Journal
Tuesday (1/27/04) I'm going to write my musings on this page. I've created a separate page for stories about the boys, but really how do I separate the two? I'll figure it out one of these days. But first, I have to learn how to upload, download and side load these pages. It has been an interesting learning experience. I thought I was too old and crabby to learn anything new, but surprise! I'm not. So there you go.
Bob & Donna Burkholder having fun at a wedding reception in October 2003.
Well as you can see, this is quite an awesome website. It will be even better as time goes on and I get smarter. Plus, I've had some help. Thanks Nick. haha It's very cold here in Illinois and it's going to get colder. That's one reason I wanted to put the temperature on the Home (Casa) Page so our visitors from the warmer climates can feeling smug when they view our frigid temps. Here's a picture of the snow that fell this morning:
These are the candles that we put out at Christmas in the boys' garden. They're still lit as of today.
I'm going to go outside and shovel the driveway now. So, wherever you are, enjoy yourself. I'll write more later, gators. See ya around, The Webmistress of You Know Where
* * * * *
Wednesday - (1/28/04) It's very cold here today - it was zero when I got up. But, I saw an amazing thing when I went out in the garage this morning to feed Hobbes. There were two red flowers on my hibiscus plant that spends the winters in our garage. So, I took a picture of it and here it is:
Two red flowers on my hibiscus plant (1/28/04).
Of course, the symbolism is obvious. Two red candles - two red flowers - two saintly boys. Isn't that sweet?I'm going to see if I can remember what I learned yesterday and put this new page on the web. Wish me luck. bye, djb
* * * * *
Thursday (1/29/04) - Once again, ZERO degrees. Plus, it just started snowing again. I didn't think it could snow when it was this cold, but it certainly is snowing and it's that really fine, powdery type of snow. Brrrr
Let's see, what picture can I put in here today? Oh, I know. Last week, I painted Jarrett's room. A few years ago, I repainted Andrew's bedroom and then I was prepared to paint Jarrett's the same color. He wouldn't let me do it because he claimed that he couldn't stand the smell of paint. On Monday, I told Jarrett, "I'm going to paint your room now."
Jarrett's newly painted bedroom...nice tab curtains!
At first, when I went into his bedroom to paint it, I just cried when I looked at all of his "stuff" sitting on the desk. Then the next day, I went in and didn't cry, so I figured I'd get started. As I was putting the blue masking tape along the baseboards, I noticed ferret residue and ferret litter. That made me laugh!! We had Jarrett's ferret for 3 years, and I think he might've cleaned out the litter boxes 3 times!! (I did it the rest of the time!) Every once in a while the ferret would escape out of her cage and Hobbes would chase her around the house. It always came as such a surprise. There would be this flurry of activity as Hobbes stood guard in front of whatever piece of furniture Sable was under. She'd stay somewhere for a while and then scurry somewhere else with the cat in hot pursuit. THE FERRET'S LOOSE!!! The only person who could rescue her was Jarrett. Truth be told, we miss all of our little weasels! (There was a picture of Sable and the boys on the bottom of the Casa Page but I changed it to the boys in front of the apple tree in 1997).
It's time to sign off. I'd better go out and get the newspapers BEFORE they get completely covered with snow! Bye for now, djb
It's already later that same day...
I just took this picture (2:30 p.m.) through the kitchen window. It's still snowing and the road looks like a ribbon because even though the snow plow keeps coming by and plows the road, the snow just continues to snow. It's very, very fine snow, like powdered sugar....but please, don't eat the yellow snow!
Here is the white orchid that I've kept going since last year. The reason I took this picture is because it's near the kitchen window and it just begged to be photographed. I put it out by the swimming pool this summer and then on December 2nd it bloomed. Now, believe it or not, it has another shoot on it for another bloom. Isn't it gorgeous? The answer to that question is YES!
Friday (January 30, 2004) - I can't believe it's finally Friday! It is SO COLD here today (right now 10 BELOW zero). I've been trying to get my new page (more pictures) updated but the stuff I have to do is so strange and confusing, I'm surprised it's working but apparently it is! Not much going on, just VERY VERY VERY COLD. That seems kind of redundant but that is what we're dealing with. I hope the youngsters are wearing something on their heads today because a person loses 90% of their body heat out of the top of their head - I'm not kidding!!! ha ha
Angel fountain that I got for my birthday from my folks
When my parents (we call them "the Bergs") came to visit in September, they gave me this fountain for my birthday to put out in Andrew & Jarrett's garden with the bench and flowers. We decided it was too nice to put outside, so I have it in the house. Hobbes thinks that it's his drinking fountain. I've been having some trouble with the pump lately but I think I have it figured out. If not, I guess I'll go to that pump store on Main Street and get a new one.
