Words4It

A mid-autumn night finds a muskrat carrying home a mouthful of pond weeds. The weeds have thinned out now and the water is clear of algae. You can easily see the stones and autumn leaves a foot below the surface in this flash picture. While muskrat tails appear rat-like when they are swimming along the surface, they are actually more like rudders. They are rounded on the top, but extend an inch or so downward into the water for their entire length so they help propel them. Muskrats swim at a pretty good speed. One fellow I met while watching them told me his kids call them “motorboats” because they putt right along.

Ah, the common dandelion. Everyone can recognize it, but I doubt most people have really looked closely at it. I never did until I took this shot of a nice fresh one. I thought they were like miniature mums, but Wikipedia tells me that the flower head you are seeing (above) is actually composed of many small flowers called florets. What surprised me when looking at the flower on my large monitor are all of the tiny spaghetti-like threads around the petals. I don’t know if they are pistols and/or stamins or something else. Below is a portion of the flower with the color altered and contrast enhanced just so you can see the squiggles amid the petals.