Why I Oughta...

That's (apparently) what happens when you go to the very top of Cortona .

The family of four has made their annual appearance on Indiana Street.  Here's what they looked like in 2012 , 2011 , and 2010 - their first year. Last year, we added the Pumpkin Cemetery, which is also back this year, but we made a new addition - that Nat absolutely hates!  More on that soon.

I filled up 2 five gallon buckets worth of red, white, and sweet potatoes this week as I turned over the soil in the potato beds.  I planted 3 pounds of seed potatoes and after giving dozens of spuds away to my family and neighbors, I ended up with more than a full 5 gallon bucket for ourselves. This was last year's harvest . Anyone want some potatoes? Come on by.  I have them out in the garage staying cool.  Would love to share them with you!

Some of them are absolutely HUGE.  These were planted via seed tape ( post here ) and did pretty well in terms of size, but not so much on taste.  They were a bit woody tasting when eaten raw.  But...they sure do look awesome.  Next year, I'll see if I can optimize the growth to focus on taste.

Walking to the train last week, I spotted a few of these along York Street.  They were recently installed (based on the marks on the pavers) and I think should be a welcome move by the Downtown merchants.  Nice to have more options to park your bike.

Over the weekend, we took both girls out to Berens Park for the Elmhurst Park District's annual "Touch-a-Truck" program.  The weather was awesome, the crowds weren't too huge (once the helicopter arrived!) and we had a ton of fun. Touch-a-Truck is a really neat program that the Park District pulls together.  They bring out their own equipment (see the tractor above), but also work with community partners to bring out all the cool stuff.  Fire Trucks, Police Cars, Moving Trucks, Jewel Refrigerated Trucks, and even...a helicopter.  Yep!  A medical helicopter. As soon as it landed in one of the baseball fields, the lines for all the other trucks got cut in half, so we quickly boarded a bunch of them then made our way to the helicopter area and waited in line. At the end?  We even got the Babe on the chopper!  Pretty cool stuff.  Good job, Elmhurst Park District!

Though they're about a month behind of where I've had them in past years, we finally have some pumpkin blooms popping out.  I've put them in a different spot this year and probably got them in the ground a bit late, so we'll see what we have by Halloween.  I'm going to give them a little boost with a fertilizer this week and I'll try to pinch off any other blooms to make sure the vine puts all of it's energy in this little guy. Here's a photo of early pumpkins in 2011 . Here's a photo of the early pumpkin plant in 2012 .