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LOTS of pics from the mountains. 56K warning!

Clint

Stay chooned in for more!
I just felt like taking some pics today. Tomorrow I'll go out and take pics of giant club mosses.


Look and take note of what development does to wetlands. When my mother was my age, this as a big lake without any "boggy" or weedy areas. We've lost about 25% of the lake from sediment from development going downstream and depositing in the lake, and now you can't go swimming in it anymore. Even a third of the way from the shore to center, it's silt. One time a baby deer got spooked from our dog, ran into the lake, got caught in the silt and drown. I'm not kidding. All of these is so that some old people can live in modular homes and have a place to go in to in the winter from up north. Our front view used to be a lake, and it's turning more and more into a swamp every year.

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Old dirt road that goes around the lake and is how my grandparents used to get to the cabin
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Day lily
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Fish jumping and I caught the splash. Must have been a big fish.
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4-inch crane-fly like thing that flew almost vertically, maybe at a 60 or 70 degree angle. It flew pretty slow, not like a dragonfly. I mean I know it's not a dragonfly but there were also lots of those screwing around (haha) so I just compared the speed.
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LFS
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Here are some of the Cypripedium orchids. Too late to catch the flowers this year. Out of ALL of them, only TWO got fertilized this year, and most of the seed will never even germinate and they were right beside each other. Unfortunately after taking these pics, I fell on them.



Haha, just kidding.

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Here's one that grew through a leaf.
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I think this is Smilax, and if my history and botany is correct then this is what they made a drink called Sarsaparilla out of. It was considered a tonic and good for you because it made you sweat, and I guess all of the toxins went out in the sweat.
Today Smilax is a herbal supplement for body builders because it's believed to increase testosterone, but it hasn't been proven.
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Some lichen
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This is the creek/stream thing beside the house, and I want to plant some Darlingtonia there since Sphagnum also grows there. I hope it doesn't get too cold. I doubt it.

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Wild Rhododendron
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Sassafras. This plant used to be used in rootbeer and has the most wonderful smell. Ever year I go out and dig some up and take the rootbark and make the best tea in the world. Mmmm mmm sassafras with mint, lemon and lots of sugar. It's almost worth the liver damage the Safrole, which is a volatile oil in Sassafras, causes. Now they have Safrole-free artificial sassafras flavoring you can buy. That's for wimps. As a side note, Safrole is a regulated substance because it's a precurser to MDMA or Ecstasy. Look it up if you don't believe me :) The leaves of the Sassafras tree are dried, ground and added to some cajun cooking to this day. I think it's called "Saloop"

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Wild mountain laurel

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Neat fern frond
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More lake shots
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Development. It kills bogs that are supposed to be there and creates bogs that aren't. Although I don't live on a lake, I live in a tourist hotspot as well. So all your tourists come from up North? All ours are from way down south (mainly Florida). Locals like to call them Floridians when they are nice, but when a particularly old lady from flat Florida sees a curve in Boone she 1) turns on a turnsignal for a turn that's not there and 2) drives miserably slowly in a 55 zone (like I'm talking 30 or 35). The locals call the bad drives from Florida, Floridiots. No insult intended for you Floridians. We like the business! LOL
 
dude that sucks about the loss of the bog but fun pictures.
 
Sassafras. ...... As a side note, Safrole is a regulated substance because it's a precurser to MDMA or Ecstasy. Look it up if you don't believe me :) The leaves of the Sassafras tree are dried, ground and added to some cajun cooking to this day. I think it's called "Saloop"

Great stuff! Maybe that's why those true Cajuns are so laid back, yet so excitable. I use the sassafras leaves when cooking all the time, now. I will have to check the levels of Safrole in it. The cajuns call the ground leaves file powder, it can be used in gumbo instead of a roux, or simply added to dishes for flavor....YUM! :-D I could never find it in Seattle when I lived ther, but now I am in sassafras heaven!

Beautiful shots, beautiful lake and property. It is alays interetsing to note ecological eveolution. Pretty soon you may have a real sarracenia heaven there (too bad that won't be so good for property values ??? )
 
Beautiful photos. Really enjoyed seeing the landscape there. I see sassafrass all the time in the woods as well as the rhododendron and laurel. This year I was lucky enough to find cypripediums (lots!) in quite a few locations. I got a ton of cyp pics.

One of these days when I get some time I'm gonna post some woodland pics.

I LOVE being in the woods. :)
 
Thanks for sharing these great pics!
 
  • #10
Great stuff! Maybe that's why those true Cajuns are so laid back, yet so excitable. I use the sassafras leaves when cooking all the time, now. I will have to check the levels of Safrole in it. The cajuns call the ground leaves file powder, it can be used in gumbo instead of a roux, or simply added to dishes for flavor....YUM! :-D I could never find it in Seattle when I lived ther, but now I am in sassafras heaven!

Beautiful shots, beautiful lake and property. It is alays interetsing to note ecological eveolution. Pretty soon you may have a real sarracenia heaven there (too bad that won't be so good for property values ??? )



Actually last year I DID have a ton of Sarracenia up here, but keeping the weeds at bay was hard work. I also had lots of Drosera and Dionaea and all those those died over the winter, but the Sarracenia made it fine. I got scared that one day it would freeze too hard and kill them, and besides the weeding is so hard when I only come up on the weekends, that I just decided to move them back home on the deck. They did better up here at the lake, I guess because of all of the bugs!
 
  • #11
Man! that is a wonderful place. :D Still waiting for the clubmoss pictures. :)
 
  • #12
Yeah, it's actually raining soo... Lol I'll try once it stops. If it's too dark I might have to get them tomorrow.
 
  • #13
Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed the pictures.
 
  • #14
My trusted sidekick. When she's not rolling in dead things she's running through the wood with me and protects me from bears. And hobo's.
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A Goodyera pubescens orchid
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A habitat shot
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Indian pipes! I love these things!! Used as an anti-convulsive and mild sedative in herbal remedies.
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4 kinds of Moss
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  • #15
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  • #16
YOU'VE GOT INDIAN PIPE!!!! Man!! Lucky you! I love those. Only seen them twice. Once I saw the white ones and then I saw the similar one, pinesap I believe, that is red.

Your dog is beautiful. :)

And one of those moss pics is "running cedar". We have (had) tons of that at my parent's home (and around here too). It used to be hard to find but a ton of it started growing on the lot next my parent's house. We used to be use it at Christmas for decorating. Unfortunately, after all these years of wooded privacy, that lot is being developed and I'm sure the running cedar is gone. :-( I don't even want to go home to see this new house built next to ours. We've always had wooded privacy on 3 sides. I grew up in those woods...it just breaks my heart. :(
 
  • #17
Thanks! She likes it up here better than she does at home because she can dig up moles and run around in the swamp.

We actually have lots of the indian pipes and normally I'd give you some, but it has to be associated with fungi and a tree or something and it would turn black and die before it got to your house. Is this the red one? http://www.photoseek.com/05PRA_26-Many-flowered-Indian-pipe.jpg

If you want some of the ground cedar lycopodium, I can send you as much as you want for the cost of shipping. I think I can probably fit 4 or 5 gallons of the stuff in a box if you want.
 
  • #18
HOLY CRAP! That moss is astounding. DAMMIT...cant find any of that in locally here. :( CRAP! :( OHHH MAN!! seriouslly...the moss is beautiful. :D
 
  • #19
I don't know which would be worse, the hobo or the bear?
 
  • #20
Varun, Canada really doesn't have stuff like this up there like Georgia?


LAS, I'm not sure but a hobo bear would be the worst.
 
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