A friend...

… will teach you how to read.

I admit this photo was NOT taken today,

it was taken years ago,

but once I remembered it,

I could not think of a photo that would work better

for today's theme, A Friend.

=)

Day 5 of the 30 Day Photo Challenge = DONE.

Tomorrow = Humans Meet Nature

That's certainly appropriate, as I was JUST going to warn you

that given the incoming snowstorm & accompanying low temps (8F),

I may not have internet access for a day or two. We'll see...

PRE-SNOWSTORM, LIVIN' IN THE BOONIES CHECKLIST:

firewood stacking
tarpify any wood not stacked & sheltered
feed hen an extra just-before-sleep snack to fuel her through the cold
put fluff around tiny potted plants (in non-heated greenhouse)
help repair the well house (so MAYBE the pipes won't freeze again)
fill water bottles with water (in case the pipes DO freeze again)
put snow chains on the truck
keep the wood stove burning brightly

Done!

Saw the US map of current temps--WOW, lots of us are cold, eh?

xoxobb

Phriday Photo quiz answer + extra Yosemite bits

 
Waiting in line to get into the park, saw this guy trotting toward me so thought well, MAYBE I can get my camera out in time. I flung the lens cap off with one hand, and pointed the camera at him (no time for looking through viewer). Then he was gone. Can't believe he's actually in the frame.

Apparently if someone makes like they're going to feed him, he'll put on a begging show. I wonder if he tap dances?

In case you didn't know, feeding wildlife is never a good idea for the animal (for lots of reasons), and frequently one can tell which animals are fed human food because they look so much less healthy than their 100% wild cohorts. Seriously, you can tell from yards and yards away.

Anyhow, I got into the valley, got onto the bike, and riding toward Happy Isles, saw this on my left, adjacent to the campground.

And I thought, hey, this might be good fodder for a photo quiz.

View downstream at Happy Isles bridge; Basket Dome is da big rock.

Biking to the Ahwahnee to meet Bear for brunch:

Then, the view to your right (east) as you pedal down this path:

That's part of Royal Arches on the left,

and Half Dome on the right.

Biking in Yosemite = HEAVEN.

Nice job to the ladies with the correct answers to the Phriday Photo Quiz. Their "guesses" are in the comments on that post. biobabbler isn't quite her usual loquacious self, of late, so that'll have to do for now.

Hope everyone is well, and is able to maintain a reasonable temperature.

xobb

Interpreting "Taste of Yosemite Mumday"

 

1. First shot was exciting for me, 'cause the violets on our property are yellow. These are VIOLET violets. So beautiful! Along the road between where you park and where you start the hike to Taft Point (McGurk Meadow sign). My first pics of the day.

So, being the geek I am (albeit short of time lately), I search for "Yosemite NP plant species list."

Blamo. Instant paydirt:  Taken from the a-MA-zing An Illustrated Flora of Yosemite National Park by Stephen J. Botti (2001)(I think we have 2 copies). Nice job, NPS!!

So, then I search for Viola (violet genus) and get this:

Viola adunca Smith
Viola arvensis Murray
Viola glabella Nutt.
Viola lobata Benth. ssp. integrifolia (S. Watson) R.J. Little
Viola lobata Benth. ssp. lobata
Viola macloskeyi F. Lloyd
Viola pinetorum E. Greene ssp. pinetorum
Viola purpurea Kellogg ssp. integrifolia M. Baker & J. Clausen
Viola purpurea Kellogg ssp. purpurea
Viola purpurea Kellogg ssp. quercetorum (M. Baker & J. Clausen) R.J. Little

Woah. Thatsalotta violets! So, thinking "purpurea" sounds promising re: purple, I look that up.

Yup, bright yellow.

Hmph.  Well, I WASN'T going to look them all up, but since I am a biologist, I was unable to NOT. (hint: that's a good thing about doing something professionally you are naturally interested it. You go the extra mile (or millimeter) just 'cause you're interested. And, therefore, do a better job.)

I did look up arvensis and it was at least purple... macloskeyi = white, pinetorum = yellow, lobata = yellow, glabella = yellow, arvensis = white and yellow and NOT native.

So, hm... that makes, uh, ONE violet species from the list that's actually violet, so it looks like I was right to be excited by the find. =) Therefore, going out on a limb and calling it Viola adunca.

(phew!)

2. Had 2 thoughts of this in the field: 1) eggs? 2) slime mold? I just vaguely thought #2 'cause they looked a little fuzzy for eggs, but really looked egg-like.

Well, looked up both and SLIME MOLD is my verdict! Check out the 2nd picture here. Looks just like them (if you zoom way in on my pic). Very exciting (to me). I'm a fan, probably because I had a teacher in undergrad who was very into them.

If you don't know anything about them, they have a very wacky lifestyle and ability to change when they are going from "cruising around" phase to "sending out spores" phase. Trippy things.

3. Obviously butterfly, but realllly don't have time to try and figure this puppy out, I am SO not expert, but if YOU are so motivated, here's Yosemite's butterfly list. PLEASE let us know if you figure it out--I'd love to share that with everyone.

4. Beautiful, idyllic meadow and ever-so-inviting trail. (Note the crowds)

5. My view from the rock where I ate my lunch. Yeah, it's okay.

6. Awesome tree/rock combo at Taft Point. The VIEW those things have is CRAZY. Take a few giant steps forward and you're SAILING down to Yosemite Valley floor, about 4,000 feet below. I actually got dizzy at one point looking down, which is very rare, so it's a CRAZY drop off. Beautiful and thrilling.

7. Corn lily. Ah, how I love thee. Those patterns and shapes KILL me. Oh, and btw, it's poisonous, so maybe that accounts for it's ungrazed and therefore perfect form.

