This is a Plano tool box. It's actually quite large but not too awfully heavy.
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Sunday, January 31, 2010 - Yesterday afternoon, Bob went in to see Avatar. I passed for a variety of reasons -- the main one being that I wasn't hungry for movie theater popcorn.

So when he got back from the movie, he wondered where I wanted to go to eat. Rosita's? Okay. Then by the time he came back downstairs, he decided that he'd rather just go to Blackberry since it's only a mile from our house. I didn't care as long as I don't have to do dishes.

As we drove into the parking lot, there were quite a few more cars than normal but our usual spot was open so we weren't too suspicious that something strange was going on inside!

When we walked in the door, it became instantly apparent that there was an event occurring that we didn't know about. It was a raffle for the Thunder. They're a softball feeder team for Waubonsee Community College. oh my!

It was quite the interesting event. They had 28 different raffle packages. One of the favorites (on the list four different times) was a 12 pound Ho-Ka turkey with a bottle of wine. Of course, we have a family connection to Ho-Ka. Aren't we somehow related to someone who's related to everyone else around here!?! Short answer: yes

The second item being raffled was a Plano toolbox. That's the one thing I wanted but we hadn't bought any tickets yet so I missed out and Tracy (who works at BBI during the day) won it. I was sooooooooooo jealous. Not really THAT jealous but it was the one thing I could use.

So, we finally bought a bunch of tickets. I put a few in for a flat iron package. It has something to do with straightening hair and stuff like that. I don't even use a hair dryer but I wanted to win it. Guess what? I did. I NEVER win anything at raffles but I won a flat iron and a bunch of hair products in a nice little basket.

After I picked it up and walked by Tracy, she said, "Oh, I wanted that so much."

I brought it back to our table and I said to Bob, "I'm going to trade this for Tracy's toolbox."

I walked over and said, "You want that flat iron thing?" YEAH. Okay, trade me your toolbox and you can have it. WHAT? For real. Yeah. So, we made the trade. We both got what we wanted. How hilarious is that?

That's the picture up there of my new toolbox. It doesn't have a lot of tools in it - which is fine. For some reason, it has a bunch of clamps and wire snippers. But I don't care. I have a lot of tools that would just love to live in that box. In fact, I'm going to put my pink hammer in it as soon as I get organized.

You just never know what's going to happen. see ya later, djb

Last night (January 29, 2010 at 5:33 p.m. CST) this was the almost full moon in the northeastern sky hiding behind the naked trees.
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This morning (7:35 a.m. CST) this is the sun rising in the east. If you look closely, you can see it behind the other naked trees in the woods.
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Saturday, January 30, 2010 - For some reason, I have an obsession with capturing celestial bodies as they come up above the horizon. Last night, I wanted to get a picture of the moon rising but I can't see that well to drive at night so I couldn't do it. One of these days....

Right now, the sun is up and it's snowing! When it rains and the sun is shining, we sometimes see a rainbow. So, when it snows when the sun is shining, why don't we see a snowbow? I've seen sun devils in the winter but never a snowbow. hmmm Something to ponder.

Because it's so dry, the snow is like powdered sugar all over everything. The flakes that are falling now are light and fluffy and huge. It's absolutely adorable. If it weren't so cold, I'd love winter.

see ya later, djb

Here's the same view as the Blogger Blog photo taken this morning at 7:02 a.m. with an outdoor temperature of 4 degrees and a wind chill of minus 150 (feels-like temp).
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Thursday, January 28, 2010 - As I was viewing this photo and saw the date, I realized that I typed the wrong date on the Blogger Blog. I'll go back and change it after I finish this and you'll never know the difference.

If you know me, you know about my heel situation in the winter. For some reason, my heels crack and the resulting crackage acts like razor blades on my socks. By the end of winter, all of my socks have holes in the bottom. Extremely weird.

So the other day, I decided to put Norwegian hand lotion on my feet and then I put plastic baggies on them and put my socks on. It's starting to ameliorate the effects of the harsh winter attacks on my feet.

The funniest part is when I first put them on and try to walk like a normal person. YIKES! My feet slip and slide as I'm walking. I have to be very, very careful walking down the stairs because it's sort of like walking on ice.

But the good news is that it is working. I'm pretty sure that because I'm half Norwegian, the only lotion that actually works on me would be something from Norway. Well, I'm not even sure if is from there but I'll pretend it is.

It is time to go. Skol. later, djb

Here's the view out of the window this morning at 7:10 a.m. CST -- this is what it actually looked like -- foggy with a very slight drizzle -- but you can see that the snow is starting to melt a little bit.
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Saturday, January 23, 2010 - The funniest thing I've heard lately is that we're going to get warmer for a few days -- up to 40 degrees. That is hilarious! We are soooooooooo warped by the cold weather that we think 40 degrees is warm. Yikes!

