Middle .....of the Week.

 Ruby Begonia this is not. It is a nice pink and seems to keep blooming year after year. I think I should change its soil but it isn't on my priority list. 

I grow these because they are so colorful.  I like to photograph them and share all that excitement.  They were slow to bloom but they have proven to be winners. I still have not marked the special flowers that I want to harvest for next years planting.  When the flowers die you can't really identify the colors as well.

I have quit working on this extension of my patio.  I am happy with it and will just leave it alone for the rest of this summer.  

This little guy got moved to a new location.  You can see the last rain water had washed the much away from the area.  He is working. 

Inside my angel fish are growing larger.  I have to transform it into black and white as the camera picked them up as yellow and black. I guess I need to shut off the aquarium light when I am taking their pictures. 

I need to dead head my roses.  I can't remember if there is enough time for them to rebud one more time.  I guess dead heading helps to clean them up anyway for the winter.  I didn't say the "S" word. 

I am moving slow today and have no real goals for the day.  I usually find something to get done.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Tuesday's Things......

 The  young male cardinal returned today for some sunflower seeds. I had not seen him for a couple of days.  The female was at the feeder yesterday.

It was sprinkling while I was taking shots. If you look closely at the photo you can see the circles or rings made by the raindrops.  It never did rain but I guess something scant is better than nothing. 

It made me happy to see these sprouts from the base of the phlox.  I had just moved it there and it died down right away but the roots are aparently alive and well. 

Whatever this corn leafed plant makes the birds will love it.  I will feed it to my cocatiels if it matures and survives the outside birds. 

I had a volunteer cone flower growing up among my front rock garden.  They were  big enough with lots of roots that I could move it back here.  I was too lazy to move the plastic goose and just planted it right under his nose. They should do well.  I have filled up my cottage garden and couldn't find a good place ofr it.  I thought this would be a good place to start it. 

I had a leak under the sink in the kitchen.  I hate plumbing.  It was the connection between the garbage disposer and to the drain.  I took everything out and put the parts into clear plastic bags. I took it all to Ace and bought everything brand new.  I have installed it all now with a lot of difficulty. Plastic drain pipes are good but the require a lot of trial and error to get it all to fit into the space.  I have not drips now.  I think the drain was getting plugged up at the far end and the house was built in 2003.  I will quit watching it daily for a week or so before I declare it fixed.  

We have a sunny day today and the grass is greening up a bit.  I won't mow until more of the brown turns to green.  Resting up from being a plumber and standing on my head.  I thank you for stopping by today.

Monday Morn.....

 It is lightly raining this morning but it won't last long. Maybe more to come but I don't hold my breath. 

The volunteer tomatoes are supplying us some small bites to eat. There were two plants that came up on their own in another garden area and I moved them over to the big tomato patch. 

The blue spruce is such a great tree.  I inherited it when I bought the place and would never of imagined that I would own such a big spruce tree. The birds love it all summer and the rabbits hang out below it as the travel from place to place in the yard. 

It does show some wear and tear on the north side of the tree.  It is thinning and I know there is nothing I can do about it. 

 

 

The Flynn's milk jar is a great one for many uses.  I use it to dip water out of my aquariums as I need to change some water each week. The glass jar is made of thick glass and feels sturdy in the hand.  I had milk delivered to the house in Woodward the first year that I lived there in 1977.  I think the delivery man came three times a week.  One got a cooler that set on you door step to help keep it cool before you picked it up in the morning.  You paid them in an envelope and never really met the person who was the milk man.  I could say milk person but I don't think women took those kinds of jobs back then. 

I was concerned that the stairs to the deck was built directly on the ground.  I had the camera handy and zoomed in to see that it is built on the very large weather treated block of wood.  I still don't know if it is placed on a cement block but I hope so.  It is too far under there for me to dig around to see what was done. I guess I could make a space and dig a hole in the front of the stairs to see how it was done. Wood rots easily in our soil. 

