Sunday in the Garden

Too lazy to label.

Daily Photo - Bearded Iris

I'm going to have to stop buying bearded iris from bags, as I swear they're all just guessing at what they're putting in the bag. This is not 'Dangerous Mood'. It isn't close to a light blue top with dark bluish/black falls. None of the others are really what I'd call well-represented either. I think I even got it full price since all the bearded irises die after a week of sitting at HD.

Daily Photo - Sphagnum Bluet

Another Sphagnum Bluet from Wednesday.

Daily Photo - Frog

There were some very accommodating frogs at Broad Meadow Brook yesterday.

Daily Photo - Damselfly

I went to Upton State Forest this morning. There were hundreds of different types of damselflies all fluttering and perching along the road leading to the parking lot. I only dared the woods for a quick walk, as there were swarms of mosquitoes waiting for me. (It's a Sphagnum Bluet Nehalennia gracilis; I'm so proud, I rarely manage to identify damselflies)

Daily Photo - Bathroom Fan

How well replacing something goes seems to depend a lot on who did the original installing. A few months ago my bathroom fan started making funny noises, and eventually smelled like smoke. I took the light piece off (with the electricity off of course) and saw I could just unplug it but keep the light so I did. Fast forward to today. I've had the new fan for close to a month and the people who i would want to install it haven't, so I went and too my old one apart again and found the new one was the exact same fan with a new light fixture look. Great, that meant it should fit in the current housing, so I wouldn't have to actually play with the actual wiring. I took out the old one and noticed the exhaust part wasn't actually connected to the hose that led outside, so it's been venting into my attic floor for 5 freaking years. I hooked it up at least closer to the right way and put in the fan. plugged it in and it worked fine. However the mounting bolt that came with it was too short to mount the light because of the crappy way the box had been installed i.e. there was at least one layer too much of drywall on my bathroom ceiling. So I could have the old light or the new fan, but not a fan and a light. I fiddled with it a bit and realized that the exact same issue had been fixed on the old fan with a longer bolt by removing the fan from it's frame and swapping out the mounting bolt. So now I have a working fan / light, and i don't think it's any more of a hazard than it was before.

More Mantids

They are so cute.

To show scale, they're only a little bigger than mosquitoes.

Cleaning a foot.

The ones I released over the weekend are still really easy to find, they're all over the place. The one above has some kind of tiny fly in it's grasp.

Daily Photo - Pink Slipper Orchid

I went to Wilson Mountain Reservation today. I remembered my tripod, but when I got out there realized I didn't have the attachment shoe for the camera... I'm going to have to go again.

Slightly Better Mantis Pic

Daily Photo - Hatching Day

Yes, I really am excited about a mantis egg case hatching out this afternoon. I already emptied the cup once and I am waiting for a few more to hatch out before wandering around the yard sprinkling them again.

Daily Photo - Clouds

To make up for some missed days... three pics.

More Bathroom Floor

While I was ripping up the loose tile and plywood, in a fit of irritation, I found sheet vinyl sandwiched between the plywood layers on my bathroom floor. I couldn't see more than a few inches of pattern. While I was in Minot the floor got ripped out and replaced.

This is the attractive sheet vinyl that was in my bathroom. This is my new floor, though the grout hasn't been sealed yet, and the sink is technically in the wrong place. (Thankfully, the sink is in no way actually attached or working yet.)

Daily Photo - Sunset Somewhere in Wisconsin

Yes, that is a gas station. I stopped a bit early tonight; I'd rather have gotten past Madison, but it didn't happen today. I spent 3 days last week driving out to Minot with my parents for my sister's graduation ceremony from Grad School. After a few days visiting we're on our way home.

Sunday Chicken

Yeah, I am actually in Minot this weekend, so no garden pics, just a chicken from the zoo...

Daily Photo - Sunset

Sunset

Daily Photo - Hardy Geranium

I don't really remember where I got this plant but I am quite impressed by it. It jsut keeps flowering.

Daily Photo - Onion Closeup

More ornamental onions.

Daily Photo - Bearded Iris

First of the season.

Daily Photo - Cinnamon Fern

The fronds are almost done unfurling.

