Rainy Day

It rained almost all day today.  Not the kind of tropical storm rain you had, Aunt B, but steady. Sometimes it just drizzled but there was usually something falling from the sky.  And it didn't get out of the mid-60s either, so wet and chilly.

That made it hard to go out to get this picture, but I managed.  I glanced out and realized that when the spiderwort was blooming I had red, white, and blue-ish flowers in the garden.  So I had my patriotic garden only a few days late.

In the afternoon I saw that one of the day lilies up on top of the retaining wall had blossomed and it was another red one.  Happily I noticed it during one of the lulls in the drizzle.  Woohoo!  I'm hoping that the others are different colors too.  There are a lot more buds poking up so we'll know soon enough.

The Wren moved into the platform feeder to sing today.  Most of the other birds stayed home but that little guy had a lot to sing about, I guess, because he was determined to find a sheltered place for his song.

I gathered up a bunch of my Fair entries and took their picture so that I could write a Knitting Guild blog post trying to encourage more of the members to enter.  There are a couple other items that I didn't dig out but this is most of them.  The entry deadline is a week from tomorrow so it's time to be thinking of what to enter.

Today I pulled down the owner's manual file and sorted out all of the ones for things I no longer have and tossed them, mostly to make room for the manual for the new lawnmower, but also just to clean it out.

The prompt today said to imagine you're losing your sight.  What would you miss seeing most?  Cheerful thought.  I'd miss seeing faces, all faces, but most of all I'd miss seeing my family's faces.

--Barbara

New Toy

 The hardware store was open today so I was able to plunk down my credit card and get me a new lawnmower that got delivered this afternoon.  It has an electric start so I don't have to yank my arm out of the socket trying to start it. Very fancy.  Fortunately the kid who delivered it was able to give me a crash course in operating it.  It's very cool and I can't wait to try it out later this week.

But it has to stop raining first.  It started to rain when the mower got delivered and it really hasn't stopped since.  We were supposed to have a strong thunderstorm this evening but it either dissipated or slunk off to the north since we had a few rumbles and a far-off flash or two but nothing severe or even strong.

A Downy Woodpecker visited the suet cakes this morning and hung there upside down.  Usually they land upright and stay that way, this one came in sideways and stayed sideways.

Today's toss was an old bag of rice that got shoved out of sight downstairs.  I'm not sure where it came from because it was a Ziploc bag of rice without packaging.  There must have been something wrong with it or we'd have eaten it.  Out it went.

The prompt today said to write about two people who live together but never meet and communicate through written notes.  I tried, I really did, but it got weird so I quit.

--Barbara

But Pretty Weeds

 I went outside in the hot and humid to take a picture of the Black-eyed Susans that are blooming and found these little weed flowers at my feet.  They look white but they're the palest pink.  I don't know what kind of vine they are, maybe some variant of Morning Glories, but I think they're pretty.

Only one of the Rudbeckia plants has blossoms on it right now.  Maybe more will burst out in buds and blooms but for now this is the only one.

I tried to catch the Wren on the Menopausal Goddess sculpture but he flew away as soon as I snapped the picture so you get the metal lady with no bird.  Ah well.

On my way to the hardware store to buy the lawnmower (but they were closed today) I saw that the Sunny Hill Farm stand was there so I stopped.  I asked for two quarts of strawberries and sugarsnap peas.  I meant one bag of peas but evidently I wasn't clear because I got two of those too.  They won't go to waste.  I'll make more hummus tomorrow and use the peas as transfer medium.  Plus they're so good to just munch on.

I weighed the last toe cap I made (21 grams) and then weighed the yarn I was sure there wasn't enough of (20 grams) so I started over figuring I can make it a little shorter and have enough yarn.  I need to remember that there are many sizes of feet so no matter how big or small I make them they'll fit someone.

Today's toss was more hangers.  I have a zillion tubular plastic hangers and I've gotten rid of most of my clothes and not replaced them so I don't need to house all those hangers.

The prompt today said that you know when you'll die.  Will you change the way you live?  Thinking of knowing when I'd die froze me in my tracks.  I felt like a deer in the headlights.  I hope that I'd make good use of my time but fear that I'd be frozen into inactivity.

--Barbara

No Blue Flowers

Happy Independence Day!  I spent the day with DIL1's family, picnic-ing and swimming.  Her dad is a model railroad enthusiast so we got to see a year's worth of improvements and refinements.  It's an awesome display.  Each grandchild has a feature named after them, from a volcano to a lake park and everything in between. 

I took a picture of the bee balm and daisies and thought it was too bad that I don't have any blue flowers so that my garden is patriotic colored but I'm a big fan of the red and white flowers together.

The largest clump of day lilies is going great guns.  There's milkweed mixed in there too but I haven't seen any chrysilises or many Monarch butterflies.

There was the slightest band of pink in the sky when I went to close the curtains and now there are fireworks exploding all around.  None of them are close enough to be seen through the trees but lots of booms and crackles.  I pity the neighborhood dogs.

Today wasn't a great WW day.  I confess that I ignored the food plan pretty thoroughly.  Cross my heart, I'll get back in the saddle tomorrow.

No toss today.

