Something's in the Garden....

I was off and running this morning before sunup!  Pitchfork in hand and trusty dog by my side, I hit the piles of debris once again.  With Michael out of commission due to a strained muscle in his chest and a sprained leg, the moving of the debris has been relegated to me!  I was determined to make a dent in those piles today and I needed to do it before the day's heat became unbearable.  That is just what I did...I made a dent..a small dent in the number of piles that Michael and Son-in-law, Robbie had stacked.  Still, I am pleased with the progress that I made and have every intention of getting up before the sun to start again in the morning.

When the coolness of morn melted into a stifling heat, I called it quitting time on that nasty job and moved on to the Rose Garden.  There the rose canes needed trimming and the zinnias needed to be dead-headed.  I never got to either of those chores as something distracted me! (Nothing unusual  about that!)  On the old, dead Black Gum Tree, a bright white object caught my eye enough to warrant inspection!  I fought with the errant rose canes to get a better look..there on the side of the dying tree were some sort of mushrooms!  They were stacked one atop the other up the side of the tree much like the shelf mushrooms but these were different as they had gills instead of pores.  I have no clue as to the type and surely would not know if these are edible.  Not that I would try them anyway since I think they are quite lovely as a garden accessory and not particularly as an item on my plate!

As I stood staring at the mushrooms growing out the side of the tree, I noticed that I was being pelted with some small white chunks of gunk!  Looking up, I had to start giggling as a young squirrel was clambering around the top of the dead tree and each time it scurried over a higher clump of mushrooms, his feet would rip tiny pieces off of the clump.  Those pieces would shower down on my head!  I think the squirrel was trying to tell me to scram!  Obviously, the little squirrel was not too happy that I had invaded "its" territory!  I suppose "my" Rose Garden is now a home to squirrels and they want no part of me being there!  I took a few pictures of the lovely mushrooms, fought my way back out of the rambling roses and retreated to the Little Bayou House for a cup of coffee.  I figured that I had worked enough outside to deserve a break!