Big Blue Tree

 It is another clear morning here. It looks great and feels great too. I walked the property today with clippers in hand. I took down some more branches of sunflowers and also tomato vines. My instructions from the doctors office is no heavy living nor leaning down. I am approaching all of the jobs with minimal movement and piling things to be moved later.  I did find one more iris growing in the wet bog area. I got a spade and flipped it out of there. I was so wet that the soil was tight like it was a clay ball. I moved the iris over to the new planting zones and placed pellets of grub killer on it before I planted it. I am hoping it still has some time to root down but if I hadn't moved it the rhizome would have rotted. 

 The ones that I planted a month or so ago are looking so good now. I will have to selectively thin out the bed after a couple of years as I do have things planted too close. I have new peonies coming today. I ordered them a long time ago and they finally made it through all of the stops in the country before arriving here. I have other things that I ordered that I will share later. No, I didn't buy any more iris. I know that I am getting too interested about them. 

 

My three yellow cannas are looking good. They are sure late blooming and maybe they can get into full bloom before the first hard freeze. 

 

 

I collected seeds from my two different colors of morning glories. I have too many seeds but one just has to fill the jar. They will dry out more and black seeds will drop to the bottom of the jar.

 I hate to destroy flowers but I have been clipping out the morning glories from the dead sunflowers. The glories did take a break from blooming for a couple of days after our mild first frost. Now they are blooming greatly again,

 I am happy with the new lens in my two eyes. I am still adjusting to them as they mildly are competing. They seem to work just right at some times and other tines I have blurry problems as they adjust. I have lots of questions for the eye doctor when I visit him in a week or so. I do think I have to get use to sunglasses for everything outside. I wore my straw hat this morning as I was too lazy to go get the sunglasses. That did help some. Reading glasses are giving me a whole new world while working on the lap top.

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Thursday

 A clear sky on a Thursday morning and it is going to warm up again today. It is so nice to be outside on days like this.

 

Yesterday, while I was wandering around in the garden, I looked over and there was a monarch almost eye level on a zinnia. The migration was over a few weeks ago but I have heard on the net that there are a few stragglers out there. I was quick to dig out my phone and open it up for a couple of quick shots. I did scare it away but I do have visual proof that I saw it. It wasn't all beat up like some of the are and it fluttered around in a very carefree way.

Most all of the zinnias did get hit with the frost. There are a few lone survivors out there and I do take shots of them when I see them. 

This is one that didn't feel the cold touch of Jack Frost. I will wait to harvest seed before I start to take them down. I need more recycle bags for all of the dead stems and leaves. I can get rid of my many bags of yard trash in November. 

My one canna had beautiful colors with its leaves. The flowers were red. I had two of thse out of the dozen that I got in the bag. 

I am still on light work detail as I am only four days away from my last cataract surgery. I see many things that I need to do but I will be careful. I think maybe by Saturday I can mow grass and mulch leaves. I hope are great warm weather holds out for me. I have reading glasses now that let me see what I am doing on the computer. I have been limited in view for a year or sol when it came to blogging but now I can just sit and type and a normal distance. I can tell that the eyes are not in so much competition now and yet I do get sum blur once in a while as I learn to focus. I have an appointment to have them checked and evaluated to see if I need special glasses. My left eye isn't quite up to par. I have two other appointments in the next few weeks for a couple of different things. I have to keep things on the calendar to stay on top of things.

Thanks for checking in today. 

Tuesday's View

 There are just a few things in bloom now after our frost. The mums are doing well and the knock out rose is still putting out some blooms. 

 The sun is shining on the mums in the front yard and they look really red here. They seem to be in their peak right now.

 The zinnias took a few days to show me that they did suffer from the frost. Very few of the blooms now look normal. Most have the brown cast forming on the edges of the blooms.

 I transplanted this one zinnia over to the tomato patch and you can see how they do grow large from on single plant. 

