Fireworks of the Past

 

 

 

 The past two days of rainfall was more than what we adverage for the whole summer. Flooding in low area along creeks  eems to be building again. Our creek on the east side of the city along the interstate continues to be high water causing problems. 

Our temps are high today and the humidity is high also. It is best to stay inside for the rest of the day. We had fireworks going off in many square blocks around us last night. People really seemed to afford lots of them as they were going off  continually for a couple of hours. The late comers were still firing off at midnight. The fireworks show on the DC Mall was so amazing. It was once in a lifetime and very impressive. 

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Saturday the Fourth

 

 The morning is cloudy and cool from the night rains. It did stop raining, the second night in a row, and we got two more inches of rain. The heat and humidity is back again for the day. Those who attended parades today had lots of warm moist air but no rain happened. 

I pulled water grass and weeds this morning. I will never get ahead of that battle but at least I did try. I mad major decisions to move some flowers around and put them into better locations. My back fence is located where there use to be a country creek. It has been replaced with a large drainage pipe. The area is still to wet for the flowers that I have placed there. I want to return it back to being grass and or mulch. 

The star gazer lily is hanging in there even though it really is crowded. The lily has a great aroma strnnger than the phlox.

 The winds were strong the night before and it di cause things to be affected. Here a day lily bloom was snapped off. I had two goldfish outside in a plastic bin that holds lots of water for them. Last night during the rains the fish both decided to leave the water and land on the patio. I don't understand why or how they both would pull that off, but I had two large dead goldfish to dispose of this morning. I won't replace them and just stick to keeping of the guppies. I can put guppies into that outdoor tank now and they will love it. 

 The other barrel that I have on the patio is this one with a small waterlily growing in it. I already have guppies in there and they are fun to watch living in the natural environment.

We will have a noisy night tonight as the whole neighborhood will be firing off their fireworks . We can sit in our sun room and watch all the colors and designs in the sky. It will be loud and we usually are glad when they run out of their explosives.

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Falling Water

 The evening became a storming night. We had thundering, lightning, and rain as we were going to bed. The entire night through the morning was continuous fronts of rain passing over. We ended up with five inches of rain on the south end of our city. The north end of our city had over nine inches of rain. A neighboring town to the north, fifteen miles away , had over a foot of rainfall. 

 I had to drive in steel posts this morning to tie up my sunflowers that were laying on the ground.That much rain made the garden soil so moist that the roots couldn't hold them up.

 The drain pipe from the eaves spouts shows the smashed down grass from all the water.  I am glad I had that eave spout cleaned out ready to handle it.

My zinnias are starting to bloom. I had a few that were beat down into the dirt but they did raise back up with dirt on their leaves. I can't share any rose blooms today as they were flooded and spoiled, I know they will be back better than ever.

The day lilies popped open this morning glad to get all that moisture.  Just yesterday I noticed that the heat was making our yards look like they were going dormant. We back up to 86 degrees F. this afternoon and the humidity is very high. 

 I have an unplanned cottage garden that seem to be out of control. The phlox are taking over everything. I have been moving iris out of there and now I am thinking I may have to go wild and start yanking out phlox. My zinnia patches are looking good and they will show off in a few weeks lots of color. The phlox will have a great show and I do like them but the lilies struggle and can't be seen.

 This stargazer lily is hiding inside that phlox field. The smell is wonderful but they too are shorter than the surrounding plants. If I can get them marked, I will move them out of there this fall.

 I planted some various kinds of canna bulbs this spring and they are now growing. The rains will help even though I have been watering them. I don't know if they will do very well as when you buy the potted ones already started in greenhouses. I will just keep watch to see if I get any blooms ever.

I am hoping for a quieter night tonight. The flooding was so bad that the north bound I-35 was closed this morning to traffic as it was under water. I don't think we need rain for a while now, the forecasters really didn't get this one right.  I don't trust what they say will happen in the future. Celebrations of the fourth will be ruined or maybe not.

Thanks for checking in today. 

Thursday's Things

 The daylily likes its location as it seems to be back bigger and better from last year. The new fence helps to protcct it and give it a warmer climate. 

 In the same area the pink rose and Asiatic lily also loves the fences new growing zone.  One lily back there has to be moved as it didn't bloom this year. It is too close to the new fence and the iris seems to be crowding it. On a cooler day I will just dig it and find a new place for it to grow. 

