Thursday's a Go.....

 

I use to call it flag iris. Now I think it is really Siberian iris. Either name it will need a haircut in another month. 

 

 

The blue moon was out on Tuesday and it was just as perfect last night. A full moon that shines closer to us than it has for quite some time.  It will be 2073 before it gets that close again.

The zinnia is not as perfect as a round moon but it is round in shape for sure. The color scheme is great.

The multiple head sunflower is an interesting one. I haven't counted the number of flowers per head but it is a great plant to watch. 

It was a busy morning for me as I worked inside today.  I had a desk in the basement set up that I really wasn't using down there.  I have been using my wingback chair in the living room to pay some bills and collect business paper.  I decided that the desk needed to be moved upstairs and placed in our spare bedroom. We don't use the spare bedroom ever as we have a bedroom downstairs that company likes to use with their own private guest bath.  Anyway it took a lot of work to figure what should be moved and where to get that desk incorporated into the room  It has a bed, two bed stands and a large antique oak dresser with mirror in a rectangular space.  It is a rectangular room with double windows and a vent along the wall.  Things can't just be placed anywhere. We ended up moving the very heavy oak dresser to another wall, leaving the bed as is and putting the desk into the new space.  

 

It is funny how you move in to the newer home seven years ago and things just got placed quickly.  The new arrangement lets us see the dresser as we look in and also the bed.  My desk is around the corner from the door and will be sort of of sight.  Gosh that dresser was so heavy with its mirror attached.  I took all four drawers out of ahead of time but is still was a bear. Moving pictures on the wall will be a lot easier.

I hope we both are not  too sore tomorrow from moving things around.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Meandering....with Things.

 

My angel fish are happy.  I know one can't tell that but I can see they like all the new space.  They had been moved to a tank half the size so I could clean things.  I never moved them back to the 20 gallon for about a month. When I checked on them they were in a big open space and just floating there comfortably.  The have small side fins that flap to move themselves around and the were just treading water.

 

 The bully maybe will nibble less on his partner. The tail of the whiter fish has been eaten a little. I have guppies in there with them to keep things interesting.  There was an unusal thing happened with the big tank after I had cleaned if. After I had washed up the glass tank, and after I had rinsed out the gravel and returned it, and after I had filled it with water there was a baby guppy floating around in the tank.  It must have been mixed in with the rocks and survived all the processes.  The guppies are tough. 

My large sunflower is developing its seeds.  They aren't quite developed yet as the birds haven't started picking at it.

It was hard to get a photo of it as the little flower parts of the seeds are dead now and are starting to fall off. They are dark and not yellow anymore. When they fall off the lighter colored seeds will show.

The flowers are wonderful but it really is acting more like a weed.  I will have to work on thinning them out next season as they did seem to control the tomato patch. 

My new stairs are made of treated wood.  Some call it greenwood as it is chemically treated and some of it is greener in color than others.  The wood is not stored inside but always for sale and pick up out in the yard.  I guess there is a fume that comes off of it. When we had a rain a month ago I did notice the water beaded up on it.  Anyway, this morning I devoted time to put Thompson Waterseal on it and also my deck and other stairs.  I worked through a full can of the waterseal and stopped.  I will finish the stairs to the deck tomorrow morning have three steps yet to do as I finished up the one can.  I will open up my second can to finish that and paint on sealer to all the side parts of the fifteen steps.  I rolled most of it but had to brush smaller areas along the wall.  Exhausted is the code word but it is a good feeling to get that done. 

 

The fading colors are beautiful too.  We did not get any rain again.  It rained south of us catching up sine if southern Iowa's deficit of moisture.  I don't think rain is in the future for weeks. My yard is shutting down again in parts.  We do look like we are moving into an early fall.  

It is Wednesday and am glad we have more days of the week to work.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Tuesday's Things....

 

It is not a full moon but it was out there for me to shoot.  It was clearer than usual and it was a dramatic looking sight. 

