Well, boys and girls,
It's sunny and warm here on the mountain.
Too nice to be inside banning on lap top keys.
I'm going to get off of my Tuccus and get out in it and on the trail to my "Cathedral" aka the Old Oak grove further up the mountain... "worship" at the "Temple of the Tree Trunk" and listen to the choir of creatures . 🙏🌳🌲🌲🌳💓🕉☯
Be well every one! And be kind to one another.
Have a great day amongst the Oaks Lazaruslong (please hug one for me) and do let us know if you see any of those creatures. 🙂👍🦉🪵🍄
Will do!
That sounds delightful Lazarusong, I hope you enjoy your choir's works!
Thank you 😊
This is a great way to spend a beautiful and sunny day. Have a wonderful time. Please share any pictures, if possible when you're ready. 
One of many multi trunk oaks along the trail. I'm not sure what type, but its lager and judging by the base, quite old.
That's a beautiful Oak tree. How tall is it?
I'd hazard a guess of 60 + feet. It's difficult to tell, standards next to it. Even harder from a picture. If you can enlarge the picture, there are two branches leaning against the base. They are about 6 ft long...
That's a tall tree! We have some trees, but I don't know the exact amount of the height of them.
There's some amazing old growth here. Conifers and oaks tend to dominate here. Lots of scrub.We're right in a transition zone between Chaparral and Alpine vegetation.
We get the whole kit and kaboodle of what's in both zones. Flora, fauna and variable weather conditions.
That sounds really lovely!
Oh believe me. It IS! Pictures don't show it as t really is.
I believe that. We have some interesting flowers here, too that were here before we moved in.
They generally top outat 100 ft. The conifers can reach 200 ft
Do you have a gardener to help care for the trees/other plants?
Yes....Me. I retired from The City of Phoenix Parks Department. That and I hold two Master Gardener certificates. Here however, O let my place grow naturally. Some additional water during the dryer months.
No one takes care of the forest. We are all getting ready to do some clearing and construction of fire breaks ad safe areas around our homes. There is a lot of dead fall we want to clear as well It's up near the trail near us.
That's very interesting to hear. How long does it take to clear what is going to be removed?
We're looking at several days or weeks. It's just a matter of getting folks off their keesters and moving. We'll be clearing brush, non native grass, dead fall clearing safe spaces around homes and road sides. Trying to balance safety and natural habitat
Thanks. I will enjoy myself. 😉 This mountain is " magical"
It is.. yes.
Here we have a problem with deforestation - In 1588, we needed a lot of oak to build ships to fight the Spanish Armada - so we planted the New Forest... with the Oaks widely spaced so that the boughs would be curved for ship-building.
The number of oak trees required to build one ship back then astounded me when I visited the maritime museum at bucklershard.co.uk/ in the New Forest, UK
S11m and Sailor _Girl.... Don't get me going on deforestation...🤬😡😤
This book inspired me during a few years of forestry work when I was planting trees, I still like to take a pocketful of acorns and plant them using my trekking poles.
Looks like my kind of reading. I'll check to seeif I can find it in English. Pop up books are fun.
Looking forward to winter, here
Some days I feel an exuberance of colour. . . .