Lilies and Stuff....

 

 

 

 

 

 Two and a half inches of rain is great. Everything is looking so  much better. I dug holes to plant my iris and the soil was saturated. I should have waited but I had the time to get it done this morning and it wasn't raining anymore. We heated up again today and it was not comfortable when I was out this afternoon. I picked up new hearing devices and some stray groceries that were needed. It was good to get home and cool down.  I have the front yard to mow tomorrow and I will have to get out early to do it. 

Thanks for checking in today.

Tuesday, a Rainy Day

 Another day lily is now blooming. I never know which one is next.  I have to keep checking them as they are all budding right now. I have two of these, the same, and they bloom at different times because of their location. This one gets more light as the other is in the shade of the deck. 

My wife is recovering from cataract surgery today so I  venture out at short moments to work outside. I need to keep checking on her. She is doing very well as time is the  best healer for that kind of surgery. I kept getting rained out as I would start a project out there and then have to quit because of the rain. I need to move some overcrowded iris and I did get some of them dug. I will try to replant them tomorrow as I was getting too wet. Our state is finally getting caught up with much needed moisture.  Some of the counties to the south of us got five inches of rain. We have two inches so far. 

One of my favorite lilies, that I moved here from out old place, is this one. I bought it at an arboretum north of where we lived. It was a State one and they would have sales at a certain time of the bloom times and one could pick up a larger variety of them. I bought a second one that was a "take a chance" item. One didn't know what color it was until you got it to bloom the next season. It is a lighter colored version of this one. 

I went to the bookstore yesterday to blog while my wife was having here eye surgery. It is a lot of fun to sit on the computer and sip their Starsbuck coffee. We need to go there when everyone gets done with their eye surgeries. 

The views of my neighbor's pools were discussed by future buyers of the neighbor's house. Her living room windows and sun room windows looks directly down on the two of them. Some of the buyers said it was too much of a negative to consider buying the house. The problem is that we are built on a hill one story above their backyards so we get to see all of their good and bad clutter. The one directly below us has owners that do not have a pool and they keep things tied down or put away most of the time.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Monday, Monday....

 

 

During one of my last trips to the old place before it was sold I took this Asiatic lily with me to the new place. Ir has always been one of my favorites and the plant puts out lots of blooms for a long time.

The regale lily also is one of my favorites. My grandmother Brooks use to have one of these varieties and she would count the number of blooms and tell everyone.  Her largest count was 35 blooms.  I did count the ten stems but I don't want to count the blooms. 

We had a strong wind and I lost a large piece from my one rose bush. I could have dislodged it with my lawn mower I usually stay clear of the roses. It was just laying on the ground and when I picked it up it wasn't connected to anything.

I am at the bookstore this morning blogging and drinking coffee. I am waiting on my wifes surgery to be done on one of her eyes. My blood number was really low so I came here and had a sweet roll, a forbidden treat for me, so I could bring up my numbers. The appointment was said to last up to three and a half hours so I have left the lobby for a while and I am about to go back. The nurse said I could sit with during recovery so I shall go not.  Thanks for stopping by today.

It is to hit 90 degrees F. today and we are suppose to expect severe storms this afternoon. 

Somewhat Pink

 

 

 

 

Our temperature high was 94 degrees F.  It won't cool down any lower than 76 degree F. by morning. We were out in it to go to church and stopped at a place to eat on the way home. It isn't comfortable but we have been this way every summer. It just seems that we are having a long spell of it.  I won't be working outside tomorrow. I guess once the grass gets trimmed it won't be growing for a while to make me have to go out there for a while. Usually we get severe storms when it gets to be like this but it hasn't happened yet. My wife has a doctor's appointment across town.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Lower 90s

 

 

 

 We woke up early this morning to the temperature of 79 degrees F.  The southern breezes were not making it cooler. The winds did blow up these few clouds. They don't shield us from the heat of the sun at all. 

