​All I did was write about drought, hot days and lack of various mushrooms. Mother Nature made a fibber out of me. However, the U.S. Drought Monitor map released this past Thursday, Aug. 15, still showed portions of the northern two-thirds of Venango County in the abnormally dry category.

​Despite only a trace of precipitation from the remnants of Debby, Franklin received 1.93 inches on Aug. 7, according to National Weather Service data. The rainfall total so far for August 2024 is 4.18 inches which is above the normal of 2.49 inches for August. Franklin’s precipitation-to-date for Aug. 17 came in at 33.23 inches which was above the average of 30.11 inches.

​The U.S. Drought Monitor’s Aug. 15 report removed several counites in the middle of the state from drought designations. Although, the western half of Elk County was still listed as abnormally dry despite some rain from Debby. Several posts on the Friends of Benezette Facebook group showed muddy water inundating several places. A video revealed that the driveway for the Elk Country Visitor Center turned into a raging downhill river.  A PennDOT news release from Aug. 9 announced that “a section of Route 555 in Elk and Cameron counties has been closed due to flooding."
 
“As of 11 a.m. Route 555 is closed from the intersection of Rock Hill Road in Benezette Township, Elk County, to the intersection of Route 120 in Driftwood Borough, Cameron County,” the release stated. The road was later opened after flood waters receded.

The precipitation-to-date at DuBois Regional airport was reported at 31.87 inches for Aug. 17. That total is above the normal level of 27.27 inches.
 
Meanwhile the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center’s six-to10-day outlook valid for Aug. 17 to 21 called for near normal temperatures and a slightly above average chance of precipitation.
 
However, the outlook for Aug. 22 to 26, called for a slight chance of below normal temperatures and a 40 to 50 percent chance of below average precipitation.
 
While the weekend was a little wet, the upcoming forecast called for things to dry up after that.  l did not see a chance of rain until Thursday, Aug. 29. 

The moisture from last week's rain aided in a boom of mushroom growth. The tables have turned. I am not seeing any jack-o-lantern mushrooms. Other varieties were popping up every day.

After the rain, I couldn't believe my eyes. At the amount of Oyster mushrooms appearing on dead trees. While there were several lookalikes for the fungus, I was able to confirm my identification by smell.
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Author Walter E. Sturgeon wrote that the " odor (was) fragrant at times... anise-like or fruity. "
It was a very nice smell for a mushroom.  Although I had to admit that I never sniffed a fungus before.  

​American parasol mushrooms also decorated our trails in the woods.
Sturgeon described the cap as a choice edible, but the stem should be discarded.
 "The true Macrolepiota procera is a species known from Europe. Our species differs but in most guides it can be found under this name. … Our Parasol Mushroom will someday have a new name",  Sturgeon added in his explanation of the mushroom.  As I kid, I would find these and give them to my Grandfather Weckerly who liked to eat them fried in butter.  However, at the time we knew the mushrooms by a different name. 

Various Bolete mushrooms were scattered about the forest floor. Identification for me was tricky.  For a proper identification, a spore print and dissection were needed

 The Western PA mushroom club has a great guide Boletes on their website at Boletes | The Bolete Filter (wpamushroomclub.org).
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Some boletes were edible, some were not. Nonetheless, a few boletes in my area were consumed and I was fairly sure that it wasn’t by humans. 

​Meanwhile, other plants benefitted from the rainfall. Jewelweed blooms were observed as well as hawthorn berries.  The sunflowers went crazy and were attracting bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.  Despite my previous observation of short stalks, quite a few rose the occasion and were towering over the rest.  

While the hummingbirds had many flowers to eat from, they still chose to squabble over the feeders.  I believe at last count; we were up to eight or nine fighting over the two front feeders
 That total didn’t include the feeder in the backyard. 

​I had read a post on Facebook that stated that the male hummingbirds would start their departure by the end of August. Local birder Gary Edwards in his book” Birds of Venango County” listed the hummers latest departure date as October 9. 

​As the rain helped green up the garden, it washed the color out of the neighbor's pond. I felt confident enough to let the dogs back in to swim.as the water had cleared from signs of an algal bloom.

 However, my relief was short-lived. After four or five days the pond returned to being green. I took a few water samples and turned to my microscope to deduce a culprit. 

