Why I Oughta...

After shuffling down the driveway and through the middle of the street to avoid slipping on the ice, I was greeted by this glorious sight at the Fairview Avenue Metra Station one morning this month.  This was one of the early mornings moments that I was able to enjoy the Winter instead of just keeping my head down and trying to survive the day.

Back in November, I posted about how I was dreaming about a columnar conifer like this Columnar Norway Spruce that I found online .  The Tree Center is selling 1 gallon versions of this tree for $50 , but with the pot being just one gallon, you can bet that that tree is tiny. Then, just a couple of days ago, I shared my 2019 To-Do Garden List that included as #8 on the list :  do something *more* with conifers.  I mentioned this very Columnar Norway Spruce. Funny thing that I just came across a photo on Instagram from Lurvey Landscape Supply - which happens to be in Volo, Illinois and is on the way to Twin Lakes.  I've long admired their place as we drove by, but I assumed that it was a wholesale place.  Turns out, I was wrong and they not only do retail business, they encourage visits via their social handles.  (Side note:  this is a different place than I posted about in regards to their topiaries , but is ON THE SAME ROAD - as we travel to Twin Lakes.  I've noted in

We give Lizzie her breakfast and water in the morning.  Every morning.  It is part of our routine.  I wake up, go downstairs, let her out of her crate, take her out.  Then we do a food/drink dance.  After she eats and drinks, if I'm going downtown to the office, I shuffle her back into her crate for the morning.  Actually, she runs into the crate herself.  Then, a couple of hours later when Nat and the kids are up and around, they let her out and she has run of the house. She's different than Maisy when it comes to food/drink.  Maisy only ate and drank when you were in the room with her.  We kept her food and water bowls in my office - where she lived.  I'd fill them up every day, but some days it seemed like she would barely eat.  And only eat when we were sitting in the office together.  Lizzie on the other hand devours everything you put down.  On the spot.  That includes water that she guzzles.  So, we don't leave a ton of water out for her.  She gets it at cert

Look who I spotted on our fence?!?  A bird of prey.  See him perched on the top edge?  In the photo above, you can see how close he is to the fly-thru feeder that we see a lot of song birds eating at most mornings.  I'm pretty sure he's a Cooper's Hawk.  But, I'm not too adept at identification of hawks and my phone's zoom only does so much in terms of quality photos.  I was too excited to spot him and wanted to be sure I got a couple of photos of him, so I never got around to grabbing the binoculars and peeping at him closely.   For those keeping track at home, this is the second time I've posted about this kind of bird of prey visiting.  The first time was back in 2012 when I posted about a hawk coming into Nat's parent's backyard in Naperville.  Photo here .  Turns out, identifying this particular hawk is not the easiest as according to the folks at FeederWatch , even more advanced bird identification experts get Cooper's Hawk confus

Over the past year or so, I've posted plenty of dreaming/hoping/wishing/wanting items related to our yard and garden.  With Spring right around the corner (a guy can hope, right?), I thought I would round up all of those items that I've talked about/lusted after so I can have an organized list to attack this year. Before I get to this year, I figure I should look back at some of the things that we accomplished in the Spring/Summer/Fall of 2018. Last year, I got plenty accomplished including the planting of our European Columnar Frans Fontaine Hornbeam trees that will eventually form a hedge on the northern fenceline,  added our first evergreen with a Weeping Cedar tree , planted two more Disneyland Roses , took the inaugural inventory of tree heights , added a bird nesting shelf  and a mason bee house , planted a tiny Bald Cypress and a few other trees, worked our terrible clay soil with some added pellet gypsum  and had the guys lay on a thick load of mulch , removed

Keeping the pool bracelets that they give guests (in an attempt to keep the resort pool to guests staying there only) on your wrist as a collection isn't just for kids.  It is also an Adult Aulani pro-move, too.  Nat didn't participate, but that didn't stop me from rolling the rainbow collection up my arm while we were there.  I mean....why not go down the tube slide with this many bracelets on your wrist, right? 

In early January, I posted about 2019 garden trends and highlighted gabion-style walls (retaining walls made of loose stone/other items that are kind of bound by wire/mesh fence) while discussing how the style was appealing in what we're thinking about for our own backyard.  But, while on vacation in Ko' Olina in Hawaii at Disney's Aulani, I noticed that they've selected a different wall style that they use across the resort.  You can see it above and below in two different uses.  Top is a waterfall along with retaining wall.  Below the photo is just a retaining wall.  In both of these cases, they've used what I presume to be a stone/rock veneer that is all one color and irregular in shape.  Mostly round(ish) and stacked without thick mortar lines in most areas, but clean, straight lines at the top and on the corners/edges.  Kind of the best of both worlds:  natural shapes from the material, but clean lines from the edges.  There's a stone veneer availab