Okay, running out of time, but couldn't resist. Corn lily in bloom mit pollinators:

It's worth a "click" to see those flowers up close--a-MA-zing things. Bees diggin' in.

So, a lovely day in the park. Oh, and I startled a beautiful sort-of-blondie bear. I was cruising down hill on the very soft dirt (so, unintentionally quiet) and turned a corner and there it was. Saw me and startled and ran off. Then stopped, looked back at now TWO people, and took off running.

Good bear.

Beautiful, glowing young adult. MAN those big things can move! It was a lovely "nature moment."

I seriously "heart" the NPS.

xo biobabbler

BEAR and PHANTOM ORCHID w/in 8 hours!!

 
First, the plant.

SO exciting. Hiking 3 days ago at our nearby National Forest we saw this WHITE plant that, except for it's extreme lack of redness, looked a lot like snow plant. We had no idea what it was.

I wondered if it was some cool orchid--TOTAL guess.  Just 'cause they're wacky.

Anyhow remembered to go back yesterday afternoon after work to take a picture. I had to use the flash for the last few shots as it was getting pretty dark (after 7 pm), especially under the trees, which is what this plant likes (dense, undisturbed forest). It was definitely further along that it'd been just 3 days earlier, but here it is (drumroll...), the Phantom Orchid:

 Well named, eh?

An elegant figure.

With a spooky face. =) Boo!

Cephalanthera austiniae, a NEW species for me, and apparently a threatened species up in Canada. It prefers (requires?) dense, undisturbed forests, and since those are becoming fewer and further in between, these guys are having a tough time.

This plant has NO green in it, doesn't "do" photosynthesis, thank you very much. Described as "pure white." It doesn't really even have leaves 'cause leaves are for gathering light, which the phantom orchid is "just not into." =)

So, I'm thinking it might do VERY well in the darkest of deep dark forests 'cause other plants would be struggling due to the lack of sunshine, and it'd be just fine and dandy.

Interesting.

I read it's a "symbiotic saprophyte." However, looking up saprophyte, I learn:

The term saprophyte is no longer in popular use since there are no true embryophytes or true plants that are saprophytic in nature. Plants that are once thought of as saprophytes such as orchids and monotropes are now considered as parasites on fungi. (http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Saprophyte)

Which is much like what I read earlier this year re: snow plant. It's parasitic upon fungus. Alrighty.

****************
ASIDE
Then I read this at http://www.tutorvista.com/content/science/science-ii/nutrition/types-saprophytic.php:

"Examples of saprophytes:

Plants which have saprotrophic nutrition are Rhizopus (bread mould), Mucor (pin mould), Yeast, Agaricus (mushroom), many bacteria etc."

I'm sorry, but aren't mold and mushrooms all types of FUNGUS? Isn't Fungi a (taxonomic) Kingdom completely separate from other Kingdoms like, say, Plantae?!?

Am I wrong? Like the biology-online thing says, there are no true plants that are saprophytic, so the term (wherin "phytic" means plant) is taxonomically gauche.

So, now I look up bacteria and fungi re: kingdoms and I first read that bacteria are lumped in with fungi (which makes my cock my head to the side like a dog that's confused), then learn: "Once considered a part of the plant kingdom, bacteria were eventually placed in a separate kingdom, Monera" (http://www.answers.com/topic/bacteria)

Okay, feeling better, now.


And this ("plants which ... are ... mould, many bacteria") is a tutoring site?? Yikes. Scary!

SO, YOU BIOLOGIST SMARTIES--feel free to clarify if I've mucked things up, taxonomically speaking.

END OF ASIDE
******************

ANYhow, when we first saw our (now beloved) phantom orchid, this plant was TOTALLY white. It wasn't browning at all, and the flowers (which I only glanced at) looked round/balled up, and the way the flowers are flaring out now makes me think they weren't open when we first saw them. I'm thinking it was still unfurling this weekend.

So, I guess you could say it was furled on Sunday. =)

A furled phantom. Glad to know you.


So. BEAR.
(sorry, no pictures)

3 a.m. this morning I'm awake. Trying to sleep, window is WIDE open as it's been hot and we avail ourselves of every opportunity to cool the place down when we can.

So, I hear a weird animal noise and a cartoony DOING! like a bear has just distended something metal (due to prodigious weight) and it snapped back.

Given that the "Sheriff's Log" in our local paper regularly reports bears invading chicken coops, with unhappy (for the hens) results, I'm AWAKE.

I wake up MY bear and we head outside with flashlights. I happen to be on the side of the house where the bear apparently was. In response to my turning on all the lights and appearing outside, something low and big makes a startled sound and lumbers/darts from in front of the shed* to the left and (I believe) through or around the wood pile and back into the brush that surrounds our property.

"Uh... the bear's over here!" I call. The show, however, is apparently over. My bear wanders out a bit in that direction with our mag light then reports "Yup. Think that was a bear. G'night."

Yes, there's plenty of people out here in the sticks who freak out like that over a bear.

I lay in bed the next 30 minutes listening. And eventually pass out and it's over.

Needless to say, I'm doing a dump run today with our (apparently) ripe trash, work deadline or no work deadline. =) Somethings you just HAVE to attend to NOW.

Another benefit to working for a wildlife biologist who used to live in the sticks. She gets it.

And did I mention that I noticed 2 days ago my compost pile's surrounding wire fence had been unceremoniously removed? I remember standing there thinking (probably wishfully) "Could a deer do that?" When, really, I knew.

Bear.

To be continued?

biobabbler


*our ONE REMAINING SHED that's not been destroyed by bears