As Dad Used to Say, There's a Fungus Amungus!

The other morning, as is my ritual, I opened up the barn and stepped out to scan the area and see whats up, and this cute little guy, about twice the size of my thumb, was sitting out there. But you have to be fast!



I took this photo only a couple hours later.

The one on the left is the same guy from the first photo, already all puffed up and finned out, with two more at different stages coming up fast behind it. (Is anyone else reminded of the video of a kid hiding under the bride's skirts?)




Some fungi are particularly partial to dead oak.

Farther down the hill from the little white umbrella dudes (Not a mycologist so I don't know the official name.) is the remains of an old rotted oak stump



and this meaty specimen found it an ideal growing spot.

Don't you just want to slice that into a hot buttered frying pan?? Yummy!! But again, not a mycologist so I didn't give into temptation. . .



But maybe it's not as meaty as it looked??  This is how I found it the next day. At first I thought maybe something else ate it, but it kind of looks like that gooey stuff around the base of the stems might be what's left of the 'shroom.

I just went down and took another look and there's a centipede, a couple beetles and a bunch of other insects crawling around in the goo and none of them look to be trippin', but still, I think I'll leave them too it anyway.