Why I Oughta...

Two days ago, I posted photos and details of the six Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' plugs I planted in the sideyard along our property line in an attempt to help with some erosion control that is needed due to a couple of downspout pop-ups that bring a lot of surface water to this area.   When I bought Chocolate Chip, I also bought a six-pack of Ajuga Burgundy Glow.  I've planted this Ajuga before ( here this year in May ) and it is larger-leaf'd than Chocolate Chip and brighter in color.  The tray was full of healthy plants.  Here's a couple of photos showing the six-pack and the root system that has been created this growing season: These being bigger than the Chocolate Chip and having this large, seemingly healthy root system means that I can put them a little bit more 'upstream' where the water seems to be running stronger.  This area below shows the location:  right in front of the grown-from-cutting Limelight Hydrangea.  (we should talk about that,...

Our screened porch is where we spend a lot of time watching screens. Football season, evening 'shows', etc.  It is not a four-season porch, though.  Might call it 3.5 seasons.  That's because we added Eze-Breeze four-panel windows to the frames and swapped out the screened door for a storm door with a screen.  Eze-Breeze windows are really great.  They keep the dust out.  They also - according to their product page - block UV rays which protects furniture.   And, in the cold time of the year, they keep out the wind and what I'll call 'extreme' temperatures.  They create an envelope that we can heat and be in the porch when the temps are low.  But, not too low.   I'd say that we typically get to use the porch all the way through Christmas.  Then, when Winter actually arrives in January, we're forced out of there.   That's because the 'envelope' that the Eze-Breeze windows creates is 'leaky'.  The windows ar...

We moved in right before 4th of July last year, but I don't think we had time (or the wherewithal) to put out a flag to mark our country's birthday.  This year, however, was a different story.  You can see that I put out our Old Glory, draped from the front porch top railing.  This is the same 48 Star Flag that I bought at an Elmhurst Estate Sale back a few Summers .  It came with weights on the bottom of it, so in it's past life, it was clearly hung in this vertical orientation.  But, turns out, there's a 'right way' to hang a vertical flag.  See here in this earlier post that I hung the flag with the field of 48 stars in the top right .  According to this post , the proper way is to have the Union to the flag's own right and to the observer's left.  Hence, why I posted it the way I did this year on the porch.  We have a really nice wraparound porch and I think it deserves a nice flag.  I have a pole, but the issue is that the loc...

A few weeks back, I posted an update about our new place showing the installation of the windows in most* spots (The asterisk is because not all the windows are in...as we're still waiting on a few of the more 'fancy' ones...) and how that felt like real progress.  And there's been even more progress lately including the installation (do you call it that?) of the fireplace and chimney.  This one you see above is in what I think is going to be my favorite spot in the house: our screened porch. You'll note the the cables come out of the center of the masonry work above the fireplace, so one of the first jobs is going to be finding a tv that will work out there and getting it hung.   The room isn't huge, but I'm thinking Nat will do a great job finding the right seating mix where we can hang as a family out there and also where we can entertain folks.  And, frankly, something that I can take a Saturday afternoon nap on while watching some sports... The ...

We've lost six or so pumpkins (that we grew ourselves!) on our front porch to critters this year and after the girls had carved their pumpkins last night, I figured we had to find a way to make them last until Friday. First....I filled a spray bottle with bleach and hit every 'cut' surface.  We'll see if that does anything to stop the mold? Then...as you can see...I took out a little bit of fencing and wrapped them up.  You can't eat what you can't get to, right? Come and try me, squirrels.  I dare you.