Store Bought Flowers....Peruvian Lily.

 

 

 

I mowed and mulched two batches of leaves today.  I will probably do it every few days until the all have fallen.  These leaves are harder to mulch than the maple tree leaves in the back yard.  I mowed just leaves today but both neighbors thought they had better mow their yards because of my mowing. It is a cool day but not cold.  It is a fall day and it is nice out there.  We survived the Halloween crowd last night.  We bought a lot of candy and we still had to close down a half hour early.  It was a lot of fun seeing all the kids in their costumes young and old.  One grandpa came as a Wizzard with his little grand grandaughter.  He had a necklace made up of circular chip boxes.  He had a natural beard so he didn't have to do much to fit the part. We got to see our one set of boys that live directly behind us.  We see them play all the time and William and Michael are their names.  

Thanks for stopping by today.

Halloween Eve.....

 Ceramic old things, pottery from clay, cats from wood, all make up this still life on my basement shelf. The wooden spindle in the bowl is an old item from a house that was torn down.  I think it could have been a wooden door stop.

Tools needed to tape up grass and leaf bags, to cut off loose branches and to clip down Russian sage, all lay on the potters wheel seat ready for action.  Actually they have completed their function and I didn't know where else to lay them before I put them away.

Frost is showing on the roofs of three structures. The shed in the front is actually a plastic shed.  The kids play shed is behind that. The curve of the top of the fence is brought to you by myself and the neighbor on the north guy.  We have viewed that piece of fence not being trimmed off to a curve and it was a bunch of boards of different lengths sticking up and unfinished.  The rest of the fence of many sections had the curve.  I decided we would just help the guy finish it and he apparently was  not going to after two years.  I drew a line in chalk and cut them off while my partner held the top of the boards and lifted them away. My partner in crime thought that we didn't dare leave the cut off pieces on the other side. I am sure that the guy with all the sheds never even noticed it was done.  He is a nice guy but never finishes jobs that he starts. 

 

 The cactus continues to put out new blooms.  It seems early for it and yet I think it is within a few weeks as when it bloomed a year ago.

We will be handing out treats again tonight and it isn't so cold.  The serving of treat will last until I run out of candy. I actually bought lolipops to use if I do run out of them.  Last year I had to turn people away a half hour early and shut all the lights off.  It will be an interesting night.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Red and Orange Day.......

 

We don't always get to see this color.  Sometimes it is too cold and sleet will take the leaves down too soon for us to see the color. 

 Our neighbor's red truck seems to be our street buddy.  We don't know for sure but we thing that the father stays with them some of the times and he drives the truck in for a good stay.  It looks like a partner to the tree. 

We were up early today.  We have lost another family member and we just aren't sleeping well.  My wife's sister-in-law has been in her family since 1964.  She was a caretaker for her ailing husband.  She suddenly became sick and passed away on Monday.  All losses are bad but this one hit us both hard.  I liked her easy going way that enjoyed people and animals.  She was a quiet solid rock for the family. 

One last bud is struggling to put out a bloom.  It is a little bit weathered but it does look good.  The leaves of the rose are now turning yellow and destined for death. 

The mums are putting out two kinds of blooms right now.  I don't understand it but it is probably typical for this plant. I worked outside for a short time this morning cutting up a large dead branch from my  pussywillow tree that had rotted off.  I cut it up into smaller lengths.  I have yet to figure out how to get rid of it as the city doesn't have a dump site.  I guess I will pile it all in my truck and just wait for an answer from the Public Works people.   Thanks for stopping by today.

Falling Behind.....Visuals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday's Things.....

 The morning sky is dramatic for a short while.  We were not so cold last night but we still have a cool day temp-wise. 

The hard freeze and the drought created this leaf color.  The shrub is still very much alive as the stems are turning a deep red color.  Red twig dogwood with variegated colored leaves. 

The decorative pear tree is changing to bright colors.  The top of the tree has dropped a lot of leaves so the red is spread all along the bottom of the tree.

I like the orange colors in this tree.  We are getting some good color on some of our trees but the drought has caused some of them not to turn. We had a rain the other day and the weather people told us we barely got an inch of rain.  They really didn't check my part of the state as I looked at my gauge while out rimming bushes and saw we had almost two inches.  No wonder our grass looks green again. 

I just made two new pots today.  I will have to wait for them all to dry before I fire a load.  Wet clay cracks and crumbles in a hot kiln.  It will be a long wait if I keep making them for the next warm days.  It is a good problem for me.  Thanks for stopping by today. 

The Sun Comes Up......Again.

 The earth tilts and the sun shows up further to the right.  In a few more weeks it will be behind that house. 

It is fall and the backgound is full of yellow leaves.  The sparrow has learned to find seeds in the suet. 

The downy woodpecker also is digging for the good seeds. It is the male downy even though his red cap isn't showing in the photo.

I was out in the backyard this morning trimming back branches from an overgrown dogwood bush.  As I drug the branches to the top of the hill to put into the truck I could see the leaves fr om my neighbors.  The wind was strong for two days and everything blew around.  I had a straw hat sombrero in my yard that moved down the street.  I picked up a sample of the different kinds of leaves.

It was a sunny day today but it wasn't so warm.  I worked outside with a hooded parka and it was comfortable.  There isn't a cloud in the sky so it was continue sunshine.  Cutting branches was a lot of energy spent so I am taking the afternoon off.  

