White orchid tree flower
More rain Friday but not too much (the new crop of mosquitoes are tiny but they still bite and their small size makes them harder to kill). As soon as I loaded up the trunk of the car with all the plastic containers it started sprinkling but I went ahead hoping that the rain I drove through would not be happening on the other side of town where the recycling center was and it wasn’t so I got that taken care of without getting wet. It had already stopped by the time I headed back through town. On the way home I stopped at the Easy Lube to get a pound of okra. Weird, I know, but one of the guys that works there sells it from his garden.
And believe it or not I finally got all the accumulated metal taken to the metal recyclers. When I got home from taking the plastic I loaded up the truck with three tubs and one cardboard box of aluminum beer cans, one tub of other aluminum cans and containers, two tubs of miscellaneous steel cans and containers, an ironing board, and two rusted out wheelbarrows. Came away with $11.41. Should have loaded up my rusty old bike which is never going to get refurbished. Next time. I’m so glad to finally get that taken care of.
I stopped by the Hesed House market Thursday afternoon to get some local honey and they’ve already sold two packages of the note cards during the one week they’ve had them so that seems promising.
Not much else going on. The sky has been white and hazy the last week or so from the Saharan dust that blows west every year. Joe returned the next day to finish mowing the shop yard. Paisleigh came over for an hour or so until her Granny got home from work and helped me fix dinner until she got bored and then entertained Marc or he entertained her or both. The corn has turned completely brown in the field across the road so I guess they will be harvesting soon. I slept for an hour or so after I went to bed last night and then woke and could not go back to sleep so I read until 3 AM, a kind of strange book that I’m nearing the end of and can’t imagine how it will end. Another very big branch fell during Wednesday’s storm from the one pecan tree that last summer’s hurricane did not damage. It’s the only one of the three that has developing pecans as nearly as I can tell.
I have yard work to do outside but I may stay in today and finish that book or draw or paint or both or all three or not. I’m moving very slow on four hours of sleep.
Per Codex’s request, here are some close-ups of the Mexican bird of paradise flowers.
Codex: with your permission taking the last one. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteNot surprised the cards sold.
You can take any of my photos of nature whenever you want. There's nothing special about them and I'm certainly not trying to make a living off of them.
DeleteMoving slow seems like my only speed lately. Love the bird of paradise, wonder if it would grow here. I am zone 7 but some things won't come back since it is a little cooler in the mountains.
ReplyDeleteMine freezes to the ground every winter and we've been getting temps in the 20s and occasionally the teens. Not sustained though. Just at night except for sometimes.
DeleteThe Mexican bird of paradise looks like what I call pride of Barbados, a friend gave me a few seed pods for one that blooms in pink that I’m very excited about! Always reliable color in the summer heat. You’re one hard working woman!
ReplyDeleteXoxo
Barbara
I've heard it called that. Mexican bird of paradise is what my sister called it when she gave it to me so that's what I call it.
DeleteHere the Mexican bird of paradise is called peacock bush and it's grown like a small tree, at least the frost hardy version. I've been asking at a garden center but they told me that it needs a more humid climate to thrive. Still tempted but the man tells me we have too much growing as it is.
ReplyDeleteYou work hard. Looks like your card sets are going to be a success.
I've never seen the tree version so I googled it. Must be a different cultivar because mine would never do that. Once the stems/branches finish blooming and make seed pods, that's it. And that's all it produces, nothing trunk like. We'll see about the cards. Both sets were bought by the same woman.
DeleteOkra from the Easy Lube! We live and learn, don’t we?
ReplyDeleteGotta sell it somewhere I guess.
DeleteThose are some good looking pecans. I've noticed that our cypress trees have formed balls, and a few have fallen: probably 'tasted' by the squirrels and discarded as not quite ripe. I've turned this into an 'inside' weekend myself. I am going to do a little repotting this afternoon once the patio's shaded, but otherwise it's housecleaning, HEB, and computer stuff. I spent a useful two hours yesterday cleaning out my bookmarks and my online recipe file. No matter how much I wish it was going to happen, I'll not be making fresh pasta, etc. so the recipe might as well go.
ReplyDeleteOf the three trees only that one is producing. It's pretty loaded so I expect it will start dropping immature nuts pretty soon. The less damaged of the other two only has one limb that has nuts on it as far as I can tell. I should probably do that to my own online recipe file.
DeleteGood job taking care of all of that recycling. We are lucky to have our recycling picked up on garbage day from our driveway. Big blue can for recycling and big green can for garbage. They also take yard waste that we put in large paper bags or tie in bundles.
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived in the city they picked up everything curbside. Out here in this agricultural county and small town I'm surprised they have any recycling at all. They take aluminum cans, plastic (bottles only the sign says but if it's 1 or 2 it ll goes and let them sort it out), paper, and cardboard. I save my aluminum cans for the metal recycler because they pay for it.
DeleteOur mosquitoes have not been that bad here and I don't know why. We've gotten a lot of rain too although not in the last week or so.
ReplyDeleteI know how good it feels to get things done that you've been putting off. Good for you! Those were both big chores.
I'm staying inside today too. I might go pick some things in the garden but that is all. It's too hot.
Those birds of paradise are so brilliant the camera can't really deal with it, aren't they?
I know. It's hard to get the lens to focus clearly.
DeleteI cut up two big cardboard boxes to put in our recycle bin, so same! Ha! I'm glad we have recycling pickup around here especially since we don't have a truck.
ReplyDeleteI take the cardboard every Thursday from SHARE. Fortunately the trunk of my car holds a lot!
DeleteIt's cool you can sell your scrap metal. Our only option is to recycle it, but occasionally people come around collecting it, so there must be somewhere to sell scrap. I have no way to haul it, though.
ReplyDeleteOne more reason why you need a wagon!
DeleteYes! Compact, foldable wagons are available to haul things.
Delete