I was peeling back some bark on a dead hemlock tree, which is laying on the ground near my cabin.... mindlessly, i ripped a big piece off and found the biggest ant ever under there!!! Big ant, with big ant egg sacs... and no other ant like it in sight.
Jet black with light golden hairs and rings on it's back end...
An ant who doesnt lay but a small amount of eggs, it seems to manage on it's own.
Does anyone know what kind of ant this is?
XoxoxXO
Amazing. Shade. Of. Greeeeen. Found this beautiful one on my front porch.
XOXoxox
One of the reasons I was not sure if i wanted ducks is because I knew they would eat up my tadpoles, reducing the amount of native frogs I have in my pond. Before the ducks ever arrived I had started to build a frog safe place along the edges of the pond - by taking small dead hemlock trees and piling them up. Still though, i have way less frogs then normal because much of what i built was moved, decayed, or gawd knows what during the winter freezes..... and the ducks came in to massacre what was out in the open. I was excited to still see in some of the hemlock habitats i built, tadpoles and a group of frogs all in one space. So i took that spot, and made what was a froggie shack, into a frog multi-plex mansion! 
I layered and extended the branches further out into the water, while also extended further out onto the land connected... putting more small branches on top of larger ones. Like building a debris shelter, a skeleton of a home. 
The smaller tiny branches, block the ducks from getting under there.... and so they avoid that spot, and ravage the rest of the pond. Now to fix the pond leak.... omgawd! 
Xoxoxox
Life is not easy... in some ways in can be a real pain in the ass and makes me feel like a psyco. But there are things that are so beautiful, simple things I can be thankful for like ::::
*good views of a pretty world
*nature
*plants
*the smell of wet leaves
*my animals friends (this one is HUGE!)
*my wood stove is now fixed and isn't catching on fire anymore
*my brakes in my truck are fixed so i can go get groceries for myself again
*the snow was melted for almost a week (or was it a few days) - only a few patches are left
*my water has come on sometimes so i could take baths
*all the humans who are my friends and help me get through my rough and my fun days
*spring is almost here! and the sun DOES exsist (even if not at my cabin.)
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Today I took a nap during the day which is a rare event for me - even if a lay down i never fell asleep. But I did fall asleep and since i started sleeping up in the loft for winter time warmth I have been having completely vivid weird dreams.
In the nap dream my mom was telling me she saw a child that was mine, and i said " i do not have a child". It was very dark out and in the forest, wet, raining & hard to see - my mom was sitting in a white gazebo far away. She said "come see, he is right here, your child" .... i walk to the gazebo in deep fear and curiosity, then realize this is a child not born yet.... so i say "is it a ghost?" and she says "yes". I walk around to the back of the gazebo and there is my boyfriend i had in highshool (teenage BF) sitting in a chair - the ghost child is a boy standing next to him wearing blue (looks like i imagined my child would look like all my life, not like me at all but with blonde hair) - the ghost child is standing in front an empty chair, and is about 7 years old, it has a serious look on it's face. I ask the teenage BF "is that your child next to you" , the teeneage BF puts his hand in the empty chair next to him and says "no my children are not here, this one is yours" . I knew it had not been born, yet.
Then the phone rang in real life. UPS telling me a package is in the mail.
Xoxoxo
I found this frog under a brush pile when I was out playing in the rain. Does anyone know if this is a tree frog? It's very small and fast, with a black stripe crossing over both eyes and a white line at the lips. It's legs are striped but it's body really is not (it's vaguely spotted).
Totally cute.
xoxoxo
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it make a sound? I think so, but who really cares if it makes a sound... the real question is if a tree falls in the forest, exposing all it's roots as it rips from the soil, can it not only keep on living but begin to grow many more trees on top, turn it's roots into twisted tree trunks and lift rocks? Yes, for realz. (I bet it made alot of noise when it happened!)
This twisted, braided, beaded (with rocks and knots) tree is close to the Luck Cabin, sitting in a wet bog like area where a few small creek & springs converge - creating an area of strange trees, trees that either fell and re-grew, or that look like 4 feet of ground dropped out from underneath.
Look below and you can see the original main tree truck that fell - it has even decayed at the top, covered in moss and turning into soil, but more trees grow straight up into the air from it.
