Timber.....Tree Down.

 It is a good day and a sad day. I am glad the city would take the tree down. It had a lot of dead parts in it and the leaves looked like they were dead and not going to change to the color red.  We heard noise out front that we couldn't recognize but saw we had a crew of five men taking down the tree. I don't like seeing trees being taken down.

 The chopper was amazing as it handled any size of tree part that they put in it. They fed the trunk parts  into it and it just made a very large noise and shredded it. 

 

The largest parts were cut into half but they just kept feeding the tree into the shredder.  

 

 

 Now once the stump is removed we need to figure out what to put back in its place. Maybe two trees on each side of the remaining tree might be the plan. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  

 

First Day of the Week

 I didn't know that I had captured this until I saw the visual on my computer. I am sure a weather person has a name for it but I do se the winds up above are mixing it up. 

 It was cold and windy this morning but the glory still needed to bloom. I had four or five of them in bloom. The camera caught it not in motion even theough it really was swinging back and forth in the wind. 

 A few roses are still putting out new blooms but the season is closing down on them. The yellow rose will eventually turn pink as it matures. 

 

 Zinnias are a great cut flower. They are taking on a wonderful pastel color as they age inside out of the weather.

 

As of Sunday night I declared the downstairs rugs dry. I have put everything back into its location and thrown away all the stuff that got ruined. The garbage took it all away and things are back to normal. Now I am thinking I would like to rearrange everything in the other big room in the downstairs. The fan you see blowing is pointed toward one square foot of carpet in the doorway that just won't dry out. It is a thick carpet in the spare bedroom and the pad is thick. I can now walk in stocking feet and not get wet as long as I don't step there.

 

I mowed my neighbors yard this morning and made it look good. She did get the place sold in two weeks after changing to a new realtor.  The new realtor staged the house with lots of white furniture and made it look like a magazine ad. I am happy for my neighbor as she was so worried that it would never sell.  I will mow the yard one last time right before the closing at the end of the month and then it isn't mine to do anymore. Thanks for stopping by today.

 

Sunday Sunrise

As I tipped my camera in different angles and different colors were pike up. I don't think I have ever seen a sunrise this anytime in my life.

 

 

 Trimming back roses can be fun but sometimes you get a good bloom on the end of a stalk. I will have to do more trimming as time goes by but for now I was just taking off the worse stuff. I will mow grass on Monday to take down the taller stuff in the back yard. We didn't get more than an inch of rain on Friday but any moisture is welcomed. 

 

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Saturday with Stuff

 It started off as a cold gray day but the sun did take over eventually. Sunny and 71 degrees F. is very pleasant and the wind makes it feel like spring. 

 

I worked outside in the morning. The glads were a big disappointment this season. The two branches of flowers from all these bulbs were fantastic but most of them did not bloom. They were in great soil but I wonder if I planted them too deep.

Three of the bulbs had recreated new bulbs and that is a good thing. I will just plant them again next year. On bad year won't stop me as when I have plants I will plant them. I do think I need to plant them sooner in the season as I remember a former neighbor in our old town who planted out hunderd of them early spring. 

 I created another barrel full of trash yesterday and I did get them stowed away into the paper bag today.  I have trimmed back on some of my roses as they have some long strands that just stick out with no buds. I have some branches on my pink rose that has just collapsed with a large amount of blooms on it.I need to get a brace on it so we can see the blooms. 

 moved the rose and was so surprised to see the new growth on it. I must have done things right. I am sure that new potting soil made it happy. I was dumb and was watching the bottom of it to see if there was any new leaves. Moth branches have new leaves on them. It is the pretty apricot rose that gave me so many blooms right by the door. I shifted it from net to the sidewalk and have it next to the steps next to the knock out roses. 

I have a few phlox that are putting out a small amount of blooms. It isn't a lot of color but it is great to see them. 

I

 It is finally looking like the rugs on the two rooms are going to be dry by the end of Sunday or early Monday. I have been spending the days with the sliding glass door open and that has really helped. The mattresses from the trundle bed are now dry and all the bedding was washed and dried the day after the flood. Maybe Monday, a week after the pipe break, I can put things back in place in the two rooms. 

Thanks for checking in today. 

