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   Time flies when you are having fun. It does not seem possible fall is rapidly approaching but I have been noticing more signs each day. Yesterday a flock of teal came wheeling in over the lake. They are some of the first ducks to migrate south in the fall. When they come zooming around in their tightly formed group, they appear to be going a hundred miles per hour. Teal always circle several times before picking their perfect place to land where they will rest for a day or two before continuing their journey on to the south. 

   Hummingbirds seem to have started migrating also. For most of the summer, six hummingbirds have called our porch home and their favorite dining spot. About a week ago, the number of freeloaders suddenly doubled. A couple of days later, an additional fifteen or twenty showed up. We have gone from feeding about a pint of sugar water per day to over two quarts per day. There is a constant hum and whirring sound as they all frantically try to eat at once. Sometimes I think they expend more energy chasing off the others than they gain when they finally stop to drink. 

   The fall mushrooms are starting to pop up in all the usual places. The nice thing about fall mushrooms is they are much easier to find than the morel mushrooms that we hunt in the spring. Golden oysters are bright yellow and grow in large clusters on dead trees. They are easily identified and delicious. Chicken of the woods are bright orange so they can be easily spotted against the background of oaks and other hardwood trees. They are not quite as flavorful as most mushrooms, but since they are easy to find, I figure I might as well eat them. When cooked, they have the texture of chicken and take on the flavor of the seasoning a person uses. Puffball mushrooms are the easiest to find. They are pure white and grow in open green fields and pastures. Growing up to the size of a basketball, they can be spotted several hundred yards away. Their flavor is somewhere between a portobello and tofu. The only secret to eating puffballs is to make sure they are pure white all the way through and they are not growing on a stem. If there is a stem or the beginning of a parasol shaped top, they are probably what is commonly called vomiter mushrooms or fairy rings. A large circle of large white mushrooms growing unexpectedly in a field or lawn is interesting but not something a person wants to eat. They are pretty but called vomiter mushrooms for a reason.

   I have noticed the woolly worm caterpillars are also coming out. They must also migrate, but just from one side of the highway to the other in a suicidal trip across it. Superstition says a person can predict the severity of the upcoming winter by the proportion of black compared to the yellow center stripe. If there is more black than yellow, it is supposed to forecast a more severe winter than normal. So far I have seen a solid black caterpillar which would predict an extremely bitter winter. I have also seen an entirely yellow one which would indicate a mild winter bordering on no winter at all. I think the wooly caterpillars know no more about winter weather predictions than anybody else. I am only sure of one thing: fall is on its way which will be followed by winter in some form or another.

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