I'm trying to decide if the tracks that I saw outside the window in the snow are actually coyote tracks, but so far, I can't tell for sure. We've had quite a few coyote sightings lately....isn't that creepy? Well, I guess we are living in their front yards. Time to go and see if I can get this thing up and running. I don't think skill is involved in this webpage stuff any more, I think it's all pure luck. bye for now. See ya later, djb
Now it's afternoon... I decided to take a picture of the African violet that started to re-bloom. It was given to us last year by the Kaneland Krier staff. I'm beyond ecstatic whenever a plant blooms again. It's so pretty, don't you think?. Of course, the colors are Rochelle colors (purple and white - fight fight!). We still have no degrees. It's zero on my thermometer and minus 2 on Weather Bug so basically, it's still pretty darn cold!!!!!! Growing flowers in the house during the winter, keeps
African violet from the Kaneland Krier staff.
me focused on my goal of one day planting every square inch of our yard in flowers, ornamental grasses and more flowers! Don't tell Bob. He knows that every year, I dig up another couple feet of grass and plant flowers, so eventually it will be all garden, anyway. When it gets a bit warmer outside, I'll take a picture of Andrew and Jarrett's white pine trees. For some reason, Andrew's tree is gigantic. This past summer, I moved Jarrett's tree near the road, so I'm sure one of these days, it'll be 40 feet tall! Must go now. Have many various and assorted chores to attend to (dangling preposition *Yikes!) ..............bye. Later, djb
Saturday (1/31/04) - It's almost noon here in the frozen northlands. Bob and I had big plans to go out early but they fell apart fairly quickly - there's always next week! Although, I do have to go to the store and stock up on supplies for the coming week. I've heard talk of a LOT of snow coming our way. Sure, it's going to warm up so it can snow some more. Oh, that's just great. I still haven't made a snowman or a snow angel so once I do that, I'll be sure to take a picture of it. I'm going to put my journal articles in an archive file and then start anew each week with my chatting and musing. Isn't it amazing that I can just go on and on and talk about nothing but if I put a picture in that seems to make it all worthwhile. What if we didn't have the weather to talk about.....there would surely be a lot of awkward silences. And what would people talk about in elevators. These are all rhetorical, doncha know. This is the picture I chose:
Picture of all the Bergs (and Burkholders) at the 50th anniversary celebration in Casselberry, FL in 1996. Notice the shorts and ties on Andrew and Jarrett. What a hoot! This February (which begins tomorrow) will be 58 years since the Bergs got married. Congrats to them!!!
FEBRUARY 1, 2003 - SUPER SUNDAY - It's all of 12 degrees here this morning. Why, it's a HEAT WAVE! I haven't gone out to get the newspapers yet because it's too cold and I wanted to drink some coffee first. Yesterday, I was scanning a lot of pictures of the boys and I found one that's really nice, so I changed it to black and white. Let me go and get it. Here it is:
My sweet boys, Jarrett and Andrew just before Jarrett got his contact lenses.
As I am typing this, there's a gentleman cardinal outside the window sitting in the bushes. That reminds me that I'd better get some of those sunflower seeds and put in the bird feeder. He's still out here. Apparently, he found something to munch on in the shrubs. I'm glad it's relatively less brutal, so I can watch the birds. For some reason, they are quite fascinating to me. I mean, HOW in the world do they stay warm out there in that cold, cold weather? Maybe that's the wrong question. Maybe the question is, HOW in the world do they keep from freezing? They're so tiny. All right, I'll go bring them some munchies. Time to go out - maybe I'll do some shoveling of the driveway, too. See ya later, djb
...during the Super Bowl...Well, this game isn't that exciting. Not like the game back in 1986 when the BEARS played. Excuse me, when the BEARS WON!! We're not here to cause no trouble, we're just here to do the Super Bowl shuffle! Maybe some day the Bears will get in the BIG game again. I'm not holding my breath for that day. ha ha
This morning, I did shovel the driveway, and I gave the birdies some sunflower seeds. It was pretty nice out today. Not quite as bad as it's been. Uncle Ron and Aunt Liz got back from their cruise in the Caribbean. They had a great time! There was a deck on their room. So in the mornings, they could have their coffee delivered to the room and sit outside and enjoy the ocean and watch the sun come up. Must be rough! Oh, did I mention that it was in the 80's?? Then, when they got back home, they added a new doggie to their family. Now besides Sophie, they have a little poodle named Duke. They used to be best friends but Sophie might have some sibling rivalry to contend with. Aunt Donna's going to have to go up and get acquainted one of these days. Yes, I do have a better picture of Sophie. Let me go and find it. Here it is:
Sophie wearing her Christmas color (with bells on it).
I guess I'm finished for tonight. Tomorrow, I'm going to figure out how to start a new page each week for my journal. Every time I try to do something new on the computer, it usually has a few unknown elements involved and a lot of curious twists and turns, but I suppose I could always use the "help" button. Yeah, right! Must go watch the rest of the game so I can see the commercials! see ya later, djb
It's 2/02/04 and I've started a new page today, but I wanted to put these pictures here from Uncle Ron since they are relevant to what I was talking about yesterday. I can't believe how cute Duke is. He looks just like Sophie's little brother. What a hoot. When Ron and Liz go on trips, they leave Sophie at Doggie's Day Inn. By pure coincidence, when Bob was in the hospital after his open heart surgery, I met Valerie, the owner! Just by chance. We started talking (because I talk to everyone, doncha know) and she said that she owned a dog inn. I asked her if she knew Sophie and she said that she did. I told her that I was Sophie's Aunt Donna. We had a wonderful conversation. She shared a metaphysical story about someone in Ohio. It was absolutely spine-tingling. Liz has Sophie on her lap and Duke is trying to climb on top of Liz's head (in the picture on the right). Anyway, Ron sent me some other pictures, so I'm going to post them here below:
Uncle Ron and Aunt Liz on their way to the sunset cruise. View from the SUNSET cruise (that's why they call it that!)
Ron and Liz in formal attire on the ship (love the dress!! love the tux!!)
