Critters and Fungus…

I thought that it was time to take a break from the food related blog!  When we’re not traveling or exploring East Tennessee, restaurants and food related topics end up as my primary blog post materials.  However, once in a while I end up with a scattering of miscellaneous photos.  Consequently I put together this posting…

Laurie took this photo of a couple of cute little miniature horses that live just a couple of miles from our house… They’re about the size of a large dog!

Of course, when it comes to critters, we live in J.D.’s house!  He is the most demanding cat we’ve ever had… He tells us when he wants me to come out of the bedroom in the morning or he wants a lap, also when he wants to be brushed and when it’s time to go to bed. 

He also lets us know when he wants to go out on the screened in porch!  As you can see he has a ‘really tough life’!  When he relaxes or naps, he is really out of it… By the way, when he wants something, he hollers at us until we deliver!

Laurie really likes turtles!  She has rescued 5 of them from the middle of various roads and highways so far this year.  She found this box turtle working his way through the moss in the side yard next to our house.

We were really startled at this sight…3 baby raccoons feeding in broad daylight alongside the street about 2 blocks from our house! (The 3^rd one is behind a couple of plants just to the right of the baby on the right side of the tree)

Raccoons can be pests when they grow up but they are really cute at this age.  Earlier this year we had to modify a bird feeder after it was raided by a full grown raccoon… Another time J.D. let us know that a big one was on our deck one evening and we chased him/her off.  

This fungus/mushroom was growing in the mulch along one side of our driveway… It is one of the weirder mushrooms we’ve ever seen.  It kind of popped up and then collapsed and was gone the next day! Laurie thinks it's called a Phallaceae Stinkhorn. Smells like a dead animal they say but we didn't smell anything. Yippee!
                               

I’ve spent a bit of time this year fishing down on Big Dude and Bev’s dock in a cove on Tellico Lake.  With the warmer summer weather, fishing slowed down a bit and this nice looking catfish was the only decent size fish that I caught on a recent morning… He was fun to catch and he fought just like a bass!

"What?!  Who, me?!  No, I’m not eating your Hydrangeas!  Nor did I devour most of the hostas in your back yard… After all, I’m just a sweet innocent little doe."  We don’t worry too much about whatever the deer eat in our yard.  Actually the skunks cause more damage to the garden as they root around for grubs…

Enough critters for now… Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave