The Fifth......

I am up early morning and saw that I had to take a shot of two of the sky.  The sun is to the right of all of this but it is reflecting up on the smooth clouds.

Our evening last night was unusual. They legalize fireworks in Iowa and that was a mess.  So this year the towns limited the firing of the explosion for the day of the fourth only.  If you live outside of any city limits it was anything goes.

In our back yard we had more than a dozen people just in our area lighting up the works.  We could stand on our back deck and see them as far left and right as far as we could see.  The sound was amazing and strange at the same time as everybody in the whole town of 65,000 people were out in their streets setting them off.  Any dog owner really would have to be holding their dog and its ears.

The political realm had kept fireworks out of Iowa most of my lifetime so when they started it up and made it lawful all people seemed to be like kids in the candy shops.  We saw fireworks normally at town celebrations, State Fair, and baseball games.  I will be curious as to how they will redirect it again for next year.  The two week span of time last year was disastrous and they were being shot off night and day for the entire time.

I couldn’t figure out how to get my camera to work for any shots.  The photo is not as good as the real thing anyway.

My traditional planting of moss rose has been accomplished.  I had to go look for the granite enamel pan and the plants are starting to settle in to their new home

The yellow coneflowers is getting established from last year’s planting.  I think that it will grow bigger in  another year.  My coneflowers seem to be varying their bloom times which I assume varies with where they are planted

I like the magenta colored ones but the others are great too.

I do see that I had taken a photo of the metal pan in which the ross moss is planted.  They are slow to bloom but soon they will put out a lot of blooms every morning.

Today was the day to get these steps repaired. I had to lift some bricks and replace sand that had washed out with the heavy rains this spring.  I didn’t design this but other owner placed plant blocking material down and then sand before he put down the blocks. The large wood ties do a pretty good job of holding things together but unfortunately the whole stairs is shifting and settling down the hill.  For now I just replaced the sand under                                                                                                                                    the collapsed steps so I won’t be liable for accidents by visitors. The job of lifting bricks and caring the sand bags up and down the hill did because more than I could handle.  I took two different breaks as I worked as the humidity was high and the heat was becoming overwhelming.  I do need to sprinkle more sand on top of the steps and sweep them in to help seal up the cracks.  I was glad that I ran out of sand and can do that another day.

This is a pretty small specimen of a hydrangea shrub but I am so glad it is happy to be growing there against the house.  The one at the old place is so full of large sets of blooms. This one shown will probably be so much better next year.

The hollyhocks having such a good year means I need to get to a nursery to find a different colored one.  The one I bought last year looks good but I am having a hard time getting a good photo of it.

The cottage garden does look good this year but I am resisting the enlargement of the area.  All I would have to do is spade up a foot wide more of dirt along the east side of it.


In closing down the post today I hope I am finding you all having good weather and great weekend plans.  Our plan to eat out at the Outback last evening turned into a lot of fun.  There were car clubs around the area that were putting on antique car shows.  Some were authentic old and others were hot rods.  I didn’t have my camera but we had fun at the restaurant where they were all eating. It sort of turned it into a party atmosphere and we could pull in the vibes.  We all had steaks and good salads.  We don’t have specific plans for the next two days but things can happen when we think of adventures.  Thank you for stopping by today. Everyone take care.