A Day of The Rare and Unusual.

Stockings Galore!

What an awesome last two days!   So many things to blog about and so little space...   Unless I write a longer blog posting today... so let's begin!

Even MORE stockings

Yesterday we were swamped with more stockings and decided to skip the morning run and run in the evening instead.   We sewed up the stockings and headed to Iowa city around 3 P.M.   After several errands, Cheryl made a command decision to run the hills instead of the flats.   Mostly because of the time constraints.

An Afternoon Run in the Hills

At the TOP of a BIG hill

But as we neared the finish,  I suggested we attempt that huge hill right before the parking lot... And Cheryl went for it!

Pretty col view.

If I look winded, its because I AM!

  It was a little tough.  I had to change to my lowest gear and was totally out of breath by the time we crested the top.   But the Rewards were worth it!   Quite the view of the land that we have never seen before.

Time to Head back down

Watch out for cars and steep grades!

Cheryl liked it so much she suggested we might have to make that a "thing" whenever we run that part of the trail.   At least until the snow and ice make it impossible.   Coming down was the scary part for me.   And that road is rather narrow if another car wants to join you.

MORE STOCKINGS!

We came home to even MORE stockings and, feeling ever so ambitious, we tackled them as well;  clearing our schedule for today.   I guess the stockings are going to become and issue soon enough.

Running This Morning

 Luckily JoAnn fabrics had a new stash of buttons and we were able to fill some of the ranks that were thinning.  If sales continue,  we may have a chance to order directly from the Button Manufacturer.   That will save us time and money in the long run.

A Hidden Easter Egg Prize!

So much larger than this picture shows.

This morning, I stumbled upon a truly wonderful find!  A Giant Puffball the size of which I have never seen before!   It was HUGE!  About the size of a large pumpkin.   My hand does not show it off very well. ( as I knew would be the case.)   Cheryl continued to run away, so I decided to pick it and try to ride with it on my bike.  You can probably guess the outcome of that.

Imagine I looked like this... only with TWO!

The larger one is pumpkin sized!

I was doing so well too!   I had slowly rode about a quarter mile;  looking like a farmer with a bucket of milk on his lap as he tried to peddle. But gravity always wins.  And as I dropped it,  it split into several dozen pieces. 

The tragic pieces wrapped in my jacket.

There is no victory in quitting!   So I gathered up the largest pieces and tied them up in my jacket.  ( I should have done that in the BEGINNING!   ARRGGG!)   Well, Failure (if you survive) makes you wiser.  At least that is what the Byzantines say.  So I managed to get the broken scraps back to the car and show off my broken prize to my wife.    She was mostly impressed!   (At least she pretended to be enough for me to believe her.)

Make sure they are white inside.

These mushrooms bring back memories from my teenage days.  We used to go squirrel hunting and Eric ( my brother) found several large ( but not HUGE, like these two) ones.

Fry them up,  With or without batter.

  Mom cooked them up with the squirrels, rabbits, and grouse that we managed to get that weekend.   It was always a wild game Feast when  we had enough game to actually have a Saturday Afternoon meal.   Mom was not the best cook... except when it came to cooking up wild animals.   I don't know why, but probably because of her Caveman upbringing. (That is almost a joke,  If my brother is reading this, he knows the truth....and is still probably laughing)

Similar to fried creme cheese!  Yumm!

It has been possibly 30 years since I last ate a Puffball mushroom.  I wanted to sample it to refresh my memory.   I sliced it up and simply fried it in olive and sesame seed oil.    It is similar to cream cheese in texture and flavor.   Awesome! 

The largest one is beginning to turn.   Maybe I can plant it for next year.

I still have the small one,  but the larger one is beginning to turn already, as shown by the yellowish part in the middle.   I could cut around the bad part, but I really doubt I will be able to eat that much of it anyway!   Cheryl sampled a bit, but I know I will most likely be the only one eating it.   Add in that we are going to Michigan this weekend and chances are it will not be eaten at all!

Wouldn't this be cool in our yard!

But that is OK.   I read up on how to cultivate it and it is possible to get it to root here in our own yard.  The chances are probably slim,  but so is everything else I plant here.  I never know what will take root and what will never mature.   We shall see how it goes next fall.

Albino Ghost Deer Spotted Near Iowa City!

And one last side note.   An Albino Deer was spotted  last night near Iowa City!   Nicknamed " The Ghost Deer" by the locals,   people are not revealing its true location because another deer was poached in 2013 in the same area. At least the 2013 deer passed on the allele to the next generation before the tragedy;  so it looks like those Albino Genes are in the area at least.

The 2013 deer did not last long.

  I read that Iowa made it illegal to kill an albino deer during hunting season after that.   I think that is Awesome.   Just because you see a rare genome in your area,  you should not have to kill it!   ( I say this as a former hunter.)  Some things are simply too pretty or rare to just kill.  Better to cultivate it and maybe see more of it in later years.  But that does not stop people.   "Tragedy of the Commons" I guess.

Maybe the 2017 deer will be better protected from poachers.

I hope that the deer lives a long and fruitful life.   And perhaps it will pass those genes on to the next generation,  allowing folks like me to see a rare sight here in the middle of no where.