Sure glad we have 4 wheel drive!!

  This morning McGyver and I left here about 8:15AM to drive to Montgomery, IL…Uncle Clarence had his first physical therapy appointment and evaluation in Oswego at 9:45.  After watching the weather we opted for the GMC instead of ‘ol blue, our 1989 Silverado…no 4 wheel drive ..AND the tires aren’t as good treadwise…They were predicting freezing rain followed by 3-6 inches of snow…just great.  It hadn’t started any kind of precip when we arrived and we loaded up Uncle Jr. (Clarence) and Aunt Jeanette and headed the 5 miles to Oswego in their Caddy…We can’t take them in our GMC, it is just too high of a step for either one of them without a step ladder, and they are much more comfy in their ‘86 Caddy…

  After about an hour of consultation and assessment of Jr’s condition, we scheduled 4 weeks of twice a week therapy for him.  The therapist also gave him some things he could do from his chair to exercise his legs…Jeanette made me laugh when she revealed her age of 97 years to the therapist and decided she should to those “at home” excersises with him…FYI, her age totally shocked that therapist.!  Well, when we got ready to leave we saw it had been snowing while we were in the office..Just for the record, Uncle Jr. is NOT very mobile and has a very hard time getting around.  He does have one of those walkers with wheels and a seat, Thank God, that they got for him at Hines Veteran’s Hospital…We made a drive through Walgreens for his prescription and then I took his grocery list and ran into Aldis …It was just too slippery for either one of them to get out, and McGyver stayed in the car with them…

After unloading elders, groceries, prescriptions and walkers from the car and into their house, we didn’t linger long…The weather and roads were looking pretty bad, and we had about 25 miles of back roads to drive…I took some photos on the way home and made a pretty big collage of it…(By that I didn’t mean “pretty” as in lovely!!)

The traffic was creeping along on the way out of Montgomery, and we saw a few cars in the ditch on the way home…

McGyver was all business behind the wheel…The snow was so blinding he had to put on his very stylish Oakley sunglasses…(either that or he was just trying to look cool…)

Florida now seems like just a distant dream that I had….It isn’t that I hate snow, it’s pretty to look at …if only you didn’t have to drive in it or shovel it..

Once inside, I realized I couldn’t even see out our screen porch in the front of our house….

Yes, home gamers, that is ICE on our front screens….I know now why those roads were soooooo scary to drive on…As Dennis says “4 wheel drive is absolutely worthless on ice”…I hate it when he’s right.  I guess it we have had a cold snap all over the nation….The golf tournament in Arizona had the pros in their stocking caps and gloves yesterday…

I don’t think these are the caps they had in mind when they signed on for this golf outing..

OK, enough about the snow…I need to end this little ditty on a “breath of Spring”…

This is Aunt Jeanette’s Amaryllis that she has growing inside…I never realized how beautiful they are..By gosh, I do believe I’m gonna get me one next year…(They are a Xmastime inside plant…Poinsettias and I just do not get along, this would do much better for me).  Thanks for checking in..Oh, one more thing….We have another Cave-a-palooza sheduled for this weekend..The Wolff family, the Caves (both families) and the Heisers will all be here for a fest of food, family and fun…Yep, you’re gonna be bored yet again by my family photos….GET OVER IT!!!!!

“The problem with the designated driver program, it's not a desirable job. But if you ever get sucked into doing it, have fun with it. At the end of the night, drop them off at the wrong house.”
-- Jeff Foxworthy

Meeting Number 99..and trying NOT to drool…

  It was a pretty exciting evening last night for quite a few Sandwich people, especially if you were a 1986 Chicago Bears Super Bowl Champs fan…AND OUR WHOLE FAMILY IS!! One of our friends, Rick Olson, is running for Mayor of Sandwich this April..Rick was the former Chief of Police and we met him and his wife, Lynn, when our son-in-law, Tim, was an officer here in Sandwich.  Last night Rick had a “meet and greet” at a fast food joint in town called Johnny K’s for his supporters. Well, Rick knows quite a few of the championship Bears team,  and managed to snag former Chicago Bear and Hall of Famer Dan Hampton for the occasion….N I C E…

 

When we got there, it was a little early (OK, I was just a tad anxious!), and Rick immediately introduced Den and I to Dan “Danimal” Hampton. He chatted with us for a few minutes..telling us his daughter will be going to college in Tampa next fall . She is a 6’ tall volleyball player…imagine that. I just gotta say, this guy is about a nice as you can get

I wore my Chicago Bear Super Bowl sweatshirt from 1986, and he graciously consented to signing the back of it… and with the stroke of a Sharpie pen, made one aging fanatical fan dangerously close to embarrassing her hubby……Shortly after I got my autograph and had a nice visit with Dan (I can call him that now, we’re almost relatives), more people began coming in.  I decided to pry myself away and just as I turned to leave, Mr. Hampton said “Wait a minute, come back”…and….he posed with me for a photo op….Thank you, McGyver, for manning my phone camera while I was nearly wetting myself…

 

 

                                                                                                                                                    Since these photos were taken with my phone,  they aren’t the best…but he sure looks damn good to me…My word, he is a BIG sucker, ain’t he???

