Sunshine Day.....

As the moon waxes toward a full phase,  the moon rises in our sky in the late afternoon.  I have a lot more success taking its picture in daylight.

Because I go out with Barney every evening I do get to see it change in size. I will never understand the whole process of its transformations but I like that I can find it each evening and watch it change in the sky a little more to the right each night.

The process also has taught me to know which one is Mars and its movements are not so drastic when it changes its position.  The moon looks like it is going to be full by the time Halloween arrives.

It was a blustery day with winds from the north helping it to be cold. The sun still did shine making the clouds stand out and reflect it light. When I see clouds like this I am certain we won’t have rain.  I attended a funeral Saturday afternoon and the side of the hill was brightly lighted where the parking lot was. The wind from the north was strong.  The chapel was sort of on a low slope of the hill and the cemetery is on Iowa rolling hills. I was not related to the person who died but knew her sister and her nephew who we work with in the Asian ministry in our church.  I figured it out that we have known them for over 19 years now.  We actually did know the woman who died longer than that as she and her living parents then, sat in the same area as us when we were first attending the church.

The weather was good for the burning bushes this year as they have a strong red color.  I think they rains kept them nourished and the leaves are going to be very red. It is funny how everybody's burning bush always seems to be more red than mine.

It is a good day, Sunday, and I hope everyone is enjoying their day. Thanks for checking in on my post.

Spider Invasion....

Up the street a house has been taken over with spiders.  I finally go shots of them as they crawl all over their house. Fortunately they won’t be spreading to other houses like they do in the movies.

It is a young family with three young children that really have decorated the house for the coming holiday. The spiders are on the upper story too trying to get into the windows.

The bad thing about tulips is there is no immediate reward for planting them. I planted red and white tulips here and some Rembrandt tulips too.  I have nothing to show for right now.  I do get a good feeling that once I plant them they will be there forever, blooming spring after spring.  I planted 24 of them yesterday and I still have 35 more to go.  I am finding places to put them but the former owner put weed barrier fabric everywhere.  I can dig along the edge of the beds and get them into soil. I may get some more done today.  If I plant ten or more at a time I can chip away at the total number.

I am really sold on this zinni-like flower that they sell among the marigolds. It is staying in bloom along with the marigolds.  I know the days are numbered when they will all be frozen and killed.

I will probably keep this as a vegetable garden even though the flowers decorate the outside edge. I could plant more than just tomatoes here but it is a great height for me to make tomato picking easier. My neighbor to the northwest have two of these raised beds up against the back of their house.  Their yard is a sloping hill so it is flatter for them right next to the house.

My downstairs plants don’t get as much attention as they should.  Sometimes I just have to take them to the sink and soak up with lots of water because I didn’t get them watered.  It is strange that I have this flaking white pot and I could never tell you where it originated. I don’t know if I picked up a batch at a garage sale or inherited from my parents. I like the look which is so different than the glazed ceramic donkey with its vine growing out of its basket.

The red fired clay brick has four holes in the end of it.  The dirt and the vine have done well after being there a year. The turtle seems to be a permanent  fixture next to the square vine.

The wind is blowing cold from out of the north today.  I don’t know if I can get outside today to work on the tulip planting.  I am going to start taking a few sunflower stalks down at a time.

I wish you all to have a great day today.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Friday’s Findings........

If it warms up it will bloom. The one batch of morning glories have died.  This one here is being challenged with the weather but it is protected enough to keep going. These blooms sometime wait until middle afternoon to roll out.

A mystery bird at the feeder today is a larger blackish bird than the sparrows. I am thinking it could be a cowbird but it seems a little too bulky in size for that. I noticed that my sparrows have sacrificed one of their own again this morning as the hawk was having his first bird for the day out on the fence.

The shape really doesn’t help me to identify it. I know the sparrows are willing to let it feed and will wait for it finish and leave.

It did not photograph well but you can see the effect of the moon poking through the clouds. At one time it was a Halloween sky with spotty clouds covering the moon. All I needed for the picture was a haunted Victorian mansion to put in the photo.

