Company....

 I brought in the hardy geranium thinking it was a waste of time. Many times they just dry up and never bloom. This really was doing well inside and now that we had 11 degrees F. last night it would be dead if it were outsdie. 

 

Our grand daughter is an artist. I set her up at my art station in the basement and she spent a lot of time drawing just everything. Here she is sharing with her grandmother her pictures of the cockatiel and flowers. She is so very bashful but did warm up to us a little. She is in Kindergarten and loves school.

Our middle in the row grandson is in third grade. He has become a Lego fanatic and he spend most of his time building things. He created space ships and vehicles. He put some of them on our Christmas tree. He is one energy filled guy who is not bashful and enjoyed being with his grandparents. He is proud of his new lego figure that we gave to him. It had so many small pieces and he kept his nose to the directions to make sure he got every piece fitted just right.

Our oldest grandson is in sixth grade. He is the tallest in his class. He plays the trumpet in the junior hight Jazz Band. He eats everything and couldn't stop eating oranges. He is moving into being a teenager and is almost as tall as me now.

The family stayed at the hotel with a pool and made our work load to be less. My wife was tired but so happy to get to be with her grand kids. We both are resting up from the visit and we still have lots of leftovers to fix and eat. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

The Day After Feasting.....

 It is extremely cold. I picked up a shot with my neighbors sun room included. They have lots of plant lights in there and it glows all night long.

We have lots of foxes and coyotes that have kept the rabbit population down to us really not seeing any. The squirrels have kept themselves safe in the trees. Even so, we have very few squirrels than when we first moved here. This one guy is very hungry. I couldn't get a full body view of this guy as he got scared when he saw me from the window.

The seed is good and the squirrel is having a good meal. He has a healthy color and bright shiny eyes. My brother sends me pictures from California of his red squirrels eating sunflower seeds too. 

We put up one small tree for our visiting grandchildren to see. By the time we left our one grandson, Teddy, placed his lego creations of spaceships and vehicles among the branches of the tree. I think they will probably stay there for the whole Christmas season. He was a lot of fun.

I sat and watched him work I also helped build buildings along the way with what few bricks were stll leftover. My two sons had lots of Legos but most of them are made up into all these creations and houses.

 Our guests got a hotel with a swimming pool this year and they came for Thanksgiving day and also for Friday morning before they left for their Chicago area home. The parents and three kids were a lot of fun and my wife felt well enough for guest in spite of her having her last surgical procedure eight days ago.  We have lots of leftovers for days of feasting beyond. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Turkey and Trimmings....

 The parade is tuned in and the turkey is cooking. Many extras will be available to eat for our now family of seven. 

Two country houses were gifts to us to add to our collection.  They are a smaller scale that fits well under the Christmas tree. I cheated and put up a tree before Thanksgiving Day. 

Gifts under the tree already for the three grand kids. Lego themed items are always a hit even for the little girl. She gets a Lego set that has a Disney princess with it.

I wish everyone a good and  happy Thanksgiving day.

Thanksgiving Eve...

 A neighbor boy had a fundraiser, selling fresh greens centerpieces. It is Christmas for sure but it will look good on our Thanksgiving table tomorrow. The greens were kept green with a plastic bag filled with moisture and it gave it a fresh greens smell. 

 

Having company means offering fresh fruit and also a few cookies for the guests to eat.The Halo oranges are always a fun thing to eat at this time of the year. 

 

I did get one tree up in the dining room.  It is the small tree that sits on the chest of drawers.  We won't see the kids at Christmas so we can share one of our trees with them. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Tuesday's Things....

 

It is time to bring up the sleds. They won't probably get used like they use to be but they make great decorations at the door.  I thought the view was a unique one of showing me starting to bring out some winter decor. 

 

The morning started off with a crisp cold air. The temps were at 22 degrees F. which eventually will seem warm as we get into our normal winter numbers. 

The signal of the cold temperatures for me is seeing the neighbor's truck outside in the morning. I know it is cold when Ben starts up his truck and leaves it running to get his diesel full warmed. 

We are gettting ready for company. The family with the three grand kids will be here soon. I will make another run to the grocery store today as our plans with lists are being accomplished. I am putting up one Christmas tree, just because. It makes things more festive and we won't be together for Christmas. Two out of three of the grands will have sparkly eyes when they see it.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Blustery Day Monday....

 The cold temperatures must be the reason for the burning bush to turn color. It didn't turn until we got close to freezing temps.  

The winds are strong again today and it takes care of me having to rake leaves.  All of my neighbors leaves are ding the same as they are just blowing everywhere. I have had years when I have had the leaves drop on the ground and I had to mow them or rake them.  I don't have any leaves with this wind. 

Inside the oxalis is blooming. I have all my plants inside now and there are really too many of them. 

Both of my cactus are putting out more blooms each day. They amaze as they both have been next to each other with the same light conditions and they both are blooming freely at the same time. 

We are planning for company for Thanksgiving day. The ones that live in the Chicago area will be here for the meal.  We are getting all things put together to help us to feed them with much food. It will be good to see the grand kids. It has been a year since we have seen them and they will have grown up a lot. We will be having a good time for sure.

Thanks for stopping by today. I did go back and make spelling corrections on all my past titles of my posts My eyesight isn't so good and my fingers hit too many key at one time.

Saturday Evening Post. ....

