Why I Oughta...

I spotted this lady Loki at Graham Cracker Comics in town right before Christmas.  Did she come home with us?  Nope.  But, that doesn't mean we can't appreciate her existence.   Loki is one of the kid's favorite member of the MCU, but I think they prefer Alligator vs Lady Loki in whatever version of the multi-verse is appropriate.

Nat showed me this new (to me) Macca book covering his initial post-Beatles years.  The notes talk about how he 'refused to go quietly after the Beatles breakup'.  So...that's kinda interesting, right?  But, this thing is HUGE.  However... there *is* an audiobook , but alas..,not narrated by Paul but rather Simon Vance.   

Yesterday, I showed the high and low blooms on the Magic Touch Amaryllis that we grew this Christmas season .  We also planted two *other* new bulbs at the same time - a Flamenco Queen and a Sunshine Nymph.  Neither of these bloomed for Christmas.  But, both of them have tall, proud stems with a large bud on top.  But, neither have made any moves to open or bloom just yet.  Maybe by New Year's Day? Here's the Sunshine Nymph Amaryllis below.  First a photo of the tag and then followed by a shot of the tip of the stem: And, here below, is the Flamenco Queen Amaryllis.  This one is very tall and slender.  I've been watering them with an alcohol mix, but that didn't seem to slow this one down.  It started to lean a little bit, so I used this plant support to keep it upright. 

Twelve days ago, I showed our first Amaryllis bloom:  A magic touch set of two flowers that didn't grow up at all - just bloomed straight from the bulb .  Weird.  The other two (new) bulbs still haven't flowered.  But, they've shot upwards.  This post shows the post-Christmas view of just the Magic Touch - I'll get to the other two tomorrow.   Did we get Christmas blooms this year?  Yes.  We did.  The Magic Touch.  We're going to get New Years blooms, too.  Here's what the top of the Magic Touch looks like today:

Yesterday, I updated my annual Christmas Tree Tracking series with a post about our Family Room tree - a Fraser Fir from Wisconsin .   This post documents the smaller tree in our front room - the Green Room that has far less ornaments.  It is in the front window and is the one that's visible from the outside.  This is...Nat's tree.  The other one is for the rest of us.   I've been tracking these trees on the blog over the years. This is the 19th tree that I've documented. Here's our 2022 Green Room tree - a smaller, but properly-scaled Fraser Fir Here's our 2022 Family Room tree - a perfectly shaped Fraser Fir Here's our 2021 Green Room tree  - about 6' tall.  Here's our 2021 Family Room Tree  - between 8' and 9' tall and picture-perfect shape. Here's our 2020 Green Room tree  - about 6' tall in total and perfectly shaped. Here's our 2020 Family Room tree - about 8' tall in total , but really nicely shaped. Here's our 20

Like we've done since we moved in to our house here in Downers, we put up two Christmas trees this year.  One in the front room - a smaller tree.  And a larger one in the family room.  And, like the past few years, we drove up to Wisconsin to get them.  We went back to Evergreen Acres (same place as lats year and paid the same $75 per tree ). Below is a photo of our family room tree for 2022.  It is, like most years, a Fraser Fir.   I've been tracking these trees on the blog over the years. This is the 18th tree that I've documented with the front room one from last year being the most recent (#17) .   Here's our 2021 Green Room tree - about 6' tall.  Here's our 2021 Family Room Tree - between 8' and 9' tall and picture-perfect shape. Here's our 2020 Green Room tree - about 6' tall in total and perfectly shaped. Here's our 2020 Family Room tree - about 8' tall in total , but really nicely shaped. Here's our 2019 Family Room tree t

A few days ago, I shared a mid-Winter update on my Staghorn Ferns and mentioned that I was going to share a separate post on the lone Elkhorn fern that I mounted in October .  First thing though....I'm pretty sure that the name "Elkhorn Fern" is probably misplaced.  This is likely just a variety of Bird's Nest Fern, but that's ok.  And...not the point - right now.   This is a six-week update on the Elkhorn since mounting. And, it hasn't been pretty. Below is a look at the current state.  Lots of brown.  And lots of unhappy fronds.  But, a really nice cedar mount.   Not great.  See below: Not great - at first glance.  But...upon closer inspection, I can see some new, small, thin fronds.  New growth?   One note that I've observed in the past six weeks.  This Fern requires more water, more frequently than the Staghorns.