Thanks for stopping in today.

Tuesday.....Dull and Cold.

 

 You won't find Nemo in the gold fish tank.  He likes salty, warm water and not goldfish water.

This guy has not fount Nemo either. He is giving me the evil eye because the camera is pointing at him. 

Two lone blooms of dianthus are surviving the cold.  They did not do well this year but maybe they will come back and have a better year.

The last of the phlox is putting out some color.  The have bloomed for a long time.  We are 45° F. and it feels cold.  I  could get out with some hoody or coat and walk around but I am not going to work out there today.  I have some spent marigolds to dig up and recycle.  When I get that done I will have to get out the tiller and work on the soil. I am not happy about the cold but I will have to adjust.  It might warm up a bit next week.  The cold slows my ambition to work in general.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Sprinkles on a Gray Day.....

 

The sedum turns to a darker color as the cold air moves in today.  The freeze did turn the leaves to a yellow color but it didn't kill the plant.

 

 We have had strong winds for a couple of days and the clump birch across the street had its leaves stripped off.  The birch loses its leaves in a couple of days anyway once they start to drop.

It was 70° F.  while I was out taking shots this morning and during that time the temps dropped.   I had to quit and come in as the winds picked up and we went to 58° F.  I didn't have a coat on and the wind chills were bad. 

The winds caused the locust tree to drop a lot of its foliage. The dogwood bush is reacting to the change in weather as well as its drought conditions.  We are getting sprinkles today which is better than no rain at all. 

I dumped today the last of the rose bouquet.  There are no roses outside left to bring inside now. The summer is gone. 

My potter's wheel is outside.  I did make one more pot today but I think that it is about time to shut down the process down for the winter.  Throwing pots with parkas on is a challenge.  When I am done I put the sleeves of the parka under the faucet and wash them off.  The whole parka isn't messed up,  just the cuffs. I now have 30 different sizes of pots done now. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sunday's Moon.....

 While ordering trellises for the garden I was drawn to the garden sculptures. I bought this sculpture of St. Francis of Assisi with his animals in the garden.  It was bought for my wife as a surprise as she loves all animals.  It is going to be enjoyed by me also.  I think it may never make it outside as it already is stiitng among the houseplants. 

We were up early this morning and I discovered the moon still in the sky.  I can see why I don't usually see this phase of the moon as it at a very early time that you can see it.

The sun is up now and it is going to be another hot day.  We will get thunderstorms because of it. We were in southern Iowa yesterday for a funeral.  It was interesting to see how the drought affected areas differently along our drive. There were some beautiful views of colorful leaves but also there were strips of areas where the trees were all gray and the leaves will never change color. 

My first cousin Gene left us too early at the age of 67.  He lived his life as a Christian that left memories of his great testimony of being a good, kindly man with a great smile. His only son, daughter-in-law with grandson will miss Gene a lot. It was a reunion of first cousins after the funeral having a meal at a community center in Murray, Iowa.  The town's main street is fading to a minimal of buildings and memories of the town is all that is left. 

Thanks for stopping in today.

Stuff for Saturday....

 The sun comes up to heat us up again today.  The sky is clear so it can heat up quickly. Summer weather really is nice after below freezing wind chills that we had on Monday.

Looking northwest out the sun room the glow of the sun lights up the two trees.  They are not as bright as the could be as the freezing weather dulled the leaf color.  The photo gives off many reflections of the glass of the neighbor's window, the screens on the windows and the reflection on the glass of the sun room. The neighbor's window actaully is reflecting the sun rise just like my photo above. 

The zinnias have all been properly placed into the recycle bags and are ready for pick up.  They don't qualify as grass nor leaves but the stems are giant grass stems and the leaves on the plants are leaves.  I could send them into the garbage, landfill, but these will recycle. 

We are headed to southern Iowa today for my cousin's funeral.  It is my early life's tromping grounds but I did move away after high school to middle Iowa. I didn't return much as I felt like I needed to move on with my life.   I haven't seen that many relatives since then so it will be like a reunion. I am a younger cousin to the other cousins so they will be older looking than me.  The cousin that passed though, was five years younger than me. It is a good day and a bad day to experience.  

Thanks for stopping by today.

Friday and its not Freezing.....

 It was brighter in color but our hard freezes turned them brown.  Hopefully the rest of the leaves will be bright.  We are 78° this afternoon and I can hear the neighbors up the street having a pool party.  They are teenagers judging by the kind of music they are playing. 

The colder weather through the week has helped make the mums look better.  We still are in a drought and they have been affected by it.

While clearing the last of the tomato garden I found the last of the onions.  They seem to want to keep growing and I am too lazy to cut off their tops.  The pear tomatoes keep ripening in their special bowl.

My new mum looked a little bit like this.  It got damaged from our freezing weather turning lots of it brown.  The green leaves are still good so next fall I will see it bloom again.  I had to dig into clay hard soil to plant it and I replaced the dirt with potting soil. 

We are going to have a few more above normal temps days.  It does all balance out as the cold will return.  We were off to the pet store today to buy supplies for fish and birds.  Our visit to the grocery store resulted in a full grocery cart full of good needed things.  Friday morning is a good time to shop there as there was not congestion in the aisles.  

Thanks for stopping by today.