Exceedingly Mundane

I’ve tried a couple of times, with little to no success, to get a picture of some of the hummingbirds that are visiting my feeder this summer. Most of the ones I have taken in the past have been blurry, but I finally had a little bit of success Sunday afternoon. I know my camera has a good zoom and I’ve been frustrated that I haven’t been able to get a picture that is clear and zoomed in on the bird itself and not the feeder or the background. I’m seriously considering buying myself a “Photography for Dummies” book so I can learn something. My camera has a lot of nice features and I basically don’t have a clue how to use most of them!

Here’s one, and I’m putting a couple more on the extended entry, so click the link if you’d like to see…

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My kitchen window faces my next door neighbor’s kitchen window. Our houses are fairly close together, and we know our neighbors pretty well around here; we live in a nice little neighborhood. Anyway, for years, my neighbor and I have been putting flowers in our kitchen window sill. That way, I get to enjoy not only the flowers I plant, but the ones she plants as well. I usually plant moss rose or petunias in the summer, and pansies or johnny jump-up’s (violas) in the winter. My petunias this year are a bit scraggly, but at least they haven’t died in this window. My neighbor’s flowers, on the other hand, are doing great and are just gorgeous! She’s growing Gerber daisies in there this summer – a flower I have never been able to get to grow. Every time I plant them, they die. But hers look great. I get to enjoy them every day, out the view from my kitchen window.

Here’s the view from inside my kitchen:

And here’s her flowers up close (taken from inside my house, on full zoom):

Funny story – I took a couple of pictures from inside my kitchen to post, and then realized that they didn’t show up that well, because of the screen on the window. I thought to myself, I should call her and ask if it’s ok if I take a quick picture of her flowers to post on my blog. Then I thought, nah, I’ll just sneak over there really quick and snap a couple. So, I did, and I got caught! 😀 She was going to close her blind and saw me out her window taking pictures of her flowers! She came outside and I told her what I was doing, and thankfully – I think she was ok with it! We talked for a while (she’s the sweetest person) and caught up on all the things going on with us. Anyway, Sharon, if you’re reading this, your flowers look great and I so enjoy looking at them every day. I hope you don’t mind that I posted these here on my blog!

Here’s her flowers, up close and personal, when she saw me outside taking pictures!!

I blogged in May of last year (2005) about a cutting we received from a neighbor of a pass-along plant called a Confederate Rose. It was just a little thing when we got it, and I kept it in a pail of water to get the roots going:

Then, Tim planted it in the yard a couple of weeks later (in May):

I watched it, and watered it, and cared for it all summer, and then finally – in late October, it bloomed:

Now, this year, it has really taken off. It’s taller than our 6 foot wooden fence, and still growing. I hope it really blooms this year, lots of blooms. It should be gorgeous if it does. I need to do some more research and find out just how big this thing is going to get, if it needs to be pruned, when, etc.

Here’s what it looks like today:

I was headed out my back door a little while ago, to water some of my flowers and take a few pictures (I’ll post those later today or tomorrow, lots of pretty flowers blooming here!). I saw this bird fly into my tree in the backyard. I assume he’s a regular ole red cardinal, but he’s either really dirty, crossed with something else, or something. I wish I was smart enough to know what 🙂 He has a lot of black on him!

OK, no cute kids or pets, so here’s some more flower pictures 🙄

My moss rose are blooming up a storm!!

As are the periwinkles in an old planter on the fence… they also have some moss rose and purslane popping up in the corners as well:

The marigolds out front are starting to show good from the sidewalk/street, but up close, you can see that a few spots still need to be filled in. But they add some really nice bright color up front:

I took a few pictures yesterday and today of things blooming and growing, and also one of a little chickadee eating from the suet feeder.

