Sunday afternoon....

This is one of the iris in my garden. It is called Prissy Miss. I like the orange beard contrast to the pink petals. It is getting crowded out by a purple coneflower plant so I will move it once it is through blooming. I like coneflowers but the do have a mind of their own.

Yellow Kitty is getting old. She is so old that we date her by what was going on in our life at the time. She was an only kitten and her mother moved her into the most strange places of the house. That mother, at one time with another litter, brought all four of her kittens into our living room and placed them under our wingbacked chair. We of course found a different place for them but she worked hard to get them all in under that chair. Yellow Kitty lives in the basement now more since we adopted the border collie. He wouldn't hurt her but would harass her. She for the first time this winter, developed many mats in her fur. We increased the nutrition in her food and we are still brushing out the mats. She loves to be brushed so she is getting more attention than usual and is liking it. In the summer she would live out on our porch day and night but now that she is older we bring her in at night. In the picture she is laying by some soil I had just spilled there while potting a plant. She just laid down in the middle of it all and watched. We think she is about fourteen years old. Our two young boys then are now out of the house that many years so she is around that old.

Oak furniture...

This is the second piece of furniture that we brought back from my parents home. I previously posted about the chest of drawers and this one is more like a vanity. I refinished it as a teenager for my room. My mom had bought it at an auction I am thinking for $7.50. It really is like a vanity as there is a top piece that holds the mirror as seen below. The chest of drawers doesn't exactly match but the carved pieces on them are alike.

The vanity that the mirror is leaning on is a simple piece that is made from poplar wood. It has a great color but is not as old as the oak pieces. I stripped off a very dark varnish off of that one.

This commode is from my wife's family and it seems to fit right in with the other two. Della and I stripped green paint of it to reveal it's wood grain. With the closing up of my parents home and the moving of Della's Dad's bedroom furniture out of our spare room, it has cause a road jam. We are packed and stacked and appear to be an antique furniture store and not a house. Our art gallery has two extra pieces in it and our dining room has extra parts for the vanity and head and foot board for a bed. We will get it all rearranged and in place eventually but we certainly won't be inviting company in for a while until we get things settled. Thanks for reading.....

Wooden Pump....

I created this wooden pump to pour water into my sunken cattle tank. It is a work in progress as I have to get it planted in all the way around. I keep my fish in here. In the fall it is easier to get them out as they are in a controlled area. The two koi do well in there and the gold fish love it too. I will probably have to put a wire screen on it when I put in the fish as the raccoon is still hanging around. I lost a very large koi to the raccoon and I don't want to do that again. Once I have planted it in I will snap and after picture.
Spent the day throwing junk away at my parents old place. Had another visit to the landfill again. They are a sad sight and somehow we have to quit making so much that needs to be thrown away without thought. My mother kept everything and most all of it had no value. So now it is all out in the side of a hill being covered up with dirt and clay. Brought home another oak dresser with mirror. Pictures are on their way. Thanks for reading....

Thrilling Thursday....

No theme, no continuity, lots of stuff to talk about and I will be kind and talk just a little less than usual.

I just resubscribed to Garden Design magazine. I know that nothing in there will resemble anything in my yard, but they are inspirational. Sometime I actually find a photo that I would like to incorporated into a painting. The Hobby Farm Home is one I like to buy once in a while in order to bring home an idea. The pizza oven craze is catching on but I don't think it will be a reality for us yet. The magazine shows people making their own and I like to collect the different plans out there and get the concepts down. I would probably design my own with my own chosen materials they used dirt. The Garden Design magazine I keep forever and I use them as a resource and refer to them in the winter when it is so gloomy outside. I sold some at a garage sale and they bargained me down to ten cents a magazine. I thought later that I would have rather keep them around forever that be swindled of such a nice magazine. Oh well...

My planting of six peonies in a row are blooming now. It is funny how they won't bloom all at once. There are three different colors so they mature at different rates. The white one on the end will be the last to bloom.

As I plant things on this ancient property I find and dig up different things. There are bricks buried down deep, coal from an old coal shed, clay marbles of the early century time period, broken bottles and pieces of dishes, old dishes. One could deduct that the people who lived here since 1903 used the outside as their garbage dump. The slab across the bricks on my make-shift bench was dug up right there. I have found a lot of flagstone around there as well as the kitchen of the house sits on a flagstone foundation. The whole reason I took the picture was to show you the new hosta that I bought. I am still doing battle with the creeping charlie as you can see in this picture. I did work most of the day out there though pulling weeds.
Oh yes, I sprayed the three apple trees today. I did major pruning last year and I still have some more trimming to do. It isn't a fun job and the manufacturer wants me to spray them every ten days. I am going to stick to it this year as the apples have never been insect free since I planted them years back. I hate to see the fruit wasted because they are wormy so I will stay on the routine and I have the whole world watching and waiting to see the results. Thanks for reading....

Bought some new plants......

Coreopsis is a hard thing to spell. I had to look it up on google. I bought one Tuesday night along with a sage plant and two hostas. The hostas are a yellow green with long narrow leaves. It is different that I had ever seen. Walmart had them for sale at three dollars a piece. When I worked for a supermarket nursery last summer, they didn't go on sale for two dollars until late June. I guess I have become a collector. I have a few hostas I think I will split up these next few days. It is really wet and will be easy digging. Victory Garden guy with a British accent says that any time of the year is the time to split hostas. The hosta above is one that I gleaned off the side of a large plant and it is doing nicely. The lawn mower chewed on it as you can see. We don't have slugs in Iowa, other that these really little ones that work in very damp areas. Thanks for reading........

Santiago......

My oldest brother Ron and his wife had three children. Two boys and a girl who are of course my nephews and niece. My niece Melissa married a few years back to a man named Fernando Cortez. He is soon to be a Doctor. They had this young man recently and his name is Santiago Louise Cortez. He is the sweetest little guy and I wanted to share him with you.

Rhubarb Cobbler....

To make a long story short, yah, that will be a first for me, anyway, I was over at the neighbor's putting in tomato plants for them that I had grown. They both work way tol many hours so I just went over and planted them for them. While there, as I do each year, I took out some of the seed stalks of their huge rhubarb plants so the plants won't mature too early. When I pulled them out, stalks along side of them came out with the seed stalks. Can't throw good rhubarb away, so I went home and pulled more from my own plants to make cobbler.
The before picture with butter pats on top with the bisquick topping on the very top, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon.
My wife and I like to cook together and we juggle the tasks and lean on the strenghs in skill and make something. I cut up the stalks and boiled the filing to make it thick, under my wife's supervision. I would like to share the recipe like my blogger friend, Claude in France, but it is just a Better Homes and Garden cookbook recipe and Bisquick topping.
The after shot with it coming out of the oven. We did pretty good considering the timer decided to malfunction.
I know that strawberry rhubarb is actually called that because it is the color of the plant and not that you put strawberries in it. But I like to put strawberries in it to give it that extra different flavor. I didn't cook them ahead as they cooked out easily in the oven.
The finished product cooled and ready to be eaten. I really don't get this crazy about food, but this is a good thing, right Martha?


Need I say it was delicious with a pork chop and bake potato supper. I may have to have some more before I go to bed. Thanks for reading.....