Why I Oughta...

One recent morning, I was getting my shoes on to try to sweat it out a little bit before work and as I tightened up my left shoe, I heard something snap and a little bit of plastic went flying.  I had snapped off the ratcheting buckle on my shoe.  In the photo at the top of this post, you'll see the now-naked Peloton shoe with the broken little ratchet piece.   Below, you'll see the piece.  This is what came off of the shoe.  Turns out, it is all plastic.   Below you'll see the piece in profile.  The circular part in the middle is what snapped off - the plastic part wraps around a metal cylinder. The good news is that how they make these spin bike shoes these days, they're totally replaceable.  In that top photo, you'll notice a screw and if you loosen it up, the buckle just comes off. **2022 update** - Thanks to a pointer from a commenter, here's an updated link to full replacement kits .   So, off I went to figure out where I could get

Back on our Summer trip to San Diego, I came across a tree that had a specific look to it:  the Norfolk Island Pine.  There was one of these trees right across the street from our house - and it was that one that got me to research what the tree was called.  But, we also came across the '1st outdoor lighted Christmas Tree' that is up at the Hotel Del Coronado - and it turns out that *that* tree, is too, a Norfolk Island Pine tree .  The reason that I bring this up is that when I was at Home Depot recently, I came across these tiny Norfolk Island Pines that are $6.99.  My hand is in that photo at the top for scale.   These young trees don't have the shape that I think about when I think Norfolk Pine.  Here's what I'm talking about .   Has those long, limited limbs with needles pointing upwards.    They also have slightly larger ones for a few bucks more.  All of them come in these holiday-packaged pots with little ornaments as I think they're either intende

This photo is about a week old, but shows you (basically) the current state of our three-bin compost setup that I made in the easement behind our lot.  Using some fence panels and long stakes, I made three 36" by 36" square 'bins' that I've been using this Summer and now Fall. Here's the original post showing the three-bin composter being setup in May of this year . Also, one note (for the garden diary ):  I've also filled the Compost Tumbler again this fall with a combination of greens and browns. The three bins all have distinct purposes and you can see that kind of taking shape here. Bin one (on the left): making a layered batch. Nitrogen. Then Carbon. Then Nitrogen. Then Carbon. Layers. Earlier this year, I added a bunch of grass and most of our weeds to provide some nitrogen.  I just added a layer of browns to this bin to get that layering going. But, before I add more, I need to add some 'greens'. With Winter here, that me

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