The posts that I used to hold up the tomatoes are all pulled out of the ground and they are laying in wait.  The clay soil will not wash off easily.  I ran the hose water on them and moved some of it off but now I am waiting for the weather to dry it out more before I put them in my garden shed. I am going to work outside today getting some more fall jobs done.  It is so different living here when I have to sack up everything to throw away rather than burning it.  I got rid of the zinnia mess yesterday at the old places tree dump.  I will do the same with whatever I get together today.  I have asparagus foliage and peony stems to get rid of today.  I have a set of 14 tulips to plant somewhere today.

As I work I can hear the traffic of the air space and the traffic of the interstate south of us.  Mowers somewhere will be heard and delivery trucks will be going by.  The sounds of a distant staple gun to put down shingles will be heard and the Canadian geese fly back and forth checking out the grain left on all the farm fields in the sounding area.

The photo of the plane was taken in the evening while I was shooting a visual of the day moon. I don’t quite know why they need to fly so low but they probably are just descending as they head for the airport about fifteen miles away.

It will be good weather today with a little coolness in the air. It will be more like a normal fall day.  Thanks for checking in on my post today.

Back Yard View..

The zinnias have been cleared and one can see through the sunflowers to the neighbors two blocks long. The line in the grass shows the property line of my property.  The fence is the next neighbor’s property and that tree is actually in the next property over three houses over from us.

 The big tree is really impressive and I don’t have to rake its leaves. I am sure it was an original tree on the land when it was sets of bean and corn fields. It probably grew on a fence line.

It is garden clutter that I have placed on the old barn shelf that I salvaged a year or so ago.

I worked at the old place this morning and I am making progress. There was a built in cabinet in the room that was dated to the 60’s, so I tore it out.  It was made of plywood and had some long boards used for bookshelves.  I will be recycling that wood for sure.  The room will probably become a downstairs master bedroom so I thought the larger the floor space the better. The photo shows the progress of the building up of the floor’s height by two inches. One more day and I should have the floor completed.

I may take a day off for the project as I do get tired from all the up and down work involved with this.

I hope everyone is having a warmer day today.  We are warmer and the sun is shining.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Digging for Good Stuff...

I bought a smaller bag os specially seed that is called " no waste seed.” It has other kinds of seed but no sunflower seeds. I looked at the bag just now and they did not list the kinds of see that is in it.  There is some dried fruit supposedly but not much of it. The first good bird that I had show was this one house finch.  The house finches were around all early spring but then they were gone.  This one is the first that I have seen in two months of more.

I do remember that these finches were around long enough to get their batch of young ones raised.  The young ones ate at the feeder for quite a while and then all were gone. This one house finch was a pleasant surprise.  I do think I saw one junco a day ago but they haven’t migrated down yet. I did see a blue bird this morning on our burning bush.  He didn’t hang around for any photo shots.

When the camera guy startles them, the sparrows fly over to the top of the nearby maple and just sit.  They usually fly back to the feeder once it seems to be safe to do so. I remember that the birds do this to wait their turn to get to the feeders. I was just reminded that I want to build a new tray feeder as my one from last year fell to its total destruction.  I can get more cardinals and bluejays with a tray feeder.

This tree didn’t follow its usual pattern of leaf changes. Instead of turning into a brighter color, it has started to just fade. I am not sure what kind of tree that it is but it did put out great color last year.

The neighbor to the northwest is a property with not trees on it.  The neighbor beyond though has planted in the spring this wonderful tall tree that will give a fall show of color. I am assuming that it is some kind of maple. They planted trees in the front yard too as well as had some stone wall landscaping around and down the side of their house. I think my new tree I planted a few weeks ago will have yellow leaves before they die and fall.  I guess I didn’t research that as I just wanted the flowering redbud for a spring tree.

