Sunday in the park

Our dog Baxter is named after the tiny dog that belongs to Will Ferrell’s self-important character Ron Burgundy in the “Anchorman” movies.

Like most pet owners, we subject our poor Baxter to many nicknames. Some are run-of-the-mill like “Puppy” or “Puppy-Schmup.” We call him “Booxie” and “Booxinator.” On days when Baxter is freshly brushed and walks with a certain swagger, I refer to him as “Lord Buxton.” This is always pronounced in an awful English accent for absurd reasons that I can’t explain. I hope you agree with me when I say it is our absolute right as pet owners to be reduced to sappy ridiculousness when it comes to our pets. No explanations required.

Ask an Angel: July 25, 2024

As I find myself navigating the complexities of aging, I’ve begun to consider the possibility of seeking home care to help me maintain my independence and quality of life. I don’t want to be a burden to my family, yet I’m hesitant to take this step due to the many myths I’ve heard about home care.

One of the most prevalent myths that gives me pause is the belief that receiving home care means giving up my freedom and independence. I worry that inviting a caregiver into my home will diminish my sense of autonomy and control over my own life.

Making our new house a home: Creating an outdoor oasis

Chris, my husband, and I are traveling a path on which many of you have traveled before. We are empty nesters who are downsizing. We have chosen to sell the home in which we have raised a family, developed a beautiful private outdoor oasis, and created countless memories. We are grateful to be able to move into my grandparent’s old farm house. The farm house located only a few miles away from our current home holds wonderful memories but little in the way of landscaping and certainly no outdoor oasis. We have our work cut out for us and thankfully we have learned so much from homeowners, like you, who have successfully navigated from one phase of life to the next.

Late to the party

As the Fourth of July has passed, we are entering a lull period that could be the dog days. Oppressive heatwaves have certainly given that impression. But that doesn’t mean that we are without our reasons to party. Seeing as I left out Pride this year, let me declare this a second Pride month with some reasons to celebrate and educate all on a bit of secret history. No fear that this be a dry, doctrinaire thesis; we are about fun after all. And what doesn’t say entertainment more than humor.

ABBONDANZA!

Social media is a wonderful thing. Where else can you learn about a household “hack” that will wind-up taking you twice as long to do a chore. You can read a post from someone trying to convince you that the earth is flat, complete with Photoshopped pictures. Also, you are able to engage in a rousing argument about which is the best toe nail clipper. We have to admit, sometimes social media does come in handy, like when we heard the buzz about a new Italian restaurant in Marengo. It piqued our curiosity, so we locked up little Rosie in her crate, armed our GPS, and dashed off to Abbondanza Cucina.

Reflecting on the Sun City cicada summer

The Chinese insist that 2024 is the Year of the Wood Dragon, but if you’re an Illinoisan, you know that 2024 is the summer of the cicada.

Still, if you’re a Sun City Illinoisan who was looking forward to getting reacquainted with those long-awaited love-bugs, this year of the dragon has been a bit of a drag, because there hasn’t been a cicada in sight in our part of the world.

Digital Decay: (Wo)Man Yells at Cloud

The Pew Research Center came out with a recent analysis that discovered that a quarter of all web pages that existed at one point between 2013 and 2023 are no longer accessible.

For pages that existed in 2013, 38% are not available today. Even 8% of webpages from just one year ago are no longer available.

This phenomenon is called “Digital Decay.”

One of my primary concerns is how to prepare and accommodate our elderly relatives, some of whom have specific needs or health issues. For example, my beloved aunt has been showing signs of early dementia and I want to ensure she feels comfortable and supported throughout the gathering.

Granite City here we come

It’s a wonderful age we now live in. There are hundreds of cable channels and dozens of streaming services, all for the low introductory price of $4.99 a month. Nancy cringes when I turn on the TV. She is fed up with me watching Hoarders, American Pickers, and Dr. Pimple Popper. As a result, we find ourselves tuning into the old standards, such as the prime-time cartoon show, The Flintstones. We love their creative solutions to everyday items such as the Pterodactyl Airlines, the dinosaur garbage disposal, and the baby elephant vacuum cleaner. Interesting, isn’t it, they all had TV. With this in mind, we jumped into our prehistoric “Mini”-mobile and decided to go to Granite City Food and Brewery in Schaumburg. Jim got his size 14 clod-hoppers all revved up, his feet hit the pavement, and off we went.

