Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Looming Large.....


It was a sky full of these kinds of clouds. None of them accumulated to gives us a good rain.  One of them did form into a rain cloud and we had a heavy downpour for about two minutes. Our morning dew is giving us a little moisture on things but a good rain would be better.

Monday, July 30, 2018

Humming a Tune......



Another hummingbird that has visited the feeder yesterday.  I can name this one Greenie.  The capture of that wing is a first for me. He was on his way out of there when I was trying to capture him feeding.  I bought another new feeder on Friday to hang at the lower level of the deck.

Sunday, July 29, 2018

Petal Power.......


Among the random variety of zinnia seeds I prefer the larger blooms.  I don’t get very many larger blooms like this but am glad to have it. The colors are the major attraction though and I could always zoom in to a smaller bloom and get the same effect.


Saturday, July 28, 2018

Chipping Sparrow.....



My internet search showed me that it was a tree sparrow and then clarified it as a chipping sparrow. They put out a call that is a repeat chipping (chirping) sound.

Friday, July 27, 2018

Monarch Mania......


it really isn’t a mania as I have only one monarch.  But it has stayed around and is now letting me photograph it.  It was early evening and the insect flittered back and forth from zinnias and coneflowers not bothered by my being there.


I have been seeing this one guy for a few weeks in my front flower garden but not in the backyard.  Now the blooms must be putting out more nectar as I am now seeing numerous kinds of butterflies in the backyard. The challenge still is having the camera in hand at the same time of the sightings.

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Papa John’s Sculpture Park.....




The shots were taken around the fourth of July while visiting the sculpture garden in downtown Des Moines.

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

The Sun.....In The West.


I was surprised to see this person walking by last evening. I was taking photos of the flowers right next to the sidewalk.  I looked up and she walked by, not saying a word.  I saw her as she was a few feet away from me.  I turned and saw the shadowed scene with her in it.  The surprising thing is that I can see the sun.  It was a clear horizon and the earth is tilted just right for me to be standing outside and see the sun going down.  That is a first for me to see it in the west since I have moved at the new house. I now understand that I could see the sun at the end of the day but it is hiding behind the clouds. On my backyard deck, I will never be ever to see the sun as all the rows of houses are blocking the view.

Sunday, July 22, 2018

Drainage Sculpture....


As the rain drains down from the eaves, it funnels through downspouts and out through this guy.  The former owners left this sculpture.  The photo shows the guy and his dog under the shadow of a rhubarb leaf.

I did get a shot of it with better lighting, but I thought the above photo was more artistic.

Saturday, July 21, 2018

Saturday Snooze......


Weathered and wounded through the years, it  doesn’t stop the expression of the angel in contemplation. The green color is probably a moss-like material. I do see that the step has the growth on it.

Friday, July 20, 2018

Snapped Off.......


I rescued this day lily bloom from the ground outside of the garage yesterday morning.  I had it in the truck as I travel to the old place.  I thought I must have hit it while walking by durning the loading of things in the truck.

When I returned home I found another one on the ground.  I did decide that the wind was snapping them off of the stems.  That was the same wind that was churning up the tornadoes north of town.

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Volunteer Vine.......


I am letting it live.  I would hope that it is a muskmelon. I hope it is not a pumpkin. If it is something different than those two it will be from seed left from two years ago when I did not own the property. Having all those blooms in a row makes me think it could even be a cucumber.  The row of blooms makes for a wonderful shot. I do see that I have some grasses to get pulled.

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Horse Power......





As I travel down a narrow one lane road to the town dump site for branches and limbs, I am surrounded by fields of livestock. The horses are in the one pasture and angus cattle are in the next one. The gravel road is on the very edge of the pastures and I can take shots right out of the truck window.

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Tiger Power....



The everlasting tiger lily is putting out blooms. At the farm it may have bloomed once or twice during its stay in the shade. I had it for a lot of years but most times it never budded.  I moved the bulb down to the new home,  It was rarely in bloom at the time.  Since it had bloomed I moved it.   This year I have a second stem that is going to bloom.  I always think of my first time seeing this kind of lily at my grandmother’s farm house.  Her iris bed was crowded and had lots to water grass growing among them.  Out of the middle of the row is a tiger lily putting out orange blooms like a rose amounts throne.