 The front  yard looks good with the yucca growing large and all the background it  to be red. I like growing the plant as it makes me feel like I am a part of life with my brothers who both live in desert climates.  We see yuccas growing wild when we travel west through Nebraska. We do have just a few the growing in the he  wild on our loess hills in the western border of Iowa. 

 It is strange to have such cool weather in the morning and there is heavy dew. The Japnese iris is all wet and spreading out from the water. I keep wondering when I should cut this back for next years blooms. 

I am happy with both of my eyes now being cataract free. The improvement is great but my first eye is still adjusting to the second eye being corrected. I have some conflicts going on and as time goes by my body will figure it all out. I definitely need to go buy some reading glasses as I have lost all of my near sighted tendency.  My old sunglasses are a big help for now but  I need to get some more stylish one to wear. I just walked around outside today as i am not to do much physically for a few days. I can wait to mulch leaves on Saturday. 

Thanks for stopping in today.

First Day of the Week

 

 Morning glory seeds are ready for harvest. They do self seed but I like to collect them and put them in jars. That way I can control where they actually will grow. 

 I inherited this drain sculpture from the former owners. I have never seen them on sale but this one is a joy to have. The dog looking up at the boy on top of the log is a great scene. 

 There are just a few blooms left on this rose bush. I do see it has more buds and they should survive with our now warm temps. 

 I had my left eye cataract removed today. It was a long wait today as if maybe the surgeon wasn't in the building when I arrived. I do think that the surgery went well but the process was farm more painful than the first one that I had. I don't know if it was a different process. It is nice to have balanced eyesight now and I am amazed as to what I have not been seeing. The surgeon did say I hand an unusually thick cataract on the right eye so I am sure the left eye had the same. I am glad it is all done. One more test on my body happens at the end of the month and then I will be done with doctors for a while. Check ups by primary doctores are wonderful compared to the five events that I will have completed this month. I am looking forward to walking outside tomorrow and view the whole wide world in full view. I may have to get sun glasses to tone down all of the light that I am now experiencing. Getting old is a process that I just need to get use to. Thanks for stopping by today.

The Sun is Welcomed

 We welcome the sun as we need to warm up a bit. It is a clear sky so we can have a great day. 

 A small zinnia reminds me of the symbols used for the sun. The zinnia blooms are small now as their season comes to an end. 

 I take photos of things that look good and then they turn out to be less impressive. The zinnias hang low as the rains sent them to the ground. 

 This rose still has a few buds so I will see blooms until the hard freeze comes.  This rose had died down with so many dead canes but it rebound with new growth behind it making a new site of a new bush. I always bragged about it being my twenty dollar rose and it did do well for years. I now see that it has to regenerate in a new time and area. 

 I have two differnt kinds of tulips planted here alone with the evasive grape hyacinths. Just being obsessive I planted some new tulips in front of all of this. I didn't overlap anywhere as I didn't get into any older tulip bulbs. I did get into the grape hyacinths but they are so easy to just plug back in to the ground with out digging. 

 

We didn't go to church today as I have one good eye and one bad, non-focusing eye. I look funny running around with one eye closed. I stay away from mirrors. I have the left eye appointment tomorrow morning, repeating the same surgery as I had last week but on the lleft eye. It will be wonderful seeing everything with out that strong yellow haze. I am enjoying seeing things with clarity now. Seeing at a long distance was never happening and seeing detail of a photograph on the wall was such a surprise. I have lived in a blurry world most of my 76 years. My first glasses in fourth grade gave me an ability to look out the window and see leaves on the trees. The contact lens were so great to but I had to abandon them twenty years later. Blogging will be easier as maybe I won't have to go back and correct so many errors.

Thank you for stopping by today. 
 

Red Admiral

 

I was out walking the gardens to see what the damage was from the hard frost. I could see the damage to a lot of the zinnias. I thought to myself that I won't see butterflies any more. Then I walked over to the one end of the zinnias and this red admiral buttterfly was sitting eye level with me. I don't know why they call them red admiral as the color is more yellow and in others photos it is orange. 

