Turkey tails, varnish shelf and rain....

June 23, 2024

 So, the heat dome came, and we cooked and sweltered for about three days, but now it has moved on eastward. The temperature came back to it's 'normal' range, and yesterday, last night, and this morning....it is raining, raining. The rain gauge was at the half inch mark yesterday around noon, so no watering will be necessary for a week.

On the hot days, we worked outside as long as we could stand it, then came in to clean up and cool down. Periodically, while outside, we'd pump up a good drink of icy water from the old well...so delicious. We did drive to Eganville one afternoon to pick up parts for a project Hubby is working on, and stopped at the picnic area along the highway beside Golden Lake at Deacon. The heat sure hit us on stepping out of the air-conditioned vehicle.

The project Hubby is working on involves milling some lumber, so he dropped a big spruce tree that was almost dead, and has been carrying the logs out of the bush, suspended from the tractor bucket to keep them clean for the milling process.

He was caught on 'bird cam' on his way out of the bush. Note the temperature. The camera is in the shade on the tree trunk, and does not factor in humidity.

We picked up the SD cards from the cameras yesterday...doing our walk around in a light drizzle. It appears that the birds and animals were laying low as well as the humans. There were some deer milling around the salt block, a couple having a bit of a spat, as ears were back and hooves were raised. There were repeat birds on 'bird cam', but this fellow was kind of cute...

despite the fact that he and his Chipmunk brethren have eaten pretty much every strawberry.....
The Purple Flowering Raspberries are blooming. They are a pretty flower, but the fruit is not too flavourful.

There are a lot of Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies around this spring. They seem to show up as soon as the lilacs start to bloom, and they love the chives. I wonder if they know that yellow and purple are such complimentary colours?

Sadly, we are not seeing many Monarch butterflies. I sure hope that changes as the summer progresses.

This bright fungus grabbed our attention along the trail, the moisture highlighting its colour, although it is shiny even when it isn't raining. A common name for it is Hemlock varnish shelf, because it does look like someone varnished it.

It is a Hemlock Reishi mushroom, appropriately growing on a mossy Hemlock stump. On another woods wander, I spotted this log covered in Turkey Tail mushrooms...What an interesting pattern their rosettes make.

Hopefully there will be lots of other mushrooms showing up after the rain. We are currently under a rainfall warning, expecting 50 to 80 mm (2 to 3 inches) before the sun comes out again. So, gardening is in a bit of a holding pattern. The peas are blooming and setting pods, we've been enjoying fresh assorted greens, and one of my favourites, baby beets and their greens. The spinach has bolted..of course. It will soon be time to thin the first planting of carrots, and the second one is showing tiny feathery shoots.