Why I Oughta...

During that Summertime Derecho storm earlier this week, we had some significant damage to one of our front yard trees - the Norway Maple that is right outside of our front porch.  This is the same tree that I posted a photo of earlier this Summer when I spotted some bare spots in the canopy .  I took the photo above while the storm was going on and right after my neighbor texted me that the tree was dropping branches. This was - in my mind - the 'good side' of the tree, so that's unfortunate.  But, this dropped straight down.  Didn't hit our house, roof, gutter, porch and caused no damage.  So, I'm thankful for that.  And the cleanup wasn't too much.  My neighbor Matt was kind enough to come out and bring his chainsaw to help me cut this up into segments that were manageable in terms of removing and cleaning up. We ended up with a little bit of firewood that I'll put out on the pile in the back to season for a more than a year (thinking it will...

This mighty Oak tree came down in what is being billed as a "Microburst" storm up in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin last month.  We arrived the day *after* the storm.  Or...I suppose, the day *of* the storm since it hit at like 12:30 am.  The folks at the Kenosha News covered the aftermath and concurred with a meteorologist who billed the event a microburst . From their piece : A small area of Twin Lakes was hit by high winds that took down trees and left many residents without power early Thursday.  ...Aidan Kuroski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sullivan, said that a “microburst” storm with straight line winds estimated at 70 to 80 mph hit the area at about 12:30 a.m. “It was a very concentrated area,” Kuroski said. “Basically from Elkhorn and Walworth County down to Twin Lakes.”  Kuroski said the storm developed so quickly the National Weather Service did not have time to issue a storm warning. The storm produced some damage around...

News this morning that the City of Elmhurst has approved a program that will start to share the cost of the installation of check valves in resident's homes to help stem the tide of flooding and sewage backups that seem to be pretty common with any sort of heavy rain that comes to town. There are some stipulations to the assistance including a mandatory detaching of any rainwater systems with the sanitary sewer, but that is a small price to pay to have your basement free of sewage, I suppose. Residents of Elmhurst who want to keep sewage out of their homes during large storms can apply to have the city share the cost of a flood-improvement device called a check valve.   The program, which city officials hope will help ease flooding and prevent sewage overflow into homes, was approved July 1.   Building Commissioner Bruce Dubiel said residents can apply for the check-valve program, which will pay up to half the cost of the valve up to $3,000 per homeowner. Kudo...

Yesterday we had "The Storm that Wasn't" in Elmhurst.  Seems like every time the Chicago area gets warned about a major storm, we in Elmhurst always feels the impact.  Except, it seems, yesterday. The City went beyond the normal measures it seems as I came across this pile of sand and box of sandbags in the parking lot at City Hall this am.  From the looks of the pile, it appears that some residents *actually* used this stuff.  Based on what we experienced at our house, they didn't need it. But, kudos to the City for going this extra mile for residents.  Now...if they could only solve the real problem that is causing flooding/basement backups, etc?  Yeah...that'd be great.