First Bloom....

 My first iris bloom of the season is shown above. It is a cemetery iris with it being smaller than the normal. It has a lot of buds on it so I can photograph iris for quite some time. I three other plantings of this and it is a hearty plant.

 

I have one lone white tulip in the front garden. I have lost a lot of the others because of the creeping phlox. It is company to all the other multi=petaled ones.

They are showing off this year with enough moister to make them do well. I woked on tmy gate project again today. It is complicated but I am getting closer to havingit done.  Thanks for stopping by today.

A Good Start....

 It was good to see the sun today. We have had dull cloudy days for a couple of days. The wind made it feel cold today but we did see sun.

The before picture looked like this but twenty minutes later you can see the day above. It looked a lot like the day before.

This bird's head color is always so interesting. Their eyes could seem a little bit beady as they are always looking around checking things out.  I can tell with I need to feed them some more as they start picking at the cracks of the tray. I give up on trying to identify it.  I can't seem to find a match to it on the net.

I forgot that I had these.  I am thinking they are globe allium but I will wait to see the bloom. I had them earlier in another location and I am wondering if I didn't move the bulb down here not knowing what it was.  

 

I just keep taking shots of these as they get better the more they mature. When I had my fence people here I asked them to leave an opening where a gate was to go, unfinished. . I wanted to build or use one of my old gates. My old gate didn't work so the past two day I have been building a new one with lumber that they left me when the left. It was a challenge but it is now hung. I have to excavate some soil for the gate to be able to open. I will share photos later. I have to buy pavers tomorrow and start the process. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Monday's Mentions.....

 

 

 

 Iris buds seem to magically show up  while one isn't watching. This is one of my earliest iris blooms and it really is one of my favorites. I have it planted in three places. I harvested one small rhizome from the cemetery where my parents and brother are buried. I visualize exactly where it is growing right now unless the grounds keepers have cleared them out. 

I worked on my door for my fence today. Mostly my wife and I spent our time buying and wrapping birthday presents for our soon to be 6 year old grand daughter. I picked up meds this afternoon, mailed out the birthday box, and bought a few groceries.  We are very windy today but the heat and humidity are causing the threat of thunder storms and tornadoes. It was very uncomfortable to be outside this afternoon. I hear on the news that we hit 80 degrees F. this afternoon. It definitely felt like Iowa summer today.

Thanks for checking in today.

Sunday Afternoon....

 St Francis of Assisi with all of his animals stands guard among the inside flower gardens. The oxalis plant looks alive again after I had not watered it for awhile. They bounce back when you give them enough water. 

Our Easter lily has lost a lot of blooms but these last ones are sure in a nice row for display.  I will eventually plant this outside and it will bloom again for me next year. I am amazed how they survive our winters. 

My morning choice of coffee cup just had to be my Charlie Brown mug. It has a beautiful red glaze inside and the colors of the characters on the outside are so great. 

 

It is a long story and I don't have the energy to tell it today. It is a gate that I made myself after the fence people left. I need more wood to support it so it stands in the garage unfinished and not hung. I am really happy with my new fence and having our property now completely enclosed in the back yard.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Saturday....Rain Free.

 It is less busy in our yard today as the workmen have all gone home. It was still filled with my lawn mowers noise. I had some really tall grass in the backyard. I should have had it mowed for the workers yesterday but we were getting rain the day before that. 

The post are actually metal ones driven into the ground with a powered device. The crew were well orginised as the different parts were brought out as things kept developing. You can see the wood boards in bunches leaning ready for the guy to put on the wood.

An I-phone shot shows the one guy putting on the vertical boards. He had a leveling device to use to keep all of the boards at the same height. As he filled in the leveler he just moved it on down the way. All of the metal posts are eventually covered with wood.and no one would know they were there.

When  the surveyed points were connected and marked the property line grew six more inches to the north. It gave me more space between the stairs and the fence.

 

As is the custom of fence building the neighbor gets to see the smooth side. This neighbor is moving out in a week and I am sure this will be a positive for her sales of her property. When our neighbor to the south had  to replace his fence because of a storm, we got the benefit of now seeing the smooth side of his newly replaced fence.  

There are more stories toshare with the fence and its building. I will share another day. Thanks for checking in on my blog.

Friday is a Final Finish.....

 I was really frustrated when I sat down to fold an origami crane.  I had previously, months before, folded almost a hundred of them, but when I tried it I could not remember. Once I reviewed it on the net by a demo I do remember that I had learned two different approaches to it. I was blending them making it a mentally confused mess. 

Now, having folded a dozen of them again, I am less concerned about my  brain. I can now again fold them with each variation and not get lost in the process. Actually one of the demos showed me a third shortcut that I am just not going to try anymore.  I like the two that I have achieved. 

We have fence building guys here today. It rained them out yesterday so today we are rain free. The company works at making sure that each employee is customer friendly.  When there was a change in the design from what the original salesmen wrote down they wanted me to know what had to be changed. I was way ahead of them as the original salesperson measured wrong and I knew the property line would change his design 

The hosta plants are really popping through the ground now. I guess the rains and longer days of light is making them happy. The day lily growing on the left looks healthy too. You can  see the workmen's tools in the top of the photo as the are working under the sun room as a base for operations. 

My grass is looking good this spring. Our drought is almost gone. We had two years of no moisture so seeing such a green yard is great.  I just mowed this and it looks good.  I couldn't finish the backyard yesterday because of the weather and today I can't mow while I have the visitor workmen.

