Snow on the Snowball bush

I got up this morning only to find that it had snowed last night. Today is May 30th, Memorial Day. A day that usually is thought of as the begining of Summer.  But this year has been different. We braved a downpour on Saturday evening as we placed flowers on the headstone of my husband's parents graves down in Salt Lake. Now those Snowballs and Lialacs have snow on them. The forecast is good weather is coming. Hope my little tomatos and peppers can hold on for another few days.

Snails

I'm on the lookout for them most days as I work in the yard. They seem to like the damp, dark places in the yard. Under last years leaves, in the cracks of the rock wall, at the edge of the gardens just into the grass. I sometimes see their silvery paths crossing the sidewalks and sometimes even see them on the sidewalks and driveways. They bother me because they eat my plants and flowers. I admit that they are considered my #1 enemy in the yard.  One morning I spotted a snail , not just eating a flower, but with a large part of a pink petunia dangling from its mouth.

A Lazy Day After A Busy Day

Yesterday we spent the morning at the Hogle Zoo. We arrived about 9:45 that morning and stayed until after 1:00.  There were four of  us in our group. My husband, a grandaughter,  a grandson and myself. Our grandaughter was the planner of the morning.  She had the map of exhibits and she figured out how we could find what we were looking for.  We went into the various exhibits hoping to see some fine animals playing and eating their breakfast. Many of the animals were in hiding so we had to stand for a long time trying to find them. There is a baby elephant and the mother was rolling a big ball back and forth. We guessed she was playing with her baby. We saw many monkeys, some were just looking at us. I guess we looked funny to them. As the morning wore on many school children arrived and the Zoo became very full of mothers, teachers and students. There is a special display of Dinosaurs. They are moving, howling and a couple even spit at the onlookers. It became lunch time and we found a nice table for four and ate our sandwhiches and chips and had our drinks and cookies. A good time came next as we rode the train around the zoo. Then it was time to come home.

Today has been quiet here. We have a wind and cooler temperatures, so no yard work for us. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Planting

I was able to do a little planting today. It was raining abit while I was working. I replanted the sugar peas that I had planted a month ago that never did come up. I also put in 4 green pepper plants close to the tomato plants. now I need to put in some seeds too. That will come tomrrow if it is dry outside.

Mountainwest's Northwest Weather

I have a son, a grandson, and a granddaughter living in Washington State and they all seem to love the cool, damp weather. We, here in the Mountain West, have been on the receiving end of the cool, wet days, not typically part of our desert weather patterns. Here it is, the middle of May, and a fierce storm happened last night. There was lightening, thunder and much heavy rain. Then quiet for a while and it happened all over again. About 4:00 a.m. I realized that there were car lights shining into our bedroom, so I got up to see if there were problems in our neighborhood (several years ago there was a mudslide about a block away from our house). I saw no cars, some neighbor must have had to go to work early this morning. Looking outside I saw only a quiet street, it was wet though. So I wandered throughout our house, upstairs and downstairs making sure that no water had found a way inside. By now it was close to 4:30, so I turned on the early morning news. heard that there had been a mud and rock slide last night, but it was far away from our little corner of the world. When it grew light I looked outside again and saw that we had snow on our deck. Will Spring ever come?

The Middle of May

Here it is May 18th and we still are having to use heat in our house. I am decked out in my warmest sweatshirt. This blog is supposed to be thoughts about my backyard, but I have not been out there in several days. Rain! The lawn is very green, and long too. Have not been able to get it mowed due to the rain. Good news though, we were able to get our roof repaired. The wind of last weekend tore off some shingles. The repairman did come the same day we called. Thanks so much to him, 'cause it has rained since the day he came and a  repaired roof is needed during wet weather.  

Cookies On A Rain Filled Day

No walk this morning, too much rain. I said to myself, as the raindrops fell onto the wooden planks of our deck. I watched for a while, wishing it would stop so my morning walk could take place. By 7:30 it was still a very wet neighborhood. So I took a shower and started driving into Salt Lake City with plans of spending the morning hunting for a very important marriage certificate, that of my Great Grand parents. But as I drove along the freeway the rain was coming in buckets, or so it seemed. Then a car sped past me, splashing water up, obscuring my vision. A second car came by, did the same thing. It was a long, full puddle in the lane next to me. I changed my mind about Salt Lake and took the very next exit and came back home. I baked a batch of ginger cookies instead of walking or hunting for old records.

More Wind

Saturday night was a very long and wakeful night. The wind was so strong. It created sounds as it whipped past our house. I had to tighten the latch on the door between the laundry room and the garage. That stopped some of the moaning, but I pushed a strip of terrycloth in between the edge of the door and the door frame. The sounds were soft and muffled then. But I couldn't get into the garage without undoing my handiwork.

I watched a couple of small plastic water bottles scramble back and forth in the backyard. I guess the wind blew them onto the grass. It was a frantic game of  'where do they go next' as the strong gusts blew them from place to place. I looked out a bit ago and can only see one right now. The second bottle is probably tucked under a bush or rock

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Wind

It has been a very windy Saturday. I could hear the branches being whipped along the south side of our house long before it was time to get up this morning. We changed the place of our morning walk to a pathway surrounded by trees  giveing us some relief from the wind. Now as I prepare for bed the wind is making shrill noises as it pushes into the garage and rushes to the entry door of the laundry room.  So I know that it is going to be a long night. But all the rest ot last years leaves, that were still in some areas of the garden, are being swept along making way for new summer colorful plantings that will be placed in the yard soon.

Two Days To Write About

I had decided to try to write some every day and then last night I found that this site was not working. So here goes two days worth.

Yesterday we got brave and planted 3 tomatoe plants. Two Beefsteak and one, a  little yellow pear shaped tomatoe. We cut the bottom off three plastic milk containers to use to cover the little plants if the temperature went down to close to freezing. I also transplanted two yellow pansies to fill in where the deer had nibbled this past Winter.

Today we planted 60 Gladiola bulbs and two packages of Dahlas, one package of white ones and one package of mixed colored  ones. We found them on a table of items marked 75 % off. The package states they are guaranteed to grow. Well, we shall see. We also erected a trellis for my two Clematis plants. They had been relegated to a tomatoe cage, but this will be much better as it will allow them to climb quite high.

Spring is Here?

The sky is not blue and bright with sunshine this morning. The storms of yesterday still linger. When walking earlier this morning, we felt just a few drops of rain. But the talk is that things will change this afternoon and once more the days will be Spring-like.

A friend sat in my livingroom yesterday and watched  Robin tear off a Pansy blossom and fly away with it in its beak. Do Robins eat flowers?  This shot of the baby elephant at the zoo eating with its mother proves it is Spring. The baby has been born!