Time to sneak a nature post in before work...

[rubyelf]

Yesterday was a short work day (5:00PM to 11:00PM) so I had some time earlier in the day to sneak out for a walk (should have been doing school work, but walks are important... Counselor Guy even said so). Besides, ANOVA (computerized analysis of variance, in which you compare the variance between samples with the variance within samples to decide

Comments

[vjezkova]

I hope you enjoyed your stroll as much as I am enjoying your picture tour

[rubyelf]

That could certainly be a spruce... I am not good at my tree identifications and I grew up calling them all pines!

We have had a bit of rain the last week or so, and that gave the plants a bit of a boost. I've also heard that arrowhead roots are edible... apparently animals dig them up and eat them and Native Americans used to eat them, but I don't know anyone who does.

The evening primroses are definitely a weed-like plant here, growing all over the sides of the road and other disturbed places. We seem to have several kinds of smartweeds, and they tolerate varying degrees of dryness, but they like it to be wet.

[vjezkova]

About that evening primrose - it rang a bell in my head and really: this weed is actually a very precious herb for making excellent oils and other health products!It has a wide range of use from heart diseases to exema, gynaecological problems, cholesterol etc.:-)
The oil is quite expensive!:-)

[rubyelf]

I've heard the oil is supposed to be good for all sorts of things. It has been proven to have some effect on skin conditions, but not really anything else.

[ragnarok_08]

All of these pictures are just stunning to look at, and the strolls sound very enlightening :)

[rubyelf]

Thank you for reading!

[rubyelf]

Jobs like that are hard to find... and I've spent most of my life doing what other people told me I was good at instead of what I loved. Then again, I loved reading and writing, and being an English major nearly destroyed that, so maybe it's better this way.

[froganon]

Your photos are love. My mystery yellow plants are also common evening primrose. Much relief and thanks.

I especially love your little mushroom [adorable!] and the galls on the sumac.

Most cool post.

[rubyelf]

I have no idea why NONE of my field guides kicked common evening primrose out as an option... such a common plant shouldn't be that hard to identify! As soon as I had the name and looked at the pictures, though, I knew that's what it was. I was very pleased. I hate when something very common eludes my identification attempts and I am very happy if I can solve the mystery.

[froganon]

I recently finally just found my big tree i.d. book. Still looking for my wildlife i.d. book.

[bluegerl]

Autumn is certainly on its way!! Berries, crabapples ready, and those enchanting black grapes - did you taste one - I bet they were sweet! Look like muscats. Ours can be wild and are really nice as long as they are black. The evening primrose - were you having problems with that? Its so --- evening primrosy!!! Also used a lot in making a herbal sleeping aid

[rubyelf]

LOL... if you knew they were evening primroses you could have told me!

Muskrats are very common here but you don't see them very often, as they have several burrows around and are very good at hiding when disturbed. You more often find their holes than the actual animals. They are native to North America and were introduced to Europe for their fur!

There are always a few dead fish, but the masses that came up with the thaw slowly disappeared.