CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- Last month was Illinois' coldest July since 1924.

Preliminary data gathered by researchers at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign shows the average temperature last month was 70.4 degrees. That's 5.3 degrees below normal.

Climatologist Jim Angel says the previous record, set 85 years ago, was 71.5 degrees.

Angel says most parts of the state haven't had any days with temperatures in the 90s. Usually there are at least five days that hot.

Weird.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEENA!!!!

Sophia, I vote Craigs List the puppy. "Free if you come and get it". It could work quickly. It could DEFFINATELY work quickly come September.

Oh, wait, missed the cushion and pee part. Nebbermind. You could maybe still do it for the entertainment center.

I know. My dilemma is that landlord is coming tomorrow to install new windows. The sofa is right in front of a window (and there is no place to put it that isn't) The sofa is peed on. So I don't want to get in trouble with the landlord. I have cleaned almost everything else up, but this and a really broken entertainment center (which I think I can break down with a hammer and put in the garbage.

I REALLY wish I had a Sawzall! I could just chop it into little pieces that my friend M. and I can carry!

Sophia, whoever does trash pickup in your area should have a policy for large item pickup -- in some places, you can do a certain number of items on your normal trash day, in others, it's only on certain days, or you can call them to let them know you have something. (In some places, they won't do it at curbside, but at least then you know to call in favors from whichever coworker has a truck before you get dinged for it.)

eta: missed the landlord complication. Would a sawzall sent through the interpipes help?

Thanks for the help, Barb. I'll see where it'll get me.

My google says that quote's not Talmud, but Anaïs Nin

My Google says both (with some advantage to the Talmud)! Could my Google be schizophrenic?

Amy- ours just picks everything up on trashday-- everything. You could probably have a submarine out there and they would pick it up. I just don't know what to do with it now... Although I have seen some people put stuff by our trash cans and the apartment people put it out to the curb come Monday.

The other thing I was thinking was I wonder if I could somehow ask/persuade/whatever the 2 guys who are installing the windows to just move it out there. They are the ones who take the trash out, too. They are kind of shoddy workers, though, so I think I would have to be present and act like a helpless person.

The suburbs aren't all bad. I live in the suburbs and work in the suburbs. Actually, I very rarely go anyplace in the the city that isn't suburbs. How suburban is my workplace? My office overlooks a gated community on a golf course. This is also why I can't afford to live close to my workplace.

My office is on the edge of a forest preserve (we have deer that stroll right up to our windows and will leave their fawns tucked under the trees around the pond until they return from their foraging). Luckily, my apartment complex is only five miles away and is as affordable as you can find in a 30 mile radius.

I also don't go downtown too often, unless it is to meet up with localistas or my nephew during the school year. And I definitely need my car to get around, although there are a lot of cabbies who take people around, mostly seniors, who don't want to drive. If I can lose some of my weight, I'd like to get a bike next year to take into work on the nice weather days.

I forgot to add that the same phrase be attributed to Abais Nin and a religious-type text is making me laugh and laugh and laugh!

Crap. The sunburn I got the other day seems to be turning into a rash. I hate that delayed reaction! I thought I was in the clear! I blame the humidity.