Wednesday, July 27, 2011


Here's Grandpa Cardinal on top of the huge evergreen tree.
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Wednesday, July 27, 2011 - So, this afternoon, I vacuumed the carpet that's outside near the deck (where the bees used to live). It didn't seem to be working all that well.

Then, I found out WHY. When I opened it up to take out the bag, it full to overflowing. WOW! Plus, it was very heavy.

Seemed to be making a weird noise, too. So, I took everything apart on the bottom vacuum head. It was SO dirty.

After I cleaned it and put it back together, I thought I had it perfectly reconstructed. NOT. The rubber thing that goes around the teeth (can't remember the name right now) to make the bottom part move, came off.

I had to get a flashlight and use a screwdriver to get it back on a little mechanism far inside that I could barely see. But, I finally succeeded and was able to vacuum. Whew!

I know all of those parts have names but I just wanted to write in here so I'll remember when I cleaned the vacuum. bye, djb

Friday, July 22, 2011


It's star gazer day. These are such beautiful flowers and they smell good, too!!!
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Friday, July 22, 2011 - I can't believe it's already the 22nd of July. WOW! Pretty soon, it will be August and then Elburn Days, Grandpa and Gladys's birthday and then school starts.

It's getting darker here. I think the storm's getting closer. bye, djb

Tuesday, July 19, 2011


Andrew and Jarrett's pond garden 5 years ago. WOW!
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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 - After trying to get the pond in shape for the past few years, I finally had to fill it in with 27 bags of top soil. It just got to be overgrown and overwhelming to take care of.

Everything grew out of control -- especially in 2008 when I had the shingles in my eye. Then, the next year, I wasn't doing all that great.

I have to severely prune EVERYTHING. For some crazy reason, I love to grow flowers, trees, bushes, veggies.... whatever. Then, they get REALLY big. yikes!

Time to go outside and fry an egg on the deck. gobble gobble. later, djb

Monday, July 11, 2011


Here's a picture of froggie right behind Jarrett the Duck -- who is next to Andrew the Dolphin - next to tons of crap in the pool.
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Monday, Stormy Monday - July 11, 2011 - It was raining frogs in Elburn this morning (see accompanying photo).

Yesterday, the pool was pristine and spotless and gorgeous. Chad remarked that, "This is the best I've ever seen the pool look. It's perfect." Well, that was yesterday and today is yikes!

I have a lot of work ahead of me but if I clean everything up then Bob won't know how much I did because it'll all be done and he won't know what a freaking, ugly, nightmare of a mess it is out there.

"oh, we had a storm? It looks so clean."

Plus, I can't go in the pool to cool off. It is certainly a situation. later, djb

P.S. I talked to my neighbor, Brenda. She and Scott were driving back from south of Sterling. Brenda said that the corn fields out that way were FLATTENED. She was little apprehensive about what they'd find when they got home but apparently we got hit by the small hammer and the folks further west and up north got hit by the large sledge hammer!!! ouch.

A personal disaster: Here's where poor Shamu landed after he was blown by hurricane force winds this morning.
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Monday, Stormy Monday, July 11, 2011 - I just finished writing on Donna's Blog, so I thought I'd add a few more storm-related comments here on the boys' blog.

From The Chicago Tribune Website:

Driving rain and hail pelted the Chicago area as fast-moving thunderstorms packing 75 mph winds halted flights, stopped trains. As of 10 a.m., Commonwealth Edison reported 660,000 customers without power: 298,000 north of the city, 156,000 west of the city, 116,000 in Chicago and Maywood, 90,000 in the south.

In the Crystal Lake area, more than 10,000 were without power, according to the ComEd outage map. “There are quite a few power lines and trees down,” said Pay Alaynick, Crystal Lake Police Department office coordinator. “Residents need to be careful.”

The storms hit the area around 8 a.m., with Doppler radar showing a line of severe thunderstorms capable of producing 70 mph winds and quarter-size hail.

The storms moved in at 70 mph. Midway Airport clocked winds of 75 mph and O'Hare Airport saw 63 mph winds mph as 65 mph winds hit Naperville. High high winds downed trees in Warrenville and other area towns.

This is wild! I'm thankful that things weren't any worse than they were. And to think that Saturday and Sunday were such perfectly gorgeous days. Especially Saturday. see ya later, djb

Sunday, July 10, 2011


Here are the three crosses on Keslinger Road that mark the spot where Andrew and Jarrett went to heaven.
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Sunday, July 10, 2011 - As we were driving back from Rosita's on Keslinger, I kept looking back to see if anyone was behind us so I could take a picture of the boys' crosses.

No one was. So I did.

They've done extensive pruning of the trees along that fence where the crosses are secured. Now, you can really see very well.

God bless whoever had the idea to put them inside the fence so I didn't have to go out there and weed whack the grass every week.

Plus, it looks to me like someone painted Jarrett's name darker? If so, that's sweet. ......now, I seriously have to go outside and swim -- well, it's actually doggie paddling. later, djb