Tuesday’s Things....

Bee balm or monad is the name, the red came from the old place and they seem to coexists ok for now. I was concerned that the red had taken over the existing plants but it did not.

The pink hollyhocks are so tall in their new garden.  The soil was well nourished as a vegetable garden so this plant grew very tall and strong.

The zinnias are now filling in the spot. My neighbor shared that the soil was too cold for them to germinate and now the it has become hot they are growing quickly. There are day lilies in there starting to bloom and also Asiatic lilies.

I mowed at the old place this morning and it did become to hot to be doing that.  I think the humidity was heavy when I started and it seems to be overwhelming by the time I got done.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Network Fizzles and Burns......

Everything keeps moving along.  The flowers keep blooming and the sun and moon keep going up and down.  But the  world does stop when the internet provider is down.  We are on our third day with out internet and Netflix. We decided to go for a Panera Bread outing and took the computers with us. We had some important things we needed to get to on the net and some bills to get paid.  We may have to return tomorrow to have another sandwich.  We may have to find a new network provider when our patience runs out.

I won’t do my blog here at this place but I can share some photos of the past few days. My one older neighbor what I was going to do with my little shed.  I told him the story and that it was just decoration.  I could build a garden shed to go under it but I really don’t need one.

New phlox of a different color.

We had a flurry of fireworks in our area and this is the only photo I could get. I learned later that I should have used my wife’s cell phone to take them.



Heading home now as we have finished eating and drinking and blogging.  Thanks for stopping by today.

The Fifth......

I am up early morning and saw that I had to take a shot of two of the sky.  The sun is to the right of all of this but it is reflecting up on the smooth clouds.

Our evening last night was unusual. They legalize fireworks in Iowa and that was a mess.  So this year the towns limited the firing of the explosion for the day of the fourth only.  If you live outside of any city limits it was anything goes.

In our back yard we had more than a dozen people just in our area lighting up the works.  We could stand on our back deck and see them as far left and right as far as we could see.  The sound was amazing and strange at the same time as everybody in the whole town of 65,000 people were out in their streets setting them off.  Any dog owner really would have to be holding their dog and its ears.

The political realm had kept fireworks out of Iowa most of my lifetime so when they started it up and made it lawful all people seemed to be like kids in the candy shops.  We saw fireworks normally at town celebrations, State Fair, and baseball games.  I will be curious as to how they will redirect it again for next year.  The two week span of time last year was disastrous and they were being shot off night and day for the entire time.

I couldn’t figure out how to get my camera to work for any shots.  The photo is not as good as the real thing anyway.

My traditional planting of moss rose has been accomplished.  I had to go look for the granite enamel pan and the plants are starting to settle in to their new home

The yellow coneflowers is getting established from last year’s planting.  I think that it will grow bigger in  another year.  My coneflowers seem to be varying their bloom times which I assume varies with where they are planted

I like the magenta colored ones but the others are great too.

I do see that I had taken a photo of the metal pan in which the ross moss is planted.  They are slow to bloom but soon they will put out a lot of blooms every morning.

Today was the day to get these steps repaired. I had to lift some bricks and replace sand that had washed out with the heavy rains this spring.  I didn’t design this but other owner placed plant blocking material down and then sand before he put down the blocks. The large wood ties do a pretty good job of holding things together but unfortunately the whole stairs is shifting and settling down the hill.  For now I just replaced the sand under                                                                                                                                    the collapsed steps so I won’t be liable for accidents by visitors. The job of lifting bricks and caring the sand bags up and down the hill did because more than I could handle.  I took two different breaks as I worked as the humidity was high and the heat was becoming overwhelming.  I do need to sprinkle more sand on top of the steps and sweep them in to help seal up the cracks.  I was glad that I ran out of sand and can do that another day.

This is a pretty small specimen of a hydrangea shrub but I am so glad it is happy to be growing there against the house.  The one at the old place is so full of large sets of blooms. This one shown will probably be so much better next year.

The hollyhocks having such a good year means I need to get to a nursery to find a different colored one.  The one I bought last year looks good but I am having a hard time getting a good photo of it.

