Waiting and Watching

 He is impressed with the new dumping of seeds. We haven't seen him for a couple of days so he must have found a better feeder.

 The colors of the feathers are just amazing to see. He does keep watch at all times for danger.

 I didn't think the lily of valley was going to do well but it has started to break out into many blooms. 

 The colors of this iris are so strong and dark. It is a newer purchase that is blooming well for me now. 

The crab apple tree got a good watering this morning. We haven't had a lot of rain since I bought it. I was instructed to keep it well watered. 

The chives are opening up more as time goes by. I have a lot of plants of this and shared a stray growth of it to a neighbor the other day. I see this morning I have another section that I could share with someone. 

 I use to have many more different varieties at the old place and I didn't seem to get them all moved to the new place.  I did move this pink one down from the other garden and I have it spread into three different plantings now. I have a yellow one that is about to burst into bloom very soon. Maybe tomorrow I can share it. A blackish one is almost ready to bloom too.

 I am an artist and a gardener. I also do love working with wood. This process of gluing boards together requires a lot of patience. I have the first three glued together and the other end three boards glued. Then also I have three in the middle glued together. Once everything seems dry I will take this apart and will put in screws to reinforce the connections. Then I will glue one more time the three parts together..

We had a business meeting this morning and I squeezed in some yard work and this wood project into the spaces of that appointment.  Waiting for wood glue to dry is hard for me but I have to wait on the process.

We are having a warm windy day today. It is nice to be outside. Thanks for checking in today.  

Monday

 It the largest of all of my hosta. I don't know when I bought it. I did move it to the new place and I am finally getting to grow big enough that I might be able to separate it. It grows next to a water tank so I can keep it watered well. The drought was so hard on so any things that good rainfall is what brought everything back. 

I planted these as a whim and I am glad that I did. The plants seem to do well there and I do give them a little water once in a while from the nearby spigot. It is on the northeast side of the house and the rain doesn't hit that are very much. 

I need to divide these but I just don['t know where to start on them. My daughter-in-law keeps all of here hosta thinned out and I just don't get to it.  The rose in the middle doesn't really seem to be bothered by  all of them. I have a raised box area there so all things are contained. 

I had two of these branches of blooms laying on the ground the past two days. I cut them this morning and they are inside in a vase now. I have a lot more of the iris ready to bloom now. I need to get out with my camera and document them.

I have been waiting for a furnace guy to come this morning so I didn't get time to work on my new wood  project. I did get the front of the house spread with Weed and Feed this morning while I was waiting for him.  I had a chat with my new neighbor guy this morning. He actually is not as old as me as he still works at home. He was out and about and today he took off a day to get some work done.  

Monday looks great outside and feels great too. I thank you for stopping by today

Sunday;s Share

 

 

 

 

 

It has been a nice day. We ate out for Mother's Day in the afternoon. The place in which we like to eat had dozens of people outside their door waiting to bet in. Going at middle afternoon worked out well. Geraniums, a lilac in the neighbor's yard, chives ready to bloom, and a surprise last minuet blooms on the peony were great to see. A  pile of boards are waiting for me to create. I have to work around a visiting furnace/ac professional tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by today. 

Big Blog

 The iris season is falling into full speed. I have in one day three different iris opening up their ritst bloom. This one is a newer one that I bought that has a very deep purple color.

 I worked in the frontyard this morning mowing and didn't see what was happening in the back. I looked out this morning and saw this light colored iris had burst into blooms over night. 

 I would have called it pink in the old days but this is more of a salmon, maybe peach in color. 

 Another surprise yesterday was this white iris in bloom in the front yard. I remember moving someof this to the front yard ait was planted among hosta and the hosta was crowding it out. 

 The cottage garden starts to look better, less plain. This old fashion iris is now in bloom, I have moved this from southern Iowa as it was planted all along my dad's garage in Osceola. I think of this being the most traditional variety that many townspeople had and shared with one another..

