Thursday......

Have a good day.  It is a busy time for me right now and I am glad it is a short week. We are trying to adjust to my work hours of six in the morning until two in the afternoon.  I am becoming experienced in public bathroom remodeling and floor stripping.     Thanks for stopping by today.

A Blurry, Slithery Snake.......

Garter snakes like to be in the water and also drink the water.  I had a frog in my pond and he couldn't get out.  I had lifted him up and out with a spade and left the frog sitting on the end of the spade on the edge of the pond.  The frog got his energy built up and left and the snake used the spade as a way to aid his drinking from the pond.

Everything looks green and lush but we are in a drought right now.  We have cracks in the ground and the grass is turning brown.  I have different seeds planted and I doubt that they ever will sprout without a good soaking rain.  I watered my tomato plants last night as well as flowers in pots.  I use my rainwater barrel water but it is now empty. 

I am doing unpleasant jobs at school and am tired and achy.  We will do more pleasant jobs as time goes by and I will be in better physical shape in a week.  Thanks for stopping by my post.

It is a little crowded.......

The hydrangea that I planted as a single stem with roots has now overtaken the left side of my porch.  The welcome dog which sits on the top deck of the steps is feeling crowded because of this plant.

The plant is crowding out the golden privet.  I will move that in the near future.  With the bishops weed and the hydrangea I will have to prune back things in the fall.

Della and I had a dog rescue to do today.  A female beagle had been hanging around all day in the neighborhood so we were told. We had been gone to have breakfast out with our son and his wife.  We hit a bookstore before we came home and the neighbor girls were dealing with the stray dog.  She was a sweet dog and the connector to her leash hung on her collar.  They were not having any success and Della let her into our back yard and gave her water and dog biscuits.

I decided to put Barney's leash on her and we started walking.   I went to all the houses who had beagles and they still had their dogs, but they were glad someone would check with them.  I started walking down main street with her and one neighbor said they would take her if I didn't find any owner.   I walked three blocks down hoping some poor owner was distraught and was watching for her, no such luck.   At the end of the three blocks I saw students walking my way.  I crossed the street and asked if they recognized the dog.  They said it is Walsh's dog and they lived next to the school.

So I walked her back the many blocks to the house, Della gave me the car keys and we took a drive to the other side of town.   I walked up to the door and I could tell she was waiting as if she knew that when the door opened that she would be welcomed.  The young boy, who I had during subbing at school, was standing there and I asked  if this was his dog.      Yah.     He turned and yell to his mom that Mr. Burgus found our dog.  They were grateful and the dog went to the other end of the house to see if there was any food and water for her.  It was a good ending.

I did get my zinnia's planted today and also my morning glories are in the ground.  We had friends stop by this afternoon on their way home to Marshalltown.  It was good to see them. They left us some nice heath bar like bars as treats.

I go back to school tomorrow to work. I work from six until two in the afternoon.  We are remodeling four different public bathrooms at the school. Tomorrow I will be on my own to remove toilets from the walls and floor for replacement.  I am not looking forward to this but I do get to work at my own pace.  I will get some assistance later in the morning when the other part of the team return from delivering things to another school.

Thanks for stopping by my post today..........

Memorial Day............

Scenes from around the house on Sunday afternoon.  It was almost 100 degrees F.  They humidity was high and the wind blew so strong that these leave was out in my yard.  It is a very large leaf from across the street.

Thanks for stopping by my post today.

Repeating myself........

This is another view of the bouquet.  Peonies just don't last very long but they are a beautiful flower.  It is very hot again today with record heat in the 90's.  It looks like we have one more day of it before it cools down about ten degrees.

My wife's milk glass container has a nice design on it's side.  Della has a lot of these pieces from her mom's collection.  She actually had to  share  it with other family members but she still has a lot of wonderful milk glass.

White glass like this has a great character of it's own with the touch and sight of it.  I is  a thicker form of glass and has such  nice patterns molded in it.

This is the last of the blooms on this rose bush.  I need to prune all the old blooms back so it can set on new buds.  I am watering my roses as the heat is really too much for them otherwise.  I heard on a blog from someone that said they need to be kept watered through June.

It's been a quiet Sunday.  It is too hot to be outside but I want to venture out and get some  new shots.  Maybe something else other than flowers.  I have been busy but will have tomorrow off before I go back to work on Tuesday.  My new job is taking a toll on my body and I am glad to get some physical rest.  Thanks for stopping by my post today.

