Waxing or Waning.......

In two days the moon has started to shrink in visual sight. The photo above was taken Wednesday night and it is almost in focus.  Last nights photo was not focused but the image created when kept small does have  nice effect. The moon’s position in the sky is moving so much to the left each night that I doubt I will be able to see it unless I get up in the middle of the night.

The waning of the moon is the time period of the changes of the moon as it decreases to a new moon. 

Good Color Scheme......

Craters on the Moon.....

You can see the dimensional view of the craters on the moon along the right top edge of the photo. Apparently the way the light starts to go into shadow lets us see them. We are having a complete cloud cover on Tuesday night.  The photo was taken on Monday night.

Air Traffic Controller.......

Going overhead in the late day is this little bird.  The clouds are heavy and sometimes they just want to fly under the clouds. I am on my back deck and immediately turned when I heard that sound, looking to see what and where was it.  The jet is heading for the DSM airport.  We get a lot of traffic over head. One evening we had a helicopter go over very low.  It was too dark for me to see it but I could see the lights on the front and back but nothing in-between. It was closer than I thought as it looked to be about the size of a small house passing by.  In the back of my mind is the thought of having one landing in my backyard by accident.

Monday Morning......

The showers in the night helped to get this glory into this stage.  We had more thunder and lightning than rain.  It was a noisy storm.

These blooms are so high on the trellis that I can only get a lower side view of them These vines are doing better than ever this year as I didn’t cut the vines back as much as I did last year.  The area looks weedy but it really isn’t.

One Hummer.....

I sat out on the balcony in the afternoon.  I didn’t have a red shirt on but this guy came in to check me out anyway. I had iced tea in my my one hand and took the shot with the other hand. I was glad the it did because when he would land on the feeder it was always on the back side out of sight.

It was so warm that the ice in my drink was gone quickly. I waited anyway and  I did finally capture him on his good side.

Full Moon.......

I took the shot at ten in the evening.  I was surprised of its movements these past few evenings as it kept moving to my left each night.  In the middle of the night we were up with our old dog and the moon moves to my right as the early morning continues.  I wish I knew more about its movements but the earths rotations and tilting just keeps mixing up what we see in the sky.  The path of the moon as it rotates around the earth is ever changing too. Mars looks red right now and it too travels alongside of the moon even though they are millions of miles apart.

Lawn Ornament......

It is a good thing to have a water hydrant on the property line in front of the house. I don’t know how far apart these are placed in a city but I like having it right where it is. Our old place had one two blocks away from our area.

Back and Front.......

The newest bloom is still standing up straight.  Once those seeds start to fill in the head will start to droop.

The seeds on this one are so plentiful that they are distorting the shape of the flower head. I am hoping we don’t get storms with wind as they will blow over a lot easier no with all the weight on the top.

Not a Rain Gauge......

We received more than an inch of rain.  This had some of a previous sprinkles day so it is fuller than a one day’s measure. A blog friend in India says they still use the aluminum version of this milkman. I hadn’t thought of it before but dairy farms today use stainless steel tanks carrying gallons of milk instead of individual small cans.

Knock Outs.......

I spent a lot of time triming back all the spent blooms on my three roses. There was not much left with red flowers.  There were buds everywhere so it was a good time to cut the flowers back.

Milkcan Technology....

The old milk can has information stamped in it that I had not noticed.  I see the Roberts company name but I also see Audubon, Iowa is on there too. The bottom of the can is rounded out as if the water that was in it had frozen over a winter and pushed changed the shape of it.  It works better to sit in in the grass rather than trying to sit it on the concert patio.

Future and past Blooms.....

The unwrapping of the petals of the morning glory makeup a beautiful bloom.  Before it unwraps there are these beautiful designs on the bud. The next day the spent bloom also makes a great design.

Morning Color.......

The weather has been great for the morning glories. They are growing better now that I don’t pull them up, thinking they were a weed.

Branching Out......

The dead tree branch is still there.  When the tree lost all of its leaves last fall, I thought it had been taken down in a storm.

I use this tree to gauge the movement of the sun as the earth moves.  The dead  part seems sculptural. I can only see it when I zoom in on it with camera. Because of the curve of the streets in our area, I have yet to identify the tree when I am at the bottom of the hill.  I guess I need to go take a walk around the blocks.

Hummers......

Sugar powered hummer gets caught on my camera in a retreating mode. I kept forgetting to post this and today it caught my eye as I was scanning the files.

This bird seems to have a shorter tail. The angle could be wrong but this  doesn’t look quite right. Two of the hummingbirds spend a lot of time chasing each other.

Bumble Bee Heaven.....

The bee can just keep walking up hill and not have to fly from flowers to flower. I have seen a lot of bumble bees this summer.  There haven’t been many honey bees but there are a few.

This is the last one......

The day lily season ends with this one bloom. They lasted a longer time than usual as I did keep them watered.

A Difference........

The second sunflower opened the past few days.  It seems to not follow any sun light at this time. The older one is focused on the east. The front one will continue to open up wider the next couple of days.   I can photograph the flowers now from the deck and get good shots.

Attitude......

The young goldfinch thinks he is a nuthatch as he hangs upside down on the feeder. Now that I think of it he is doing it because all the seed is at the bottom.  I will fill it some time today. Nothing is going to stop this guy fro getting seed.

Zinnia World......

Sunflower Glories.......

It seemed like it took forever for these to bloom. I now think of it that they were busy growing tall stems before they could open up a bud and bloom.

Sharing the Food......

While they were posturing to declare their territory, their appetites made them have a truce for just a short moment.  Then they were back at it again fighting over two feeders.

Thundercloud.......

It was a large thundercloud headed towards us.  It was slow motioned as one could barely see its changes in formation.

The closer it came less sunlight was making it glow. It became just another common cloud.  It is a very big cloud though and we didn’t get a drop of rain from it.

Glories......

The volunteer morning glory started blooming three days ago.  It seems to be late for them but I guess the growing conditions determine that. The vines that I planted are now forming buds. This plant self seeded abundantly with many vines starting at the base of the deck post. The rains are messing the blooms today but they will bloom again tomorrow.

Goldfinch Feeding.....

I haven’t posted birds for  a while so I did get some good shots of the goldfinch.  They succeed in hatching out a lot of birds and the young look like their adult parents now.  I I have goldfinch wars sometimes as too many of them want to eat at the same time. This new thistle seed feeder has proved to be a successful design. I watched one bird pick at the little squares getting a seed each time he aimed his beak.

It’s a Jungle......

As I take shots of the tomatoes, things do look like a jungle. The orange and yellow colors tie this all into a nice composition.

Sun Glow and Dormant Grass.....

Saturday morning and it has cooled down a little for awhile. We are having a clear sky so far but I see clouds will move in to the north of us. They will get rain and we will not. I will water things again this morning.

The Best Side.....

The lily was in great light and the wind was swinging it about in a rage. I did get the shot. These day lilies keep on putting out blooms on almost a daily basis.

The Rain Clouds in the North......

Both photos were taken from the back yard deck. It was later evening as the sun was just about ready to set in the west.

In the front yard at about the same time the view is different.  I am standing in the middle of the street in front of the house to get this shot. There is a hint of the sun in the bottom middle of the scene.

Sunflower.....

In the evening the setting sun makes the plant glow.  The flower head is getting close to opening.  I hope I can get the same kind of show with the sunflower in bloom.