Why I Oughta...

I put in a few hours this afternoon (after installing a gutter on our garage) on the Cedar Summit Playground from Costco - at long last.  We bought it back in March, but it took me until the end of May to crack the containers and get started.  This is through step eight. I have tomorrow off from work, so I'm going to put in a few more hours and (hopefully) by the weekend I'll have a good bit of this done.  Based on the comments on my original blog post - it seems that this is a 20ish hour job.

A how-to post to follow at some point but my seed potato plants are really taking off.  I have to pile on more mulch, but it seems that six weeks or so from now we'll have new red potatoes.

Another year, another great Petruck party.  This time The Babe brought her own chair. 

Big day!  Here's to many great years ahead. Now...how about moving to the suburbs and having some kids?

Today is his 8th Birthday and to celebrate, we went out to Home Run Inn for pizza and (the best part) a Cookie Monster.  Based on this photo, I'm not sure which one of us is more excited about digging into the Cookie Monster. We were supposed to go to the batting cages before dinner, but the weather didn't cooperate so we opted for a quick game at the Cosmic Bowl. Happy Birthday, G-Man!

News comes today that the City of Elmhurst is pushing ahead with ANOTHER tax increase that will cost those of us in town even more money for the exact same service.   This time it is a 8% increase in the cost of both water AND sewer.  I understand the realities of the revenue/cost situation at City Hall and that the City has said that they can't cut any more (I'm skeptical of that) and they'll (of course) point the finger at others - in this case the DuPage Water Commission - as the real bad guy.  They'll say, "Oh...don't blame us!  The DuPage Water Commission is MAKING us do this!"  What happened to "The Buck Stops Here"?  Apparently that's not the approach of Elmhurst Mayor Pete DiCianni.  Instead, he's going to jam through another tax increase and not loose any sleep over it. I think it is time for the City to STOP being disingenuous with the pricing of water and sewer fees - and this could have been the right time for the move. 

The second night of having a baited trap came and went with no raccoon to be found.  Last night was pretty rainy, so perhaps he stayed at home and didn't venture out to take a HUGE dump in my garden.  Alas, per the recommendation of the trapper, I left his latest pile in tact and when I went out to inspect, there wasn't a companion turd from last night.  So, at least that's a positive, right? In addition to moving the trap and in a further attempt to make the trap more appealing, I cut up an apple into wedges and added that to the sausage wrapped in tin foil, but it (apparently) wasn't enough.  Per the recommendation of Nat's Aunt, I'm going to up the ante and go with a can of cat food or tuna fish and really try to lure him in tonight.  Those items were both mentioned by the trapper, too, so I'm thinking they may work.  But, do you guys know?  Do I just open the can and take the lid off?  Then put the entire can in the back of the trap?  Or, should I d