Mushrooms Coming Up

As expected, 7 days of rain has driven up a flush of various kinds of mushrooms.

The first one is the Elegant Stinkhorn fungus (Mutinus elegans).  It is also called the "dog penis" mushroom. It takes buckets of rain to drive these up, and they do not last long.

The ones below might be Wine Cap mushrooms gone a bit long.  The last picture is definitely Wine Caps.

Blue and Gray, Green and Red

Monocacy Civil War battlefield, Maryland. just down the road a few miles. Every inch of Virginia and Maryland was soaked in blood and I hunt where the dead have fallen. I do not wonder why the soil is red.

Will This Work?

I have a wonderfully vocal, but problematic, Carolina Wren nesting about the house. 

Her first nest (successful) was in the front door wreath, which curtailed front door exit and entry for several weeks.

Last week, I noticed her inside the open garage, carrying pine needles in her beak.  She couldn’t possibly be nesting in there with dogs and the paint cans and me knocking about with tools and trash bags, could she?

She could.

My wife found the rather enormous nest, built almost overnight, in the box of microfiber cloth used for furniture and general cleaning.

Today, with the garage door open, the wren was back — very vocal and quite disturbed that her nest was in the same location, but no longer in the deep protective box.

Something had to give, and I decided to be firm but helpful.

I cut down an Almond Milk jug, cut a few drainage holes into the bottom, spray-painted it a dull green, and wired it into the fork of a small tree at the entrance to the garage — the very tree this very loud wren uses, every day, to serenade.  I then shoved the over-large nest inside, doing as best I could to preserve the round bowl inside. 

It was a tight fit, but that’s how Carolina Wrens like it.

Will the wren see her repositioned nest in the new location?  

I have high hopes.

Red-bellied Woodpecker Chick Reuniting With Mom

The night-time hours of predation by fox, raccoon, and possum are behind us, and the Red-bellied Woodpecker chick is very animated this morning. Mom knew right where she was, and called instantly.  I put a suet block in the feeder to help her along.

A Great Package of Threads

IF YOU ARE ON THREADS, I recommend thewokesalaryman.  

All the art is hand-drawn. 

Every post could be a children’s book of enlightenment.

Fledgling Red-bellied Woodpecker

Walking the dogs, Willow the Italian Greyhound cross, found what I believe is a juvenile Red-bellied Woodpecker, fresh out of the nest hole.

Based on location found, it may be hatched out of one of the hollow tree-limb birdhouses I put up a year or two ago. It was no more than 20 feet away.

I got the chick away from the dog (no damage, and a *very* animated chick). I then sussed out what to do using an Amazon box (mulch and sticks on the bottom), which I placed on top of my car, safe from raccoons, possums, fox, black rat snakes, and hawks.

Mom will be close by, and I have other cars to drive. Woodpeckers are box or tree hollow nesters, and an Amazon box is going to feel familiar.

It's almost 6 pm now, and we have a parade of predators that come through the yard every evening. Night is a very dangerous time for a fledgling on the ground.

If the chick is still in the box tomorrow morning, it will get a limb ladder out, and the box will get placement in a high tree.

Baby Mouse Wine

 

Baby mouse wine is a traditional medicinal tonic found in parts of China and Korea. It is made by drowning live, hairless baby mice (under 72 hours old) in rice wine and leaving them to ferment for at least 12 to 14 months.

Historically used as a remedy for asthma and liver disease.

Those who have tried it describe the taste as a mix of gasoline and decaying animals.

Listening to Another Dog

There Are No Christo-Fascists; Only Fascists

Irish Potato

I was feeling achy this morning, so hit the hot tub to try to treat the arthritis and relax me enough to maybe sleep.

The water is pumped from our 560-foot deep well, and heated electrically.  The house hot water is heated with propane, and it’s gloriously warm.

War Is About Horror, Not Heroes

Don’t romanticize war. Look war in the face:  the shattered lives and broken bodies, the burned houses and stolen property.  

The horror of war falls disproportionally on the poor who fight to protect the assets and line the pockets of those who would deny basic civil rights to the “other” — blacks, women, Hispanic, muslim, gay, Jew, Asian, and Native — even as the rich, landed, and privileged buy their way out of service, off the front line, and into Ivy League schools. 

Memorial Day is a fantasy; a gloss of flags and bunting, mowed lawns and backyard cookouts. It’s a fanfare for the next war; a glorification and a manipulation to obscure the truth. No one was freed, and every dollar plowed into weapons was stolen from public school budgets, housing, road repair, and health care.  

War is a crime. Those who steal property and kill those they do not know, in a country they cannot find on a map, for a cause they cannot articulate, based on a history they do not know, are not engaged in a noble cause, but a crime.

You want to fight for freedom? Great. Act local. Drive people to the polls. Stand up for the rights of women, trans people, religious minorities, and the disabled. Help the poor and homeless, the foster kids and single moms. Pick up trash and demand police accountability. Stand up to the bullies, racists, Proud Boys, Nazis, and fascists in your neighborhood, on social media, on TV, and in your state legislature.  

Do that, and nothing good is destroyed, while lives are saved and never lost.

What We Intentionally Forget on Memorial Day

 This Memorial Day, let's remember that everyone was asked to serve and die for liberty and democracy, but very few saw full rights extended at home.

The Wisdom and Passion of Eddie Chapman

Eddie Chapman is gone, but his wisdom and passion live on in these two books dedicated to working Jack Russell Terriers.  

These are truly excellent books, steeped in experience with shovel and dirt rather than theory and rosettes.

I have a number of each book to give away, for the price of postage ($7 for both, limit of one order per person and address).

The $7 cost of postage can be remitted via Venmo or Cash App or PayPal.  Postage payment and mailing address  to >> Patrick Burns >> siriusdogma [at sign] gmail.com

I will ONLY mail to addresses in the United States.

These books are available for two very specific purposes:  1) to encourage more field work with working terriers in the US, and; 2) to memorialize Mr. Chapman’s stewardship of the working Jack Russell Terrier.

Please, no book collectors or dust collectors.  I have a limited number of these books, and the best way to honor Eddie and the dogs is to put them in the hands of those who will read them carefully, internalize the message, and pass on the books to the next generation.  This is part of that effort.

Incredible, Edible Fungus Among Us

CHICKEN OF THE WOODS and WINE CAP MUSHROOMS coming up the yard. Both are very choice edible, and are easy to identify.