pretty little surprises

In the spring of 2007, after finding our house in Hayden but before permanently moving in, I transplanted some irises from our yard in Roebuck Springs. They didn't bloom at all last year, so I thought I'd done something wrong -- thought perhaps the bulbs weren't deep enough. Then someone told me I might have to wait up to five years after transplanting them before they would bloom again. This made me feel both hopeful and disappointed at the same time. I had given up on expecting any blooms this year -- everyone else's were sticking out their fuzzy little purple and yellow tongues, and mine were just sitting there making pretty little green Vs at the foot of a tree.

Then one day last week, I noticed that one of them had three buds on it! The others were showing no such signs, but this one was about to pop!

and pop it did (drat that cell phone lens!) ~

These roses surprise us every year -- they are among the many things that were here long before we were (double drat that cell phone lens!) ~

I've been trying to catch roosterman atop his well for quite a while. He likes to spring from here to the treetops. Before we had chickens of our own, I had no idea how high they could fly ~

Here are some of our tomatoes in the coldframe. This shot was taken a couple of weeks ago -- they're even bigger now. They are beyond ready to be put into the ground, but I spent last weekend preparing to go to Utah (business) for a few days, and this weekend was rained/tornadoed out. We'll set them out next weekend, come rain or shine ~


Stay tuned for a recap of the Utah adventure....