Tuesday's Things......

This brick is from a house that was torn down a couple of years back.  It fascinates me by the way it was formed in shape and also its material.  The brick was meant for a strong footing for a house and is larger than the others that were made for the job.  The cousins of the brick are half this size with no inner support system.  The clay in which it is made is similar to the red clay potters use today to make pots.  The difference is that it is fired hotter to make it stronger. It is a ceramic brick but there is no glaze on it to make it shine.  The basement of my old house was made with the same material but there is a shiny glaze on the brick. 

The block next to it on the left is mistakenly called brick when it really is a concret block.  It is made from cement, cast and dried to become a concrete form. As most of you know that is the material of choice for construction today in the United States.

The two spades were inherited from the southern Iowa property.  The one spade is a long bladed one that I assume would be used to dig deep holes for planting posts.  The other shovel looking more like a shovel really does have a blade on it that makes it more of a spade than a sand shovel.  One can tire quickly if you use it for a long period of time to transfer dirt.

The transplanted red lilac is doing well at this location.  I have had it for three years and I think the root structure is strong enough for me to have blooms next spring.  I rescued my start from a lilac that had been cut completely down with small sprigs sticking up out of the ground. The vinca has done well as it continues to spread.  I have to mow it back now as it tries to take of the yard.  My grass is in bad shape there so I should just let it cover the who area.

Espanol is my major subject again today as the staff person took a flu shot and now sick with the flu.  It is difficult to cover a class like this as the classes are large and the subject matter has to be taught by worksheet when a substitute teach is in the room.

We are having a little cooler weather now and it did rain for about five minutes last night. I had to get up with Button for a half hour to get him through the terrible flashes of lighting and the loud crashes of thunder.  Really it was very mild but a dog can't discriminate from a mild storm and really wild weather.  He feels much safer downstairs curled up in an afghan or on my lap.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Monday......

 

The hosta is going to be gone soon.  It takes a freeze to shut it down.  This one is in a protected area so it looks really good. The drought in the middle of summer actually gave this one plant different colors that it  normally has. 

It is a red and green day today.  The verbena is starting to shut down with our colder weather.  Speaking of Christmas colors, I saw a magazine call Early American Living at the bookstore on Saturday.  There were articles about different collections that people own of Christmas decorations.  I didn't buy the magazine but I enjoyed scanning one article that showed a man who had thousands of ornaments.  The trees were so covered with indent ornaments and also shiny brites.  There were other themed trees that he had also but it must take him night and day for a whole month to put it all on display.  I didn't buy  one new ornament last year but I have a long ways to get to be such a large collector as this man is in the article. Those out there who have a lot of ornaments should check out the magazine.

I am in the Spanish room today, high school level.  We are learning about the differences and similarities of Costa Rica and the United States. I have had to drag them through the material as they are not too anxious to read the material.  I guess if someone would tell them the info on the computer and they could listen to it they might be able to handle the assignment.  My third hour class is dealing with it better than the first two classes.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a good day.

Sunday.........

My plastic swan planter seems to hang in there without much wear and tear. The poinsettia is really enjoying the outside weather.  It is probably on its third year coming Christmas time.

The rains made the apples at the top of the tree grow larger. I need to get on that ladder and get it done.  Maybe this afternoon I will finally do it.

It is Sunday and I going to give you a shorter blog today.  I hope you all will have a good day off and the weather is good for you.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Saturday Stuff...............

I shared a different photo of these rocks on Friday at my Photo a Day blog.  I didn't go into much detail about them but they are wonderful when the action of Lake Superior sands them down to smooth.  It takes a lot of time and energy from the water to get them looking like this. 

When I though more about that posting I recalled all the times that I had picked up things as a kid and young adult and kept them.  Somehow we like to pick up things that preserve a part of the memory of the experience at the time. I remember picking up stones in Colorado as the rocks there are made up so differently the rocks in Iowa.  Seashells from the Pacific Ocean of course always came back to Iowa along with the smelly rotten seaweed that needed to be thrown out once it had been in the trunk of the car too long.

 An unknown history of a nice brick that I found in the parents garage. I will never know why and where of the thing.

As I cleaned out my parents house I found so many things that were physical records from their lives.  My mom had large jars of shells from oceans and lakes.  She and dad also were rock collectors and interesting stones were everywhere. Leaves also was a big thing for my mom as I would find ferns pressed in old books or dried out violets.  I will never know what the dried flower arrangement was from, its history, that was hidden in the back of a photo album.  My dad loved picking up bones and teeth from the ocean also to keep as precious items of times gone by.  My parents stopped traveling in their later years and the postcards and found items did help them to remember.

One other story of rock finds along the Minnesota north shore is the one near Silver Bay.  Young and foolish I was so fascinated with an area that you could visit along Lake Superior and walk on the beach of small round stones everywhere.  It was so neat and so unusual.  A few years later the brain of mine did figure out that it wasn't a beach of stones at all but spilled iron ore pellets that were being made near by and loaded onto the ships.  It was a lot of area that they covered so they did look like a natural covering along the shore.  Today the company blocks that access to the lake and you can't go walk the iron ore shoreline. The small pellets are called taconite and it is iron with some limestone mixed in to make them hold their shape.  It is easier to ship a load of small pellets rather than crude shapes of iron filled rocks.