 I keep carrying water cans full to the hanging planter in the circle garden. I thought I might need to bring it into a protected area but it seems to not mind the heat as long as its roots are kept wet.

 

The seed hardy geraniums seem a little bit daunted by the heat but I keep their roots wet on a daily basis too.

The straw hat can't keep you cool when it is in the upper 80s. I was out working with a breaking the middle of the morning and then I just knew I needed to come inside .The heat headache hangs on for a while so I will stay inside the rest of the day. I can get some work done but mostly I can see where I need to get some jobs done. My rain barrel is almost empty and I will have to use city water. The water department did say people could now do very limited lawn watering so I think I should be able to water plants. Th lawns do seem to be slowed down and the need to mow is not so often. I don't know if we will see rain anytime this week. My errands out to get groceries was ok but a lot of people are staying home. 88 degrees F. will be our high for today.

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Red and Hot

 The hardy geranium survived the winter inside and now is rewarding me with new blooms. I really like the red color of this flower. I think the old traditional red-orange geranium that my mom use to grow isn't even available any more. 

 My rose grew bigger and is invading the day lily that use to be next to it. I could just cut the rose branch out of there but I don't kill flowers even if they are out of control.

The pinkish rose continues to regroup after I gave it a good trimming. these are leftover blooms but soon they will be gone. 

 I really don't grow hosta for their blooms but I do like them.  They don't last long. I worked outside in the 80 degree F. weather this morning. I took two different breaks as I had to cool down. I trimmed out the mulberry tree away from inside of the privet bush. I trimmed other unwanted tree growth away from the water meter. I was concerned that the meter reader couldn't see the dials. After I cleared it all out I saw the magic sensor that they have on the wall that they actually use to electronically read our meter. He just holds his reader up to the black button and gets the amount used. It does look better anyway to have the stuff out of the area where the privet grows.

I quit early today and came inside and drank coffee with sugar free snacks. I feel better in my wing back chair and sipping coffee than being out there in the humidity and heat. It is now 87 degrees F. and we are heading to 91 degrees. We cooled down last night to 76 degrees F. 

Thanks for checking in today.  

Steamy Heat

 

 

 

 I walked around in the backyard this morning taking shots. I saw lots of work that I needed to do but it was too hot. I needed to go on an errand so I just left the stray trees growing. The weeds that are creeping  in along the fence are still there and I left the mulberry that is growing up in my rose bushes to grow one more day. We are in a hot spell for four more days with our cooling off at night being so minimal.  Maybe I can get out there earlier in the morning tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Moons and Rivers

 The humidity was high and the moon had to shine through it. I did get a focus on it, The wind was strong and the temps were at 80 degrees F. at ten o'clock at night. It was a strange sensation of heat on the body as the wind blew the heat in your face while standing in the middle of the street. 

 The morning was also a warm start at 76 degrees F, the low for the night. It did stay hazy for most of the day with the hot sun coming out every once in a while.  I spent my morning watering things. We have high concentrates of nitrate in our rivers from the farm chemicals so it has to be treated to bring the level down a bit. It is our cause of our high cancer rate in the state, we rank at number two state in the nation. The water plant does not want any watering of the treated water as they are just barely keeping up. I used my water barrel supply and carried it everywhere. 

 My newest lily to bloom looks like this. I like it better than the one larger one that I have that is similar.

 I filled the one red feeder this morning. I messed with its seal and got the thing to not drip any more. 

 I had placed a bowl under it to stop if from dripping. I got the chipmunk addicted to shurga as he kept coming up for more. 

 

When the bowl was cleared he would lick it up off the deck. Now that it doesn't drip anymore I can take the bowl away.

 Down on the ground the hosta are doing well. I never expected them to get this big but I like it. I don't thin my plants out but I may have to do so in the fall. I shared a lot of them with friends a couple of years ago and it looks like they could come back for more. 

 I have three boxes of vines and they seem to be slow growing. I watered them this morning to encourage them. There are trellis waiting for them to climb up them any time now.

I went to bring in the garbage bin and the mail this afternoon. It is not nice out there. I see the winds got so strong in northern Iowa that there were windmills broken off. The winds are strong and the heat with high humidity continues.  

Thanks for checking in today.