My neighbor put out a new ornament in the garden.  It was a gift from her granddaughter.  It lights up at night and the three year old would please that her grandmother can now look out and see it at night. 

Last evening's sunset seemed pretty scrambled with the clouds. We are told that tonight we will see the wildfire smoke from Canada this evening. A large plume is to hit this afternoon.

The cottage garden is starting to shut down.  Most zinnias are in decline.  I guess the season is ending but the large cracks in the ground tells the rest of the story. We are 85° F. this afternoon and that is cooler from are past few days. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  Keep safe from the hurricane out there Flower Lady.

Monday, Monday....

 The mid-morning view of the sky includes some puffy clouds.  It is cooler again today but we have been promised hot weather. We will be up to 83° F. by the afternoon.

My neighbor's corn decoration is doing well this summer. It is stamped out of metal.

The ceramic house is bright in the sun right next to my new planting of phlox.  I moved it there last fall. I have a hard time knowing what it is as it comes up looking like a weed.  I am going to stake it to mark it so I won't pull it out next spring. I wonder if I have pulled others that were phlox.

The hostas are putting out some late blooms while others have bloomed and are gone quite a while ago.

The former owner had two watertanks installed that collects water from the roof.  We have not had enough rain to keep them filled.  I am almost down to empty with both of them.  I water tomatoes and flower pots with it rather than run the garden hose.  It saves on the water bill a little each month. 

After blogging I do need to go water my tomato plants.  I only have two plants left producing right now.  I still water the others anyway.  The morning glories love the fresh water that grows among the tomatoes. The marigolds are looking weathered both from the drought and also unfortunately fall is coming soon.  As the days shortened the plants are showing the change.

Thanks for stopping by today.

A Cooler Time.....

 

We have a few days of relief from the high temperatures.  We were actully at 60° F. this morning and our high will be 79° F.  The plants are noticeably relieved as the all straightn up again. One said earlier that even the weeds were wilted. We are having a quiet Sudnay.

Thanks for stopping by today.

A Good Saturday Day....

 

 I prefer to have the short variety of marigolds.  I collected seed from last year and one of them must have been the taller variety.  This is the tallest set of plants I have ever had of marigolds. Needless to say if there were any shorter ones in the pile they were crowded out by the tall ones. 

The marigolds look good in spite of the drought but the zinnias just are not fairing so well.  I water them and they still look permanently damaged from the dry weather. 

I poured the aquariumwater onto the tomatoes and zinnias. The morning glories responded right away to that water.  I have never had so many blooms showing at the same time. 

As I walked back from the mailbox my neighbor waved me over to talk to me.  He wanted to share that I could get one more look at his 1967 Camaro before it left his garage.  He sold it.  I felt badly for him and he did need to do one more show and tell before they came to pick it up.

He told me he had bought it in 2007.  It was not a family car.  He worked on it and then hired a person to work on it.  The first person was a failure and he had to hire another to do basic body work on it. Now all these years later he sold it.  I didn't quiz him about his sale but I may find out later on.  I felt bad for him but he may have got a lot of money for it. 

I research the car model.  Ford had come out with the Mustang.  The Chevy people hurried to meet that competition by starting plans for the Camaro.  The net said that the people who created the Corvair, a failed product, reworked the body shape and cranked out the final design.  The car had V-8 engines in them which gave them far more power than the light weight car needed.  My neighbor had a loud muffler on his as it would sound like a motor cycle when it was started up and taken for a run.  

He backed it out of the garage one last time and put it in the street, making sure no dings were put in it.  He then let the tow driver drive it up the ramp. 

Our high today was only 83°F.  It was cool this morning and I spot mowed the tall grass in the back yard. The wind blew and it was very pleasant to be out there.  We are to have some more normal day temperatures which is so great. The AC is getting a few times of rest today.

Thanks for stopping by today

Summer Stuff.....

 The rose is watered every day.  It responds to the moisture as well as the high humidity.  It gets its dose of water at the same time as the morning glory boxes.

