Saturday's Spring....

 

The crocus popped up a couple of days ago and they are stunning.  Sadly the creeping phlox is growing over them and it causes me a problem.  The phlox looks very dead but will green up and bloom a few weeks later.  If they can co-exists I would be happy about that. 

 

 The mini-sized daffodils were a mistaken purchase but I do enjoy them anyway.  They too are crowded out by the phlox.  The phlox looks so much like dead weeds. 

The chives are doing well and they will taste so good on our baked potatoes.  Sometimes they can be mixed in with cottage cheese too. 

The winds have been so strong that things were blowing everywhere.  On the front side of the house, across the street is a clump birch, the trees shed their bark.  It happens often that it blows across the street towards our house and then down our hill to the back of our house.  The other day I saw an empty diapers box down the street.  It was dropped when the garbage was picked up down the street.  Yesterday while getting the mail I had to smile as I could see that same box rolling up the hill in the wind.  If it had hit my yard  I would have tossed it but it didn't stay put.  It was rolling wildly in our 60 miles an hour wind. 

We have warmed up to 50° F.  this afternoon from 33° F. this morning.  We had been 74° F. yesterday so it has felt like a yo-yo spring.  We had tornadoes in the eastern part of the state and I had snow on the deck this morning.  I am hoping things shape up so I can get outside and work in clearing my gardens.  I would like to do it without wearing a winter coat.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Warming Trend....

 At one time today we were up to 78° F. today.  It is cooling down now and we did not get the predictied rain. 

I have been waiting for warm weather so I can keep on working on this footstool.  It needed to have the varnish removed but I could not do it inside because of the fumes. I tore this apart nine days ago so that did require me to have more patience than I truly have.  I found things to distract me.

I tried to set this up yesterday and then I found the wind was too strong for me to work outside.  The wind would dry out the remover before it had a chance to work.  Today was the day for it to happen.

Using remover is not an easy thing.. I found that after I put it on and waited I had to use steel wool to remove the old varnish.  I had to do three applications to get it finally to be cleared off of the wood. 

I kept rotating it once on set of surfaces were done. There are basically six surfaces facing up here so it took a lot of time. 

There are also eight bottom edges on the underneath of the surfaces and vice versa when I sit it up straight.  I sit it upside down firs then sit it right side up to get it all done.  Obviously I had to clean up slopping onto already finished areas. 

I will hand sand it all or maybe get out the power sander for the major large surfaces.  Once I put on a new finish I will have to take my wife with me to find materials to cover the seat or top of the footstool. 

Hey we are in Zone 5a and the crocus are up in bloom.  I was surprised as to how fast the shot up and opened. 

Unfortunately I don't have my flower gardens clear of dead stuff.  It has been too cold to be out there.  I have dead mum plants to cut off and roses to prune back.  It will happen but sometimes jobs like this can put me into a panic.  If I work at it a few hours per day it will get done.  I have lost my best pruning shears so I will be slowed down with a bad set of shears.  Oh well......Thanks for stopping by today.

Thursday's a Go.......

 

Old and weathered which blends in with the fence.  I doubt I will ever see any bird nesting in this house as it is too low on the ground and the hole is probably too large.  It is purely decorative for sure.

It is about time to take the decorative birdhouse out side.  I will place them in semi-protected areas so the rain doesn't weather them. 

It feels like spring when the temperatures gets up above freezing.  We are going to warm up for two days and the wind is to be around 80 mph.  I need to work outside this morning and I still need a parka on to keep from chilling.  They don't talk about wind chills but it still works the same way in the spring.

I am planning to plant my sweet potato this spring and just see what happens.  I planted potatoes with my parents when I was a kid so this will bring back some memories of that.  We planted potatoes to feed the family of six for the whole year.  The painted pot is an antique one.  I have a collection of them which were my parents. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Middle of the Week.....

 

First bird to the feeder since I refilled it. It didn't take only a couple of minutes. I was so chilled from being out there to fill it and also take some photos. 

 

 

I snapped this shot to show the unusual leaves of this tulip.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the iris popping through in the background. 

Newly planted iris are looking good here.  If we could get some warm days these things would take off.  We are suppose to have two warm days soon and then severe weather is predicted. 

Our winds have been so strong and the hydrangea head was snapped off and blown across the yard into another garden area.  I was out early and got so chilled from being out there that it took me a long time tow warm up.  I went for some meds this late afternoon and it has warmed just a bit.  I still needed my winter coat.  Thanks for checking in today.

Springish.....

 The pussy will tree is showing is buds.  The birds are waiting for them to get further developed so they can start eating. 

It isn't such a great specimen of a tree but when the leaves sprout out things cover up the problems.  I never knew there was such a thing as a pussy willow tree until I bought this property. 

This is an encouraging sight as the iris are sprouting well.  I would think that every iris that I have planted since two years ago will bloom this year.  If not, they get moved to a different location. I didn't buy new iris this year as life seemed too busy to get them ordered.  I am waiting for the newer ones to put out blooms to find out if I have wasted my time trying to buy new ones.