 We had our first hard freeze last night and this rose survived. It is up against the house so that does keep it warmer.

A few of these petunias are still alive. I noticed them when I walked by doing some chores in the front of the house. This variety was not as showy as the regular variety but it was nice to see some of them blooming all summer.

It is warm enough that I can get the pre-decorated tree out on the deck today. I got it all wired up to the railing to withstand the wind and snowstorms too.

I have all the ornaments wired to the tree so I never have to take them off of the tree. It is light weight enough for me to carry it out and then store it the rest of the year in my store room. All I need for this photo is some snow falling.

Another photo shows the spent rose, a rose in bloom, and a bud that probably will never open. It has been a busy day of doing different chores around the house. I spent time with my aquariums this morning and I will share that story tomorrow. There are sometimes snags in the process that makes life a challenge and require problem solving.  

Thanks for checking in today.

Frigid Friday.....

 It was bound to happen. It was getting to be so cold around here. I looked out today and saw my first Junco bird.  They migrate down each winter as our snow birds. It will be watching for more of them showing up soon.

It was hungry and really liked the choice of seed that I had just put outside. It didn't snow today but the windchill made it pretty miserable and reminded me that winter is now here.

 

 

The wind has shreaded small branches and more leaves off of my locust tree. I iind of like the patterens and will rake it up when I get around to it. 

The burning bush that was here when we bought the place and it was big. The years of drought killed it off to the most part.  I kept cutting it back and this year it is a decent shape. The leaves even turned like they are suppose to do. 

The trees in front still have some leaves and the color is great. I use to have to rake them all up but this year they may just be buried in snow.

I made a trip to the grocery store and the bank this morning. It was good to get home and I spent the rest of the day getting warmed up again.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Frost on the Pumpkin...

 When the temps get down to 29 degrees F. it is time to move the pumpkin inside. It actually sits on the sun room table and we only heat the area when we are out there, so the night temps can get really cold. It can get so cold that it could effect the flowers.  I brought in the blooming Thanksgiving cactus. 

I also brought in my succulent bowl. They might like it cold once in a while but I can take care of it this way as it isn't heavy. It can sit next to the palm for a while and also the cactus garden. If I can rearrange my plant stand I may just keep it inside. 

I still had things on the deck that I bring in for the winter. I usually find myself wading through snow to bring things in so I am ahead of myself.  

We actually warmed up a little this afternoon but it still is cold out there.  The night temps are going to be winter temps.  I guess my out of door work is done enough.  I could trim back some roses but Iif I don't get to it I can do it in February. My time to do just inside projects begins. Thanks for stopping by today.

Middle.....of the Week.

 

The early morning view is full of pink colors while the sun has not quite raised above the horizon.  We did get to freezing last night but it didn't stay at 30 degrees F. for very long. 

 

The leaves of this clematis will probably show wear and tear from the low temps in the next few days. 

The Siberian iris puts out interesting leaves. I never know whether I should cut them back or not. I haven't gotten to it yet this fall but I do have some time to clip a lot of it back. This would be a good time to take a cutting of it and start a new batch somewhere else. 

We spent the day at the hospital yesterday. My wife was to have  a final follow up procedure done related to the gallbladder removal a month or so ago. That should conclude anything more to be done relating to that. She was sent home and does feel like she was beat up. She has bruising to her body but she is going to get over it all soon. The sore throat will take a few days to heal. 

I need to get some foods this morning that my wife can easily swallow and the grocery store is only a mile away from us. It is cold and wearing a coat to the store will be necessary. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

The Start of the Week....

 

 When our developmemt was started the builders were required to plant flowering trees. They seem to be most of them to be the none producing pear tree. Ours is actually one that puts out an apple  fruit. It is a small one but it produces fruit. They make a mess but their a lot of them eaten by the birds. The development was started twenty fours years ago and some homeowners have cut theirs down. My neighbor to the north claimed his had split up too much so he took them out. He actually didn't want trees on his property.

I never got a full moon shot this time as the clouds just were always there. Last night I captured this  mixed up mess of clouds with the moon glow from behind. 

There is not beauty left with the coneflower now but I like its sculptural appeal at this time of the year.

I declared my bathroom done today as I put back the last of the baseboard behind the stool. It was difficult.  I was able to do the whole floor with the 30 tiles that was in the box. There was not one square left over. I discover a problem with our new walk in shower as the installers forgot to caulk the slider rail to keep the water from leaking out onto the floor. It had been caulk at the bottom half on the right but they didn't catch the left half. We were having problems with water coming out on the floor and could not figure out why. One has to crawl around on the floor to figure that problem out for sure. 

We are going to have rain all day today. We need the water so we can tolerate it without a problem  We do have to have the lights on inside though as it is a dark gray day. Thanks for stopping by today.

Checking In....

 

 

 

 

 

Stuff for Saturday....

 The hardy geranium survives on my front porch step. It is getting to be time to bring it inside at night or let it freeze. 

My new birdbath is made of resin so I have to keep it from freezing water. The turtle and the birdbath have a new place to be for the winter down under the sunroom. 

My metallic birdbath has a permanent leak so I made a planter out of it. I decided to put it out for the snow to land on this winter. The moss rose that grew in it are still there and the freezing temps will take them hout. 

I took random shots this morning to show what the garden is looking like now.  I am not looking forward to winter but it happens anyway.  

 

Thanks for stopping by today.