Little Bells

I don't know what these things are called. They came with the house and grow by the south east corner. I like the little white bells which only last a little while. The leaves last into August depending how wet the summer is.

103 Degrees Today!!!

We haven't cracked 100 in 5 years! Accord-

ing to Paul Douglas this is the hottest it's been in Minneapolis since August 1, 1988.

Dad gave me the pictured flowers years ago. I don't know what they're called but they flower every year at this time.

Rhubarb Seed Stalk

The rhubarb plants send these stalks up every year. I always end up cutting them back eventually but make sure the seeds fall to the ground. Also, mowed the lawn for the first time this season (Dale's done it once or twice so far).

Whirly Birds (150th Post Today!!)

Dale and I have a silver maple in our front yard and our next-door neighbor Jim has one in his back yard. Between the two trees we get a LOT of the seeds in our yards. As kids we called them whirly birds (I know some people refer to them as helicopters) and used to collect them in Kemps ice cream buckets. We'd climb a ladder and dump them and watch them twirl to the ground. If we felt adventurous we'd walk to the Nicollet bridge that crosses Minnehaha Creek and dump them over the side. It's a lot more fun to play with them than having to sweep/rake a whole yard full, but I do have fond memories of them!

More of Dad's Garden Stones

Dad's Garden Stones

Becky and Sam have a lot of Dad's garden stones in their back-

yard. I photo-

graphed some of them while visiting them in Leaven-

worth.

Flowering Bush

I don't know the name of this flower-

ing bush. They are very pretty and I wish they lasted all summer long. They border Jim's northern backyard property line and our southern backyard property line.