Pansies and More

 Friday, May 8, 2026

Fascinated that there's a pansy growing in this pot. For the life of me I don't remember planting any seeds here this past fall. 

Now it looks like there's another one growing to the left of it. 

Have been consistently working hard to make sure these gardens are weeded. 

It's been really nice not working this spring and not feel so burned out in April and May and feel like I have the capacity to get things done outside of my job. 

Cigar in the Back Yard

 Thursday, April 30, 2026

Cigar in the back yard today. It was right around 50 degrees and partly cloudy. When the sun was out it was perfect - still comfortable with a jacket, especially if not moving around. 

When the sun went behing a cloud it was cooler but not at all uncomfortable especially with a jacket on. If the wind came up while the sun was hiding I'd simply duck into the garage. 

I've been working slowly, steadily, and consistently on the yard over the past week. 

It's starting to look good although there's still more to do. 

Some of the gardens have been raked out. 

Some have not.

Noticed this lone pansy growing in one of our pots. They're not perrenials so I'm not sure where this one came from. I guess life's always better with a little mystery in it. 

The Backyard On Halloween 2025

 Friday, October 31, 2025

This mum I planted a couple years ago is finally showing some flowers. Pretty late in the season but better late than never. Hoping to get the potted mums in the ground soon to try and get another season out of them. 

Glad I worked on uncovering these garden stones this year. They look great. 

Will be cutting the hostas back soon. 

Norway pine. 

Should probably bring the red chairs in soon and then get in the habit of bringing them out only when needed so they don't get left out all winter. 

And, should probably cut this back a bit more so that it's not such an unmanageable job in the spring. 
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Clematis and Lilac Blooms In the Neighborhood

Sunday, May 30, 2021

Found these climbing up a neighbor's fence. I'm assuming its clematis. 

Mark's front yard lilac bush is soooo fragrant. Although the flowers are getting past their peak the smell is still very pungent. 

Many different varieties of lilac have been developed. They are very popular shrubs in parks and gardens throughout the world in the temperate zone.

When Dale and I moved into the house on Tenth there was a lilac tree in the area where our grill is now. It was nice having it outside the bedroom window. The first couple of years we were here it produced flowers but after that it didn't leaf very well and the blooms were rather shriveled looking. Some people I've mentioned it to have said that it may have been the soil. Personally, I think it was just old. 

Checking Things Out

Sunday, April 18, 2021

Jean did a lot of clean-up in her back yard. She filled many lawn bags. 

I surveyed our yard to get a sense of what's ahead for Dale and me. 

Grill Garden

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Raked out the grill garden today. I thinking of gutting the whole thing this year and starting anew.

January 23 - Snow Day

Yesterday's snow ended up being quite a storm. Turns out buses had a difficult time getting kids home from school yesterday afternoon. Citywide, some didn't drop off kids until 8 p.m.  Woke up this morning to hear on the radio that school was cancelled due to roads and streets still being a mess. Snow day!!

After walking home and shoveling yesterday I estimated there was at least 8 inches of snow that had fallen. Dale told me this morning that it was actually around 11 when all was said and done. 

It was a glorious sunny day today. And the backyard looked great. Dale did a little more shoveling this morning and I did a little touch-up on the driveway. Dale had to work and I spent a lot of time doing laundry and lying on the couch. 

It's the 7th anniversary of this blog by the way.

Sunrise: 7:41 a.m.
Sunset: 5:08 p.m.
Day length: 9:26:40