Spring Lingers

 

Temp Drop

 We went from 91 degrees F. yesterday to 51 degrees F. on this day. The wind chill made it feel like 30 degrees F.  It is a shock to the bodily system.     (32.7 C, compared to 10.5 C.)

Sunset.....Sunrise

 

 The Friday evening sky evolved from the pastel colors to the horizon on fire. It happens so quickly that I almost missed it. I sent my wife out to see it and the second shot is what we saw.

Early Saturday morning the horizon looked like this. It was another glowing with the clouds being illuminated. 

 The angle of the glow changed then and the clouds looked like this as the heavy bank of clouds stopped the fire glow. 

The temps were moderate but by the mid afternoon we ended up with a high of 89 degrees F. , that is 31.6 degrees C. I worked outside in the yard in the morning planting grass seed at two different areas where trees had been removed.  I have spent two days now clearing the spent rose buds off of bushes and taking off sticks left over from last years bloom. All the hostas needed to have things cleared as well as the lilies. I have a couple of more rose bushes to be cleaned up and I am awaiting to see if on of my roses will need to be replaced. It will cool off for tomorrow and go back to normal temperatures. 

Thanks for stopping in today.  

Spring Blooms

 

I was surprised to see them. I was out trimming back the roses and there they were. I know it is time for them but we just had a blizzard on last week.

 

 The white ones have a special pristine look popping through the dead leaves and creeping phloxx. 

 

 I had to be careful as I trimmed back the dead stems of the rose bushes. I trimmed them back hard as they are getting to be older bushes. They are "knock out" roses but I think they have been growing there for a very long time. I may have to replace them. 

 

The morning sky was busy today as the jets left their trails in the sky. We are have a very warm day today. It is hot while one works in the sunshine. It is the tine of the year when we heat the house up in the morning and cool it off in the everning. 

Thanks for checking in today. 

Thursday's Things

 I was spaced off as I had not noticed that the earth wa tilting back. I can see the sun now rises between the blue spruce and the house now half way. I get so involved in trying to capture the color of the sunrise and the clouds that I hadn't noticed where the sun's position actually was locate  Can you see the jet trails in the sky. They were out early today. 

 Having been in a blizzard just a few days ago it didn't dawn on me the spring is almost here. I had seen them popping through but just didn't think much about it. The new neighbor's next door will have the first red blooms in another week. Mine will follow in a couple of weeks. 

 When I want to be funny I call this my sculpture garden. These tulips go shifted around last year so it will be interesting to see what actually blooms. The variety has dozens of small bulbs and they just keep multiplying. I expect a larger bulb but they are not. I need to clean up some of the lily trash in the back as you can see. That rock is a granite rock from my dad's farm in southern Iowa. He had at his house in the city and I rescued it for my old place and now at the new place. I guess you could say it has a lot of miles on it. 

 

 I usually get grape hyacinths showing now and also other spring flowers before the tulips bloom. I guess I placed that light there knowing it was close to the tulips but not in the tulips. 

 Peperomia is the name of the plant. Fifty years ago we use to have these kinds of plants in terrariums. I bought it on a whim a couple of years ago not knowing really what it was as a small four or five leafed plant. Now it is a huge house plant and once in a while it will put out variegated leaves. 

It is warmer today. I turned on the air as the sun is warming up the house a lot. I will have to turn the heat by late evening. Thanks for stopping by today. 

 

Middle of the Week

 The morning is a positive start with the temps starting to warm. Light clouds are not a problem as lone as the sun shines through. 

 Yesterday's visitor was stern looking, rotating its head back and forth, looking for prey. It was at first by some of my readers of what kind of bird that it is. We have a lot of cooper's hawks in the area but they are browner. This is a sharp shinned hawk. It is a pretty gray blue and is a large bird. 

 It amazed me as I watched it turn its head from side to side. It continually turned its head from side to side as well as to the back to see all that was going on in the area. I am sure my feeders brought it down to the maple tree. 

 I at first saw this fish as a dead on on the rock in my aquarium. Then I looked closely and saw it was my fish the clears algae. It is just resting there and will get back to work soon.

 Going to eat out today at the Chinese Cafe. It will be fun to get out on a warm day and eat. We always have such good service and feel welcomed each time.

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Blizzard

 

 

The robins had to go into hiding as we had blizzard like weather. The winds blew hard continually. The snow didn't accumulate much but by morning it was all frozen to the ground with a coating of ice crust to walk on. By afternoon the wind and sun melted a lot of it but the wind chill temps were bone chilling. I had to get out to the pharmacy and picked up a few groceries. By Friday we will warm up again.

Thanks for stopping in today.  

 

Sunday

 The weather is crazy with strong winds. We are at the bottom of the blizzard zone and we don't really have much snow. 

 The wind does cool down the house but we are staying warm. We went to early church this morning and it was raining. It could develop into a bad storm for us but it doesn't seem to be much right now. 

 The deer is peaceful as it stands at the feet of Saint Francis of Assisi. The light glows through from the window's light. We will have a quiet afternoon and evening with no plans to venture out. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Saturday's Stuff

 It isn't a bird but a welcomed squirrel. We rarely see them any more so it is fun to see them crawl around and feed, stuffing in birdseed as fast as it can. I have whole kernel corn that no bird wants to eat but this guy will pick them all up off the deck floor. 

 The house finch travels in pairs to where ever they go. The male has the red head and the one with all the patterns is the female. 

 If one of them shows up to the feeder one can count on the mate to follow pretty soon. I don't see this in many birds but this house finch are tightly bonded. 

 We have new neighbors and they have three different dogs. This one poodle mix is the leader of the pack and he can be seen tearing around the back yard chasing and barking. The owners have a vertical dog door that fits in their sliding glass door so the three can come and go as they please. The photo is shot through a screen wire so it has special textuers distorting the focus. 

