It’s Thursday. It’s not often you get to dust off the word sweltering, but over the past few days it’s probably climbed into everyone’s vocabulary. Here in Illinois, we’ve been getting cooked under temperatures in the upper 90s, with humidity so thick you could practically spread it on toast. Step outside and it’s like walking straight into a hot, wet blanket that someone forgot in a sauna.

Of course, this happens every summer. The only mystery is how long Mother Nature plans to keep us simmering and just how much humidity she’s going to dump on us for good measure. Right now the forecast says relief won’t arrive until Friday, but forecasts have been known to lie. Summer has officially arrived, and it’s kicking down the front door.

And just for fun, here’s my top 10 uses of the word sweltering:

01. It’s sweltering outside. Perfect weather if your retirement plan involves spontaneously combusting.
02. Today’s sweltering forecast is brought to you by the surface of the sun.
03. It’s so sweltering the mosquitoes are asking for sunscreen.
04. The sweltering heat hit me like opening the oven to check on a frozen pizza.
05. Nothing says “summer fun” like sweltering through your shirt before 9 a.m.
06. It’s sweltering enough that even the squirrels have called it quits and gone inside.
07. Whoever said, “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity,” clearly wasn’t standing in this sweltering soup.
08. It’s so sweltering my air conditioner just sighed and filed for workers’ comp.
09. This sweltering weather is Mother Nature’s way of reminding us that free saunas aren’t always a good thing.
10. The forecast says sweltering, but I think “the devil left the oven door open” is a little more accurate.

-keep

It’s Wednesday. What started as a routine garage exploration quickly turned into an incredible barn find. In today’s video, a group of enthusiasts pays $17,000 for a Chevrolet Corvette that’s been sitting inside a neglected garage for nearly two decades. The building is so overgrown and buried beneath years of dirt and debris that they have to dig their way in with shovels just to get the doors open.

Inside, they discover a Corvette blanketed in dust, caked in grime, and showing every sign of 19 years of neglect. It looks like it has been forgotten by time, but beneath the layers of dirt is a classic American sports car with plenty of potential. The big question is whether this long-abandoned Corvette can be brought back to life after nearly 20 years of silence.

-keep

It’s Tuesday. On Saturday, a friend texted to let us know there was a small car show happening at Aces Garage in Minooka, Illinois. We’d been there a few times before for their pizza, and since we didn’t have any plans, we figured, why not?

As it turned out, the Windy City Corvette Club had made Aces Garage one of the lunch stops during one of their weekend cruises. Naturally, the parking lot was filled with Corvettes, but there were a few other eye-catching rides mixed in as well, including a Camaro, a Ferrari, and even a McLaren. We spent some time wandering around checking out the cars before grabbing a pizza and hanging out for a while. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

I put together a small gallery of some of the automotive goodness on display. Go ahead and check it out below.

-keep