Everyone's all excited that the snow is going to melt. That is NOT a good thing. We need the snow to cover the earth and insulate it like a blankie. For the grass to show itself in January is an abomination. Maybe that's a little harsh, but it's true.

This is it for now. A grey day all around us. see ya, djb

Here's our ice-covered driveway this morning at 6:42 a.m. I wanted to get a picture of the outdoor light shining on the ice. cool.
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Thursday, January 21, 2010 - Yesterday, they got everyone whipped up into a frenzy with their Severe Weather Alerts about the freezing ice that would envelope us in a frozen world from which there would be no escape. Wasn't that bad around here.

When I went out to pick up the newspapers, Joseph was walking down the driveway across the street to wait for his bus. He couldn't believe that they would actually have school today. Even the children were frightened. Although I will have to say that he enjoyed a few slips and slides down their driveway.

Now, it's cloudy and cold and yukky. But at least we don't have any more FREEZING FOG. hahahaa bye. see ya later, djb

Here's Jarrett's in-line skating helmet that I keep on hand in case a tornado warning is issued for our area.
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Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - It's not nearly as cloudy this morning as it has been - still below freezing but certainly not brutal. They're still talking about freezing fog. yikes!

The reason I put Jarrett's tornado warning helmet in as the picture today is because I just heard about an earthquake near the Cayman Islands (and I want to sing the song that's in their commercials, for some reason - must be a worm).

Since we've all become "instant news" junkies, I looked around on-line and didn't find anything about the most recent earthquake. I'd just heard it on the radio (old fogey technology). Plus, last night both mother and I had heard about earthquakes near Guatemala and Argentina. Or did we? Couldn't find much about them either.

Finally, I did a search and found one of the scariest websites I've ever seen - it's to the USGS (United States Geological Survey). Here's a link to the most recent earthquakes in the WORLD:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/region/N_America_eqs.php

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/region/N_America_eqs.php

(if the link up above doesn't work, here's a plain one)

You will NOT believe it. It's unbelievable to realize that all of this shaking is going on in the world and we don't even know about it unless it's huge and devastating. Check out Yellowstone. What's going on there? This is very strange. later, djb

Here's a picture of the frost-covered trees across the street yesterday morning. It must be some of the woods in that new movie, Avatar. Pretty cosmic.
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Monday, January 18, 2010 - Late this morning, I had planned to drive into Elburn. It's a good thing I didn't go because, all of a sudden (and that's how it always happens) my vision started getting a blurry thread across it which I ignored for a moment. Then, I realized what was happening...

...optical migrane.

If you've never had one, it's hard to explain but it involves bright threads of light (kind of like a string of white Christmas lights) that are flashing when you close your eyes but they're also flashing when you open them, too. It's just does NOT go away on its own. You can't wish it away because I've tried that in the past.

My standard protocol is to grab a handful of Advil and go to sleep for two hours. At first, I always see the flashing strings but then I go to sleep and when I wake, they're gone.

It has absolutely nothing to do with my other eye problems, and it's not a detached retina. I've had this happen to me for the last twenty years. You can't predict it. You NEVER know when it's going to happen. But it's very disturbing and very creepy. It's like a seizure in your eye.

It's been almost an hour since I woke up and I'm finally starting to feel less feeble. Wait a minute, I just realized that this is the third weird (rare) medical problem that I've been plagued with in my life. How utterly bizarre. later, djb

This is the view out of the living room window this morning looking toward the northwest. It's blue and very cool looking.
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Sunday, January 17, 2010 - It's hard to believe, but there is a weather phenomenon occurring today that I've NEVER heard of in my entire life. It's called FREEZING FOG.

Who says everything's already been said before? That's funny. It's so interesting and weird out there today. Now, I just heard from the weather guy on the radio that the previously forecasted high temperature of 36 has been downgraded to only 33 degrees today. Not surprised by that.

Better go and see what's up with my coffee pot. I think there's some more coffee in it. bye, djb

SAD PLANT STORY: Here's the red passion vine on Berg's fence in the back yard. When I originally planted it, Grandpa dug the hole and I put the plant in the ground. It froze last year and has frozen again this year.
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Another SAD Plant Story: Here's one of the crotons that lives in the living room during the winter. You can see he's getting new growth because he was forgotten but NOT frozen - although you can see the snow outside so it's a good thing that he's not out there.
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Saturday, January 16, 2010 - While I was in Florida in November, Bob kept all of my plants alive. When I got back, I apparently didn't give this guy enough water. He and his brother Croton do sit near the hot air register so they dry out fairly quickly.

One day, I looked over and ALL of his leaves were drooping down. I practically had a breakdown myself. So, I gave him water and CPR. Then, once he gained strength, most of his leaves fell off. It was quite a sight to see. I should've taken a picture.

