Sunday, September 29, 2013

Sunday Stills - Creepy things

This was a tough challenge for me because the things I think of as being creepy are not things I would ever have a chance or desire to photograph.  Things like driving into work and finding the police arresting someone in the parking lot.  Or walking next to one of the abandoned, long condemned factory buildings near the parking lot and hearing a baby crying inside.  Watching two groups of young gang thugs pass each other on opposite sides of the street, their pants around their knees, hurling insults at each other and egging on the underfed, berserk Pitt Bulls lunging at the ends of heavy chain leads.  Pitt Bulls aren't the problem, it's the creepy people who want to own Pitt Bulls that are the problem.

Ticks are creepy.  I have found numerous deer ticks this week, but I never take the time to photograph them.  I can't kill them fast enough.

Thankfully, the closest thing to creepy that I could find to photograph here were these rather slimy, deadly looking mushrooms.  At least I think they are a fungus of some sort, although their lack of spores and the copious amount of gelatinous slime they produce make me wonder.  Maybe I've stumbled upon an alien life form.

The last time I posted pictures of fungi, someone asked if any were edible. I have no idea and I am not brave enough to find out.  I think of them as another kind of wildflower and I always like finding new or interesting types, but this is one food I am perfectly happy buying from a grocery store.

I have found some really beautiful specimens over the years and each year brings something different depending on the weather.  I am sure some of them are edible as some do get eaten by other critters almost as fast as they can grow.  I don't see anything coming near these things though, which I take as a warning sign.  If one was needed.  Would any of you mess with these things?

I don't know anything about them, but I sure wouldn't touch them.

On the other hand, there are rather cute creepy things, like my favorite little salamanders who appear to think these mushrooms are rather tasty....

 and a wooly bear who seem to have lost his stripes.  What do you suppose that means for the winter weather forecast?

There are things that my not appear creepy at first glance, but the hazard they represent gives me the creeps.

A horse that belongs to a friend of mine got tangled in some ancient, half buried barbed wire a few months ago.  It severed one of the main tendons in the back of her foot.  The horse is still trying to recuperate, but will never walk right again.  The damned stuff is all over the place and is the main reason I walk a path in the woods before I take the donkeys out on it.

Some slithery, creepy things...

I don't want to deal with the kind who bite, but these little guys who live in the woods are fine with me.

And perhaps my favorite creepy thing...I'm rather fond of spiders...


19 comments:

  1. More cute than creepy for me, but then I'm a wierdo. Love the shrooms and the fire salamander ans the spider web is a beauty..:-))

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  2. I have never seen anything like those fungi and they are indeed creepy! Love the newt though. Haven't seen one in years, but they are one of my favorites too., Great shots!

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  3. Yep!! You found creepy! I love the beautiful spider's web...they are true natures artists. :)

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  4. Getting better? I'm with you: the creepiest things to me always involve people.

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  5. Loved it ...I found your creepy things quite interesting.
    Thanks for the share :)

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  6. Wow you have many more creepy things here than I thought would be around. I know that Badger got caught up in barbed wire like that many years ago. One of the reasons I too walk my riding route! I used to walk with fence nippers to get up old barbed wire!
    Beautiful shots, thank you!

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  7. OMG, it IS an alien life form! I agree - I wouldn't touch those things. Now, your beautiful orange salamander I like, and I do like snakes. I've picked up several over the years. I also like beautiful spider webs, as long as I don't walk into one. I also agree with you on the rusty barbed wire - it can make an interesting photo, but I don't want it near my skin. Do horses and donkeys need tetanus shots?

    Hug Ramsey and the girls for me.
    Nancy in Iowa

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    1. They do indeed need tetanus shots. In fact, horses are more susceptible to tetanus then any other species so they generally get a shot eery year and still get a booster if they are injured.

      Thanks for all the good comments and warm wishes. I'll be sure to dispense some extra hugs with your name on them.

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    2. And thank you for the education!

      Nancy

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  8. Hygrocybe psittacina .....looks like a match to me! BUT aliens is a much better story!

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    1. I sticking to my story, the other is too hard to pronounce!

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  9. That creepy fungus is leotia viscosa, also known as a green-headed jelly club or green-headed jelly baby. I also found one reference to it as chicken lips. Maybe you'll get lucky and the folk lore about wolly bear caterpillar color will come true this winter. You've had such awful weather this year, you're due for a break.

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    1. Green-headed jelly club - I guess I should have known that jut by looking them:) Thanks.

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  10. Good ones! Especially the little snake!

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  11. Quite the variety of creepy things, never seen mushrooms like that before. Not that I really want to either. Nice shots

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  12. Lots of creepy things there! The fungi are particularly unusual!

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  13. Haha, I wouldn't be eating those!! LOL. However they are SO cool, I've never seen those! I love weird looking mushrooms. Great pictues, even the creepy ones! ;)

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