And then all hail broke loose!

So, we didn't go to Crater Lake this past weekend.  Nope, none of that adventuresome spirit for us.  Instead, the weekend could be summed up as fungi, snakes, and all hail breaking loose.

Okay, so no Crater Lake, but of course, that doesn't mean we stayed home, either.  On Saturday we took a drive up into the hills to set up a trailcam where we'd been hunting the previous weekend.  For the record, it's grouse 8 and people 0.  As Mr. Boom says, we're having all the excitement of grouse hunting without any of the bother of cleaning the birds!

When we were up there last weekend we saw a lot of scat.  In fact, at one point I smelled something really overwhelming and remarked upon it to Mr. Boom.

"Ewww...smell that?"

"No."

"Something pooped."

"If you say so."

"You can't smell that?"

"Smell what?"

"Something pooped!"

About 50 yards later we came upon a pile of old cat poop, on which there was a new pile of hot and fresh cat poop.

Ah, sweet vindication!

"Your nose, honey..."

I'm taking that as a compliment.  As I should, right?

Besides the cougar scat, we saw weasel poop, badger poop, and coyote, elk, and deer sign, too.

Anyway, this weekend we decided to head back up to the same area to set up a trailcam.  How much fun would it be to see some of these guys on film, just like we saw the elk previously?!

Along the trail we found these cute little mushrooms.

The leaves in the area were just beginning to turn. 

Breathtaking!

Okay, looking back down the road--see anything?

See anything now?

Puffballs! 

Very yummy mushrooms growing more thickly than we'd ever seen them grow before.

And shaggy manes (also known as ink caps).

But, like I said, no grouse.  Oh well, a quick bite to eat at The Brick accompanied by a Snipes Mountain IPA made up for the loss.

So, Sunday took us on another little drive, this time up to Leavenworth.

On the way home, we took a backroad that only adds about an hour to the length of the trip.

Suddenly, right in the middle of the road, I saw a rubber boa.  I stopped the car and we all jumped out, but none of us as fast and Chirp Chirp.  Before I had even made a solid ID, she had the snake in her hands.  It was cold and rainy, so the little snake was simply blissed out to be in her nice warm hands.

It might be a male?

And, it's shedding!

Realizing how warm her hands were, he decided a little searching was in order for an even warmer hangout.

Sorry little fella!  You get to stay here in the woods.

It was while we were finding a more apropos spot to leave the boa than the middle of the road where we found him that we discovered these piles of hail.

We were bummed to have missed the storm that deposited asteroid-sized iceballs.  It must have been fantastic!

But look what we found on our lawn after we arrived back home an hour later!

I tell you, all hail broke loose 'round here!