Time to hunt morel mushrooms

 The weirdness of 2020 has extended into 2021 in more than a few ways.  I've gotten to where I don't even look at the news reports of COVID cases, deaths, the vaccines ,etc; but I can't help but notice that our country seems to be at a standstill in mitigating the pandemic. That is to say, many Americans just can't seem to get it into their heads that the sooner we all mask up the sooner we'll get the pandemic under control.  Andy and I have both been vaccinated and still wear masks when we're in public (not when we're driving in the car.)

But the Oklahoma weather has been just as unpredictable as it always is.  The good thing is that we didn't get a freeze after the currant and redbuds flowered, so we may get a good crop of currants and we definitely has a bright splash of color from the redbuds. We had little rain over the past two months until this week, and the temperatures have been in the 50-60-70's, even as warm as 80 and sunny. I describe these conditions because the time to find morel mushrooms all depends on the temperature and moisture in the woods.  For the past month I've seen hundreds of posts on Facebook about who has found a cache of the coveted fungi and where they are popping up.  The "myth" is that mushrooms pop up when the redbuds are in full bloom, but that doesn't take into consideration the other necessary conditions for fruiting. All of the conditions may come together this Sunday, with the rain we've had the past two days, though the temperature won't be as warm as some people say it must be.  But we're going to go hunting when the temperature gets up to 60 degrees on Sunday instead of waiting until it hits 80 degrees again, cause that's not going to happen for a while. I hope we are successful.

Today some surveyors came out to survey our neighbor's property (the Nelsons) to our north. Evidently it has been sold to a group out of Texas (the Palo Duro Canyon area) called Stephens Brothers Cabins. We don't know what the new owners' intentions are yet - whether they intend to build cabins out in the woods - but we'll just have to be prepared for some changes in the area.  We just hope for good neighbors.

Last weekend Drew slaughtered one of his sheep, so we have a freezer chest full of lamb.  He's going to make some curry for dinner tonight.  He only has two more weeks of student teaching and will graduate from Southwestern OK State University on May 1.  

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