Monday, July 16, 2018

Joy in the Morning.......


It is Monday and there is a gentle cool breeze out of the north.  It was 69 degrees F. and it felt good to be outside while I took Barney for his morning venture.

Sunday, July 15, 2018

And then there is one.....


The nest in the front yard has had various things going on for the past week.  At first the mother robin seemed to be sitting on birds and was higher in the nest. A couple of days ago I liked up and these two are poking their heads out of the nest.  If there had been more of these birds they must have left the nest already.


Last night they seemed to be growing as the sat.  The mother is out finding food but I think they are trying to cool off.


And, then there was one.  I saw on an Iowa photo blog site this morning, a baby robin in a parking lot looking up at a person trying to get into their truck. The back yard deck nest went through this process also but I didn’t see much of it. I promise to not photograph the empty.

Saturday, July 14, 2018

Harvest Starts......


The tomatoes were planted a month earlier than last year.  I should have a lot more tomatoes to eat this year. They are still slow to ripen but they seem to have lots of hot and wet weather.

Friday, July 13, 2018

A Different Theme....


A new young cardinal shows up on my deck yesterday performing all sorts of curious antics. I haven’t seen the parents for a month of so. It was interesting to see this guy out exploring the new world.

I don’t have a feeder out that works for doves and cardinals but I do have a simple container of food for them. The guy senses told him that something there was what he should be eating.











A shot of a morning dove getting down to business.

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Hazed....


It is so hot and so humid that the camera continues to fog over on me.  I could wipe and then shoot quickly before it fogged over again.

This is the very large variety of day lily.  I am sure that it is a third or more larger than the normal sized lily. It is another successfully moved bulb from one place to the new place.

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Zoomed In.....


My baby bunny is surviving in the backyard.  He has doubled in size since I first saw him while mowing in the yard. It is jittery and jumps around quickly to find things to eat. There is a lot of grass but there are zinnias inside the fenced area the he wishes he could eat. I left the photo cropped tall to show how small the rabbit really is in comparison to the plants around him.

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Summer Shot......


It is a welcomed color in the garden as we hit the middle of July. They don’t mind the heat and yet flourish with a little extra watering.

Monday, July 9, 2018

Morning Views......


Monday morning looks promising with just a few clouds and cool temperatures. The promise really is for a hot day reaching 90s by noon.


The earlier morning shot had better color with a bird flying through the scene. I didn’t know he had bomb my shot and I at first though I had something on the screen.

Sunday, July 8, 2018

Spots before my Eyes.......Not Sports.


My Asiatic lily is blooming now. It does remind us of a tiger lily but the original tiger lily looks differently.

Saturday, July 7, 2018

Don’t Climb on the Sculpture......


Don’t climb on the sculpture.  I read that after we had taken the photo. It is a heavy metal welded together so we didn’t do damage. The photo is taken at downtown Des Moines at the Papajohns Sculpture Park


Friday, July 6, 2018

Company.....


The five year old guy has a lot of fun at his Grandparent’s house.  Visiting downtown Des Moines and also many playgrounds help keep them moving.



Someone is two and he help me to fill the bird bath.  His explorations afterward was approved by his parents, so he did have a great time.

Getting sand on his hands was fun and then washing them off was fun.  Also he decided to add some rocks to the set up. We sure enjoyed the two guys.

Thursday, July 5, 2018

The Guys......


Visitors to our house since Wednesday afternoon are these two guys.  They have grown up a lot and have so much energy.

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Tuesday’s Bloom......


I remember when coneflowers were not popular. I know they are a wildflower but the cultivation of them into different colors was not happening thirty years ago. I am sure people who were planning seed for them were putting them in their prairie gardens. When I first saw them, I thought there must be something wrong with it ,when the petals all spread backwards. So I have three different kinds of them today.

Monday, July 2, 2018

Easter Blooms.......



The former owners planted their Easter lily in this flower bed a few years ago.  So, I too planted one in the same area last spring. I doubled the number of blooms as they both are opening up there flowers.  I think I have three stems this year and that will increase next spring.

Big and Small...

 The miniature daffodils are so petite compared to the normal sized daffodil. I don't think I have ever brought the small ones inside be...