Morning View

 The visual was a surprise but the actual view of my camera's shot was better than I thought it would be. 

 The color is wonderful even though the blooms of the hyacinth seem undeveloped.  I don't think our weather will ever give me the blooms that you see when they are grown in a green house. 

 The red bud tree is starting to show more color. It has a few more days to go to start looking showy. At a distance one can see a haze of the color. 

 The sky color looks great with this view of the tree in the foreground. We had an inch and of a half of rain last night. The wind plus the hail made it into a very noisy storm. When the hail started hitting the north west end of the house I couldn't figure out what was happening.

 My birthday card was another creative one this year. My wife can find them on the net and I get paper sculptures that open up as the card is open.  We usually do our taxes after my birthday so today was the day. It got complicated as the preparer had to call one of the companies to get an accurate set of figures from an investment we had closed down in the middle of the year. The preparer and I had to talk to a non-English speaking person. I had to prove that I was the person who owned the investment and I kept reading off numbers that were on one of my papers. Eventually she agreed that I was who I said that I was. The preparer had the same problems with her speech so we ordered a new printout that should be in the mail in the next two days. We will have to return with that printout to finalize our tax filing. If we didn't have the exact paper we would probably be audited in two years and also fined. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Monday's Mentions

 Spring is here as we just finished having a wind storm with rain and hail included. The iris is coming up in the warmer spots around the house. Tulips are a little slow this year as it seems too dry for them. 

 My peonies are also starting to shoot up starts. I like how they are so red at first and then do green up.

 My neighbor lady moved away but here early tulips are in bloom. I didn't get too close to them for the shot as I don't know the new owners very well and felt I couldn't walk over to them. 

 I normally share the morning shot first but I am still getting use to my new way of down loading photos. I have about two more processed to do now and have to get them all into a folder on the desk top.  If you get close to the shot you can see the jet trails up there out early in the morning. 

The hail storm we just had lasted for about ten minutes. It was loud and I at first didn't know what it was. I thought my ice machine in the freezer was malfunctioning.  The rainbow was great but I couldn't get a shot of it. 

Thanks for checking in today.  

Sunday Night

 A surprise view of jet trails in the sky this morning. The pilots got creative for some reason and gave me an unusual sight.

 When you only have your phone you can't get a good shot any robin in the yard. 

 I can enlarge it but the photo quality it really bad. The robins have been back for a few weeks now. They are glad it warmed up as they can maybe find bugs along with the dried berries from last year. 

The best view of a robin for me is the small sculpture that sits on our fireplace mantle. It is fun to pick it up and hold it in your hands. 

 

It has been two years ago that I had to call 911 for my wife to be taken to the emergency room. It ended up being a full year of healing from becoming so seriously ill. The rehab process was a long one and the end result was a God given healing from such an awful time. I know when she is well when she has her studio set up in the sun room and she is back to doing her lifetime love of creating art. It makes me smile to see her back at it. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Weekend Has Started

 A view of my two goldfish as seen through many reflections. The reflection of the lace curtain above was a surprise to see for me. 

 The rocks remain through all sorts of weather. They were placed there in the fall and survived all the snow and rain. It really is my own natural sculpture on the landing of the stairs. I do see one of the rocks is about to fall off the ledge. 

 I was looking through today as no vines are on them so far. I started some light blue morning glories this morning in my starter tray. They take so long to germinate and I thought it would be worth a try even though  I can sew seed in the  planter below later on when it warms up. We were at below freezing temps this morning. 

.Some of my iris that are in warmer locations are really shooting up already. It is fun to have the iris get established and have lots of blooms. Tulips will have to bloom first though before any iris show up. 

 At a certain time of the year, for a couple of days, the sun shines through one of my aquariums and rainbows are formed on the floor below. I learned about prisms while in the elementary grades and sixty years later I get to see a natural one made with my fish tank. The colors are so pure in this one. 

Thanks for checking in today.  

Friday's Finds

 The mallard duck and its mate visited our neighbor's pool for a couple of days. They sat on the top of their house as if the were tired and stayed there the morning. 

 When I chose to take a shot of them on the edge of the pool, the female was sleeping. Once the people were home from work and school I am sure they got scared and left. 

 The morning project included planting seeds in the little squares hoping to have new zinnia starts.  The 10 to 15 days for germination seems like a long time but I will be patient. 

 Our weather continues to be ever-changing.  It actually ended up being a clear day with lots of sunshine. We started our day at 32 degrees F. and we have not warmed up that much. 

Yesterday was my birthday. It seems to be a long ways from 1950 but every day is a blessing. Boys called for my birthday wishes as well as my two older brothers.  One son was in the Dominion Republic and the other in Maine. Brother one lives in Arizona and it was going to be in the 100 degree F. today. The second one in California was a guy sitting out on his patio. We went out for supper last night and enjoyed great meals that were of large amounts of food. We brought home lots of food. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Wednesday

 I am having some troubles downloading photos through blogger. I have figured out how to do it from the desktop but I need to find the right avenue to the permissions button in google. 

 The tulips and daffs are coming up now. I have yet to see a bloom but it will happen by next week.  We need a good rain to speed things up.

 I ventured out not noting that the red bud tree is actually budding. The photo isn't so great but I will try to get better shots soon when they become blooms.

I have the air on in the house as we are 74 degrees outside. The house warms up in the sun. It is a spring that has a surprise each day. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  

 

Spring Lingers

 

Temp Drop

 We went from 91 degrees F. yesterday to 51 degrees F. on this day. The wind chill made it feel like 30 degrees F.  It is a shock to the bodily system.     (32.7 C, compared to 10.5 C.)

