Happy 4th of July!

Some baby pictures of the paper cactus buds Peggy graciously let me harvest from her cactus. These are the same cactus I brought back from Quartzsite, AZ, last year - almost exactly a year ago! (waves to Debbie and Bob!) Somehow I lost mine in the change of jobs and the transition of work places. Fortunately, several people have them and they are doing well and having little buds!

I got a very pretty little pot for them on sale at the hardware store

There they are - peeping over the edge of their new home. They will join my jade plant and sanserveria on my desk in my office window.

My big chore for today is to actually set up the power washer and wash the deck and side of the house. There is more to be washed but as it is supposed to be 90 here today and very humid, I think I will do well to get this done!
I got a new powerwasher last year -on sale of course - now to read the instructions and set the darned thing up!

I have never seen mold grow on houses like here in Blooomington. Even in Valdosta, GA, it didn't get this bad.

Bubba the Bird knows his cage is next and he is NOT happy about it!! He will stay in his travel cage while I dismantle his home, drag it out on the deck, and give it and everything in it a good scrubbing. He's not liking this idea.

After more than 17 years of cleaning his cage I would think he could at least help. But, no, not the Prince of Parrots!

Now for the obligatory tour of the backyard on this 4th of July

A stop at the purple cone flowers that have, thankfully, turned purple now
Nice look at the mold on the house. I will scrub that with a brush so the flower doesn't get chemicals on it.

And past the purple cone flowers are the daylillies, russian sage, and the rest of the yard.

I planted another russian sage that has much more room, the right amount of room. Not jammed up like the mess I have closer to the house.

My mess of russian sage and red cone flowers!! They are growing well but they are certainly way out of control and crammed in. Not sure what I am doing to do about that!

I sure do like the colors in this day lilly, it's not a field lilly although it looks like it in this picture. The field lillies are bloomed and done for the year, this guy just started blooming a couple of weeks ago and is much bigger.