Nature Abounds

Turkey Tail Bracket Fungus

Nature truly abounds everywhere! While walking through the woods looking for morel mushrooms yesterday, which I did not find, I came across a fallen tree limb with this beautiful bracket fungus growing on it.

This type of bracket fungus is called "turkey tail". It gets it's name from the shape of the fungus as well as the stripes of colors which make it look similar to a turkey's tail. It had just rained earlier that day, so the colors are so rich and vibrant.

I will be going out again today to see what other of nature's beauty I can find!

This shot really made a beautiful rustic picture and can be found on my Pixels.com website as well as  turkey tail bracket fungus art for sale on Fine Art America.

Our First Rattlesnake of the Year

Well, hubby found our first rattlesnake for this year! This velvet tail rattler is about 4 feet long and had 7 segments to his rattle. He is not the largest rattler we have seen here, but he was pretty big!

Hubby was working down at his shop and walked around behind a flat bed trailer to be met by Mr. Rattlesnake. He came running through the living room and when I asked him what was going on, he said, "snake, big rattlesnake!" He grabbed his rifle and ran back out the door.

Now he knows that I am a little weird and I like to get pictures of the snakes we find BEFORE he shoots them, but he was afraid this one would get away, so had already shot him once before I got there with my camera. I got a couple of pictures before he finished him off with another shot.

Hubby has left some snakes alone, like bull snakes or garden snakes, but the rattlers have to go! I do keep their rattles and have quite a collection of them!