Why I Oughta...

I put in a few hours this afternoon (after installing a gutter on our garage) on the Cedar Summit Playground from Costco - at long last.  We bought it back in March, but it took me until the end of May to crack the containers and get started.  This is through step eight. I have tomorrow off from work, so I'm going to put in a few more hours and (hopefully) by the weekend I'll have a good bit of this done.  Based on the comments on my original blog post - it seems that this is a 20ish hour job.

A how-to post to follow at some point but my seed potato plants are really taking off.  I have to pile on more mulch, but it seems that six weeks or so from now we'll have new red potatoes.

Another year, another great Petruck party.  This time The Babe brought her own chair. 

Big day!  Here's to many great years ahead. Now...how about moving to the suburbs and having some kids?

Today is his 8th Birthday and to celebrate, we went out to Home Run Inn for pizza and (the best part) a Cookie Monster.  Based on this photo, I'm not sure which one of us is more excited about digging into the Cookie Monster. We were supposed to go to the batting cages before dinner, but the weather didn't cooperate so we opted for a quick game at the Cosmic Bowl. Happy Birthday, G-Man!

News comes today that the City of Elmhurst is pushing ahead with ANOTHER tax increase that will cost those of us in town even more money for the exact same service.   This time it is a 8% increase in the cost of both water AND sewer.  I understand the realities of the revenue/cost situation at City Hall and that the City has said that they can't cut any more (I'm skeptical of that) and they'll (of course) point the finger at others - in this case the DuPage Water Commission - as the real bad guy.  They'll say, "Oh...don't blame us!  The DuPage Water Commission is MAKING us do this!"  What happened to "The Buck Stops Here"?  Apparently that's not the approach of Elmhurst Mayor Pete DiCianni.  Instead, he's going to jam through another tax increase and not loose any sleep over it. I think it is time for the City to STOP being disingenuous with the pricing of water and sewer fees - and this could have been the right time for the move. 

The second night of having a baited trap came and went with no raccoon to be found.  Last night was pretty rainy, so perhaps he stayed at home and didn't venture out to take a HUGE dump in my garden.  Alas, per the recommendation of the trapper, I left his latest pile in tact and when I went out to inspect, there wasn't a companion turd from last night.  So, at least that's a positive, right? In addition to moving the trap and in a further attempt to make the trap more appealing, I cut up an apple into wedges and added that to the sausage wrapped in tin foil, but it (apparently) wasn't enough.  Per the recommendation of Nat's Aunt, I'm going to up the ante and go with a can of cat food or tuna fish and really try to lure him in tonight.  Those items were both mentioned by the trapper, too, so I'm thinking they may work.  But, do you guys know?  Do I just open the can and take the lid off?  Then put the entire can in the back of the trap?  Or, should I d

Last night, the fine folks at Animal Trackers set this trap up in our vegetable garden.  After spying the various piles of turds laying around, the guy said that we definitely had a raccoon living among us - and that he believed he could trap it.  So, this morning, I went out with a big smirk on my face to see what we had caught.  And...as I peered over the vegetable garden fence, I saw.....nothing.  The cage was empty.  Bummer.   To make matters worse, there was another HUGE pile of turds that was spitefully left behind. I've repositioned the trap and I'll put a few more aromatics in there this evening and HOPE that we catch him tonight.

We had the first fire in our backyard this past weekend - not out of a need to sit out there and relax, but because I have a HUGE stack of wood that is a mess and I wanted to bring some order to the area.  It is still a work in progress, but after burning through the material that was in the box over the winter (Christmas tree branches, yard waste, etc), things are looking better. We have a weird, evasive animal that is making a home in our yard these past few weeks.  And by "making a home", I mean taking HUGE smelly dumps in weird spots.  I have Animal Control coming over today to set a trap so hopefully we'll be free of whatever it is soon and can go back to enjoying more fires like these!

This was attached to one of new Hydrangeas - the (apparently Trademarked) Incrediball Hydrangea.   Strange isn't it?  I haven't seen any warning like this before on anything we've purchased, but maybe grafting of some sort is common for a special variety of flower like these? The Increciball Hydrangea are billed as having the "enormous" blooms with very sturdy stems (to support said enormous blooms) and grow fast.  We bought 5 gallon container ones - which were on sale at Menards - instead of smaller ones because Nat wanted them to have impact right away.  I always error on the side of cheapness and buy smaller plants hoping that they'll grow into something spectacular over a number of years.  Hopefully these Incrediballs will be the best of both worlds: big blooms this summer with a long, healthy, vibrant life over the next few years.