Its Bright! Its Yellow!

   I guess I am one of the very few people in this old world who finds all things of nature interesting.  Since most of my days are spent outside, it seems that I see my share of just about everything.  So, it is only natural for me to "study up" (using Granddad's term) on new findings.  I might as well learn.  Sitting inside is not for me nor is repeating the same activities.  Learning, on the other hand, is!  Learning about all things of nature is even more.

  With the copious rainfall that has occurred in the past few months, the hillside is in a constant state of "wet".  That moistness combined with the warmth of spring causes some pretty amazing growths in the yard.  This morning's hike found me taking photographs of slime mold.  Yeah, I was on my knees photographing that stuff that most people say "Yuck!" over.  I am ok having the stuff around only because it causes no problems.  It is not toxic, it is not harming the trees or plants, it is only around for a few weeks, at best.

  This particular slime mold has the lovely, catchy name of "Dog Vomit" Slime Mold.  Indeed, it does resemble that more on the second day than the first.  It was my thought that the fresh stuff looks a whole lot more like a yellow, kitchen sponge or even some grated cheese than dog puke.  In fact, it is almost pretty!  Granted, by the end of the day, the stuff turns sort of "bile" brown and chunky.  

  Folks, embrace what Mother Nature provides even if it is a slime mold.  Time is too short to be so "cotton-pickin' nitpicky"...to use another of Granddad's phrases.  Yep, this is the same man who got me started delving into all things natural.  I sure miss our times discussing whatever happened our way even if it was Dog Vomit Slime Mold.  Smart man.

Drippy, Drippy, Drippy!

  Back in October, I was happily munching on the wild persimmons that grow beside the path near the marsh. These little golden blobs are sort of an acquired taste since they can be quite tart or astringent at times. To me, they are perfect.  It was. also, at this time that I cut open the seeds to see the "weather forecast" for the coming winter months.  There were spoons.  For those who are not familiar with this folklore, cut open the seeds and you will find cutlery.  A knife means stabbing cold, a spoon represents snow (or, in our case, rain) and a fork means warm.  I found spoons....lots and lots of spoons.  Nary another utensil showed.  I pondered this.

  Well, so far this winter, we have had rain...lots and lots of rain.  In fact, I think this has to be one of the wettest winters on record for the Deep South.  It has also been warm.  My old wood-burning stove has only been used a handful of times this season.  I have only burned two wheelbarrows of firewood and some of that was more for ambiance than heat.  

  As I write, it is pouring rain once again.  Our temperatures hover around the mid 60s both day and night.  When it is not raining, it is foggy.  Pea soup thick fog blankets the entire Bayou.  The humidity is a stifling to a point that we finally broke down and bought a dehumidifier for the living room.  It works great if you can get past the idea of having to empty the thing.  The "empty" alarm sounds just about every 6 hours....day and night just to keep the indoor humidity a around a 50% level in that one room.  Honestly...when you hear folks down here say "Its not the cold.  It is the humidity." or, in the summer, "It is not the heat.  It is the humidity.", believe us.  We speak the truth.

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!