Friday's Final Finish..........

Apparently there is a ginkgo tree in the neighborhood.  I have not seen one but the leaves are blowing into my north side of my property. I thought I knew all of the trees in the neighborhood but here is a new one for me.  With the wind blowing as hard as it has blown it may be coming from blocks away from where I live.

It was cold, the wind was blowing, and I had many layers of clothing on, so I pulled seedling geraniums.  They were put in paper bags for storage. I will put them in the basement.

I had one of my three burning bushes die back.  It did sprout back and this little shrub is what it looks like now. The two large bushes are now bare but this little guy still has its leaves.

The arrangement is a set up but these leaves are all scattered out in my yard.  Most of them are coming from my ornamental pear tree.  You can see the ginko tree leaves at the top of the photo.  I did not get all my leaves cleared before the first snow which is coming today.  But I have seen days warm up after a snow and I have the hope that I can get to them later. All these leaves are pressed in a book for later enjoyment.

When I subbed long term for a science teacher last year, I pressed leaves and taped them on the wall of the science room.  They are still there from last year and the instructor has brought in more for this year.

I have decided to take the boards to the basement, two at a time and trim them off to be even.  It was cold and it got to dark to get them all even. I have a miter saw set up down there and with 5 trips carrying two boards to get them evened up better.

The new wood looks really great but it certainly will not be the same color as the old ones that have weathered the past 25 years.  To finish this project, it will have to be a warm day, off and on, until I get that roof completed above it.

I grabbed a shot of this while out looking for interesting things to shoot.  The antique stuff is headed to the inside of the shed.  The flower box is what I grew my morning glories in next to the apple tree. Someday I will put a new handle in the antique pitch fork.  For now it is easier to store without a handle.

From this shot, you can see we haven't had any snow yet.  Supposedly that will change this afternoon as it creeps down from the north country.  Our temperatures are raising right now but when the cold air comes in there will be snow. I took my snow shovel out of the garden shed and placed it on my side porch.  I am hoping that it will keep the snow from happening. Not!!!!!!

I am in the Fresh-Soph English classrooms today.  It will be a busy day with lots of students filled with lots of energy.   Most students are hoping that school will be out early today because of the incoming snow storm but right now it is not snowing.

I appreciate your stopping by today. 

Thursday........

It is a little out of focus as the light was getting low.  I was outside working on a small deck project. I looked across the way and my white shadow friend was back watching me work.  She sits on the old blue door which is to be burned eventually.

Another view of the project I shared yesterday.  The deck has a purpose as I will be building an extension on the porch roof above.  I need to put a corner post on it and then build in a three foot wide roof section.  It will help make the water coming off the valley above drain away from the house better.

I did get my five boards cut into ten pieces and the deck is covered. Nothing is nailed down as I have some corrections to make.  I am short the width of one 2 by 4 that will fit next to the house. I will need to buy that or cut it from the waste I had from the five boards.  It was cold and I was making some length cutting errors. Being cold and dark didn't help any with the process.   On a warmer day I can recut some of them and then I will nail them into place.

We ran some errands after school so I had only a 30 minute window to get the boards cut.  So, I didn't get any new photos shot.  I need some down time to do that and I was wanting to get that wood on the deck area before it snowed.

Fall leaves like this are mostly all gone now.  A few stray leaves do hang on but mostly all are down.  I think we had a freeze so it will start to take down everything that looks green.

I am back into the Science room today as the teacher has the flu he caught from his grandkids.  I may be in here again tomorrow.  I am hearing that the flu is hitting in many parts of the United States.  We had our shots on Tuesday evening and we had to wait in line to get them at the Medicap Pharmacy.  I hope we got them soon enough.

I will shut this down for today.  Snow is promised for Friday.  Thanks for checking in on my post today,

Middle Day...........

The little bird that sat in the middle of this lasted only one season. It was made of a cheap cast metal and broke or deteriorated the first year.  I always call this "pea soup" because of a movie I saw once. Bob Newhart and Zsa Zsa Gabor were the voices of two mice eating at a cafe.  Bob ordered pea soup and in the kitchen a mouse cook was pouring hot water into a bowl and adding one large pea.  "Pea soup" goes with any body of water that I see sitting stagnant. I know the story doesn't relate actually but I like to say "Pea Soup."

A project to finish rain or shine is this addition to the deck.  I will explain what is happening as I extend the existing roof over it.  It will be easier to show photos than trying to tell you about it. I have decided that I can get that lumber cut to length while standing under the porch roof.  I just need to find the time when I can actually do it.  Those 5 boards will become 10 boards soon.  The box on the wall is the new fiber optic cable box.  Nothing has been installed but it looks promising.





We are going to get the weather that we get but waiting for the changes will be best if we just stay inside and relax.  I gave that plant a medium kind of haircut a few days ago.  It is the kind of vine that it just doesn't show where you trimmed it back.

I am pulling old photos from my May file and the oxalis shown here is now safe inside.  It will take it a while to bud and bloom again but it surely will.

I am in the library today checking out books and telling people to put away their cell phones as they sit around in the library.  I am welcoming the day as it is less stressful than standing in front of large classes of kids.  I appreciate your stopping by today.

Tuesday's Here.........

