Tuesday's View

 There are just a few things in bloom now after our frost. The mums are doing well and the knock out rose is still putting out some blooms. 

 The sun is shining on the mums in the front yard and they look really red here. They seem to be in their peak right now.

 The zinnias took a few days to show me that they did suffer from the frost. Very few of the blooms now look normal. Most have the brown cast forming on the edges of the blooms.

 I transplanted this one zinnia over to the tomato patch and you can see how they do grow large from on single plant. 

 The front  yard looks good with the yucca growing large and all the background it  to be red. I like growing the plant as it makes me feel like I am a part of life with my brothers who both live in desert climates.  We see yuccas growing wild when we travel west through Nebraska. We do have just a few the growing in the he  wild on our loess hills in the western border of Iowa. 

 It is strange to have such cool weather in the morning and there is heavy dew. The Japnese iris is all wet and spreading out from the water. I keep wondering when I should cut this back for next years blooms. 

I am happy with both of my eyes now being cataract free. The improvement is great but my first eye is still adjusting to the second eye being corrected. I have some conflicts going on and as time goes by my body will figure it all out. I definitely need to go buy some reading glasses as I have lost all of my near sighted tendency.  My old sunglasses are a big help for now but  I need to get some more stylish one to wear. I just walked around outside today as i am not to do much physically for a few days. I can wait to mulch leaves on Saturday. 

Thanks for stopping in today.

First Day of the Week

 

 Morning glory seeds are ready for harvest. They do self seed but I like to collect them and put them in jars. That way I can control where they actually will grow. 

 I inherited this drain sculpture from the former owners. I have never seen them on sale but this one is a joy to have. The dog looking up at the boy on top of the log is a great scene. 

 There are just a few blooms left on this rose bush. I do see it has more buds and they should survive with our now warm temps. 

 I had my left eye cataract removed today. It was a long wait today as if maybe the surgeon wasn't in the building when I arrived. I do think that the surgery went well but the process was farm more painful than the first one that I had. I don't know if it was a different process. It is nice to have balanced eyesight now and I am amazed as to what I have not been seeing. The surgeon did say I hand an unusually thick cataract on the right eye so I am sure the left eye had the same. I am glad it is all done. One more test on my body happens at the end of the month and then I will be done with doctors for a while. Check ups by primary doctores are wonderful compared to the five events that I will have completed this month. I am looking forward to walking outside tomorrow and view the whole wide world in full view. I may have to get sun glasses to tone down all of the light that I am now experiencing. Getting old is a process that I just need to get use to. Thanks for stopping by today.

The Sun is Welcomed

 We welcome the sun as we need to warm up a bit. It is a clear sky so we can have a great day. 

 A small zinnia reminds me of the symbols used for the sun. The zinnia blooms are small now as their season comes to an end. 

 I take photos of things that look good and then they turn out to be less impressive. The zinnias hang low as the rains sent them to the ground. 

 This rose still has a few buds so I will see blooms until the hard freeze comes.  This rose had died down with so many dead canes but it rebound with new growth behind it making a new site of a new bush. I always bragged about it being my twenty dollar rose and it did do well for years. I now see that it has to regenerate in a new time and area. 

 I have two differnt kinds of tulips planted here alone with the evasive grape hyacinths. Just being obsessive I planted some new tulips in front of all of this. I didn't overlap anywhere as I didn't get into any older tulip bulbs. I did get into the grape hyacinths but they are so easy to just plug back in to the ground with out digging. 

 

We didn't go to church today as I have one good eye and one bad, non-focusing eye. I look funny running around with one eye closed. I stay away from mirrors. I have the left eye appointment tomorrow morning, repeating the same surgery as I had last week but on the lleft eye. It will be wonderful seeing everything with out that strong yellow haze. I am enjoying seeing things with clarity now. Seeing at a long distance was never happening and seeing detail of a photograph on the wall was such a surprise. I have lived in a blurry world most of my 76 years. My first glasses in fourth grade gave me an ability to look out the window and see leaves on the trees. The contact lens were so great to but I had to abandon them twenty years later. Blogging will be easier as maybe I won't have to go back and correct so many errors.

