Staff/Contact Info Advertise Classified Ads Submission Guidelines

MY SUN DAY NEWS

Proudly Serving the Community of
Sun City in Huntley

News & Features Columnists Editorials Hang Your Hat Obituaries My Huntley News

October 24, 2013

Coconut oil: a true miracle food

Over the past couple of months we have been looking at the rapid decline of health in the U.S. since 1940, especially as it pertains to heart disease, the leading cause of death.

Some not-so-spooky decorative ideas for your Halloween garden

Ever feel like you have been exposed to a world that you didn’t even know existed? Last evening, based on the recommendation of a 12-year-old girl, we ventured into Spirit Halloween. She knows my son likes “The Walking Dead” television show and this store features costumes from that show.

Crab legs are dancing at Niko’s Red Mill Tavern

Who, in this duo, would order crab legs in a country tavern? If you guessed Jim, you were absolutely…
…wrong! Try again. Jim and I miss the Dungeness crab legs at Niko’s Restaurant that was just outside of Sun City, so we decided to venture out to Woodstock and try Niko’s Red Mill Tavern.

A vacation checklist to keep your mind at ease

As many Sun City residents pack for warmer climates, it is important to spend an hour or so to prepare your house for the winter so there will be no surprises on your return.

Have we realized any savings on our electric bills?

I received an email from one of our Sun City friends the other day with an interesting question. The message read: “Ever since we Huntley-ites signed for the favorable electric rate with ComEd coupled with the village of Huntley, I sit here and wonder, How much am I saving?

Ask an Angel 10/24/13

Q With the new health care option, I am getting phone calls from organizations about participating in it. I don’t know what is real and what is a scam.

A renewed interest in the nests of autumn

This splendid autumn of ours can last only so long, and before you know it, snowbirds of every feather will be heading south. The hummingbirds dashed off a couple weeks ago, and the robins will start making their reservations soon.

Laughter By Paul 10/24/13

Four expectant fathers were in the hospital waiting room while their wives were in labor. The nurse arrived and announced to the first man, “Congratulations, you’re the father of twins.”

The Costco experience

For the longest time now, our neighbors have encouraged us to become members of Costco. I had resisted becoming a member because I didn’t want to pay the annual membership fees to shop at a place where you buy everything in bulk.

Step away from the Handi-Wipes and reach for the sky

It’s getting to the point where you can’t have any fun anymore.
Unless, that is, you enjoy rules and restrictions. If so, then life is a laugh-riot.

Neighbors Helping Neighbors 10/24/13

It has been proven the best chance for surviving a serious car crash (with injuries) happens when the injured are treated as soon as possible. Hopefully within an hour of occurrence, known as the “Golden Hour,” when seconds count.

Laughter By Paul 10/10/13

Bob and Joan were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. At the party, everybody wanted to know how they managed to stay married so long in this day and age.

Ask an Angel 10/24/13

Q. I am moved to tears as I take care of my mother. She has Alzheimer’s, and I get frustrated with so many things. How can I maintain my sanity as well as her dignity?

Secure patio doors and keep garage doors running smoothly

The sliding glass door on many Sun City homes are not as secure as they appear to be. They ride on wheels that roll in the bottom track. To install them, they lift the door up into the upper track, rotate it into the lower track, and lower it down until the wheels contact the track. While this works well for installing the doors, it also allows unauthorized people to lift the door out and enter your home.

State basketball champs in 1952, chicken champs in 2013

One Sunday morning, Nancy and I decided to take her new Mini Cooper on a road trip to Lake Geneva. She actually let me drive it. Little did we know that they were celebrating Venetian Days, and the entire town was wall to wall people.

Prescription drugs compound the problem

America has fallen from Hippocrates, the father of medicine who said “Let your food be your medicine” and Thomas Edison’s wise words “The doctor of the future will use no medicine but instead will interest his patients in the care of the human frame in diet, cause, and prevention of disease.”

Trees, shrubs, and ornamentals to consider when shade gardening

My son, Christopher and I were driving through our home town yesterday afternoon. As we finished passing through Hampshire on State Street, I asked “Remember when we used to drive down this street, and we knew just about everybody?”

And now we know the rest of the story

In my column from August 29, I shared the story of how Sue and I visited Sun City West, Arizona to obtain additional information on how that community was able to reduce their property taxes by being removed from the surrounding school district. I concluded that article with the following statement:
“From our discussions with the [Sun City West, AZ] staff and the research librarian, they attributed the exemption to the “unincorporated” status of the community.”

Ask an Angel 09/26/13

Q. I moved here 10 years ago when I was feeling great. In the past year, many things have changed. I lost my husband and my health has declined. I really want to stay here, but my family is telling me I need to move to assisted living, which I don’t really want to do. I don’t even know what assisted living is. What can I do?

Benedict’s Eggs & More – not a traitor to breakfast

Anyone can cook bacon, eggs and toast – even Jim – that is why we are constantly scouting the area for a restaurant that serves “egg-citing” breakfast creations. It is for this reason that one Sunday morning we decided to visit Benedict’s Eggs and More in East Dundee.

The empty desk in the first row on the left, three seats back

I only knew Stephen for a bit less than a year. He didn’t give me the chance to get to know him better because he killed himself.

Laughter By Paul 09/26/13

Three boys are in the school yard bragging about their fathers. The first boy says, “My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a poem, they give him $50.”

Comparison of animal and vegetable fats

Going back to World War II again, we see this is where polyunsaturated fats started to become popular. According to “Good Calories, Bad Calories” by Gary Taubes, between 1945 and 1976 margarine consumption increased from four to nine pounds per American each year, salad and cooking oils from seven to 18 pounds. During the worst decades of the heart disease epidemic, vegetable fat consumption in the U.S. nearly doubled from 28 to 55 pounds.

With preparation, shade gardening doesn’t need to be difficult

My 12 year old son is going through a period of self realization. He is realizing that he will not actually be marrying his first love, events around the world interest him, and that the color of his hair is really ginger (the new term for Red).

Jewish immersion concludes with baptism by horseradish

While my “24-hour immersion” into Judaism officially began during the morning of Sept. 5 at a morning Rosh Hashanah service in Woodstock, I can pinpoint its exact kickoff moment … and that didn’t come until several hours later.

Finding a lost chain and more on driveway maintenance

Q. Twelve years ago when I moved into my Mackinac model house here in Sun City, I lost a favorite gold chain with my name on it. I laid it down on the left counter next to the sink in my master bathroom, and it fell down in the space between counter and sink. Do any of you have any suggestions, and would someone please come to work on it and help me?

Replacing faded address numbers and old emergency lights

Q. I moved into Sun City about six months ago and would like to replace or repaint my faded address numbers. Is there anywhere that you know of where they can be purchased? If not, any hints as to what type of paint can be used for touching up the numbers?

No telling who will join the band in our backyard Eden

In our backyard, nestled among the tea roses, phlox and alyssum, is a black iron fountain with a fluted bowl atop a pedestal rising from a stone-ringed basin at the bottom. It is not the spouting kind of fountain. Rather, it drips softly into the water below, filling the garden with a liquid music to serve as background to the birdsong.

The Dining Duo meet the Tyrolean Duo

On the recommendation of our friends Charles and Di (no, not those two), we headed out to the Schnitzel Platz Restaurant in Glendale Heights for an authentic German evening. Jim and Diane were really looking forward to it, since they are both of German descent.

The big decline in health in the 1950s

We stated previously that by 1950 heart disease had dramatically increased. Public opinion had turned from saturated fats, which were replaced by polyunsaturated fats.