Anyway, I've noticed in the past week or so, that he's getting new growth. It's very exciting because I felt SO bad about forgetting to water him and causing him distress.

When I saw the crotons this morning, it reminded me of something Grandma said last night about their plants in Florida. Frozen. Dead. Ugly. Sad. Pitiful. It's just wrong when the tropical plants freeze in Florida. It's not supposed to get that cold down there.

At least, maybe some of their plants will come back. Pretty sure that the red passion vine will not have survived. Wait a minute. I took a picture of that when I was down there. I'm going to go and find it and put it up above. see ya later, djb P.S. That's what I did.

I took this picture of the deer hooves from Andrew & Jarrett's bathroom upstairs. The ones along the bottom are HUGE. They're four times (maybe more) bigger than any of the other prints in the yard. He walked from the back of the yard along the north side of the house and then across the street to the woods.
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Thursday, January 14, 2009 - Yesterday, I took this picture of the BIG hoof prints. It may not be obvious at a cursory glance how huge they are because it's certainly not easy to get into the yard this time of year to get close to where this big guy walked. It's really amazing.

We're supposed to be getting a January thaw for the next few days so all of the tracks will melt away. That's the one reason I don't care to see the temperatures get above 32 degrees. It's winter, just keep it cold but not brutal. Remember, we live in NORTHERN Illinois.

This is it for now. see ya later, djb

This is the view outside the kitchen window at approximately 6:47 a.m. this morning. If you look really close at the upper right quadrant, you can see God's fingernail. I just LOVE that!! What a gorgeous wintry snowscape.
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Sunday, January 10, 2010 - When I got up this morning, the temperature outside was -6 degrees. They said it was -11 in Aurora (which is really Sugar Grove). I also heard that the wind chilllllll in Rochelle was 28 below zero. Yikes!!!

We had our Berg Illinois Christmas yesterday. A little later, I'll put some pictures on Andrew and Jarrett's website -- once my fingers warm up. Everyone got here around 1 p.m. and we had a very, very nice time -- okay, we had a great time.

Everyone gets along so well, and we love to chat about everything under the sun. If we disagree about something or another, no one gets upset or rankled, it's just that person's opinion and we move on. Obviously, if they disagree with us, they must be misinformed. hahahaaa

That's the Berg way: You're entitled to your opinion as long as you agree with what we think.

I'm laughing out loud. We're not that bad. Are we? Don't answer that!!!

Gotta go. I had a few issues this morning getting connected to the internet. Thankfully, it all worked out okay, otherwise, you wouldn't be reading this. snow & ice ya later, djb

This is what our driveway looked like at 6:47 a.m. this morning. I chose this picture because there's an orb in it. haha You can see the fox tracks in the snow. Hope he has his fur coat on!
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Friday, January 8, 2010 - Thankfully, we didn't get the full brunt of the storm that was predicted by every single weather forecaster around these parts. Not complaining, mind you.

This morning, I definitely feel better. Whatever I had was annoying but apparently, not fatal. Two days ago when I went to the store, I was walking down the health food aisle and I saw a whole bunch of cranberry juice -- each alleging healthful properties.

Whatever sort of disturbance I had, I figured that real, unsweetened cranberry juice HAD to be good for me. WOW! Have you ever had real cranberry juice? Yikes!!! It is soooooooooo sour that you know it has to be good for you.

I also heard that grape juice is good for your memory. Hmmmm, I know I'd heard that before but I forgot. hahaa So, I'm going to add that to my juice list, if I can remember to drink it...

Then, I started thinking about taking Bragg's vinegar so that I don't get arthritis. That's also pretty tart. And I do have some in the refrigerator so it's not like I have to go out and get it.

Seems to me that most maladies can be cured by natural means if we listen to our bodies. Because our bodies are smarter than we are. Think about all the germs that we're exposed to all the time. It's scary, yet miraculous, that any of us manage to fight off those invaders.

Especially, when you see depictions of viruses invading an unsuspecting nose and multiplying exponentially until a person is overcome with an illness. I saw that on Dr. Oz. It was creepy.

Allrighty. Gotta go. This morning, the garage was warmer than the house. That's funny. ~djb

Here's the snow plow going by at 6:50 a.m. this morning. The flash is reflected in the window. It was the first time I saw him. I'm sure he's been kept VERY busy.
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Thursday, January 7. 2010 - The snow is SO pretty....too bad it causes such problems for everyone....well, not for me. I always get prepared before the storms come and stock up on stuff.

Yesterday, I did not feel well all day. I won't go into the details but it was an achy, feverish feeling although I had no temperature once again. This morning, I feel less bad -- still not 100%.

