Last Tiger Lily

We have two different kinds of tiger lilies in the flower bed along the porch.  One kind that was here when we moved in, a little larger and later-blooming, pretty much on each end, and another kind along the middle that is earlier-blooming.  They've all been done blooming for some time now except for one stalk near the far corner.  After all the rest were done this one still showed a few flower pods yet to open, so I've been watching it to see if they all actually would bloom and, somewhat surprisingly, they have.

When there were 3 or 4 pods left on the stalk I started taking pictures of them, anticipating each to be the last.  I didn't believe the small ones would grow in the cooler weather.  Even now there appears to be a very small flower bud there but I just can't see it being able to grow enough to bloom, so this, I believe, is the last tiger lily of the season for us.

On one of my recent walks I picked a gourd that was growing wild along the bike path, not in one of the community gardens, either, but along the creek.  I saw the vine growing all year, and this last time it was roughly cut back and I saw two left that looked ready, so I took one with me.  Not sure why or what I was going to do with it, it just seemed like an autumnal thing to do, maybe place it somewhere as a fall decoration.  I expected the squirrels to mess with it, but so far they haven't.

And the flowers we have left in the stump area are still doing very well.  We've had several cool days recently, this weekend being the exception and maybe our last summer-like temperatures.  The days are fast getting shorter and leaves are starting to change and fall, though it will still be some time before raking and gutter cleaning is due, thankfully.  Stores are all decked out for Halloween, and we have a few houses in the neighborhood that have pretty impressive displays.  Maybe later in the month I might try to get some pictures to share here.  I do like Halloween, it may be my favorite holiday. 

Today, my wife is out and about tending to her dad and his matters, which has taken up more and more of her time recently, so I have been doing chores around the house and checking things off my list.  Soon here I think I'll take the bicycle down to the Harmony Bar and Grill for lunch.  I've been doing lots more walking than biking this summer, and this may be the last time I get the bike out.  Hopefully I keep up with walking even as the weather turns, but I admit it has been more difficult to make myself do since my back has been better.  I used to walk to make it feel better, so now I should walk to help it continue to feel better, I think.

The Badgers play later this afternoon, and shortly after they start the Brewers play game 2 of the opening round of the playoffs, and before that's over I hope to be out by the fire.  I've not done that in a few weeks due to the weather and also allergies started kicking my butt again, so I'm hoping the wind and weather will be on my side.  Whatever your plans, have a great weekend, everyone!

Peace

 

Aw, Nuts!

It's not been an overwhelming year for black walnuts as only one of neighbor Dave's three trees is producing this year, but there's sure enough.  In the past there's been years now and again when it seems never-ending.  One year I think I stopped counting at a thousand, or maybe it was less, not sure.  But next time it's so plentiful I may continue the count just for fun.  Not sure how often they produce, whether every other year or whatever, I may have to look that up.

I just use my outdoor grabber (no bending!) to pick them up and toss them in the back corner behind the lilac bush, every day or every other day when the season comes.  The squirrels love it and are happily fattening up for winter, leaving black walnut litter everywhere, too.  And they stash them in the most odd places sometimes.  We've found them in the corners of the back steps and doorway, on the railing, and various odd places in the garage even, when I leave the door open.  In pots, in the gardens, and under leaves or grass like that's a good spot.  I even found one in the hanging plant out front.  Not sure how they got in there, but they did.  Bastards.  ;)

But how in the heck did they get one in/on the telephone wire that runs along the back yard property lines?  I thought I'd never be surprised where I find one, but I was a bit surprised at this one!

Happy Autumn, everyone.

Back Shot II, Birthday and Vacation

Last Wednesday I had my second back shot in the last two months, so by now I should know fully how much it helped and what I'm left with.  The first back shot was maybe 50% effective, which still left considerable room for improvement.  This second back shot was at least 50% effective again, maybe more, and what I'm left with is some tingling in my left leg/foot and sometimes pain in my left seat and groin.  Not painful enough to keep taking opioids, but enough to notice, so this is just what I'm left to deal with until I can't anymore, hopefully several years in the future.  In another week I check in with the neurosurgeons office again so we'll see what they say, but I don't expect any new course of action.  I will live, thank you for your thoughts, everyone.

On Saturday we had some friends over to celebrate my and Terry's birthdays with food, fun and fire.

We only invited a handful of people - it seems I've lost some friends since the pandemic, so be it.  Polite declines would be fine with me but ghosting pretty much says everything you need to know, so the invitations just won't be made anymore.  Oh well, I guess they weren't very good friends to begin with, then.  I've had only a small group of friends for a long time now and it seems to get smaller as I get older, and less 'good friends' as much as 'good acquaintances' now.  I seem to have even lost one of my oldest friends since high school (over 35 years ago) just because we view Covid differently.  I even reached out since, said we can just agree to disagree on this topic, but no response since that last conversation when I hung up on him because he wouldn't stop arguing about it.  C'est la vie.

This week I'm on vacation, and I didn't plan on any project to keep me busy but my to-do list will be enough.  After Saturday night with friends by the fire I was pretty lazy on Sunday, drank too much and stayed up way too late.  But on Monday I went down to Dubuque to visit my Mom.  We had a nice visit, got a couple things done for her, and mostly just hung out and talked.  I spent the night and came back early on Tuesday since I had a dentist appointment and a few errands I needed to run.  I also got a good walk in that day.

Today I spent several hours in the basement, mostly just cleaning, dusting, sweeping and vacuuming.  I had high hopes of going through a lot of stuff to sort, donate and trash, but my wife needs to be around for much of that so by the time I finished cleaning I was happy to be done.  Also had lots of heavy things to test my back with putting away downstairs.  A couple hundred pounds of water softener salt, 80 pounds of cat litter, and tables and chairs that were brought up for having company the last couple weekends.  The back held up well, thankfully, so next was yardwork.  I did some cleaning up in the gardens and trimmed some bushes, among other things.  I might get out there for a fire tonight, but we'll see how tired I feel as dusk nears.

Tomorrow is power washer day.  I'll get the power washer out and wash the house, garage, steps, driveway, and whatever else needs a power washing.  Likely not as long a day as today, but I'm on vacation, after all.  I might get to cleaning windows, but currently I have that penciled in for Friday along with cleaning the garage, which won't be too much in there as the garage is about as organized as can be so just a little cleaning.  Then the weekend has its normal chores, plus we've ordered a new sofa and ottoman (both on backorder) so will do some measuring and moving the living room rug in anticipation of the new furniture.  I think we'll be moving the old couch out to the porch, which will actually help us use the porch more often, too.

So it sounds busy, but the chores get easier as the week goes so I will have plenty of time for doing other things or doing nothing, as I see fit.  Weather-wise has been pretty good but getting more seasonable.  This weekend will be very hot again, maybe for the last time as next week I will have to consider getting out my long pants for the first time since spring.  It's been nice, living in shorts and bare feet all summer, but all good things must come to an end.  Like this, if this was a good thing.  Autumn officially starts one week from today, folks.