Fallish Fall.....

 

The white clematis  struggled all summer.  It had a competing weed vine that I kept fighting and I wasn't around to water it. Finally this fall it put out this one bloom. The competitive weed is totally gone and I have dumped some water on it. I was surprised to see its bloom.   I planted another clematis next to it just recently so maybe the two will be good together. 

I can tell when it is fall when I look down at my tomato-sunflower  patch. They all look a lot weathered.  I did take one sunflower out as it had broken off in the wind. I have just a few tomatoes left on the vine so I will just wait until we get a good freeze to clear them. I may leave the sunflowers up as they look good in the snow.

It seemed cold today and I brought in the two oxalis.  I may take them upstairs to my living room display and bring down some weathered orchids.  It is nice to see them so healthy..

Another plant that I am going to take upstairs is the vine.  It is a bunch of vines stuck in an antique mayonnaise jar.  I like how healthy it looks and it will class up my living room display a lot. I looked up the word and spelling of philodendron.  I usually say the word with an m at the end instead of an n. I hate to throw live plants away so I cut back on my one planter of them and then stuck them in this old jar that I found in my shop. I have to work at keeping water in it. 

 

 

A few of the knock out roses are still blooming. I suspect they need to be watered but that isn't going to happen this time of the year. Our ground is dry and we are getting little moisture from the sky.  We had a lot of thunder and lightening last night but our measurable rain was almost not measurable.  I think it was reported as being 0.05 of and inch. Things are shutting down now so it just doesn't matter. Farmers are finishing up with their harvest early this year and we have burn bans in most of the counties. We are having another windy day today and it is cold.  I wore a parka while outside clearing some things in the gardens. I trimmed back a bush and took out more of the invading creeping phlox.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Happy Fall....

 

 

 

 

 It was a busy afternoon yesterday. I started to remove the new refrigerator door and changing its opening direction. My wife helped me keep track of all the screws with them piled on top, some on the counter, and some in my pocket.  In the middle of the job our neighbor lady came for some help with here phone. She used my cell phone and called the company to try to figure out her problem. All she needed from us was a place to sit at the dining room table and talk to people on the phone.  I went ahead and worked on the door and probably an hour later I got it changed.  I had no clue how heavy the door was going to weigh but I did handle it well. The switching of things meant remembering to do the opposite of everything that was removed and put it back together the opposite way.  When I thought I was finished I had three screws in my pocket. Oh yes they went into a place to fill in three empty holes opposite the bottom hinge brace.  Neighbor lady was glad for the company and admired how well my wife and I  worked together to get the job done. Judie went home and found out the company fixed her phone as she walked home. 

I do have some strained muscles today from crawling around on my knees but we are enjoying the switching of the direction of the door. It was cold this morning but now I have the air on for the afternoon.  It is fall in Iowa.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Wednesday...

 

The painted lady butterfly was a lone one at the zinnia patch.  I had to look hard to find it among the blooms. 

 

Can you find the butterfly in this picture? It is almost impossible to see it as it blends in on the orange zinnia. 

 

I am still picking a few tomatoes at a time. I am glad to get the red tomato as I have a lot more yellow tomatoes than red ones. I did give away a bag of tomatoes to one of the neighbors to the south. 

I was given a few starts of this plants years ago.  I am continually moving the new ones to different pots. I hat to throw an alive plant away in the garbage.  I think I need to find someone to share with this plant. It is a forever gift. 

I missed blogging yesterday.  I didn't really notice as life does get to be busy.  I took my wife to her last visit to her surgeon yesterday.  While the gallbladder was removed weeks ago my wife got an infection that needed to be treated.  To solve that problem they kept inserting drainage tubes to clear internal cavities. At one time she had five different drains. Yesterday the doctor pulled the last drain.  It was left in to monitor her condition and the collection bulb had reach a point of almost being dry. It is so good to have it out and now she can get down to complete healing. It set her back a lot with losing a lot of weight again. The time now is to rest and build the muscles and to eat.  It is good that we don't have to maintain the drain bulb anymore. 

We are cold today but will warm up by noon.  It is fall and the furnace is on in the morning and the air is turned on late afternoon.  Soon it will just be cold forever.  Thanks for stopping by today.