The prompt today said that you were asked to appear on a local news program to debate an issue that you think is important.  What would you chose?  Oh man, either racial equality or LGBTQ rights.  Both need to be talked about.  I feel strongly about both but I'm terrible at debating so I'd be a disappointment on the news.

--Barbara

Maybe

I think I found a lawnmower.  It isn't the one that I fell in love with, nobody has one of those.  It seems that Honda hasn't produced even half of the mowers promised so they're out of stock all over.  I did find a Toro one that I like.  It has most of the features of the one that I fell in love with and it has an electric start.  I like that push button starting.  I'll think about it for a day or two and probably go up one day next week and lay down my check and treat myself to a new lawnmower--with delivery.

I happened to be looking out the patio doors when a Nuthatch landed on a crook.  I took its picture and it's a terrible picture but I'm sharing it anyway because I usually get nothing when I try for one.  I took a second shot and all I got was a blue-gray blur as it flew away.

I finished the July Toe Cap #1 this afternoon while watching Miss Fisher's Murder Mystery on DVR.  The show has the best clothes and cars.  It's set in Melbourne, Australia in the 1930s.

Today's toss was a handful of tubular plastic hangers.  I have so many of them that there isn't room to hang more on the hanging place so it's time to pass some of them along.

The prompt today said to list as many types of music as you can think of.  I thought of 18 of them.  How many can you name?

Lots of pre-July Fourth fireworks tonight.  I'll bet there's lots of skeeters too.  It's hot and humid out there.  I'm glad I'm in the air conditioning.

--Barbara

No Luck So Far

I went lawnmower hunting today and had no luck, no luck at all.  You wouldn't think that the first of July would find most of the lawnmowers out of stock but they are, especially the one I want.  I put my name on a list of "if one comes in, call me" at an Ace Hardware store but skipped it at Home Depot.  I have one more store to visit tomorrow, maybe two, before abject despair sets in.  I planned to have a photo of the chosen mower to share tonight but, as you can see, I got skunked.

I refilled the suet pellets this morning and as soon as I turned around there were three Chickadees on the feeder.  There were four but as soon as I picked up the camera one flew away.  I think these are a bunch of siblings from the same nest since they always seem to be together.

This Cardinal landed on the patio and shooed away a clutch of young House Finches to peck at the seed fallen from the feeder.

All of the House Finches on the patio were the young ones in all their dull brown plumage but this pair of adults were up on the perches staying above the hubbub of the ones on the ground.

The Gray Catbird came for his daily bath.  I really like the dark gray color of his feathers.  I don't know why I'm so attracted to him.

This is what I knitted on this evening at Friday Night Knitting.  It's July Toe Cap #1 and I got to the decreases.  I'll finish it tomorrow while watching Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries or Midsomer Murders that I DVR'd on PBS.

Today's toss was another handful of non-slip hangers.  I still have a zillion of them and even more plastic tubular hangers.  Maybe I'll sort out some of those to toss tomorrow.

The prompt today asked what you could do to be a better version of yourself.  Oh, introspection is not my forte these days but I managed to bumble around and write an answer, which I am not going to share.

Even though it's only July 2 there is a plethora of fireworks booming and crackling outside.  I wonder where people get their illegal fireworks around here.  Seems like everyone around me has some.

--Barbara

I Had A Beer

It seems I've developed a little taste for beer.  I met a couple knitting friends at Zambaldi for beer and knitting and I liked it.  Tonight was the first time since March 2020 that we met in person to knit.  Up til now it's been Zoom knitting.  We've tried to knit in the park a couple times but have gotten rained out both times.  Tonight we were in a nice, dry taproom with a beverage and a bowl of popcorn.  It felt so normal.

I finished the June Toe Cap this afternoon...

... and cast on July Toe Cap #1 to knit on at the taproom tonight.  I had started another one but realized that I didn't have enough yarn to complete it so I yanked the needles out and started this one.  One of these days I'll figure out how much yarn I need by weight so I don't waste my knitting effort.  Maybe I'll weigh this one when it's done to have a guesstimate for future reference.

The Downy Woodpecker showed up at the suet pellets this morning.  You can tell it's a male by the red swoop across the back of his head.

I was thinking the other day that the Japanese Beetles haven't arrived to eat up the roses when I saw one on this daisy today.  Guess the roses are doomed and the daisies are going to get nibbled too.

The butterfly weed is blooming nicely.  I haven't seen any butterflies on it though.  I did see a Monarch butterfly fluttering around the yard the other day but it didn't land anywhere I could creep up on it to take its picture.

One of the Black-eyed Susans (or Rudbeckia) flowers opened.  I think the petals look a little sparse.  Maybe this is a different variety from the other ones I have or maybe my memory is faulty.  That could totally be it.

I'm keeping an eye on the ripening blueberries.  There aren't many of them and they're taking their own sweet time turning from green to blue.  I'm hoping to get to them before the birds do.

Today's toss was a handful of non-slip hangers.  I bought a raft of them to hang all of the dresses that I made the last few years and now they're all donated so I have excess hangers.

The prompt today said to list ten words relating to the desert.  At first I thought it said dessert, that would have been a snap, but desert posed a bit more of a challenge.  I started with sand and a mirage and went on from there.

--Barbara