Thank you for stopping by today. 
 

Red Admiral

 

I was out walking the gardens to see what the damage was from the hard frost. I could see the damage to a lot of the zinnias. I thought to myself that I won't see butterflies any more. Then I walked over to the one end of the zinnias and this red admiral buttterfly was sitting eye level with me. I don't know why they call them red admiral as the color is more yellow and in others photos it is orange. 

 I have one last bloom on this rose. The leaves have all fallen off and it looks sad with only one bloom. 

 I didn't take photos of the damaged ziinnias nor the shriveled morning glories but this one was one that fades because of its age. My white zinnias are brown now. 

 The front roses are putting out new buds and blooms regardles of me not dead heading them The cold did deform this a bit but there are two buds there ready to open that won't be bothered from the cold.

 My canna lilies were not bothered from the frost so we didn't have a very hard freeze. This canna is blooming late and has two stems of bloom on it.  I will be digging them once they do get frozen out. This is the only set of roots that I will have to dig.

 I noticed the iris likes the cooler weather. I think they are really rooting down for winter. They are all standing straight and tall. I guess I should cut back on them but I worked so hard to get them in there I don't want to bother them. Next week when I can't do any heavy lifting I can use the shears on them. 

 

When I moved away from the old place I left behind a true birch tree. The good option is the neighbor's clump birch is great to enjoy. He will get lots of leaves soon. I remembered from my birch that the leaves all drop in a two or three day time.  That front yard on that property is so strange as it is very short and the whole front yard is in decline to the sidewalk. The house is built into a hill so the only level area the have is on the north side of the yard and the very back yard that is down the hill. It is hard for him to mow as he is pushing it up hill and coasting it downhill to get it mowed. 

I am on physical restrictions with my cataract surgeries so I will not be mowing for two weeks. Fortunately the grass doesn't need mowing but the leaves in the back yard need to be mulched. It will just be harder to chop up when I can finally get to it but may some of it will break down on its own. My front yard locust leaves will be picked up with the grass catcher once they have all fallen. 

It is cold today, but we did warm up to 59 F.  We are told that the cold spell is over with for a few days and that is great.  Fall is definitely here and somehow the summer seemed to be so short. Thanks for stopping by today.

End of the Week

 

 Our wind chill is so cold today that the morning glories are suffering. They just barely put out some blooms in the gusty wind. 

 We have a freeze warning right now in the daytime. I spent the morning bringing in my table full of plants. I guess they could be called house plants but some are outdoor plants too. The geranium has been her before and so has that begonia. I had to move quickly coming in and out of the door so I would not chill the birds. I moved the cockatiel away from the area so he would not be shocked by the 45 F. temps. The plants did well sitting on the patio table out under the deck. The got watered without me having to deal with that. 

 Now that I can see with my one eye, cataract free, I found more tomatoes. I did not know that they were out there. I had a couple at the top I was watching. I am going out this afternoon and will trim some of it down to see if there are any more out there. It is very cold so I have to wear two layers to keep warm. My hoodie keeps my ears warm. 

 The strong winds are clearing out the leaves on some of the trees. The birds are having a hard time flying around as they try to get to the feeders.  My wife bundled up and took more seed out to them. She was feeling sorry for them as they had to struggle so hard to get to the feeders and there wasn't much there. 

 I have two tubs of water out under the deck, on the patio, and they have guppies in them. I spent the morning also dipping water out of them and netted all of the ones that I could find. Guppies do not like cold water so I netted some that looked dead or stunned. When I brought them in and put them in the warm tropical aquarium water they floated around like they were dead, and then they came to, and they started swimming around. I do see that I may have to net out some dead ones but with me having hundreds of them I am not too sad about it. I should have done the job yesterday though.

