Thanks! It is quite nice. It's also a contractor's dream ... most of the houses are about a hundred years old, so there's always something needing to be done! And to top it off, it's very liberal and mixed racially and socioeconomically, and probably the most rainbow friendly suburb in Chicagoland!
The trees are really nice. They give the area an old neighborhood feel, and provide shade in the summer. They also require me to rod the central sewer line every 1 1/2 years to unclog them from tree roots, and they drop leaves and seeds like crazy every fall and spring! Yin and yang, I guess.
Wer're not too bad up here. The people who garden as a hobby are fretting, but it's really been fine. Not much grass to cut! And we get the occasional blast of rain, like we did this morning. Although we were out of town for the worst of it! Hope you get some rain down there!
Shelly, sorry for your gas problem ... wait, that didn't sound right. Well, hope it's finally all fixed, in any case.