Last Day of the Week

 The photo was to be showing you the small little bird in the tree. It was there, flitting around for the taste of ripe berries, but I couldn't seem to capture it. The foliage is kind of a nice compostition and maybe the bird is there and I just can't spot it. 

 The city called it a pear tree when they came to evaluate it. Actually it is a fake pear tree that doesn't put out pears at all. 

 Unfortunately the city was here to answer my call, white x means that it needs to come down. Half of the tree is dead now as it was damaged by the derecho winds three years ago. Each year since that storm more of it has died back. It is a  beautiful flowering tree but it will be taken down by the city this late fall. I will have only one left for spring flowering. We will probably get two new ones to put on each side of it. 

 I worked in the yard both morning and afternoon. I am cutting back things a little at a time. Unwanted volunteer trees and vines are being taken out. I put off one more day of cutting back peony bushes in the front yard. 

 I have good blooms this year from my mums as we did get rains in early spring. They are living in dry ground again but they seemed to be rooted in good. I have strays of this plant that I am giong to dig out once they are done blooming. I want to organize them into groups rather than have them sprout up willy nilly all over the front flower bed. 

 

My upstairs carpet is 99% dry and that is good. My downstairs carpet which is ten time larger than upstairs in 75% dry and that is still not good. Our temps were so good today that I opened up the sliding glass door and left it open with the screen only. Outside air will help a lot with the three fans still moving air around. Time is the answer as it just isn't dry enough for me to move furniture back into place. I am thinking that maybe by Monday it will be dry. I am glad we are noy living down there or have to be down there. I do have to feed the fish and I wear shoes to get around on the carpet.  There are may ways in life that one can learn patience. I know the working outside work keeps me distracted from it all 

Thanks for checking in.....

Cool and Calm

 The sunflower is spent. I need to check and see if the birds have eaten all of the seeds. It is the last one to come down. Last year I left the seed heads on the ground and got rid of the plant first. 

I guess it is time to dake down the peony bushes. they lasted a whole lot longer than last year for some reason. They have been looking like a nice shrub row but now it is time to start. The neighbors have to look at these when they get out of their car so I will clean it up as quickly as I can.

 These are the last of my tomatoes. I called my oldest brother this morning who lives in Arizona. His growing season is just now starting. They are suppose to cool off right now and he is planting his tomato plants. Unfortunately he is sitting at a low of 80 degrees F. right now and it isn't such a good time to plant. He is old enough now that he has his son come and plant the garden and then he can take care of the rest of it. He is in his middle eighties and doesn't bend at the knees much anymore.  He said the hurricane that is coming in will give them four days of rain there in the Mesa area. It might be great for his garden. 

 I tired to get rid of the purple salvia and I can see that it didn't happen. I guess I will leave it there and see if it blooms better now that I took it back. It was so invasive and the roots on it are large and deep. I will give it one more season of growth and try again if I don't like it. 

 It was too cold for them to really open up and bloom this morning. We were at 44 degrees F. and they acted like they had been frosted. That will come some of these days but for now we are safe from it. There was a dew that covered the tomatoes and morning glories at mid morning. We are now about 63 F. and it will get up to 73 F. as a high. 

 Our upstairs bedroom and bath are now all dried out from the broken supply line. The downstairs is better but it may be a couple of more days for that to dry. It looks like a mess down there but it is much better. I thought I was going to have to use the wet/dry vac again this morning but it seems like I won't have to.  I have a furnace concern right now but will wait to see if things work out. Otherwise, I will have to call the people to work on it. I am trying to keep calm and not yell loudly. Thanks for stopping by today.

Middle of the Week's Worth

 Even when I am really busy I can still wander outside and snap a few shots of the zinnias and morning glories.  It was half lighted by bright sun and the rest was in low light. At this time of the year I don't care about the morning glories taking over the flower bed. The are flowers too.

 The marigolds are looking good after our almost one inch of rain. It is a lot cooler now and we have morning dew to help green up the grass.  The low light made the grass have a blue cast on it. 

 Sometimes I just shoot into the dense forest of zinnas and I like the natural look of the composition. Unplanned shots can still look good. 

