Posts

Fountain Grasses Destined For The #NewOldBackyard

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Nat picked up these three fountain grasses (pennisetum alopecuroides 'hameln') at Costco of all places.  They were priced right, so after she texted me a few photos of the various varieties (including a variegated version), we ended up with the three pots you see above.    According to the Missouri Botanical Garden , these are a particular hardy variety that seem to be able to be planted pretty much anywhere. Over the weekend, I dragged each of the pots to the backyard and placed them in a spot where I thought they'd look good.  Then I walked back to the patio to take a peek from that view.  Didn't love the first layout.  Nor the second.  Nor the third.    I ended up laying them out to form a sort of hedge along the fenceline, near one of the rear gates.  The issue is that our beds in the back are totally undefined at this point.  So, by placing these things, we begin to define at least part of them future of the beds for the #newoldbackyard.  So, while I've tr

Late Summer Saucer Magnolia Tree Update

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Just over a five weeks ago, I posted the first photo of our new/young Saucer Magnolia tree in the front yard of our #NewOldFarmhouse after I had 'limbed it up' for the first time .  It had grown a bit since being installed in June and the pruning I gave it will hopefully fuel its upward trajectory. Above you'll see a photo I took this past week after I gave it another minor pruning where I continued to 'limb up' the main leaders.  I took off a few suckers and removed leaves and shoots that were coming off low on the main branches.   Flipping back and forth between the early August post and this photo tells me the late summer growth is hard to detect in terms of size, but is noticeable in the buds being created.  The leaves - in some places - have become discolored - which has me worried, but I'll post a closeup of it on the blog and show off the newly emerging buds, too. I have big hopes that this tree will grow up - with our family - and be a meaningful

The Future of Downtown Downers Grove

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Tonight, the Village Board of Downers Grove is meeting to discuss the future of Downtown Downers Grove.  According to the agenda, they're actually doing this : Discussion of the proposed downtown development regulatory framework developed by the Comprehensive Planning Ad Hoc Committee and the Plan Commission in accordance with Village Council direction. But, a closer look at the documents attached to the agenda show that the dry description actually reveals quite a bit more interesting ideas and what appears to be a big deal.  There are 115 pages of documents attached to tonight's meeting, but buried in there are some interesting nuggets, charts and drawings.  If approved, the plan laid out - appears to me at least - to provide the blueprint to continue the reinvention and reinvestment of downtown Downers Grove.  The plan lays out specific locations and recommendations for improvement and calls out 12 specific 'Downtown Catalyst Sites" that you can see above. 

Halloween Inflatables - Big Pumpkin and Frankenstein

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It is no secret that I have a soft spot for two holiday-related items that are, umm, not super cool.  The first is Christmas Village structures .  Have you met Mantleburg ?  The other?  Holiday-themed inflatables .  Most recently, I've covered how we picked up this blinking eye owl Halloween inflatable .  And I've posted some photos and videos of other Christmas and Halloween inflatables at Menards over the years.  I even have a playlist on my YouTube Channel showing some of these Menards inflatables. The spark for this whole thing around inflatables can be traced back to this post in December of 2013 .  That's when I finally caved and bought our first inflatable .  You'll note that the Christmas of 2013 lines up with the Babe growing up and having some holiday-related awareness.  She and now her sister and brother have certainly influenced my purchase behavior. And, to be fair, I think Nat isn't sold on them.  Scratch that....I *know* she isn't sold o

First Look at Potential Backyard "Entrance" Solution #1

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In the past couple of posts, I've talked about the need for backyard planning in our #newoldbackyard including the placement of a potential pizza oven and pavilion and my desire (despite Nat's properly-grounded resistance) to incorporate a waterfall/water feature into the 'entrance' of the backyard along with some stone stairs .   Because we've been so deliberate about all the choices that went into our New Old Farmhouse, I thought it was only appropriate that we enlisted some professionals when thinking about phase 2 of our landscape design and specifically to help us figure out the best way to provide some privacy screening and transition from the front yard to the backyard - as this will be the main traffic route for us and guests.  If you look back at this post that shows the pizza oven placement options , you can see the existing patio that we are working with and if you peek back at this post that shows a photo of this so-called 'entrance' to the

My 2017 Fantasy Football Squad

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I'm laying out my current fantasy football roster - the 2017 Little Lebowski Urban Achievers - for all to judge, mock and critique.  Our league - The Marini/Parrillo War League - is run with an iron fist by the Commissioner Equation Boy/Man and includes my nephews, my Dad, Equation Boy/Man's Dad and nephews on that side.   My team was totally auto-drafted as I've done in the past and it usually doesn't turn out amazing.  The league is pretty low stakes and because I put in *just* a little bit above the minimum effort in sorting out the buy weeks and inactives, I usually sneak into the playoffs and win maybe one round before being taken out by one of the boys who is all over his team with weekly tweaks and roster moves.   The team - lead by just one QB in Dak Prescott and WR Odell Beckham Jr (who was the first pick by the computer) has a bunch of guys I've never even heard of!  So, there's that, which is nice, right? 

Late Summer Tree Dreaming: Alaskan Weeping Cedar Tree

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Weeping Cedar photo via The Tree Center Back in this post on the King Crimson Maple from mid-July of this year , I mentioned that while I was doing what I consider to be a decent job of populating our #newoldbackyard with a nice variety of deciduous trees , I've failed at establishing any conifers or evergreens.  What is probably a backwards approach to establishing the arboretum of sorts.  I also mentioned two specific species of trees that I've had my eyes on including this one you see above:  Alaskan Weeping Cedar.   More on the tree can be found here . But, where to put it?  I've made no secret about my desire to fully build out the #newoldbackyard as recently as this week with the placement of a wood-fired pizza oven, an expanded patio with some sort of pavilion structure , some trees to screen the neighbors to the north.  All of that seems to require planning, which I'm thinking requires some professional.  That is...if we want to get it right. To that