I bought two algae eaters.  I have shared this story before now.  I put them in there and they were very small.  I assumed the big fish in the photo ate them.  I do think they did eat one of them but the other algae was spotted behind some heating equipment on the back of the aquarium a couple of days ago.  He is working, even though I have never seen him at work, as the back of the tank is showing spots of clean glass as the he eats it away.  On a good day I will buy a larger one at a real pet store, not wally mart, and it will get to work helping out the little guy.

My birch tree has interesting bark that doesn't shed like the river birch.  It does get all these great patterns on it.  Everywhere a limb has been removed from the tree the round design stays in the bark.

The barberry is now losing its little leaves.  The colors are always nice in the fall as the leaves have a rusty look to them and turn orange and yellow.

The old lilac lost a large limb in our wind storm last week.  It landed on the fence which did help me when I cut it away from the main branch.  This is an old photo as the leaves are now all dropped from the lilac bushes.

I have a busy schedule after school today so I don't know if I will get any new photos taken.  I am getting low on fresh shots.  I am teaching in the high school science room.  Thank you for stopping by today. 

Fall Farming Activity........

One of my students from high school is out on Sunday afternoon plowing down the corn stalk wastes.  I think this is a form of a disc (chisel plow) that also plows the soil.  To me it looks like a giant version of the disc that they use to use in the past to even out the ground.

It really is like plowing but not the same thing.  There are large chunks being overturned to help cover the dead stalks. I lived in southern Iowa where the soil is mostly clay.  It was rare to have dark soil except for along the river bottoms.  This dark soil here has always fascinated me for it being so fertile.  Also there are areas of loess pockets of glacier action that left mostly fine clay particles and lots of rocks.  Those areas are south of town less the 5 miles away from here.

Can you see man's imprint to this farming activity? This style of farming is suppose to decrease the number of times the tractors go over the soil and it is suppose to slow down erosion. The most rich soil deposit in the world is actually in Butler County in northern Iowa.  It is said that of the richest dark soil in the world that 75% of it is in that northern county.  I believe the glaciers must have gone around that area leaving the true soil undisturbed.

I almost miss seeing the tractor as he was finishing up on these 11 acres when I crossed the street with my camera.  I had to walk over to that truck in the distance to get close enough for a shot.

When running this piece of machinery it takes a lot of power to pull the disc through the soil.  It is moving quite slow and I am sure will never be a fast moving process.

Here he is turned around and ready to leave the field.  Good job Mr. Nixon.  I will see you at school today.

From dirt to roses is a great transition.  I guess roses do grow in soil.   I brought the bud in a few days ago and I am not expecting any more blooming from it.  But this bloom is a little weathered but safe.

I mentioned earlier that I am at school.  I got a call this morning early to be the high school English teacher.  It will be a good day.   Thanks for stopping by today. 

Slow Sunday Afternoon......

The river birch has colorful bark that sheds all year round.  I bought it by mistake years ago thinking it was a clump birch.  I got a good specimen tree.

I cut this rose and brought it into the house.  I delayed doing so for so long as I didn't have anything around to use for the cut.  With the clippers in my pocket on Saturday I was able to get it done.  I did get the long stems of the William Baffin a climber arranged among a couple of steel posts next to the garden shed.  I don't have cords on it yet but they seem to be holding their own right now.  I have the rest of the season to get out there and tie them.

This is a second photo of the silver maple that I captured last week at sun setting time.  I see that I now have red "X" marks on my two silver maples that are along the new ditch road.  I don't know if I am glad or mad about that.  I will get them down for free and that is a lot of money for us to save.  Taking down them and the red maple seems harsh but I live in a small town.  That said is all I have to say.  I do think we will move away from this kind of thing when the time comes.





We are having a quiet afternoon at home and waiting for some of our Sunday tv shows to begin. I am watching a gardening show right now about the grounds that the British aristocracy own.  They are trying to save every tree that they can.    Thank you for stopping by today.

Saturday's Tales........

While in the basement looking for a few things I find some other things.  The pottery is one that I made years ago.  I have a lot of it stored on shelves in the basement.  The Christmas goose once was a tree ornament.  How it go mixed in with the catch all counter I really don't know.  I have had it for years and bought it at a craft show sometime in my forgotten past.

The mousetrap is a mystery to me.  I do have the bottom of a kitchen klatter piece down there which came into the house with things in it. I know stuff was in there but I think this came from my Dad's garage in Osceola.  It is something I must have thrown in to bring home because of its unusual construction.  The trap could have come from the old house that my dad tore down 40 years ago.  The trap has made in Tiawan printed on it and the wood is not a wood from this country. It looks like a forest wood from that island. The trap has never been used or I wouldn't be handling it.

The morning glory vine next to the house is done.  I should get the vine disconnected from the pot with soil that it was growing out of and put the pot in the basement.  I haven't collected seeds from this vine but I did get a lot of seeds off of the vines on the garden shed.

I like how the background shows the blue gate on the east of the house and also the birdfeeder that is in the dining room window.

This is a small maple leaf laying out among the brown and dead leaves.  I really don't know what tree this comes from unless it is from across the street.  We have so many different maple trees out there.  I see that the red maple tree of mine that has the red X mark is still standing.

I hope everyone has a great day today.  We won't be fighting any bad weather so that makes it a good day.  Thank you for stopping by today.