 Our broken water supply tube to our toilet left us in a real mess. It is taking a long time to dry out even though we are a little bit dryer. No artwork was lost but matted pastels of mine, that were leaning along the wall, lost their mats. Mat board dissolves in water. My workshop has a completely dry floor as water was swept to the drain. The rugs in there that I stood on are outside still drying. I will have to have patience to the drying out of things. I am a lot frustrated with it but it will dry. Our outdoor temps are cold so I can't just open the windows. Time will be slow but it will be ok. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Tuesday, Ta Dah..

 My sunflowers are all gone. I do get to enjoy my wife's painting all year long. It is a great capture.

 I haven't been to the North Shore for years but I too can enjoy my pastel painting of it year round also. My wife and I would paint for two week periods along the shore and we did it for many years each summer. I can't remember the exact location of this but I suspect it is by the Cascade Falls area. 

 

I was going to throw it away. I have had it for a number of years, carried over each winter inside. I planted it in new soil in a pot all by itself and look at it now. It is almost become a self created bonsai. 

We were at Hobby Lobby yesterday morning and stopped for lunch. When we returned and went inside the house we heard spraying running water. This end connector to the bedroom stool tank split open and water was flying out in all directions. I walked through  an inch or so of water and shut off the valve. Needless to say we spent the rest of the day trying to clean up from two floors of excess water. I think it had to be running freely for a half hour or more. There were so  good things that happen as it went down in areas where we didn't have damage. It didn't hit the closet full of quilts and artwork in portfolios. It came down onto the trundled bed with two mattresses and water ran all over the carpeted floor and it ran into the work room going under the wall. One downstairs closet did get a lot of water and all the antique family pictures and documents were in tubs with lids. Nothing damaged except for shirt boxes and old wrapping paper. One small tub of pictures and funeral cards did get some water, it had no lid,  and we had to take all of it out to dry out. 

I bought the new water supply tube this morning and it was made of stronger materials. The connection to the tank is made of a very solid plastic, heavy, and it will never spilt. the tube itself is metalic and all is installed and working well. We have been running heat to dry things out with the fans and sometime I put on the air to take out moisture in the air. I had a carpet cleaner that sucked up water as if I was washing carpet. I also broke out a Wet/Dry vac and sucked up water for many hours. We are survivors and it is all over with now. It is exhausting and nerve wracking. Things can be put back in place when the floor is completely dry and mattresses are still drying. The mattress pads helped to shed water. Permanent damage was so minimal and our furnace seemed not to get damaged. I was worried about that. Anyway, I didn't blog yesterday but here I am back today. See you tomorrow. 

Full Moon Soon

 It was a clear night and I did catch a shot. It is close to being full but there was a view of it the last two nights. 

 I gave away a load of these to some friends today. They love them and we are at a point of not eating them so much. 

 I got two butterflies in one shot. It isn't skill as much as it happened by surprise when I took a random shot of the front monarch. The two were fluttering around with a lot of energy sometimes landing on the same flower. I didn't or couldn't get a shot of that. 

 We were up into the low 80s again today. Rain is actually in the forecast for tonight into tomorrow. We really need a good soaking and hope that it does happen.  It is the cool front that is going to cause it and we will cool off for a few days. It is an unusual fall but I think things never have been completely normal with our weather in the fall. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Weekend Start....

 The pumpkins vine has given me great yellow blooms but I will never see any pumpkins from it as it germinated too late.

 My oxalis loves being outside in the real world. It was mostly dead on the inside but now it is blooming and has leaves. 

 The mum started blooming to quickly but this one is right on time for the fall show. I have loose starts in various areas in the front garden and I am going to dig them up and put them all in one place.

 The tomatoes are almost done. There are a few small ones out there yet but they won't last long. The vines are starting to die down. 

 I brought in a new cutting from the patch. They are starting to fade and I don't think I am going to get very many more bouquets. 

 The bowl is now used by the finch to take baths. It was one that I made for our dear Button dog who we lost many years ago now. He was the sweetest white poodle that was so loyal to his family. 

 It is weathered now but I still like it chipping paint and all. It gives me a place to sit down while working with the grill cooking burgers. 

We had another hot day this afternoon. I was out on a grocery run and few people were out there shopping. It would have been better to go in the morning.  Thanks for stopping in today. .