Monday's One Shot......

I have a window planter that is filled with my neighbors throw away hardy geraniums.  She had them hanging in an old fashion planter with multiple hanging pots.  Each one had a different color of geranium in it and she gave them to me last fall.  They were in small pots and they really had not grown much all summer because of the heat.  Now they get a second chance to bloom.  This is the first to bloom.

I worked today painting a reception room off of the principals office.  It takes a couple of coats of paint and there is a lot taping off to keep from messing up the door trim and baseboard.  It was a non-air condition room which slowly heated up on me.  At least the color is a nice light gray color and the room does look better. I have another day of painting to finish it and I have to replace all the hanging ceiling  panels to help make the room look better.

No rain in our area today but Sunday there were spotty areas of storms with tornadoes. Our weather radio kept going off warning us of tornado conditions in our county.  We never had a tornado and that was good but we still have hot and humid hanging around again today. I didn't get my yard mowed today being at the school but it was too buggy and too humid to be out pushing a mower around in the yard.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Sunday Slow Day

No rain for 24 hours and the flowers are trying to regroup.  It is good to photograph every day as things can change just from one 2 inch rain. This was taken a few days ago before the weather changed.

The coral bells has really grown since I placed it in the ground.  Maybe I will see flowers from it as it continues to mature.

My wife's container of dianthus are taking off.  It took them a while to get rooted  but the few days of sun and some fertilizer has brought them to life. The foliage has doubled in size and the first two blooms are now in view.

Most of the things in my garden look like this now.  I didn't get to see it in pristine shape as it bloomed during a rain storm.  I have a day lily that I hope I can get a shot of before it gets showered. I will get it if it chooses to bloom today. 

My new rose that has very white blooms.  This one is starting to age now so it isn't my best show of it. You can see I have buds  yet to bloom so I can get that perfect shot.







It is Sunday and it is a good day to take it easy.  No big plans for us.  We teach Sumday school and then head off for a sandwich.  Then it is home again where we can just relax.  We are not getting any rain and yet it is overcast making it a gray day.  Thanks for stopping by my post today.

Saylorville Dam..........

We visited the Saylorville Dam area yesterday to see and hear the water overflowing out of the lake.  Years ago the Des Moines River was dammed up to create a recreational area for Iowa and to help with flood control.  I guess the flood control thing was the practical side of the reason but too much water coming from heavy rains and the water from northern Iowa really is never ever really controlled.  This water is coming through the spillway and entering into the Des Moines River. The roar is unbelievable as the water flows down a larger concrete tunnel  into the river.

As it is dumping into the river the result looks like this.  Can you see how small the people look along the riverbank on the left.  It is a larger amount of water being put back into the river. This water ends up meeting up with the Raccoon river that is south of Des Moines where flooding can take place to old Valley Johnston.  It usually floods everywhere near and in the cities around Des Moines.  The last major disaster was in 1993.

As the water comes down the concrete spillway it collides with the body of water of the river and there are many reactions to the great force.  It forces water into large waves of water getting the visitors wet on the other side.

It actually reacts to both sides of the river and here we are getting wet on our side from the mixing of the great force of water coming down the spillway.  The dam is said to be holding fine all of the high water but another foot higher in the water level and the emergency spillway will be going into action allowing the water to overflow down into another channel.  When it does overflow that will cover the road in which we had travelled to get to this spillway. We received rain continually last night through the morning.  Our town is actually a few miles from the Des Moines River where it now is full from bluff to bluff from having the water being held back.  I am sure the emergency spillway will be running in another day or two. We also live close to the tributaries that go into the Raccoon River that meets up everything down there.

 We ate breakfast out yesterday with my wife's brother and his wife.  We ended up in the bookstore for a while and then came home to rest. That didn't really happen as our neighbor lady asked us for a late lunch and then the tour of the Saylorville area.  It ended up being a very long day.  We had fun but did probably do too much. 

It is a rainy morning and dark out there.  It was suppose to clear off but it isn't looking like it right now as I type this.  We saw the fireworks on PBS last night and that was good enough for us.  The knats and mosquitoes are out now as the monsoons continue.  It was insect free in our living room.  Thanks for stopping by today. 

Fourth............

The parents of the little wrens remain very busy as the are feeding the family.  I see little beaks sticking out of the opening but can't seem to catch them with the camera.

It is a feeding frenzy as the parents come and go with insects.  I get a good scolding if I am noticed working in the garden but in most cases the adults rush into the apple tree searching for food for the young ones.

Below the wren house the morning glories keep growing.  The package of seed was a mixed variety of color one so I won't know what colors they will be until they start to bloom. We are going to be starting a newer phase in our weather season with hot and steamy being described by the weather people.

The planter that holds the glories seems to be working very well as I have good soil in it. I borrowed the idea from anther blogging friend and it is a good idea.

