Driest May on Record~

 It was no surprise when the weatherman said we're experiencing the driest May on record at .14.  Here at home we've received .84.  Watering in May - is indicitive of what I fear will be a battle to keep plants alive as we enter the summer months.  At one nursery I frequent, the owner mentioned many customers coming in with dead plants.  Most having died from a lack of water over the winter.  I watered right up until the ground froze.  I'm watering now too, trying to rotate through a different section, every other day.  The Iowa Drought map - Mills County - indicates we're currently at the moderate level. 

The Walnuts are leafing out!

Sunday, I felt the mistake of riding on Saturday & spent the entire day taking it easy.  Easy has always been hard for me, but it was the sensible choice.  Monday, my knee was feeling much better. Today, our air quality was in the poor catagory - which doesn't happen often.  Mostly due to the smoke coming down from the wildfires in Alberta. 

Once I enter the trail though & drink in the green - I feel the calming effect of nature - full force.  I enjoy the Walnut trees so much, even if they are messy, they are beautiful.

How to Grow and Care for Spiderwort (thespruce.com)

The little flower above stopped me on the trail.  It was all alone & such a bright color I had to take a picture.  I asked on-line & discovered it's a Spiderwort!  

Quiet at the Trestle~

When I'd left Happy Trails in Silver City, Mari Jo said I would have the trail all to myself.  She was right - not a soul going either direction.  I stopped at the Trestle, it's one of the quietest spots on the trail.  I didn't stay long, I'd been a little late leaving due to the paving project slow down, on my route.

Wetland, after the fire~

It's been so intersting to see how quickly this area has recovered from the fire!  The cattails are already three feet tall!  Of course Malvern was lucky enough to get five inches of rain out of one of the only rains we've had.  They were the town too, unlucky enough to have the softball sized hall hit them not once, but circling back & going down the mainstreet of town twice!  The roofing companies are now booked for months.

Gaston Ave. west~

Gaston Ave. has been undergoing a paving project for the last few weeks.  I'd been detouring out to Hwy 34 to get to Silver City, but today since the lead truck was ready to leave, I followed.  The new paving is so very smooth after years of bouncing along over the concrete.  You can see from the photo, the quality of the air was less than good.

Once in town, I went to the car wash & washed both the Explorer & Smokey.  Both were covered with limestone & gravel dust.  The overspray felt good on a day in the low 80's.  Amazingly, we've had very little humidity, there's not enough moisture in the air!