Have I Mentioned Busy Day Lately?

Thursday Part 2:
Had a short early post because I wasn't home yet. We found something at a garage sale for a friend of ours and I stopped at their house to drop it off on the way home and ended up staying there for dinner and then helped them with their computer/talked until 10:00pm. So it was a long and busy day but at least tomorrow is Friday! Yea!

I didn't mention what happened last night on the way home. Some of you may realize what the reputation of our police force is like and some may not. We live in a small town between other larger towns which is good in many respects and not so good in others. It used to be in our town that we had our own police force and they were known to be very strict with speed limits and pretty much everything else too. Some time ago the police force was abolished and was combined with a neighboring town to create a new police force and the new chief of police didn't have that same philosophy about trying to get revenue for the town and ticketing people for going one mile over the speed limit (I've heard many stories through the years.)

So we've noticed through the years that we've lived here (6 1/2 so far) that traffic patterns are becoming more and more like other towns where if you aren't speeding they ride your behind until you turn or speed up. Personally it bothers me because this is our town and I don't really like to see everyone flying through here. And actually it's gotten really bad in our subdivision to the point many of us are complaining to the village and the police department that we need to do something to slow people down on our actual street and the street that comes in off of Hainesville Rd. There are a lot of kids in our subdivision and quite often some unsupervised kids in the street even and the last thing anyone wants to have happen is that one of these kids gets hurt or worse.

So anyway, with all this in mind along with the fact that I have a loaner car that I'm still getting used to I'll tell you what happened last night. We came home from dance class around 9:30pm or so and since it was Memorial Day on Monday our trash, recycle and yard waste pickup was delayed a day and would be coming on Thursday this week. I didn't have any yard waste stickers to put on our yard waste cans and needed to go get some. So I basically dropped Julie and Grace off and went to the local 7-11 to get some. After I had bought them I realized I didn't have any more yard waste bags to put the grass clippings in and I couldn't remember if the place I wanted to go to buy them from was open until 10:00pm or not, so I used the web feature on my cell phone and was able to look up their hours (free compared to calling 411) and determined that I could easily make it there before they closed. So I went out to Fox Lake and picked those up and was heading home. I was about 6/10 of a mile from my house and going eastbound on Washington St approaching the intersection of Hainesville Rd. The light was red so I stopped in the right turn lane since I was turning southbound onto Hainesville Rd to get to our subdivision which is only about 1000 ft south of Washington St. The light turned green and I went and after almost completing the turn I floored it (keeping in mind that I only had 1000 ft to cover and I never got going very fast.) Also keep in mind that this car has traction control and the tires don't really squeal when you give it a lot of gas, it just goes. Also keep in mind that this car is front wheel drive and I had just come to a complete stop at a stop light. After flooring it, I noticed the squad car sitting there on my right only about 200 ft in front of me, and as soon as I saw him, his lights went on. So I pulled right in front of him, he didn't even have to move his squad car. Maybe this bothered him, I don't know. But he definitely had an attitude with me.

He comes up to the car with his hands on his hips and says condescendingly "And just what are you doing?" I responded that this isn't my car and I was just messing around. His reply was "I'd call that reckless driving - you came around that corner sideways." I didn't answer the way I wanted to, but instead said that I wasn't sideways and I wouldn't consider it reckless driving. His reply was "Oh so now you want to argue with (or question - can't remember) me? Maybe I should just arrest you now." I then said that that was his decision. He said "No, that's your decision." A little later he says "What do you think I only pull over orange cars?" So anyway, he takes my license and proof of insurance and goes back to his squad car to run everything through the computer. And big surprise, he doesn't find anything. At this point I'm wishing I had MY plates on the car because they say U.S. Marine Corps on them.

He comes back and says "Is this a dealer car (obviously he knows this because the plates are registered to Sessler Ford)?" I said yes it is and he asks "Do you work for the dealership?" I said no that we had a leased car that we turned in and the car we ordered isn't in yet so they're loaning us this car. He asks "Do they know you're beating the crap out of their car?" I said they must expect at least a little of that. He said to "tell them that he would never buy a car from them." I'm thinking alright, and??? So then he says "Well I think you're a little old to be doing these things. If you were 17 I might understand, but you're past that stage now." Again I'm thinking okay..... So he says to stop doing this and that "you can't do that in this town." I said I know, and that I live here. And he says "I know" quite emphatically. And that was it. Personally I think he let me go because he didn't really have anything to write me up for. Which would have been all the more interesting if he would have followed through with the whole I can arrest you right now threat.

I felt like I was harassed. Especially since I wasn't speeding. The only violation I might have qualified for was spinning the tires, but like I said the car has traction control and they don't really spin. A friend of ours who is a Lake County Sheriff's Officer said he was just bored. A friend of his who should soon be a Lake County Sheriff's Deputy asked if the guy was short. I said yes, how would you know that. He said it's short guy syndrome where they've been abused all through their lives for being short and now they take it out on everyone else since they have all this "power". Which is funny because another friend asked the same question. I said yes he was, and why? She said that she ALWAYS sees him pulling people over on Hainesville Rd.

And I don't think he is one of the officers that routinely patrols our neighborhood. I'm quite friendly with them and wave and talk to them as often as they drive by. Another friend suggested I report the treatment I received to the police chief and I'm thinking I'll ask a friend that works for the village if they thought that was a good idea. Julie thinks it's a bad idea because then this police officer will have a vendetta against me and always be on the lookout to find anything I might do wrong. I'm getting to the age now where I say who cares, I've got nothing to hide and I pay your salary.

