Why I Oughta...

Every year since we've been married, Nat and I (and the kids) have participated in a Moran Family tradition:  heading down to Braidwood to the Tammen Tree Farm to cut down a Christmas tree .  Last year's version can be found here.   And here .    What's that you say?  That's two different blog posts with two different trees?  Yep.  Like her Mother, Natalie likes to put up two trees.  One larger one in the family room and another smaller one in our front room. Our trips down to the Tammen Tree farm are a lot of fun.  We pack into a couple of cars and drive around their farm to try to find everyone a tree.  We buy one (or starting when we moved into our new house - two), Nat's folks buy a couple and her sister buys one (I think).  Driving around is fun, looking for the perfect tree isn't so much fun.   Why?  Because we like Fraser Firs and I want a 'big' tree for the family room tree.  Tammen has a TON - hundreds - of smaller Fraser Firs.  Those that

Here's a current look at our four Amaryllis bulbs.  One of them - the Star of Holland - is out in front in terms of growth as it has two buds that have emerged and are starting to gain some height.  You can see that one on the left of this photo above.  At center - near the bottom of the photo - is the Cherry Nymph bulb that cost almost 3x the other ones .  If you look closely, you'll see a little leaf emerging from the bulb, so things are moving on it. As for the other two, you can see them in the background of the photo above, but for a closer view, check out the photo below.  The bulb at the bottom of the photo is the Apple Blossom Amarylli s and is a little bit further ahead than the one in the back - the Red Lion Amaryllis . I've switched over now to watering these all with a alcohol-blended water mixture to try to limit the height/leggy-ness of the stems.  What is most striking is that all three of the Menards bulbs have taken off.  The last time I tried o

Once again we find ourselves partaking in our annual tradition... No...it isn't a Turkey Trot.  Nope.  That happens sometimes around here, but isn't that what I'm talking about.  I'm speaking of the annual watching The Last Waltz on Thanksgiving day.  Here on the blog, I've been doing this since 2004.  Yeah...15 years ago was the first time I posted a Thanksgiving day video from Levon and the boys. This year's version comes from the studio session during the movie and features Pop Staples and someone that you folks in Chicago have come to know (potentially thanks to Jeff Tweedy!), his daughter Mavis. From the New Yorker : The Band held its last concert on Thanksgiving Day, 1976. Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, and Robbie Robertson performed at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom with Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, and others. The production, staged and filmed by Martin Scorsese (and released, in 1978, as “The La

This year, all eight of our Frans Fontaine European Columnar Hornbeams are exhibiting  marcescence :  the retention of dead plant organs that normally are shed.  And that's by design.  Or at least...that's part of the reason why I was drawn to these particular columnar trees.  They'll provide some additional Winter screening by keeping most of their leaves on the limbs.  These look quite a bit different than a year ago - and you can see 12 months ago here - as one of them (the fourth from the left) dropped its leaves and these have widened out a bit.    The photo above is from a different angle, but this photo below shows that same angle from a year ago.  All of them appear to be thicker and a bit taller, too. But if you also look closely at the photos above, you might notice that there is quite a bit of brown leaves at the bases of the trees.  That's something I'm trying new this year:  using leaf mulch.  I used my mower to pick up some of the leaves aroun

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