McGyver and I were hanging around watching people bringing in all kinds of Chicago Bears memorabilia  for Dan Hampton to sign……I was still basking in the moment of getting his autograph on my sweatshirt…

 

 

 

If you look close just under his signature “Dan Hampton HOF 99, 2002” you will see the player with number 99 Yep, it’s him…

 

 

 

 

Just as we were thinking of leaving, who should show up but our son and daughter-in-law, Kelly and Cindy…Cin had on her “99” Hampton jersey that she has been keeping for 24 years to get Dan Hampton to sign it…and last night it finally happened…

 

 

 

 

We Cavewomen have absolutely no shame when it comes to being groupies…You will notice that both Cindy and moi have big ‘ol smiles on our mugs while posing with Mr. Hampton…

Well not much could top that for excitement in my humble opinion…We were suppose to get a 7” snow storm last night and they were warning that it was going to be a very heavy wet snow…”heart attack” snow…As seems to happen a lot lately, the weather gurus were dead wrong…We DID get snow, about 2-3”….and it was light and fluffy…definitely NOT what they predicted.  I’m not saying it’s boring back here in Illinois, but that storm could have popped a little more excitement into our days back here in the armpit of the nation…If it snows while I am here, I want MAJOR SNOW….RECORD BREAKING….SHOVEL YOU NEIGHBOR’S SIDEWALK KIND OF AND PULL CARS OUT OF THE DITCH SNOW….THE PLOWING OUT YOUR DRIVEWAY KIND ,THAT HAS PEOPLE DOING DONUTS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET, CHECKING ON NEIGHBORS, AND SNOWMOBILING TO THE GROCERY STORE!!….YEAH, THAT’S THE KIND OF SNOW THAT BRINGS OUT THE BEST IN PEOPLE!!!…  (As you may have noticed, I am coming off my Dan Hampton “high” and in need of something more to peak my interest…) Hmmmm, date night?

Tomorrow is, after all, date night and the Sandwich Moose Lodge is, as usual, or romantic place of choice (cheap cocktails might have something to do with it)…    !!!! Thanks for checking in…Now, if only I could get Johnny Depp to sign my DVD “Pirates of the Caribbean”…I have always strived to  become an embarrassment to my children…a goal of mine for years..Actually, I think I have achieved that goal many, many times!

“No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behavior, and I'm not talking about the kids. Their behavior is always normal”                ~Bill Cosby                  

This blog is “for the birds”..

  Things around here are about as polar opposite of Florida as it can get…..The closest thing we get to fresh seafood is putting Mrs. Pauls Fish Sticks in the oven …Our walks find us dodging radically driving moms, hurridly driving their late sleeping kids to school while texting their work that they will be late…McGyver and I are dressed like Nanook of the North for these walks, and my shoulders are now permanently hunched over from trying to keep the wind  (which howls out of the “windy city”) from climbing into my coat and wrapping it’s icy arms around me…Ooohh, how we miss those great sunny and warm days we had in South Florida…What’s that song lyric..”Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone”…Well, we now really appreciate the time we had catching those wonderful Florida rays..

I hadn’t yet found anything exciting to post as a photo as of yet…The birds were ignoring us.  They were totally pissed off at us for leaving and not keeping their meals coming on a daily basis…I even had McGyver go out and give them all some nice fresh seed….and not a one showed up for at least a week.   So, you can imagine my excitement when I saw these doves cooing and playing “slap and tickle” on our deck railing..!!

At first there were 3 doves, but, as they say, “Three’s a crowd”….and then there were 2….

Suddenly we had a plethora of doves…The one on the left I THINK is a Turtle Dove…and he is all fluffed out trying to stay warm….I feel his pain..

Aren’t they just sooooo cute??? Ya gotta do something to stay warm here in the Midwest!

  Dennis and I are still actively visiting and helping Uncle Jr. and Aunt Jeanette…Jr. was suppose to go to Physical Therapy 3 times a week. His sciatica pain is almost gone now…but he has become much more unstable on his feet and has trouble even getting around the house…Getting him into a car and to therapy is not possible right now.  McGyver and I take their list and get them groceries… and do anything else we can to make their lives easier…They have a few  steps in their home that are now impossible for him to negotiate…We shall see where this situation goes….

