Tulip Corner.......

I have another set of tulips that will soon bloom.  They are tulips with multiple petals that look like a peony. They are later to mature and I thought they hadn’t come up. Of course you will see photos of them.

The previous owners planted this one and I see this morning that it is a true red in color now.  The early morning was cooler but it feels so much like spring.  It had a little bit of a feel like a spring rain was on its way but the heat will have will surely usher that out of here.

I have to go to the old place this morning and make decisions about the first time to mow the yard up there. I bought a new bathroom sink base for one to the bathrooms that just has to be replaced before I put the house on the market.  I will unload that today. Today will not be a work day but one of getting stuff organized. I have to start taking some of my tools up to the old place ready for me to grab when I start working. I am expecting that I will have to mow the front yard back home today. If the neighbor is mowing I will need to mow. We have a threat of rain on Tuesday but it won’t be until late day on Tuesday. When it starts to rain we are told that it will hang around for a few days.  That will be good as we are dry.

Our flowering trees in the front yard are close to being in bloom.  The leaves are coming too so it will be so great to see. The birds like to do their calls from these trees but no bird has nested in the tree. The old robin’s nest is still in the tree.

I wish everyone to have a great day today.

Sunny Days.......

The dove can be scared and leave very quickly but they do like to sit and appreciate their space.  I never saw it take a drink but I am sure that a drink was needed. He stayed there for a long time waiting, watching and maybe resting.

In the backyard the two bulbs are trying to put out some blooms.  It is a little more shady in the morning for them so they are slower to bloom. I like that every year that I have them, the stronger they will be as hardy bloomers.

My neighbor guy on the hill above me announced that he is mowing this week.  That means I will be mowing too so we all match in yard grass heights.  My front yard needs to be mowed but  the back yard is spotty in height. We are suppose to get at least two days of rain this week which really will help green up things.

An Easter lily that I planted last year at this time is coming up. How anything wants to grow in that hard clay-like soil is amazing to me.  I have four peonies that I also have shooting up in this kind of clay soil.  I won’t ever get use to this kind of soil as I spent 40 years with black Iowa soil at the old place.

I did spend my young years in southern Iowa where everything is clay.  My dad would go down by our creek and scoop up trailer loads of top soil along the side and would put it in an area for my mom to grow flowers. I will be glad to share the blooms from this lily in a few weeks.

These established peonies are looking good this year.  I think we were in a drought last year and they didn’t do so well when we moved in to the place. I know I can water them if they look like they need it. The buttercups are looking hearty that are planted around them.

Tulips never last as long as I would like them to but I am so glad they are doing well.  I have some old fashion tulips that are blooming later than these.  The were planted by a previous owner and I don’t know where to expect them until they pop up and open up.  You can see the mums coming up in the background.  I did see I have a hosta coming up in that area and I sure don’t remember planting that.

I hope it stays a low key day today with the weather warming up by noon.  We still have cool temperatures wth plenty of sunshine. I wish everyone to have a great day.

Sliding in on Saturday.......

A different form of daffodil that I planted last fall. I don’t know it it is a different variety or if it is just deformed because of the strange weather.

My honeysuckle vine is looking healthy.  I really enjoyed the blooms on this shrub last summer.  It was a new one for me and I like it.  I don’t have the other honeysuckle type of shrub on the property.  I could get a start of it from the old place but maybe I don’t have that much room on this property.

They bleeding heart is an early bloomer and I noticed yesterday that there are small forms of the flowers already on the plant. I see I have grass in there where I don’t want it.

When digging down below this rock garden that was intended to keep all plant from growing, I did find clay-like dirt.  I didn’t have high expectations for them to survive but I really did wants some hosts spotted in the design of that garden area of roses and evergreens.  I have counted three of them that have rooted in and are growing.

Little water boy looks important among the tulips.  I think I can find a new bucket for him as his has rusted through now. I have a daylily growing in that area but I am thinking I will have to put something more to grow there for the rest of the summer season.

I have lots of chores to do around the house today on Saturday.  Our weather is going to be good but we are told that cooler weather is coming back. I have a stretcher frame to make for my wife’s friend so a hanging can be stretched on it.  I am thinking that I need to get the tiller out and start working on the tomato garden area and the zinnia flower garden area. I amy just do only one of those things.  Anyway, I wish everyone to have a good Saturday. Thanks for checking in today.