While talking about round things and found items, I had my glass container of marbles out to look at  them. I did get a few shots to add variety to my posts.  I am going to try to take photos of most of my antique toy collection as winter sets in on the prairie.  I like to examine them and see which ones are older.  I know that the ones that I had as a kid makes them old. I know some cat eye marbles are old and yet there are new ones out there today.  My collection is meager in size compared to a lot of people who collect them but they marbles are like rocks on the ground.  One can walk around in this world and find them everywhere.

I am still amazed with the experience of crawling around in  my parents dirt floor basement and seeing five marbles that had apparently fallen out from a box stored down there.  I find marbles in my garden along with the bisque clay ones that are from an earlier time of history.  I gleaned as many marble that I could find at my parents home when I was shutting it down.  My parents had moved from the farm bringing in a lot of the toys with them but the second move and grandchildren thinned out their collection as they made a second move in town.

 

I am sure there is a resource reference book about marbles out there. If not, there should be. Their history and the material that was used to make them should be recorded to help us enjoy them.  I do know that there are may collectors out there now as one can't casually pick up marbles at garage sales anymore. 

I do remember the larger marbles that are lost in the history of moving that I use to have.  They are all a small item of little importance but for some reason a lot of us take them seriously and enjoy having them.  They are more valuable than gold when you pick them up from off of the ground and clean them up to appreciate their shape and color.  It is amazing how they can cheer you with their shape and color. They really do help us to remember our childhood with marbles rolling and bouncing all over the floor. I do replay the fun of having the whole set of them rolling from one end to the other end of the living room floor as the house was old and slanted. What really is remarkable as I get older and start loosing my marbles that it is difficult to construct good paragraphs about them without rambling around all over the subject.  By now I am sure you have stop reading this post. 

A warm sun shiny day today with not bad weather in sight.  I am glad my lawn is already mowed and I will be glad to be done serving Saturday school with my regular bad boys.  We are becoming family as we sit together for four hours each Saturday.  I think the one guy will be done serving today and the other has one more week.  A girl didn't show this morning so she will be in next week for sure. A couple of junior high boys have figured it is better to behave than spend their time with me so they did well at staying out of trouble.  

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope all of you are well out there or at least are on the mend. Take care.

Friday, finally...............

My hen and chicks survived the summer.  I had forgotten about them and the leaves from the ash tree are covering them.  I had to dig them out to find them and I can see that they like their location.

A surprise bloom from one of my roses along the south of the house.  All old buds had been trimmed back but this one came from a new sprout at the bottom.

The dianthus are beat up from heavy rains but the color is still there.  I will move them to the flower garden soon as I need to get them rooted in before winter.

I am two people today at school so I have a split personality.  I never know who I might next be each coming day.  I am an associate with a young girl following her to class and having study hall with special needs students.  I will be an art teacher again this afternoon.  It will be fun to be back in there after my earlier long time subbing in that room at the beginning of the school year.

Another warm day but it won't be too hot.  Gentle winds and open skies so far but there is a rain promise this afternoon.  It will be short lived and sprinkles by the way the radar shows it.  It comes from Nebraska and the Dakotas.

It is Friday and thanks for stopping by today.

Get a ladder!!!!!!!!!!

 

I have the first part of the picking done.  The majority of them are pretty much insect punctured but  there are some really good ones among the bad ones.  The tallest part of the tree I will probably never reach but with a ladder I should pull down a few very good ones to eat. I don't like how they all ripen at different rates.  It is good that they do so it spreads them out but they ripen so quickly that you can miss eating them.  I have a lot of fruit on the tree that have already turned brown on the tree and the ants and bees are having a feast.

Taken this summer.

The creeping bluebell is only a memory now as I have mowed down all them.  The seem to dry up like a soy bean plant does and there are just dead stems left standing.

This is another summer shot of the creeping bluebells.  It is all dead now and the grown is covered with brown broken stems.

I am subbing in the high school history department today. One of the classes is studying about the Industrial Revolution.  I had given an informal intro to the subject and one of the freshmen girls asked if I was born then.  I showed the dates of 1880-1850 as the beginning of the revolution.  I asked her to figure it out. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  It is going to be a warm day today with 80's or more in temperatures. It is breezy today with bright sunshine.

Yucca.......

The seed pod on the yucca plant seems to be at the end of its final stage. I assume that they are seeds and wonder how easy it is to start them. This really is an ugly stage for it.

 

There was only one stem of flowers from the plant this year but maybe there will be more next year. 

The wind and the rain has flattened all of the hollyhocks.  This one surprised me to be still blooming at the end of a stalk while laying in the grass.  I see that there is still a few buds on it. The blooms themselves look like weathered warriors. 

Another day off from work.    Our weather is going to be great for two more days and maybe Friday too with a chance of rain. The temps are going to be around 78 degrees F. during that time which is great for around here this time of year.

We are going to go with the neighbor to help her with some purchases and we will stop at Walmart on the way home. We don't have much to buy but our neighbor doesn't like to drive in the Des Moines area anymore as the traffic is so busy all day.  It is just more crowded as that part of the town keeps growing. 

We both seem to be doing ok health wise right now.  We are all over the colds.  We keep trying to slow down and get more rest but we are busy.  I guess I am reaching the age though that a few things on my agenda is harder to deal with than when I was younger and could carry many things on my agenda and sail smoothly along.            Thanks for stopping by today.