 I have one last bloom on this rose. The leaves have all fallen off and it looks sad with only one bloom. 

 I didn't take photos of the damaged ziinnias nor the shriveled morning glories but this one was one that fades because of its age. My white zinnias are brown now. 

 The front roses are putting out new buds and blooms regardles of me not dead heading them The cold did deform this a bit but there are two buds there ready to open that won't be bothered from the cold.

 My canna lilies were not bothered from the frost so we didn't have a very hard freeze. This canna is blooming late and has two stems of bloom on it.  I will be digging them once they do get frozen out. This is the only set of roots that I will have to dig.

 I noticed the iris likes the cooler weather. I think they are really rooting down for winter. They are all standing straight and tall. I guess I should cut back on them but I worked so hard to get them in there I don't want to bother them. Next week when I can't do any heavy lifting I can use the shears on them. 

 

When I moved away from the old place I left behind a true birch tree. The good option is the neighbor's clump birch is great to enjoy. He will get lots of leaves soon. I remembered from my birch that the leaves all drop in a two or three day time.  That front yard on that property is so strange as it is very short and the whole front yard is in decline to the sidewalk. The house is built into a hill so the only level area the have is on the north side of the yard and the very back yard that is down the hill. It is hard for him to mow as he is pushing it up hill and coasting it downhill to get it mowed. 

I am on physical restrictions with my cataract surgeries so I will not be mowing for two weeks. Fortunately the grass doesn't need mowing but the leaves in the back yard need to be mulched. It will just be harder to chop up when I can finally get to it but may some of it will break down on its own. My front yard locust leaves will be picked up with the grass catcher once they have all fallen. 

It is cold today, but we did warm up to 59 F.  We are told that the cold spell is over with for a few days and that is great.  Fall is definitely here and somehow the summer seemed to be so short. Thanks for stopping by today.

End of the Week

 

 Our wind chill is so cold today that the morning glories are suffering. They just barely put out some blooms in the gusty wind. 

 We have a freeze warning right now in the daytime. I spent the morning bringing in my table full of plants. I guess they could be called house plants but some are outdoor plants too. The geranium has been her before and so has that begonia. I had to move quickly coming in and out of the door so I would not chill the birds. I moved the cockatiel away from the area so he would not be shocked by the 45 F. temps. The plants did well sitting on the patio table out under the deck. The got watered without me having to deal with that. 

 Now that I can see with my one eye, cataract free, I found more tomatoes. I did not know that they were out there. I had a couple at the top I was watching. I am going out this afternoon and will trim some of it down to see if there are any more out there. It is very cold so I have to wear two layers to keep warm. My hoodie keeps my ears warm. 

 The strong winds are clearing out the leaves on some of the trees. The birds are having a hard time flying around as they try to get to the feeders.  My wife bundled up and took more seed out to them. She was feeling sorry for them as they had to struggle so hard to get to the feeders and there wasn't much there. 

 I have two tubs of water out under the deck, on the patio, and they have guppies in them. I spent the morning also dipping water out of them and netted all of the ones that I could find. Guppies do not like cold water so I netted some that looked dead or stunned. When I brought them in and put them in the warm tropical aquarium water they floated around like they were dead, and then they came to, and they started swimming around. I do see that I may have to net out some dead ones but with me having hundreds of them I am not too sad about it. I should have done the job yesterday though.

I am adjust to have one eye in focus now but it still is a struggle to get through the day with the one bad eye. I noticed I was having some balance problems while working in the yard but I just bit the bullet and stayed on task. I do get headaches off and on with the struggling two. I will get the left eye corrected on Monday so things will be great. The hospital is already worrying about me getting them paid ahead of time. I did do pay them for the last one and when I again can figure out their web site I will get them paid in plenty of the time. I am sure it is their computer system that is all nervous about it, Automation can be good and some times harassing. 

Thanks for checing in today.