Clouds on View

 

It is still daylight at nine in the evening. I was locking up the door to the deck and I saw this. It seemed impressive enough to photograph even though the neighbors house is in the road. I thought though that I should check things out at the front yard.

 I had to walk out onto the front yard beyond the locust tree to see this sight. It was so hot and humid out there and I could hear kids having a party on a deck just up the hill. While taking the shot the girl in red bottom right of the photo was walking down the sidewalk also taking shots of the sky with here phone.

 I dug up some of my hydrangea last fall and moved it to a new location. That which was left behind is still doing just fine. The new start is growing but won't produce this white puffs until next season. I brought these from the old house. The flippers of the old house cleared all of them out of the front of the house. I am glad that I saved these old plants of history. 

 

The blossom of the antique rose does not like heavy rain. I have more buds so I can enjoy it after they open up. With that old tree moved out of there this rose will flourish and probably be aggressive and spread. I planted just a sprig if this at the old place and it spread into three big bushes. 

 I am out of seed so the squirrel didn't stay around long. I have some expensive cardinal seed that I put out sparingly and someday I can get some more common seed. I have a hardware close by and the grocery store a mile away. When I do run an errand I can get some more but maybe not until tomorrow.. 

We both had the booster shot for shingles yesterday. The young man that gave us the shot told us that the effects of this one is worse than the first miserable one.  He was correct as we both are down today. I do feel like someone has shoved me down the stairs. The energy level has been sucked out of us and just moving from place to place is a lot of work. The pharmacist warned us that it may two to three days to get over the shots bad effects. I am trying to think positive and hope that one day of misery will be enough. We will see.

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Friday with Frills

 We had a much needed rain last night. The total was an inch and a half. With heavy rainfall the flowers all got dumped to the ground. I had to photograph this from underneath the sagging branch. I am hoping that when things dry out that they may raise back up a bit.

 My yucca plant has only one spike this summer. I am not sure why there is only one but maybe with good rainfall the next season it will grow more again. 

 The rain last night didn't bother it as you can see they buds are just now opening. I brought this down from the old place and it was just a small start. It may need to be moved, or a section of it moved, to geive some new life. 

 The front planter is doing well that sits next to the yucca. The roses are looking good considering that I cut out major parts of it as dead wood at spring time.

 

 

Shots of the knock out roses are looking good. The color of the fading older ons has an interesting pink color.  

 I have a male hummingbird again this year at the feeders. The ruby red throat color is really a deep red. 

 The bird in motion gives me some blur but the throat red is amazing to see. It has the spinner as the background so it does distract from the foreground. 

We got the second booster shot today for shingles. The young mad administering the shot was such a nice, professional. He warned us that the side effects of the shot may be worse than the first shot. We are planning to be resting all day tomorrow if that is the case. We are now covered for that one. We went out for a chicken sandwich afterward. It is always crowded no matter what time you go. It was a day to stay and eat rather than take it home like we use to do it.  Families with young children are everywhere and they are all more excited about the play center than taking time to eat. On sister and brother had good looking ice cream cones before they left for home. It was nice enough, maybe too warm, but lots of people were sitting outside at their dining patio. 

Hot and humid weather is here for sure. We are suppose to get very hot in the near future.  Neighbor boys are out on their trampoline wether it is hot or cold. All the neighbor kids come over to play with them in different groups. Twin girls on one side and a two girls and a brother on the other side. You can see them as the bounce high enough that there heads are seen above the fence line. 

Thanks for checking in today. 

Things for Thursday

 The earth tilting causes my view of the sun to be between the trees. We do tip a lot when you consider where that sun started at the far right of the horizon.

 By walking to the far end of the deck I can get a better show of the clouds with color glow of the sun.

This is a knock out rose with its two different colors of blooms. The older blooms fade out cause the bush to look like it is multi-color bush.

 The young male house finch has such great line details. It is more red in the early spring/summer season and the red fades or grays in the fall. 

 The volunteer sunflower stays in the garden. I have a second one that I will try to move away from the far edge.  Maybe I can make it look like I planned the planting of them.

 The coral bells are looking boo right now. They are hard to photograph but full sun made it happen better. The salvia sage that I tried to rid from the area is looking good for the first time since I lived here. It was blooming at just the top of the stems a few inches and not with the whole spikes covered with flowers. 

 I had a hard time getting my car appointment but it did finally happen. It happened this morning with a lot of confusion. I did get all the things done that needed to be but I was exhausted from all that happened. They shuttled me home because some of things that needed to be done would take a long time. Actually it didn't take them a long time so I would have been better off just sitting in the lounge area and waiting for them. The shuttle driver and I had good conversations. 

It has warmed up and we have heavy humidity.  I won't be working outside anytime this afternoon.  Thanks for stopping by today. 

Bird and Bloom

 

 

Tuesday's on Wednesday

 While working in the garden the Siberian iris keeps me encouraged as I clear out the iris from the area. 

 The work zone looks like this from afar. I took the shot while sitting in the shade, taking a breather, resting form working in the sun. The hat fell off and I just walked away from it. The last of the iris have been dug and you can see the ones laying there waiting for me to return with clippers to trim off the foliage and clean up the rhizomes from dirt, weeds, and grass.I did need to rest after digging the large old fashion iris. It had huge rhizomes on it and took some pulling and prying to get it out of the ground. 

 My brother and sister-in-law gave me this cart years ago. Both of them are now gone but I did keep this around for small jobs. I think of them and how they gifted me with garden stuff or Christmas ornaments for the family gift exchanges. I filled it with rhizomes to get them moved and the trash from the area is now in the cart ready for recycle bags.

 One of the major back breakers was the volunteer tree as they sneak in on the side of the garden space. It is usually growing among the flowers and all you can do is keep trimming it off as it is rooted in so far you can't pull it. I will dig up the enitre garden space now and try to clear out unwanted grass and weeds. 

 I am glad to see this rose rebound from all the dead canes that it had. I thought I lost the whole thing from a tough winter of hot and cold temps. 

 The roses start off white and change to a lighter pink as it ages. The name of the rose is like Carnival or something like that. 

 He is there for a fleeting moment so any shot that I can get of him is good for me. He likes the seed that I bought especially for him. 

 I know the gardeners out there will be frowning at this but I replanted all the iris here. They are too close and yet if the varieties are planted together it will work. It really is a temporary fix as I needed to get them out of the one location and I just wanted to get them back in the ground.

My new thing seems to be that I write a blog and then don't get it finished ,nor does it get posted. I opened up to blog this morning and there it was, Tuesday's, unfinished and waiting. I will just post this today and if anything outstanding comes up I will post again for today.  

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.