I am adjust to have one eye in focus now but it still is a struggle to get through the day with the one bad eye. I noticed I was having some balance problems while working in the yard but I just bit the bullet and stayed on task. I do get headaches off and on with the struggling two. I will get the left eye corrected on Monday so things will be great. The hospital is already worrying about me getting them paid ahead of time. I did do pay them for the last one and when I again can figure out their web site I will get them paid in plenty of the time. I am sure it is their computer system that is all nervous about it, Automation can be good and some times harassing. 

Thanks for checing in today. 

A Very Wet Day

 It is a rainy day and the wood of the red bud tree is darker from all of the moisture. We don't see the branch structure all summer as the leaves are so thick. Now as the leaves are falling we can see the sculptural form of the tree.  In the background you cans see the neighbor's maple tree is now turning red. The zinnias in the foreground are now getting a gray blight on their leaves. I cut another bouquet from the zinnias so we can see them up close. They do put out a lot of color for us to see as we gaze out at the backyard. 

 

The morning glories have spread and are growing in cracks of the stairs. I couldn't get that by choice but I like it now as the fall weather is coming. It hasn't tripped me up so far.

 The iris are really liking their new beds and you can see that they are really growing. Maybe I will actually see some blooms next late spring. 

I will share again a newer view of the dinner plate hibiscus. It is like the rainfall and the cool weather doesn't bother it. 

 

 

 

I shared this on my Photo a Day yesterday of the wild violet in bloom. It isn't a surprise as the seasons of spring seem to be returning because of the nice rains in all of September. We are getting more rain today and they say it will hang around all day. I went out and walked a little in the yard this morning just because I wanted to get out. My hair didn't get too wet. I am still dealing with the double vision with one great eye and one bad eye. I am doing better at walking around with one eye closed. I have the good eye that now needs a reading glass but the old eye needs my old glasses. I am doing better with my corrected eye and can clearly see that  I have lots of bruises on my face from the cataract removal procedure. I will just struggle through until the next one is fixed. I am taking my wife over to the grocery store and I will trail along with her today so we can pick up a few things. 

Thanks for stopping by today. 
 

Blurry or Not!

 The house finches have not been frequent visitors this summer. They are so red in early spring but they are now even fading a bit. 

 I walked around a bit this morning in spite of the cold and shots photos. I was really surprised to see this wild violet in bloom. It was in direct sun and under the deck where it was keeping a little bit warmer. 

 I like the berries that form on the red twig dogwood. The birds are not eating on them yet as I think they need to get riper before they like them.

 All of the iris that I transplanted look so great. I like seeing that even the scrap small pieces of rhizomes are rooted down and shooting up leaves. I don't know what will happen next spring but I hope a few of them will put out some blooms. I know that a lot of the time they do not bloom after being moved until the second season. 

 I don't know if it is called reblooming or if the hibiscus is doing late blooming. This whole branch as many buds to produce flowers. I am think the freeze of the near future will stop that for sure. 

 I like them but I know that they have taken over the whole plot. I will have to take the sunflowers down as they are spent. I have been cutting away at the glories base so they are losing their places to grow. I found about six or more tomatoes on the one plant on the left. With my one eye surgery complete I can now see where they are. I thought I was done with them but they are behind all of the leaves. 

 After my cataract surgery I was told not to lift things. I did spend some time on my knees this morning anf finished planting the last nine tulip bulbs. I gave away eight or more as I was getting tired of planting them. I am having a struggle with one bad eye that needs glasses and one very good corrected eye that doesn't and won't tolerate looking through the old glasses. The early morning time is good as I am not so bothered by the fight but by noon I am going crazy with one bad one and one good one. I watched tv last night with a shirt placed over my bad eye. I can't believe how bad the lens had become as my whole world was being yellowed out. Next Monday I will have the other one corrected. I will see if my face gets beat up as much as this first procedure did. I looked like I was in a fist fight with the machine that they clamp on your face is secured so as  to allow the other devices to work to change the lens. It is an all new world for me as I have been severely near sight since fourth grade,1960.

Tomorrow is another day. Thanks for stopping by today.