Alien Lifeforms???

  The other day, I saw something on social media that made me giggle.  A request was posted to "Describe 2018 in two words".  One answer was "It rained."  That, my friends, pretty much was the most accurate response that could have been made.  It rained.  And rained.  And rained.  So far, 2019 is starting out to be much the same.  This does not surprise me.  The sliced persimmon seeds predicted it.  Maybe those things are accurate...then again...maybe the rain caused the persimmon seeds to appear the way they did.  Still, to be honest, I find it great.  Rain is good no matter how you look at it.

  The copious amounts of rain has caused the ground to be a bit soggy and with the warm weather, this has caused profusion of fungi species to sprout up all over the place.  While some can be a bit smelly and others downright slimy, most are fascinatingly beautiful.  The hillside resembles some fantastical gnome kingdom.  Wandering the property, I keep waiting to find some happy little faerie sitting atop one of the 'srooms.  It just needs to be.  Not only are mushrooms taking over the place, mosses and lichens are flourishing, as well, in this warm. humid climate.  Down in the lower part of the front yard, an old oak tree is dropping a good many twigs that are covered with lichens of all kinds.  

  I am ever intrigued by the shapes and textures of lichens.  Some seriously remind me of an alien life form that has fallen to earth.  Contrary to what most folks believe, lichens are not parasitic plants that harm the host tree.  Instead they pretty much just use the tree for a place to anchor themselves.  They draw moisture and nutrients from the air.  They are often blamed for damaging trees since the lichens usually try to colonize on bark of twigs that are already dying.   They love damp areas with little air movement so the mugginess lately has been good to them.  Another thing that is good to know is that if you find a plethora of lichens in your trees, that usually means the air is rather clean and pure!  They prefer non-polluted areas and are rarely seen in places that cannot offer such.  Obviously, the Bayou and surrounding woods are blanketed with clean air as indicated by the overabundance of lichens!