Why I Oughta...

Today was a yard day.  After a quick trip to the store to pick up a few plants, both Nat and I got dirt under our fingernails and planted a bunch of different varieties in both our back and front yard.  Out of all the new plants we bought, I think my favorite is something called a Jacob's Ladder . The photo doesn't do them justice - but the leaves are really quite pretty to see and are very delicate.  We planted two of them near some of our ferns on the north side of our yard right near our deck.  I'm very hopeful that they'll thrive there.  They're called 'part shade' plants, but they flower, so I'm wondering how much sun they actually need.

A few months back, I received an email from someone at the McHenry County Visitors Bureau asking me if they could use a photo I took of some corn we bought at the Elmhurst Farmers' Market.  They wanted to highlight Twin Garden Farms in their annual travel magazine but didn't have a photo they could use.  So, they wanted to use the photo I posted on this post about Mirai Corn .  Sure, I said.  Go ahead.  But...can you send me a copy of the magazine when it is done? Fast forward to this week.  In our mailbox was a copy of the McHenry County Visitors Guide. And, if you turn to page 12, you'll see the photo of the corn taken with my phone.  No photo credit, but because of this post, I can take credit, eh?  I'll have to update my CV to include "published photojournalist", right? 

According to this story on the Elmhurst Patch , the Elmhurst City Council is considering a joint public/private partnership with a developer to re-develop part of Addison Street (the east side) from Schiller Court (the little walk-thru alley) north to Second Street (which is where the mechanic's garage is).  I think there is a one-story office building on the south end (next to Shiller Court) then 2 parking lots and the Mechanic's garage.  There used to be a Greek restaurant in there, but they tore it down last year.  The City is considering a retail only version or one with retail AND offices upstairs.  Both options have a garage connected to them - which it seems is a big deal for everyone.  I am partial to the bigger option that has office space - even though it is 20 feet taller.  In this case, I think density is our friend.  Those office jobs help feed the retail component by putting bodies in Downtown during the day which means more revenue opportunities for those stores/

It is Birthday Week on the blog it seems.  First, it was Balone's birthday on Monday and now I'll chronicle one of the Babe's cousins' big day. Yesterday, we were able to stop by my sister's (and Equation Boy/Man's) place for a quick birthday party for her son's 5th Birthday celebration.  This was just some parts of our family who could get together, but it was fun.  The birthday boy is also my Godson so he gets a little bit of extra attention from me!  Happy Birthday, buddy! He's wearing his Bulls jersey - to mark the occasion.  While the cake looked delicious, I did not have any, unfortunately.  I have a tuxedo I'm trying to fit into in 10 days.

For Easter, I decided to take on a craft project from Martha Stewart that seemed kind of manly.  I chose to make these Faux Chocolate Easter Bunnies .  I ended up making four of them: three as gifts and one to keep for ourselves.  I believe Ms. Martha herself makes different chocolate bunnies each year, so perhaps this will become a tradition.  I suppose I'm only limited by the number of molds I can find. Martha Stewart's Faux-Chocolate Bunnies Tools Required: Easter bunny chocolate molds Binder clips Clothespins Scissors Bucket Bamboo skewer or other long, slender stick File, sandpaper, and/or Dremel tool with a sanding attachment Durham's water putty Drill with paint mixer attachment, or paint mixing stick White primer paint Brown paint (Martha used liquid acrylic -- a mix of burnt sienna, burnt umber, and white) Clear satin topcoat Paint in a variety of colors for details Ribbon and flowers for embellishing This year, I bought a mold at KHL Molds - p

Here's to the only guy I know who still has a Birthday Party at his parents house in the suburbs - my good friend Jason.  I've know Jason for the better than 25 years and he's a pretty a pretty amazing guy.  From his critter days to lots of laughs along the way, I'm proud to call him a friend.  Happy Birthday, Jason!  BTW...Look who got in there right next to the cake (on the right):  the Babe with her Noonie (My mom).  She looks mesmerized by the candles, doesn't she?  (it was past her bedtime, so that may be the reason.) Although the weather didn't cooperate and there wasn't any Jarts, Whiffle ball nor beanbags, there was a lot of fun.  Thanks for having us, Balone.  Can't wait until next year.

It took me at least five minutes to figure out what was going on with the print edition of the Chicago Tribune this morning.  I saw this kid with the pineapple head and read every one of the surrounding blurbs like 3X just to try to figure out why the image was there. Only then did I realize that it had NOTHING to do with the news, but was an advertisement for Lunchables that became clear when I turned the page.  Kind of a weird monetization strategy for a serious news organization, but - hey - who am I to judge, right?

I went out and picked up more perennials for the backyard at Menards.  They're already in the ground, so I'm hopeful they'll color up this summer.  And...getting a hummingbird or two (as the BES tag claims) would be a nice side benefit, too.

Last week, Nat and I rented 'Little Fockers' from Amazon Video on Demand.  The local video store in Coloma closed last year and we haven't found a close Redbox (Hello, somebody?  There's an opportunity for you!  Put a Redbox at the Hilltop/Harding's grocery store.) so we turned to Amazon Video on Demand. Sure, the movie was terrible (we should have know, right?), but to make matters worse, the connection we were on (we were up in Michigan slurping free/slow wifi from our neighbors) was terrible.  The film crapped out at this very moment.  Seriously.  No funny-business in hitting pause or whatever.  Just a smirking Bob De Niro and the Amazon logo.   One heckuva coincidence, eh? BTW.... Blogger is back online ?  Sort of?  I guess the post I wrote yesterday about the fence stain disappeared into the ether.

Yesterday I had everything set up: while Nat was out for the evening, I had the Babe being watched by my Mom.  Earlier this week, I picked up 5 cans of stain that were on sale (thanks for the rebate, Menards!) and was about to get my stain on.   I set up my Wagner Powersprayer with the can/hose attachment and fired away.  One can in, the skies opened and it started to pour out of nowhere.  The forecast said I was going to be fine for 3-4 hours.  Turned out to be 30 to 45 minutes.  I just got 5 panels done (3+ that you can see here to the left side of the photo). We're using a semi-transparent stain called Cedartone.  At first I didn't love the color, but it is growing on me.  And, looking at it half done/half not done, I actually am starting to love how it looks.   I have four more cans in the garage, but I'm thinking that - based on how far the last can went - I'm going to have to back and buy five more.  At least.