Why I Oughta...

Back in the end of June and early July, we had what felt like three-straight-weeks of constant rain.  My yard never looked better.  But it also had some other impacts - beyond having to cut the grass 3x per week to keep it how I wanted it.  I was moving some firewood around recently and noticed that a couple of the logs on TOP of our firewood racks were showing some new, white fungal growth: If you look at this post showing off the firewood rack that I built from parts I sourced dumpster diving next door, you can see that I put on a cedar shingle roof .  That *mostly* helps shed the water.  But, in one of those rain storms, our front yard Norway Maple lost a minor limb .  It came down and I cut it up into rounds.  But, I didn't process them fully as Summer tasks got away from me.  So, I just popped them up on TOP of the firewood rack.  They sat there thru all the rains.  And, you can see that they were already covered in moss from when t...

A few weeks back, we had a few days of very heavy rain.  It came down in the morning, afternoon and evening.  For like three of four days straight.  The ability to work in the yard was almost zero because of how saturated the ground was in the yard and the beds.  But that rain event also exposed to me a few areas in the far reaches of our yard that I think are worth documenting here in order to be sure that as I begin to address the far back yard that these spots are giving proper consideration. Due to their location and distance for the existing water mitigation tools (Dry well, etc), I am thinking that the only way to really address some of these is through a combination of improving the soil's ability to absorb water (aeration, de-thatching) and through the changing of the grade. First up is this linear puddle that is maybe twenty feet long and sits between a rough (eventual!) bed and the yard from the trampoline to the neighbor gate on the southside....

If you have read anything (and I mean anything!  Heck... even People Magazine has covered it !), you likely know about the impending pumpkin-pocalypse.  For what seems like the second time in a few years, the agricultural experts are predicting an epic Thanksgiving pumpkin shortage. Brace yourself, people. And it is thanks to all the rain we had here in Illinois : If the beginning of fall means pumpkin is basically your only food group for the next few months, you better hurry to the supermarket.  According to crop experts, canned pumpkin yield could be off by as much as a third this year in Illinois. The Midwestern state — which is responsible for about 90 percent of the U.S.-grown pumpkins — experienced a record rainfall in June causing the shortage, say farmers.  “I would not wait until Nov. 20 [to buy canned pumpkin],” University of Illinois’s Department of Crop Sciences professor Mohammad Babadoost told the Associated Press. “I’d buy it whenever it ...

We *so* tried to go the Memorial Day Parade.  In fact, we tried twice.  Both times, turned around for either the Bambino or the rain.  My god...the rain.  It came down light.  It came down heavy.  It came down when we were walking there, once again, so we just turned around. That didn't stop the Bird from stomping around in her rain boots, her pants hiked way up and her giant 'sumbrella'.  We ended up in a *new* place for breakfast that felt comfortable but a bit foreign.  We'll have to do something about that.