Saturday Afternoon

 

If it werent' for the cooler weather coming our way I would think we are living in a tropical climate. I have lost track of all of our rian amounts. The weather people really don't have a clear account of it as the rains vary in amounts all over the state. Our big city itself has so many differences in amount totals. I went out to take shots this afternoon and emptied and inch and a half of rain out of my gauge. 

 

 Our flowers are in decline and our tree leaf colors change really has not started. I mowed my yard last Thursday and by the time I was done everyone else was out mowing their yards. It was good as it was the only time of the whole week where we could avoid mowing in the rain. The zinnia blooms are holding their own even though some are laying down from different wind storms. I have less morning glory blooms now and the roses are in their final season of blooms. I will deadhead roses one more time just in case the bushes decide to re-bud. 

 

We took off for Hobby Lobby today. We didn't have any big purchases to make. We wanted to get out of the house and it is only a few miles from us now. We got a lot of walking in and did pick up a few things.  Saturday is not a good day to shop there but we just dodge all the shopping carts. It didn't rain on us during that time but it did rain before and after we were there. We saw sunshine yesterday and is was so great to see. 

 The rains hace the hummingbirds changing some of their behaviors. I do thinks some have started to migrate. We still have a few wars for space but there are less birds out there. We ill have bird migrations going on soon. I hear that the pelicans are flying south right now and some are out at our local Lake Saylorville. We hear the Canada geese flying over in now small numbers as they keep changing from different feeding areas. Our corn is being harvested so the are moving out into those areas. 

Sunday is coming and thank you for stopping by today.  

Friday's Fun

 The rains continue. The squirrel shields himself with his tail as he digs for seeds in a tray filled with water and seeds. I think the wind is causing the tail to be in that position.

 The lone hummer battles the rain and finds something to eat. The shot is blurry as the moisture is everywhere. 

 The purple glories do bloom through the rain. They do need to be sheltered by a sunflower leaf before they will open.

 

A rainy day project includes taking the scrap wood pieces and make something. The old art teacher blood surges and I make a sculpture as if I had to demonstrate for a class project. 

 The work surface of the shop bench blends in to the creation. I saved all of my small pices as I cut boards for something just like this. 

 

 

I coated it with a clear finish and it can stand as a free standing sculpture. It could be hung on the wall but our house isn't the right style for it. I didn't like the finish on it but I am working on that.

We are going to be in the pits for a few more days with rain. Our totals so far has been 7.45 inches. I won't be working outside for quite a while. 

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Monarch Beauty Plus

 I see photos of the monarch migration that is traveling through our state.  We don'[t have hundreds of them in our area but it si nice to see two or three at a time building up their energy reserves from the zinnias. I was surprised by this one as  I walked to see how things were going in the garden. It almost landed on me as it flew in and landing on a flower right in front of me. 

 The sedum is attracting the butterflies but they are not there when I have a camera. The rains have weakened thei stems stability but they still look good. 

 I have a different variety of sedum in the back yard and all of it is laying on the ground. The color of this one is redder than the ones in the front yard. 

 

The yucca only put out one stem this year instead of five. The new growth gives me a good thought that it might do better next year. The plant is stunning and even if it never blooms it just puts out a good display. 

Plants can get mixed messages about the seasons and this one is about two months late in the bloom cycle. I need to get on my hands and knees and pull all the grass out of there.  I am thinking that I will get some mulch on the row of hosta that are along that garage wall. It will require me to pull a lot of grass but maybe they will grow bigger. 

