Why I Oughta...

Just like I did last year, I'm going to try to track our firewood usage over this Winter in an effort to understand how we are using it and to help plan for next year.  Here's an example of a post I put up in February of this year showing the progress . As a reminder, we had two face cords delivered in mid-September.  One face cord of Cherry.  One of Birch .   And today, you can see that we've made quite a dent in the pile.  The photo above shows the wood pile that is outside that is about half-way down from the top.  And if you look back at the original photos, you'll note that there was a pile on the left that they stacked on the ground .  But, the inside racks are still intact - and not changed.  We've been burning fires almost everyday.  Or every night, I suppose.  We go through three pieces of wood most nights and the weather hasn't been too terribly cold at night.  I'm fearful that we'll blow through our two face cords before winter is ove

Back on Earth Day of this year, we planted a few trees including this Red Maple "Sun Valley" tree that is maybe 3/4" caliper.  Here's the photo of that tree when it went in - before it leafed out this Spring/Summer .  By June, it had leafed out and grew a bit - topping out at 96" tall in our tree inventory .  The top continued to grow up and now I am thinking it is taller than 96".  But it also is starting to show it's fall colors.  If you look closely at this photo above that I took a few weeks back, you'll see some reds/oranges starting to emerge on the leaves.  This Fall has been funny with leaves - as we didn't get a ton of colors (yet?), but plenty of leaves have fallen.  I'll keep an eye on this one and see if it shows off it's full fall spendor with a red/orange show.  More importantly, I'm thinking that this thing as established itself enough with some new branching that it has a good shot at surviving the winter and comin

My...how the mighty have fallen.  That list above is our sad tally sheet from last night.  It only has five marks before we went out trick-or-treating and ended up with 24 total.  Oh,  and a big drink stain on it.  Twenty Four.  And that's being VERY GENEROUS by counting all the little ones that live on our block who came over to our house with their parents for a little post trick-or-treating party.  The five were kids that rang the bell and I dropped candy into their bowls/bags.  Mostly middle school kids.  The 19 others were kids who did, indeed, take candy from our bowls, but also stuck around for a while. We then went out with the kids to hit up the neighborhood.  And we put out a bowl.  About 150 pieces of candy (based on the bag having 300 pieces... I poured in about half) in the bowl.  Set it out on our front porch.  And put our Nest camera pointing towards it.  You can see the little orange bowl just off our front door mat below: It didn't take long for kid

Last year, Nat's Mom gifted us a Disneyland Rose for our anniversary and this year she did the same thing, but gave us two of them.  They arrived recently in a box from Jackson & Perkins that you see above.  Here's the post showing the rose plant from 2017 and includes the description of the variety.  I revisited our Disneyland Rose in June when it came back for the year and produced some small, but spectacular blooms.  I ended up planting the first one underneath the kitchen windows amongst some hostas and grasses.  I think that ultimately, I'm going to have to transplant it next year to a different spot, but for this season, it did well. Below you can see the two new Rose plants that were shipped in the container. I ended up planting them on the south side of our house - on either side of the window well that is out there.  Again, I'm not certain that this is where they're destined to go, but it is pretty much a blank canvas out there and these t

It was just a little bit over a year ago that I last posted a photo of my office succulent - a Burro's tail - that I keep on the ledge by my window in the Aon Center.  That photo is here .  And here's the post from August of 2016 - just over two years ago - that shows it in its youth .  Tracking the changes over the years shows the growth of not just the main plant, but you'll also notice in this year's version, a series of other growths.  As for the primary pot, you can compare last year to this year and see that it is still going strong with a few long shoots and a full pot.  But, you'll also note two other experiments.  The first is the container on the far left that shows a bunch of new cuttings that I took from the main plant and put in a smaller pot.  They have taken off and begun to make their own 'tails' as it were.  Also, in the center of the photo, you'll see a clear plastic cup that I've tossed some succulent bits in that broke off th

I bought this Men's Valet from an Estate Sale in Elmhurst about five years ago for like $5.  It was cheap and I bought it on a whim.  It has sat in our closet since we moved in, but I never really *used* it like it was supposed to be used.  It is a really adorable piece of furniture, isn't it?  I mean, who wouldn't want a valet?  And look at those lines? Recently, Nat moved it out of our closet and it ended up in the garage.  So, off it went to Craigslist to find a happy home.  And sure, enough, it didn't last long.  Someone came and picked it up.   I took these photos out on the driveway before we parted ways. So, I'm filing this one under 'one that got away', but this time it was on purpose.  I sold it.  For a profit, too! Did I adore this thing?  Yeah.  But, say it with me : It is enough to enjoy the existence of things without possessing all of them. Take a look at the valet features, though.  Tray for a nice watch or your wallet or change or

Back in June of this year, I planted two different fingerling varieties of potatoes in containers and placed those out back in an area of full sun.  They bloomed with flowers later in the Summer and most recently I noticed that all of the growth had died back.  That meant it was time to harvest.  I pulled the five big containers all the way to the back of our yard (where we keep most of our garden waste) and with the help of the Bird we sifted through the dirt and came away with a bagful of spuds in varying shapes and sizes.  I've harvested potatoes over the years and posted the pics on the blog.  Here's a 'partial' harvest from 2016 of fingerling potatoes .  And here's a huge harvest of potatoes back in 2013 .  We brought this year's haul inside the house, put them in a paper bag and didn't bother cleaning them.  Everything we read on the Web says to not wash the potatoes until right before we're set to use them, so they're a little dirty,