Hot and humid in the sticks

Mom always called these lilies 4th of July flowers and this year they are right on schedule.

We are having a spell of hot and humid weather here. Today it's 91 degrees above the donut with 62% humidity - As my Gramma would have said, "Uffda!".

But the blooms love this kind of weather. These are the kind of days people say if you listen close enough you can hear the corn growing!

The Gramma roses are blooming even though the rabbits destroyed alot of the stems over the winter.

We had a visitor of some kind last night that left us with some big holes in the yard. We suspect it was a badger. I hope he was busy getting rid of all the striped gophers we've had this year!

And then I noticed the apples are still growing. Obviously the deer haven't spotted them yet. Hope we can get a couple apples this year. This is a haralred. I would like to try a honeycrisp too. Maybe next year.

Hodgepodge

Today it's raining cats and dogs so I will spend some more time decluttering. Last weekend we went to a couple garage sales but I didn't buy anything. Hard to buy when your in declutter mode at home.

We sold my old car last week and this week a part of hubby's work history, Old Blue, went down the road. It was harder for him than he expected. It was good to see it go be of some use to someone though. It wasn't helping it any to have it out in the weeds.

Flowering bushes and roses are starting to bloom too...

After the rain there are more blooms :)

We have been babying this Apple Tree for a few years after it's near death experience from some kind of disease and now there are teeny tiny apples!

And then there's Cooper

Picture of the week is a fun picture of Ang and Milo from when the photographer was doing pictures for Taekwondo. Ang was still in Kumdo then.

And to end the week on a bright note - WE WON! 

Making progress

“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
― George Bernard Shaw

This week, and next, is all about getting the firewood all taken care of. Last year we didn't get it all done and had to work from a big old pile and split as weather permitted. Uffda!

I found this mushroom in the back yard. I don't know much about mushrooms but I thought it was interesting and pretty. It was big too, probably 6-8 inches wide.

Mike, Ang, and the little boys stopped out for awhile yesterday so we took a break and visited and watched the boys ride bikes. Milo has improved a lot with that. He still has stopping issues and tips over but he keeps trying. Rowan was on the trike since we didn't have one really his size here. 

Crystal is in the "hills" and has sent pictures and texts. Looks like the girls were having fun.

The Gramma rose missed the memo about the change of seasons. This is an old rose that originally came from my Paternal Grandmother years ago. I don't argue with it though, it's always a welcome sight whenever it blooms.

Picture of the week:

P.S. We won!

The Past, Present, and Future

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” 
― Mae West

I received a wonderful surprise in the mail today from South Dakota. Crystal and Dale sent me a book to jot down all kinds of stuff about my life and family.

One of the greatest treasures we found after Mom passed away were the daily journals she kept. She wrote every day in them. Just daily life - her life. They started in 1982 and went up until right before she passed away in 2015. They weren't fancy books, some were actual diaries that she probably picked up at the dime store and some are just little fat notebooks. Nowadays we do it electronically. The girls don't know that I blog so I hope it's a treasure for them to find when I'm gone.

Oh, and the mums are blooming, one of Mom's favorites 😊

Blooming Hydrangea

Since my peony never did bloom I'm even more excited to see the Hydrangea in full bloom. I took this picture a couple days ago and the blooms were even bigger today!

Frank and Frank-o got the retaining wall done around the new back patio too. Things are happening around here! We had cord wood delivered this past week so when cooler weather comes that will be cut up and split and stacked. We considered going to a gas boiler this year but decided to keep on with the wood boiler for another year. As long as I don't get laid up it works out fine. I figure it's good exercise in the winter.

It was sure a hot one today. Humid, too. Very difficult on Frank when it's like that so, he had Frank-o take the "day off" and will bring him out tomorrow. If it's still hot they will organize in the shop where it's cool. There's plenty to do in there too.

P.S. Guys vs. Gals = tie

Random blooms

I've been keeping an eye on this Robin's nest from last summer. I'm curious to see if it will be re-used this season. Are Robin's thrifty and into recycling like us?

The apple tree that we've struggled with since it was planted has blooms - There's hope!

Another go-round with a bleeding heart. I've had little success getting more than a couple years out of one. This one is so pretty, red instead of the normal pink, so I have my fingers crossed!

Frank had his sleep study this week. We haven't gotten the "official" report but, unofficially, he doesn't have sleep apnea. That's good news, he has enough to deal with as it is.

Photo of the week: Cooper was instructed to "Watch Mom" while Dad went in to the hospital overnight. He got some R & R :)

P.S. They won (we lost on the tie-breaker)

Red Moon

We've had some awesome moons this weekend. I finally got a picture of it, not the greatest picture but it still looks pretty neat.

Today hubby is working on the kitchen light. The thing has been trouble for some time so we're replacing it with one of those new LED panels. Hopefully it will be an improvement over the fluorescent panel. Of course it doesn't just "sit in" to the suspended grid as advertised - go figure.

It's another scorcher this week with high temps and high humidity, blech :P but next week looks more comfortable in the 60's. The cherry tomatoes are blooming like crazy so we've been eating those like crazy, I always miss them in the winter, you just can't buy tomatoes like that in the store.

This is a picture of a pansy that is in a pot of flowers from the Grandkids, it's one of my favorites.

Unwanted Pests

I have an old boiler out front that I plant annuals in every year. Last year a tree sprouted in there but I left it there. I figured it wasn't hurting anything. This year it was much bigger and definitely a poplar tree. Still no biggy until it was overtaken by worms. I didn't get a picture of them but they would line each leaf and eat it entirely. Well, that was enough of that, I got the big pruner and cut it down. I'll have to dig out the roots this fall when the flowers die back. I don't know what kind of worms they are but they are small and, apparently, hungry.

I had entertained the idea of relocating it somewhere else, maybe out by the pond - pre worm infestation. Oh well, what do you do? Sure looks bare in that planter with it gone though.

I think it's Sunday

Hubby made one of my favorites for breakfast this morning - blueberry pancakes. Cooper is also a fan. It's a ritual Sunday mornings that Cooper gets "human" food for breakfast, I think pancakes is one of his favorites too.

I have to go in to work this afternoon for a project that is starting tomorrow. I usually don't work on the weekends but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

Weather is much cooler this morning - much better breathing weather for Frank. We had a light show last night in the SE of almost constant lightening. The sky was filled with stars above us though. I wanted to capture it but to date have been unable to successfully photograph much of anything at night. I did, however, find a picture online of it that someone else captured by Vergas, MN. Credit to Wunderground site.

Second bloom on my old roses - I call them my Gramma roses since they came from my Gramma's place. She passed away in 1970 but a piece of her remains in my garden.