…………..2007……………………….                 …………….2010………………..                     …………….2012………………. 

 

We are trying to stay warm here…a fire every night….Cozy as two bugs in a rug….Except that even the bugs are smart enough to hibernate!!…

It seems like forever since we were in Florida. The Hiker looks pretty lonely out there on the pad….Right now it is 50 degrees and raining sideways outside. Tomorrow is looking to be a challenge too…  a high temp of 18 degrees and 40 mph winds….Ya just gotta love Illinois weather!!SHEESH…GIVE US A BREAK ALREADY!!!

McGyver and “moi” have been taking our weekly jaunts to the local Moose Lodge on Saturday nights, (I know, we lead exciting lives..)  This next Saturday they are having an “Arctic Cook-Out”…Yes, you read this right…Only in Illinois would a small group of people stand OUTSIDE in their Eskimo gear freezing to death,  grilling food for people who are sitting INSIDE, warm and cozy at the bar having cocktails…Of course we only drink there, so they can’t blame us for their cold toes!  Saturday nights I do attempt ditch the sweats and flannels and try to clean up ….

Dennis snapped this picture quick last Saturday night, while I still looked halfway presentable.  This usually only happens weekly…I haven’t posted any photos of my new neck in a while, so here ya go…

I am thrilled with the results, and this is only 3 months post surgery…What a relief to get this done!!  Before my neck surgery, I was getting sooo tired of wearing my orange vest around every time I went outside 2 weeks prior to Thanksgiving!!

“Sometimes I can't figure designers out. It's as if they flunked human anatomy.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                ~Erma Bombeck

TRYING TO BE POSITIVE…THESE THINGS MAKE ME SMILE..

  Before I forget, I just noticed that we have 3 new followers of this circus I call a blog…Welcome to my “adventures in writing” to Denis and Sandy, Julie and Tom, and New Age Nomad…Normally we would be somewhere warm, so if you are going to hang with us , get out your mukluks and parkas…it’s a dreadful Illinois February..and be forewarned that I AM CRABBY, and MAXINE is my heroine.

Dennis and I are trying to adjust to this pond sucking, skunky, nasty, damp and dreary, wet and crappy, gray and dismal, chilling and bone busting Illinois weather…So, I am trying  my darned best to have some semblance of fun with this blog…(If you and make it to the end of this blog, there is a musical surprise…)

As you may know, our son, Kelly is a Lieutenant with the Oswego, IL Fire Dept….He is one big man…6’3” and very scary up close..just sayin’…

Well, one of our good friends who use to be the Sandwich IL Chief of Police, Rick Olson, is running for mayor of Sandwich, IL…Kelly attended a fund raiser for him where two of the former 1986 Chicago Bears came out to support him…Kelly had his picture taken with Kurt Becker and Keith Van Horn..Keep in mind that Kelly is a very big man…and just look at him in comparison to those other two….Kelly looks like a dwarf next to them…

 

 

I thought our son was a big man until I saw this photo….Kel is the middle man…wholly schlamoly.!

 

 

 

 

Oh…by the way, Dan Hampton, another famous Chicago Bear, is MY friend on Facebook…(If you don’t know who Dan Hampton is, you are NOT an NFL fan…or… you are under 30 years old!)

 

 

 

This family tries to find fun where ever possible and lately I need all the fun I can get…I may have posted a few of these before, but bear with me…they make me smile..

I refuse to say who that is laying and spinning on the bar stool in the photo on the right…suffice to say it IS a family member…Don’t look so surprised!

 

 

 

Left is a picture of our 2 son-in-laws, Tim Heiser and John Wolff…They ran out of the indoor pool at the Holiday Inn, Dec. 2011, went outside in the cold, and made “angels in the snow”….I know, I know…makes a mother-in-law proud…

 

 

 

 

 

So now for my last photo…it is really a video…Taylor and her brother, Peyton doing a duet…Tay is singing and Pey is “beat boxing”…Beat boxing is making drum like sounds with your mouth…..This video is only a little over one minute long..The picture quality sucks,it was done on Terrie’s phone to be patient… but the sound is great!!….Turn up your sound and enjoy!!!!…

Taylor and Peyton making music

…Thanks soooo much for tolerating my need for a few smiles today….I feel much better now!!

“Look at me!
Look at me!
Look at me NOW!
It is fun to have fun
But you have to know how.”
~Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat (Deluxe Edition)