Sunday Aftenoon......

 It will be freezing tonight so these will be flattened in the next few days.  Lots of things are showing the effects of the colder weather.

I brought in the last of the tomatoes this morning. This one looks promising but some probably won't ever turn and ripen.

I moved the ones that were on the patio table inside temporarily on my drawing table.  It is too cold to leave the door open so I dropped them off on the nearest flat surface. I also brought in my rain gauges so they water wouldn't freeze inside them and break them.

When these freeze the next few nights I will be able to dig them.  This is the last bloom of all of the dahlias.  

Thanks for stopping by today.

Trick or Treat.....

 The sun actually helped to show the brighter colors that are developing on my neighbor's trees. The front tree is chaning every single day to brighter orange colors..

I was glad to see the neighbor two doors up have this tree planted in his back yard. It is going to grow into a beautiful tree for us all to see. 

I ran out of candy tonight during the trick or treat event.  I had to just shut off all my lights and retreat into the house.  I felt bad but it is hard to estimate as to how much one should buy.  The bags I bought this year actually had larger pieces in it so they didn't go so far.  I did get to make a lot of kids happy with what I had and even got to pet a white dog who was out with his kids.

Thanks for stopping by.

I really like this guy.  He belongs to my neighbor across the street, Vino.

Grandma Brooks' Project Day.....

 

The wind is strong and the boards are starting to dry ot after being soaked for so many days.  I may get an old broom out there and sweep off the excess to help it dry.  We got almost two inches of rain again from the all day wet day yesterday.

 I have started two different projects for today. I sanded off my Grandma Brooks' walnut table and put the first coat of finish on it.  I work on it to do projects and I had paint spots and it and scratches too.  It has been quite a while since I refinished it. I should have done the job before I moved it to the newer home but time was not available for that.

The other project that I worked on is another of Grandma Brooks' items.  My Grandma went to an auction with neighbors at Humeston, Iowa.  Fred the neighbor guy was toldby my Grandma to bid on this and she said she would pay a quarter for it.  Fred won the bid for twenty-five cents.  I damaged this with a plant not knowing that it was leaking onto it. I hate that when it happens. Water and wood furniture don't get along together well.

I started to hand sand it and that was really not working.  Water stains are deep and these stains were very black.

The hand sanding showed that there was actually wood grain showing so I used the power sander on it.  I took it out on the patio and worked on it for a while.

 

It isn't ever going to look perfect as all the glue joints have come loose but this does look a lot better.

I found some older stain to use on this and I did not like what it looked like.  I took a rag and wiped it off leaving a good stain to the wood.

I am not happy with the end result. The darker stain in the middle needs to go. I will revisit this tomorrow. 

Tomorrow I will steel wool this and give it a second coat.  I may use stripper on the small stand to get rid of the brown spot.  Projects don't always work out well.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Thursday's Thoughts and Things.....

 My neighbor's tree change over night to fall colors.  I had shared this scene earlier this week as a spring green view. 

Looking in the opposite direction you can also see the trees and a bush changing colors. The willow is also showing the change in color at this time.  We are having continued rains and cold temperatures.  The red maple in the middle is only a couple of years old and it has grown quickly. I was happy to see that neighbor put that tree into his back yard. 

If you can't see it the gauge says four inches.  I am going to leave it to see if I can get filled to the top before I dump it.  It is the measure of four or more days of different rains. I have another gauge that I empty regularly.  

I finished clearing the last of my tomato plants yesterday.  I got all of the stems into a recycle sack plus the greens from asparagus plants and four peony plants.  I still have peony plants in the front to be cut down and sacked but I think I will be out of bags when I start to do that.  I am tired of the rain coming down.  I am going out and pick up loose tomatoes this afternoon that have fallen into the grass while the cutting off of the plants.  It has stopped raining for the moment.  

Thanks for stopping by today.

Wednesday......

 

 

 

 Thanks for checking out my blog today.

Tuesday.....

 It looks like spring in my neighbor's yard but it isn't. The wind is blowing and the temps have gotten up to nearly 60 degrees F. You can see the leaves changing on the trees behind this one and the top of the one is turning red. 

The tray for a large flower pot is my impromptu rain gauge.  We almost got three inches of rain in the past few days. The birds do come and drink from the tray of water.

The leaves are starting to turn but it seems slow.  I cleared out old asparagus today that really had started to grow. The stems I cut off were bright and green as if it was a bunch of fresh plants.

