I had no idea what this was when I encountered it, and I was very surprised to find the inside looking like pink pudding! When I finally realized that it was a slime mold, it was still weird but not quite as unexpected!
The outside of the 'puffball' seemed like woven threads.
And this is what remained on the log when I pulled off the outside.
Looks like pink pudding inside!
The stack of cut logs where I found the slime mold. You can see the pinkish oval where the 'puffball' had been.
After taking the first photos of the slime mold, I placed the puffball on another log. Five days later, I returned to check on it. Both the 'puffball' on the remainders on the log had completely dried.
No more "pink pudding."
In 2024, we had late rains. I'm wondering if that's why I found this false puffball that was very dry but with some moisture in the inside.