If you’re interested in things like that, click on the extended entry to check out all of the pictures 🙂

Disclaimer: Lest you get the wrong impression and think I have a green thumb or something, please let me state the obvious. I’m only taking pictures of the things that have actually lived and are blooming. I won’t be posting pictures of all the plants and flowers that I have killed or that are dying. I know I should, to be fair, but I won’t. 😆

Petunias in a hanging basket I planted:

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We planted a couple of day lily bushes a few years ago, and they bloomed really well the first year or two. The last couple of years, they haven’t done as well. I imagine I need to divide them or separate them or something, but I just never seem to get around to it. This year, when we redid one of the flower beds, Tim moved one of the daylillies and it is really struggling just to stay alive. Of the three that are remaining in their original spot, only one of them is getting buds and acting like it is going to bloom. Oh well, you can’t win em all!

Yesterday, I noticed that the one that is doing well had a lot of buds on it, and I took a picture, with the intention of blogging about “waiting on a bloom”. Obviously, I never got around to making that post 🙄 So, here’s yesterday’s picture, buds waiting to open:

And this morning, I was greeted with this, my first bloom of the season:

There, a flower picture for the day 🙂

It’s going to be downright hot here today – hope everyone else has a bright, happy, sunshine-y kind of day

I’ve been busy all day, planting flowers outside. I have gotten most of the ones I have bought planted, but still have a lot left to do. Several more beds to get ready (pull up pansies, rework the soil, etc), and then more to plant. I haven’t even started on the front of the house, I’m working solely in the backyard and in all of my many planters right now.

Click on the extended entries to see all the pictures…
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Tim and I are re-doing one of the flower beds in our backyard. We started it last year (long story, I didn’t want to do things without a plan, but Tim jumped in and pulled out most of the shrubs, tried to relocate a couple, and we ended up losing most all of them. Argh). Then the tiller broke, and we never finished that bed. It sat there all last year, looking horrible and empty and pitiful, and filled with weeds. Now, he has the tiller working again, and we’re starting back on this bed. Almost all of the plants are out, except for the tree we planted last year, and my rudbeckias that come up every spring and bloom every summer.

Tim wanted to outline the bed with some red pavers, so he went yesterday and got some. As it turns out, this probably isn’t enough. These little buggers are expensive though!

And here’s how we are doing them:

I won’t show the rest of the bed because it still looks bad! We’ve got to get more dirt, some landscape fabric, shrubs, and then some other paver things. We’re now leaning toward making a paved area and building an arbor over it. Originally, Tim wanted to build a swing in the arbor, but I think I’ve talked him into relocating the glider that’s on the deck, and putting it under the arbor. We’ve got a lot left to do, so look for updates in the next few weeks (and months, probably!). 🙂

I feel the need to post a few flower pictures today. Bear with me, I know, I know – if it ain’t flowers, it’s birds or squirrels!

My first New Guinea impatien seems to be doing well, and blooming nicely:

Our clematis is blooming, but in a weird way this year. All the blooms are in one area, not spread out all over the trellis like they usually are. Plus, they all bloomed at the same time. Boom, one day there were several buds ready to open, the next day there was a profusion of flowers:

And finally, big Sigh. I love buying flowers and seeing them bloom, but I dislike the actual planting part. And come June and July when it’s hotter than blue blazes, I will resent getting out every day to water the little buggers. Anyone want to volunteer to come do some planting for me? This is just the first batch, I will need this many or more to fill in the rest of the beds and planters… these are just for the back yard and a few pots:

And yes, I don’t subscribe to the “pick a color scheme” or the “mass plant flowers in one color for maximum impact” mode of thought. Obviously. I like lots of color, and all kinds of colors, so I buy the mixed ones. My yard, my rules. Sort of like my blog. 😀

Tim went this morning, while it was still partly sunny, and rented an aerator. It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for a while, but just keep putting it off each spring. Our grass has gotten really bad, lots of thatch, more weeds than grass, and it just really needs a lot of TLC. Aerating it is the first step. We’re going to get sand soon, and spread it out, and it also needs a heaping dose of fertilizer and lots of water.

Here’s the first step – Tim aerated it this morning:

And, thankfully, at long last – we’re forecast to get rain today. We got one good shower around lunch, and are getting some light showers most all afternoon.

Here comes the rain!