Planting Season

Day 55: The last several Nisqually Land Trust events have seen me absent from the ranks of scotch-broom pullers and tree-planters through the unfortunate circumstance of an irritated nerve in my right leg. On my doctor's advice, I have been wrapping it in a pressure bandage which after a few days seems to relieve the pain, but a day or two out of it, and I'm right back to square one. Consequently, he's taken me off shovel detail on the premise that over-shovelling was probably how I got into this predicament. After all, I did dig up most of my yard last spring, and I'm not as young as I used to be. That said, it has upset me that I haven't been able to participate in work parties at my former level, so Charly (pictured here) suggested that I could do duty as official photographer. Thus I could be found on this 25° morning atop Ohop Bluff with five other stalwart souls, having lugged a pair of shovels down a mile of trail while the stronger members of the planting team carted planters' packs filled with bare-root Doug fir seedlings. While they put 100 of them in the ground, I took pictures and ran around sticking pink flags beside each one to mark them for the later addition of protective plastic sleeves. I am grateful to Charly for having found a small job I could do in addition to my photographic work.

Hashtag - I Love My Job

Day 54: I see it a lot on Facebook: "#ilovemyjob." Okay, it's usually my supervisor and good friend Kevin who hashtags photos from work like that, but y'know, it couldn't be truer for either of us. Sure, there are those days when the database is acting up or the computer won't recognize my security card, days when everything we need seems to have gone missing out of the storeroom, times when we get a run of applicants hoping to stay on unemployment by telling us they want to be a campground host but that they can only work three hours per week. There are Headbanger Days and Swearword Days and I-Wish-I'd-Stayed-Home Days, but even when the going gets rough, all we have to do is step outside for a few minutes to be reminded of how good we have it.

So here we are: the summer seasonals are gone, the winter seasonals haven't arrived. The first good snow of the year has fallen, and Longmire is silent as a tomb, deliciously. You can almost hear the trees breathing, and Raven's coarse quork precipitates a fall of snowy pancakes which beat muffled thuds on the frozen drum of the ground. But for a hint of Park-Service brown on milled wood and the shameless boldness of a fire hydrant, the landscape could have been captured in black and white with nothing lost in translation. It is a restful view, one which demands no more effort from the eye than it is willing to give; take it all in at a glance, or take in the subtleties of hue and form. It's up to you. Me? #ilovemyjob.

Hardy

Day 53: I don't think hardy fuchsias are supposed to be blooming when the snow flies, but three of my five varieties (Genii, above, Dollar Princess and Army Nurse) apparently didn't get the memo and are doing their best to bring holiday colour to the garden. All three plants have been in their present locations for a couple of years, i.e., they're firmly established. Riccartonii is hanging onto its leaves, but has no blossoms currently, and Erecta (the most cold-sensitive member of the family) has gone to sleep for the winter.

Many people find these woody plants sprangly and unattractive when they outgrow their allotted space, but I think they more than adequately make up for their shortcomings by attracting hummingbirds to the yard. Because they flower on old wood as well as new, they can be pruned back if desired, although few people ever bother. Next year, I plan to add several more along the fenceline, either new plants or ones I've divided. Gotta keep those hummers happy!

Hypogymnia Physodes

Day 52: My fence is home to quite a variety of lichens, and calling to mind the cobbler's kids and their bare feet, I have to admit that I've never troubled myself to identify many of them. Generically, they're "fencepost lichens" in a hypothetical field guide to Crow's yard, a category which includes Usneas, Cladonias and Evernia, distinguished only by their attachment to cedar rails. I've never taken samples, never looked at potential identifying features until recently when I was prompted to do so by finding several of these small rosettes growing on the side of my house. Anything which can survive on a substrate of plastic is worthy of further study, so today I nicked a lobe and brought it indoors for examination. Thinking I had a fairly good idea where it belonged, I attempted to fit it into a family, but square peg that it was, it refused to go in the round hole. I don't know what compelled me to scrape at the dark underside with my thumbnail, but when I did so, it came away freely, revealing a white medullary ceiling. What? Waitaminit...it's a Hypogymnia! From the moment of that epiphany, the rest of the pieces fell neatly into place: Hypogymnia physodes, "one of the most common tree lichens in the north." Tree lichen, eh? Mine have a taste for vinyl siding.

Huernia Procumbens

Day 51: Huernia procumbens has developed its first "pointed star" (the common name attributed to the species), and I am wondering what factors contributed to its deviating from the form shown in the catalog. As a "lifesaver plant," it should exhibit a raised red ring surrounding its center, similar to that found in Huernia zebrina. Could the lack of development be due to the fact that it was transplanted only a month or so ago? No buds were showing at that time. As noted a few days ago, the mature bud was long and pointed, quite different from that of zebrina. If the "lifesaver" had grown normally, would the bud shape have been more like that of its cousin? I will be interested to see how subsequent flowers develop.

Longmire Fisher Release

Day 50: Today, Mount Rainier National Park saw the reintroduction of ten Pacific fishers into the wild at Longmire. The fisher is a member of the weasel family, and as such, contributes to the natural control of populations of small rodents. It was believed to have been extirpated from Washington many years ago as a result of fur-trapping. This on-going project includes releases in three National Parks in the state. It is a cooperation between many different wildlife management agencies and tribal groups, most of which were represented among the 100+ attendees present at the event. It was the first such release in the Park and was not open to the public, but the media were invited. If you're local, you will probably see coverage on television news or in the paper. You, my faithful readers, get a behind-the-scenes look at the day. Look at that little guy go!

Cladonia Gracilis, Smooth Cladonia

Day 49: Although at least two other Cladonia species are making cameo appearances in this image, the star of the show is Cladonia gracilis ssp., Smooth Cladonia. The unbroken cortex ("skin") of the podetia is particularly diagnostic when attempting to separate this lichen from similar species in the field. The branched habit and specimen location strongly suggest subspecies turbinata, but I am reluctant to commit to that because no tests for lichen substances were performed. Had I remembered before 24 hours had elapsed that I had dropped an unprotected specimen in the pocket of my field bag, I might have been able to be more specific.

All right, I heard that. Which one of you laughed at the absent-minded professor?