Why I Oughta...

Last June of 2018, I posted photos and details that documented the heights of the existing trees in our inventory around the yard .  In September, I posted two more tree heights to the inventory .  This is the annual check-in with those same trees. As a reminder, here's the heights that I documented in Summer 2018: 2018 Tree Heights  Saucer Magnolia:  81" North Flowering Pear: 112" Frans Fontaine Hornbeam:  113" Red Maple Sun Valley:  96" Crimson King Maple:  112" South Flowering Pear:  80" Flowering Cherry:  112" Dawn Redwood:  63" Bald Cypress:  51"   2019 Tree Heights Saucer Magnolia:  104".  (+23").  22% growth North Flowering Pear: 182" (+70").  39% growth. Frans Fontaine Hornbeam:  162" (+49") Red Maple Sun Valley:  108"  (+12") Crimson King Maple:  112" (+0").  0% growth. South Flowering Pear:  115" (+35").  31% growth. Flowering Cherry:  12

This mighty Oak tree came down in what is being billed as a "Microburst" storm up in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin last month.  We arrived the day *after* the storm.  Or...I suppose, the day *of* the storm since it hit at like 12:30 am.  The folks at the Kenosha News covered the aftermath and concurred with a meteorologist who billed the event a microburst . From their piece : A small area of Twin Lakes was hit by high winds that took down trees and left many residents without power early Thursday.  ...Aidan Kuroski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sullivan, said that a “microburst” storm with straight line winds estimated at 70 to 80 mph hit the area at about 12:30 a.m. “It was a very concentrated area,” Kuroski said. “Basically from Elkhorn and Walworth County down to Twin Lakes.”  Kuroski said the storm developed so quickly the National Weather Service did not have time to issue a storm warning. The storm produced some damage around the neighborh

My personality is such that I wasn't able to fully enjoy the Sunset Cliffs as much as other people when we were *close* to the Cliffs.  From a hundred yards back?  I was totally fine, didn't have to grab ahold of which kid(s) were close to me for fear that they'd run and leap over the edges.  And, I enjoyed them.  Saw a few sunsets from the front deck there, too.  It is no Hotel Del Coronado , but...as LD would say:

We picked up this copy of Life Magazine that features the opening day of Walt Disney World in Florida on the cover.  Being Disney people and vintage/Antique Mall people, this seemed like a good fit for us.  There's a lot of little things to note on the cover including the front row of characters (See Pooh Bear's costume?) The inside headline is all about the east coast move:  "Disney Moves East" with Mickey the Mouse leading the marching band down MainStreet USA. The biggest spread of photos is below and is from this pretty unique angle starting with the Rivers of America and Frontierland in the foreground and you can see the Seven Seas Lagoon in the background.  A few things to note - Frontierland really just had a cul-de-sac and didn't go over to where Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain are today.  And the show buildings where Peter Pan and Philharmagic are located ARE HUGE.  Likely due to the perspective, but still. Filing this under both [ V

For Mother's Day this year, Nat's Mom gave her a small Flowering Tobacco Jasmine plant that came in a little plastic capsule.  There was very little instructions with it other than that it was potentially poisonous (see ASPCA page on it being poisonous to dogs here !).  Nat's Mom has given us a few Disneyland Roses ( first one in 2017 and two more in 2018 ) and a couple of hydrangeas , but this is the first annual that she's gifted us. I wasn't sure where to put it, so I ended up sticking it on the side of our house on the southside - near where I put the 2018 Disneyland roses and was planning to do a Belgian Fence.  I didn't pay it much attention and didn't even water it consciously.  And look at it above:  beautifully tall and graceful.  But, this isn't just a looker.  Nope.  It does a couple of things that are interesting.  First...it transforms from day to evening.  The listing on Select Seeds calls it a "night bloomer" .  Then it

There we were, minding our own business, walking back to our car after a movie at one of the local movie theaters when one of our kids shouts out that they see the Ghostbusters car.  Sure enough, some creative soul has outfitted their four door sedan with a roof rack that holds a custom-built Ghostbuster rig with lights and canisters and pipes and other what-have-yous.  The decal on the door seals the deal.  "Take my picture" was the request.  Request approved. 

Thanks to our good friends who have Chicago Bears season tickets, I'm now the proud owner of this Red Grange - the Galloping Ghost - Bobblehead courtesy of United Airlines.  This is the first in what the Bears are billing as a season-long program of bobbleheads that will be released at every one of their 10 home games. The full list of this year's Bobbleheads : Red Grange Bill George Coach Ditka (with his sunglasses) Bronco Nagurski (with a sweet uniform) Sweetness - Walter Payton Brian Urlacher Sid Luckman Gayle Sayers AND Dick Butkus (they put both on one statue???) Mike Singletary Devin Hester Some of them are way more attractive (to me) than others.  Of course, the top on the list - Red Grange - is the one that I'm most interested in (not just saying that because that's the one I am in possession of right now!).  But, Da Coach Ditka one is awesome, too.  Those would rank highest.  The dual Gayle Sayers/Dick Butkus one is weird to me.  I mean...