We are suppose to have blizzard like weather tomorrow and the warnings are everywhere. Today we are cool but the wind is blowing strongly from the east.  It is a wait and see situation to see if we can get out for church. Thanks for stopping by today. 

Blowing Through

 It is cold and very windy. I didn't expect to get a good shot as I ventured out onto the deck. 

 I refilled the feeders yesterday and all kinds of birds showed up. There were a couple of grackles ot there with their shiny blue or green reflect head sheen. 

 I don't understand why a couple of crows also showed up too. They must have been really hungry. I rarely see them out there. The grackle above was even trying to get seed out of a hanging tube feeder. 

 A pair of mourning doves showed up and had a sit-in at the top of our stairs.  There common behavior is one of roosting out there and just looking around. 

 

I guess it was just the right weather for them to be out there and hungry.  The feeders are empty again as all the birds finished it all.

We are hunkered in and are told that we have severe weather is coming.  I think it all went north and also south missing us all together. Thanks for checking in today. 

A Red Visitor.

 One looks out the window on a gray day and this flash of red shows up. It takes a few seconds to realize that the cardinal has landed.

 He comes for sunflower seeds. Lots of times he flys off to a tree to open in and eat it. The tray seems to work well for him and stays right there to consume his seed.

 The bird keeps looking around at all times to watch for intruders.  He eventually eats it and looks for another seed. 

 Thanks to the cardinal for stopping by today and you too! 

Tilted

 A clear sky to start the day. We have warmed up to 70 degrees F. It is causing the grass to green and it feels good. 

 The sunset glow did color the clouds of the previous evening. It was a subtle change and the colors went away quickly

 

 We have a window open to help cool the house down as we are too warm inside. I refuse to turn on the air. the poinsettia likes the new weather and lives in the sun room full time now. The tilting photo helps to drive one crazy and you do try to mentally straighten it to level. 

I am in survival mode today as I am fasting for a medical test that is coming up. Solid food will taste so good someday and I will be able to chew it and not just drink it. Thanks for stopping by today.  

Sunday PM

 

 On the shores of Galilee, at a place called Tabgha, an ancient mosaic rest on the floor of a small church. It was created over 1,500 years ago. It depicts the scene of bread and fishes placed before the crowd to eat. The carving of the fish is made into a bowl of recycled olive tree wood. 

 The Armenians have a fourth section of the old city in Jerusalem and their artistic works are well known. They are predominately decorators of many items. This bowl is from there, created by their artists. Things like this can be bought from their many shops as well as from vendors on the streets.

 My wife's Christmas village is now gone. It took about three days of boxing and snow folding. We both really like it but now it is  all in storage on the shelves in the basement. It is good exercise for me to go up and down those eleven steps.

We warmed up today and my grass is starting to turn green The rains did help things out. I know we can get snowstorms yet in late March so we won't declare it being spring just yet. tThanks for checking in today.  

First Robin

 My wife saw the first robin yesterday afternoon. I took a few pictures and the bird just would not turn its head for the shot. 

 I lost one of my trees that had dried fruit in it. The one that is left over does have a few fruits on it. The robin just sits and waits until its mate arrives to the area. Our cardinal definitely has his territory marked as we hear him most every morning as he calls from our maple tree. We saw an unusual sight this morning of a small bird chasing a kestrel hawk, as it was pecking on the top of its head. I looked up the kind of birds that do that and they call it "mobbing" A lot of different birds do that. The do it  to keep them away from their territory. The kestrel really wasn't too bothered bu it did seem to fly around in a hurry. 

 The cardinal seems to find a area on the tree that is branched filled. It cuts up the view and on a dull day it blends in with the colors of the tree. 

 The female is not seen as often. I would not think they would be nest building with it still beingvery cold out there. We hit 42 degree F. this afternoon. We do finally have sunshine this afternoon after clouds for days. We got a good rain and some thunderstorms the past two days. At one time it was reported we had over and inch of rain. The weather guy said it was unusual to get that much at this time of the year but we really do need the moisture. 

I am watching a garden show right now that is of the Sonoma Desert. It is in the Tuscon area. It reminds me that I can put out humming bird feeders in a few months. Thanks for checking in today. 

Thursday's Things

 Last angel fish standing, swimming, seem to be growing larger by the days.  Notice th size of it in comparison of the guppies. No live birthed guppy survives in this tank. 

 While taking a diet pepsi break I pick out all sorts of glasses. The flamingo plastic glass has been used a lot and does look pretty worn. I do use better glasses but it is fun to use this once in a while. 

 I walked out to get photos for blogging this morning. There really is not much to take a visual. I have old salvaged brick laying around the edge of my brick patio. I have collected them from many places as I have lived at the old place and I moved them all to the new place. 

 

One in my collection is a paver. I researched the company and found the Purington company was from Illinois. It stopped production in 1974. Its history is from the 1800s and bricks are said to have been made for the streets in the Panama Canal. They also have bricks in Paris and many bricks are used on city streets in America. 

My parents lived in Osceola, Iowa and its city streets were covered with bricks around the entire courthouse square. I remember them when I was a kid, I don't remember when they removed them. I now think I got this brick from my dad's stuff and it was one of those pavers. I am sure locals collected them as it was being torn up and probably city people shipped them into ditches. 

 We did warm up a bit today. I am thinking we have thunderstorms predicted for tomorrow. I shoved off the last of my snow pile on my deck yesterday with my shovel with one swipe. We have been cloudy all day and our air pollution today is smoke from Canada. We have had two days of air quality warnings. I did not know they were having forest fires already.

Thanks for stopping by today