Just a bit of observation...

  This afternoon, a short hike was in order.  Son and I worked all day in the yard ripping out yet more fencing and arbors.  In fact, the place looks quite different now.  Once we completed our tasks for the day, I headed down to the pier.  Along the way, a pungent odor stopped me in my tracks.  Always alert for sounds and smells, I needed to find what was the source.  Critters and plants all have distinctive odors and it is best to know what lies in the path ahead.  It is my habit to never fully depend on sight since my eyesight has been waning somewhat in recent years.  This was more of a stench than the flowery aroma of most plants.  Watch the step!  Once the source was found, it caused a fit of giggles.  Under a tall pine tree, two mushrooms grew side by side.  One was a a red-capped beauty and the other was a type of stinkhorn.  That stinkhorn, of course, was the culprit that was making the lower yard a stinky place.  It is surprising just how large of an area can be affected by such a small thing.  

  This is a Column Stinkhorn meaning it burst out of its egg-like sac with columns or fingers.  Some folks call them Devil's Toadstools while others refer to them as Devil's Fingers.  Both names seem accurate especially due to the color and smell.  The Column Stinkhorns are usually red, pink or orange and the smell is akin to a mountain of smelly socks combined with rotting flesh.  I was fortunate that only one of the mushrooms had "hatched".  

  There is one thing that confuses me with these mushrooms.  Granted, the stinkhorn "eggs" (before they burst out with their orange "fingers") resemble some sort of critter egg, it surprises me just how many folks confuse the two.  Countless times, I have been asked "Are these snake eggs or duck eggs?"  Neither!  Critter eggs are not attached to the ground by root like structures called mycelium.  It takes a good bit of talk to convince some folks that their "find" is going to hatch into stinky mushrooms and not a bundle of fluffy ducklings or a clutch of highly venomous snakes.  Oh, people.  Observe!  Notice things!  Investigate!  Be aware!  Whatever...whatever.