Pictures for Pam, Day 154: Young Northwest Forest Scorpion

(+12 insets!!)

The White Rabbit from "Alice in Wonderland" is reading my mind with this quote: “I’m late, I’m late! For a very important date! No time to say ‘hello, goodbye,’ I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!”

It's long past due to post my picture today, eek! Having a house guest definitely makes schedules more difficult to keep, and so I'm behind but I hope you won't mind! :)

We didn't end up going out today as planned because Steve's sister was under the weather. I was feeling cooped-up though so at about 2pm I popped on my rubber boots and knee pads, grabbed my camera and made a beeline straight up our steep hillside to the ridge line trail. From there I walked the half-mile or so to the trail's end and kept my eyes open as I walked along. I hoped that I might find the white/creamy yellow Oregon Fawn Lily. This little beauty can only be found near the end of the trail, far from our property. I knew I would probably strike out because these flowers are long past their blooming time but I couldn't help myself from trying to find one. Though I did find a few bedraggled Henderson's Fawn Lillies, I didn't find the creamy-colored ones. Boo. Well, when I took the pictures of the purple ones the other day, I knew that I should really to go find the yellow ones too. But it was late and about to rain and after that it didn't stop raining for days. It's ok though because I got some awesome pictures of these in the past. (I'll show my Oregon Fawn Lily pictures as insets!)

I ended up spending a couple of hours up there just enjoying myself. I got pictures of so many things--flowers, a mushroom, huge burls on an oak tree, pine cones, curls of manzanita bark, beetles and a bee on flowers, different species of leaves glowing in the afternoon light, I even got a picture of a frog! It was a lovely, wonderful, peaceful adventure and I felt very much connected to the land. Pure bliss!

There are two logs at the end of the trail which I always look under because they are so lucky for me. I found our California Mountain King Snake under one many years ago. I've found beetles and other insects, and I've found scorpions on many occasions! And so, when I lifted up one of the logs today, I was delighted to find a little scorpion huddled on the dirt and very much unimpressed with the blasting light accosting him.

This darling little guy is a Northwest Forest Scorpion and measures about an inch long--very small! I've seen them more than twice that size but in any case, they are barely poisonous to humans. I think they are totally cool and wonderful! Unfortunately I wasn't able to get really good pictures because of where he was positioned but they are good enough to post. After taking pictures I carefully replaced the log…I think I heard him swearing at me for turning on the lights when he was trying to sleep! I don't blame him! :D (I've also included several insets of other pictures I've taken of these fascinating creatures for you to enjoy!)

Pam, do you have scorpions where you live? I was totally amazed when I found the first one many years ago after lifting a log up to see what was underneath. I also thought all scorpions were really dangerous but they aren't. These guys are a "1" on a scale of 4 for dangerous. Now…once I was in Costa Rica…at about 2am I got up to use the bathroom and saw a shadow on the ground…turned on the light and HOLY EXPLETIVES, BATMAN, it was a 3" black scorpion on the floor, right where I would have walked!!! Can you say totally freaked out? We ushered the unwelcome guest out of our bungalow and checked regularly every night afterwards in the different places we stayed. YIKES!

The only thing I found on your photo stream that looked menacing was a wood wasp
picture you took. I'm glad it wasn't aggressive towards you, it sure looked nice on that lantana! Let us hope all is well for you today and I promise not to put a scorpion on your floor! *BIG HUGS*