WiseAcre Gardens

Turkeys in the north country have been feeling pretty romantic lately. The males are all pimped out and busy strutting their stuff. There’s an awful lot of flirting going on out in the open lately. The hay fields seem to be the favorite turkey hang out these days.

Normally the turkeys are wary enough to run off to the woods if you pull over to stop. Even now when they have urgent business on their minds it’s still hard not to disturb them. This is the typical scene from the road. This is ‘close’ – only a couple hundred yards but still too far for the 18x zoom to get a good focused shot of the turkeys.

Closer to home I caught sight of a male displaying only a few feet off the side of the road. On the other side were the ladies. I still find it hard to believe this guy was so involved with trying to impress the ladies that he didn’t bolt when I pulled over. I actually had enough time to get one shot of him displaying before he casually (for a turkey) crossed the road.

This was one brave turkey. Instead of bolting for cover he was determined to follow after the now long gone ladies even if it meant crossing my path. I couldn’t have been more than 20 feet from him and he didn’t take flight. To see more detail on the feathers click the images for a larger version (1024 x 768) or to use as desktop wallpaper.

Like a teenage boy this turkey would throw all caution to the wind and risk death for a slim chance to roll in the hay with some grown up chick.

Men probably never change but some of us do stop that kind of behavior. Let’s face it, when we start to resemble a turkey from the neck up our chances are a whole hell of a lot less than slim.

Dumpster diving Sea Gulls enjoy an …All you can eat buffet.

I’m pretty sure this is NOT the image the restaurant wants associated with it’s name.

Some regular patrons enjoying the outdoor dining facilities.

Tastes like chicken

…goes down like fish.

I think I swallowed a bone.

I brought those images home from Long Island. After 11 days of take out food I was glad to get home. I’m looking forward to finally being able to get back to the woods and forget that asphalt jungle.

Seems like winter beat me back. The yard looks good with snow hiding all the leaves I haven’t managed to rake up yet. …but the 12 cords of wood I stacked in the basement before I left even looks better right now.

…is the common name I believe some gardeners would like for this tiny mushroom. Why else would I use the name as the title? The other common names just don’t seem so interesting although one does leave me wondering.

Bisporella citrina

Yellow Fairy Cups can be found throughout North America and are generally seen growing on rotting logs. All you have to do is look close if you see a yellow ‘stain’ on dead wood.

Lemon Disc seems more suited to these mushrooms. That’s pretty much what I see
(when magnified).

Lemon Drops is a good name too. The early growth is sphere shaped before they flatten out. I only wish they were much larger. I wouldn’t be lying if I offered you a Lemon Drop, now would I?

I saw Lemon Disco on a few mycology websites and that left me wondering. It could be the name of some Fairy hangout where they go to dance. But if I ever hear Disco in the woods some fairies are going to get stomped on.

Hey I know the jokes are real

They thought they’d sneak into the garden today but I managed to scare them away with some bad puns. They reminded me I shouldn’t complain about the deer. Deer are nothing compared to what turkeys will do to a garden. Deer only over prune, turkeys leave behind a WW1 landscape.

And now for a happy face

Click for desktop wallpaper version

I think.
Kind of hard to tell with Scottish Highland cattle. I’ll assume this heifer is at least contented.