The morning glories are sensitive to heat as well as cold.  They have been nurtured but it didn't really help them to survive. I think two thirds of my vines are just gone.

They do get blooms out early in the morning even though we didn't cool down to only 79°F in the night.  Supposedly it is a cooler day but it won't cool down really until tomorrow. 

We do have clouds in the sky which does help somewhat.  The little sunflower heads are pathetic as they are  a smaller variety of sunflower.

I deadheaded my three knock out roses this morning.  It was difficult to do as the bushes had already started to rebud and I had to watch for those buds and not cut them off the stem.  I got a waste basket full of scrap rose heads and cut out a few volunteer trees.  It was too hot to be out there so when I finished I just came inside and rested.  Deadheading rose bushes causes my lower back to hurt so I just had to quit even though I have four roses to go.  

We went out for breakfast this morning and we picked up my meds that were ready for me.  I had one blueberry pancake and brought the other two home for two more breakfasts. A diabetic can have a four inch pancake only and the ones I get usually still shoot my blood numbers up too high anyway.  I can't imagine what would happen if I ate all three of them in one setting. The cooks at the place sometime make thin pancakes and some other cooks give me nice thick ones.  

We are in for the rest of the day as anything above 80°F is too hot.  We are at 88°F right now and this is a cooler day compared to yesterday.  I hear someone mowing their yard right now but I don't understand why unless they think they need to neaten up the look of a dormant grass yard.  Mine can just stay shaffy for a while more.  Thanks for checking in today.

Another Record Breaking Temp Day...

 

A glass of water is ready in case the water runs out on the vase of zinnias.  The zinnias in the patch are taking a hit with the high heat. We cooled down to 79°F. and will be up to 100°F. I have poured water on the patch but you can't save things in the hot, humid climate that has been in a drought all summer. 

 

 

The fish are all good with clean water.  I finished cleaning the largerst tank today and I am in the middle of carrying water to it to fill up its 20 gallons. 

It is overwhelming to be outside.  As I cleaned up the large tank at the steps the neighbor lady stopped to have a chat.  I was her 81 birthday and she also saw another fox this morning out in our front yard. I have yet to see any of them but she said this one looked healthier than the last one she had seen.  Her husband is a hunter so I am interested to see what he does.  The foxes are taking out our rabbits so he may not bother them. It was so hot while she talked with me and she then conclude the conversation and I went inside to get some cooling down.  I returned to wash gravel and I am now not going outside again.  Our heat index is like 112° F. It is suppose to cool down tomorrow reaching only 94° F. 

 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Wednesday's Mentions....

 The morning is starting out at 83° F.  and we are suppose to hit 101° F. by the afternoon. The sky is showing very few clouds. 

I need to keep water in the birdbath.  I can easily capture shots of birds through my windows but the shot of the dove with me being outside gave me such a better quality photo.  A steamy camera I learned is not a good thing so I will not be going outside in this heat and steam with my camera. 

 

 

I now have cleaned my third aquarium.  It is full of water and waiting for the heater to warm it up for the guppies. This is yesterday's tank and the female betta and two female guppies are enjoying the clean water. After cleaning the tanks I realize that I have been over feeding them. It is hard to know how much is needed but I will work on feeding them less.

When I do feed the fish food will fall to the bottom and they fish can spend time digging it out in the rocks. The females are getting big ready to drop some more babies. 

I went out after supper and picked the ripest tomatoes.  I figure they will like being cooled off some and we can eat them as time goes by.  I also picked new bouquets of zinnias. Sadly this 100°F. and above is taking its toll on all of them.  I pours all of the old aquarium water onto the zinnias but I don't think that is going to help.  Maybe after the heat spell from hell the buds might bloom some more afterwards.  Today I couldn't pick a bouquet as they blooms are all faded and dried. 

Today is suppose to be our hottest day but cooling off to 99° F. is not much improvement.  I see 80s are coming in about three days.  School started today in most of Iowa and the smaller schools don't have air conditoning so they will let them out by noon.  I am done at noon also.  

Thanks for checking in today.