Another rainy night in Georgia...

Saw a toad hopping around this evening, before it started raining. Somehow, he must have known. The rain has been enough to refill the garden pond completely. The water had gotten really low, due to a leak. The pond must have been deliberately and cleverly placed in an area that collects water, 'cause we sure didn't get 9+" of rain! The frogs are happy to have their home restored. Perhaps more interesting mushrooms will pop up. Last time it rained, we got a crop of a really bizarre one I had never seen before, the dog stinkhorn. Brilliant red and resembling, not a dog, but a part of a dog, actually part of a male dog, to be more exact. They are in the genus Phallus.

The image here is one I took while hiking in Joyce Kilmer Forest back in July of '06. I have a huge backlog of digital photos, including pictures of box turtles for my research, to go through. The choice of this one was pretty random, but the image of an old growth forest does contrast remarkably with the 2nd growth I'm used to seeing. Read Maloof's Teaching the Trees. The Tulip trees in this forest are truly massive. The huge entanglements of roots are unlike what you see in 2nd growth. There is much more understory vegetation. It is good to be reminded of these things. I need to keep in touch with the 'small picture', especially since, in coursework at least, this semester deals more in 'big-picture' subjects--geography and earth imaging. You can see many things you never could before with these technologies, but must not lose sight of the familiar.