A lot of gumption!

I am one of those people that take time to investigate things that most others just ignore.  Perhaps I am one of the few that do this but this trait was instilled in me long ago by my grandfather.  He always told me to look at the little things since the big things would be hard to avoid anyway.  This makes sense in a weird sort of way, I guess.  But since then, I have taken the time to look at many things that most pass without seeing.  Today...a mushroom!  Not that folks do not see mushrooms as they are everywhere but this one was different!  This mushroom had gumption!

I had made the mistake of mulching an area with what I thought was hay.  Turns out, what the lumber yard sold as hay was nothing more than Johnson Grass all baled up to look like hay.  Darling Daughter bought several bales to use as Halloween decorations and brought them down to me.  She thought I could use them in the garden...I did.  BIG MISTAKE!  For any who do not know, Johnson Grass is that noxious weed that grows like the proverbial..well..bad weed!  Once seeded, it is difficult to eradicate and has the bad habit of becoming quite toxic to animals if dried.  Hmmm...sounds like a bad choice to bale like hay but still someone did and Elizabeth bought it.  I stupidly mulched with it!  And I "un-mulched" it.  I pulled the "hay" back out of the area and had good intentions of burning it.  The weather did not cooperate so the mound sat.  Today, I headed out with Ms. Ez to survey the gardens.  Where the mulch had been there were a number of red-capped mushrooms!  Ooooh...pretty!  I got down on my knees to photograph the mushrooms when I realized that one was topless!  

This one mushroom had the bad luck of sprouting up in an old log.  This would not have been a problem except for some reason the cap decided to "bloom" out before the mushroom had actually cleared the broken shards of wood.  As the mushroom pushed forward, the entire cap became shredded.  Poor little mushroom!  Even as it was being ripped to pieces, it still pressed forward!  Now that is gumption!  By the time the mushroom had reached its full height, it was in shambles!  Its cap was smashed beneath the shards of wood but it stood proudly with the rest of the mushrooms!  It just goes to show, sometimes what holds us back is our mental inability to try..not our physical inability to overcome.  Or...maybe the old saying "What does not kill us only makes us stronger." applies here!  Or maybe one of the following does..."When you get in a tight place, everything goes against you."..or  "An optimists always sees the opportunity not the difficulty."  Whatever...I just think this was one gutsy mushroom!