And what would any chrishiggins.com blog sequence be without weird close-ups of mushrooms. The instructions indicate I can get many more 'crops' after this one. I'm not sure I relish the harvesting process.

A week ago I noticed little button mushrooms growing, maybe a half-inch wide. Today after forgetting to water them for a week, I opened their dank dark cupboard and found so many mushrooms, I had to remove a shelf to get the box out.

This is a view of the compost inside the box. I then added the 'casing' which is French for 'gross mixture of dirt and fungus and water.' Then lots of gross mixing of the two, then put the box in a dark place and sprinkled water on it daily for about a month. Next up: mushrooms.

So Mary gave me this Mushroom Adventure kit for Christmas. Using it, one can grow mushrooms in one's own home! Tasty fungus for the eating. I opened the box, took out the instructions and all the icky bits, and set to work.

This is what the neighboring house's back porch looks like. I took this picture because it seemed unusually colorful -- green tree, blue coolers, strange aquamarine construction stuff in the background.

I wish this was from the side of Fort Misery, but it isn't. It's from another old log cabin which was similarly small, dark, and formerly inhabited by Governors and such.

Look, scary curtains close-up!

Okay folks, this is all you're gonna get from the GBV show (first night - 15 Nov 2004) in Portland. Camera phone in full suck-mode. In good news, they did finally play Smothered in Hugs as the closer of their second encore. Finally! (also I Am A Scientist)

Look, I actually took a shot in portrait orientation! (more things atop the Grand Canyon)

This is a picture of the window next to the fire escape in a hotel we stayed at in Arizona. I think it looks neat.

Here are some strange little flowers atop the Grand Canyon. They have little whip-like antennae things. All my attempts to photograph the actual Grand Canyon were pointless, so I stuck to this kind of thing.

So this is definitely a cicada shell. I hadn't seen one of these since I was like six years old.

Here's a little fellow we ran across while walking around in Arizona. He was about 2.5 inches long. He didn't seem to be moving or doing much, so may have had some problems. I think he might be a cicada.

Look, it's a shrubbery atop the Grand Canyon!

Some inspirational postcard-worthy clouds. From (above) the Grand Canyon.