Photo Lineup.......

Barney woke us an hour early today so the sun wasn’t showing at that time.  Three were pink colors but I didn’t capture that .  The sun has moved to the left again, faster than I remember, from the big tree on the right. Have a great day today.

Thursday’s a Go.........

The daffodils from the old place do seem to like the new place.  They bloomed immediately in their glass of water.  I had to take them outside to get the light needed for the achieving of a focused shot.

My six bulbs of daffodils at the new place are growing and blooming right now. For some reason I planted two in each of three locations, so a field of daffodils they do not make.

The grape hyacinths keep growing larger and brighter in color. There really should be plants in there after everything has bloomed but I don’t know what that will be.  I think I had put some petunias in there.

My dad’s glacier deposited rock is from southern Iowa.  There was a lot of clay on that farm and rocks were everywhere. I don’t know why I keep moving it but it did come from my dad’s garden next to his garage doors. I had it in a garden at the old place and now it is a garbage door rock again.

I like the color of these tulips.  They seem slow in blooming but that is ok as they aren’t blooming in snow. There is a mum that is growing in front of all of this and I will leave it one more year and see if I want to change it out for something better.

I haven’t treated them yet to get rid of them.  I have a couple of neighbors on each side that are probably going to talk to me about it but I want to see them flower first. It is suppose to be another good day here.  I think we might get a rain in the late afternoon and that would be welcomed. I would like to get my front yard weed and feed on today before that rain.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Tulip Time.......Next Door.

They are not my tulips but they are next door. Mine will be open in a few days.  Those two who live there have their roses all trimmed back already and have a vegetable garden started.

The neighbors have rows of radishes and lettuce planted now in their raised bed garden.  I bet onions will go in soon. They plant tomatoes and squash  in the other square.  I don’t plan to try to keep up with them but it is fun to see what they are doing. They grow their squash on poles to keep them from leaving the boxed soil space.

The rhubarb is up and going new.  I have earlier shots but I though leaves should be visible for a good shot.  I have this in two locations and in one other location I keep digging out the roots.  I shared the plant with two different people and I still can’t keep the plant from growing.  My daughter-in-law took some in November and it is sprouting up this spring in Chicago area.

Old age isn’t so great when the mind keeps being confused.  I whined yesterday about seeing the fern leaf peonies coming up in four places at the old place.  I even thought I might have forgotten to move some to the new place.  The old mind had steak for supper and I then remembered that I brought a whole bucket full of fern leafed peonies with me last spring.  I even let it grow in the bucket for half the summer.  I earlier shot a photo of these and called them peonies.  So they burst open yesterday and they are the fern leafs that I moved. It looks like I will have a mature full grown plant already this spring. Once planted they will always do well.

The hosta plant came up the last few days.  I wasn’t sure that it was going to survive. I had to plant it down below the level of rocks and they seem to not mind the rocky surface.  I have four or five of them planted in the area and will be glad to see them popping up soon. I have a privet planted near this growth and I don’t see any sign  of life in the shrub yet.

I didn’t have much blooming at the old place when I was up there yesterday.  Our spring is really three or more weeks behind.  I did swipe a few daffodils that were almost ready to open.  I have pictures but am not showing today of them being opened.

I have yard work to do this morning.   It is still cool our there but it isn’t hard to put on a coat and a stocking cap.  I have some grass areas that need to be repaired and can find sod in the backyard to use. I am glad the we are having a better kind of weather.  Thanks for stopping in today.   Later.........

Spring Chores.....

The pussy willow took on a new look this morning as all of the pods started to open. I have never had one before and I sure didn’t expect this to happen. When I first saw it I thought was in flower bloom.

As I became closer to the tree this did look like it might be putting out leaves. I was wrong.

The little soft pods opened up just today. They are probably sending pollen out into the air rapidly.  I did see bugs flying all around as they seemed to like what was inside of them.

The branches that I have inside in a vase did skip this step.  If they had I would have put them out side on the deck.  They can’t be called a flower but they are a pretty explosion.

The small green ball of a plant is a new one for me. There are three of them planted in the front planter.  I guess I will have time to watch for blooms this year and can identify it. I was at the old place this morning and the fern leafed peony was coming up everywhere.  I sent some of it to my cousins in southern Iowa.  I gave it away to neighbors, but I can’t believe I didn’t move it to the new place.  I don’t see any of it coming up in my new flower spots.  I can dig some now if I don’t find it.  I guess I am losing my mind.

