Second

 And third day lilies. 

Obviously I missed the first yesterday. 

And here is my one and only peony bloom. 

Car Show

Here's a walk through the volunteer Fire Department's car show.  Dan had the entry spot duty collecting donations in a right foot boot.  When I got there at noon time it was almost filled. The day's collection from visitors, participants and the food concession was $5500!  The weather was very amenable that day which helped a lot.

Enjoy these all you car buffs.

I took this last photo because Dan had a Mercury Comet which was the same as this Ford Falcon.  Dan called his a Mercury Vomit!

136 car owners exhibiting voted this one as People's Choice.

This one would have been my choice.

Strawberry Pie Season

 

Made this to take to friends tonight for dinner. 

Going and Coming

In going, going, gone soon category in the deck garden:

 

In the coming soon category:

And in the Energizer Bunny category:

And then there's this poor butterfly:

The loss of the bottom half of one wing doesn't seem to affect it too much.  It did fly rather strangely though many of them do that.

Something to Tickle Your Funny Bone.

Always have to wonder where is that funny bone?  In my elbow seems like a strange place but here are some chuckles from my friend Marilyn

I took my suit to the cleaners, who wanted to charge me $40, so I gave it to the charity shop next door. They cleaned and pressed it and put it in the window. I bought it back for$15.

 

 My wife and I decided to never go to bed angry. We've been awake since Tuesday.

 

Someone just gave me half a peace sign. Weird.

 

Growing up, we knew Dad had had enough when we heard the recliner slam down. Kids these days will never know that fear.

 

My wife said: "That's the 4th time you've gone back for dessert! Doesn't it embarrass you?" I said: "No, I keep telling them it's for you."

 

She said she missed me. Normally that would be good but she's reloading.

 

When I was in elementary school we learned about a shape called a rhombus and that was the last time I ever heard about that shape.

 

My wife and I started role-playing in the bedroom. Her favorite is The Sexy Librarian where I have to sit quietly while she reads a book.

 

Being old is when you don't care where your spouse goes, just as long as you don't have to go too.

 

I now know how it will all end for me, one of my kids will unplug my life support to charge their phone.

 

At a wedding reception, someone yelled: "All married people please stand next to the one person that has made your life worth living." The bartender was almost crushed to death.

 

I met my wife at a singles night. I was surprised because I thought she was home with the kids.

 

I want someone I can share my entire life with who will leave me alone most of the time.

 

Yesterday I bought a world map, gave my wife a dart, and said, "Throw this and wherever it lands, I will take you on vacation." We're spending 3 weeks behind the fridge.

 

As I walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death, I remind myself that you can't always trust Google Maps.

 

 

Last but Not Least

 Here's the last iris to bloom in my yard.

It's that deep dark purple that I thought I didn't have.

It was worth the wait.

Housing Shortage

 Our area has a housing shortage.  That’s why I can’t understand why there are vacant houses on our road.

On my walk today besides capturing this view of a gigantic field which in the past has been planted in corn but this year has something else growing …

… I captured the rhododendrons at this vacant house. 

I have heard it is owned by folks out of state. Possibly an inheritance. I’ve seen them there once. Otherwise it stands empty and decaying slowly. What a waste. 

But the rhododendrons are gorgeous!

Then there’s this house just 4 houses down from us. It’s been vacant since before we moved here. The rich folks who bought the farm bought it. Not clear what they intend. I believe that zoning requires that if you tear down a house it has to rebuilt on footprint within a year. I think there’s asbestos so that requires removal. 

All this was posted from my phone. 

It's That Time

 Weather has cooperated so all the farmers are haying their fields.  The field behind our house is being finished today.

There are two tractors out there today.  One is fluffing the cutting into long mounds and the other is gathering it into rounded bales.  This is different from other years when they did rectangular bales.

There's a strip of grass they never mow between us and the field.

Iris Thanks

Thank you to whoever lived here before and planted these peach iris. I looked back at my journal and discovered they had bloomed my first spring here in 2021. The clump below was planted here by me and judging from the numbers of blooms they love the spot.

Below are some in probably their original spot.  At least I think these will be the same color.

Thank you to Joy down the street who brought me a sack of tubers when I admired her yellow ones.  Here's the first bloom of this season.

Thank you to Vicki who sent me tubers to her white iris. Last year they were set to bloom but hit with frost.  This is the first spring I get to see their blooms.

Next year will be an even bigger display.

A thank you to Debbie the mother of a good friend of my daughter Sarah.  When she and her daughter visited here to see Sarah in June 2021 she brought these lovely light blue Siberian iris (or are they Japanese iris?).  I planted them in a temporary spot and last year moved them to an expanded deck garden where they get full sun. 

The last thank you goes out to my late mother in law who in 2006 gave me a bag of iris tubers to plant at our new home, The Lodge.  When we moved from there in 2016 Sarah took tubers from the garden and planted them at her apartment. I helped her move them to their backyard when they moved to their first house.  Then when they moved to Buffalo I took some and temporarily planted them in a raised bed at the retirement home set aside for residents.  In June 2020 I dug them up and we drove them to Buffalo where Sarah and family had moved to a new house after a short stint in an apartment.  I planted them for her.

When we moved here to a house I took some tubers from Sarah's garden in 2022 or 23.  Below is the first blooms I have had from these well traveled tubers.

Below are the iris I planted at Sarah's in Buffalo 4 years ago.  Look how they spread. I have the light purple one but would also like the deep purple one.  

When I collected tubers from her they were no longer in bloom.  

She has one of these in a pot which she will share with me.

Have iris well traveled.