Tossed Salad.....

 

 

 

 

 It is a tossed salad of photos today. I take a lot of shots that I lose in the pile and I never post them. We are off to a family reunion of cousins today at a park in Creston, Iowa.  Some of them I have not seen for over 20 years. Facebook helps to keep contacts but seeing and talking in real life will be good.  We haven't taken things to picnic groups for a long time and we have to think out all the details and not to forget things.  I hosed down our camp chairs and we plan on stopping at the family cemetery on the way home.  It will be a busy day.  Thanks for stopping by today. 

Phlox Parade...

 

 

 

 

 I like the old fashioned phlox.  I do have different kinds of them and only remember buying a couple of them. They are showy for a long time.  Nice day today.  Thanks for checking in today.

Abandon Nest.....

 I took this photo yesterday of the mother robin standing watch over the one last chick.  The two older ones left the nest sometime the past two days before.  

 

This morning the nest was not up on the post anymore.  I was surprised but figure the last chick sort of fell out of the nest knocking it to the ground.  The three are now out there in the  wild world of nature.  I really never knew before that the robins line the nest with a mud plaster.   I could imagine that last chick with its wings flapping leaning out on the edge of the nest.  I could see it falling with the nest onto the patio. 

They picked good days to leave the nest as we are not having any bad weather.  We are warming up to hot temps again and yes we still need rain. 

The dinner plate hibiscus is in full bloom right now.  There were lots of buds and I am sure it will bloom through another week or so.  The color of it is subtle and pastel.  I don't think it is as impressive as some of the white ones. 

I worked outside this morning. I had to tweak my new trellis for the climbing rose.  I had to trim back a vine that was growing into our heat/cool machine.  It grows up and into the vents making things a mess.  I watered the tomatoes and sunflowers this morning with my soaker hose and carried water to other plants that needed moisture.  I have removed my bird feeder for remodeling and refurbishing.  I don't know what will change but it needs to be slim lined and made to fit better on the metal railing. 

It is Friday.  Thanks for checking in today.

Thursday's Things....

 

 

 

 We had a little bit of rain for three minutes.  It was not measurable.  We are having a cool day. Thanks for looking in today.

Words Mean Things....

 

 

 

 

I am without words again today. Projects going on and things to do anyway. Thanks for checking in today.

Portfolio Full with no Words....

 

 

 

 

 

 Thanks for checking in today.

Monday, Monday.....

 Feeding the birds for her means feeding her newly hatched ones.  She is out looking for food all day checking the grass, trees and dirt in the garden areas. 

Only three are popping their heads up for food.  One still has some of its white fuzz on its head. I don't think they look very good at this stage.  I did see one stretch out its wing and it does have feathers all over it. They mature so quickly.

 

I watered everything this morning.  The tomatoes and sunflowers have a soaker hose.  I just need to always remember to shut that off.  I watered this morning the front yard flowers and then the zinnia patch area.  We are really dry and I tried to water enough to be sure it got down to the roots.  I shared yesterday that the tomato is of the Early Girl variety. 

My over wintered begonia is picking up and looking good again.  It puts out nice shiny leaves and the great color. 

I finally started on my trellis that I need for the Willaim Baffin climbing rose.  It actually will look more like a fence than a trellis but I did get all the parts cut today.  I will paint everything tomorrow white before I assemble it and install it against the south east corner of the house. The fence idea came from seeing people tie their canes to the trellis and the canes of this rose are strong.  It will be tricky to get the posts in the ground as the back of the house is on a decline.  My bottom post is 13 inches taller than the top post.  The horizontal boards will be leveled with the house siding and it won't take the slant that the hill has. 

Monday is a good time to restart from the past weeks of work.  I can't believe as to how nice the temps are today. We are 74° F. right now and it might rain a small amount.  I was hoping that watering things would cause us a good rain but that isn't going to happen.  Thanks for checking in today.