My wife loves to give me pop-up cards because she knows I am still seven years old.  The card says that it was loving designed in the USA and constructed skillfully in Vietnam.  I like how calling me a classic covers for not calling me an old man.  On some days I don't feel so old. Two of my older brothers are 80 and 82 years old now so they keep calling me the baby in the family at 73. 

It is a sunny day and it looks like spring.  The temperatures are not so warm so I can't really work outside today.  I walked out to take photos and that was tolerable.  The air does feel more like spring. I thank you for stopping by today.

Mulling Around on Monday....

 I saw a male cardinal at the feeder. He is such a bright red. I didn't get a shot.  I did get the female cardinal eating on the other side of the feeder. She stayed for a while and I couldn't resist trying to get a shot. 

After my birthday meal out yesterday we stopped at the food center/pharmacy to pick up some meds.  I saw these in the bucket of flowers and though they need to come home with me.  I try to buy flowers for my wife often and I do enjoy them too. Pink carnations are just wonderful. 

It is so great to see these two show up at the feeder.  When they fly in they look like such large birds.  I was glad that they stayed for a while. 

 

They are a peaceful pair as they eat the safflower seeds with great pleasure.  I have it there for the cardinals too. 

With the birthday being over I now have to get use to saying the new number for my age. I remember as a kid wondering what it would be like to live to 2000.  Twenty three years later is seems not so unusual.  It was hard to keep track of the new century numbers for a while.  When you pick up your meds they ask you your birth date to verify things.  Normally I never hear years near mine at all a most of them are in the 1970s or 80s.  I was surprised the other day while listening to people reciting their birth date numbers and a woman said 1945.  That was the oldest one that I have ever heard.  

When I order my diabetic products to maintain its function I am always getting a call back right before they ship it to verify where I am living. They always ask if i am in the hospital or a nursing home.  I wonder if they ask that of the teenagers who  use Dexcom monitors. 

Last week I was searching for a certain name on the internet to see where he and his wife were now living.  The guy was in college with me and we have not crossed paths for a long time. He and his wife did attend our church for a few years but he moved on to find a smaller church as he didn't like the large church.  When I put in his name to find his present address, up popped up his obituary.  He had passed away three years ago. I really was hit hard with the loss of a younger cousin recently and this news sent my into a sad zone. It was too close to my own birthday and I had to figure out how to process it.  

Lowell was a kind, gentle man who was busy at so many things.  I see by the obit he ended up as a system analysist for the State of Iowa.  He worked at the State House for many years and also like to be history interpreter at our local History Farms.  He had a Seminary degree from out East. He had a teacher's degree that he never used and then he had lots of tech degrees under his belt. His wife worked at Meredith, the Better Homes and Garden company.  I guess the sadness that comes is from how the time has gone by so fast and friends that were are no more.  We were great friends when were in our early twenties and then we lost time and opportunity to  continue it.  

My wife took my out for steak yesterday for my birthday and it was great with shrimp.  We always go out to a local place on Monday's night so we are going to ease the blow of my old age by eating another meal out.  I ate things that were bad for me yesterday so tonight I will eat just meat and green vegetables.  No bread and definitely no potatoes will be consumed.  My spiking meter of high blood sugar got to be irritating and it acted as my guilty conscience. I will do better tonight.  Thanks for checking in today.

Happy Birthday to Me....

 I have a lot of mixed feelings about turning 73 years old.  I am not sure I will share what I really feel about it but I will say I had a good birthday day.  We went out to Applebees for a noon meal and I had apple pie for my substitute birthday cake.  There is too much sugar in cake with frosting and a small slice of apple pie will keep my sugar count lower if I take a very small slice.  I still made my meter go bonkers as I did still spike but it does come down in an hour or two. Tomorrow I will slice it thinner. 

I talked to the youngest son who lives in Maine.  He is still sitting in heavy snow.  Winter takes a while to leave the north country.  He is busy working and being an administrator makes him being more responsible.  Our family from Chicago called from Disney World and sang a birthday song to me. Mom and Dad and the three kids survived their first day at the Magic Kingdom. Florida was hot today with 95° F. temperatures.  

I got two Snoopy shirts for my birthday.  I wear t-shirts a lot in the house so it is fun to have new ones to trade off each day.  I don't have the right program to reverse the photo so you can just treat it as a puzzle teaser.  My wife likes to buy lots of presents and I have some good ones that I may share later.  One was an Old and New Testament that has pictures in it of the places that are being described in the historic document.  Places where Abraham traveled to get to Egypt went through lots of places we visited in Israel.  I have the same photos of the headwaters at the Tel of Dan which feeds into the Jordan River.  It will make studying the Bible more intersting when the photos share the location.

Monday will be here shortly and I will start a new day at my new age number.  I am so ready for spring but that isn't going to be for a few more weeks.  Thanks for stopping by......