Why I Oughta...

Another year full of posts.  Mostly about my garden, my pizza oven build and some other various nonsense.  This year, I'll have written 367 posts (including this one); with 2024 being a Leap year with 366 days.  If you look at the archive list (below), you'll see that there are some misses/additions.  May does NOT have 32 days, but October has 31.  Oh, well.  Not a gold-star blogging year, but still more than one-post-per-day...everyday. I've done daily blogging - 365 posts since 2015.  That means...this is the 10th year straight that I've completed that task. Here is 2023's post .  Ten years of writing.  Everyday.  Ten years!  Something like 3600+ straight days.   And 20 years of blogging here.  Twenty years.  Half of which are consecutive.  My goodness that's a lot of nonsense.  And garden diary posts.  

Even more pizza oven progress.  Dome closing in.  Door template removed.  And...the inner arch stayed up.  

I've been SUPER neglectful of my pizza oven build project here on my own blog.  By that...I mean...I've neglected to update the blog, but not the actual oven.  Good news, bad news, I guess.  Good news:  the oven is built and closed in.   The bad news:  I last posted about it in late September when I was like seven chains up on the dome . Let's catch up - a little bit.   I was able to keep putting up chains and finally got around to building out the door: And, from there, I kept going around and around.  Thanks to the indispensable tool. 

 This is my annual reminder that the State of Illinois should bring back the 1983 blue-top license plates. Here's my post from 2023 when I asked for the same return to this plate across the state.

There's growth on the tips of this Hemlock tree just waiting for Spring to arrive.  

In the Fall of 2021, I planted three Green Gem Boxwoods in the backyard, about half-way back on the south side of the garden .  They were tiny, $5-ONE-GALLON shrubs that *barely* lifted their crown about the soil.  Today, they're starting to stand on their own.  See below for current state of the three Green Gem Boxwoods in early Winter along with a lot of leaf litter. Some nice moss on a couple of those small boulders, too.  

The garden is sleeping.  It has put itself to bed - with everything going dormant.  Everything...that is....except for some evergreens and semi-evergreens.  Evergreens - like conifers - are what I think of when it comes to winter interest.  But...semi-evergreens are something that I continue to learn about every season.  And...the shining star of my own semi-evergreens continues to be Autumn Ferns.   Have a look at these Ferns below.  This is Christmas Day.  And, everything is bare, brown and dry.  But...these?  Still showing off with their green fronds.  More Autumn Ferns needs to be near the top of my 2025 planting list.  I've said it before, but I haven't delivered as much as I'd like to on Autumn Ferns.  Yesterday's post about a Fairy Garden?  I mention removing Ostrich Ferns.  What should I replace them with in that spot?  Autumn Ferns need to be part of the equation.