Iris...

...one of many that opened up over night. Mae and I were "inspecting" the yard yesterday, and these were all so close to opening! She checked on her seeds--she planted sunflower seeds again this year--only I ordered a "cage" that I set over the half barrel where the seeds were planted to keep the squirrels out, as the past two years the squirrels dug up & ate the seeds.  There are 15 sprouts coming up, so she was thrilled. After that I spent about an hour lugging up the old wood from the basement; it's what was in the storage area before I had it re-done this spring. Some of the pieces were 8 1/2 feet long, and what a struggle to get them up the stairs and out of the house. I had more wood and an old aluminum door laying alongside the garage--all taken off when the outside of the sunporch was re-done this spring as well, & I wanted it all gone. I called the Garbage company that services our area to see if they would take the wood & the old aluminum door; they would, but the wood would have to be no more than 4 feet in length. So I asked my son-in-law if he'd come cut it up for me. He came last evening, complete with chain saw, and took care of it all. He carried it all out to the curb for me, and said I should have let him carry it up out of the basement, too. But you know how it is when you get something in your head and just want to get it done. The pick-up is scheduled for Thursday, and then it will all be gone. Today I ran all the yard debris to the recycling center and mowed the back lawn. We have to leave shortly for Tom's lab draw and the doctor will be calling at 3. Tom coughed most of last night, coughed up a little blood a couple of times, and is exhausted today, so needless to say, I'm concerned. We'll see what the dr. has to say about it.