Bouquet........and Barbecue.

For company we needed a spot of color on the table.  I brought in the last of the peonies and also a few of the hydrangea.  Some hydrangea are still partially green and haven't turned white.  My wife turned it into a very colorful bouquet.  The hydrangea leaves really add to the arrangement.  I have never brought them inside as a cut flower before so we will see how well they do.

We  had burgers and brats with all the other good stuff for a great picnic on the patio.  Andy and  Patricia , our son and his wife from Chicago, were our guests and we had a great time.  It became too hot by late afternoon so we came inside and sat at the dining room table for conversation and a cup of coffee.  It was cool in the house so the coffee was good to end the time. The birds at the feeder did a great job of showing off by eating at the feeder while we all watched.

Thanks for stopping by my post today.

Asiactic Survivor........

I mentioned cutting off some Asiatic lily with my weed eater while weeding last week. I brought it in and placed it in a vase with fresh water and it really reacted positively to the inside climate.  My neighbors have a couple of Asiatics blooming on the south side of their garage. This is an earlier variety as I have lots of others just now setting buds but no blooms for a week or so.

Thursday's Thing......

I must get these seeds planted this weekend.  I have a three day weekend with guest on Saturday afternoon so I should get it done.  I don't have my zinnias planted but I did get my tomato plants and peppers in the ground on Monday. 

We had a very light rain this evening.  Probably it didn't measure over a fourth of an inch.  It doesn't matter as anything will help at this point.  Rains passed us up yesterday heading into Minnesota and another major rain stayed in the west.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Wednesday's Wanderings........

The wanderings are not going to take you too far today.  I have this area cleaned out from the major weeds and the evidence of some bad things are still growing where the grass is suppose to grow.  My angel guy just doesn't care about any of it and he expresses it to me.

It is a busy day today so I created a short wandering today.  This is one of my newest hosta that I have had a couple of years.  I just moved it out from under a redtwig dogwood and moved it out into the sunlight. It is doing well in two different locations.  The winds of the past month has really dried out the ground and we are said to be in a drought right now.  A scattering of rains may be coming the next few days and the hostas will be glad to get some moisture.

It's the last day of school for me today.  I will be helping put away the high school's individual laptops that they carried all year.  There should be the handling of over two hundred computers in bags place on shelves.  I will be helping with that task.  Have a good day.  Thanks for stopping by my post.

Thanks for stopping by here.

Tuesday's Things

Our adult pair of cardinals succeeded in hatching and raising three young ones. One male and two female.  They are on their own now and they keep returning to the feeder where their parents had introduced them to sunflower seeds.  It will be interesting to see if they find a territory near here or go off to another farther away territory to start their families next year.

I had a couple who deeded a lot of their old things to me.  They thought it was old junk and I have a lot of neat antiques.  The John and Iva connection is connected to this item.  John had an older brother and I went to an auction of his and found a couple of boxes of pure junk.  I got them for a quarter back then and this glass dish was in one of the boxes. This glass dish has an almost cartoon-like head on it.  I am sure that as it was cast that the size and shapes had to be large enough for the casting to take place.

I thought that I would do these anymore but my wife and I pulled of the next school's class composite for them.

We had it done before graduation this year.  We did have to scramble for a couple of photos but were finished by Saturday morning before the Sunday graduation.


















It is Tuesday and I will be subbing in the middle school math classroom.  All the kids with good citizenship will be on a field trip to Adventureland.  The rest of those who had a lot of tardies, behavioral referrals or were bad for some other reason will be staying in the classrooms today.  It is not my favorite duty but it is the second to the last day of school.

Thanks for stopping by today.

White, red and blue........

I really like peonies and yet I don't like the fading away of the flowers.  If I have time, I clip the flower heads off and leave the foliage as a hedge.

The creeping bluebells are starting to show off their color.  I may have to water on the south of my house as it is warmer back there and we are in need of rain.  I will water the roses for sure with my rain barrel water.

I guess I have a white, blue and red theme going today.  My red peonies have done well this year.  They bloomed later than all of the rest so they survive all our wind.  I have a couple of the red peony plants that I want to move and I know I should wait  until fall.  Maybe I will wait if stays hot now which is our normal weather.

I am tech guy today and will be busy most of the day doing physical work.  I slide out of school as a permanent sub to become a summer worker for the custodians.  It isn't just janitor work as they have shelving to build and rooms to move around and busy stuff.  The nice thing about cleaning a school in the summer is that it stays clean.

