Why I Oughta...

I've posted a few times about v arious garden gnome dreams that I've been having this year, but I also have an existing cast iron gnome that has taken up home in our backyard in Downers Grove.  This photo was taken a few weeks back in early November.  Getting around to posting him with the Thanksgiving slowdown. It seems that the last time this particular garden gnome made an appearance on the blog was back in 2014 when I used him as a comparison of a pumpkin that I grew that season.   I'm not totally certain when we bought him, but I'm pretty sure that he is from Target and that Nat (and/or the kids) bought it for me for Father's Day one year? In the five years since he last appeared, you can see that his paint has worn a bit, his pants have gone from a dark green to an almost grey.  His boots from a nice green to a faded, light green with some rust parts spotting through.  His hat - which was once red - is now just a light grey. He's also added a b

I've made no secret my preference for Menards when it comes to home improvement stores over the years here on the blog.  One of the reasons that I shop there is that they (now) run their 11% rebate offer at least once per month.  A few years back, that 11% rebate was a quarterly offering, but now it seems that occurs pretty regularly.  And that's good news.   Why?  Because I found out that Home Depot matches the Menards 11% rebate.  Yeah...Home Depot will match it if you buy something during the week(s) that Menards is running their 11% rebate program.  I was talking to a guy who was buying bags of mulch from Home Depot when he mentioned that it was a great deal AND he was going to get the 11% rebate.  I didn't say anything because I thought he was confused.  But, I went home and searched for [Home Depot 11% Rebate].  And sure enough, this comes up : I went off to the site and filled in my receipt details and sure enough...I qualified.  A few weeks later,

On a trip over to the Home Depot, Nat wanted to stop at Binny's for a few things.  I stayed in the car with the kids and she went in and came out with some of this Anchor Steam Christmas Ale.  This six-pack is destined for Naperville and her two brothers who have both drank and collected this annual release over the years.  They're the real beer drinkers in the family - they know their stuff and have their preferences, so it is fun to see this little tradition come alive every year. I've posted these bottles over the years here on the blog. Here's the post from last year . Here's the post with the bottle from 2017 . Here's my post with the bottle fom 2016 . Here's the post with the bottle from 2015 . And here's the post with the bottle from 2010 . So this year marks the sixth year that I've posted photos of the bottles - and every year it features a tree from Northern California.   This year is the Western Arborvitae.   From the Anchor

A few days ago, I posted about the Cherry Nymph Amaryllis bulb that I bought at Wannemaker's and planted in a pot to get the season started .  I mentioned in that post that we were going to try (again) a few smaller (and much cheaper) bulbs from Menards.  I found the receipt from Wannemaker's and the bulb that I bought there was $15.99 and after tax came in at $17.27.  The other ones that I bought at Menards are sold as a "gift box" and as you can see from the photo below are going for $5.49.  So...about 1/3rd of the price.  We bought three of them - one for each of the kids to do as a project.  These 'gift boxes' come with a plastic pot (with no drainage holes), what they call 'growing medium' (which I'm pretty sure is peat) and the bulb.  We bought one of each variety.  First is the Star of Holland.  Next is the Red Lion. And last is the Apple Blossom.  Here they are in their pots alongside the larger Cherry Nymph bulb.  E

I posted a [ house maintenance ] post recently talking about how I applied a coat of concrete driveway sealer earlier this Fall as part of just trying to keep up with things around the house.  Back a week or so ago, Nat had to drive the kids to school one morning when it was snowing.  And after she got the van back into the driveway, she sent me this photo showing her - ummm....nonlinear - route up the driveway.  I had recently brought our van in to the tire store and the guy told me that the tires were fine.  They had about half of their life left on the treds.  Yet, she had a tough time getting up our inclined driveway.  So...that has me wondering:  have I made my driveway slicker than it would be without the sealer?  I imagine that it would be the case, right?  I mean...if the water beads up and there's a little bit of a glossy coat on the concrete, isn't it going to be slippery when wet?  I've tried over the past few Winters to use as little salt on the dri

This year's large Amaryllis bulb is this double-flowering Cherry Nymph bulb that I bought at Wannamaker's last weekend.  One year ago today, I posted about last year's Christmas Amaryllis getting started  but, that version ended up falling a little bit behind of schedule.  By mid-December, it was just starting to send up the trunk . And it didn't bloom for Christmas .  It eventually bloomed in January  and then we were treated to a second flower in March . I treated it with an 8% alcohol treatment last year and I think that worked to limit the height and make it leggy.  I wonder if that kept it from blooming on time? This bulb was $14.99 from Wannemaker's - as those are the ones that seem to work every year.  But, I'm also going back to the Menards Amaryllis to try those again - with the kids. As for this Cherry Nymph - below you can see the large bulb before I stuck it in the pot. And here is it planted in the new clay pot. I am planning on

Just a little bit over a year ago, our Dawn Redwood looked like this .  It had mostly browned-out and was ready to shed all of it's needles.  Today, you see it above - a mix of brown and green and most of the needles still hanging on.  If you look closely, you'll see that I've attached a bamboo shoot to the top 1/3rd of the tree.  I did right before Halloween when we had that heavy snowfall come down. If you look back at the 2019 tree inventory post , you'll remember that this tree grew 3 full feet this season.  And that the tip of the leader was all green.    That means that it is pretty weak and thin.  That snow fall was tipping this thing over and I was worried that it would snap off - like the Pear Tree we had in our old backyard in Elmhurst did in 2010 .  I haven't fastened it all the way to the base of the tree, but I'm thinking that's ok.  I'm trying to protect the most vulnerable part - the green growth at the very top - from Winter damage.