As I leave

Well off to Tampa on the way to Alaska tomorrow so thought I'd see what was in bloom before I left. Lots!  Still have some peonies and Iris in bloom, but they are fading out. The weeds though love where those plants live, did a lot of weeding yesterday, but by time I return they may have taken over.
Might get a coat of paint on the porch today, but not sure. It's just getting light so need to check it to see if it rained last night.

The veggie garden is starting to grow as well since we've had some rain, but nothing exciting to show pictures of: Cabbage, Brussel Sprouts, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Corn, Peppers, Onions, Garlic, all growing well so far. Zucchini and Cucumber seeds have sprouted, not so lucky with yellow or butternut squash - I keep looking but see nothing coming up, nor any beets.  Can't quite tell if radishes are coming up or if just weeds.. There are lots of those everywhere.  On the herb front, lots of cilantro coming up, parsley, sage, thyme, tarragon, rosemary, basil plants doing well (tried some from seed, but not coming up), and dill not emerging either.. Need to replant some seeds.

First Daylily of the season

Larkspur

First Magnolia Bloom

Moth Mullein -in rock garden

Ox-eye daisy

Later blooming poppies

 These poppies must be a different species than the earlier ones. These have a much bigger seed pod than the others. The others seem to have more of a double ruffle as well.

First of pesky but pretty sweet pea
- I've spent many hours pulling this out
lt loves to take over the world

Teasel

More Vipers Byglass

wild roses in rock garden

And not exactly blooming but lettuce now big enough to eat and
bunching and red onions growing but  much slower growing.
I have other onion that are almost ready to pick.

Update on the porch

I bought paint and other supplies I needed on Saturday (and Sunday) from Lowes. And after much wood filler and lots of sanding, today I was ready to wash the east porch floor and then paint first coat as soon as it was dry!


Now it has looked like rain everyday for weeks, and we never get more than a few drops. Until today that is.. Well we sure needed it, but I couldn't very well start the painting project with rain coming in on the porch! And figured not worth cleaning as everything always blows right onto the porch when we have a storm.

Tuesday is another day.

On the West side it's different story. I got all the Latex paint up but discovered under one of the pillars, the wood is rotted! So investigation ensued with the help of my brother-in-law! He loves the destruction phase of any project! The white board covering the that end of the porch was very warped, so I guessed it should come off. And we need to see what was behind it.  Butch was happy to to do that..

As you can see, there is a rather large gap from the outside near the post. This is the post under which the porch floor board is rotted! Not sure yet what to do about this, but looks like it will have to wait until I come back from Alaska! Still hoping I can get the floor on the other side completed before I leave.

Quite a gap!

West End of porch

Oh well, since I couldn't work on the porch, I spent time finishing my Mixbook from my Peru trip! Thought I should do that before embarking on another trip. Have a hard enough time remembering what places the photos are pictures of without adding a whole new group of photos to look at!

 I think you could spend forever changing these photo books and making them just perfect. I opted for finishing it instead. The cover is a picture of  Machu Picchu!