Happy Memorial Day!

Just want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and safe Memorial Day.  And make sure you take a few moments and say thank you to a veteran.  They are the reason we are a free Nation.  Also remember all the men and women who are currently on active duty.  Keep them and their families in your prayers.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."  George Santayana.

                                                            

Weather Fit for Neither Man Nor Beast...

Okay, it's Spring.  It's finally raining.  A nice gentle, soaking rain.  Can't get any planting done, but that's fine. Perfect weather for ducks.

And what just happens to appear in our side yard?  DUCKS.  Who just happen to like the straw that the road department put down to cover the rocky dirt at the edge of the new street.  There is supposedly grass seed there, too, but haven't seen any.  But the ducks think it's great.

I'm taking pictures through the sliding glass door like crazy, figuring that they will keep right on trucking any second.  Oh, no.  Mrs. Duck decides she really likes the straw and gets pretty comfy.  Cars are going by and these ducks don't even flinch.  I open the door and suggest to Mrs. Duck that she might not want to pick that particular location to settle down for the night (or longer!)  Imagine my surprise to watch these two waddle up towards the house!

They could care less whether the door is open or closed.  They obviously aren't camera shy either.  I'm just shooting away the whole time (32 pictures worth!)  Sorry about the mess Mr. and Mrs. Duck.  We didn't know you were coming to visit and the rain has slowed down our outside projects.

These two were just a hoot.  Checking everything out.  Drinking water from puddles.  They didn't make any noise, no quacking or honking.  Just very peaceful.

Mr. Duck just checking out the new patio area.  It's a little muddy, even for him!

As soon as they were done surveying the area, they decided to move on, forgetting all about the straw by the edge of the road (thank goodness!).

Mrs Duck turned back one last time, before following Mr. Duck around the corner of the house.

I didn't see which way they went, but hopefully they get to where they are going safely.  Good thing the cats weren't around!

May the 4th Be With You!

Happy Star Wars Day!  Sorry, I couldn't resist.  They have started on Episode VII, by the way.

Spring is finally starting to win the battle of the seasons.  The temperature is close to normal (mid 60s) but the wind is still pretty chilly.  Let's put on a jacket and take a tour around the yard to see how things are progressing.  I usually end up doing this at least once a day.

You don't usually think of roses as being very hardy.  But I do have to say that mine are starting to look pretty good.  I thought I was going to have to replace five of the 16.  Three are definitely gone, but two are trying to survive.

At the far end of the rose bed, I have tulips blooming.  Say hello to Edgar the Egret.  We picked him up on our New Orleans trip a couple of years ago.  He is handmade by the gardener at one of the sugar cane plantations we toured.  He survived the winter outdoors, too!

Oddly enough, when I planted these tulips several years ago there were three colors:  red, orange and yellow.  As you can tell, yellow are the only ones to survive.

Around back, the Bleeding Hearts are blooming!  I'm a little worried about the hostas in this bed.  I planted new ones last year to replace the ones I lost in the drought the summer before.  I haven't seen any signs of them yet, but this bed (other than the bleeding hearts) is always a little slow.  Lots of shade.  

I moved one of these pink Bleeding Hearts from a different bed a couple of years ago and added the second one last year.  You can hardly tell  the difference now.  That's a pot of my Grandma's Hens n' Chicks hiding in the middle.  I just brought them out of the garage a couple of days ago.

As I finish up my tour today, not much else is blooming or very exciting yet.  I didn't lose any of my shrubs, thank goodness.  Especially the hydrangea.  The lavender is looking a little rough around the edges.  And most of the perennials are at least up through the dirt.

I do finally have something to put into the bed under the Family Room window.  For a combo birthday and Mother's Day, my boys bought me some lilies.

I've never grown regular lilies, so we'll see how they do.  That bed gets the hot, afternoon sun from about noon on.  The plants look really healthy.  They also got me a replacement for one of the roses.

It's a low growing flower carpet rose--Yellow Brick Road.  Should look really nice at the far end of the bed.

And the Big Guy got me some long stem roses to tide me over until ours bloom!  I am so blessed.

Hey, tomorrow's Cinco de Mayo!  Two holidays in a row!!