Why I Oughta...

I came across this vintage Chicago Bears helmet bank from All American Bank of Chicago up in Wisconsin at an Antique Mall.  There were a pair of them - this one and another one with a weird bird logo on the helmet.  Nat and I were puzzled by that one, so I only bought this one.  This is intended as a gift for one of my brother-in-laws.  Those of you who have kept up with the blog over the years might recall this sweet vintage White Sox bank that I posted back in 2014.  I gifted that bank to the same brother-in-law that this one is destined to be gifted to at some point.  Christmas is the likely time when I will give this, but maybe birthday season? This is from the All American Bank of Chicago, which appears to be a "failed bank" per the FDIC . As for the bank, you'll note that it has the all-white "C" on the sides.  According to this page, that logo was in use from 1962 to 1973 .     So this helmet was a give-away from the bank somewhere in the 1960'

It is early October and around here that means Fall bulb planting.  Just like last year, where I planted 30 tulip bulbs and some Allium bulbs , I'm planning on sticking both in the ground this year although there are a few differences.   First, I'm giving more consideration to the 'where' these tulips are going.  And second:  these are 'fringed tulips', which is kind of cool, right? Fringed Tulips seem to be pleasers.  From this listing on White Flower Farm : Fringed Tulips have flower petals that are edged with finely cut fringes that remind us of fine quartz crystals or frost on window panes. If you're seeking a beautiful novelty bedding plant, you've found it. Last year, I planted the tulips along the fenceline in the back and after seeing them come up this season, I'm not happy with their location and think that I'm likely to dig them up and move them somewhere else.   I'm also thinking that they might find a good home i

Via Twitter - shared by @BillCorbett here . I took a screenshot of this Donald Duck Family Tree poster from Bill Corbett on Twitter - tweet embedded below.  I posted the full image above so you can see it here natively on the blog.  But know...that image is not mine.  It is *from* this tweet below.  I could study this like it was the Magna Carta and look at every detail for hours.  And I intend to, but...for now:  A few things that are awesome - besides the one Bill points out below: They've obscured Donald's Brother-in-Law, the father of Huey, Duey and Louie.  Who is their Dad?  We might never know .   The Duck family intermarried with coots.  I didn't know what a coot was ! I always thought family trees went downwards.  This one goes up.  But, maybe that makes sense in that the elders are the 'roots' of the family?   There's loads more things to notice and the commenters on Bill's Tweet do a good job . Someone posted this Donald Duck fami

Look at these beautiful needles growing out on the tips of our Dawn Redwood.  We planted the replacement tree in July of this year after having last year's tree die and not come back.  A little under a year ago, I posted this photo of the old Redwood and asked the question: "I s our Redwood Tree going to survive? "  Turns out, the answer was "no".  And in looking at this photo of new, delicate growth vs. the brown and dry tree from last year, it is plain to me now. We've had a bunch of rain in late August and the first part of September and I babied this thing through the beginning of August, so I'm happy to say that we've given this tree the best chance at surviving the winter.  I'm also encouraged by this new growth and hopeful that it signals that the tree has found a good groove and is putting down roots while putting on this show with new needles on the tips of the tree. I'm going to go get a few bags of mulch and lay down a new

Last year, I shared a couple of photos and tracked the progress of our firewood consumption during the Winter.  We started with a rack of wood I scavenged from our yard and split myself .  Having burned through that quickly, I ended up ordering a face cord of wood that arrived in early January .  By February of this year, we had burned through half of the Face Cord .  By March it was gone.   We ordered a mix of hardwoods last year and I think we got a bunch of Ash along with some Oak.   This year, I wanted to get ahead of things and decided to order in September.  And I wanted to order some specific woods:  Cherry and Birch.   Like last year, I used the same provider (Best Firewood and Mulch) but I ordered a full face cord of Birch.  And a full Face Cord of Cherry.  The Cherry for long-burning nature and, of course, the smell it puts off and the birch for the heat output and the bright and lively flames.   On the delivery day, the two guys arrived with a truck full o

I've posted about this area of our landscape before - here - and discussed a potential solution to the sightlines that exist between my house and our neighbor to the north.  I'm posting this photo here because I'd like to reference it after we *solve* this area.  I'm actually not sure what the real solve is here - besides the creation of a brick paver walk down the middle.  That's just part of the solution, but doesn't solve any of the sightlights or help give this area a real sense of place.  It currently has just some grass and a few transplanted ferns tucked into the foundation bed.  That's it.  The stones you see under the gate are there to keep Lizzie from sneaking out.  You can go back and check out the post I made about Sky Pencil Holly that I could plant and use to screen to the north, but this post is here to help stimulate my thinking over the Fall on what to do in terms of screening.  You'll note that in that post, I shared the landsca

Like most 'basic' suburban folks who drive a minivan and have a massive Park District 'activity' bill, we normally doll-up our front porch in the fall with Mums.  Costco has those big ones and Nat usually just makes the move for mums on her own.  They're easy to tend to, usually put on a good show and feel quite seasonal for the fall these days, right?  I'm sure that we'll do them soon. But I also called an audible and picked up an annual on a whim:  these Celosia Intenz.  I had a couple of plastic pots laying around (I think from Mums last year!?!) and planted a pair of these in the pots and put them on the front porch.  Also, for those wanting to dig through the archives, I've posted about mums here on the blog over the years.  Last year, I gave a 'pro-tip' to tie your mums up .   Also, I guess our mums from the Fall of 2011 survived the winter and I ended up planting them in the ground in the Spring of 2012 and *like magic*, they did w