Hi, Quality could be OK, but to identify a mushroom you need at the very least a view of the lower side plus to these views. Is the lower side of the grayish-whitish ones formed of pores, like a fine sponge? Or is it in folds/gills, or maybe maze-like? They could be: Thick maze polypore; Thin maze polypore; Young specimens of green moss polypore; Or maaaaybe discolored turkey tail - I'm guessing not. The orange ones look like Picnoporus cinnabarinus to me. The bigger whitish one in the 2nd picture could be a Daedalea if the lower side matches. The ones with stems in the 3rd picture could be Polyporus squamosus if the lower side matches. Or decaying Armillaria mellea - honey mushroom, I think not though. Or are they your shiitake? I have never seen it growing, that might be it! The blackened ones behind them could be last year turkey tails. The brown ones in the last picture if they really have no stems (?) could be Ganoderma applanatum, but her lower side is very distinctive and there is a lot of flattish brown brackets similar to her. Generally speaking, you can't identify mushrooms from pictures. I am not bad with local ones in real life. Of course normally when you think you have the id it turns out that for a positive one you need to measure the spores or something...

The same problem cropped up for me - suddenly I had to log on each time I visited Gardenweb. Zep came to the rescue and provided the following link. I checked the settings, changed them as recommended (don't know how they got changed to start with), and the problem was solved. Maybe it will help you. - June Here is a link that might be useful: Mozilla support

I am a Ph.D. chemist and I completely understand the origin of the black deposit. The black material is soot or from a chemical standpoint it is carbon. When you use the fireplace you will see a cool yellow flame rather than a blue flame from hot combustion of LP or propane. The cool yellow flames means that carbon monoxide is a product of the partial combustion of your gas source. Most of the time this carbon monoxide goes up the chimney. If the flames were blue in color that would mean that the flames were not only hot but a main product of combustion would be carbon dioxide. Getting back the carbon monoxide product with yellow burning gas, carbon monoxide will disproportionate to carbon (soot) and carbon dioxide. The chemical reaction is 2CO = C + CO2. This reaction is speeded up at lower temperatures particularly in contact with metals such as iron. The lower temperature explains why the carbon deposits occur on the logs in the front because they are lower in temperature. The disproportionation of carbon monoxide (CO) not only depends on temperature but on material. Certain glassy materials will completely inhibit the decomposition of carbon monoxide. One such material is quartz. Namely because of their chemical makeup, certain fireplace logs can inhibit suit formation and others will accelerate suit deposits. I am in need of a log material/manufacturer which will minimize carbon monoxide disproportionation and suit formation. Please contact me (by e-mail) for help and more information.

I have lived in 2 log homes. I understand your problem! Do you have any interior stonework also? Last time I was in this position, I tried to pull the base color of the rug from the lightest tone in the stone on my fireplace, so that I didn't end up with too much going on. Jewel tones do seem to work well, also. I like the last 3 you posted in the comments. It is really hard to pick unless you can see the rugs in person, too. I ended up ordering my last rug through a local furniture store, where I could see and feel samples. They ended up being very competitive on price. I tried ordering online first, and the colors always seemed a little "off" once I got them rolled out in my wood-everywhere house.