Sunset.....Sunrise

 

 The Friday evening sky evolved from the pastel colors to the horizon on fire. It happens so quickly that I almost missed it. I sent my wife out to see it and the second shot is what we saw.

Early Saturday morning the horizon looked like this. It was another glowing with the clouds being illuminated. 

 The angle of the glow changed then and the clouds looked like this as the heavy bank of clouds stopped the fire glow. 

The temps were moderate but by the mid afternoon we ended up with a high of 89 degrees F. , that is 31.6 degrees C. I worked outside in the yard in the morning planting grass seed at two different areas where trees had been removed.  I have spent two days now clearing the spent rose buds off of bushes and taking off sticks left over from last years bloom. All the hostas needed to have things cleared as well as the lilies. I have a couple of more rose bushes to be cleaned up and I am awaiting to see if on of my roses will need to be replaced. It will cool off for tomorrow and go back to normal temperatures. 

Thanks for stopping in today.  

Spring Blooms

 

I was surprised to see them. I was out trimming back the roses and there they were. I know it is time for them but we just had a blizzard on last week.

 

 The white ones have a special pristine look popping through the dead leaves and creeping phloxx. 

 

 I had to be careful as I trimmed back the dead stems of the rose bushes. I trimmed them back hard as they are getting to be older bushes. They are "knock out" roses but I think they have been growing there for a very long time. I may have to replace them. 

 

The morning sky was busy today as the jets left their trails in the sky. We are have a very warm day today. It is hot while one works in the sunshine. It is the tine of the year when we heat the house up in the morning and cool it off in the everning. 

Thanks for checking in today. 

Thursday's Things

 I was spaced off as I had not noticed that the earth wa tilting back. I can see the sun now rises between the blue spruce and the house now half way. I get so involved in trying to capture the color of the sunrise and the clouds that I hadn't noticed where the sun's position actually was locate  Can you see the jet trails in the sky. They were out early today. 

 Having been in a blizzard just a few days ago it didn't dawn on me the spring is almost here. I had seen them popping through but just didn't think much about it. The new neighbor's next door will have the first red blooms in another week. Mine will follow in a couple of weeks. 

 When I want to be funny I call this my sculpture garden. These tulips go shifted around last year so it will be interesting to see what actually blooms. The variety has dozens of small bulbs and they just keep multiplying. I expect a larger bulb but they are not. I need to clean up some of the lily trash in the back as you can see. That rock is a granite rock from my dad's farm in southern Iowa. He had at his house in the city and I rescued it for my old place and now at the new place. I guess you could say it has a lot of miles on it. 

 

 I usually get grape hyacinths showing now and also other spring flowers before the tulips bloom. I guess I placed that light there knowing it was close to the tulips but not in the tulips. 

 Peperomia is the name of the plant. Fifty years ago we use to have these kinds of plants in terrariums. I bought it on a whim a couple of years ago not knowing really what it was as a small four or five leafed plant. Now it is a huge house plant and once in a while it will put out variegated leaves. 

It is warmer today. I turned on the air as the sun is warming up the house a lot. I will have to turn the heat by late evening. Thanks for stopping by today. 

 

Middle of the Week

 The morning is a positive start with the temps starting to warm. Light clouds are not a problem as lone as the sun shines through. 

 Yesterday's visitor was stern looking, rotating its head back and forth, looking for prey. It was at first by some of my readers of what kind of bird that it is. We have a lot of cooper's hawks in the area but they are browner. This is a sharp shinned hawk. It is a pretty gray blue and is a large bird. 

 It amazed me as I watched it turn its head from side to side. It continually turned its head from side to side as well as to the back to see all that was going on in the area. I am sure my feeders brought it down to the maple tree. 

 I at first saw this fish as a dead on on the rock in my aquarium. Then I looked closely and saw it was my fish the clears algae. It is just resting there and will get back to work soon.

 Going to eat out today at the Chinese Cafe. It will be fun to get out on a warm day and eat. We always have such good service and feel welcomed each time.

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Blizzard

 

 

The robins had to go into hiding as we had blizzard like weather. The winds blew hard continually. The snow didn't accumulate much but by morning it was all frozen to the ground with a coating of ice crust to walk on. By afternoon the wind and sun melted a lot of it but the wind chill temps were bone chilling. I had to get out to the pharmacy and picked up a few groceries. By Friday we will warm up again.

Thanks for stopping in today.  

 

Sunday

 The weather is crazy with strong winds. We are at the bottom of the blizzard zone and we don't really have much snow. 

 The wind does cool down the house but we are staying warm. We went to early church this morning and it was raining. It could develop into a bad storm for us but it doesn't seem to be much right now. 

 The deer is peaceful as it stands at the feet of Saint Francis of Assisi. The light glows through from the window's light. We will have a quiet afternoon and evening with no plans to venture out. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Saturday's Stuff

 It isn't a bird but a welcomed squirrel. We rarely see them any more so it is fun to see them crawl around and feed, stuffing in birdseed as fast as it can. I have whole kernel corn that no bird wants to eat but this guy will pick them all up off the deck floor. 

 The house finch travels in pairs to where ever they go. The male has the red head and the one with all the patterns is the female. 

 If one of them shows up to the feeder one can count on the mate to follow pretty soon. I don't see this in many birds but this house finch are tightly bonded. 

 We have new neighbors and they have three different dogs. This one poodle mix is the leader of the pack and he can be seen tearing around the back yard chasing and barking. The owners have a vertical dog door that fits in their sliding glass door so the three can come and go as they please. The photo is shot through a screen wire so it has special textuers distorting the focus. 

We are suppose to have blizzard like weather tomorrow and the warnings are everywhere. Today we are cool but the wind is blowing strongly from the east.  It is a wait and see situation to see if we can get out for church. Thanks for stopping by today.