At the Cabin: July 2012

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Beleaf Me, I Heart You

Monday, July 30, 2012

Death of a Leucocoprinus birnbaumii

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Sunday, July 29, 2012

More Messages from the Grave Spelled Out in Yellow Mushrooms

This message says, "I'm so happy my little dead body is nourishing the ground and creating an environment conducive to these Leucocoprinus birnbaumii, or yellow pleated parasols as they are commonly called. They are beautiful and fascinating!"

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Darling Junior Scrub Jay

It's a bumper crop of scrubber babes this year; on a recent day I counted at least eight of them, in various stages of development, in the trees & on the ground outside the bathroom window. They are very loud young birds.

Catnap

Friday, July 27, 2012

What! Tibault is Dead? Then I am King of the Cats!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Evening Sky, Post-Centipede (7.15.2012)

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Centipede: Black, Yellow & Red, 10 Inches Long

I was cleaning out dead branches & cutting down little cedars under a madrone tree on the hill last weekend, happily working away in my shorts & sandals, when out of the corner of my eye I caught this giant centipede running for the tree. Fortunately it didn't want to meet me any more than I wanted to meet it!

The upper picture is its back end. Its head is bright red (hidden from us here) and its body is black; the legs are yellow. They are about 10 inches (25 cm) long.

The picture at right is it cowering under the leaves at the base of the tree. If it can't see me, I don't exist—right? But I still need to get some leather work boots!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Roadrunner!

Hugh looked up from the couch earlier to see a roadrunner looking in at him from its perch on the porch railing! By the time I got there with the camera, and then back again with the camera with its battery (which had been charging) in it, the bird had flown onto the patio, and then it left the patio for a nearby tree. Funny, one doesn't think about roadrunners flying, but they do. I've never seen one so close before. They're extraordinarily beautiful!