The heat did take its toll on the blooms of the hosta. They dropped their petals pretty quickly. The privet behind it doesn't seem bothered by the heat and its blooms are attracting all sorts of bumble bees. 

I didn't work outside this morning but I did take a tour of the lot with my camera. This is the first bloom of this day lily with its deep red color. 

I had seen the buds developing but I was surprised to find two blooms open on this lily. It now sits next to the new fence so it has a great background. 

 

 

 I planted four pumpkin seeds and this is the only one that germinated. It is a folly and I planted seed from a decorative pumpkin that had two colors. This will probably turn out to be just an orange pumpkin. I carried water for it and other plants that looked hurt from the heat. 

We are in for the day and the night. It is to be up to 94 degrees F. this afternoon and the cool down will be down the 78 degrees F.  We are projected to have a few more days of this weather. 

Thanks for stopping in today.

Friday's Hot

 The day started off looking like this as a rainy system went over giving us a small shower. It wasn't much and the heat just kept building. I worked out in the backyard for a while. I mowed and emptied grass clipping onto my tomatoes.  It was good that I had to keep stopping but it did make it seem like more work. I did have my hat on today and that did help but I really got warm fast. I took a break at ten and had a diet cola and cooled off with my wife in the house and then I went out and finished mowing.  I used all of my grass clippings, which I don't normally collect, to cover the raised bed with the tomatoes. 

 Full sun makes the photos being a little bit harder to take but it can be done. The full sun does makes some of the flowers glow. 

 The heat is hard on the flowers. These lilies though go into shade at mid morning as the sun passes over the house.

Our temps are causing the coneflowers to look pretty straggly.  I think they are blooming too soon in the season but I guess I don't remember when they normally do bloom. 

I walked out barefoot on the deck to take the clouds photo and when I looked down I thought that I had to take a shot of this planter. I brought the planter up from under the deck so it went into shock when it got full heat of the sun on it. I have trimmed it back a lot as a lot of the geranium leaves just died and now the flowers are starting to regroup. I didn't really plan to put that color of petunia in the planter with that red of the hardy geranium. I guess we see how it looks as the fill out. I have hosta in there also from last year's planting. 

 

I am blogging late again today but life keeps being busy. We did get to eat out at Chinese tonight and that was fun. Stopped for a handful of groceries and my wife picked up a prescription. It was too hot to be out there but we did do fine. We are still at 85 degrees F. at ten o'clock at night.  Tomorrow will start out host. Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Thursday's Tidbits......

 I mowed in the front yard today before the heat set in. The humidity was high but it is Iowa. You can see that this guy in the back yard that the grass needs to be mowed. 

A lot of my roses are spent now and I did do a lot of dead heading on the one pick rose. I didn't get done as it was too hot and there were just too many dead blooms to trim. I will return tomorrow. This knock out rose is still doing well. 

The yellow rose is still doing well also. I don't have much to trim out on it. 

I planted these in rows around my tomato raised bed area. I had a little bunny trapped inside my enclosed fence of the tomatoes so I had to open up a corner and let it get out. I will collect grass for mulch around my tomatoes now when I mow the back yard. I have way too many morning glories that are coming up thick in the area. I know the mulch won't stop the morning glories but it will slow them down. I have little tomatoes forming on half of my plants right now. 

The sunflowers are doing well now with the rains helping them along. I have seven tomatoes planted around the tall ones and they all will just have to get along with each other. I like seeing my new fence in the background. 

The brass bells need to be restrung in to a full tower of bells. They also could use some polishing. I like the sound of brass bells and the wind does make them chime. We are destined to have a lot of high temperatures. The heat index looks bad so will again just work in the back yard the next few days. 

My new hearing aids are in now but they can't schedule me in until next week. I am working with only one working aid and it is driving me crazy. I really think they could figure out something to work me in to get my high priced aids into my ears.  Thanks for stopping by today.