Sparrow Haven?

I named this blog Woodchuck Acres because at the time I started it, woodchucks were quite the problem in my vegetable garden. I have not seen a woodchuck in my yard for many years, especially after adopting my current canines. However, there are sparrows. Lots and lots of sparrows. Right now they are flocking to the millet feeder, splashing in the bird bath, raising a ruckus in the arborvitae. I hear blue jays but haven't yet witnessed them at the whole peanut feeder; someone has been nibbling on the split peanuts. But otherwise, it is sparrows, sparrows, sparrows.

My SO and I took a walk in the woods a few weeks ago, hunting for mushrooms to photograph. I kept saying, I don't know much about fungi, so he later bought me DK's Mushrooms: How to Identify and Gather Wild Mushrooms and Other Fungi, by Thomas Læssøe. Sometime I will sit down and try to identify what we found in the Lindenwood Nature Preserve.

Or maybe I should start identifying the fungi I find in my own yard. The ones in my lawn are probably lawn mower's mushroom (panaeolus foenisecii). They resemble the mushrooms one buys at the grocery store, but these are slightly poisonous. I have yet to figure out what the tiny mushrooms below are, though.

We have finally had some hard frosts, and now we are looking at a delightful forecast of sunshine, with highs in the 50's and lows in the 40's. The city has started the annual leaf pickup even though most of the trees have not yet turned, let alone dropped their leaves.

I saw the shoulder surgeon this past week and all is well with the replacement joint. Now that the pain is gone, I am looking forward to a new lease on life. Tomorrow physical therapy starts, and I am psyched.