I lost most of the flowers in the front raised garden.  A few have sprung back a little but the whole garden lost its good blooms look a month ago with the drought hitting us. 

It is a dull gray day so far and I won't be working outside today.  I will find things to do inside and stay out of trouble.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Rainfall is Possible for Sure.....

 

 

 The last sunflower is finally opening.  We got a 2.25 inches of rain over night.  It was so wonderful. It was in two fronts and it just plain rained.  I am so happy.  The grass and flowers are happy too.  More rain that that hit north of us which will help our rivers to maybe fill up a little more now.  The rivers were so low as people could walk along the river on sandbars. 

 

I couldn't believe that there were more robins being hatched at this time of the year.  Ours were gone out about three weeks ago.  Having a few new cardinals being hatched was a treat.  I will be watching to see if there actually were more than two hatched.  I had to refill my seed sack for the goldfinches as two small ones were out there trying to get to the very bottom of a mostly empty sock.  I spilled some as I filled it out on the deck but all the birds like to eat off the deck anyway.  

It is a nice day with sunshine and some wind.  We are all revived because of the rain.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Saturday's Collection.....

 The last sunflower to bloom is a smaller one.  It still has all the structure as if it is the big one. The other two sunflowers are starting to lean from the weight of the seeds. 

Seeds are being developed in the larger sunflower.  I suppose the birds will start pulling seeds once they have develop. 

The pool was crowded with the newly hatched sparrows. The seem to be just sitting in the water.  Sometimes I could see them splashing with their wings.  I haven't seen many birds actually use it as a bird bath. 

He is a friendly rabbit that isn't frightened of me.  I like him but I don't like that he strip the leaves of my gladiolas.  I will dig the bulbs in the fall and plant them again with a cage around them.

The bunny allowed me to have only three stems of blooms this year even though I had planted a couple o dozen bulbs.  I think enough green was left on things that they can be fortified for next years planting.

I am glad I was able to get pictures of this young guy two days ago as I have never sen him again since.  The female does show once in a while to get more sunflower seeds.

It is a warm day that feels more like a warm sauna.  It is high humidity and no rain even though the predictors  said it would be.  We have rain predicted this pm.  I may go stand in it if really does happen. Thanks for checking in.........today.

Brother Red....

 The brother to the young female cardinal showed up today.  He is mottled yet and feathers are changing.  He didn't stay for very long but he was there long enough for me to get three rough looking shots. 

 

I keep sharing the tomatoes as we can't eat them all ourselves.  I am glad that I can water them and they are staying alive. 

 

 

I watered the zinnias this morning. They look wilted at the end of each day.  I also watered a fading dogwood bush this morning.  I have a couple of areas at the back of the house that actually needed to be mowed but most of my yard isn't even green or growing.  The stuff at the back of the house is in the shade and the water that drains down from the roof keeps it a little more alive.  My mowing time lasted ten minutes at the most.  It is Friday and another week is almost done. Thanks for stopping by today.

Got It Done......

 It is a young cardinal that slips in and out all day.  The sunflower seeds will run out eventually so I need to put some fresh seed out.  She is still fuzzy as her feathers keep growing in to make her a mature bird.

A first coat of paint helps the old feeder to be newer looking.  It is beat up and warped in places but I did redesign the base so it is more stable on the white metal railing.  Things blend better.  The sparrows seem to be gone right now.  I guess they got all the batches hatched and they have other places to be. 

My one roma plant has given me lots of tomatoes.  We put them all in the fridge as they can keep a lont time in there.  I need to give away some more today to the neighbor to the south.  The soaker hose was turned on this morning again to  help keep them alive.  Our ground is so dry that I broke off the end of one of my trowels while trying to get out hostas for transplant. 