Native plants always the right choice

Recently, while traveling back from Oregon State University for our daughter’s graduation, I had just enough time in the airport to choose a snack for the flight and then hurry to the gate to board the plane. The pressure was on. It was mid-afternoon when we boarded the plane but it would be well into the evening before we disembarked. What should I choose to provide sustenance for the next four hours? As I saw it, my options were a blueberry scone, a bag of potato chips, or a fresh-made salad. Ultimately, I chose the salad figuring that it was the option that was the healthiest for me and perhaps for the environment. Choosing what to plant in our yards is a bit like deciding what to put into our bodies. What not only brings us joy, but is also good for the environment and those around us?

A give-and-take brainwashing experiment

I realize that it’s unethical and illegal to conduct mind control experiments on living humans, but I think I should be cut some slack since I’m only doing it to bring a good man back to life.

OK, that might not be the best way to begin this. Let me start again.

Serenity, come gently

The famous Serenity Prayer penned by Reinhold Niebuhr in 1932 has woven itself into my life from the very start. Growing up as a minister’s daughter, the prayer appeared to me in prayer books and greeting cards, on motivational wall hangings and embroidered pillows.

When I went away to college, I lived in a dorm named after Rev. Niebuhr, who was a pastor, theologian, and ethicist. My father wrote me letters addressed to Niebuhr Hall, and he would tuck a copy of the prayer he had clipped from a church bulletin. On the back, he would write with his customary post script: “You may keep.”

Certified ‘hit’

Congratulations Pixar for the first one-hundred million-dollar domestic opener for the year at the box office, the first since Barbie last year. Your animation studios have had quite a curse hanging over, presumably caused by a prick off the needle on a spinning wheel I suppose. But it begs the question, where is the elusive blockbuster for adults this year? You know, those beings that pay taxes and read these ancient scrolls I have heard of called newspapers? Yes, there has been some bigger movies of late (two starring Zendaya). A few more are on the way out, but what is the holdup? There is one film that I have seen which could have been, but is not in theaters.

I want more parmesan

Nancy doesn’t ask for very many things in life (okay, let’s wait for the lightning bolt to subside after hitting this newspaper). One day she had a taste for a pizza in a dine in restaurant. I would never pass up a good Italian dinner and remember, happy wife, happy life. She remembered a place in Elgin that coincidentally is in the same shopping center as our favorite donut shop. Looking forward to a “win-win” that evening, off we went to Maciano’s Pizza and Pastaria.

Best-laid plans ‘gang-agley’

If things had gone differently, tomorrow would have been my 55th wedding anniversary.

But as the 18th Century Scottish poet Robert Burns famously wrote: “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

Well, that’s not exactly how he said it. In the words of his place and time, it was: “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men, Gang aft agley, An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain, For promis’d joy!”

Conversations in the trees

Last week, my family drove off into the west without me. While they went to visit some relatives on my husband’s side of the family, I stayed back, left alone with our dog and a stack of to-do lists for myself.

I know myself to be an introvert, but I’m always a little bit shocked, on these rare occasions when I’m left alone, at how much of an introvert I am.

Power plant: how your garden combats climate change

In life we all have choices to make. Some choices are mundane such as choosing which shirt to wear, figuring out what to make for dinner, or deciding on the next Netflix series to watch. Other choices can be much more difficult, such as at what age to retire, making medical decisions or picking a vacation destination. We also have choices regarding the plants that we grow in our yards. Those choices revolve around flower color, mature height and width, the maintenance required, and the environmental conditions in which the plant grows best. Another factor may be whether the plant is a native or non-native. This column includes a description of native plants, the benefits of planting native plants and resources for those who would like more information.

The big bang bang

Nancy has saved the Eggers’ household countless millions of dollars by being on every restaurant rewards club mailing list. Most of the time these rewards consist of getting a free small cheese pizza after you purchase 62 large pizzas with all the toppings. However, every once in a while, an email does strike a chord and actually is a good deal. Such was the case when Nancy received an email telling us about “Lobster Weekends” at Bonefish Grill in Algonquin.