Anyway, I picked up a truck load of sticks off of the yard and took it to the city dump.  My truck bed is a full sized one so that was a lot of pieces of wood.  I didn’t get it done to perfection but I got the most of it.  I worked toward exhausting stage 2 and just quit.  I will probably have to start mowing up there next week. We had a horrible wind storm up there last week early and I had a section of my backyard fence laying on the ground. It would be easy to put back again but I did too much with the sticks to have energy to do that project.

Our neighbor to the northwest has his first part of a vegetable garden done.  They do the lettuce and radish thing and it was late for them to get it in. I definitely will stop feeding the big bird food to keep them from being in the area. I really only remember robins were hard on new sprouting plants but I‘ll just be safe by stopping the feeding.   I trimmed back an invading vine at the new place yesterday and the raking and picking up of branches so I should not be doing much walking around tomorrow or the rest of this day either.  I need to get back into shape physically for spring and it will take a while.  Well trudge on everyone and thanks for stopping by today.

The Start ....of a New Week.

Monday morning starts with a great set of clouds.  The sun really is being covered up by the dark cloud on the right side of this photo. The shine from behind the darkness lights up the pattern of clouds.

New England bluebells are coming alive.  I think a good rain would help them out or a bucked of water from me. I still have difficulty seeing this clay like soil having lived on a property with black soil all those years.

Early evening I could look straight up and see half of a moon.  It was sort of a surprise as I have been seen the present moon in late evening in the past week.

The manipulated cropped shot of the moon shows that it is exactly in half moon stage. I don’t know if that is a real name for the moon but I think it works.

The turtle is liking the weather and is hoping that I will move him to a better location.  I have a weedy mess there and need to clean things out.  It is the location of the morning glories so I do need to be careful.

It looks like a good day for us and I will try to use it wisely.  I find that it is tie to get moving now that the weather is not a major factor in outside work now.  I hope everyone is doing well out there and all of you have a great day.

Clouds, sky, and sunshine........

The moods created by the clouds do put out a feeling of undetermined weather.  The warming of the earth is taking place now in our area even though most things are really behind in their spring stages of development.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Stuff for the Day.....

I zoomed in on her this morning, thinking she was nesting.  She was not nesting.  She is eating something from the spruce.  It may be the ends of the pine branch.  Other birds are feeding on the tree too.  I had one view finder look at her smacking her beak as if she were eating peanut butter.  I am sure it is a dry material and she does prefer it to what I have in my feeders.

The mourning doves are spending time on the deck while we are eating breakfast.  I showed up with the camera and the one is immediately taking off from the scene. The male is larger than the female as we watched them sitting on our deck rail. There is a size difference.

I have not any patience to get a clear shot of the goldfish at this time.  I do want to show how clear and clean the water it.  I am also showing the one green spot that the algae eater has not cleaned.  He really has done a good job of make the majority surfaces clear of the green stuff.

I am back in fourth grade learning how to root things.  I think I did root a carrot head in water when I was in third grade. This was just a display of pussy willow branches among flowers but it became more. The branches appreciated having water to make them continue to grow.  Now that the flower bouquet is spent the branches still look good in the glass vase by themselves.

I have been anxious to see the actual tree outside to put out leaves but my inside sticks are doing it with ease. The short buds are cute but they are also a mess as the fall off the branches and land on the counter or floor.

I was thinking this morning after seeing this mess that I am about to shut down this feeding operation.  Once this batch is eaten, and they will clear it all away, I will stop it all.  I want the table back and maybe in a few weeks we can sit out on the deck. There is no snow to keep them from finding their own food.  It really will take them a week to clean up things but from experience I know ever piece of millet will be gone.  The sunflower seed hulls do also wash away or are blown away.

I will continue to feed the thistle seed all summer.  I like seeing the goldfinches hanging on the socks.  The house finches do eventually just leave the go about nesting apparently in timber areas around our development.

Our days are going to now be warmer.  Our normal temps are much warmer than what we are having but I do think the scales have been tipped toward the warmer temperatures. I wish everyone to have a good day today. Thanks for stopping by at my blog.