The Time Space Continuum

Went on a hike today and saw these awesome flowers just growing wild. I have no idea what they are. Couldn't find my Audubon book that has all the wildlife for this state; plants, birds, critters. They are just so tiny and beautiful. It looks like they are just starting to bloom so there are many more on the way.

Then I wandered farther up in to the hills, and thought I'd take a picture of the exploding trees. They are tan oak, not that that helps much, since common names are unofficial. I can't remember latin names though. Canis Lupis is the only one I evermemorized, common name Grey Wolf. In fact, Audubon will make up common names if they can't find refrence to the subject in question. What I always called wild iris they call "western blue flag"... ?? I never even heard of such a name until I was flipping through one of their books.

Anyway, these tan oaks are the only ones in an entire forest of these trees that have these exploding pockmarks up thier trunks. They're alive, too. The first time I saw them I went kind of cold and nervous. See, when I hike with my cats, my brain likes to play tricks on me. Nevermind the mountain lions that might be stalking me unseen, what about the aliens, ala Sigourney Weaver movies? Yes, I saw these trees and I thought aliens had exploded out of them. I had never seen anything like it, so that's what my brain made up. I actually have no idea what heppened to these trees, but it was probably something a lot slower than an explosion. Disease, maybe, or those bark beetles. I love hiking in the forest with just my kitties, but sometimes I get a little spooked. And imaginative.

Lastly we hiked up to The Stump, which had sucked a bird into the gravitational vortex of it's otherworldy wormhole ( If I was tech savy this is where I would put a link to the post that explains The Stump). That's what it looked like, anyway. There were feathers plastered all up the side of The Stump and scattered over the ground around it. Like some innocent bird had been flying along, and then WHAM! it was sucked toward the stump, missing the tunnel and hitting the side.

O...M...G... I just realized something. The feathers were those of a blue jay (latin name unknown). And remember last weekend? (another tech savy link here) When there was a DISTURBANCE in the forest that caused the flock of jays to come screeching off the mountain and go kamikaze bomber on Pheonix? ...It was ...The Stump ...killing their blue feathered brethren. Forget gremlins eating the cat food at night. We have some sort of reality /time /space /dimensional glich in the forest! I am sooo locking the doors good tonight. And sleeping with my camera.

Ok, it's not cabin fever, I assure you. Or a pot smoking acid trip thing. I don't even drink beer till dinner time. I used to want to write sci fi / fantasy novels, and I guess I still just have a little to get out of my system. And you gotta admit, it's a helluva lot more interesting of a hiking story.

P.S. Wait, maybe the gremlins came out of The Stump! I am gonna figure this thing out...