First up is a fleshy, leafy lichen on a bed of rock and moss. My best guess on an ID would be this is a Felt Lichen – Peltigera polydactylon. I’ve tamed it down some but it’s still a pretty wild guess. My only ‘research’ was looking at far too many photos trying to find a match.

Lichen Wallpaper Large Lichen photos are linked to a 1024 x 768 sized image Lichen Thumbnails are linked to 1680 x 1050 wide screen image The light colored odd shaped growths are another mystery to me. New growth? Reproductive tomfoolery? Mutant terrestrial rock kelp?

Long past their season these Orange Mock Oysters wintered over in fine shape. Wish I had found them in the fall when they were fresh. They might have smelled then. Orange Mock Oysters grow on both hardwood and conifers but the odd thing about them is they don’t smell when growing on conifers. I’ve found them growing on hemlock and couldn’t detect a hint of any odor. Today’s find was on an old dead birch but if they had any odor it was freeze dried out. One other note: they’re supposed to taste worst than they smell.

Orange Mock Oyster – Phyllotopsis nidulans

Mock Oyster Wallpaper – 1024 x 768

The If I don’t use them now I’ll never use them category

Ice Quake

Huge slabs of river ice have cracked and buckled along the shoreline while performing their own version of the plate tectonics shuffle.

The camera can’t catch what the eye sees in this photo.

The siren song of honking Canadian Geese lured me down to the river. That and wanting to take photographs of anything but moss today. I was hoping to find happy signs of Spring. What I ending up finding was the cruel grip of Winter exposed on the bank of the Grasse River.

There were a few Canadian Geese swimming along the far side of the river. But what I ’saw’ was the ice jam that had until recently choked the river had broken up leaving thick sheets of ice tumbled along the bank. Spring now rules on the north shore. Nothing harsh there – I have to agree with Martha Stewart. Breaking the back of Old Man Winter.
...’that’s a good thing’

The Grasse is greener on the other side of the river. Over on my side of the river a wooded hill shades the ice until late afternoon. On this side Winter still grips the river bank. It’s slowly losing it’s grasp but the ice still extends a good way into the river from the shoreline.

The following photographs are no more gruesome than Mother Nature herself. But your imagination may be. What happened here is anyone’s guess. I certainly don’t have a clue how this coyote got caught in this predicament. There is a run off stream that flows to that spot. Could the body been washed downhill? Or did the varmint slip into the river while crossing and pushed to this point by the ice?

I can’t be positive this is a coyote. I’m just guessing. It’s been ‘no more’ for a long time and is yucky looking. Besides that all the run off has left the coat caked in silt and grit. But whatever it is the image provokes some horrific thoughts.

Pleasant Dreams

Try not to think about it.

Mysteriously formed holes and moss growing on a rock. I don’t have any idea how the holes were formed but they did give me some other ideas. First thing I thought of was to bring the rock home with me. Trouble is it’s nearly a mile away and still frozen in place. I’ll have to hike back with a pry bar and sled. It’s not the only mossy rock on my list either. I better get busy before the snow melts and get my treasures home before it’s too late.

Another idea that popped into my head was to start selling these miniature rock-moss gardens. But on second thought it’s not so practical since the postage would be a real deal breaker. It’s too bad, there are countless perfect little rock and moss gardens out there and I’m pretty sure there are just as many people that would appreciate having one of their own.

One of the holes made a perfect sunken moss garden

click image for a larger size (1024 x 768) for a closer look or to use as desktop wallpaper

Maybe it’s just me but when I look at this photograph I’m reminded of goose heads. These spore capsules haven’t lost their operculum (basically a lid that covers the top of the pod) and might make you take another gander at them.

I came across two creatures that looked like they had a tough winter this year. Both their coats looked the worst for wear.

Winter can be tough on a Porcupine. This one survived by eating bark from it’s Maple tree abode. It looks a little ratty sunning high up in a crotch of the tree but at least it made it through the tough winter.

Poor Skunk Hard hit by the sudden automotive depression it never had a chance to raise a stink and left this world scentless.

Off center questions:

Would Moss Hole and Spore Head make good cuss names in polite company?

What could be more uncomfortable than a porcupine in your crotch?