Thursday's Things.........

Bright early sunshine helped to make my birch and red maple more colorful.  Leaves are falling already from the birch as you can see on the ground under the tree.  The maple looks a lot redder with that bright sunshine.  The fallen leaf still looks more brown than red.  The ditches are getting sprayed with a seed and mulch material in hopes to get some grass grown soon.  It is almost too late but we it can soak in a little and not wash away with heavy rains, it might just work. They had to rake the leaves out of the ditches and then roto tilled them first.  It looks good but now we have the green fuzzy stuff out there.

The 20 gallon fish tank has been cleaned out and is ready to go into the house.  That was yesterday's task.  I carried it inside this morning and took a bucket of water to it to clean up the mineral buildup.   It didn't take long to clean it up.

The one window of the bird room I opened and put through the garden hose.  I pulled it into the room and then turned on the water.  I didn't have to carry a single bucket of water.  I did not get it shut off soon enough but it was about a quart of water that landed in my overflow tray that I have below the tank. I will soak it up with a big towel and all will be well.

The birds were moved out of the windows yesterday and are sitting nearby the tank which is now in the window. Birds aren't suppose to be placed next to windows especially in the winter.  Drafts are dangerous for tropical birds.

After all of that I needed to drain the outdoor pond area. That became a fiasco but it did work out well at the end.

I hooked up a water pump to my garden hose.  I ended up having hose and pump not being the correct sizes.  I took picture framing wire and electric tape and created a great connection.  I would have used duct tape but I couldn't readily fine mine.

I started up the pump and started draining the water out of the cattle tank.  I went inside to do something pertaining to the collection of the fish from the water.  I was told by my wife that my cousin from New Mexico was on the telephone line. She and I talked for a very long time.

An hour later I returned to find the tank almost empty.  That isn't good with fish still in there.  Fortunately the water level ended up being about 6 inches from the bottom.   Surprised that it didn't take a long time to drain it I readjusted the pump and kept draining it.  With a bucket of rain water sitting by the tank,  I netted out all of the fish.  I have them in a temporary tank while my setup allows the water to set for a half day.   I will transfer them into the tank later this afternoon or wait until morning.  I put a chemical from the store that is suppose to take out the chlorine into the water and another chemical that puts slime into the water so the fish won't go into shock. Photos of the fish in their indoor home will follow of course in a couple of days.

Evidence of fall shows with this wild volunteer vine that grows next to my back door. I will leave the vine as long as I can because it is a good batch of colors to enjoy.

As the road crew is finishing up the ditches and the sides of the streets, we still have fiber optic people at work.  Our alley is the very last alley that they have to finish, so it won't be so long now.  This is a deep hole and they will be placing a precast plastic insert into the hole.  It will be used to make wire connections for our house and the house east across the alley.  They got into a big root from some bush there and I assume they will have to remove that before they proceed.

While out working on an "old tires from the farm" project I was able to move things around so I can get to this rose.  I found the William Baffin rose with one cluster of buds getting ready to bloom.  If it frosts in a couple of night I may just wrap a towel around these buds so they won't be hurt.  We are warmer in town than in the country so we may not get that frost. I would really like to see these bloom one more time.  I can now tie up the branches of this climber to the shed because I can get to them.

 As I am blogging late again this day I guess I will close this down. I was out and about and saw this blue bloom asking me to take its photo. I noticed while out there working that I still have a few apples on the trees. I may work on getting them picked before the frost. The biggest apples were the ones to fall last from the tree.

I didn't get work at school again today so I was pleased to get projects done.  If I have to beat the frost date I will have to put longer days in to get things taken care of for sure.  I hope all are well out there and that today was a good one for you.  Thanks for stopping by today.