Why I Oughta...

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.

Last year, I received a four-season birdbath that has a cord that plugs into the wall to keep the water from freezing.  It also happens to have a railing clamp - which allowed me to put it right on our back deck outside our back doors.  I've been dutifully re-filling the bowl when it dries out (the recent rains have really helped!), but I don't think I've ever witnessed one single bird come over and take a drink. But, over the weekend, I found this Water Wiggler still in the box.  I was given it by my mother-in-law a few years back and never installed it.  I put it together, slapped in a couple of D Cell batteries and plopped it into the bowl.  It creates this neat ripple effect on the water which moves the water out in concentric circles. That has the benefit of helping eliminate a potential mosquito breeding ground (moving water is bad for mosquito babies!) and according to the box, birds are attracted to moving water. Guess what?  Not 4 hours after putting in the

Putting this hear so I remember *exactly* when this thing went in the ground.  I picked this bush/shrub up on a whim at Home Depot.  It was $4.99 so I'm not expecting much.   Have you ever grown blueberries?  I have heard two things, but don't know if they're true: 1.  You need two plants to fruit. 2.  You need sandy soil. Confirmation from anyone?

Over the weekend, I planted the rest of the seeds in our garden including these Nantes Half Long Carrots.  I've been deliberately trying to rotate the crops each season so these carrots are running where I had peppers last year.  In other cases, I've put something totally new where I've had things like tomatoes before. 70 days from now, this patch (below) should be full of lacy greens with some 'tasty' carrots underneath.

This morning, I put in the Yukon Gold Seed potatoes in the ground (those are the ones on the left).  I had five pounds of them and the bag says that we could end up with a yield of up to 50 pounds. Based on my past experience, we won't get up to 50 pounds, but we *will* get some potatoes.  From the looks of things on the web, this variety is pretty versatile.  You can steam/fry/grill/roast them.  Heck, Mrs. Martha even makes fries out of them . 90 days from now (Sept 1st) or there about, we'll be able to harvest them.

Earlier this Spring, we moved our Strawberry plant from the center of the main raised bed to a separate, stand-alone pot that could allow it to spread out a bit.  Due to that stress, I'm thinking that I stunted the plant's growth this year as this morning I was able to pull just one - the first! - berry off. Granted, it is a bit early, as last year it wasn't until late June that we were getting a lot of fruit .  Nat and the girls enjoyed this one berry and Nat said it was delicious.  Makes me want to go out and buy a few more plants.  I know it takes multiple seasons for them to start paying off/bearing lots of fruit, so we better get started now to have something by next Summer.

Last night, we took the two girls out for ice cream at BrainFreeze and stumbled upon a series of live musicians that were playing around the City Centre.  Turns out, the Elmhurst City Centre group is hosting an event series called "Block to Block Party" every Wednesday and Saturday night from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The Party consists of live musicians at four locations around the downtown area.  We saw three of them and they added a nice atmosphere to the area.  It didn't hurt that it was an amazing night out. The notion of live, acoustic music played two nights a week in town every week is a nice one and...in my mind...is a bit of a differentiator.  I don't know of any Western Suburban Downtown area that does something like this?  Maybe other's do indeed have a musician in place, but the scale at which this is executed (4 musicians two times a week all summer) is pretty great.    Will it get people downtown?  I'm not sure, but it certainly can&#