Fourth of July!

No doubt about it - it's been Hot!  Humid too, with the dew points into the high 70's.  All that pushed the heat index over 105 for the last few days & today was no exception.  Last evening we had big plans though!  Kay set out chairs & fans, cold ice tea & snacks.  We watched a super fireworks display at the LeFever's, with Seth as our ignition tech!

Early evening on the 3rd.  The marigolds are now in full bloom!

 Linus's seeds have made a wonderful hedge of beautiful marigolds & the original orange daylily's are in bloom behind them.  I've been watering a couple times a day & they seem to be handling the heat better than most of the flowers.  Those in pots bake, even getting watered three times a day.

Today, Grandma's ice cream maker took center stage!  It had been among Mom's things in her garage in Boulder.  I had to wonder what Grandma would think?  Her ice cream maker had made ice cream on so many Fourth-of-July days here in IA, when I was a kid.  Then, at Mom & Dad's in Boulder, it was used a few more times.  Now, here it is back in Iowa & back to doing what it does best!  I used Grandma's recipe for the mix.  We didn't have the farm fresh cream, but we did have eggs off the farm!

Linus & Butch in the laundry room~

 With the record breaking heat, there was no way the guys could set up outside, even in the shade & expect the ice cream to freeze.  The laundry room in the basement worked.  Farah's feed tub acted as a drainage basin.  Gary pitched in too & the three men took turns cranking.  It didn't take long & soon the cream froze!  It was packed in fresh ice & covered with towels to season.

Finished product!

After dinner, out the can came.  When we opened it up - well - it was perfect!  To say that it was good - isn't saying enough!

Home~

Our second Fourth in IA & the time has flown. The date of the Blue's & Brews Festival at the park has been changed to August.  This in the hope that more people will be in town to boost attendance. The weather man is promising us a couple cooler days & we're ready! The firefly's are lighting up the dark, humid nights & the cicadas' are just starting to chirp. A sure sign that our summer is here!

Signs of Spring~

It's finally warming up! The weekend was beautiful, if very warm, at least for us! We worked outside most of both days. Butch dug an old rose bush out of Clara's yard & in return Lloyd gave us three tomato starts! They went right into the ground when we got home. He also planted three zucchini plants - I'm pretty sure I'll have plenty of produce to make Zucchini relish!
We were sitting out on the back deck later than usual last evening - it was cooling down - dusk was upon us & suddenly I saw what I thought was a flash light - on the far side of the creek? Just a second later it had moved faster than anyone on foot could have! Was I seeing things? I asked Butch if he saw something & yes he did! Lightning Bugs! I was so excited - it was like a gift that you never expect to get - but appears as if by magic!

Iowa Firefly~

Even Nika saw them & of course - started barking! She was running from one side of the yard to the other - trying to figure out what was going on :-) After doing a lot more reading on the subject - I'm sending a letter to our power company - to ask what they can do about the street light that is oh so much brighter than we need. To actually still have this colony living here at the edge of town is so wonderful. It would help if that light could be dimmed - giving the Firefly's a better chance of communicating. The light show lasted most of an hour - one coming within a few feet of our deck!

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

This morning & went out for my usual walk along the creek & noticed these large leaves, actually similar to a Trillium. Closer inspection revealed it to be one of the wildflowers that I tried for years to establish in the Homestead Woods, Jack-in-the-Pulpit! There were two areas where they seem to be flourishing in the dappled shade.

A true beauty~

Butch weed-whacked the whole area along our side of the creek & I've been knocking things down, such as the Stinging Nettles that you can see coming up around the wildflower. I think that getting all the grasses down, gave the flowers a chance to really flourish! Now, I'm going to get little flags to mark their location - so we won't disturb the bulbs.

The part of Twinkle Creek that we border has been missed by the usual burning, trashing, dumping etc., that I've seen has happened so many other places.  Not that I don't pick up at least a couple pieces of trash on every walk.  Gradually though - I hope to enhance as much a much of the area, as I can~