The cottage garden does look good this year but I am resisting the enlargement of the area.  All I would have to do is spade up a foot wide more of dirt along the east side of it.


In closing down the post today I hope I am finding you all having good weather and great weekend plans.  Our plan to eat out at the Outback last evening turned into a lot of fun.  There were car clubs around the area that were putting on antique car shows.  Some were authentic old and others were hot rods.  I didn’t have my camera but we had fun at the restaurant where they were all eating. It sort of turned it into a party atmosphere and we could pull in the vibes.  We all had steaks and good salads.  We don’t have specific plans for the next two days but things can happen when we think of adventures.  Thank you for stopping by today. Everyone take care.

July Fourth.......

The clouds are breaking up from last nights rain.  We had a lot of rain while visiting the bookstore in West Des Moines yesterday afternoon. It was like a monsoon.  Here at our house we had less and yet it was repeated in the night.

While visiting the Original Pancake House this morning I saw the same clouds.  They were in the north of Ankeny.  So I realize now that our back sided of the house almost faces north and yet it is northeast.

The hollyhocks are really putting on a show. They were dug and brought to the new place about two years ago.  This is the first year for them to bloom.  I wanted the garden of rescued plants to look like a cottage garden and these flowers do help it to look like that.

The butterfly weed happens to be pink but the former owners planted it in the front yard.  I moved it and it is happy in the back yard.  I have seen some monarchs out in the garden but they don’t stay still long enough for a time to photograph them.

In the front yard the daylily is starting to bloom.  It has a large number of buds so  it will bloom for a long time.  I see in the photo that I have a couple of bags of dirt to take down the hill to the backyard.

I have to brag about my new raised garden.  The zinnias have been moved around to be in sort of rows. The whole garden is looking better after two different rainfalls. I have never grown onions before so I will be interested in see how long it will take them to mature. Glads are planted at both ends.  The petunias will probably be overcome once those zinnias kick in and grow.

We are having a low key Fourth of July day.  We did eat out pancakes in the morning but we will be waiting or fireworks  outside our sunroom. The street behind su puts on a show for the whole neighborhood and we have the new glass room in which to watch it.  We may have to go out on the deck though because we may not be able to see the top of the displays.

Having a day to remember our independence day and the development of our democracy is good to have.  A democracy does mean that we have the right to say what is right and wrong. I also means that when laws are made that they are expected to be kept. The state of Iowa is a sanctuary state. It isn’t declared on the news but we have been seeing many changes in our state for ten or more years. Those who work the true facts show we are a big sanctuary. We watched them bus in the invaders with government sponsored buses into our neighboring town for a couple of summers.  It is the unspoken given as they are quickly moved in to the state. We have experienced good things from our invaders and we also have experienced bad things from our invaders. Illegal is illegal and we are expected to look the other way, even if they move in across the street. God’s love will be shown when it can be.  Patience will be given regardless. The politicians that have looked the other way for the past 10 or more years will never be held accountable. Our lives will be forever changed.  The land of the free and the home of the brave now blankets those that our country never expected.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Middle of the Week.........

Looking good in the front yard. I have others of this variety that are not open right now. I have a yellow one that is partially open.

This is a new shot of the blanket flower.  I had not remembered that I bought it but the plant reminded me it was there.  I had to trim back some salvia so it could be seen. That whole flower bed is slow to be in bloom but they will pick up soon.

The neighbors have newly painted their house blue.  It looks good in the background of the pink hollyhocks.

My grandmother had a regale lily that she shared with my mom. That lily bloomed many blooms for my grandmother.  I can still see the binding twine she had hooked on big nails in the house to help hold it up.  I didn’t have a good move with that particular regale lily start but I did have it planted in two places at the old house.  While there a week ago I dug the two starts that I have been babying for years.  I now need to find the perfect place to put these at the new place. My grandmother has her best luck with them on her east side of the house. By the way, the ones you see here are planted in a wastebasket.  I may keep them in it until fall.

The raised bed fill with tomato plants is filling in more now.  I have a lot of volunteer tomatoes coming up and I will have a crowded mess soon.  I did find the start of the yellow pear shaped small tomato coming up in another bed.  I could not find any at the store but I sure can just let them grow up on their own.

