Perfect weather for Corn not so much for humans.

Has it been hot where you are? It has been awful here in Iowa. And where from 100 to 110 heat index. Sounds like it has been this hot almost all over our country. I guess it is to be expected for July but that doesn’t mean we have to like it.  Today has been pretty nice. We are going to have a few days break before it heats back up. Anyway, we had some bushes that needed trimmed to make lawn mowing easier and cut back on some of the weed eating.  We couldn’t believe how tall the corn had gotten in the past week. This heat and humidity is just what corn likes. We have been getting a half an inch to an inch of rain every 10 days or so. Perfect weather for corn. I would say the farmer who owns the corn will be having a bumper crop again this year.

I decided to take a picture of the field with my hubby in front of it for height reference. He is 5’8”. Of course he claims he is 5’10’’. Can’t convince him two back surgeries and aging has taken a couple of inches from him. Oh well. But getting him to be serious for pictures is almost impossible. When we did a family picture and pictures at two granddaughters’ weddings, I “preached” to him for days to be serious. Or as serious as possible for him. Never a dull moment with him. Got to love him.

Stay cool, if you can.

Rose

First Dutch Elm, now Emerald Ash Borer

Emerald Ash Borer has been found in our area of Iowa. Over time all the ash trees will be gone. Years ago (1969) another disease got all our trees. We had only lived in our house about three years when the Dutch Elm took all our trees. Our whole town was hit hard. I am guessing just about 85% of the trees in town were Elm. The shady yard that was a draw for us to this house was gone. Every tree on our property was an Elm. Over the years, little by little, I replanted 12 plus trees. Twelve are still here and only two of them are ash. When my shade disappeared I took advantage of the all the sun and got busy planting perennials that loved sun. I was new at gardening and didn’t even consider what would happen when all my trees grew. Besides that was years down the road. I couldn’t afford big trees so the ones I planted were mere sticks. Well those “sticks” grew and I had to do something with all my sun loving perennials. I moved them to the lone sunny area in our yard. When you plants too many trees, you find plants that you can grow in the shade. For me that was Begonias and Hostas. I have Hostas around the house. I love their easy care but I needed something that blooms all summer and is easy to care for. To the rescue Begonias.

My sunny perennial garden.

Some of my Begonias.

Some of my Begonias

I hope your days are full of sunshine and flowers, too.

Rose

Finland's way of stopping bullying with great success.

Here it is almost the middle of July. School will be starting soon. Where has the summer gone? Stopped in our local Walmart and was greeting by shelves of back to school things, backpacks, notebooks, pencils, folders, crayons and on and on. All the usual things needed for a great school year.

Came across this article and I think it is one everyone; students, teacher, parents should read and think about. I was teased as a kid because I was so skinny. Olive Oil, you know Popeye’s honey, was the name I was called the most. It was a different time and I just ignored it or was not with it enough to know it was a form of bullying. Anyway it is different in this day and age. Everything is more complicated now. And it seems a lot of people, not all, are either not caring enough or afraid to get involved. I am thinking afraid of speaking up for fear of being the next target. Maybe all of our schools should check out Finland’s way of dealing with it.

                Finland is really good at stopping bullying. Here's how they're doing it.


Something to think about.

Take care,
Rose