Thursday's Tell All.......

I had forgotten how the amaryllis puts out the four blooms. The look like a helicopter at first before the become blooms.

The photo is just a tease compared to when it gets completely open tomorrow.

I picked up another plant yesterday.  I have never had one like it before.  It reminds me of the corn plants that they use to sell.  This one comes from a foreign country and is new to me.

We talked to the plaid shirt guy last night on facetime.  He is speaking in full sentences now. We asked him about the monster truck show that they had attended and he just perked right up.

Teddy told us about the Dragon in the show and his dad smiled.  I guess Teddy needed some comfort whet it came out onto the floor.  An almost four year old would be concerned with the fire and the loud sound.  I bet it all was fascinating for both boys and their dad too.

Another one of our son's photos of the truck show has a large tuck driving on top of the cars. They have to find junked cars, paint them up and use them only in one show.  I suppose the all get this batch crushed and a new set is need for the next show.

Our grand daughter has sure grown up.  She sits on her own and enjoys the freedom of being out and about..  She will turn one year old in May. We last saw her in December.  She was just then starting to sit up a little on her own. She also was learning how to lay down and explore crawling.

I mailed out a birthday present this morning to go to our oldest grandson.  He will be turning seven. I have to explore all the lego things to find just the right one to buy.  I am sure he will have them all by the time he turns 12.

We are having a very cold day again today.  My wife is confined inside with a coughing cold. She is a lot better but still does have the cough.  It is better. Thanks for stopping by today.

A photos of the grand kids are taken by our son. 

Middle of the Week's Worth.....

Walking away from the seed tray. He had been there a long time and I cought him at the end of his stay.

The birds did eat up most of the seed in my old cafe platter. In the days when I was young, the hot beef sandwich came on a platter like this with the meat and bread sandwich with mash potatoes in the middle. Gravy was then poured over everything trying not to run it off the platter as they poured it.  I brought this platter in with the thin frozen layer of ice on it.  If it had been melted I am sure I would have slutped it onto the floor.

The sansiverria likes its now flower pot that I had put it into with new soil. It is a healthy thing.  I don't think this variety will stand up straight but will be more of a sprawled out specimen.

I looked at and picked out an orchid today.  I gave it a ride around the store for a while then I took it back. It was too cold of a day to buy one. I found one that had a lot  of buds on it but then it really was not a very fancy  bloom. I have lost plants by taking them home in 18 degree weather, F. so I just put it back in the container next to the others.  I really don't want to buy one that is in full bloom. The part of joy is to watch them open up one at a time.

I found a map of Doyle Township in Clarke County, Iowa. 1951.  I am following a facebook site now that is based on the history of Hopeville, Iowa.  I was born on a farm east of it a few miles away.  My parents were share cropping on C.R. Woods farm.  In the most part the town did not go anywhere after years of trying. The Methodist Church still stands, the country school is falling apart, and one old house is still standing. The cemetery is full of a lot of of the residence. from the area. I remember being upstairs of one of the town's business but in the fifty years since I moved away from the area, it has diminished to nothing. It would have nice if someone had kept track of the loss of all those buildings.

My connection to the FB site gives me a glance back from family photos and building in the background. The pet bear that was raised there is kind of a sad story but it is said he was taken good care of. A lot of my antique furniture and things came from the farm marked J.S. Horton which is southeast of Hopeville. Hopeville Iowa History is the site's name. Thanks for stopping by today.

I am off for today.  I thank you for stopping by today.

Tuesday's Things.....

I had to share my son's photo of his two boys at a 4x4 truck extravaganza. The youngest guy has sincere joy of what he is seeing.It is so loud that the young people are wearing head  phone devices to cut down on the noise.

Teddy is close to being four years old and he is getting to see this show for his first time.  I see a lot of young kids around them so there must have been a safe zone for them to sit. I see my 44 year old kid is having a good time too.

The amaryllis is almost ready to bloom.  This is the before, beginning bud, of the plant.

It is not open yet but it has changed a lot in the last few days.  I have been watching and watering carefully so nothing goes wrong with the plant. Letting it get too dry would mean disaster and too much water probably would mean the same.

