Ask an Angel: January 16, 2020

I am a senior living alone. My adult children and I are close relationally, however, two of them live far away. My one daughter that lives nearby is an accountant and is very busy this time of year. My closest friend spends the winter months with her daughter in Florida. December always keeps me busy as I prepare for the holidays and have opportunities to spend quality time with my children and grandchildren. January leaves me feeling empty and isolated, even though I just had a wonderful holiday season. Do you have any suggestions for those struggling with the post-holiday blues?

Ask the Woodchucks: 911 flasher switch

This column is now in its tenth year, and one item that is in the top five asked about is the 911 flasher switch that came with each Sun City house. Houses built before 2004 have a switch built by Leviton. They no longer make that switch. Houses built after 2004 have Pass and Seymour switches. If you need a replacement these switches are still available.

Thumbs up for Knives Out

One of the biggest complaints about Hollywood is the lack of originality. The endless parade of recycled intellectual property and soulless sequels have always been par for the course. As the adage goes, “There is nothing new under the sun.” But many filmmakers have taken concepts and tropes used in the past to great effect. Directors like Quentin Tarantino have made a career of this kind of cinema pastiche. The trick is to arrange them with care and style to make them feel spontaneous, allowing for an air of mystery about these elements. And mystery is what we get here from Rian Johnson’s Knives Out.

You don’t have to win the lottery to get a trunk full of dough

Never trust everything a fisherman tells you. His story may start believable enough, but always hold on to the tag-end of suspicion, just in case his tale plummets past plausibility, pulling you into the gulch of gullibility.

That’s why, as I stood in Southwestern Michigan in October, listening to the guy casting into the Black River as it flowed into Lake Michigan, I kept listing for the moment his tales started to stretch beyond believability.

It was a beautiful leather jacket, the kind I could never afford when they were in style decades ago. The leather was soft and supple (“like buttuh” some might say) and it fit me perfectly. It was the bomber style I love, with snap closures at the wrist, leather collar, and zip-up front. Slash pockets on the side, and two internal pockets with buttons to close them for security. Even a zip-out liner for extra warmth on cold, windy days.

Dark Waters – indeed they are

Dark Waters is a true story. In 1978 a lone farmer outside of Parkersburg W. Virginia, took the first step in a journey that literally turned into an odyssey lasting almost forty years. He had lost 190 of his cattle, and he blamed the drinking water in the creek running through his property.

¡El Breakfast!

T’was the day after Thanksgiving, the turkey’s picked clean, the relatives all left, and the house looks like a crime scene.

The leftovers were wrapped, and put away with care, in hopes that we have, another dinner to share.

New cancer technologies offer hope

Thoughts of a gigantic blender may pop into your mind should you see or need medical treatment on the new linear accelerator at Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital. The linear accelerator by Varian Medical Systems costs just under $3 million. It’s ensconced in a vault of the newly expanded $9.5 million cancer center.

Salvation Army red kettles ring in the season with new initiatives

A little girl opens her hand and her mom places a few coins on her palm. Her fingers curl up on top of the coins. The Mom and her daughter step forward. A smile from the volunteer bell ringer encourages them. Mom lifts her daughter just a few inches. The little girl’s eyes are now even with the top of the red kettle. From there, the girl puts her hand over the opening of the kettle and the coins slide in.

Ask the Woodchucks: December 12, 2019

My wife recently inherited a large mirror that she wants me to mount on the wall. I’m not sure if a molly bolt would be strong enough.

Ask an Angel: December 12, 2019

My elderly parents are relatively healthy. They live on their own and can navigate their lives with little help. While I’m grateful that my parents are doing so well at their age, I still get concerned about their health. My daughter is expecting her first baby later this month. My daughter has expressed concern over my parents, her grandparents, meeting their first great-grandchild because she’s a first-time mom and worried about protecting the health of her newborn.

Pierce’s Promise

For 20 minutes, Kristi Cordle talked to her son, Pierce, on his cell phone in the middle of his shift. Kristi could tell he was upset and confused about something, but she couldn’t tell exactly what was wrong. She didn’t know then that he tried to “walk it off” in the hallways of the hospital where he worked. He couldn’t walk it off and so he told staff he was going outside to his car.

Sinking my teeth into the Tooth Fairy’s essence

It was a tooth-popping weekend when the grandkids came to visit, and one more chance to learn how far out of the loop I have fallen.

“Do you want to pull it?” I asked Olivia as she sat at the dinner table, wiggling that little bicuspid in her lower jaw. She had three teeth in her head that were ready to jump ship, but this one was likely to be the first to weigh anchor.

Chugging through Colorado

In September 2019, Eileen and I (N17) traveled from one of the lowest points in Colorado, Royal Gorge, to one of the highest, Pikes Peak. Earlier in the year, my wife stated, “I have a conference in Colorado and you should come with me.” Since I really enjoy the mountains, I immediately said, “Yes!” and so began our planning for the trip.

Ask the Woodchucks: November 21, 2019

I have a badly stained bathroom sink drain; it’s stained rusty. I have tried OxyClean, CLR, bleach, and BonAmi to get rid of the stain. Nothing even makes a dent! It is only in the master bathroom of our Drury model.

Ford v Ferrari: At 7000 rpm, things begin to fade

I left the theatre, adrenalin flowing after watching some of the most scintillating car racing scenes ever on screen, jumped into my four cylinder Subaru and raced home at five miles an hour over the speed limit. Its’ been seven hours since I left the cinema and my heart is still pumping as I think about what I saw.

A happy village

Restaurants come and go, and that is why we have been writing this column for seven years, and have never repeated a restaurant. There is a relatively new restaurant on Randall Road, which took the place of a barbecue restaurant which was obviously not as “famous” as they would have hoped to have been.

Ask an Angel: November 21, 2019

For the past fifty-five years, my elderly parents have always hosted a large Thanksgiving family dinner. Including everyone, there are over four nuclear families represented and nearly forty people in total. Everyone looks forward to this event and everyone chips in something, regardless of my mom’s insistence to take care of it all.

American democracy in the crosshairs

As frightening as it is to imagine a madman with an assault weapon targeting indiscriminate victims, it is even more harrowing to imagine a weapon like that in the hands of a madman who views himself as a patriot.

Someone, for example, like major league umpire Rob Drake, who on October 22 tweeted this threat: “I will be buying an AR-15 tomorrow, because if you impeach MY PRESIDENT this way, YOU WILL HAVE ANOTHER CIVAL WAR!!! #MAGA2020.”

Movies 2019 year to date

A combination of a publication break and some personal travel plans conspired to keep me away from the movie theater in time for this edition of the Sun Day. So, I thought I would take an early look at the year in movies so far.

Volunteering, it’s in our nature

The butterfly population in Northern Illinois is growing! It was recently reported on the radio that volunteers who spend time monitoring butterflies on public lands had seen an increase in butterflies this summer compared to previous years. While of course, I am thrilled that the efforts to support the butterfly population are working, I am more interested in the volunteers and their efforts.

Let the flame of a candle light the way to change

Mary pulled a kitchen knife on her father. She couldn’t think of any other way to stop him from choking her mother. Mary doesn’t remember how she rationalized her action almost 30 years ago but she recalled going to school the next day. She aced her math test and put on the perfect smile.

“No one else outside the walls of my home suspected anything. After all, how could the girl with straight A’s and awards for citizenship, leadership, and perfect attendance raise suspicion of a problem at home,” Mary said.