medecine! hahaha. Tworks tho! Hugs love, and my regards to the Boys at work!!! XXXXX

[rubyelf]

I do love all the things bones can tell you...

I have not been down to see my ospreys for a while. The eggs should be hatched and hungry.

I am so glad to hear you sounding more and more like yourself!

[howlin_wolf_66]

Climbing over the creek looks like it will be fun! :-) *hugs*

[rubyelf]

It will be fun!

[vjezkova]

I am so glad you took the trail - because I cam profit from your discoveries. What a lovely place! It reminds me of similar forest springs here , minus the hemlock trees, of course. But the magic is the same.
Mushrooms! Wow - these Ganoderma is something I have never seen before (but of course!). Really varnished, oh dear, the colours and how beautifully arranged.
I loved your forensics of the fallen deer. And I loved your words "NATURE REVEALED". You accept the Nature the way I understand and like. All is natural - from birth to death. There is nothing morbid, why should be? This is how Nature works. Thank you so very much!

[rubyelf]

I always feel like you and looloo are with me when I'm walking and looking at things and thinking about them... it makes me happy to feel like my friends will be able to see what I see.

I had never seen this beautiful mushroom before either! Of course, it grows only on hemlocks and they are not a common tree around here... they are a bit odd for conifers. They tolerate extreme cold and snow, of course, but they need less sun than most conifers and they have very little tolerance for dryness. That's why this deep rocky area with the creek is so good for them... because the bottom is always shady and water is always flowing, the soil is never really dry. It is actually a special ecosystem that exists in the northeastern USA wherever conditions are just right...