Mushrooms And Other Signs Of Rain

While July was the warmest month on record in Anchorage, ever, August, while not cold, has seen its fair share of rain.



The most easily identified Anchorage mushroom is this Amanita - Fly Agaric.  It opens up and looks like a small pizza (up to about 10 inches across).  Books say it's poisonous, but I've come to learn for Alaska mushrooms that tends to mean hallucinogenic.  I included some of that discussion in this 2007 post.

These are up to about six or seven inches across.  Wasn't quite sure what they were after a quick look through my field guide to mushrooms.

Some lichens and mosses growing on the deck.

This appears to be a polypore.  It was growing out of the ground, not on a tree.  It's about five inches across.

 Some raindrops on a nasturtium leave.

Reflections in a little puddle in a garbage can lid.

What I belief is a rosy russula.  The stem is also slightly pink.

The top and underneath of what I think is a tacky green russula.  It says they're good eating.

And the worms in the compost pile are doing their job.  As I turned things over with a shovel, I could feel the heat as nature turns our kitchen waste and leaves to compost.


Some posts that haven't gotten linked to the blogrolls that you might find interesting:

Walkable Cities Circa 1669
If Women Relate Their Own Gender Battles To Clinton's, She Wins Big
Man Goes
Who Invented Inflatable Tube Guys?

Blueberry Picking Near Powerline Pass

My daughter, granddaughter, and a friend went blueberry picking near the bottom of Flattop.  Here are a few pictures.  My family prefers not to be pictured on the blog, so you only get one of the most beautiful spots in the world.

These are crowberries.  They aren't as tasty, but they're sometimes used as filler with the blueberries.

Some interesting lichen I found on a rock.

Down below we could see the contrails of the jets at the air show at JBER (Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson).  There are four or five jets flying in formation there.  Note:  I'm not promoting military air shows like these.  I've posted on the cost of air shows and I have questions about these as promotional events for military might.  Fortunately, we didn't really hear the terrible, obliterating roar of the jets from where we were.

I found a couple of king boletes, which will make a wonderful mushroom soup.

Lots of gentian blooming.

Some of the hemlock had lots of new cones.













And then we wandered down to Powerline Pass.