The Frst Iris to Bloom........

This old fashioned iris is from the property in Osceola.  It really isn't a family iris other than my parents had it planted against the garage for thirty years.  Who knows where they found the starts but probably from some neighbor.

As you can see in the background is a dandelion in bloom and also there is a view of a peony bush that was transplanted there last fall.

The weathered tulip will be dropping it's petals very soon.  The 60 mph wind has dislodged a lot of the petals of the tulips.

Aronia berry bush is going to put out some fruit.  I will give the berries when ripe to the neighbor lady to add to her other bushes' fruit that she has growing.

The lilac season is almost finished.  I did get my yard partially mowed last evening.  I had to set the mower deck on the highest setting. I was cold with my parka hood pulled up to keep warm. The grass is very uneven so there were places where I was not mowing anything.

 I have two lots so it takes me a couple of days to push a mower around the property.  I did have a lot of sticks to pick up as I did different sections.  My old mower started one more time after I cleaned the spark plug and put gas in the carburetor.  It started right away with out too much complaining.  I have to admit that I only had gasoline that was intended for the chainsaw.  It has some oil additive in it and the old mower seemed to like the extra oil.  I will purchase gas before I finish mowing the orchard area.

I am following a nice young man around with him to his classes today.  We have a full schedule today and by the end of the day I will be well versed in Health, English, American History, Science and Math.  He is doing a visual presentation today as to how to make chocolate chip cookies.  His mother taped it on her phone (sideways) last night and the video is being shown.  There will be cookies to eat after the video.

Thanks for stopping by my post.

Thursday's Things

I like how the early sprouts of leaves on the rose bushes are red.  I actually have a rose bud on one of my bushes but I have no photo to prove.

I have a chokecherry tree that must be ornamental as it never puts out fruit.  It does bloom each spring and the fragrance is wonderful.  It is looking a bit weathered here as the blooms are starting to fall off the branches.

Another view of my lilacs. We had a third night of almost freezing but I think it will be warmer than that from here on out.

I took 42 new photos last night while wearing my winter coat.  I am too busy and it was after supper and I decided I needed to do it or I wouldn't have any new shots for the next few days.

I am a techie today, all day, and already have a techie headache.  Staring at computer screens while installing or directing computers to a printer gets to be painful.  I worked with ipads this morning and that is a whole different machine as far as  I am concerned.  I liked working with it if that was all I would have available but the set ups are so different than a laptop that I have to relearn whichever type of machine that I am working.

Thanks for stopping by today.

It was cold again.......

We hit 29 degrees F.  last night.  It really isn't unusual for March but the warm weather before now has everything about a month early in maturation.  In town a freeze like this isn't too bad as the ground temperatures are not as cold so it doesn't damage as much.

With these conditions we receive a lot of useful or not so useful information on the TV.  One lady said on TV that the freeze was sort of a good thing as it thinned out some of the blossoms on the apple trees which actually helped the crop be a larger crop.  The strawberry people are not so happy about it.  A man near Des Moines had invested $900 in sweet corn seed and if it survived he would turn a profit of $20,000.  I did not hear if his three inch sprouts of corn survived last night's freeze.  He would be out money but he could easily replant that in plenty of time for a normal growing season.

We had two different events that we attended last night.  The first one was to go to the neighbor's house around 4:00 and eat fresh morel mushrooms that she had fried up for us special.  They were good and we appreciated it.

Then we traveled to Osceola for a visitation.   When my family lived on the farm we had close neighbors who lived on the farm next us.  They had two children a girl, Beverly, who was a good ten years older than me and a son, Monty, who was six years older than me. My older brothers were a lot closer to their ages. The father had died many years ago but mother, Mildred, lived to be 94 years old. Going to her visitation was like going back in time.  I had not seen Monty, who is now 68 years old, since I was a young boy riding the bus.  He was graduated and off the bus by my sixth grade year.  Needless to say we sort of recognized each other.  His sister actually had come to the visitation for both of my parents and my brother so I had seen her more often. Beverly was older and I remember her driving the Fordson Tractor by our place on the muddy dirt road to take us to the bus on a gravel road a mile away from us. I was in Kindergarten and she had to be a Junior or Senior in school.  By the next year we had a new road put in along our house and there was gravel on it.

My mother and Mildred had remained close friends even when my parents moved into town.  Mildred stayed out on the farm alone many years after her husband death.  Mildred was a phone call away and was there to give my mom help when my mom was ill. 

Mildred's two grandsons have now bought our family farm.  It was mismanaged for thirty years by the previous owners after my parent left it in the late 70's. Most of the farm fields were allowed to go back into trees and shrubs rather than be farmed. It was a 240 farm with 180 acres tillable and the rest was wonderful timber with a creek.

I am a high school physical education instructor this morning.  I was the pitcher for a game first hour of matball and really should have had a shower after that exercise.  They use a soccer ball like a baseball and they run to the four bases after kicking the ball.  The bases are large mats and the kids can group onto a mat and run at the same time as a play takes place.  The kids have a great time with it and insisted that I  pitch today. I  had health classes the rest of the time in the morning.

Thanks for stopping by my post today. 

The blooms keep coming........

The color and the smell is wonderful in my yard right now.  I sometimes have allergic reactions to these things or a form of asthma.  Each spring it is different for me health wise.  I guess the mowing of the yard is the most damaging to my lungs but that too is varied from year to  year.

I am in the art room again today.  Students were frustrated that their teacher left before the end of the year so they were a little bit testy with me.  So far today they are being a lot better and will survive the change.  I told them that the teacher replacement is coming in a few days so they need to get use to change one more time.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Wednesday's wandering.........

The larger versions of this tulip is wonderful but the small ones put out a great show of color.

 

The small start of a red-violet lilac has survived the winter.  I had dug it from the alley plant next to  my parents home in Osceola.  The neighbor cut it down to the ground, trying to eliminate it.  Two stray sprouts were waiting for my rescue.

I looked out last evening and the squirrel was busy in the Chinese elm branches.  He was eating some sort of pod that was formed on the tree and I assume it was seeds. He was way out on the end of the flimsy branches and it almost seemed clumsy and clown-like. 

This shrub seems to be blooming a few weeks early.  I was surprised to see it turning white a day ago.

I am a tech guy today and will be setting up new computers today, establishing accounts and adding different applications to get them ready for use.  Thanks for stopping by my post today.