January 20, 2010 Discover Life At Kates Cabin On Rainbow Creek, A Bird Sanctuary In Waller County, Texas, USA, Earth

ALIEN LOOKING LIFE FORMS Discovered at Kates Cabin on Rainbow Creek TODAY!


HI Everybody: Come on up. Here Kay Lonnie is waiting for everyone to get up on the roof so we can begin our class. I am brendasue (alias: Grandma Poppy) I have opened the bird sanctuary here on Rainbow Creek as our observatory for the purpose of getting to know other living species sharing Planet Earth with us Humans.


Looks like Sissy made her way up here. Come on Sissy, you are running late for class.
I am attempting to photo document the woods around Rainbow Creek and the plants and creatures that live here with the dogs and I.

Sissy is sniffing for bombs while Kay Lonnie waits for the rest of you to make your way here!


Looks like we got the All Clear from the K9 Patrol.
Anyway, it is my hope to inspire all of you like minded gardeners, birders and other naturalists to document the world around you and create your page on google to share with all of us.


Sissy, I don't think you should go up to check the roof. We need to start the class here shortly.
Anyway, I am an amateur photographer, working on improving my skills to bring my world in the woods to everyone in the World.

Kay Lonnie exclaims: Let the Class begin!



Now wait a minute-She is remembering Something Else.



Oh Yes, I am suppose to remind you of something. Kay Lonnie wants you to know that I have had the good fortune to meet a great Photography Teacher, Doug Box. I have signed up for his seminar this coming weekend in College Station, Texas. As he conducts classes worldwide and on the Internet, please be sure and contact him: dougbox@aol.com to continue your education now that you have a camera in your hand! I had the pleasure of meeting Doug and his wife at our last meeting of the Martha's Bloomers Photography Club. Doug demonstrated he can show us how to take better photos in terms we can understand.


Thank You Kay Lonnie for reminding me to tell everyone about Doug Box!



Now: Let The Class begin! Good Girl, now take your place.



What? And tell everyone to mail you a dog cookie?
Okay Everybody, our address is:
Brendasue Watson (or Kay Lonnie) at Kates Cabin, P O Box 743, Hempstead, Texas 77445
Please send a dog cookie to Kay or Check, Cash or Money Order to me to help me buy BirdSeed. (So far no birdseed company has wanted to donate to the sanctuary.) We also need birdhouses or birdfeeders (new or gently used). Thank you for thinking of us as we are facing hard times.

Now, finally, Let the Class begin!

I have found an alien looking living thing for our photostudy today. I do not know what it is, but it is Alive in this dead looking ground. In the above photo, to the left of center, inside the flowerbed border is a clump of dark green leaves that is a rosebush. Right next to it is a little pink clump that looks like fingers. Just when we think everything is dead from the icy chill of last week, we find something growing underneath the leaves in darkness that is very much Alive!

And here it is sticking out of the leaves. What is it?


There are little flies all over it.


I removed the leaves around it to the base revealing a second baby one.


It appears they spring forth from some sort of white membrane casing. They are connected at the base by tubers or something similar.


Now you Stop and Smell the Coffee, or you bend to smell a Rose, but never ever bend down and smell this thing as it smells putrid. The brown slimy looking stuff really stinks.


Here is the baby pushing up.



Now I found my old Encyclopedia of Mushroom's book.


The closest I can find to this identity is: Red Truffle


So have a look at this photostudy. If you know what this is or anything about it, please leave a comment or email me at: katescabin@gmail.com


I have located the identity of our alien looking fungi. It is named Clathrus ruber.



Here is the description given in the Encyclopedia of Mushrooms:
In appearance this is one of the most attractive fungi, but its very strong, unpleasant smell keeps admirers at a respectable distance.

Young fruiting body or Egg:
Conspicuous, white, attached at the base by white cordlike mycelium. At first smooth, later shows a network of marks. The fruiting body bursts the egg as it expands, leaving the remains as a cup surrounding the base.

Mature fruiting body:
An open lattice work, globular, red, paler at base, outer surface ribbed. Flesh thick, spongy.


Gleba: olive-brown, foul smelling, covers the inner surface of the open network.
Spores: olive-brown in mass, ellipsoid, smooth.


Habitat and distribution: Grows singly in garden borders, on heaps of leaves, on undisturbed soil under hedges, in woods. Common after rain in Europe, southward form the south coast of England, rare in North America. Reported in Jamica, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico.


Well, How About That? We have a rare fungi here on Rainbow Creek, an imported alien named Clathrus Ruber.


You just never know what you will discover in your own backyard until you begin to look!




Now this guy no longer seems so alien, now that we know more about him!


He is quite striking in color and style.



But he is really stinky!




So I guess we have Stinker and little stinker as stars of our photoshoot today!


The older you get, you will find there is so much more to know about this Planet Earth.



Humans are not the only Amazing Species!



These stinkers seem to be a family, also.



I wonder if they are looking at this old lady with a black box? Who Knows?


This concludes our nature photostudy for this class! Good nite Kate! Good night to everyone, everywhere....................................................brendasue signing off from Rainbow Creek.