Thanks for stopping by my post today.

Checking In......

I didn't get every single weed pulled from my backyard garden but I did make great progress in making them be a lot better looking. I have one long bed that isn't completed but I will hit it today or tomorrow after school.

The red peony is very good looking this year.  I like having hostas as they are easy to maintain.  My problem with them is that they do so well that I need to dig and divided them more often than one would think.

I uncovered a set of stepping stones by removing soil and lots of grass that was on top of them.  Some of the stones needed to be lifted.  I didn't get them hosed off with water so this could look a little better.

Me and a weedeater get along well when it comes to removing unwanted plants.  I do have a problem with slopping into an area where I hit flowers.  I hate it when I cut off something in bloom.  The peony is one of my unwanted cuts and I also hit an asiatic lily by mistake.  I brought that lily in and put it in a vase of water.  I will record its progress as it blooms in the house by camera.

Have a good Sunday.  Thanks for stopping by my post.

Saturday's Chores...........

This is a reposted photo of my work location today.  We have family coming over to have a barbecue in the back yard.  It will be next Saturday and I am weeding and mowing.  It is a good thing to have company as it forces you to do the stuff that needs to be done.  I have patio cushions to scrub, I have two pond areas to spruce up and I have a patio to sweep and wash. 

Did I tell you that the science teacher has blessed me with all of his goldfish from his classroom? I will take care of them and return them in the fall.  There are two koi and about eight fancy goldfish.  They came home with me on Friday and they are loving the new area.  There are a few mosquito larvae in the water and they are eating them up quickly.

I will be returning to the backyard after this posting and  after the show This Old House has gone off the air.  I am actually pleased already as to how much better things look out there.  I have a lot more to do and I can work on it during the next week.  The bulk of the work should get done today.  I have a few flowers that can be put outside again and I have tomato and pepper plants to get put in also.  I may not get everything done today.

Thanks for stopping by my post.

Roses on Friday......

I am sharing a few visuals today and won't put out so much copy today.  It is a busy time at the end of the school year.  Even though I am a sub I am doing other things related to the graduation.

I am a science and softball coach today.  It will be nice to be outside for a couple of periods.

Geranium Truths.........

Pelargonium

The other geranium is not really called a geranium.  It is actually called pelargonium.  I read an article about them in a Garden Design magazine.  I realized that the geranium that is sold so often at greenhouses should be labeled hardy geranium. I have this plant in a couple of locations and it does put out a meager show where I have them planted. This plant winters over in Iowa outside in the garden.

The leaf is a similar shape to the hardy geranium and yet is is a fancier shape.

 Hardy Geranium

I need to get this plant out side and into a planter.  I have a white one that also is in this same pot.

The borrowed article from wikipedi is posted below sharing the info for us.

Confusingly, "geranium" is also the common name of members of the genus Pelargonium (commonly known as 'storksbill' in distinction from 'cranesbill'), which are also in the Geraniaceae family. Linnaeus originally included all the species in one genus, Geranium, but they were later separated into two genera by Charles L’Héritier in 1789.

Gardeners and the horticultural trade often refer to true geraniums as "hardy geraniums", to distinguish them from the less hardy pelargoniums (generally grown as annuals in temperate climes), and most garden "geraniums" (without the 'hardy' appellation) are in fact pelargoniums (storksbills), as opposed to true geraniums (cranesbills).

This is as creative as I will be today.  I have a busy next four days.  Today I am a high school health instructor.  They are taking students off to a state track meet today.  I have been blessed to take all of the  fish in the science lab home for the summer. There will be pictures once I get the outside tank ready to go and the fish are all settled.

Thanks for stopping by my post today.

Wednesday'a Wanderings.......

The hosta next to the garden gate is large. I moved another hosta that sat next to it last year as it was never going to be able to compete with this variety.  I don't know any names of my hostas. I just know that I like having them as they grow so well with such little care.

This is one of the old fashioned roses that was growing along the house when I first bought it over 35 years ago.   It has been moving itself as it spreads by the roots.  I have it growing on the back side of the house now as it traveled under a fence and moved into another garden area in the backyard.

Grandma's red peony is doing well. I have it planted in a few different places.  They didn't seem to be affected by all the wind and rain so they will be blooming up off of the ground.  I take too many shots of this flower as the red peony is so wonderful.  It  of course is hard to take as the macro sometimes see a different color than it is.

