Spring Time in the Desert

The desert can be spectacular in the Spring if winter rains come at just the right time. 

 Every year is different so you can never count on the bloom to happen. 

No flowers on this Cholla but there is new growth at the tips.

This is Ocotillo.

And these are the flowers of the Ocotillo.

These haven't opened yet.

Lets Time Travel

Well with all those mushrooms over and done with I am out of material.  My camera has just been sitting.  So I thought I'd fire up the Wayback Machine and show some photos of places and things from our travels in the past.

This is our first motor home and it was lots of fun despite it's issues and old age.

This was in 2006 and the next year we bought the Little House on the Highway.

The Box as we called it is now retired on a ranch up in Mendocino County north of us.

Sinbad loves the desert sand.  Boy, that cat has been to a lot of places and put in a lot of miles on the road since when that picture was taken.  He's doing well still.  I never dreamed he'd see 2015.  I can only think this special diet he is on must be working for him.

On watch.

How to Peel Garlic

Place the whole garlic bulb into a jar.

Put the lid on and shake the jar vigorously for a half a minute or so. 

See what happens.  

 You can remove the "fluff" and shake some more to finish the process.

Here you can see a few cloves are completely peeled.  I hadn't done the second shake as my wife wanted to photograph the process as I have so she could put it on her Facebook thing.

You can store the rest of the peeled cloves in a plastic baggy and freeze it or put the cloves into another small jar filled with olive oil to keep for whenever you need some garlic.  Neat huh? 

And best of all, no more stinky fingers from peeling garlic. 

Mushrooms 20

 No more mushrooms.  All done.
But I found this little fellow though one morning in the forest.  He was under a fallen log.  As always, I am then faced with the dilemma of putting the log back in place for I fear I might squash them.

It usually doesn't go back like I found it.

Mushrooms 19

This is one of the most unusual looking specimens I have come across in my mushroom hunts.  I have only seen this once before and that was a couple years ago.  It known as Lion's Mane and it is edible.  Supposedly it improves your memory and mood but I think it too pretty to pick.  Most likely it is not available in local grocery store but you can buy a "kit" from health food stores and grow your own.

Mushrooms 18

I showed this variety before but this example wins for being the largest.

I didn't have a banana with me to use for scale so I used my glove.

Mushrooms 17

I do not believe I have ever seen this type of mushroom before.  

If I did, it was not as big or shaped like this one.

Mushrooms 16

On another day in a different part of the forest I found more Witches Butter.  

This is the first time ever I have found it on an upright living tree.

This is also the biggest and bestest specimen I have ever found too.

This photo came out better than the other I posted before where I lost the detail in the bright yellow.  You can see that one here.

I am not sure if I can find this tree again.  I think I know kind of where it is...I think.

Mushrooms 15

These were so cute (that's the first word that came to my mind) that I felt they deserved a post all to their own.  I took a lot of shots of these trying to get a few that were good enough to share.

 And a cluster on a nearby tree...or maybe the other side, I forget.

Mushrooms 14

I wish the water drop had not been on the camera for this shot.  

Notice the tiny mushroom poking up at the 8 o'clock point of the big mushroom.

Pulling back a ways you can see many more of those tiny fragile looking mushrooms.  Makes me wonder the force they must have to push up through all the heavy leaf litter.  

Maybe they aren't so fragile after all.

Mushrooms 13

Here are some repeats of what I have shown before.  

These were found in a different location on a different day of mushroom hunting.

Mushrooms 12

Not everything is on the ground.

This has to be my favorite fungi.  It's common name "Witches Butter" helps make it a favorite.

I always have a hard time photographing yellow in low light but I was able to get a little detail here.

Here is a whole colony of mushrooms.

Mushrooms 11

I'm going with jellyfish on this variety of mushroom.

Mushrooms 10

A rare spot in the forest where the sunlight was able to penetrate within and back light this fungi.

Another bracket fungi with a white edging that I didn't quite get into focus very well.

The lighting is poor and I am unable to really see what I am getting.  

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

I didn't intend to line things up as they came out in this photo.

Notice the tiny mushrooms underneath to the left.