I was at Walmart yesterday and found some good deals.  I ended up buying three yellow privets shrubs at two bucks a piece.  I also bought four buck white roses in pots.  I was frustrated that their wasn't an actual label on them but a person in line said they looked like the carpet roses or a knock out rose.  You will see photos of these in the near future.  I have my eye on some other products at Walmart but I will wait for more  prices to drop.  Unfortunately the manager of the garden center area doesn't know much about plants and a lot of them are going bad quickly. Not enough water is being used to keep them alive.  We don't have rain anymore and they are going to have to get the garden hose out and use it.






I attached my flag to new found pole yesterday.  I moved my bracket to the front porch and it did get officially hung before the 4th.  I had the bracket lost and the flag and pole put away in different areas. Getting organized is a good thing, when it can happen.  I wish everyone a good day today.  Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Thursday's Trailings........

The greenhouse tomato has this on it while all my other plants have yet to bloom.  My indoor starts of tomatoes have caught up in growth to the same sizes as this Celebrity tomato but they are slow to develop for bearing tomatoes.  It of course has to warm up and the soil temperatures have to increase to get anything to happen.  I was out picking raspberries yesterday and I came in chilled to the bone, even after I wore a sweatshirt.  The 11 tomato plants look healthy enough and we are going to now warm up to normal summer temperatures the next few days.  The sunflower plants seem to be struggling with all the wet weather.  I hope the heat will make everything jump up with growth.

This is actually a bad photo that I am sharing but it is full of a lot of visual information.  The hostas are blooming this  year with gusto and the yellow Asiatic lilies are lasting a long time.  The redish spots are the other daylily that is behind all of this and the folded patio umbrella looks great in the corner of the shot.  The variegated iris keeps looking a little too crowded among all of this growth.  I may find a new home for it in a couple of days.  I forgot to mention that the phlox are doing well with a wet spring and they are taller this year than I have seen for a long time.  I don't think we had blooms last year.

While working in the garden yesterday I noticed the neighbors weed patch has this plant growing in it.  This area is next to the alley and I mow right next to if for him or for myself to make it look a little better.  I think it must be wild phlox as it isn't anything that has been planted there.  It grows among some other taller weeds as well as with our Iowa grown wild hemp.  I try to pull the hemp just because and whenever I see it. The hemp comes up in all the weird places.  I would post a photo but I don't think I want to get my self put on a list of people to watch. The weed smokers of the world say it is very poor quality weed.

I have some of this flower in my lilacs on the other side and sometimes it gets mowed down before it blooms.  I think I will try to move some of it over by my morning glory trellis to see it I can cultivate it like other phlox.

While working outside yesterday, picking raspberries and trimming limbs from the pear tree,  I noticed I could prune back a lot of things that would be work that would last all summer.  The pear tree branch that stuck way out, that hung in the way, and looked off balance on the tree came down with my pruning saw.  Sadly the branch had four pears on it which I had not seen before cutting. I will hope there are other pears up there hiding so I can pick those.  I have pruned it back enough that I will have to get a ladder this year to assist my reaching any fruit.

This is the plant the neighbor gave to me for a start.  It was yellow and sick looking.  I think it had been under a porch down in Texas. When it was brought up here the neighbor had it sitting in the direct sun.  I sat it under the grill next to the tank and it really has returned to a natural green. It likes shade apparently.  I am concerned that the granite pan has no drainage holes in it so I will  have to keep an eye on it from getting over watered.  Right now it looks very happy where it is sitting.

I bet the regular followers of this blog recognize this trusty hardy geranium.  It sat in the window inside next to me on the computer and was blooming all winter.  When spring came I put it outside and nothing happened.  It has just now bloomed since I put it out there. I had forgotten that I bought this geranium first of all because of the color on the leaves.  It has had some fertilizer now and it is really loving being on the patio.

I will finish today with my blurry fish report.  They seem to be doing fine.  I will mention one more time that I need to get the water level lowered in this tank as it is overflowing each time we get rain.  I also will make a strong effort to get the pump and fountain in today.  It is going to be warmer today.

Summer is going fast and I seem to be getting caught up a little on my outside work. I still need to take down the red bud tree and transplant things into the new garden area.  Once I start on either project it will progress quickly.  It really is the starting that is the hard part. I now know that writing it down, what I need to get done, doesn't speed things up for me so I will try to not list so much stuff of things to do on my blog.  I guess I need to write about the successfully completed things that I have done and stop listing.

I am so glad we will not have rain today and I am ready for some hot weather.  I hope all are well out there and thank you again for stopping by today.

Wednesday's Wanderings............

It is cold today with the high being 69 degrees F.  We are to hit that high by 6:00 in the evening.  I know that it doesn't hurt the plants to be cooled down but I am sure nothing will make great strides in growth with out some sunshine. I didn't mention that it was 53 degrees F. here this morning.

My cheap petunias are doing better. They have seen so much rain that I have to keep pouring out the excess water in the tray below their pot. They look weathered because the weather is beating on them daily.  Eventually the newer buds will all be out at the same time and it will look better.  I see that the little yellow flowering plant and the purple one too are reviving from being in the container at Walmart for too long of time. We still have mud everywhere.

