Why I Oughta...

A few days ago, I posted some photos of a handful of Purple Sensation Allium bulbs that we did a fall bulb planting with around one of the big oak trees in our #newoldbackyard.  Photos here .  I mentioned that we also planted some tulips on that same day.   Today's post shows off the bulbs of the two varieties that we put down.  I picked up 2 15 packs of tulip bulbs at Menards that were on sale (they also had the 11% rebate thing going on...which....seems right now to be an almost constant thing??).  The first set was 15 Darwin Hybrid Tulips in orange.  You can see the packaging below: According to Longfield Gardens , Darwin Tulips have some special characteristics:  Darwin hybrids produce big, showy flowers with a classic tulip shape: broad at the base and slightly narrower at the top. They come in a rainbow of rich, saturated colors that range from white through yellow, orange, red and pink, including several lovely bi-colors.  Darwin hybrids are reliable performer

Down in the bowels of Union Station these days you'll find this hourglass and floor/wall takeover from Travel Wisconsin encouraging all of us to get up to 'see the fall color before the leaves fall' .  The hourglass is clever and in terms of size it is pretty big and grabs your attention as you leave the Great Hall and head to your platforms, so it seems like a nice placement. Really seems like Wisconsin is trying to horn in on the whole Pure Michigan thing, right?  Now that I'm not a Michigander any longer (or Michigander by lake house), I'm rooting for Wisconsin.  Cute campaign all around

Everyday for the past week or so, we've had this Black Squirrel visiting our yard where he is gorging himself on the acorns from our Oak trees and the big green/black walnuts from our Walnut trees.   He usually isn't alone so when you see him in contrast to the normal grey squirrels, he really stands out.  Grey Squirrels I see all over.  But a Black Squirrel?  From Wikipedia: The overall population of black squirrels is small when compared to that of the gray squirrel. The black fur color can occur naturally as a mutation in populations of gray squirrels, but it is rare. The rarity of the black squirrel has caused many people to admire them, and the black squirrels enjoy great affection in some places as mascots.  According to this story on DNAinfo , they're about 1 in 10,000.   I also just submitted an observation to ProjectSquirrel.org  and noted all the nut-bearing trees we have on the property.  Right now, Black Squirrel...we're cool.  But Halloween is com

Compare those stands of trees to the west (to the right in this photo) of the Pritzker Pavillion in all their red glory to what they looked like just 3ish weeks ago in this post . It won't be long before they're barren and covered in ice.

No, I'm not talking about New York City.  I'm talking about "Big Apple".  As in..."big pharma" or "big tobacco" or even the recently-coined "Big Uni" by the guys at Uni-Watch . That's the best way to describe Apple Holler in Sturtevant, Wisconsin. We've been to a bunch of these apple orchards and pumpkin patches.  Apple Holler is a combination of those two experiences and it is - based on how crowded it was when we went - quite popular. So, why is it, exactly, "Big Apple"? Well, let's start with the parking.  It costs you $5 to park your car. Then, if you want to go pick apples, they charge each person $20 to go in the orchard.  Yep....$20.  Sure, they give you a little tiny bag that can hold like a dozen apples.  But, every person that goes in, it is $20.  Kids, too!  That means, for us it was going to be $80 just to pick some apples.  No thanks. We went up there with some friends, so it was great to

The trees are starting to turn.  Look at the ones just southwest of the end of the Pritzker Pavillion lawn.  They're red!  Well, some of them are.  But, looking back in the archives, I found this post from Halloween of last year that shows that same stand of trees being all bright red .  So, the best is yet to come. There's also a bit of post-Chicago Marathon clean-up happening here with the tents and what-have-you in the parks and around Buckingham Fountain.  Fall splendor, not quite.  But a quick look at the transition point between summer and fall from the 64th floor of the Aon Center.

As you can see from the photo above, we ended up with 346 individuals to our door on Halloween.  That includes 9 adults, 73 'kids we know' and 264 'kids we don't know'. That's up from last year's tally of 308  and sets the new record for Halloween. This year: 346 total. In 2014, we had 308 total . In 2013, we had 326 total . In 2012, we had 327 total. In 2011, we had 269 total . In 2010, we had 236 total . In 2009, we had 184 total . A few things to note: 1.  It rained a bit his year.  Wasn't as bad as last year when it rained the entire time we were out trick-or-treating.  But that still likely made it a bit harder to turn-out for trick-or-treating for some.   2.  However...this was a Saturday.  That's the first time trick-or-treating wasn't on a 'school night', so I'm thinking that accounted for the increased turnout. 3.  We were down the block from where we normally have been.  The '09-'14 totals we

Peeking out the window of my office this week was a treat with the brilliant reds and oranges from the trees in Grant Park and Millenium Park.   It was less than a month ago that I posted this same view that heralded in the beginning of Autumn . You can see the other seasons that I've documented out this same view here from earlier this year starting with the gloomy early Spring with NFL DraftTown.

The Babe says...it isn't over until she says so.  And there's still plenty of watermelon and corn on the cob to eat before we move on to pumpkin spice this and pumpkin spice that.  Labor Day may be here, but we're still in shorts and t-shirts (at least most of us are....the Babe...for some reason is going all long-sleeves-all-the-time) so just hold on for a second, Fall.  I'll take your college football, but let's just hold tight on those leaves falling and cold mornings.  Sound like a deal?

This year's total:  308 trick-or-treaters. That's down from last year's number of 326 .  (the numbers in parenthesis are last year's numbers) As you can see, the 'neighborhood kid' number was up 7 from last year, but the 'non-neighborhood kids' number dropped by more than 10%.  Have to believe that's because of the weather. In 2013, we had 326 total . In 2012, we had 327 total. In 2011, we had 269 total . In 2010, we had 236 total . In 2009, we had 184 total .