 The "knock out" roses are not doing great but I can get a photo of three good ones on one part of the bush. I need to dead head them again but it hasn't happened yet. I was out in the front yard this moring cutting back peony bushes and while finishing up my one neighbor lady walked over to talk about her new iris bed that she had just put in. I had seen her over there working and I though not to bother her until she was done. We talked gardening for a while and then I took off to get rid of my my cuttings.  Later I looked up the street and I saw two people talking and I had to walk up. The former neighbor lady who moved to retirement apartments was up there visiting her former neighbor. At first I didn't quite know for sure that it was her but I thought I would walk up anyway. It was good to check in on her and the other person too. Our former neighbor was off to buy a new bigger couch and the other woman was worried abut her daughter driving to school by herself. On my way back down the hill the husband of the iris planting woman was walking up the sidewalk towards me. He looked like he needed to talk so I headed his way. I was starting to mow the front yard at the time but that was on hold for the talks. He had stuff on his mind and I was glad I could listen. He had a very sick son.  Finally I went to the mower and got the front yard mowed and the peony scraps put into bags. We can go days and never see anyone but today it was busy. 

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Natural Colors

 

 

I had to wait for most of the morning to finally get the grass dried out for mowing.  It still had a little bit of moisture but I did get it done. It was really needed. I will sneak in the front yard tomorrow morning before it rains again. We ventured out today and had to come back through so many traffic jams. Construction on interstates are challenging as they keep shrinking four lane traffic down to two lanes and during rush hour it just doesn't work. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Mentions on Monday

 The angel of the garden stands guard in the background, It was wet out there in the garden as I worked at clearing dead plants from the cottage garden. 

 The angel made it into the background of the photo again with this shot. As I worked out there I found the hems of my jeans wet about six inches up. I ended up with wet pants and wet socks. My shoes are old and they leak so I guess I need to buy better new shoes for the rainy season. 

 There is a second angel out there in the secret garden. I trimmed back the iris and also took out some weeds. I have an old fashion pink rose there that I brought to the new place form our old 1904 house foundation plantings. I thought that I need to trim it way back as it will just come back better than ever. Those hosta are growing better now that the tree in that corner of the lot is gone.

 Most all of the phlox are gone but this one is still blooming a bit. I took out piles of the phlox stems and know there will be a few more later on to cut. I can now fine the lily that I want to move out of that flower bed and put it in a better location. It doesn't like being crowded.

 I decided to show you the mess. I tried to take my partially full wheel barrow out to add more to it. It was so heavy and I realized that it was filled up with water from our many rains. I dumped it out without loosing the green waste still in it and it was a whole lot lighter to push around. 

 

 Another rain happened this afternoon.  We would like to see the sun shinning again. Thanks for stopping by today. 

No Sun

 

 

 

 

 It was cloudy all day. We had rain in the early morning but the rest of day was just gray. We didn't warm up and the humidity was high. It felt like fall but we didn't have sun with crisp air. We have one and a half fall months to go. I am hoping that tomorrow will be a better day. We will be cold again tomorrow though.We will see you tomorrow.

Friday's Finds

 The painted ladies are loving the sedum blooms. I rarely take shots of them with their wings open but they open their wings when feeding from the sedum.

 The rains are hard on the sedum. The moisture doesn't hurt the blooms, it is the soil that gets so sogggy that the stems don't want to stand up.

 I like the blue on the bottom wings of the Eastern tiger swallowtail.  I have only one of these that is hanging around but it seems to be so friendly.

 I bought three new angle fish. they are a different variety than the one that I already had. I was glad to see that they all get along. They are from the cichlid family and they can be aggressive and eat others as well as themselves. The koi angelfish is large because he is older. The zebra one will grow up in time. 

 Zebra ones are striking in their black and white markings. The three have survived the move so I am hoping they will live for a long time. I promise that I will get better pictures of these new three. 

 The rains are hard on the roses. I have to make the call to deadhead them and I will probably do it down the line. It seems to be like their season is over. 

 The table is full of houseplants. They are perfect there as the water from rain drips down on them from the deck above keeping them watered and healthy. We never eat down there so the table makes a great plant stand.  I have hosta planted in one of the pots and a spare iris in the red one. I will have to get them back into the ground before winter. 

 It is two years old and it is taking a long time to mature. I have pulled out all competitive plants around it to get it to grow larger. Maybe next season it will be large. I mowed some of my front yard after the grass dried out. I didn't get it all done but there may be a dry morning before it rains again. 

Thanks for stopping by today