Meaner Than a Junkyard Dog

 

 

 

 Photos that are squeezed between others that I haven't used tend to get buried. I may have already shared one of them but maybe not. I mowed the yard both front and back this morning as it had stopped raining. It did start raining at two in the afternoon. Two other neighbors were out there mowing also to get it done before the next rainfall. We have very green grass with all of the moisture. It looks great for this time of the year. It may slow down the leaves turning color.

 I took the shot and have never shared it as it doesn't fit in with anything. My Grandmother married twice. She lost her husband, my grandfather Brown, in 1937. She remarried and lost her second husband in 1961. We lost her in 1973 from cancer. She worked hard and had so little to live on but enjoyed what little she had. I have quilts that she made. I have that wedding dress and the gold bracelet. I have it only because I was the last person standing. 

My grandfather Brown in the picture, my mom's dad, had a name that we as kids laughed about.  Jim Croce wrote a song about "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown". "He was the baddest man in the whole dang town. Meaner than a junk yard dog, bigger than ole Kind Kong".  Actually Leroy Martin Brown was a smaller guy who was known as a horse trader. He dug graves at cemeteries and looked for work a lot. Keeping his wife and three kids fed was difficult for him.  My grandmother helped neighbor women birth children and I assume they gave her food in payment for that work. For survival, my grandmother married a widowed farmer. So when I look at the wedding photo I thinks of so many stories. 

Thanks for stopping by today, Yes, I am a grandson of a horse trader.  

Clouds Above and Some Sunshine

 It was a dark start to the day. Th sun was not to be seen with all of the overcast of cloud cover. We are getting spells of sunshine but it will not be that often.

 The morning seems to be a dramatic view for the most of the morning. It has warmed up even with no sunshine. We will reach 75 degree F. today. 

 

It was a cluttered shot that my camera had to  focused through all of the flimsy clouds. It does  show an almost perfect round moon view. 

 Olives decorate the bowl on an olive oil bowl. It is intended for the dipping of bread pieces in olive oil. We have to work on getting some baked bread loaf to let us use it. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  

 

Sunday's Stuff

 It has finally stopped raining. It was time to go out in the late afternoon and get another bouquet. There are so many flowers that it does not look I had picked any. I have lots of branching where the new blooms will form, It will happen if the temperatures hold good for flowers.

 

 The white looks so great against the dark wood. I will put the bouquet on our dinning room table so we can enjoy it wile we are eating. 

 We put our carved wood African animals away for a while. We have had them on display for years in both our old house and now our new house. We will probably get them out sometime again but for now we are going to keep things simple for the display on the couch buffet. 

It was nice to not have to walk into church in the rain. Our temps have dropped for a while but we are suppose to warm up gradually the net few days. Our rain totals in the area are said to be over 12 inches. It is so varied but we will just go with the average. I could check mine and write it down each time but I am not that organized. I am busy bloggibg, ha.

Thanks for stopping by today.  

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.