Why I Oughta...

As is the tradition, Nat's family has secured a couple of six-packs of Anchor Brewing annual "Our Special Ale" - aka the Anchor Christmas Beer .  I've posted about this beer a number of times over the years, but my interest doesn't really lay in the subtleties of the flavors in the beer.  But, rather in the packaging - and in particular the trees that they feature on the bottle label and six-pack carrier.   The folks at Anchor Brewing typically put up a big holiday beer page each year, but I don't seem to be able find this year's version.  Here's the 2020 page and the full archive of the previous 46 labels over the years .  However, it seems that they've created a new Web experience at a new subdomain:   https://raiseanchor.anchorbrewing.com/ - which seems to totally omit any talk about the Christmas beer for this year and mostly celebrate a new packaging design. The Christmas beer page typically tells the story of the tree they selected, but sinc

Last year (2020) appears to be the high-water mark of Festivus being recognized in our household as an official part of the holiday season.    That's when Nat included the holiday on our Family Christmas card alongside Christmas, Hanukah and the new year .   This year, in the rush of the holiday season, our card went out without the inclusion of Frank Costanza's holiday - and that's a miss on my part.  Note to self:  during proof'ing next year, get Festivus back in there. As for celebrating today, we'll be skipping the pole (it will have to stay in the crawlspace), but I'll try to see if the kids can pin me in the Feats of Strength.  I think I can still take them, though.   One of the things that I am struck by is how little is known about Festivus from many of my coworkers.  Most of which...are far younger than me.  This December 23rd feels like an opportunity.  An opportunity to educate the Yutes about Festivus.  And why the belief system is fascinating.   Tha

This marks the second year in a row that we've booked a drive-thru Christmas lights experience.  Last year, we were up in Northbrook to do what - at the time - I thought was a COVID-specific experience of driving through a zig-zag of Christmas lights .  The whole need for social distancing coupled with the stir-crazy-ness of staying home provided a perfect combination to fall in love with the drive-thru light shows.  This year, the group up in Northbrook ( Let it Shine Lightshows ), expanded to put up a show at the Fox Valley Mall parking lot in Naperville/Aurora.  For my oldest's birthday party (Nat's family), we booked some tickets and went out there over the weekend. I don't know if it was the music or the lights or the fact that were were doing this thing again, but I'll tell you that I had a smile on my face the whole time.  Is it out-of-this-world?  No.  Is it a fun way to spend 30 minutes?  Sure is.  

We're now five full growing seasons in with our pair of Greenspire Linden trees  ( Tilia cordata 'Greenspire' ) that we've espaliered into a four-tier horizontal cordon.  Planted in 2017 , I initially went one way with the layout of the branches (at one time, I had six tiers and was even planning on shaping it into a candelabra form ), but last Spring (2020), I finally had a cogent thought (after looking at these trees for years) and made a call to prune A LOT back and go with a simple, four-tiered horizontal cordon.  In the Summer of 2020, I got busy pruning things back and because I was SCARED to really go for it, I ended up leaving a few little branch 'nubs' 1 with some growth on them just to make sure I wasn't pruning off TOO MUCH of the tree at once.  You can go look at this photo here and you'll see the little orange things that I left (at the time).   With all the leaves dropped from these trees, I can start to look at the form they've crea

I've done a few of these [view from my office] posts since we were all sent home at the beginning of COVID that were from my front porch and (even) an airplane .  But, it has been since mid-March when I was last in an office for work.  In that airplane post , I mentioned that we're moving offices - out of the Aon Center - and into a 'west of the river' mid-rise.  Over the past few weeks, I've visited a few times and am busy getting situated in the new setting.  The view?  Quite a downgrade.  The commute? Quite an upgrade.  From a 20-25 minute walk across the Loop to a four minute walk from where I emerged from under Union Station.   Having been in the office a few days, I'll say:  I'm surprised by how much I've enjoyed being here.  I really still do NOT know what I'm using office days for in terms of work (we're a hybrid team now, so have a mix of WFH and office days), but I'm glad I've come downtown to give it a shot.   The new office i

This photo (below) shows off the buds that have formed (lateral buds) on our Dawn Redwood tree .  This is the tree that I monitor the MOSTLY closely through all four seasons in the garden.  It is, by far, my FAVORITE tree.  It was one (originally) that we planted with the kids on Earth Day and was the first tree we put in.  It had to be replaced , but in spirit...I consider this the same tree.   Each Spring, I watch this tree and how the buds are ready to open - while I hold my breath - that the tree has survived ANOTHER winter.  This year, it opened up - what I THOUGHT was VERY late (April) , but in doing a little research of past years, it was right on time.  The tree is covered with lateral buds on all of the very thin limbs - you can see a run of them below: I suppose I should revisit that guide from UW-Stevens Point that walks us through the Winter buds .  These are opposite buds, aren't they?  The photo makes it look like they're NOT perfectly lined up, but they're N

In the flurry of late-season planting in the backyard, I managed to sneak in a trio of dwarf ornamental grasses - Miscanthus sinesis 'Adagio ' - in an area underneath the tree swing Northern Red Oak.  They're tucked in behind a colony of Japanese Forest Grasses and in front of the Belgian Fence Apple tree espalier.  One of the noteworthy characteristics of this cultivar is that the flower panicles grow up and out into these gently curving/arching feather heads that provide a lot of Winter interest.  This is the first season we've had these and I'm happy to see the initial view we're getting after these being in the ground for just a short period of time this year.  See below for a look at the feathers at the top: I can already imagine what these will look like in the coming years as they fill in and thicken-up.  I've historically left ALL of my grasses in place over winter and these seem to be no different.  If you're looking for an inexpensive, zone 5