MLS is trying to push these crappy cups (Brimstone and Trillium) through before the weekend. Is the Heritage Cup (SJ-Sea) still a thing? The Honda Superclassico is still the most iconic "derby" of all time. The amount of publicity that got as LA laid the beat down was great.
I see TFC scored a second while I was out tending my shrubbery. I paid off my mortgage last fall, so I've been sinking the former house payments into home/yard improvement projects. I planted my first two Hydrangeas - to go with a baker's dozen azaleas I put in last month. I'm working on building a hedgerow at the back of the property and a second along the one side that is up against the back of two houses on a side street. It's a multi-year project. The full hedge will probably take upwards of a hundred or so shrubs. I'm up to 15 (plus a handful of non-blooming ones I planted a few years ago). I'm looking to see which ones survive the soil (clay), the climate (droughts and monsoons), and the grazing (I'm next to a state forest - and a gazillion deer). My plantings from three years back were decimated with only a few survivors and none of them are particularly healthy. This time I went with larger, more mature, shrubs in the hope that they're more resilient to the conditions. I'm also taking a more active stewardship with deer repellent and such.
My parents's property backs up to forest with a lot of deer. The deer ate some of the "deer repellent" plants they bought from home depot. They ended up planting gayfeather and Lavender which really deterred any deer from coming near. Plus they look pretty good for most of the year.
I'm all over the place here, whether to get a Gollum Crying Jordan made or just stick with the Comb gif.
I'm pretty limited in my options. My yard is very shaded - I'm always the last person I know with snow in my yard. The edges particularly so. There are a couple wild rhododendrons growing back there (but more tree-like than shrub-like). I'm a little hopeful about the deer this time. The back of my property abuts three yards, one of which was - until recently - an undeveloped lot. A free and open channel through my back yard was part of the deer highway system. Well the newly developed property has a full wood fence all the way around it, and the middle property also put up a wall. So I know have a staggered wall at the back of my property that actually extends behind my next two neighbors towards the state forest. It severely limits the movement of the deer through that channel. In fact, I no longer have daily deer sightings. I'm hoping they adjusted to different routes and no longer expect to find a meal grazing in my yard. I'm going heavy with the deer spray. I've seen a few signs of light grazing. They'll try anything, the key is to keep them from wanting to come back. The real test will be if we have a drought this summer and start looking for food. That's a double whammy with hydrating the plans and keeping the deer away. If they survive that, the next real test will be winter when food availability drops. The batch of shrubs I tried three years ago that survived the drought were decimated by deer pulling them out by their roots. I saved a few by putting two by fours on either side with cement blocks holding the boards down. I'm planning on doing that regardless. The house came with three azaleas (red/white/pink) massed next to the side entry, so I think once they get to a certain size they'll be pretty much deer proof.
I think perhaps only @Dr. Wankler would appreciate how I always think of the competition - as the Calvin Trillin Cup - but he does not typically read this forum so I need to tag him.
As they should. Should not even be a discussion. Montreal will always be the top rival for Toronto. It's ass to even consider Columbus vs. TFC some deep-seeded hate.
Ooh, I think I'm going to switch to the NCAA D1 WLAX Final Four. I shot for Navy last week in their historic upset over UNC in the final official game played at Fetzer Field last week.