Here's the front yard view at 7:18 a.m. showing Andrew and Jarrett's candles. Jarrett's candle now has a new bulb in it.
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Saturday, January 28, 2012 - The sun is shining right in the window as I type this. Bright sun reflecting off the snow is always a challenge.

I do like to see the boys' candles surrounded by snow. They look especially pretty in the night time.

God bless Andrew. God bless Jarrett. miss you guys, mom

Here's my Lego stabilization system holding up the heater in the garage.
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Sunday, January 22, 2012 - Ever since it got real cold, the heater in the garage has been working overtime. It does make some weird sounds but I know which ones are good and which ones are bad.

Yesterday, I heard the tick, tick, ticking sound but it didn't seem that anything was wrong, yet...

...however, this morning, when I went out into the garage, the ticking sounds were more sustained. hmmmm

So, I lifted up the right side of the cover and they stopped. When I let it back down, they started up again. I KNEW what had happened.

A couple of years ago, when my HVAC buddy, Brian, was here, he figured out that the cover had to be permanently attached to two special screws in the wall to keep the blower from hitting the side of the cover which causes the ticking sound.

We were both so excited when he figured it out because I'd had others here who didn't have a clue as to what was happening. God bless, Brian.

It's kind of scary to me because it's a gas heater. That's why I put the second set of Legos on the left side in case the other screw gets loose, then, at least, it will have something to lean on.

Yes, I'm going to call them first thing tomorrow. But, so far, it's been working. Oh, did I mention that I was sitting on the floor in the garage at 6 a.m. this morning waiting for the blower to turn off?

A gal's gotta do whatever needs to be done. catch ya later, djb

When I came downstairs and looked out the front window, I saw that Jarrett's bulb had burned out in his candle. Picture taken at 6:55 a.m.
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Saturday, January 21, 2012 - Whenever the bulb burns out in one of their candles, I always take that as a message from whomever's candle went dark.

Hmmmm. What's up, Jarrett?

Yesterday, I was relying on snowfall totals from the Chicago Tribune weather page info. They were saying that Elburn had 2.5 inches some time in the early afternoon.

Little did I know what we really got. This was in the Kane County Chronicle this morning:

The area was under a winter snow warning through midnight Saturday, according to the National Weather Service’s Romeoville office. As of 8 p.m., 8 inches had fallen in Elburn and 6.2 inches in Batavia, according to the weather service.

That explains why I saw very few cars drive by yesterday. haha! It's so pretty and white but very cold. ~snow flake ya later, djb

Here's another picture of the cardinal. There were actually about 2 or 3 other male cardinals in the tree with this guy. It was pretty cool.
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Friday, January 20, 2012 - While I was cutting a large roast into two smaller pieces, I saw a whole bunch of birdies in the crab apple tree.

So, I grabbed my camera with the telephoto lens and tried to take pictures through the window. Believe it or not, this was one of the better ones.

It's really hard to find smaller objects when you're looking through a 300 mm lens. But, he does look like he's hunkered down for the duration.

snow ya later, djb

This picture was taken yesterday through the sliding glass door -- where did the swimming pool go?
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Saturday, January 14, 2012 - Somewhere I have a picture of deck and pool when the snow storm first started.

Here's what it looked like yesterday afternoon. LOTS of snow! But the evergreen trees look so pretty. later, djb

I cropped the orbs out of the top of the photo and enhanced them because I could barely see the one on top. This was taken in the driveway.
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Thursday, January 12, 2012 - Whenever I see two orbs, I always assume that it's Andrew and Jarrett saying HI to me.

Crazy people like to live in their own little wacky world. haha

It's supposed to snow all night. They said how many inches we had in Elburn, but I missed it. Oh well, I shoveled for an hour but I knew that it needed the snow blower treatment. later, djb

Here are the boys' candles at 12:22 p.m. Hey, where's the road?
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Thursday, January 12, 2012 - Not too long after I took this photo, the snow plow came through so now there's a ribbon of darkness in the whiteness.

I'm having so much fun. I just made a meatloaf for supper. Did the dishwasher, washed some towels and dried them (in the dryer). I get so antsy when we have "weather."

Can't wait to go out and shovel the driveway. It's gotten quite a bit colder but I have enough warm clothing to keep me toasty. This is very pretty.

When I listen to the radio, every time there's a situation on the roads, another truck has jack-knifed. They need to slow down. Personally, I don't drive in snow. later, djb

Here's the front yard which shows Andrew and Jarrett's candles with just a little bit of snow at 8:46 a.m.
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Thursday, January 12, 2012 - I figured I could take pictures during the day of the snowfall. So, here's my first one of the front yard. You can still see the grass...for now.

Oh yeah, I always take a picture of the driveway. I should go do that. After I took the photo of the pool, I changed the time on my camera. Now, it's correct.

Right, like anyone really cares but me. snow ya later, djb

Here's Joan, Judy and Bob at Rosita's on Saturday night.
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Tuesday, January 10, 2012 - The phone rang at 4:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon -- it was Joan. She said that Bob and Judy were moving some stuff around between storage facilities.

They were tired and hungry so did we want to meet them at Rosita's... of course, the answer to that is always YES

Of the three pictures I took of the three of them, this one was the best. I always tell Bob that I'm taking the picture for Uncle Gale and Aunt Mary Ellen so he can rest assured that I'm not selling it to the media. haha!

And I'm a member of an exclusive group because I have a picture of Bob Berg SMILING.

Rosita's. What more can I say? Muy bueno. see ya later, djb

This afternoon (at 1:10 p.m.), I brought some flowers to the grave in remembrance of Jarrett's birthday.
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Tuesday, January 3, 2012 - When I stopped at the grocery store to get Jarrett's flowers, I was saddened to see that they didn't have ORANGE ones, so I had to get red. Oh well, Jarrett liked to wear red, too.

It's a cold, sunny January day for his birthday. Actually, it's a lot better today than the past couple of days!

Happy Birthday, saintly boy. Love you, Mom

Here's Jarrett and Andrew on Grandma and Grandpa's patio doing their homework.
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Tuesday, January 3, 2010 - This time of year, for many years, the boys and I would go to Florida to get warm and get over our colds and sore throats.

We had SO MUCH fun!!! Usually, it was warm. Although, today, it's going to get to freezing in Casselberry. Brrrr.

I remember one year, we had to wear our winter coats for a few days. The memories. Happy Boofday, Jarrett. love you, mom

Jarrett's Chess Championship award from 2003
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Tuesday, January 3, 2012 - Happy Boofday, Jarrett!

All of a sudden this morning, I realized that I never took a picture of this award that Jarrett won during the two months of 2003 that he was alive.

Of course, he wished he'd won FIRST PLACE. But considering the fact that they had only recently found out about these special High School Chess Coach's tournaments, it is amazing that he managed to get second place.

The day he and Andrew were buried, he was supposed to be at THE high school chess tournament down in Champaign or Springfield for all the schools in Illinois.

If he was still alive, we might have a beer together. haha Forever in my heart. Love you, honey, your mama