I have buds on all my lilies this year.  I transplanted a couple of daylilies last year that a friend had given me and they have buds on them too. 

I mowed a lot of ground yesterday and drug the pile of juniper branches to the back of my property.  We are going to have evening bonfires with the making of smores until I get it all burned up and gone. We are allowed to have bonfiers for recreation.  I counted five piles of trimmed branches while out working yesterday.

I need to pick raspberries but I will wait until it gets a little warmer.  I can put on a hooded sweatshirt to do the job but I don't want to put on a winter coat. There are plenty to pick as the rains helped bring on fruit.

The hostas are all blooming right now.  I will get more pictures today as it is overcast and not raining.  We had a spotty shower yesterday while Button and I were out trimming back spent rose blooms.  We had to come in as it was a heavy spotty shower and I didn't want to have to change clothes if I stayed out in it.

All of the hostas are filling in nicely this year.  I was concerned that the holes in the leaves from hail and the previous dry season would cause them to not have a normal season.  I could probably do some more creative moving of hostas but I will leave them alone for now.

I haven't put in my pump for the fish tank so far this summer and I won't deal with it today as the water would be very cold.  I can go out each day and see some of the 7 fish that I bought last Saturday.  I should start feeding them a little fish food but they are still working on the stuff floating on the water.  I will be interested to see how big these guys will grow in the summer season.  I have seen evidence that them other raccoon is around this year.  I hope she heads for the cornfield early this year.

I am using up all my photos now so I will have to go shoot more shots.  I have zinnias that are doing well and the sunflowers are growing fast.  The morning glories are climbing quickly this year but as of yet no blooms are in sight.  I put in one cucumber plant that I bought from Walmart and the small muskmellons that I planted are trying to vine. We were given a small muskmellon last fall and I saved the seeds. They are small enough that we won't be stuck with a lot of mellons  It just isn't hot enough for them to take off and really do some good growth.


The neighbor lady is taking us on a short adventure today and we will end up at Walmart again for entertainment.  I will hit the garden area but I don't need to be buying anything.  It is a smaller Walmart in Boone, Iowa and their garden center is always in a hurry to put out plants and then more of a hurry to shut it down.  Small Walmart stores are a little sad after you have been to a large one.  We have a lot of small ones in our area that really do good business and yet you would think a larger one would do better.

I will close this down for the day.  I have some house chores to do and I will start creating the grid today in which the senior photos will be placed.  I am still lacking one photo but can leave a blank space until I get it.  I thank you for stopping by today.

Tuesday's Things.......

It isn't a pretty sight but it is my work area next to my steps in the back yard. The water in the buckets is the collection of rain from the past few days. Yesterday the buckets became completely full.  The trowels are sitting in a container of dirt that I keep around to supplement planters.  As you can see it is now saturated soil.  The pooper scouper is the perfect weapon for picking up garter snakes and placing them in a bucket.  I would have to dump the water before I could plop it into the bucket.  Garter snakes swim so they would get out of the bucket quickly.

The creeping bluebells are shown a few days ago when it wasn't raining. I always admire people who are able to grow lavender but I guess I have a great substitute for that.  This was taken when the sun was shining and I don't think we have seen the sun for a while. Maybe tomorrow we will see sun.

The flowers here are needing sunshine and heat.  They haven't had a lot of time to root in but they are really slow getting started.  The hosta behind the blue boy is the one that I discovered hovering under a peony.  I didn't really know I had that shape of hosta with the long leaves until I decided to move it out and away from the peony.  I was able to get three plantings from the crowded plant.  It isn't very pretty but it is different and a good green in color.

I haven't shared the view of my stump leftover from the removing of the 28 year old spreading juniper.  I am so glad the bulk of it is gone as it kept hitting me in the face when I would go to get into the car.  I would go walk the dog late in the evening and I was always getting a slap from this overgrown shrub.  I still have not done anything to the area as I seem to be not ready to make any decisions on it.  Also the area is just muddy and impossible to walk through at this time.

I will finish with this newly opened hydrangea.  It is the one plant that had a large amount of winter kill and the stems that did come up are now blooming.  This plant is probably two weeks behind the other one that survived.  I like the original green color that eventually turns white.

It is cool and sunny this morning.  Yesterday was a tough day for Iowa as the hail in places destroyed houses and tornado like winds destroyed properties. I really don't know what will happen to all the water that we have had the past days.  The northern part of the state gets a lot of rain and it ends up down here both the Des Moines River and also the Mississippi River.  The rain was so heavy in the Des Moines area that rivers were created where dry creeks usually are year round.  One of our friends had a garden area where the entire sweetcorn crop was flatten from flooding waters.  We didn't have damage this time but the mud bothers me.

I do think I can mow this morning as yesterday it was sprinkling when I went out to buy gas for the mower.  I never got the mower started as it was the beginning of a day of rain.  I may have to wear a sweatshirt to mow this morning but that is ok rather than it being too hot. I hope everyone has a good day. Thanks for stopping by my post.