This picture reminds me of my son and grandson on factetime last night.  They had picked the last of their cherry tomatoes and they sat in the bowl on the table while they talked to  us.  The oldest grandson was going through them to find one to eat.  So it is like father, like son, like grandson.  They too were clearing their tomato plants just as I had done. The oldest grandson wants to grow his own pumpkins nest spring and there sat a bowl of seeds from the pumpkin they had just cleaned out.

On my day of rest I succeeded getting the whole yard mowed.  I also had some sod to place in spots up on the front yard.  I took a Coke break in the middle of it with my wife so I could get the job finished. I will take the afternoon off and get some rest.

We are cold but a warm jacket and stocking cap can make working outside possible. The fall weather is so erratic as we go from hot one day and cold the next.  Everyone have a good day and thanks for stopping in to see my post.

Flower Power......

The blooms are late this year but they will be a show stopper for sure. I was out in my stocking feet to get this shot, balancing on the stone ledge to not walk on the grass. I got some good shots and also had pleasant visitors walking by with there white Scottie. I had not seen them coming up the sidewalk so I was doing some antics trying not to fall off the stone ledge. When you get older, you can do what you want, and they can just think what they want.

 I have one lone petunia blooming right now.  It is too cold for it to be doing that but there it is. I had to walk in the grass to get that shot.

While others were mowing their yards on both sides of me, I chose to take out the dead tomato vines. It looks like the zinnias will last for quite a while in the cool weather. I will wait awhile to do the zinnias at least until there is a hard freeze. It will be easier then.  Marigolds are too much alive to take them out also.

The knock out roses are almost gone.  I will try to trim them low for winter.  They have buds on them so I may have a few more blooms through this month. I was out of my mind when I bought some more tulips.  I will force myself to get them in the ground. I found a bag of Rembrandt tulips that I really wanted to buy but they had 40 bulbs in the bag. I could do it if I tilled a row some where to make a place for them but it probably is to late for me to get that job done. I have an unwritten list that is a mile long right now.

A scene of progress is in view.  My battery on my drill kept running down so I have a lot of floor put down but it hasn’t been screwed down.  The things you see here are temporaily placed as I was seeing how much more plywood sheets that I needed. I couldn’t buy all that I needed as they didn’t have enough stocked on the shelf.  I have to go back to get two more sheets. The photo is taken in the dining room looking into the new level floor start.

My neighbor lady who mows the yard for me weekly was there today.  I gave her permission to go ahead and mow off the peonies.  Winter snow collects around them and things can be neater looking as they are removed. Leaves that she can mow easier or maybe the leaves will just keep blowing down the street to the ditch.

I hope all of you are having a good day today.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Monday Moments in my Mind...

I grew the sunflowers for our enjoyment.  We could watch them in all their development. Now the plants are suppling us a place for the circus animals to perform.  He fills up his pouches and slowly descends the tall stem and crawls away headed for his home a few blocks away.  There are large trees that surround our borders of southwest corner of the town.  I mentioned to my wife that we should buy a house down the street at the bottom of the hill.  They have full grown trees that line their backyards the whole five or six block.  Now they have very expensive houses sitting beyond that row of trees.

The town at the old place took away two of my large trees but I still have squirrels living in my one that remains, a silver maple. I can hear him running across the roof of the house when I am up there working.  This guy in our new backyard seems to be my only squirrel but there may be two of them and only one comes at time.

I brought the miniature roses into the dining room during the frost threat.  This little bud went ahead and showed itself under the shelter of the house and heat. I am thinking that I will keep them downstairs in front of sliding glass door in the walk out basement.

 It is crowded in front of the basement window already but I have some plans to consolidate some of the plants into larger pots.  I saw a book about sansivera plants and they had planted some creative grouping of them in interesting, large, unusual pots.

Two of these goldfinches were sitting out in the sun.  I learned that some migrate further south and some do not.  I think the two birds were young ones and they didn’t know what to do but to get warmed in the sun.

I still have not heard from a Georgia blog friend to know how they fared in the storms. Others in Florida are doing fine.  Thanks for stopping in today. Have a good Monday.