Smaller trees...some dead, some alive wrap their roots in a hug on old roots and other new trees growing...
Rocks that had been in the ground, rocks that had intertwined with the roots were lifted and then the growth became tighter around them, till they were part of the twisted beauty, almost camouflaged into bark covered roots...
Some rocks sit loosely but never fall, they rest cradled up in the air.
These parts of nature inspire me... even if it's somewhat cliche' in my mind, the twisted tree shows the type of perseverance humans can take guidence from, it shows strength and adaptability--- and the sheer delight and beauty in the unusual, the strange, the handicap, the freaky. It's why I never turn my back on the rejected, the creepy, the lonely, the different things- they are life too, all exsistence is part of this mysterious cycle, all possessing lessons to teach. Lessons that make our lives easier.
These are just stunning! Mushrooms suddenly pop their beauty out from the wet forest floor, pressing up through rotten leaves, and never last very long... that kind of whimsical and short life span is exactly why so many people become fascinated by them. At least, that is part of what draws me in. Curly, smooth, colorful, half melted, looking like seashells, looking like biggie sized burger buns ----- can anyone tell me which kind of mushrooms these are? I would love to add in the labels if someone is able to help me ID them!
Xoxoxox
XOXOxoox
The other night while I was relaxing on the phone, suddenly my cat jumped in my window holding a mouse. Nothing unusual... until she dropped the mouse right at my feet and I noticed what I first thought as some kid of deformity or rare defect - the mouse had a tail well over two times it's body length!!! It also had really large back feet and hopped across my floor as well as ran...
I was not sure if this was a certain type of mouse, or if some freak of the forest had dropped in tha' cabin, till a friend of mine googled it and found that the Nature Center in my area of the western north carolina mountains had written an excited page about these long tailed cutie pies...
Xoxoxox
Holy Toodles! I found this caterpillar while sitting in the woods quietly for a bit in the same spot, I finally looked down at the maple sapling leaf below me only to discover little feet holding on the the under side of the stem. When I flipped it over to find that it was a caterpillar who's ass looks like it's supposed to be it's face- then I looked closely to see that faux face actually looks like it had a black colored clown nose (perfectly round!), the shape of a dog's muzzle and the colors of some foreign country that appreciates the exotic spirit/vibrance of nature.....
I think that ass face was actually grinning at me! Or perhaps growling...
I have never in my life seen this type of caterpillar, or anything closely resembling it, do any of ya'll know what kind of caterpillar this is, and what it will become when it finally takes flight??!
(below is a close of on the strange fake face... extremely elaborate in it's disguise, color, pattern and shape - a beautifully crafted mask.)
Under some mountain laurel, popping out the wet forest floor were these white delicate flora - looking like albino rose buds. At first I wondered if it was some strange plant, a plant with no color, something from a fantasy world crossing over into my world.
My friend Mark (who's helping me build my donkey fence) was standing there with me, and said it was a type of mushroom! If I had been the first to discover this fungi I think I would have named it something really hardcore.... like the Angel Of Death. Or Tears Of Angels. White Lion? 
Have ya'll ever seen this? 
Xoxoxo
Lately I have been branching out far beyond my Luck Cabin to other parts of the woods within walking distance. Sometimes I trek a good few miles getting lost in the vast beauty and the strangeness of being alone in deeper darker woods. Sometimes I happen upon a clearing, a patch of something special (usually it's nettles).... today it is red BEE BALM! I have seen tiny amounts of bee balm in the forest before - even under canopies of total shade, they don't seem to be all that picky in the wild. But here in this secret spot tucked far away I found fields of it...
Isn't it a striking unusual flower? Hummingbirds, butterflies and moths LOVE it too!
There are bunches of uses for the bee balm plant, from head to ground (but not the part underground....)
You can see in the pic above the leaves are long and narrow - and when ya crush them they have a very distinct smell (similar to thyme and hippies, a deep frangrance hard to describe.). The flowers bloom June through July and come in a few colors... so now's the time to look out for them. :) My favorite flavor is the white-ish ones cause they smell like lemon yumminess!
XOxoxoox Yay!
