It's Hot Hot Hot Out...

....so how are Chicagoland gardens doing?  I don't know about every garden in Chicago, but so far mine is hanging in there.  Despite the heat, the plants seem to be growing larger and some are even in the early stages of producing veggies for me.  The tomatoes seem to be loving the sun the most while the peppers seem to be a little stunted by the heat.  I've been vigorously watering every day to every other day and I've kept my garden pretty green except for a few brown spots here and there.

My garden

Peppers are a little stunted compared to the huge tomato plants

 Yellow flower waiting to turn into a pumpkin...with a couple flowers that shriveled from the heat.

Browning leaf

Tiny zucchini - can't wait!  

A Half Hour Storm Leaves Many Hours of Destruction

  Yesterday a quick but destructive storm hit the Chicagoland.  Most of the destruction seemed to be in the Western suburbs but Chicago itself did get some wind and a little rain.  Below is a photo I snapped of the sky before I closed and locked our patio door so that I wouldn't blow away.  Luckily our property had very little damage but other damage in our neighborhood included siding coming off a house and a large fallen tree blocking a neighbor's entire driveway.  There were many other trees that were knocked down and branches were all over the roads.  We also lost electricity for a few hours which made me panic because of the heat and all the frozen food in our freezer which was no longer being kept cold.  No frozen food was lost and so far I haven't heard of any serious injuries from the storm.

Possible Metra Delays Due to Heat Today

  FYI for Metra riders:  There could be delays on the trains today due to the high temps.  Possible delays are estimated at about 15 minutes.  I can deal with that as long as they keep the air conditioning pumping!

Another Metra Fatality

  Unfortunately this morning marked another fatality on the Metra Milwaukee District West Line.  At about 6:20am, a pedestrian was struck and killed by a train near Hanover Park train station.  This train was actually the train that I ride into Chicago almost every morning.  When I heard the announcement that all trains going east and west were at a standstill, I made the decision to walk back to my car and drive over to Arlington Park to pick up the Union Pacific/Northwest Line. 
  As I keep stressing, please be careful around trains.  Metra's slogan is Look, Listen, Live!

A Couple Father's Day Freebies

  I always love posting the freebies especially on Mother and Father's Days.  Here's two for tomorrow and Happy Father's Day to all the dads!

--Most TCBYs will give dad a free yogurt

--Dad can enjoy a free breakfast and free cup of coffee at IKEA stores (Schaumburg) until 11am.

Al Green Day

  It has just come to my attention that today is "Al Green Day" in Chicago.  He is performing at Ravinia tonight starting at 7pm.
  Enjoy the day and stay cool!

Make A Wish

  As I was getting ready for work this morning, I saw Make A Wish on the Channel 5 news.  They were asking for people to donate their airline miles.  I was interested and made a note to myself to check my own airline miles.  Then when I got to Michigan Avenue en route to work, Make A Wish was also there handing out fliers.  They're looking for airline miles for the following airlines:  American, Delta, United and US Airways.  The airline miles help children with life-threatening medical conditions to be able to travel to their "wishes".  If you would like to donate your airline miles you can give online at http://www.wishes.org/ or call 312-602-WISH.

A little Mob Wives Chicago

  Last night I saw my first episode of that new show Mob Wives Chicago.  I didn't get to see the whole episode but it was pretty much what I expected.  Fighting and bad-mouthing.  Even though the show is similar to those other "feisty women" shows, I was interested about how many shots of Chicago there would be.    There were a few fun shots of Wacker Drive and Taylor Street.  The show was filmed during the winter so there was snow on the ground and the "wives" were trying not to fall in their heels.  One thing that confused me was that the women were actually more "mob daughters" then "mob wives".  From what I gathered, each woman had a father that had been part of the Chicago mob.  Either way, it's always fun to hear about media entertainment that is filmed with Chicago as the backdrop.