Sunny Sunday

 Two different flowers from the same seed. I don't understand the genetics  of zinninas but the variety of genes are different in each of its seed even if it comes from one flower. 

 The color of the one zinnia is exactly the same as the marigold flowers. I didn't like the tall marigolds in the one flower bed but in this one the tall ones are just as good as the zinnias in color and  height. 

 I was surprised to see this glad put out a spike and bloom. I last picked a stalk of blooms about a month ago. I was getting ready to just toss these bulbs out all togehter. I will rethink it. 

I cut the stalk and brought it in for us to enjoy. It becomes a bonsai arrangement as I don't have any of my antique bud vases anymore. I must have tossed the vases in the move and I do regret that. I thought I had too many but now I don't seem to have one. 

We are having a quiet Sunday. The neighbor's newly selected realtor was out and busy next door today. She and her husband came to fine tune the yard with all sorts of tools to get rid of weeds. Two daughters were at work too so the four of them made quick work of the yard. Hopefully the new realator can sell the place quickly.  

It is pleasant today and we warmed up to good even temps. Thanks for stopping by today.
 

Checking In Today

 There is even a certain beauty to dead roses. The bouquet is about gone but my wife's painting of the iris is a everlasting beauty. 

 While working outside this morning I was carrying my phone. I just had to sna; a shot of the new bllom. 

 The zinnia patch evolves into the morning glory patch as the volunteer vines start to take off. They are everywhere and I do cut them back as they do cause problems with the zinnias. 

 We have a guy in southeast Iowa who does a garden and cooking show on the net.  He actually writes for a major paper in New York City but his old farmhouse and garden is in Iowa. He always pops up in Reels sharing recipes and house remodeling. I won't do that thing but I will do a photograph series that tells its own story by the items you see. I am not promoting the gelatin but there are only two sugar free  brands out there with only one flavor.  As a diabetic this process happens every four or five days. I can feel like I am getting sweet with my meal. The strawberries taste great in the gelatin.

 The finished work is like an artwork as it reflects colors and the glass bowl is perfect to enhance things. My Grandma Brooks' glass bowl is seventy to eighty years old and she would smile today to see me still using it again today. She gave me the large bowl with glass serving bowls while I was still in high school. She passed in 1972. I like my sugar free Jello and I really enjoy remembering her as I have the fancy feast. 

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Friday's Finds

 

Free flowers are great but they really are not free. It is a task to get the soil together and get the seeds in the ground. I baby the new growth  and transplant them to get a uniform bed of zinnias.  My remembering togo out and cut them for a vase is sometimes the problem. 

 

The cone flowers are gone but a few faded ones are still around.  I am busy cutting back things right now so it won't be so overwhelming later.

 I got a new day lily in the mail. It is in the ground already. I wanted to divide it but it just was too grown in tight to cut apart. I thought the title of the name was an interesting take for this past week. 

 

 We are in a drought zone again. I keep the dianthus watered but I have right now only one bloom. I water there often as I am keeping the mum alive. 

 

The pink rose is showing a few good blooms. They are not all over the bush but they are beautiful. 

The sun came out for such few times this morning that I took a picture of it. I was in one of my resting stages after working in the garden. I did go back to work. The sun is in the whitish spot beyond the house in it is glowing.  I am working on my stepping stone project again today.  I have only two stones left to get into the ground and that will happen tomorrow.  I will share photos and explain on a good day. Thanks for stopping in today.

Today's Things

 

 

I saw it at a distance from on my deck. I grabbed my camera and went down the stairs and out to the garden. It is so rare to see monarchs there was no question that I had about going.  

While out there I took some more zinnia shots. They are fascinating and I will plant them every year. 

The circle of golds seems to love our dry weather and they are growing in the shade. 

 The red is such a great color on these knock out roses. I didn't get them dead headed so they are not looking so great. 

 One last zinnia for the day. I don't have a lot of these in this color so I focus in and take a good shot of them to enjoy.

I worked in the front yard and on the back patio today. I had a lot of repotting of flowers to do and I did get it done. My wife had received flowers from a friend while in the hospital a year and a half ago. I took the two plants out of their commercial soil and put them into good potting soil. I don't know how I keep them alive for so long but now I have a kalanchoe and a begonia in individual pots. We will see how good of job that I did by seeing how they grow.  I have a new project going putting in stepping stones along the back of the house to our new fence. It is a lot of work but it will be good to get that done. 

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Middle of the Week, Again!

 The start of our morning looked like this. We did cool off to nive temps but will get hot again today. 

 While working outside this morning I picked a few more of these. I am glad that I am finding places for them to be shared.

 

I received part of my new order for flowers last evening. The three iris are already in the ground as I dug a newer location for them and put in new top soil to help then along. My property has so much clay  in the soil as they rebuilt and made hills for the development. I dug out a bunch of that hard clay soil and moved it to an area where I needed some yard fill dirt .The iris were on an end of the season sale and were really reduced price wise. They sucked me in with their colorful ad and I only bought three even though I didn't need any. I have too many iris. 

 I had to take a couple of breaks this morning. This is what I see. While I was sitting there it started to rain for about two minutes. 

