Paula, I remember one radiator show. The radiator was clogged or not working because it was piped wrong. Older show – may have been one of the half-hour ones.

Gabriella, Chicago is famous for its weather even here in the east! I've been there three times – all in December – and the weather ran the gamut.

Pushing rain with a plow? Wow. That's just stupid.

Lori, that's insane! No interior walls? And DIRT under the linoleum? Someone cut way too many corners!

Belated happy birthday, Damaria! I hope you had a lovely celebration. 🙂

I remember Albany Park, Paula. So glad to hear whatever they did worked. And for those not familiar with Chicago, Paula's right! Lotsa nature here in Chicago.

O'Hare crews were funny!

I'm glad to hear you escaped water damage, Gabriella. Miraculously my basement is pretty dry, too, despite a 91-year old foundation that thinks it's part sieve. (Having the gutters cleaned REALLY helped!) My sister lives near the northern branch of the Chicago river, in the Albany Park area of Chicago which flooded with a similar deluge back in 2008. I guess Public Works did some dredging, grading or diverting so this time the water ran into a park/nature preserve instead of into the residential area. (And yes, folks, there are nature preserves in Chicago proper.)

Didn't you love the footage of O'Hare crews trying to use snowplows to remove water? Um, dudes, it's liquid. It just rushes right back once the plows have passed.

Love your fix it story.

It's already cooler. Today is a "cool" 89 degrees (it's only noon, but I think it's as hot as we'll see). Glad you weren't flooded! I saw on The Weather Channel that it seemed centralized over Chicago proper.

Devon, I hope Mom's ear is feeling better. Glad you have work – sorry it's of the brutal workload variety.

I have a brutal work week this week, and lost the morning because I had to take my mom to the doctor. Will have to work into the evening to make up for it. That's the way it goes sometimes.

I watch those shows and only see the chain reaction of additional problems one project can lead to – that's enough to make me not tackle much on my own. Painting, organizing, superficial things, sure – this very morning I nailed in an ancient oak trim piece that holds the bronze mesh in a window screen. But I won't touch plumbing (other than replacing a flapper or something small), electrical or structural projects. I don't do much requiring ladders. Vertigo can be a scary thing – even on the second rung of a ladder.

I hope it cools off for you soon. There's hope: Overnight a cool front ushered out the humidity and it's lovely here. I opened windows and propped fans up to pull the air into the middle of the house.

Gabriella, I hope you didn't get caught in the flash flooding in Chicago this weekend. We only got about 2" out here on Saturday morning – a tiny fraction of what Chicago and the 'burbs got.

Work today consists of setting interviews for two articles, a couple of queries and whatever else I can fit in.