I am a trouble shooter today. I have been in the math room first hour and also did an emergency cover job for a music instructor.  We had the seniors turn in their computers and those all have to be checked and put into storage on numbered shelves.  They will become next year's freshmen class computers.

It is warm in the school building today so I bet it is warming up already outside.  Thanks for  stopping by my blog today.

My Macro World...........

Hydrangea

I really don't know the time when these turn white but I really don't remember them being in a green stage at first.  I transplanted one of these here in the front of the house 5 or more years ago and they have really spread out to be mature plants.  It is the traditional old fashioned white one that you see around a lot of the older houses planted along foundations.

I received a note from a high school graduate friend of mine yesterday.  She was asking me to consider letting her bring her garden club tour bus to see my gardens.  I was flattered but very embarrassed.  I plead innocent to the fact that I have shown off my gardens somewhat.  I also confess that I am a better macro photographer than I am a gardener. I have lots of nice plantings that look good together as I do understand good design.

 What I don't have is the ability to have a great lawn and to keep my gardens weeded.  The creeping Charlie owns my yard and I just don't have the time or money to deal with it right now.  Also my garden flowers are not all planted in groupings.  So I may have an iris blooming here and 10 yards I will have another.  My orchard area is planted with stray things that have no organization other than I have temporarily planted things to get them into the ground and I will move them elsewhere later.

I will not have the summer to get my yard and garden in shape and I am sliding into another job right after the last day of school.  I haven't planted my perennials for this year and I may not as I am too tired, lazy, busy to maintain them and keep them alive.  I will plant zinnia's as they are easy to maintain.

I might send her a slide show of all the photos of my flowers so she could do a presentation with them.  My macros seem to be cropped so you can't see the glaring weeds or creeping Charlie or bad gardening skills.  I also don't have a drop of mulch to make my place look better.

My red peony bushes are now taking their turn to be in bloom.  I have them planted in three different locations but one of them is being crowded out by an old fashion rose. It has only a couple of buds on it this year so I will move it after it blooms.

The smaller rose has many blooms on it this year.  The one on the right is one that is just opening and the one on the left is fading away to the dropping of its petals stage.  The brown from the freeze in April is visible on all of my roses.  When I clip them back after blooming the new ones will not show any damage.

My mock orange bush is an old one.  It has grown to be so large.  It was better looking when I first moved here 30 plus years ago.  I will probably start removing a third of the mature branches and see if I can get it to be a smaller bush.

I am a floating sub today, working in the special education room in the morning and then will be reassigned to another job in the afternoon.  I haven't had a tech day for quit a while as bad spring allergy colds are hitting the staff and students.  There are a lot of track meets and golf meets that take teachers away from the classroom also.

Thanks for stopping by my post today.

Because it it there.....

This row of iris all staked up so they can bloom on a vertical stem, create an unusual composition.  I will share it because I have it.  I am showing you way too many iris but endure it all as the iris are fading.  There will be no more iris posts in the near future.

The spiderwort is in partial bloom.  I didn't get it staked this year and it fortunately is standing on it's without any support.  I had a magenta colored on that has been destroyed by invading hosta plants.

 Pontentilla come in many colors but my white one seems to be a strong bloomer this year.  It doesn't like warm weather so it struggles in Iowa in August.

 It is a bug portrait again coming from my back yard.  This is the rose that I moved from southern Iowa to my south side of my house.   It is it's third year in the ground and I am pleased with the way it has rooted in and revived to a wonderful rose.  I bought it for my mom years ago and I haven't a clue as to the name of it.  I must have paid a lot of money for it as it is such a strong plant with shiny green leaves.  It has five blooms on it right now and will rebloom after I trim it back.

It is going to be warm today and that will be great.  I have many things on my list to do when I leave the school today.  I have found that I can't do it all so I will make a strong effort to get a lot of things done on one of the projects.

I am a floating special ed. teacher today, taking notes about World War 1 and writing poetry for a final project.  I don't know the next class that I will be attending as I will be sent in to replace the most critical spot. There are actually two people gone and there is only one of me.

Thanks for stopping by my post today.

Macro Memories............

As the season of iris comes to an end in a few days, I am glad that I have these shots.  Every stalk of iris had to be staked but the blooms were abundant this year.

Have a great day.  Thanks for stopping by my post.