Saturday.......

Peonies from the old place are the only cutting flowers I have left blooming there.  I picked probably the last bouquet from them, as I had to look hard to find any good blooms.  I have a huge William Baffin rose that has hundreds of blooms on it. I guess I could cut some of those to bring home. I may have to find and purchase that rose for my new place. Unfortunately my neighbors plant so few things and I think I may look way too crowded compared to all my neighbors.

Looking down from the deck last evening I took a shot of the raised bed that the former owner had built. I haven't had a lot of time to work this plot but I have started planting things some in it.

The heat these next two days are going to be hard on all of the plants but I will water daily or twice daily. I want to buy more marigolds to surround the whole area.  We have herbs and five tomato plants in the plot right now.  I may add one more tomato.  Rabbits are a concern of my one neighbor and I see that I do have a set of screens to place around the plot.  I haven't had time to install it and I am not too worried about them eating what I have planted there. Our little bunny has grown up fast and is almost a full grown rabbits now. The birdseed that falls from the above feeder has seeds that the rabbits seem to enjoy.

The front flower garden is getting a lot of water as the plants need to root in and not die from the heat.  We need a tall plant in the middle and will be looking for some kind of spike to plant there. I would like to put a canna there but don't know if this clay soil will work well with it.

My wife and I got to do a new thing yesterday that we really have never done before.  We were asked by the kids of the cousin who died, to pick up her cremains. It was difficult, but supporting the cousin's kids, who are grown adults, is something we could do. My dad, mom, and brother were all cremated but we used a funeral home for all three people. When you don't have services, the family is responsible for the handling of the cremains.

A note of humor that I got out of the whole thing was the facility sells plastic flowers.  The cemetery is next to this chapel and cremation center and there are not standing memorial stones in the cemetery.  All markets are flat with a place to put flowers.  I now understand why the whole area is filled with plastic bouquets sticking up out of the ground. I doubt they allow people to bring in anything but fake flowers to that cemetery in Des Moines.

We both went to the old house yesterday in the truck.  It isn't the best ride but we filled the truck up with stuff. The ride of the truck is as good as the highway is that I am driving on at the time. I have been stuffing things in the trunk of a car and some things don't fit in the car. I will enjoy the freedom to move things about without having to worry about how I can do it.  We move our friend's to a bigger apartment next week and she needs a bed.  We can just buy it and move it.  We have a couple of dressers she at first wanted but is now not so sure about them.  I have a potter's wheel and a kiln to bring to the new place and that truck is the thing for the job. I brought down some fence posts to help support my tomato cages.  I will not list anything more now, that is enough.

An early morning shot shows the various clouds moving about.  I like the big old tree that the builders left behind. It sits about three lots over.  I have decided to use the tree in my photos and I am going to call the roof tops the Rocky Mountains. I can.t seem to crop them out of the photo, so I will just share them without shame.

We have had a tough week and things do seem to be quieting down.  We are so glad we can be there for others in need but for a few days we will try to just take care of our selves.  When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping.  We plan to hit some of our big stores in our city including an arts and crafts store.  Maybe we can visit the pet store as well and maybe buy some more plants at one of the four choices.  Our variety and number of stores is overwhelming but we just don't have a bookstore. Maybe we can do a trip down there next week.  Thank you for stopping by today.  I wish you all to have a good weekend.