Monday, November 23, 2015
Foolish Kitty
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Albino redwoods
Over the weekend, Nim and I had the opportunity to take a short hike into a normally closed part of La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve to go see some albino redwoods.
Albino redwoods, you ask? They are redwoods that have a genetic mutation that means they don't have any chlorophyll. What they do have are roots that can grab onto a neighboring redwood and parasitically absorb nutrients that way. Not a very efficient feeding mechanism, so they don't usually get very big, but it is interesting to see a mass of white redwood sprouts growing near the base of another tree.
The needle shape and habit are different too -- wide flat needles that sometimes curl up on themselves.
Almost a snowflake!
It was raining slightly, and Nim decided to be a small woodland creature.
Spiderwebs accumulated not only water droplets, but entire water films.
On our way out, we wandered around in the mud to find a second albino redwood mass; this one sprouted out of a normal redwood partway up the trunk. Apparently there is some sort of virus that leads to the mid-trunk sprouting. It's gotta be pretty rare to get this combination of the virus and the genetic mutation together!
Albino redwoods, you ask? They are redwoods that have a genetic mutation that means they don't have any chlorophyll. What they do have are roots that can grab onto a neighboring redwood and parasitically absorb nutrients that way. Not a very efficient feeding mechanism, so they don't usually get very big, but it is interesting to see a mass of white redwood sprouts growing near the base of another tree.
The needle shape and habit are different too -- wide flat needles that sometimes curl up on themselves.
Almost a snowflake!
Sometimes there are normal sprouts mixed in with the white ones.
It was raining slightly, and Nim decided to be a small woodland creature.
Spiderwebs accumulated not only water droplets, but entire water films.
On our way out, we wandered around in the mud to find a second albino redwood mass; this one sprouted out of a normal redwood partway up the trunk. Apparently there is some sort of virus that leads to the mid-trunk sprouting. It's gotta be pretty rare to get this combination of the virus and the genetic mutation together!
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Halloween
Halloween came and went.
Once again, my pumpkin was the only marginally disturbing one.
Nim slaved over her graveyard cake.
Sack of Potatoes and Mouse were really too old for trick-or-treating,
but fortunately, they *needed* to escort little brother Explosives around the neighborhood.
Explosives had entertaining LED animations. He just couldn't reach to hold his candy bag out. Sack of Potatoes and Mouse tried to help, but people still kept trying to throw the candy in the big box. Not such a good strategy, given that the bottom was open so he could walk...
Sack of Potatoes and Mouse were really too old for trick-or-treating,
but fortunately, they *needed* to escort little brother Explosives around the neighborhood.
Explosives had entertaining LED animations. He just couldn't reach to hold his candy bag out. Sack of Potatoes and Mouse tried to help, but people still kept trying to throw the candy in the big box. Not such a good strategy, given that the bottom was open so he could walk...
Happy late Halloween.
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