I did not clear anymore zinnias today but I did clear three more tomato plants.  Unfortunately they are in piles on the yard as I would like them to die back some before I stuff them in the large paper recyle bags.  I have only three more to clear.  I may get to that tomorrow between the predicted rains. 

I did take down my lone sunflower yesterday.  I kept parts of it to see if I could get seed from it.  I think the birds picked all those buds clean.  My wife and i completed a difficult task today of takng down a hanging  light that hung over the counter.  I needed to replace two of the three bulbs and when I got up there to it, standing on the island counter I could see we had to clean everything everywhere. The globe was a bowl shape and it was very heavy. Thanks for stopping by today.

Monday Moments.....

 Clouds are clearing this morning as the sun eventually shines through. Fluffy spots of could are all that are left from this.

The waterseal does a great job but now I have water standing on the deck a lot of the time. I really don't want to walk on it while the puddles are there.  A warmer day may help to evaporated it. 

I need to get inspired to cut down my tomato plants.  They haven't had a good frost yet but I can probably collect a few more tomatoes as I take them down one branch at a time. 

The colder weather is causing these blooms just to hand down, facing the ground.  It is about time for them to stop blooming and feel the snow on their feet. 

I collected some dead heads of these yesterday even though they were very wet.  I will go and get more in a couple of days trying to get samples from all the different varieties.  

It will be interesting if these buds can bloom during the last of the season.  It is warmer in the city so their location next to the house may still bloom. 

It is Monday and I should venture out to do something in the gardens.  I sort of need a heavier coat but I guess I will look funny in a stocking cap.  The clearing of plants is really late this year but I guess I can start and leave piles of them to let the die out instead having the freeze kill them off first. 

Thanks for checking in on this Monday......

Sunday's Shots and Things.....

 

 I wanted to repot this into better soil and a larger pot. Now I wonder if I should leave it well enough alone. 

As I tear up the tomato patch I will get more green tomatoes picked.  I don't always successfully get them to ripen inside but it is worth a try.  It is raining too much for me to work in the garden right now. 

I think glass is magical and collect a lot of different kinds of glass. The glass bowl on a stand is an old piece that was my mom's piece.  I remember seeing her sever potato salad in it as well as desserts that included fresh apples and marshmallows.  The pattern actually matches other pieces like bowls or goblet that I have. I remember a woman who was a neighbor who would make ginger cookies. Each cookies was imprinted with that star pattern from a glass that had that star bottom.  Funny to share that here lass name was Starr. Everyone called her Grandma Starr and she is buried in Cambridge, Minnesota. 

The continuous rains are taking out my yellow roses. The petals are scattering on the lawn.  We are getting a lot of rain.  I hope it helps to make up for all the loss of moisture from our drought. It is a dull gray day understandably so we will lay low at home all day.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Sat Stuff.....

 As frost or freezing happens these will be gone soon. I want to clip off the already dead ones for seed for next year. 

I did sstart to clear some of the zinnias as I needed better access to the glads that I needed to dig.  I could cut back on these on daily times and get rid of them by Friday. It is suppose to warm up next week so I can get it done without a wearing a winter coat. 

Digging of this batch of glads went pretty easily.  I will get the greens cut off of them today and let them dry off a little more. The standing water on my deck did turn to ice last night so we were probably at 32 degrees F. 

The utilities lines are being marked in the neighbor hood so one can see arrows and lines everywhere.  I had to have this done before I planted my red bud tree a couple of seasons ago. 

We will warm up to the low 50s today.  We just need to wear coats now when we want to go out.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Friday's Finds......

 The city has given a company permission to put in an internet cable throughout.  I guess it gives them permission to enter peoples property without permission. We all have painted lines and arrows pointing in directions.  It is like an invasion when all the workers out there marking all the lines already buried.  Most people have gated back yards so I guess they just open the gates and go in without permission.

It is cold and hazy so my moon shot is actually partially out of focus.  This was taken one day after tne full moon and already you can see the fuzzy edge at the top of the moon.  The night we had the full moon we were clouded over all night.

This is another view of the front of the house as the mums bloom and the roses continue to fade in the very cold weather.

 

My red bud tree is only a few years old but it is growing quickly. I like seeing the leaves changing.

 

 

The late blooming hibiscus has smaller blooms.  It is a strange thing that they are blooming but the rains coming after a long drought has caused it. 

I am glad that I planted dahlias this year.  I will wait for a freeze to kill off some of the foliage before I will dig them. I have glads to did also as well as one canna.  I hope I get some warmer days for me to do it but I can wear a winter coat.  Thanks for stopping by today.