This is today's take on its development. I keep the stem close to the window so it won't fall over. Most times they don't do that but one of mine did, just once, and it really  messed up the blooms.

Tuesday and we are laying low today. My wife picked up something like a cold or flu. She now has the cough and we will take care of that all day today to help her to stop that.  Oatmeal wa on the menu this morning, good sick food. and soup will be lunch time food for sure.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Monday's Misty Day.......

It is cool and damp this morning. Rain seems to be better than snow. The snow that is left is still holding its own but I am sure the rain will help to shrink the drifts.

A little girl came knocking at my door wanting me to buy Girl Scout cookies. I put some bucks together and we bought two different ones. Her dad was with her and helped pull the wagon of cookie packages. We usually get band fundraisers at the door. Also baseball and basketball players sell money cards for eating out.

The little girl was interested in some of the rocks I had laid out on my garden ledge.  She really wanted to take one from the collection but her dad said she had plenty of rocks in her collection already. 

We still have snow islands around in the yard. The drift that I could get gone on the edge of my drive are almost melted now. I am surprised that the yard companies haven't started calling or knocking on the door.

The pink roses are failing faster than the red ones.  I remove the dead one so the rest of the group still looks fresh. They do take a lot of water and I keep a close eye on them.

Starting off with a new week with no definite plans. I hope all are well out there.  Thanks for stopping by today.

From the Past....

The old place has this great back door railing that collects snow. I did move that snow rock with us and it sits downstairs.  I need to put it outside.

Sparrows......

The sparrows are busy feeding today.  They have not been around for a while. I am sure they found a better feeder out there.

I keep putting out lots of sunflower seeds but I have not cardinal takers nor blue jays. The house finch do stop in once in a while and right now there is not a junco in sight. It is funny how they go in cycles when it comes to there feeding behaviors.

There really was not a chance fot the snow to go away yesterday.  Some snow, thin layers on the sidewalk did go away in the sunshine. We have a strong southern breeze headed our way and that is going to warm us up a lot. Our weekend is suppose to be a very nice one.

I was concerned about the flash freeze effect yesterday when I bought these.  I did have them wrapped good but the roses stuck out of that and I had them put a grocery sack over them.  I didn't put them in the trunk but in the backseat where it was a little warmer.

My wife likes all red roses because of their symbolism but some times I get a few pink ones. Pink is really here favorite color.  The camera liked focusing on the pink ones but it struggled with the red ones.

I hope all are doing good today.  I know the north people are extremely cold again today but that south breeze will warm us up the next couple of days.

Thanks for checking in on me today. It is  nice when you check in on the elderly and I am mostly fine.

Thursday's Cold Report.....-9 degrees F.

The green grass is covered up again.  It wasn't a heavy snowfall but it did fill in all the tracks from the past. It looks like one of the neighbors actually went out and cleared the snow from their sidewalk. It is so thin that I am not going to deal with it.

My famous shadow shot of the backyard. fence shows we have a bright clear sun. I take it from our bedroom window and I don't have to go out into the cold. We had enought snow to cover up all that green that was showing around the base of the blue spruce. I don't see any bunny tracks yet this morning. A few birds are at the feeder.

The big tree down the street and one block over finally lost its dead branch.  I think the photos that I have taken the past two years always included that hanging branch.  We must have gotten a strong enough wind to take it out and down.

My blurry bud on my bonsai has a long stem.  I have more of them all over the shrub now. I will keep trying until I can get it into focus.

A tourist industry in Israel is its number one money maker.  The buses travel from south to north and everywhere you look there are vendors.  I picked these up for a couple of bucks just for the memories. I may see my wife put a set of them on when there is something that they will go with.

At one of the places we stopped I broke the rules and talked to the seller.  His English was good.  He had three scarves for five dollars and he wouldn't take no.  I started to talk to him and ask him questions.  He first told me that I should buy them because he knew I had money. He was a nice guy and I am betting he owned the products that were being sold at that place by all the other sellers.  He had children dropped off from school while we were there. When we were able to get back on the bus, my wife and I talked, and I ended up buying the three scarves for five. The scarf was a sheer one with Jerusalem woven in it with a design. My wife kept one and gave two of them to her close friend.