Weather, Wind and Iris

We have had some wind on and off for the past several days to go along with the heat.  On the negative side, the wind means we have to water plants and birds (and ourselves) much more frequently.  But, on the positive, if there is a good stiff breeze, then our annual infestation of Buffalo Gnats don't make our lives quite so miserable when we are outside.

This afternoon, we watched while storms blew up to our south and then to our east.  We are hopeful everyone south of us is fine.  In terms of staying power, this is not at all unlike what happened to us earlier. 

 We had a moment where the sun in the western sky was lighting up our farm nicely, but there was this forbidding sky in the background.  I was not patient enough to try to catch any lightning as we were about our business of getting things closed down due to some wind poofs coming through that were attached to a cell that went just north of us.

We had some interesting cloud and sunray displays as well Thursday evening.  One very positive thing about all of this is that this week was a Wednesday farm credit delivery day in Waverly.  If this were a Cedar Falls Thursday, it would have been pretty uncomfortable.  This does remind us that our new modifications to handle the Covid-19 pandemic are not at all friendly to us if the weather is bad. 

On another note, our iris are beginning to really get into the act of blooming.  Of course, the wind is beating them up pretty good and the heat limits how long each flower is at its peak.  But, at least we have iris. 

Sadly, we have plenty of evidence that the late hard freeze took its toll on many of our iris flower stalks (and plants).  This seems to happen pretty often at the farm, which is sad for us because we do love these flowers.

 

We'll try and get more pictures of them to share assuming the wind calms down tomorrow.  It is pretty difficult to take a photo when the iris is bobbing around in the wind!

My old friend, St Helen's Wake is blooming again this year and we'll try to take a picture that will do it justice.  However, if you want to see a very good one (along with a very good blog post) you can go to this April post from this year.  We were also graced with the presence of Proud Tradition again this season.