Closing down for today.  I worked at the old place today and we have plans to do stuff this afternoon.  I appreciate your stopping by today.

The Things of Tuesday.......

A trip to the old place gave me a chance to bring back some large hydrangea blooms. Also I brought back one stem of three lilies. Check out my sprite plastic bottle vase. I couldn’t find anything at the place to use to bring back flowers.

Our rains have caused the blooms to be so large. It grows on the north side of the house. It has been a good year for the old fashioned hydrangea. My plant that I brought to the new place did have some large blooms but not as big as the original plants.

I don’t have a lot of things blooming at the old place but things seem to be late. There are day lilies yet to bud and the Asiatic lilies are the only real flowers blooming now. Farmers have a lot of fields that are just now planted and they are saying it is slow in germinating with the heat. My zinnias did the same thing as they are now just sprouted and they will have to play catch up.  A lot of farmers had to change their minds on crops and planted soybeans instead of corn. I hope they can sell those soybeans by the end of the season.

The monarda that was left of us at the new place was this color.  It still is the same color but I brought the red monarda from the old place and planting it next to this one.

I was concerned that I had planted the red variety and that it had taken over the whole area.  It did not.  As you can see the two different kinds are growing beside each other.  I like both colors and hope they can live beside each other peacefully.

This is peek at the sight of our other hollyhock and its color.  I took this yesterday and I bet today that there are a lot more blooms open now. I am thinking that I bought this at a nursery last year.

I have taken a lot of photos these past few days.  I like the summer as I can find so many things to share. I probably can never use all of the shots but its nice to have too many than too few.

I was concerned about bring field lilies, ditch lilies, to the house.  I looked out yeasted from the sunroom and the neighbors behind us have them growing on the north side of the house. They have overtaken their house so I bet I could also put mine on the north side of my house too. The  neighbors’ lilies look good planted by a newer house.

We are hot again today.  I mowed in the morning and will just stay inside for the rest of the day. The heat really draws out a lot of energy from the body, more than one knows while in it. I hope all my blogger friends are staying safe and are doing good.  I appreciate your stopping by today.

Monday’s Moments......

The buds have been showing for a lot of days but Saturday night the magic did begin.  I looked and saw the bottom blooms are starting on the hollyhocks.

I brought the entire clump of the plant down from the old place. I didn’t have many plants there but this one was a tough one.  It took a year to get established and now it  is blooming. It has tall stems on it making it look like the old traditional plant.  The former owner had well nourished soil so the plant really flourished.

The height of them are over six feet, taller than me for sure. There is another hollyhock in the garden which I think that I bought at a nursery.

My cupola from my garden shed has been restored. The sides of this had rotted all along its base so I removed and replace them.  The louver pieces were easy to remove and replace on the new sides.

The original location of the piece is shown here.  I really doubt the future new owner would have rebuilt this so I just took it down.  The new thing that has happened with this shed is an added power pole.  A few weeks ago the power company put in a brand new pole that sticks up directly behind the shed making the shed looks like it has a growth coming out of its roof. I can see that I left off a piece of wood trim on the bottom of it. Maybe I can put that on this fall when I don’t have to worry about tramping out plants.

I am going to move some zinnias around this morning and get some more complete rows.  They came up so different that I can plug in plants to fill in the blank spaces. The one row is almost ready to start blooming while others have just now poked through that commercial soil mix. It will be hot to do the job but I move enough roots intact that it doesn’t mess up the seedlings to badly.  They do wilt but come back to life over night.

The raised bed looks spotty with plants but the hot weather will make those plants grow bigger in a short period of time. I planted sunflower seeds but nothing seems to be coming up yet. I may plant some more seed again to see if I just didn’t do it right.  Usually sunflowers are like melon seeds and you just stick it in the ground and it grows.

Working around the house today getting odd jobs done.  I don’t like to weed eat but I guess I will anyway.  Watering everything this morning to get it refreshed for another very hot and humid day. The high humidity helps the flowers but that heat is still hard on them.

Thanks for looking in on my post today.