Beautiful Blessings - 8/22/15

~ Spending the morning rhyming with a friend. The smiles on my part never did end. I suppose y'all find that quite queer, but for me, I fear, there is someone even better than that. My Mommy dear, who can rhyme things at the drop of the hat! Isnt she great? I shall have to accept my fate as second best. And now for the rhyming, I shall give it a rest. ;~)

~ Having the heavy clouds clear off for beautiful blue skies!

~ Enjoying a lovely snack of a tomato and a mushroom! And....playing with the mushroom ;~)

~ Finding a flowering sunflower in the sun!

~ The moon <3 Its just about half full!

Science Saturday: Hawks & Mushrooms!

(I took this picture on a hike with my best friend while we were camping :~D ) 

A few marginally thought-provoking things of interest: 

• Hawks are not hawks. (Just don't confuse them with crows like I did when I was kid.) Hawks are actually a name for a raptor that eats other birds. They are part of the genus Accipiter. What we think of as Hawks are from the genus Buteo.
• True Hawks are the Goshawks, Cooper's Hawks, and Sharp-Shinned Hawks. The raptors we call "Hawks" are Broad-winged, Red-tailed, Red-shouldered, and Rough-legged Hawks.
• In UK, they call the "Hawks" buzzards. Considering we are already confused with the Hawks that aren't Hawks, and we call Vultures, buzzards, let's just stick with the name Hawks.
• Mushrooms are reproduced by spores. (Just read about this in my Biology textbook). The underside of the Mushroom cap have tiny gills. Each gill has tiny pores where the microscopic spores are produced and blow away in the wind.
• Mushrooms are decomposers. They break down the wood, leaves, dirt, etc. by which they reside.
• The Indian Pipes we talked about a few weeks ago are often considered Mushrooms, but they are not. Indian Pipes are flowers.

Science Saturday: Slugs, Skunks, and Indian Pipes!

(A skunk we accidentally trapped....we were aiming for woodchucks)

A few interesting things!

• Slugs are not snails and they are not leeches. They look the same from a distance, but in reality they aren't even close to being the same!
• A Slug's body is all one piece. They do not have segments. They are part of the Gastropoda family, which means "stomach-foot."
• Slugs aren't too much trouble. Usually. We did have one eat our watermelon before, but that's the first time we've had that happen. They tend to enjoy eating the wild plants.
• Skunks are among the top animals hit by cars. Most often they are hit around February during mating season.
• Skunks are best known for their scent glands which are used as a weapon against predators. They can spray them up to 10ft away, temporarily blinding the predator. The smell and the pain prevent them from getting eaten.
• Skunks are opportunistic carnivores. They like anything that they don't have to chase too much. They enjoy insects, birds, mice, turtle eggs, toads, and frogs. Occasionally they will help themselves to carrion. (Which is why they often become carrion ;~D )
• Indian Pipe is a flowering plant. The flower hangs like a bell from the top of the stem, which makes it look like a pipe!
• It doesn't feel like a flower, but more like a mushroom. Interestingly enough, you can not transplant it.
• It lacks chlorophyll, so it can't manufacture it's own food. Instead it obtains food from the roots of nearby trees. The Indian Pipe absorbs food from it's towering friends, and grows quite happily.