Biking In The Rain, And The Treasures You Find.

Wonder if the rain will stop? 

 You would never know it by looking outside right now, but it has been raining pretty much all day today.  There was supposed to be a gap in the showers from 10-Noon,  but you would have bet against it as we got out this morning. 

Looks pretty bad. 

I was able to put the bikes on, but by the time we got to Casey's for coffee,   the clouds opened up!

Might have to wait for it to end. 

Luckily,  we had a little shopping to do so we could delay getting wet for an hour or two.   By the time we finished, the rain has settled down to a fine mist and occasional sprinkle.  Lucky us!

Cheryl says," Let's go Shoping first!" 

We decided to take an easy bike ride today, since Cheryl is still recovering from her Madtown run.  I was feeling a little fatigued as well,   with all that driving, blogging, picture taking, and my general lack of sleep on race weekends.  7 miles seemed like a good idea.

Eventually the rain dies down. 

Cheryl has to towel off her seat. 

While getting ready to head out,   I noted that there were Carp flopping around in the shallows.  As I went down for a closer look,  I noted a Muskrat swimming around right near them.  At first, I thought it might be a mink or weasel after the fish, but no..  Just a muskrat.   (Muskrats don't eat fish like Mink do.) Still, seeing large fish trying to eat the grass off of the shore is a strange and cool sight.

Muskrats and Carp in the shallows
of the lake. 

Shaggy cap,  Beginning to turn
into ink. 

As we headed down the trail,  Cheryl noticed a shaggy cap!   A spring fruiting has finally reveled itself!    Too bad the mushroom was too old and began to turn into black goo.   They never seem to last longer than a day as it is.  I'm sure the constant rain has accelerated the process.  Had it been fresh,  I might have picked it and taken it home.  Shaggy caps are good for you!  And even though they have a short shelf life,  they do come out in the spring AND the fall.   Perhaps there will be more in the coming days.

Slimy Cap. 

Why do they call them "slimy" 

We also discovered several slimy caps.   I'm not exactly sure of their scientific name, but "slimy cap" is the common one.  You would understand why if you touched the top.  It feels slimy, but does not come off on your fingers.   Similar to snail or slug slime.

Touch the top,  Verly slippery. 

Some more!  Mature ones. 

Next to them were a few Web Caps.   Deadly web caps are in this family... and are rather common in the woods around here.   And although I'm not 100% on when they show up,  I do know that Web Caps do not have many edible species.  And with "deadly" being in the name, you can imagine Why there is not a urgent interest to gather any of these.  I'm pretty sure this is one of them.   The brown, widely spaced gills are a big sign. 

Gray-ish gills. 

Which one is the Deadly Web Cap? 

There were a few others we discovered along the trail today.   Nothing we could positively ID, ( except the Shaggy Cap.) but it is a good sign that a few of the Spring mushrooms will be coming out soon.  Who needs Morels anyway?

Not sure what this is, but it's yellow
with white gills...  Best to avoid. 

Some more,   Past their prime.
Note how the gills do not touch
the stem. 

Our Bike ride was cut short with the Flooded trail gate.   Once again, we may have to wait for the water to recede before being able to get to the City Park.  ( or Jurassic Park, as Cheryl likes to call it. )

Looks like the path is closed. 

Hopefully the water will drop back
to normal soon. 

  And Finally, we will be trying out our latest Wisconsin Beer.  We got a couple of new ones and are looking forward to sampling them.  I actually already had a sample, and found both of them very refreshing.

Sampling the Wisconsin Beers.   Yeah!  Beer! 

 The Lighter one is more of a Citrus/summer ale.  Very fruity and fizzy with a low alcohol content.  (Very drinkable... especially after mowing your lawn on a hot summer day.)  The darker one is a little more caramel-y with a wonderful hop bitterness.   I love hops and bitterness.   Especially if they taste like pines.

Hope everyone is staying dry today.   And hopefully the rain will not downpour as much as it did today.   Cheryl says it is supposed to rain all week.   I doubt the river will drop down to its normal levels if that actually happens.   But rains trigger Mushrooms!  And we have a bunch of spores in our yard just waiting for the right moment to reveal themselves.  Fingers crossed!

Thanks for stopping in.