Random Acts of Living


Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Rainy Days & Sundays

We've had rain for the past two days, so I haven't done much of anything outside. My grass is really needing mowed but not till it dries out. I was driving home from downtown on Saturday and a bird landing on a telephone pole caught my attention. It is a hawk/kite of some sort and I thought it might be the same one that I had photographed earlier but I'm not so sure. This one appears to have a light colored head with a dark body and the other seems to have a dark colored head. The under body of the other one is light colored but I can't tell what it's back looks like.
Sunday my daughter and her husband brought over a truckload of lumber to burn in my fire pit. This was the remains of what once was K-Monster's fort/clubhouse and it was getting to be a hazard.
All the in-town grandkids came over to swim and eat icees.
The fire got hot enough the the sil had to find a long board to move things around with.
Below is what the fire pit looks like after two days of rain. Amazing that the full truckload burned down to nothing. You can see how intense the heat had been by the yellow grass all around the pit. I shouldn't have to worry about taking the weed eater to that for a while.
Took some pictures of the flowers that have bloomed around my garden. Only two large ones.
A pink zinnia...
Is this a giant marigold?
The same two from the other side....
The tomato plants are loaded but still not ripe.
Pumpkin is still looking good, but all the other vines are dying around it.
Just a lazy rainy day today. All the kids went back to school last Thursday. Need to figure out when to have the last swim of the season and get the pool drained.

10 comments:

Uli said...

That bird is a Mississippi Kite. I've hade a pair of them nesting across the street from me this summer.

Momo Fali said...

I wish you were my grandma! Those are some lucky kids.

I can't believe the photo of the brown grass around the firepit! That must have been a roaring fire.

Moonshadow said...

Thank You, Uli! Are both of them (the one in this post and the previous post) both MS kites?

Momo - How sweet of you. :) You can come play at my house anytime.

The fire was so hot that the sil ended feeling sick from all the heat.

poefusion said...

What great pictures. I love the one of that bird (Mississippi Kite?) and your flowers, tomatoes and pumpkin are looking great. I bet you miss your grandkids when they're gone to school. Have a great day.

Joe Todd said...

Thanks for the post. "Fire Pit" is a must. If you lived closer you could have some of my ripe tomatoes. Can't give em away in Ohio

Peter said...

Hi! Great minds think a like as I have a pit just like yours. Whether it's used for a BBQ or just a plain old fashion burn off to save me going to the tip, it certainly comes in handy.

Take Care,
Peter

Wendy said...

I love zinnias. That was the first flower I ever planted. My mom gave me a package of seeds to plant when I was about 9 and it was so much fun to see them sprout up!

Bob Johnson said...

Love the bird or should I say Mississippi Kite shot, great eye, just noticed our little tomatoes are getting red too.

Jennifer said...

I wish we would have planted some pumpkins this year! We did get some tomatoes but a lot of them split on us this year for some reason.

Moonshadow said...

Michelle - Thanks! I haven't had a chance to miss them yet. :)

Joe T - I was told today that the tomatoes around here aren't doing to good. The plants look good but no tomatoes. My neighbor told me that she and I are the only ones around with tomatoes!

Peter - We don't really cook food on ours too often, though we DO have a grill for it and have used it a few times for potatoes. Roast marshmallows for s'mores more than anything.

Wendy - When my son, the youngest, was about 7 I had him plant Bachelors Buttons. He thought they were the neatest flowers. Their seeds really blew and for years afterward you could see Bachelors Buttons in the ditches for several blocks north of us.

Bob - But is the other hawk a Mississippi Kite (the link at the beginning of the post)?

Jennifer - This is my first pumpkin. So far it's still looking pretty good. What I read on tomatoes splitting was uneven watering. Dry for a long spell in then a lot of water... OR too much water.