 

. I tend to forget about the wild violets until they start to bloom. It is a nice weed that really can act like a ground cover.  I blogged early for me today as I can't go outside right now. Thanks for stopping by.

Rain is a Good Thing....

 

 The colors and texture make this a special tulip variety.  I cleared out a lot of creeping phlox to enable it to emerge successful. I have eight of these blooms which means I bought that many in a package and they are all still blooming.

I still have creeping phlox. I just don't need it to be everywhere. I have on section where it has died out naturally. The flower has a lot of small thorn-like growths on it to make it hard to use bare hands to work with it. 

 

I discovered through observation of the photographs that this yellow and red variety, Rembrandt, is not the same as the new one that I planted elsewhere.

I have taken too many shots of these tulips but one can see that this variety has more red than yellow color on it.  the colors on both varieties are my favorites. 

My fence builders did not come today as we have rain.  It isn't continue but their are groups of clouds that will be overhead for the most of the day. I was impressed with the desk manager when she called as she didn't want me to be mad about it or hope that I wouldn't be willing to wait another day.  It isn't like a package being delayed but it is a crew that can only work in good weather. The fence will happen when it happens. I guess she thought I might have plans for tomorrow.  It is a southern Iowa, small town location, and I have to say it was Iowa nice for a change. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Middle of the Week....

 A few sprinkles of rain helped them stand up straight. They were so poorly at first and I couldn't get a shot of one bloom without propping it up.

The rains are also helping the peonies to grow taller more quickly. This view is why I never regret forcing myself to plant more tulips each year. 

The red and white ones looking greaat right now. I had apparently only two kinds in one sack. The one kind was this and the color was the red and yellow. 

I had to pot this hosta for now.  It is in the location where I want a post to be inserted by the fence builders. The weather will determine if we will have a new fence put in tomorrow or not.  We have predictions of rain for each day but nothing really happens for us. I think we had a sprinkle in the early morning today. 

I mowed my front yard this morning plus my neighbor lady's front yard too. She is in the middle of moving and I told her that I would keep track of her yard while everything is going on. She has a neighbor boy that is suppose to mow it but he is off playing hockey somewhere. She is moving to a retirement apartment that will be great for her. She lost her husband a year ago and she now is going to start a new adventure. I haven't been asked to lift or carry but I did lend her eight totes with lids to help her get all her loose stuff together. A group of ladies are going to help her move that stuff over first and furniture movers will come the next day. 

We are having a pleasant day today with lots of sunshine. Thanks for checking in today.

Tuesday's Things......

 

 

 

 

The day started out like this and we warmed up through the day. I worked outside this morning for my neighbor lady to help with something to get her house ready for sale.  I wore a long sleeved shirt and no coat. I heard my neighbor mow his yard this afternoon. I suppose that I will have to mow in the next couple of days. I saw a cardinal for a fleeting moment this morning at the feeder. I did hear is singing this morning while I was taking the morning shot out on my deck. I have the air on this afternoon as the sun warms the house enough to make it warm inside.  It is at the time of the year where I will probably have to turn on the heat in the evening.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Plants Are A'growing....

 A little bit of train may make the tulips last longer. It was wet all day and they say we didn't gt over an inch of water.

 

The flowers on here are just now starting to open. The tree is changing a little bit in color as the buds flower. 

 

 

I planted the grape hyacinths not knowing that they would look this great in the next season.  

 The fern leaf peony is looking great. There are eight or nine buds on this plant. I can't guess when they will start to open but we are getting warm sunshine to help them.  I had an appointment this morning with my endocrinologist. I like spelling that out even though I should just say doctor.  I got back in time to spray kill some of my dandelions. The neighbor is putting her house on the market so I need to get my yard looking good. She has had people come and spray her weeds twice now. It is Monday and the rest of the day looks dry. I am hoping Thursday's weather will stay dry as I have fence builders coming that day. They are predicting rain at a 60% chance so that could mean somewhere in the state there will be some rain. Most times it means that it misses us. We will see. Thanks for checking in today.

Easter Sunday...

 

 

 

 There will be no sunshine today as we are overcast with light showers. It is cold and the rain is welcome. It isn't coming in large amounts but moisture is good.  New daffodils and tulips are showing off and hostas are emerging with great greens. One of our grandsons turns nine years old today. He is full of energy and I am sure he is enjoying his day.  He did smile greatly at us on Facetime a week ago reminding us that the day was coming. I don't think I can remember being nine years old anymore.

Monday is coming and I have an early morning appointment. We will go downtown and be back by mid-morning. Thanks for stopping by today.

Saturday's a Sunshine Day.....

 

 

I am happy to seee that the grape hyacinths that I transplanted last year are doing fine among the tulips. I don't mind either that the wild violets are growing in a similar location among the tulips.

I usually clean out the cracks of the driveway but somehow it seemed like a good place for the wild violet to grow. I doubt tht i will dig it out as gardeners don't kill flowers.
 

 The flowering Bradford pear trees are doing well in our housing development. The one section was planted well as the developer required it to happen when a house was to be built. Our area has volunteers that are also growing them but some chose to do other flowering trees. Flowering crabs and magnolias are spotted here and there. I have two and am debating about buying another to place in the row. I guess if I lose one of two of them I will be glad to have a younger tree growing. 

We are not going to warm up much today but the sun is shinning. That is good. We have no big projects for today and yet we did do some laundry and house cleaning.  Everyday chores makes things go more smoothly.  Thanks for checking in today.