Daily Photo - Ornamental Onion

I think this is the last of the bulbs I planted last year.

Daily Photo - Fern

Yup, another one. And I saw Iron Man 2 today, which was quite entertaining, but you have to sit through all the credits (and there are a lot of credits) to see the whole movie.

Moose Hill - Ferns

I meant to post this on the third... Highlights from my recent hike in Moose Hill Azure Butterfly Solomon's Seal on Bluff Trail Early twinflower And ferns galore...

Daily Photo - Feeling Silly

Yes I really got a new toilet handle to match the new faucet. I'd been living with a yellowing plastic one for at least as long as I've lived here. The fan in the bathroom hasn't worked in 5 months but I needed a matching toilet handle... Technically I have the replacement fan, I just need it to be put in. I do not do electrical... I did fix another sink this morning too, so I've now been to HD 4 times in two days...

Faucets and Flooring

Yesterday, I peeled up some of the nasty vinyl tiles in my kitchen and found mold where the dog water bowl, sink and fridge could all be culprits. I also found out my kitchen sink is missing the handle for the hot water shutoff. The vinyl is going to be replaced, hopefully in the near future with tile. My annoyance with it went and spilled over to my bathroom though, which needs to be re-floored before my kitchen. So as I have done before I wandered to the local library and took out books on flooring to make myself feel better. I also picked one up on plumbing since I was worried about the kitchen sink. Somewhere in my bathroom floor (tub or toilet at this point) is a tiny leak that keeps peeling the paint off my kitchen ceiling. If any water gets on the bathroom floor it pours out through one of my kitchen light fixtures. That is due to the rotting plywood under the tiles near the tub. I had enough of it this morning and started peeling up tiles, any that came up easy are now in a trash can. That led to pulling out the plumbing book I thumbed through yesterday and yanking out my slowly rotting vanity. I already have a replacement vanity, both due to the current one rotting and there being not enough clearance for your knees to not whack it while using the toilet. They are both cheap press-board vanities, but on the new one I'm going to seal the open edges with paint or polyurethane so it can't just wick up any water it comes across like the old one did.

My new faucet

I got a faucet for the new vanity and dry fit it, looks like it should work. That led to asking my father what exactly was wrong with the sink in their half-bath. (I was way too proud of myself for getting my sink out without causing a flood.) The water has been turned off on it for over a year now. The hot water wouldn't stop dripping, and the cold was coming out the handle on the faucet. I figured I could fix that, meaning I could replace the faucet and since it is at least 25 years old I think we got our money's worth out of it. I even had a crappy but working faucet to replace it with, seemed easy. After trying to disconnect the water lines for a half-hour I got them off just the shutoffs and disconnected the drain. It was a wall-mounted sink so I lifted it off the wall and the metal drain pipe snapped as I picked up the sink. My faucet replacement was getting more complicated. I finally pried the old faucet off and cleaned off the putty which had been stuck just about everywhere. I went and got a new drain for 8 bucks and some flexible supply hoses. As of now the sink works just fine. Hot water, cold water, no dripping and the drain stopper even works. Now I just have to fix their other sink (messed up drain stopper) and our kitchen sinks (1 rotting the counter top, the other just starting to). Mine needs a new faucet and theirs just needs help...

The new old faucet

Daily Photo - Floor

My bathroom floor as of right now, more explanation to follow.

Daily Photo - More Lilacs

I'm doing some landscaping for my aunt and these are going in sometime this weekend. They're more purple in person but turn pinkish in every photo I've taken.

daily Photo - Clouds

We had particularly violent short thunderstorms before sunset today. I went out after they were over and saw this... It was a little freaky. Above this thin patch of clear sky was the rest of they sky covered by gray sheet of clouds. The sunset was extremely bright with the western sky being so clear.

Daily Photo - Ferns Emerging

Moose Hill - Ferns

Sunday Monday in The Garden

Enough stuff is finally up and blooming I can get back to doing this, though apparently not on time... Lilacs More lilacs Geranium Phlox Columbine Violas Geranium daffodil Last of the Muscari Cinnamon Fern Crested Iris Bleeding Heart White Pink Fringed Bleeding Heart

I likely could have done this last week too.