Whats happening

Cameras are what is NOT happening! I have gone through two cameras in the last month. An Olympus and a Nikon. Both unexpectedly failed to function. I have a sneaking suspicion that its my computer. I realized lately that both cameras have SD cards so I will take the cards out and put them directly into the dock on the computer instead of hard wiring the cameras. There may be some kind of voltage thing or wayward commands being sent to them? I haven't a clue. I have a very good anti virus program so that isn't a problem. Maybe things will get back to normal soon.

The acorns were dried in the oven at 140 for about 6 hours and put in the freezer until I could finish the post.

There's been a lot of activity over at Bushcraft USA lately and a lot of new faces. 1,415 members as of today! WOW! When I joined in November of last year it was a few hundred at most. Its become very popular.

I have a lot of projects planed for the winter months so I will keep everyone up to date with some good "how-to's".

Update and local "wild" fruit.

The fall programs at church are over and I can now finish the acorn article. I'll have the article tomorrow. Meanwhile, I took a bike ride yesterday and spotted a few odd trees at one of my favorite haunts. It turned out to be strawberry tree, Arbutus unedo also called madrone. Its a native of the eastern Mediterranean all the way to western Ireland. The last years fruit ripens just as the new flowers come out which is in November/December. It was brought to California by the first Spaniards and is related to the Pacific madrone and Texas madrone. The manzanita with its beautiful red limbs, "little apple" in Spanish, is a close relative. In fact, the flowers of manzanita are practically indistinguishable from those of madrone. The fruit are kind of mealy and have a sweetish but bland flavor. They are used in jams and the Portuguese make a strong brandy from them.
These trees are in an area where there are a lot of different escapes along a creek. I have a feeling they are wild. This happens a lot here. I've seen patches of reeds, Arundo donax, growing in the oddest places. I've found wild pomegranate trees as well as citrus trees.