There’s a house facing Palmer Square in Chicago that sports a huge radar antenna next to its driveway.

The house was on the Logan Square House & Garden Walk. Everyone asked about the antenna. The docents asserted that it’s WWII vintage, and that the homeowner’s doing a bit of do-it-yourself SETI. Maybe that’s so, but I don’t think you need any reason to have something that much fun in your yard.

It also doubles as a home for plants.

This back yard was my favorite spot on the walk. Besides a piece of radar equipment that’s on the lookout for Vulcans or Vogons or whatnot, a there were a lot of tall trees – more than usual for a city yard — a picturesque trellis, and a charming little garden with built-in oddities in its stonework, such as this bench.

It took me a few moments to puzzle out what it says. Once you know it, though, you see it every time you look at it: TEMPUS FUGIT. A good thing to remember.

On the 3100 block of W. Lyndale Ave., a block north of Palmer Square, we happened across a fence made of old bicycle parts.

Maybe it’s an homage to the bicycle history of the area: Schwinn used to have a bicycle factory near Palmer Square, and in fact bicycle baron Ignaz Schwinn had his mansion at the corner of the square and Humboldt Blvd. (since torn down). Bicycle enthusiasts of the late 1800s and early 1900s held races around the square, too. And come to think of it, in our time, the Chicago Tour de Fat is held at Palmer Square.

Or maybe they just wanted to be creative with their fence. The bicycle-fence property wasn’t on the house walk, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t feature something I’d never seen before, or even conceived of. The kind of thing you’ll see if you’re paying attention.