Ask an Angel: June 13, 2024

I’m facing a delicate family matter that’s been weighing heavily on my mind, and I’m writing to get some advice on what to do. I find myself in a situation where my siblings and I are at odds regarding our parents’ health and the level of care they need.  Over the past few months, I’ve noticed signs that indicate our parents may require more assistance at home. Simple tasks that they used to handle with see now seem to be increasingly more challenging for them. Despite my concerns, my siblings seem reluctant to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation.

…Ready for it?

As summer heat sets in, some dream of heading out to listen to their favorite bands perform. Concerts were the most missed when we were stuck in ascetic hermitage from a certain plague. My first major concert was during Septemberfest: Ramsey Lewis and his band. Those ethereal nights sitting on blankets under the stars. During the last four years, I have been more grateful for those memories than I ever had. A sense of community we all lost has slowly been creeping back in the intervening years. In college, rock shows were a staple of a Saturday night. After watching these two films, a spark of those times flickered in my joy.

Getting a start on my out-of-this-world garden

Regular visitors to this column learned long ago that the landscape on Planet Kerth is a bit—well, “bizarre” is too judgmental.

Quirky? Twisted? Wonky?

Nope. Let’s go with askew. I can live with askew.

Cicadas, sing your summer song

One morning, they were suddenly here. Cicadas lay strewn across our lawn, the driveway, and the sidewalk. They lined the tree trunks in a frozen parade, some leaving their empty shell to keep their place as they flew off to higher heights.

We knew they were coming, but it didn’t make it any less jarring to see the tiny holes in the soil where they had suddenly emerged after their 17-year-long buffet of tender tree roots. They’re not a welcome sight for many, and cautious homeowners along neighborhood streets have carefully wrapped young saplings in white nets as a way of protecting trees in their infancy from the attack of cicadas.

Ten trees to plant today

It finally happened. It. Finally. Happened.

For the past 25 years I have driven through this beautiful community while admiring the hundreds of trees planted along each side of the street. For the first time last week, I admired the gorgeous arches formed as a result of parkway trees, planted on opposites sides of the street, now being tall and wide enough to touch each other. This glorious sight coupled with the wonderful feeling of driving under blocks of majestic trees now mature enough to form a dense canopy was tremendously rewarding. As Del Webb’s Sun City Huntley celebrates its 25th year, the trees planted so many years ago are a testament to the residents who have nurtured them for the past two and a half decades.

Ask an Angel: May 30, 2024

Hi there, I’m reaching out because I find myself in a bit of a dilemma and could use some guidance. I’m a grandfather who eagerly awaits the summer months when my family comes to visit. We live quite a distance apart, so we only get to see each other about twice a year. It’s a precious time for me, especially since I get to spend time with my grandson, who’s now in his early teens, around 14 years old.

How to remove mildew

Spring is finally here, and with it, many houses have green and gray stains on their vinyl siding. This is algae, mildew, and mold. It grows best on the north side of the house because that side is away from the sun. It is worse in years with a lot of rain. There is a product that removes these stains with very little work. It is a product called Wet & Forget. It removes mold, mildew, and algae stains gently over time from roofs, concrete, brick, siding, tennis courts, awnings, boat sails, and wood decks without scrubbing or pressure washing.

Cantina zone

You are about to enter another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound, but of taste. You are about to enter… the “Cantina Zone.”

We wanted to shake up our restaurant reviews and not go to the same old places that have liver and onions as one of their daily specials. Boy did we find it!!! This very eclectic venue is in the downtown Crystal Lake area with a menu that would stump Rod Serling. We are referring to Cantina 52.

Just beach-y

To paraphrase a great woman, it’s summer and I don’t have the slightest clue as to what to watch. With the recent eighty-degree weather, one wants to spend some of this time by a pool curled up with a novel. However sometimes you just want a cool drink and to rest in front of a television in an air-conditioned home. Some recent multiplex offerings haven’t piqued my interest as they should. Most blockbusters aren’t designed to be mentally stimulating.

Eulogy for a good old tree

It’s hard to say if a hummingbird is mourning just by the look on its face, but I think the hummers in my yard this spring are sad about the changes in their neighborhood.

That’s because their favorite resting spot, the old purple cherry plum tree in my yard, is gone. It blew down on one of those blustery days in late April, just before the hummers got back in town.

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