Hot and Humid

 The haze was real and I didn't try to filter it out of the shot. The humidity was high from the very start of the day and the camera did pick it up.

 The clouds looked strange with our heavy air. The heat was high for most of the day. I didn't have to worry about it being too cool first thing in the morning while working outside. 

 The grackle likes the cardinal seed and stayed for a longtime. I like how the head feathers can reflect blue and also green. 

 They are such a streamlined shaped bird. I did read that they are of the black bird family.

 A young house finch sits on the pole. Every once in a while he preens his new feathers trying to get them all straightened. 

 I started a big project of moving some iris out of my one garden area. I don't know why I ever planted but the job got to be too much for me today. I had to quit as I just go too hot working out there in the heat and humidity. 

 A few Siberian iris that sits near the area is still partially in bloom. The dark purple one is totally gone now. I will return tomorrow and finish digging up the last of the iris and get them replanted, The one area where I dug today was in soil that was so hard packed that it was difficult to get a spade down into it. I will dig the whole area up when the ires are gone and get that soil back into shape. 

Thanks for checking in today.  

 

Summer Warmth

 Yellow primrose has a foliage that makes you first thing it is a weed. I let it grow knowing that it will eventually put out great yellow flowers.

I have to look it up each year to prove to myself that they are not buttercups. The number of peatals of the flowers make it a primrose. 

 I consider this one of the old fashioned peonies, ones that I would see at the old farmsteads when I was a kid in southern Iowa. We had one row of them at the top of the his of our farm which were planted by previous owners. Nurseries really didn't exist in numerous places like today and I am sure the farm wife got them from another neighbor's home. The original owners of our farm had two orchards planted and old fashion flowers that would be see along the fronts of farmhouses. 

 I first bought a "William Baffin" rose in Grand Marais, Minnesota. I brought it back to my older home place as I thought it would surely survive our Iowa winters. When I moved to the new place, I found it by accident at our local nursery. It is a climber and the tall branches do eventually sag down. It is having a good year as the recent rains made it bloom better. The people who put the fence in wanted to put the gate at the corner of the house but I didn't want ti to be crowded out and not in view from the back yard. 

 This shot shows how great the view is of all the multiple rose is. It makes it almost impossible to dead head the rose with their being so many but I do try to get some so I can get the rebloom.

 My front yard looks great. I have had to mow every four days to keep up with its growth. The locust tree, which I did not plant, has proved to be a showpiece of our front yard. I like how the branches sag down as if it is like a southern plantation. The leaves are more moss like that a regular tree. Some people would trim it up but I don't want a lollipop tree. I will trim back selectively some when it gets so  I can't pass under them when mowing. 

We are home from church and it is a quiet afternoon. It is warm to almost hot. People are swimming in their pools and the birds are busy feeding at the trays. It is summer now for sure. Thanks for checking in today.

Backyard Blooms

 

I worked in the backyard mowing the grass. I had to use the bag on the mower to get up some of the major areas that had buildup of cut grass from the last time I mowed four days ago. I mulched my tomatoes already because of it and I had other areas I could use it to kill out weeds. 

 The cardinal was friendly today and kept flying around looking for things to eat while I was out there.. He usually isn't that friendly.

 My old fashion iris is still blooming. I like how hardy it is and the blooms just keep coming. The smaller size really does remind me of the cemetery iris of the past. 

 The old fashion rose is putting out there cabbage shaped bloom back in my back yard. 

 The last of my black iris is now gone. It had a long good run but iris never last long enough.

 My white cemetery iris is almost done with its last blooms fading. I saw this plant at the cemetery the other day when we visited there.

We have had cloudy weather for the most part. It sprinkled on me this morning while I was mowing. There are rain clouds all around us but we aren't getting rain. Most of the front is staying west of us in Nebraska, The afternoon is a pleasant cool windy day. I was out taking new photos for other blogs in the future. It was about time for doing that. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  

 

Friday's Finds

 The female house finch isn't too far behind of her mate at the feeder. They are almost always together until they build the nest.

 At one time two females and a male was at the feeder at the same time. The male mate to one of them kept getting attacked by the dominate one here. 

 The new fledgling mourning doves are in great number at our feeders. Researched info says a pair can have four or five nest fulls in one season. We do have lots of doves aat the feeder. When I zoom in on the smaller doves you can't see that they are smaller than the adult birds. 

 I was mourning the loss of all of my roses from the winter. I cut back eighty persent of the canes and I was glad to see them come back.

 This was a newer "knock out" rose that looked totally dead. I am glad that I didn't dig it up and toss it.

 My yellow rose that was so robust is now coming back. It isn't as big bur it is looking good with more buds and blooms.

I didn't use the new grass trimmer today. I needed to give my left arm time to heal or maybe strengthen. We had an investment guy visit early this morning on a business call and the rest of the day seemed one to just take it easy. I am getting use to the heat somewhat but most work will have to be done now in the mornings. I can't keep up with the grass. I guess I fertilized too much.

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Morning Sky

 If I have a great sunrise shot, you can count I will normally share it first. It was a subtle color from inside the house but once I went outside I was glad that I had checked it out.

 I worked outside this morning getting different things done. I used my new grass trimmer and I am pleased with it. I don't like that my left arm keeps vibrating way long after I have quit. I didn't finish all of the property today but can go back tomorrow to finish up some of the fence row. I dug more iris today and moved them into a new location. If the iris didn't bloom this season I plan to move it. Some of the iris ended up in a wet spot because the neighbor's runoff from their roof drains down into one section  of my corner of the yard. The rhizomes were alive but they came out of wet soil. We haven't had rain in two weeks.  