 

 We are suppose to have rainy spells the next few days. I don't think we got much form the ten minute thunderstorm that we had at bedtime.  We are really dry and it would be great to get a few big rains. The humidity has cut back a little but it is summer weather so it isn't great to be outside. 

Thanks for stopping by today  

 

Tuesday's Things

 The changing of the seasons gives us great sunrises and sunsets. We never see the sunsets as we live on the backside of the hill. 

While working in the garden and clear ing dead flowers I turned to enjoy the rich colors of the zinnias and marigolds. 

Most of the phlox are dried out and are at the end of their bloom times. I decided to clip off the very dead ones to make it look better. I usually have to break of the stems after the major frost. I ended up with a wheel barrow full of waste again.

It still is pretty weathered looking but it does make it look better. I moved on to the yellow rose and made some major trimming on the bush.

I don[t have to give you proof of my work but I thought this looked like a good set up as I sat down for a rest.  It did become very humid and hot and I had to quit and come inside. The trash can go into the bag tomorrow. 

I have some hosta that are still looking great but the most of mine are showing dead leaves as our season changes. 

This has such good color. Thanks for stopping by today.

Monday Is....

 Sometimes there is an option to seeing a sunrise.The reflection of the sun on the white clouds and shadows on the other foreground clouds create a wonderful set of patterns.

 

The rose seems to enjoy the warmer climate that the new fence has created for it. I have to reevaluate the plantings in that corner that the new fence created. I already moved some iris out of the area because they were crowded. 

It is another hot and dry day today. I worked outside for a while this morning but I found some other things to do to distract me.

I continue to do origami folding to prove to myself that my brain it working u to par. I found a book of scrapbooking papers and I cut them into six inch squares. I found a different way to fold the paper crane and I do like it. My brain has to rework the steps to be able to pull off the process. I have been using another set of directions but this one seems to be more true to origami. 

I like the new directions as it gives me more sharper edges when I fold. This shows what the folding does to the bird pattern. It is actually hidden inside of the crane but I like all the patterns that show from its edges of the paper. 

I went for groceries this afternoon and bought a lot of groceries. Some items have dropped prices but they seem to want to stay at the inflated prices on most everything. I guess I could go to a different store up the street but the store has me hooked on the pharmacy and buffet food that makes picking up supper easier at times. Mondays are a horrible time to go for groceries as everyone is picking things up after the weekend is over. the leave work and stop by for quick meals. 

I am not liking the work in the heat but it is what it is. Wearing a parka in the  morning was crazy so having warm weather is just better. I just stop for breaks in the shade more often.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Hot and Humid

 The morning glow was created because I was shooting through my bedroom window. I usually don't want to show all the clutter of things in the foreground but this seemed to be a shot of an everyday photographer who doesn't plan out the shot.

It seems to be too hot for my plastic geese. Our grass is turning brown with the heat and lack of rain. 

 

 The moss rose is looking more spent as summer moves to fall. The moss rose in my deck planter is losing its green also. 

Thanks for checking in today.

Weekend Special

 The trumpet shape of the flowere and the colors make this a stunning flower. It can act like a weed but I still encourage them.  I planted these in my three trellis flower boxes and it was slow to bloom. The white streaks at the base of the trumpet blends into the full flower with such a great gradual blending. 

Ween I say it is weed like I was surprised that this glory continued to bloom in the trash of dead sunflowers. I guess there is enough moisture left over in the now day old cut vine. They are a tough vine. My wife was sharing with me how her mother would sneak seed into her water garden area at home while her farmer husband wasn't watching.   Mine do reseed themselves everywhere as the birds spread their seed. 

I was surprised to see this bunch of tomatoes had dropped to the ground. I picked them up and brought them in to ripen inside.  I guess I have seen single tomatoes drop but a bunch seems unusual. Now that Ithink of it I bet I did that yesterday as I cut and removed dead sunflowers. The dead stems and flowers were ready to be removed and I bet a vine or two were caught up in the tomatoes. I yanked out things even though I had cut the stems and I created the drop.

I had three stems of flowers this season from the yucca and I finally cut the stems down. The dead seed pods were emptied by the birds so I cut them and recycled them. I like seeing new life in the base of them. 

  have wild strawberries growing in the backyard along the fence. I know the birds bring them in as the feed on the berries there in the dogwoods. I haven't found them to be a problem right now weed wise but someday I may have to deal with them. 

In the neighborhood news today, the next door lady has no bids on her house anymore. The woman across the street is going to put her house on the market soon. Directly across the street the neighbors had their windows replaced in their house in one day. It was a long day but the house has problems and one of them that it doesn't have many windows. The building was brought in  factory constructed halves and put together. Lots of short cuts on it means that they have less windows. One side of the house has none. The added garage covers up the trailer house look. Our other neighbors are home again from a trip to Estes Park, Colorado. They use to live in Denver and go back to visit a father still living there at Estes.

 

We are moving into hat summer temps again. We cooled to 70 F. and now are up in our middle 80s. F. I didn't work outside after ten and as it was too warm for me.  We are going to have a few more days like this. It is Fall/Summer in Iowa right now. Thanks or stopping by today. 
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