We're supposed to be having the Berg Kids Christmas at our house this Saturday. Hopefully, we'll be able to pull it off. I'm always leery of the roads and the weather. Especially, for Ron and Liz since it appears that they may be getting as much snow as we'll be getting.

It's funny that the weather forecasters have to make a guess at the eventual total amounts that we're getting because they don't really know. The last time we got 10 inches of snow, they all had predicted 1-3 inches. oops! we were wrong.

This time, they're all saying a foot of snow. Does that mean that we're really going to get 40 inches of snow???? haha? That's not funny -- I sure hope NOT. I'll keep taking pictures because that's what I do. later, djb

This is a photo of my bottle of Dorzolamide HCl/Timolol Maleate, aka generic Cosopt, that caused the pressure in my right eye to go from 18 to 32.
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Tuesday, January 5, 2010 - When I started taking this nasty stuff on July 29, 2009, I was so concerned and leery that I actually wrote the date on the pharmacy bottle that it came in.

It didn't become a problem at first, and I took it for approximately 3 weeks. The evening of August 17, 2009, my eye finally couldn't take it anymore and started a downward spiral (actually an upward spiral) from which I've never really recovered.

Right now, I'm taking two separate drops that mirror what is in Cosopt and it keeps my pressure at a constant -- around 20. That's not particularly ideal but at least it isn't fluctuating wildly.

Yesterday, I talked to a young man from the FDA (Federal Drug Administration). He was calling in reference to the complaint I registered with my Pharmacist on September 5, 2009. Gee! Only took FOUR months!!!!!!!!!

Very nice young man. He was wondering IF I still had the offending bottle of nasty drops. Of course, I do. Although at first, I did throw them in the garbage only to later retrieve them "just in case" I needed the evidence.

Apparently, the drug company wants the bottle, and they will contact me to retrieve it by sending an SASE so that I can ship it back to them -- gladly!!! However, I wonder why the FDA doesn't want it so that they can test it and see what's wrong with it???

Maybe that's not in their business model. It does seem counter-intuitive to give it back to the perpetrators. Of course, I'm just a citizen, what the hell do I know!

If I had been smart, I wouldn't have taken it in the first place. I would've listened to my inner voice -- "Don't take it. Don't touch it. It's BAD."

I smell fresh coffee. Gotta go. bye, djb

My son Jarrett - one of the last pictures I took of him (with Andrew) two weeks before he died.
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Sunday, January 3, 2010 - Happy Birthday, Jarrett. I don't know where you are any more (no area code, no zip code, no address) but you were born on this day 22 years ago. It's 5 below zero right now but the day you were born, I think it was around 20 BELOW zero. Yeah, it was really cold for your arrival on the planet.

Wish you were here! Love you and miss you, Mom

I like this picture of the full moon yesterday morning (1/1//2010) because it's hiding behind the naked trees. That cracks me up, sorry! It must be my sophmoric sense of humor.
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Saturday, January 2, 2010 - This morning when I came downstairs to put my eyedrops in just after 6 a.m., the temperature outside was minus 2 degrees (tuba low zero). haha Then, when I checked my website, it was 5 BELOW zero. The Aurora paper online was also 5 BELOW zero.

At some point, it doesn't really matter how many degrees below zero it is until it gets extremely cold like twenty below zero......fact is, it's COLD. It's VERY COLD. Okay, it's BRUTAL.

I really feel sorry for Denny and Avis. They got home last night from two weeks in Florida where the temperature was cooler than normal but not this horrible. Apparently, their garage door had some ice on it and was difficult to get open. OMG There was talk of Dennis having to smack the door to get it moving. I'm awaiting his version of the story.

Better go up and make some more coffee -- maybe I'll pour it on my feet. Plus, I may have to go out sooner than later and get the papers -- that would involve some major bundling up. brr, djb

Here's the full moon/blue moon behind the naked trees on 12/31/2009. When Bob got home, he commented on how amazing the moon looked, so of course, I grabbed my camera and took a picture through the window.
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Friday, January 1, 2010 - Here's the full moon in the sky toward the east at approximately 5:35 p.m. yesterday evening. For some unknown reason, I LOVE to take pictures of the moon.

In fact, I have a picture of the first full moon in December on the 2nd when I was in Florida. It's around here somewhere. haha

Better go. Have to put a picture of the full moon setting this morning when I got up. later, djb

Here's the sun setting yesterday at approximately 4:15 p.m. I looked out the window and caught it just before it disappeared behind the trees.
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Friday, January 1, 2010 - I wanted to get the above picture on here yesterday afternoon but I didn't do it. The main reason was that I knew the full moon would be rising soon and I thought it would be cool to get a picture of the sun setting and moon rising on the same day.

So, that's what I'm going to do next -- put the full BLUE moon in a post after this one. HAPPY NEW YEAR. see ya later, djb