Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Snakes, Mushrooms, and Daisy on Canada Day



I love having a back yard - it's so interesting. Today when I was out picking up shit in the back yard I saw this little snake - he is probably about a foot long and he didn't seem to be afraid of me at all.
Of course I didn't touch him at all - but he stayed right where he was while I ran into the house to get the camera and take a bunch of pictures of him - I even used the flash and he didn't care. Even the snakes are laid back in Nova Scotia! haha!
These mushrooms are popping up all over my back yard too - should I be worried about them if the dogs decide to have a snack of them? I've never noticed them before in previous years - but they are in a part of the yard that last year was wild bushes and wasn't accessible - so the dogs couldn't have eaten them anyway. Does anyone have any idea what kind of mushrooms they are? Can I eat them? Are they magic mushrooms? Can I make some money? haha!
Daisy went in for surgery yesterday - my dogs are on a conveyor belt of surgery! She's had a growth growing inside her right eyelid - so yesterday she had it removed. She's been very quiet last night and today - she is not very happy. For some reason she's got these growths growing on her body - and I think this one in her eye was particularly bothersome. Last September she also had a growth removed from the inside of her eye and several spots on her body.
Poor Daisy. Some days it's hard to be her.

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:07 PM

    You`re brave.
    I hate to have an unfounded phobia about harmless creatures but I do.
    (Perhaps I should have been a politician)
    That snake and I would not be meeting eye to eye.
    What kind of snake is that?
    Didn`t know NS had snakes that looked like that.Perhaps it`s the camera angle but it looks rather daunting.

    The Mushrooms
    The 2nd shot looks like the Dunce Cap (Conocybe lactea).
    It`s common and widespread in lawns.
    In general, Brown-spored mushrooms are not regarded as edible.
    Many brown-spored Mushrooms are LBM`s.
    Most hallucinogenic fungi are LBM`s(Little Brown Mushrooms).
    They are difficult to identify.
    Some contain toxins and ALL should be avoided.
    Best not to eat ANY wild mushrooms unless you really know your mushrooms and definitely don`t let the dogs eat them.
    BTW,enjoy your blog.
    People should stop being so angry and appreciate passion,even when in disagreement.

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  2. haha! I'm not afraid to get eye to eye with a snake - but as for touching it - that gives me the heeby-jeebies like crazy! I could never do that. That would give me nightmares. I think it's a garter snake - we don't have any venomous snakes in Nova Scotia as far as I know. I really wanted to get a shot of him sticking his tongue out - but my finger wasn't quick enough. Garter snakes don't get very big - and I've heard that an island in the Halifax Harbour - George's Island has one of the largest amount of them in the world - now THAT'S gross!

    I remember when I was in highschool in Amherst Nova Scotia that some of the kids would take days off to go and pick mushrooms so that they could eat them. So they knew which ones to pick obviously - me, I didn't tag along on those excursions so I don't know anything about mushrooms.

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  3. Anonymous12:46 PM

    Here is a link to a page on how to identify the 5 snakes of Nova Scotia:

    Snakes of NS

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  4. Anonymous3:08 PM

    Thanks and here`s a great site for Mushrooms
    http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/

    BUT here`s a few warnings from a Magic Mushroom site!
    http://nepenthes.lycaeum.org/Plants/shrooms/identify.html
    [quote]THERE IS NO ONE SAFE TEST FOR ANY MUSHROOM![/quote]
    [quote]There are two kinds of mushroom hunters -- smart ones, and dead ones. Even some of the smart ones are dead now.[/quote]
    [quote]If you die from eating a mushroom of questionable qualities, all I can say is, "Thanks for providing us with the new information!" The data from your autopsy will save the rest of us from making the same mistake. [/quote]

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  5. Anonymous3:40 PM

    Just to let you know I did go to George's Island on Father's Day and didn't see one snake! :)

    D

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  6. Anonymous3:41 PM

    Just to let you know that I went to George's Island on Father's Day and didn't see one snake! :)

    D

    ReplyDelete