And the Rain Returns

I frequently take a gravel road over to the old house. 

I frequently see some guineas in a field along this road, in fact, numerous times 

during the winter I would see them popping about in the cornfield. 

I had to laugh when I saw them, they are just comical birds, 

but they are excellent watchdogs and tick-eaters. 

I could never keep them because they can't be contained and 

Lilly would have gotten them. 

Here they were this morning as we came along. 

So cute.  I really like guineas. 

They hung there for a few seconds and I slowed down. 

And then a head popped up behind them. 

Oh, if the sun had only been shining! 

All four crossed in front of me, and then the guineas took off running... into the gate of their home... 

And their big blue friend posed one more time before he followed them. 

Oh, the things you see. 

Our neighbors to the east moved last month, and sadly, the sale of their house fell through, so they, like us, are paying two mortgages.  Another neighbor is keeping their house cleaned up on the outside. 

These are some of the beautiful plantings on the west side of their house, that I can 

see from our patio. 

I have ONE iris this color, and I had actually forgotten all about it. 

It looks just as good with the pink peonies. 

My peonies are still not blooming at the old place. 

Here I am turned towards our patio.  There is the strip we had plowed in February, and 

then planted nothing on it.  

I rolled the two whiskey barrels out there yesterday and filled them, 

and today I planted a tomato in each.  We are going to put cloth down and then 

mulch that strip heavily and then plant it next year. 

I have to get the grass out along the fence, too, but I'll be working on that next week, as it's going to rain the next few days.  See the upturned black trough in the background on the right? 

It has a pot on it with a pepper plant in it. 

I trimmed this afternoon, and I trimmed all that high grass you see against the black trough. 

Someday I'll show you what is under it. 

There are still peppers and tomatoes in pots on our table, but I am 

starting to plant all the pots, and to sit out on the patio more and more. 

If I am quiet, the birds come down. 

My poor plants are about blown away. 

This afternoon, I planted two more pepper plants at the old house, and I'll try to get a picture in the next few days.  It was raining while I did it. 

I'm also planting pink and orange zinnias out there (not together!) and 

marigolds, but... it is going to rain for a few days.  I wanted to get the seeds in before it started. 

Oh, well. 

I found some balsam seeds from 2005 that I saved at the old house.  Just as an experiment, I'm going to plant them.  I love balsam. 

From where I can sit at the table, I can see the hummingbird feeder, and I 

am hoping to get good pictures this summer. 

I have still only seen two hummers, or maybe the same one, twice. 

Despite the rain,  I stopped to see the baby hawks.  You can 

just see the top of their heads... and mom or dad in the nest with them. 

I think they were pretty safe, though we are to have a good storm tonight. 

Mom and Dad will take care of them in their leafy bower. 

That's it for today!