 

  The clouds make interesting formations this time of the year. We will warm up to the low 80s today and we are partly cloudy.  It gets to be too hot to work in the sun and I just have to quit.  I finished planting all my white iris this morning.  They are planted in so many places so if only a couple do well I will be happy.  I watered them in good planting with commercial soil.  I have too  much clay in my soil and I have to keep replacing it as I plant.

I had planted the end of this area with hostas and an iris.  When I bought the new edger bricks yesterday I decided to just dig it all out again  and put in the brick.  I am glad that I did and all has been replanted within a few days time.  Buying the Belgium edger blocks was an adventure.  I had seen them on the internet and then I did see an example of them in the store.  Finding them in the yard was almost impossible.  I stayed on it,  driving my truck in and out of the rows of bricks until I evetualy found them.  Actually I had to drive the truck down the rows and then back it out each time.  It was good for my truck skills to be refreshed. It looks so good that I can forget about how much of a pain it was to buy them. 

The week seems to be passing quickly.  No rain for quite a while now.  Predicted things don't happen.  I see national weather shows vapor clouds now which I interpret to be fog.  But were missed by that too as southern Iowa was blessed with dew on the ground.  The young birds seem to have a simple innocent personality as they flit in and out. As the get older they will be more sure of their movements. 

Thanks for checking in today.

Birds and Blooms....

 It did rain a few drops at the east of town.  I saw the wet pavement when I traveled over to Menards. It stayed dark and cloudy for a couple of hours and now we are back to sunshine.

I gave my bird feeder its first coat of paint and put it back out with fresh seed. The very first bird to show up was this younger female cardinal.  She stayed for along time working on the sunflower seeds in the pile. 

She has fluffy, scruffy feathers still but I am sure she will smooth out in weeks.  I think the adults nested near by but we rarely saw them. 

I have a couple of visitors to my feeder now.  It has been all summer that not a one hummer showed up at the feeder. 

It is Wednesday.  I bought some edging bricks for my patio expansion. I have twelve of the in place now and I will return to do the final three at another time.  It got to be too hot and I had to just stop working. It is summer and the sun is hot.  Schools have started now all around us and the kids are back to work.  I saw a load of high school kids dropped off in our area after school.  There were over a couple of dozen of them headed down the hill to locations south of our development. I really didn't know there were that many but kids don't seem to go outside much anymore.  Thanks for stopping by today.

The Things of Tuesday.....

 

All in a row with great bright colors.  I have so many shots that I could take of these zinnias but it does get to be too many shots.

 

 We are still in a drought.  We get damp foggy mornings that does put dew on the grass.  Rain is predicted later this weekend and it really is not a strong promise. 

My neighbors to the south do not grow tomatoes.  The neighbor to the north of us usually has great tomatoes but this year their vines all got a disease and died.  I gave the neighbors to the north  some tomatoes yesterday.  My wife sent along a birthday card for Judy as today is her 80th year birthday. She has five daughters so she has plenty of family to share her day of celebration.

The former owners had Russian sage planted in different places.  I really don't like it as the plant just seems to be so disorganized.  It flops all over and spreads everywhere.   I tried to dig it out of the front garden and I thought I had it removed.  Instead of it being gone it cause it to spread all up and down the area. I do like it as a flower but i have to cut it and put it into a vase to appreciate it.

The phlox have really lost a lot of its bottom flowers. It still is beautiful if one takes the time to appreciate it up close.  It is easy to grow and it spreads in a good way unless it is crowding out an iris. 

The extension project of the patio causes me to create new gardens around it.  The hostas will probably be too crowded when bigger but I can thin those out. I have just two more sides of development of the new area.  It will take a couple of mornings to do the nine foot side. I don't have the design plan figured out for that anyway but I am spontaneous when I work.  I could see a peony on the corner and a couple of iris spotted along it.  Then I will fill it in with whatever that I can snag from the other plants of the garden. 

We are on the low 80s today.  The morning was cooler but the day is a nice one.  Thanks for stopping by today.