Snowy Day

 It was raining when I decided to go out and shoot. I first went out on the patio under the sun room and took shots out of the rain. I found some things to take photos of and then went inside. There lay my parka and I just thought I can go outside anyway. In this shot you can see that I did make my cupola taller. I don't quite like how the base looks so I may have to bring it in and rework it. I guess I need to bring it in before snow falls so I can not have to fight things being frozen down. 

 I found this rose in the rain and took its picture.  It looks a little bit worn but still looks good. 

 While outside I looked down an saw this brilliant red leaf. I don't have a clue as to who's tree in came from but the wind blows leaves all up and down our street. It was so bright red that I first though it was one the kids candy wrapper that they had thrown on the ground. It looks very sculptural.

 While outside I checked on my bonsai starts. I read recently that you can't grow trees inside the house. At least if you want them to be strong ones. So I now have these out on the table outside for the winter. I know I just planted my new Japanese Bloodgood Maple out in the ground so I guess these trees will be outside too. The tallest one I grew from seed and a short pine tree I also grew from seed. Others I have harvested from my garden as maples come up here and there freely. 

 When I had my overgrown pussy willow tree cut down I took branches from it. I am very happy to see that the three samples that I cut have all rooted. I don['t know how long to leave them in the water. I wonder what would happen if I put a few tablespoons of dirt in the bottom of the water. I will wait and do nothing.  I guess I do have some sand that I could put in the jar. I am sure I could order a new bush for my wife from the internet but i though I could try this firs with the stems coming from our old tree .

 

 I didn't plant this spirea here in the rock garden area. I think I may move it as it dies back a lot. Also it crowds out the gas meter. I am waiting for the company to take it down so they can work on the meter. I am thinking it would do better in the ground and not in this raised bed covered with rock. It is big enough that I could dig it with difficulty and maybe even split it into two bushes.

 We have a great burning bush now after waiting for it to regrow from two years of drought. It died back also from the derecho breaking off parts of it. This is the best it has been in the eight years we have been here. 

We spent the day with two men in the house basement installing our new furnace, air conditioner and all went smoothly for a while. Then things went bad as when they turned the water back on and the glass liner of our water heater broke.  Our water pressure seems to be very strong right now. The water heater could have been disturbed by the installer who was connecting water to the humidifier of the furnace. I don't know what happen but the company, with our permission, had a new large water heater delivered with in the hour. I wrote out a big check and smiled. Mistakes do happen and we are glad that the new heater was installed and all is good.

Our new furnace was replaced because we had bearings going out of one fan and another fan dragging and not working correctly. The new furnace has all the bells and whistles of modern technology that makes everything work better. I can go to my phone now to adjust the thermostat. The air is in a modulating mode so the temps raise and lower gradually without great fanfare. It  runs so quietly and makes things seem much calmer rather than having a large amount of heat blowing out at you. It was an exhausting day with them here all day so today we are having a low key day. 

It has snowed all afternoon and it is melting mostly. We are suppose to drop to very cold temps tomorrow. Winter!!! Thanks for stopping by today.