All for the Want of a Phone

Seven pages of forms to fill out for a new phone - wow! Is it really that big a deal?

Seems as I get older that life is getting more complicated, maybe it's just me. The  first phone I remember, in the 1950s, we picked up and an operator would say, "Your number please," and we would tell her. Then she would connect our line to who we were calling, seemed to work okay when I was a kid. Now I fill our seven pages of forms, pay a small fortune for a phone and it takes me a day or two to load all of my, I can't live without apps.

Seems to me that most of my life I made it through each day without checking the weather every few minutes or checking the GPS as I travel to a place I have been a dozen times. No more.

I also need to rest most of the day after mowing the yard. When I bend over to pull a weed in the garden I stay there and look around for something else to do while I am down there. Once I get back up, I might not want to go back down again - that's a lot of work.

We are getting ready to paint the house, that might be interesting. If we get started this week we might be finished, oh - around Holloween.

Well, life goes on, hard to believe that I have been retired for more than three years and 70 years on this earth is only a few away.

The garden is growing, needs a bit of weeding, but looking good.

Early June and the Garden is Doing Well

So far so good. I love this time of year when the perennials are looking super and the annuals are growing great or thinking about flowering. The veggies are also up and growing. Love this hot weather. Growing weather.

Old Time Flower

Although they are a bit short lived, nothing beats the sheer beauty of the old fashioned Iris.

Help in the Garden

I have a new helper - here he/she is trimming back my hollyhocks.

Seems to be woking out pretty well, doesn't expect any pay and makes the garden more fun. Not sure when it grows up, right not looks to be a pound or two, and can't eat very much.

Here - a bit of a trim in the berry patch 

Garden Set Back

Might be a few days before I can do some more planting. We had nearly two inches of rain followed by a foot of snow.

Back Deck

But, here in Wyoming, we are not complaining, we needed it.

I may be out of the garden and off the golf course for a day or two, but this will help.

Peas up and growing - 6-8 inches high in this photo. Don't they look wonderful?

Bluebird loving the snow

Wonderful moisture and I have only run the sprinkler system two times so far this spring.

Onions, looking good, but a might chilled. These are in rows, don't look like it here

Tending to the Perennial Beds

Tending to the Perennials

The last of the daffodils are dying back and the first tulips are showing that great spring color. Now how do I take care of my perennial garden to ensure it will be nice for another year.

I add much, some every year, this spring I will add ground leaves that I bagged with spring cleanup. In the fall I will add a commercial, garden center, manure mix. Our beds have been doing so well the past few years that we have had to thin. That is another good tip, especially with Iris. Iris blooms will get smaller and seem to loose color if too crowded.

Good luck with your gardens, almost time for spring veggie planting.

6 Weeks Till Garden Time

Warmer weather and it is looking more and more like garden time. But not too much, not yet anyway. Our back garden is colorful with early blooming perennials.

On our hikes, we are seeing the first of this year’s mountain wildflowers.

Still too cold at night for even my early vegetables to come up. I have planted peas and radishes and a few onion sets (I wait a while yet before setting out onion plants).

Still about six weeks from setting out my first tomatoes and flowers. In the meantime, we still have some color in our family room with our Christmas Poinsettias, still nice to look at. 

All photos shot today April 6, 2015 - come on spring.