Lizards and Plants

On June 7 we headed up to Beechnut Hill to do a LOT of work but ended up doing not much.  Our goal was to start constructing the post and beam frame of the outhouse using the pine timbers.  When we got there we did our usual walk around observing how much everything had changed in and around the driveway but instead we hiked down the ravine enjoying the cool lushness of the forest canopy and roughly mapping out our route the tractor trail will take from the end of our driveway leading up the knoll to the area where we intend to build a little hideaway cabin not far from the creek.  After stealing a couple of hours from our work plans we headed back up to the pile of logs by the gate to see what we could pull out and start working with.  Scott picked a few of the more slender Virginia pine logs that I peeled and loaded them one at a time on his back and carried them down to the outhouse site.  In all we carried five logs down the hill for cutting to length with the chainsaw.  The great thing about our nature sanctuary is that we see something unique almost every time we visit.  This time we caught this little lizard hamming it up for the camera man.  This is a female Eastern Fence Lizard which was perched atop a pine log.  Down by the outhouse site we came across this parasitic plant called Conopholis americana.  Also known as squaw root or bear corn.  It's host is typically the roots of oak or beech trees.