On to Fall!

Finally!  Finally, today I found the first inkling that perhaps Fall is on its way!  There have been a few mornings of late the the temperatures suggested that the elusive season could well be on its way but today was the first sure sign!  I found one...count it...one lovely leaf dressed in its fall attire!  Not an entire tree, mind you, but a single leaf!  Is it possible for a single leaf to elate a person to this point? Sure!  When it has been as hot and dry as this past month..sure..one leaf can, indeed, bring on a smile!  And it did!

The tiny leaf from the Black Gum tree came wafting down in the strong breeze that came with the rains earlier today.  I was outside trying to convince Ms. Ezzy that she really needed to chase the squirrels that were making short work of the sunflower seeds in the feeder.  Talking to this dog is sort of the same as having a chat with the proverbial brick wall.  Sometimes, I think I could have a much better conversation with a brick than this critter!  She has a knack of completely ignoring chatter when it does not suit her needs.  Still, chasing squirrels used to be her favorite pastime but now she would rather investigate a leaf.  The dog actually spotted the leaf before I did and she was most insistent on eating it!  Not my leaf!  This pretty multicolored leaf called for a photograph!  So, Ms. Ez was out of luck!  After I shooed her away from the leaf, I set to work getting the perfect picture.  I promptly forgot the dog. Usually, she is no problem as she is used to running free about the hillside. I figured she would eventually find that squirrel interesting and bound after it.  Not so!  When I finished my picture-taking minute, I searched for the dog.  By this time, she had found something interesting, alright...just not particularly what I had hoped.  She was sniffing mushrooms with all intentions of munching a few of those!  Oh, no!  You will not eat any more of those things!  I refuse to have to doctor you from stomach ailments due to stupidity!  Yes, I know that puffballs are supposed to be edible but, well, I am not taking the chance!  I shooed the dog away from the mushrooms.

I was rather relieved when this outing was cut short due to a sudden shower.  When the sprinkling started, Ms. Ez made a dash for the door.  She had enough of this outdoorsy stuff for the day! Silly dog!  I am happy with my one fall leaf and will not complain.  This is a harbinger of Fall and a bit of cooler weather..and..the rain is always welcome!

Golf Balls, Puffballs and Billy Goats!

I know what you are thinking..what in the world do these three things have in common? Well..they don't have anything in common.. or do they? In most people's worlds, they do not but then again, I am not "most people". So consequently, in my world these three things are all so intertwined that they become one big ole mess of similarity. First, let me start with the golf balls. I do not golf..chasing a little white ball around a field (that could better be used as a garden space) seems remotely inane to me. Nor do I live near a golf course. Yet, here lately as I am cutting grass, I randomly find new golf balls in my yard. Where they come from, I do not know. Perhaps a neighbor across the Bayou has a really good swing? Perhaps some large bird such as the osprey is picking them up at a golf course somewhere only to drop them in my yard? Or perhaps BP tried to plug the oil spill with them and they blew here with the sheer force of the erupting oil and gas??? I have no clue..it remains a mystery. I do pick them up when I find them which leads me to this morning. I was hauling a load of mulch in the old pickup when I drove over a "golf ball". (Hint..notice the quotes! Maybe you can see where I am going with this.) Anyway, after working several hours with the mulch, I went back to retrieve the ball. To my surprise, it was not a golf ball at all but rather a perfect specimen of Puffball! For those not familiar with Puffballs, they are a type of mushroom that has an interior of spore-bearing flesh. When mature it sort of splits open at the top and the spores poof out when anything (raindrops, wind, passing animals or curious youngsters) disturbs the mushroom. It was a perfectly round Puffball just the same size as a golfball and was the whitest white mushroom I have ever seen. Gorgeous! It had a wonderful texture on the outside that reminded me of the Epcot Center but adding that one to the list would have been just too much! Anyway..now you see how the golf balls and Puffballs are related in my story!

Now for the Billy goats..how do they fit into this tale? Well, my mind seems to ramble when things interest me and this Puffball claimed my attention for quite some time. As I sat there taking picture after picture of the lovely fungi (there were several of all stages of maturity!), my mind traveled back in time. Back to a time of sitting on the front porch of my childhood home listening to stories being told by my dad. He would tell the most fascinating tales of his boyhood. One of these stories involved a neighbor's goats. It seems that Dad had visited this neighbor and had received a warning of the mean Billy goat. Being the curious lad he was, he ventured back to the barn where the goats were mingling. I can imagine he did a bit more than just view the goats as one decided to give chase. Dad..the lad..ran from the goat to the nearest escape. The ladder to the hayloft of the old barn would surely rescue him from the galloping goat! He climbed the ladder and flopped in the soft hay thinking he had outwitted the wily critter. Not so..the goat merely climbed the ladder behind him! Aha! He would wait until the goat got to the top and then jumping down, he would be free. All went according to plan, Dad..the lad..was now safely in the barnyard again and the goat was in the hayloft! Not for long..for around the corner came the goat..head down ready to make connection with the backside of a young man that more or less instigated the attack. Not knowing what else to do, this young man reached down and picked up..yes..a large Puffball! When the Billy goat got near enough, poof! The Puffball spores made contact with its nose and caused a sneezing attack from the poor goat and a laughing attack from Dad! A sure case of "boys will be boys"! And that is how the Billy goat became tied in with the Puffballs and golf balls in today's post! Note..if you look closely in the last picture you can see the spores poofing out of the Puffball as I poked it with a stick!