Sun.....

 After all that care and concern for the zinnias, I now have my first blooms.  Soon there will be so many and they won't be so special anymore. Yes it is a blurry foreground but the little ones in the back are in focus.

I try to keep the labels close by so that I don't have to remember the variety.  For years we just ate what ever tomato was read but now we can know what we are eating.  

In the middle of the patch is the rapidly growing sunflower.  I see there will be a bloom soon that should become quite large as the stem keeps growing in height. 

When I am too lazy to cut off a piece of spout from a large section I create this obstacle course of elbows to send the water away from the side of the house.  I guess cutting the tubing with a hack saw seems like too much work and it would make a lot of noise too.

While clearing away the one corner of the cottage garden I found this bluish phlox.  It was almost crowded out but now it has its own wire protection barrier.  I need to move things away from it and it seems to be in a good location. 

It isn't so hot today but it is still hot.  We had rainstorms north of us but we didn't get much more than a sprinkle.  When it gets so hot usually Iowa develops destructive storms.  I really don't want that but I would like some more rain.  I will water everything tomorrow as most things look wilted.  So am I.

Thanks for checking in today.

Some Of Us Are Hot!

 Two baby birds are upset because they mother left them.  I am assuming that they want to be fed some more. 

She was doing a different behavior yesterday that I had not seen birds do before.  She was just sitting along the side of the nest like a statue.  I assume it was a guarding position and it was too hot for her to bother to sit on them to keep them warm. I have seen her earlier panting while sitting on the nest. 

the dinner plate hibiscus is blooming now. The heat is hard on them but they are in the shade for most of the day as the sun goes over the house and the house shades them.  I should water them today.

I have been moving plants out of the one corner of the cottage garden as they were all planted to closely.  I noticed today another plant to get moved.  I is this day lily being crowded by Japanese iris and also a phlox.  Once it is done blooming it is going to be moved to a new location.

The temporary rotating art spot didn't get the barn painting down for a couple of weeks.  I found this one that reminds me of all our trips each summer that we took to the North Shore.  We haven't been for a long time now as life circumstances change.  It is one of our favorite vacation/art spot. I did paint this on the shore out on the point next toe Lake Superior.

It was 82° F this morning when we got up.  I went out to do a few things outside. I needed the trim back some leaves on an iris that I had moved.  I usually trim the back so the shock of the move isn't so hard on them.  I took a few photos and longingly looked at the boards that I had laid out on the table.  It is just to hot bo be working out on the patio but the boards will be ready for me on Monday.  Thanks for stopping by today and stay cool.

Friday's Finds.....

 There was a rain overnight and the sun struggles to be seen as the clouds remain.  The sun does dominate and win right after this shot was taken. 

Looking out this morning and the humid haze is there after the rain. It will be a very hot day again today and humidity will be high too.  The orchid has been a long lasting one as I continue to learn how to take care of it. 

This is the very first zinnia to bloom.  The plants really did take off the past few weeks leafing out and budding.  You will see many shots of this set of flowers for sure.

The sunflower is growing by leaps and bounds.  The two smaller ones will catch up with the big one and I will have a forest of them in a few weeks. My tomatoes are tall this year.

I started to tackle the mess on one corner of this cottage garden.  I got the spade out yesterday and dug out a crowded field lily which didn't bloom this year.  I also dug out an invasive chive plant that was crowding out a Japanese iris, a day lily, and an iris.  I don''t think I was doing very well when I planted all those things all in one corner.  I guess I must have kept adding things while everything was small.  I am encouraging the Japanese iris with fresh black soil placed into the hole where the chive was.  The chive has not been replanted and is laying on the patio right now awaiting its fate. 

It is Friday and the week passed by quickly.  I think I will revisit the cottage garden again this morning and rethink my planting of the field lily.  Invasive plants are great unless they take over the entire area.  Thanks for checking in today...aaaah  tomorrow!