A new first for the back yard

This is the first owl pellet I've found in the yard! It's been flattened and misshapen by being out in the elements. It's composed of short gray hairs, which I suspect are mostly from voles. The only owls we hear calling are screech owls, so that's the most likely source, though it's a little on the large size for that.

3:00 snapshot #1872: Saturday

Now that the house is finally puppy-free for a while, the big dogs have been hanging out with us in the kitchen more. They enjoy cramming themselves into the tiny dog beds.

More winter mushrooming

"Bootlaces" on a dead tree. These are the mycelial threads that the parasitic fungus Armillaria sp. uses to spread from area to area, colonizing new hosts. Armillaria is a complex of fungi species collectively called "honey mushrooms" for their edible yellow-brown mushrooms.

3:00 snapshot #1873: Sunday

On Sunday we took both dogs on a walk in the woods (the Stony Brook Reservation--the southmost part of the city of Boston). We hadn't done that in literally months, possibly years. They had a great time sniffing everything, then when we came home they sacked out HARD. Alexis had to wake them up to feed them dinner, then they fell right back asleep.

Unexpected mushroom love

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