My samples and some random research led me to some little … critters called Euglena.
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"Euglena is a genus of single cell flagellate eukaryotes. ... Species of Euglena are found in fresh water and salt water. They are often abundant in quiet inland waters where they may bloom in numbers sufficient to color the surface of ponds and ditches green (E. viridis) or red (E. sanguinea), " a post on Wikipedia said. 

Further exploration led me to confirm the Wikipedia entry that euglena viridis was responsible for green blooms while Euglena sanguinea was responsible for the red ones. The red blooms were often referred to as red tides. The blooms are deadly to fish as they obstruct the fish’s breathing.

Since the bloom in the pond was green, I focused my efforts on euglena viridis.

An overview of the flagellate on microbenotes.com provided some useful information. 

 "It is a solitary and free-living freshwater flagellate. It is found in great numbers in stagnant freshwater ponds, pools, ditches, and slowly-running streams, etc., containing a considerable amount of vegetation,” the post stated. “Ponds in well-maintained gardens, containing decaying nitrogenous organic matter, such as feces of animals, leaves, twigs, etc., are a good source of this organism.  It multiplies rapidly and forms green scum on the water surface (like algal blooms) under favorable conditions.”

While flies can be pests, they do serve as a meal for other creatures like spiders and birds. 

The prediction center also posted a graphic on drought status that provided some hopeful information. Most areas of Pennsylvania currently listed in drought status were in the category to potentially have the drought status removed. Further south into the Virginias in areas that were listed in severe to moderate drought, it was predicted that the drought would remain, but that conditions would improve. ​

While the rain may return, it didn’t seem like the warm weather was going anywhere fast.  
“Cooler weather may not arrive until November, as the nation battles an oppressive record-toppling heatwave,” said an article on msn.com. 
​
 The climate prediction center’s 3-to-4-week outlook called for above average temperatures, as well. 

​In the flower garden, my calla lilies were doing better than they had in other years. This was the first time in two years that the yellow one flowered. The cone flowers were thriving as well. Two begonia plants that I wasn’t sure were going to survive surprised me. They appeared dead when I put them in the basement for the winter. This summer they were bursting with blooms.  

​This year however will be a bust for photos of Turk’s cap lilies. Photos on Facebook from earlier years showed robust orange blooms. There were at least three to five blossoms on each plant. This year I only saw one tiny one that was growing by my house. The others had been chopped off when the electric company cleared their right-of-way. They will grow back, but there was a lack of photo opportunities for the year. 

Growing in a safe place away from the electric company’s right-of-way, was some milkwort. The tiny purple flower appeared to be weathering the weather and putting out more blooms than I had seen before.
According to a post on paenflowered.org, field milkwort blooms from June to October. 
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“On close examination the individual flowers are fairly complex in structure. Two large sepals, three small sepals and three small petals combine to form a tubular flower with wings,” the post said.
The post added that the plant’s common name comes from the old belief that eating this herb would increase milk production in cows or for nursing mothers.

When crushed, the root gives off a wintergreen odor. It is sometimes called purple milkwort, blood milkwort or candy root, the post continued. 

“The light produced is a pale greenish yellow, similar to a firefly’s glow, but the glow is easy to miss except on a very dark night with little other light interference,” the post added.
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I surmised that I didn’t let my eyes adjust and was possibly viewing the mushrooms from an angle that their gills were not visible.
The post also went on to explain why the mushrooms glow.
It stated that “the mushrooms glow to attract insects, which in turn act as ‘pollinators’ to help spread the mushroom spores. This phenomenon is known as foxfire.”
However, even the “jacks” were affected by the dry weather. While their numbers boomed, the dry heat severely impacted their longevity. 

I was able to find some chicken of the woods or sulfur shelf mushrooms. They were not as plentiful as in other years.
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Unlike the toxic jack-o-lantern the chicken of the woods is edible by most people. However, some people could have adverse reactions to the fungus. 

Some things like the "jacks" have thrived in this current weather. Other things are just trying to survive this current weather.  I wondered if the region and other areas would receive enough rain to end the "flash drought" conditions. I hoped that the dogs could return to swimming in a pond with flowing water. I questioned if the warm weather continuing into the fall meant that my pepper plants might have a second chance at life.

​That's just the nature of things 'round here.