The Iris Race Winner...and Other Random Observations


 Yes, this one came from out of nowhere and bloomed first.  Actually it was the bloom above it, but the first bloom was damaged when I covered them to weather the frost.  There are a few of them that came on all at once now, but the yellow one was the next to open.


I love this rich shade of yellow.

Then this one bloomed.  But now I am not sure if this is the one they called "blue" or not.  If it is supposed to be blue, it falls a bit short of attaining that worthy goal.

Then this one came along and surprised me:

So far these are all the ones that have bloomed.  I need to get more colors.  I have my eye on an orange shade in one of the iris bulb catalogs.  Or I have thought of getting a white one.

This one above wasn't one of Betty's irises that she'd given me a few years back.  This one was from the Maxwell house; the house my mom lived in when she came here, just up the road from us, sort of catty corner to Gail's place.  Florence Maxwell passed away in 2004 or 2005-ish.  She had been in a nursing home well before I came on the scene in 2004, so she must have put these out back in the 80s maybe.  I am not sure.  Gary said they put the house in during the 70s some time.  I think I tell this story every year.  That is because I never take the time to go back and see if I have told it before.  Haha...

**********************

Other Random Observations

I have another substitute teaching gig scheduled for Monday.  I could have had any number of them for today, but that would mess with my plans for the week, so I declined them.  If I hadn't had plans already I would have taken the job for today.  It was for the SPED department at Mallory again.  I'd go back in a heartbeat, but not today.  Ellen is supposed to go, as a track manager, up to a meet in Sherwood, MO, which is close to 100 miles away toward Kansas City.  I had just as soon she not go, but since they are so close to the end of the school year, and only have a couple more meets to attend, she had probably better finish out what she agreed to do.  But in any case, when she is away from home like that, I try to stay close in case she needs anything.  They will leave from the high school at about noon.  

My next sub gig is at the pre-school.  It is near Mallory Elementary, but is in a different building around the block.  Fortunately I know the teacher I am subbing for, so when she gets a chance she is going to call me today and tell me a bunch of stuff I will need to know.  Pre-schoolers only go half a day, so she has two batches of them.  I think she has to pick them up at the main Mallory building and get them over to the pres-school building.  But beyond that, I have no clue what or how she does that. This should be interesting.

It is raining today. I am glad because we so desperately need the rain.  I am so antsy to get my plants set out in the garden.  I have been holding back because of the chance of frost, but I think I might go ahead and set them out today.  I have enough containers that I can use to cover them in case it does come up a freak frost again.  The plants I have are starting to look a little sad from being in their teensy trays for so long.  

I really need to think of something deep and meaningful to write in this blog.  I am a boring blogger.


Comments

Donna. W said…
I love the bright yellow iris, and I don't have any. I need to find someone close and get a start. Don't worry about what you post. At least you will have a way when you're older to remember things you were doing now. That's really why I originally started a blog.
April 26, 2024 at 7:54 AM
Calfkeeper said…
I got this yellow iris from a neighbor across the river; Mary. She regularly snags them from roadside ditches and abandoned farms. I think sometimes she will stop and randomly ask people for a start of their irises. She is bolder than I am.

Yes, I just like to talk about the random regular parts of life, so I can remember them later on. And maybe so Ellen can go back and read them when she gets older.
May 1, 2024 at 6:43 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Oyster

It isn't even halfway through the month yet and I have run out of lists or anything amusing to tell you about the dairy. So here is a poem I picked up on a homesteading forum. It does deal with ag issues, just of a different sort... Enjoy! The Oyster Baxter Black The sign upon the café wall said OYSTERS: fifty cents. "How quaint," the blue-eyed sweetheart said with some bewildermence, "I didn't know they served such fare out here upon the plain." "Oh, sure," her cowboy date replied, "We're really quite urbane." "I would guess they're Chesapeake or Blue Point, don't you think?" "No ma'am, they're mostly Hereford cross . . . and usually they're pink But I've been cold, so cold myself, what you say could be true And if a man looked close enough, their points could sure be blue!" She said, "I gather them myself out on the bay alone. I pluck them from the murky depths and smash them with a
Read more

Like Cats A'Fightin'

Image
That's a local saying when it's snowing hard. Snowing like cats a'fightin'. You can look out and see the fur flying. Ellen had never been outside while it was actually snowing. She was enchanted. She had to have a bucket of it to carry around. It was in the mid-20s but we took a bit of a walk before coming back in for a nap. The snow is still too dry to be able to make a snowman, it is really powdery. So far we have somewhere between 3 and 4 inches, I would suspect.
Read more

The Blind Calf Story

Image
This happened last month. I thought it was an interesting case. Wed Aug 15th 2007 8:30 AM: Went out and brought new heifer calf and cow in from field. Not too sure how old calf was; umbilical cord sort of dried up, but calf still seemed damp. Left her with cow all morning ‘til maybe early afternoon, then separated them. Beautiful, normal calf. 6 PM Fed calf bottle. She slugged back the whole thing. Thurs Aug 16th5:15 AM (approx) Calf comatose. Or as near as I could tell. She was on her side, non-responsive, drooling, head on ground, eyes closed or just barely opened. I tried to feed her bottle but she only swallowed convulsively once or twice, then milk just drained from her mouth. 5:30 AM. Husband went out and looked at her. Drug her out of pen and out of the way to be taken to boneyard later after chores were all done. She was barely breathing and as I said, totally non-responsive.This was a real grief as the cow she came from is a great milker and to get a heifer from her was a joy.
Read more