 My wife and I were out taking photos this afternoon and we ended up in the corner of the property. We took pictures of the new crab apple tree. In the corner the big old tree was removed and now the shade is gone. The angel was in a cozy place but now sits in bright light. The hostas like the new zone that became with that tree gone. 

 While we were out there we were visited by three different rabbits. The one may have a nest over in the neighbors yard under one of his many sheds. I ended up with more photos that I want to share in one day so I will spread them out.

 I have a new wood project started. I picked up lumber for it yesterday and this morning cut it all up into 30 pieces.  I had to carry my saw up to the garage as I have an angry robin nesting down on my deck area. No way could I run a saw down there. I am going to give you visual clues through the next few days until you see it done. I saw the plan on the internet and took photos of it to get the dimensions and instructions. It is going to be neat but you have to wait and see what develops. Thanks for stopping by today. 

Friday

 The morning was beautiful for a while. Then it clouded over for a while. The sun was back out by nine in the morning,

 The house was laying on its side for a while for repairs. While it lay there a sparrow was cheking out things, Now it is repaired and we wil see if a bird comes back. I did have to tremove an old nest from last year. 

 My peonies are looking storng and I am ready to see some blooms. It will be good to see how well they will do with all the rainfall of the season. 

Went on some errands this afternoon and bought some wood for a new project.  It will be fun to get the saw and get things done making a new bench for the deck. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Middle of the Week

 We started off in the clouds and it has stayed cloudy for most of the day. Our high for the day is 56 degree D. The winds keep it feeling colder and a jacket is needed when working outside.

 When I took this shot the sun was shinning on my new Japanese maple tree. I really am glad I bought this and the colors are so great. 

 While I was out weeding I discovered that this rose has buds on it already. It lost only a couple of canes during winter. In a whole the bush looks fantastic. I had trimmed it back a little last fall  but in the most part it is still the same size.Those buds really do look like they could open up soon when we get warmer weather. 

 This rose has the new fence to protect it in the winter now. Also it makes it a little warmer being in the corner of it all. 

 

I was trying to take a photo of a robin in the locust tree. They have a nest in the tree but I really can't locate it. I did get a photo of the robin but it is hiding behind a brnach so all one can see is the tail and its orange breast feathers. 

It is the middle of the week and I did get some yard work done today. I have done too much physical work so have to slow down and heal up a bit. I  planted some pussy willow sprouts out by the new tree and also dug some phlox and moved them back into that new garden corner area. I need to mow my backyard but I am going to wait on it. The rains made the grass grow so well that it should be mowed more that just once a week.  It seems too cold so I just won't mow it. 

Thanks for checking in today. 
 

Tuesday's Things

 They have been slow in blooming but they are there. I really have to search to find them as the foliage is so full. 

 A mallard duck and a hen came it for a quick visit. The water looks less green as the neighbor must be treating it to clear it. Usually when people are home the kids are sent out to chase them away but no one is home. You know when the have come in as they look like a large blob, a bird, flying into out backyard area. 

 I worked again in the front yard area trying to take out the spreading evergreen that has spread way out of bounds. It has crowded out the rose bushes and is spreading down over the wall. The yucca plant actually is invading the evergreen shrub and I have to let the yucca be dominate, so I cut back the evergreen. After writing this I found the name to be "blue creeping juniper" I didn't plant any of this and I seem to be maintaining Arlen's choice of shrubs and roses. 

 The more work that I did the more stuffing of material had to go into the sacks. I am glad to say I am done for now and will tweak everything as things grow back. The roses are all budded for blooms inspit of all the dead wood that I had to remove. 

 

The end results look like this. It isn't too impressive to me but when the roses start blooming things look better. 

 In the backyard I have a great splash of color from this old fashion iris. The other modern variety of iris is starting to bud and soon I will have pinks and blues back there. 

 This is my very last bloom of this peony for the season. The rains really messed with the blooms as well as the cold. 

We were cold for most of the day. I worked outside with layers to keep warm. The winds seem to keep it cold also. Maybe tomorrow we can warm up again. Thanks for checking in today.