The Friday Reports.........

I have been checking out the muskmelon at the grocery stores. I don't know when they are ripe and sometimes they are not when you buy them at the store. The color of this one looks more like a ripe melon.

Hidden from view are three muskmelons. The pumpkin sits in the center of them all. The leaves do a great job of covering up the melon.  The leaves actually made it hard for me to get a final count on the melons.  I haven't counted the pumpkins. I am not excited about them but maybe we can give them to the two neighbor kids across the street. It is too easy just to buy pumpkin pie filling in a can. No peeling, no boiling, and no smashing of pumpkin pulp.  I bet it all taste the same.

We delivered these to my wife's friend yesterday and she immediately picked out the one she was going to eat for supper. There are a bunch of pear shaped yellow ones in the bottom of the bowl.  When I went to  pick them I didn't have a container and it was easier to raid the storage room supply of pottery. Of all of the varieties, one of them is watery and doesn't have a great taste. I will figure that out to know not to buy that one again.

This goldfinch was smaller than an adult one.  I don't understand growth patterns of birds but I would have thought it would not be small once it had grown out its adult feathers. Between the finches and the hummingbirds our one window is continually busy with activity. The house finches are not visiting the thistle seed sock anymore.  They must be living out in the woods where real seeds are growing on plants for them to eat.

A project report is this old windmill that my dad had made.  Its base is made of redwood that I recycled from years ago.It is built and more pieces will be replaced on the piece. I really never have had time to really fix it up so maybe I can work at thought the fall. The roof really isn't great but the weathering and mold on the roof seems like that it has to stay. The table at the bottom of this is not a part of the project.  I guess I could turn it into a light house.

The patio below the deck really is a great place for me to work. I still have to stop working if it starts to rain as the slotted floor of the deck drips down on me and whatever I am working on at the time.

We are having a second day of clouds.  It has kept it cooler and is pleasant when outside. I took a quick trip to the old place and completed a couple of things. I did see a flock of white penguins earlier this week while traveling over the Saylorville Lake bridge. I can see two flocks of them off in a distance but there are no roads to that area for picture taking. Pelicans migrate south through Iowa but can stop to rest and feed for a couple of weeks before moving further south.

Thanks for checking in on my blog today.  Have a great Friday and enjoy the weekend.