 My old rose from the old place is blooming. I had to cut it back a lot and it did keep on budding. At the old place it grew up on the north side of the house. I moved it to the west side of the house and it did much better. At the new place it did very well until this past winter. 

 I don't remember buying this but I believe it is the one called "sum and substance".  It is growing now next to the rain barrel and doing very well. I brought it here as the former owner had no hosta in his gardens. 

Some people in our neighborhood have garages filled with tools, bikes and junk.. When the new nighbor moved here he like the house because it had three bays. On bay he uses for one car and two bays are used for his wood projects and tools and wood storage for his project.  His truck will always be out and his trailer will always be out as it holds more wood. I smiled when his wife put out a pot of flowers there knowing that we are stuck looking at the lot of things. Some days I back my truck out of the garage and leave it for a couple of days so I can join the club. Across the street is a guy with a old wrecked truck filled with things in the back of it. He says he is going to fix it. 

 My "knock out" roses have recovered and they look better. They aren't too big in height but there is lots of red showing with the three of them. 

The temps have been high the past few days. We hit 90 degree F. yesterday and we will hit close to that  again today. They are talking drought again because we have had rain for a few weeks. It is summer so who knows what will happen. 

Our nitrate levels in our water sources of the Des Moines plant have doubled from a few weeks ago.The special treatment is barely working. Usually this problem doesn't develop so early as the farming season has just started. High nitrate seems to be a year round threat for us in the area. Stats are showing that Iowa is in one of the top one or two states with cancer now and people are now taking things more seriously. I never water my lawn but the waterworks people are saying to others to quit using up our expensively treated water on your grass. It would be nice if it would start raining again. I have two rain barrels and collect water for everything all summer, unless it doesn't rain.

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Middle of the Week

 The morning was partly cloudy but the southern winds did blow the clouds away. It wasn't too cold this morning as we were heading to 90 degrees F. by afternoon.. 

 The back corner that was created by the new fence is looking good. All the white peonies are on the ground from a rain last week. I will pick some and bring them in soon for a vase. 

 I didn't notice that the Siberian iris in the corner did not bloom. I found the bush next to it had overgrown on top of it. I clipped it all back to expose the iris to daylight. I dumped a bucket of water on it but I doubt that will make it now bloom.  I guess it is worth a try. More light and more moisture. 

 It should of had blooms like this one. Again, I have my doubts that it will now bloom but I can always experiment with nature.

 This old fashioned pink peony is now blooming. It is the last to open up among all of the collection. The colors were so great when the sun shone on it but I finished mowing and went back to get this shot and it was in shade.

 This purple salvia sage was looking so bad that I tried to dig it all out of my front garden. As you can see I didn't get all of the roots out as this came back strong. Digging it up actually made this bloom better with more flowers than ever before. 

 The coral bells flowers look great against the salvia sage. I inherited both of these flowers from the previous owner. 

 I bought a new grass trimmer this morning. My wife noticed I didn't come home happy. I couldn't buy the one that I wanted as they couldn't find the battery for it. I ended up buying a different brand that I really wasn't familiar with. I looked at four different brands and the one I had picked out was light weight. Through a bit of confusion I just said I will buy this one and need to get out of here. It weighed more. 

 The hardware has given me grief before even though I like most of the things I get there. They want me to be signed up for a discount program but if it is on sale then you don't get your discount for being a loyal customer. My discount coupons usually are not up to date and have expired. I have become less discontent with the trimmer and I did get my battery powered up. It does work. It has some strange feature that I will have to get use to and I sure hope it isn't too heavy as I use it. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  

 

Many Captures Today

 A couple hummers are back in the area. I did get some shots but I have to be quick with the camera. They drink a quick sip and off they go.

 

The red glass is a good draw for them to come to the feeder but they do wish that there were holes in the glass itself as the try to poke at it. 

 A new iris for me is this one. It is its first year to bloom. I have decided to move any iris that does not bloom. I figure that it is a bad location for it or I may have it buried to deep. I have a newplace to plant them as the tree I had removed left me with some big open space. 

 As the sun shone through the windows I looked over at the table and saw this iris being treated to special lighting. 

 This invasive flower was planted by the former owner. I don't really like it as it has spread into many areas where I would like it not to be. Between it and the lily of the valley, things are out of control. 

 I promised in the past blog that I would share this darker blue/purple Siberian iris. It is doing well here. I have another planting of it that the bushes seem to be blocking my view of it. I mowed the back yard today as it was growing so well. It was just five days ago that I mowed it and it really was in need to be done again. It was hot out there in the morning and I had to take a couple of breaks to get in out of the heat. I started with a long sleeved shirt and I shed that in lest than a few minutes. I had shorts and t-shirt for my wardrobe. I will mow the front yard tomorrow. 

 I was out bringing in the flag and I saw the white glow. I really didn't know what phase it is in as I haven't seen it for along time. The location view  of it is behind my front yard trees. As bright as it appeared I thought it my be full but is certainly beyond that.  I can walk out to the driveway and lean against the garage door to take the shot. I really need to be steadied more these days. 

We are at a high of 87 degrees F. and won't cool off much tonight. Thanks for stopping by today.