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