Motley Monday - October 13, 2025

 Well, the weather drastically changed on Friday.  Rain and so cold in the house I turned the heater on for the first time for the season, a bit earlier than usual.  Before the rain Mickey and I went to the park.

I checked in on the Fluted bird's nest fungus I discovered late last month.  I wondered if I'd find them again since they are tiny.  I couldn't have missed them!  They spread to large areas right along the path, edging the wood chips.  Many of them had opened too.

Now it's easy to see why they are called "Fluted."

Since the dog park was empty, with no dogs in sight, I dropped Mickey's long leash (I walk him to the park on a short one and he has to walk next to me, when we get there I switch to a long one) to let him explore.  Really all he wants to do is sniff.  Other dogs get off leash and run and run and run.  I guess Mickey gets enough of that in our own backyard.  I sat on the dog park bench, and as soon as Mickey noticed I was "too far" from him he hurried right over!   He's mostly oblivious to anything I do or say when we are at the park.  Oh, he hears me, and listening, but he's busy sniffing. He does "wait" when I tell him to.  That was a new command I learned in his classes, "wait" just means to stop, hang around, sit or stand, or lie down, whatever, just wait, that I'm doing something and we'll continue on when I say "okay." He considers walks to be Sniff-Sniffs. 

I was doing some clean-up in the front yard and almost stepped in my own mushroom patch growing in my wood chips!  They're Fairy inkcaps.

An update on the blue-eyed grass that was forming little plants instead of seeds. The little plant fell off when I touched it, so I planted it and we'll see what happens.  I guess I should expect it to grow.  

The mystery tomato with the big tomatoes finally ripened some fruit!  They took months.  I won't say "worth the wait," because while these two were delicious (and very meaty), two months after they are full sized is too long to wait for ripening.  The Sungold cherry tomato plants are showing signs of dying as they overcompensate by ripening too many tomatoes to eat!

Somebody spilled some food in the gutter nearby.  The crows were enjoying both the apple and the crumb-like stuff. 

I got the Halloween decorations up.  A partial view, just part of the front yard.  The wooden tombstones (from the Goodwill Bins a few years ago) against the house (upper left) are homemade.  One says, "Here lies the Pillsbury Doughboy.  He will rise again."   Another, based on a real historic one, "I told you I was sick."