Need Any Pine Cones?............ NW Cascade Wanderings

elizabethbit (78)in Boylikegirl Club • last year

Need any pine cones? More on that shortly.

Today was a lovely ‘me, myself and I’ day. First on the agenda was to do as much as I could before I needed to open the clinic. Dawn, a good friend and frame rep was due at 10 and it’s usually a good 1.5-2 hours. She takes such good care of me! She always brings me a Panera salad. 😁 She is very sweet! Shortly after she left, within an hour+ I was expecting a first timer for training. She arrived and did very well.

After that, I began working on insurance verifications for tomorrow’s appointments. This can go quickly or not-depending on how many dead ends I run into and the after that’s done, it’s calling the patients to remind them of their appointments. It always takes longer than I wish. The balance of the day was spent on miscellaneous things that needed doing.

Okay! So back to pine cones. A pine tree will put out as many pine cones as it thinks it needs to sustain its species, especially if it thinks it’s in danger of not surviving. Things that can influence this are like a drought or a fire, for example. We’ve had several hot, dry summers-more so than usual. That first picture is a Doug Fir who thinks it needs to be exceptionally prolific! Each pine cone is loaded with seeds, and come the fall, they will dry and crack open dispensing teeny tiny pine tree helicopter seeds! They have to stratify during the winter (remain on the ground and cold) so they can germinate in the following spring. Obviously, not all make it. I happen to know that certain little forest creatures ( 🐿️ ) happen to love to gorge themselves on them!

Anyway…….here’s some eye candy for you!