Why I Oughta...

Today marks a seven year stretch of publishing a post in my online diary here on my blog.  Seven years straight, starting back in 2015 when I stopped posting on my Illinois political-meme blog (which lasted just a couple of years) and came back home to my homestead on the Web.  This year, I've hit 365 posts - this one is the 365th one and there's no reason to not keep going in 2022.  Just post, baby.  I'm like the Al Davis of blogging in 2021.   By my quick count, there are 260 posts in the [ garden diary ] for the year, so that's 260/365 = 71% of my posts were related to our yard and garden.  I suppose I'm not surprised by that number, but it certainly points to where my interests are (currently) and how I've been able to use this place on the Web as a reference for what I've planted, what has worked and what I need to work on.   That feels like a good way to look at the new year:  Recognize what I've done, think about the good and the bad and focus on

In the midst of the gingerbread-cooking-making party in recent weeks, Mr. Hankey made his first visit to our house.  The kids, while intrigued, weren't quite sure to make of him.  And Nat shut it down pretty hard as soon as I started singing the song.  Maybe in a few years when the KotBTs is old enough to discover the show on his own we'll have another visit from Mr. Hankey during Christmastime. 

Up at Angelo Caputo's in Addison, they're selling pizza cheese for a full buck cheaper than Frankie's Deli in Oak Brook Terrace .  Cheapest I've come across was at Nature's Market in Westmont, but that $5.99 price is (now) almost four years old.      For tracking purposes, I shredded six of these #1'ers, but ended up using probably four of them across 10 bar pies and 2 skinny Detroit pies on Christmas Eve.  Also, four white Cheddars was probably 50% too much, too.  Next year - with the same amount of bar pies, I could factor 4 scamorzas and 2 white cheddars. They bill it as "Cheese for Pizza" from The Chellino Cheese Company, Joliet, Illinois on their packaging.  And that's how we use it.

All three of the containers are up with flower stalks, but the Red Tiger and the Sunshine Nymph are well ahead of the Lemon Star.  In just two weeks since my last photo update on these Christmas flowers, the buds on these two have opened wide and the flowers are beginning to unfurl.  Pacing-wise, these two are ahead of last year's version, but the Lemon Star is noticeably behind AND also pretty skinny and lean.  I'm not expecting a H U G E flower explosion from the Lemon Star (based on the bud size), but we should get flowers well into January this way - so I suppose that's a win of sorts.   Also, a note for the diary here, I began to water them with a 10:1 water:rubbing alcohol (91%) when they were about six inches tall.  I'm unsure if it had any impact on them what-so-ever.  

We have this tiny, plastic replica of a Jungle Cruise boat that a special Dole Whip was served to us in on a trip to Disneyland in our living room.  And, I didn't want to get too far away from Christmas before I forget to post a photo of what Nat did to convert it to a Jingle Cruise boat.  She applied a little sign that is perfect for us (name blurred out) and is a nice touch for Christmastime.  IYKYK.  I suppose this is a bigtime #DisneyAdult post.  I'm embracing it. 

Just a couple of weeks ago, I posted a scorecard from my 2021 Yard and Garden To-Do List and ( after grading on a curve), gave myself a solid B on the report card .  Did I get everything done on the list?  Nope.  Just 17.5 of the 25 completed.  2 of the 25 semi-completed.  And 5.5 (more than 20%) incomplete. What were the 5.5 that didn't get done ? 1. Stain patio container (the half one) 2. Do more bonsai (combined) 3. Figure out small tool storage and build something (combined) 4. Keep going to mulch pit for wood chips and bio solids. So, let's call those the first four of potential 2022 to-do items. What could the other 21 look like?  A good place to start are the various posts that I've already tagged in my potential 2022 list  and my running list of 2022 plant 'wish list' items .  Those are full of quite a bit of random thoughts, ideas and concepts that I didn't want to lose based on this season's experience and garden diary.  There's way more than

In our backyard, we have a couple of mature (and a few smaller, understory) Catalpa trees .  I've posted about them from time-to-time and talked about how I've come around on them and have grown to really enjoy the species .  And how the Catalpa tree has become a sort-of gateway into the whole "Native Tree" world.  This Spring, we came across some Kentucky Coffee Tree seed pods at a Downers Grove park and successfully germinated them and grew some seedlings .   We're currently attempting to overwinter those tiny seedlings by digging their containers in the ground .  What I've learned from those seedlings was that the seeds required a winter rest.  Or...what they call stratification.  That means that they require a period of dormancy that comes along with the cold temperatures of Winter.  For the Kentucky Coffee tree, that happens with the seed pods hanging on the trees all Winter until Spring when they drop.   Based on that experience, I've decided to try