September Iowa Heat Wave!

What the HECK!?    The humidity is AWFUL today...  As I write this,  I am finding it extremely difficult to even focus on my typing.   So... I shoudl try to make this post short. 

Basically,  before the heat destroyed my MOJO...  I wanted to post pics of the Bittle Gills (Russulas) before I forgot about them.   I "cleaned" them up a bit...  but with Russulas, the more you clean them the more they fall apart.  So... I have to be realistic with my expectations. 

That being said...  the final verdict:    The Green ones were good.   Tasty, not not the almonds that I had with the light red ones ( Copper  or Baretoothed Russulas?)  They did dry pretty well and had lots of material to add to my eggs. 

The Red, red ones.   Bitter.   "Sharp" if you prefer.   They were not terrible since I did not have very many to sample of those.   Cheryl says I should stick to the red ones in the Corralville trail and avoid the ones from Corralville lake.   There are lots of varieties out there by the lake, but it is really dicfficult to tell them apart.   I at least know that if they get too red,  chances are they are the "sharp" ones.

Yellow...  Here is one that is still a little up in the air.   There is the "Swamp Russula" and it is supposed to be very tasty.   And then there is the "Mustard" Russula that is not so tasty.   Well,  I'm not sure which one I nabbed here.   But I will say that I did not find it to be "super tasty"   So there is a chance that the one we brought home is NOT the Swamp version.   I thought the Mustard Russula grew under pine trees, but there were no pines near the Corralville lake.  So perhaps I gathered one of the other 3000 species of Russula and just have not IDed it properly yet. 

And then there were the pinkish Russulas that were very tasty.  I finished them all off yesterday and I'm still alive to blog about it.  So...perhaps some of them were not as delicious as others, but none of them were toxic.

Cheryl and I went out for a bike ride last night and discovered that the evening bike rides will now be facing a differant kind of hardship.   Not only is it hot and buggy...  the sun now sets much faster than we are used to.   We barely made it home before the "Deer Thirty" hour was upon us.   As it was, we still had to dodge several deer as they jumped across the trail.   The gnats/no-see-ems are out in force and literally peppered us as we loaded up the car.  ( they stick to you when you are covered in sweat..) 
Other than that,   we continue to score,  and go about our lives. 

 This heat is killer though... I find my patience very short on days like this.   I can't wait for that storm front ot move in and bring cooler temps.  I am at least happy that some of the Mushrooms are popping up.   Hope everyone is staying cool this evening.  Looks like the temps will not be dropping for us very soon.   Thansk for stopping in.