MY SUN DAY NEWS
Last Tuesday, Aug. 7, Huntley joined over 15 thousand communities to raise awareness for the same cause. “Neighborhood watch, or National Night Out, is designed to generate support and participation in anticrime programs,” said Ken Andersen, the acting president of Huntley’s Neighborhood Watch.
Hilda Schmidt cared for Don, her husband of 57 years, through the last two years of his life. Don suffered from congestive heart failure and needed around the clock help. Hilda’s two sons, who live in the area, told their mom to call them first for any kind of needed assistance. Hilda says, “They were always there for me.” Her son Don and his wife are physical therapists who offered physical help and advice. They advised against Hilda doing heavy lifting with her husband.
Og Mandino, the most widely read inspirational and self-help author in the world, said it best: “Laugh at yourself and at life. Not in the spirit of derision but as a remedy, a miracle drug that will ease your pain, cure your depression, and help you to put in perspective that seemingly terrible defeat and worry with laughter at your predicaments, thus freeing your mind to think clearly toward the solution that is certain to come. Never take yourself too seriously.”
It came to my attention that there is, of all things, a Polish restaurant in Marengo! My curiosity piqued, I called Dave and Marlene Mahlke, who agreed to join us for dinner at Bigo’s Polish Buffet. They agreed to help us evaluate this establishment. The restaurant is located on Route 20 on the western edge of town. It’s about a 25-minute ride from Huntley.
Letters to the editor for the week of August 16.
We have received two questions about leaky sillcocks; particularly the one in the garage. This can be a real nuisance because the water puddles on the garage floor. If a sillcock leaks when the water is on, you are in luck, as the fix is relatively easy. This leak is caused by a loose packing nut. To tighten it, remove the handle by taking off the screw. It is usually a Phillips head screw.
D.C. Brod is a St. Charles author with a flair for mystery and a love of history. She is currently working on her “Getting Even” series of novels. Available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and local bookstores, the series revolves around Robyn Guthrie, a freelance writer turned modern-day Robin Hood. The third book in the series is due out next year.
Glenn Jorian sits in the cockpit of a Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the “biggest and best equipment the Air Force had.” He’s floating over the Pacific Ocean, slow and low like they told him. Jorian belts out a few lines to “His Eye Is on the Sparrow,” a gospel song.
Seinfeld was a show about nothing. But what made it so successful is that “nothing” really is “something.” Moreover, I think everyone has, at times in their lives, experienced a “Seinfeldian” moment, where a trip to the grocery store turns into an epic, daylong fiasco of little slips and mishaps that would be nothing on their own but turn into quite something to talk about and remember forever and yada-yada-yada.
While most modern-day youngsters are grooving to pop stars and rap artists on their iPhones and laptops, all that Daniel Souvigny needs for his music is a “handful of keys.”
For many citizens, summertime activities, such as fireworks and barbeques, are the time to be carefree. However, for members of the Huntley Citizen Police Academy Alumni Association, summer social gatherings are the time to serve.
Why are rocks often so fascinating? After all, they are just silent, inanimate objects—mysterious pieces of nature. They don’t sing songs, produce anything, or make politically incorrect statements. They simply aren’t interesting. Well, maybe some of them are.
If you swim in the Prairie Lodge indoor pool, you probably have seen members of the Sting Rays Swim Club doing laps or quietly working on their strokes.
Q. I need to hire a caregiver for my father. I’ve been asking around for a good agency and have learned there are definite differences between agencies. I thought price would be my driving decision influencer, but now I’m not so sure. Can you explain the differences?
Several times a year I get a phone call in which the caller is speaking in hushed tones. At some point in the conversation, the reason for the call becomes apparent. “I want to block my neighbors,” the caller whispers.
The hot spell we just went through brought back memories of my teen years when I worked at my uncle’s ice cream store. I can remember the long lines of customers waiting in the heat for their ice cream cones, sundaes, and shakes.
About 18 years ago, after back surgery, Nick Koplos of Sun City was advised to quit running to preserve his body. He took the advice for a while but eventually started distance running again in 2007, when his son started running. Family interaction won out over a doctor’s advice.
With an aging population expected to double by 2030, researchers are alarmed at a senior family health caregiver crisis in the making. In other words, all who give care to their families need to take care of themselves.
A function of the liver is to make cholesterol according to the set point of the body. It has a genetically determined level of cholesterol it prefers, and it will try to maintain this level.
Reactions to August 2 column on food in politics.
It seems to me an awful lot of this whole aging process is overblown.
There’s no way I can write a column about jazz and leave out the undisputed ambassador of this idiom, the man known as Satchmo: Louis Armstrong.
Where can you find everlasting orchids, permanent rose petals, and tiny trees that never age? Teresa Gresher can find this very phenomenon in her own home, where flowers are forever.
Remember when Oreo cookies were an escape? How dunking them in a tall glass of milk washed away all the stress of a busy day? How twisting one open revealed a bright center sandwiched between two chocolate cookies? It was a reminder that even in the middle of darkness, we could still find the light.
From the moment we wake up every morning, each one of us starts a non-stop circuit of decision-making – what to eat for breakfast, whether to go workout or not, should we shower before or after working out? Francis Kostel followed a similar path: why did he decide to write “A Baby Boomer’s Decision Making?” As he says, “I made a decision.”
If there’s someone to go to for Huntley artifacts, it’s Jake Marino. “[He is] a guy that’s really becoming one of Huntley’s leading historians,” Huntley Historical Society President Barb Conley said while presenting Marino to an audience at the July 28 annual meeting and election for the Huntley Historical Society.
As a family caregiver watching a loved one in constant pain and distress, debilitating physical and emotional stress occurs. Whether the cared-for person is a spouse, parent, or a child of the caregiver, it is an overwhelming burden assumed by the person giving the care. The caregiver’s multitude of daily patient tasks generally includes providing transportation, administering medicine, aiding toilet use and bathing, dressing and feeding their patient relative, not to speak of the myriad household duties and family responsibilities to be performed.
If you’re sitting down as you read this and haven’t exercised today, Joan Davis has a message for you: “Move it.” She is being friendly but firm when it comes to people’s health, physical and mental.
Had enough of the sizzling heat, parched lawns, dead flowers, and heat index records? The end may not be near; in fact, drought conditions may continue in the Midwest and Chicago area into October.
On July 24, the Illinois Health Facilities Services and Review Board approved Centegra Health System’s proposed hospital in Huntley.