Rainy day

Grace slept in again today (big surprise), as she got up at the time we needed to go to dance class. So we got to dance class only about 1 minute late. Then after class we were going garage saling with my SIL but she had a private lesson to teach first so we left about an hour after class was over. We had to eat lunch first and then we went on our way. It was raining on and off while we were out shopping. Grace found a new stuffed animal (big surprise--just add it to the pile) and a shirt for the fall. The only problem with the beanie baby was that it had a small hole in it and the little beans (plastic pellets) were coming out in the new loaner car. So now I have to clean the pellets out of there. I'll add more later...I've got to eat dinner soon.

It's warm out

Today was a hot day - 87 and quite humid. And of course Grace wanted to go outside and play. I finally let her because I couldn't take the begging any more. I let her and her friend who was here for a play date go outside and run through the sprinkler. But I don't think either of them really like going through the sprinkler so it didn't last long.

I made them wait a few minutes while I mowed the front yard. Since I need to mow the grass and I was going to get it wet with the sprinkler, I mowed it real quick before I turned it on. So they went up and down the sidewalk on Grace's bicycle and scooter about 2 or 3 times and then I turned it on for them. They were happy and playing for about 10-15 minutes and then they got bored. So they went to play in the back yard and I put everything away. Then about 10 minutes later Grace's friend's mom came to pick her up.

Then since she was hot, she wanted to watch TV. I turned on Fetch with Ruff Ruffman, if you haven't seen it it's a cute show on PBS. It was actually a new episode that had recorded on our Tivo. Then when it was over there was another episode on live TV. So she was really enjoying it. Then one of the neighbors came over for a few minutes to play and then Grace went back outside to play with some other neighbors. Then we all went up to Antioch so Julie could practice the "Mom's dance" for the recital.

I was right about the baby robins, they are gone. Didn't see any of them today. That's amazing to think they weren't even two weeks old and they aren't even in the nest anymore, wow! Alright, I'm tired so I gotta go.

Tuesday 2.0

I forgot to mention that the baby birds are all gone. We came home from my dad's house last night and there was only one baby left. Grace and I got up on a chair to double check that there really was only one left, and Grace started to climb right up there so the last one flew up out of the nest and onto the pergola. And they weren't there tonight when I let Rosco out, so they must be gone for good - cute little things. Here are the last pictures I took just this morning. Click on them for larger versions.

Tuesday

Grace slept in today too. I think she's going through a growth spurt or something. She hasn't slept this much in a long time. But she isn't really eating all that much. I think she's getting tired of eating the three things she likes to eat. But that's all she'll eat, so what else can I do.

We had breakfast and went to gymnastics today. While she was doing that I had brought my bike with me and went for a ride. I went a little over 5 miles and averaged about 9 mph. It was hot today. It didn't feel that hot when I was riding but when I was done I realized how much I had been sweating. Then we went over to Highland St which is where my Grampa built his first house. It was a small street, but I have no idea which one he built. Several of the houses were for sale. I had ridden my bike past my great-grandma's house when I was riding and on the way to see Highland St I stopped to let Grace have a glance at it through the car window. She seemed to understand whose it was.

Then we got some lunch and went over to my Dad's house to put his files from his old computer onto his new computer. We stayed for dinner and then came home. Not a very exciting day, but that's alright. Julie went to the Cub's game tonight, and just her luck they lost. My Dad, Grace and I are going on Sunday when they play Atlanta. Alright, I'm tired, so I've got to go.

Memorial Day

Today was a great day except that we didn't get to go to the Memorial Day Parade. Grace slept too long. But we finally got to go for a good bike ride. All of us went with our friends so there were 7 of us all together. We went for just over 10 miles and our average speed was about 8 mph. Nothing especially good, but we had the kids with us and it's our first big ride of the year. Now we just need to keep riding.

Our friends have a "tag-along" or a bike attachment that goes behind your bike that the kids can pedal and help out and feel like they're really riding. So Grace and her friend were on there for the first 5 or 6 miles and then we stopped to rest and they were getting tired, so they both got in the trailer that I was pulling behind my bike. Wow what a difference. I was getting tired quickly with the extra weight; they weigh more than they did last year. But that'll help me get in shape quicker, so it was good.

After that we were pretty tired, so we just took it easy. The robin babies are getting really big and I don't think they'll be around much longer. They are fighting for position in the nest and just really not fitting too well. At least the momma was able to feed them today. Yesterday was, I'm sure, pretty traumatic for her with all of us in the back yard there.

I did work on my ASP.net 2.0 but was having problems once I actually told it I was creating a web site. As long as I was just writing the files I wanted and saving them it was working great. But after I created a web site for it to store everything in, it adds extra functionality to everything, and apparently is quite touchy with changing file names. So I'm thinking I'll just delete it and start over tomorrow on that part. I think that's about everything for today so I'm gonna go.

Picnic Results are In

Well the picnic has come and gone now and I'd say it was a success. We had 41 people here including us. The only thing is we didn't buy any extra burgers, and we did run out of food, but only after most everyone had eaten. There were a few people that came pretty late and we had no food to offer except dessert. So they may not have had a good time and Julie and I felt bad, but it's too late now.

We really upset the momma robin whose nest is on our back patio where we had the picnic. She couldn't feed her four little babies the entire afternoon. I'll check on them tomorrow. I haven't taken a picture in the last couple of days, but here is a picture from the 25th. They grow really fast.



We got the house cleaned in plenty of time and Julie went to get the beer and pop. I started cooking the bratwurst while I was cleaning the floors and then started the grill at 12:30 to cook the corn. Apparently the corn was really good as it was all gone and I didn't get to try it. The day turned out just beautiful; a high in the 70's, lots of sun and just a great day. Even our friends that are moving stopped by and we're going to plan a new dinner get together since we didn't actually get together yesterday.

No time for much of anything else today. Tomorrow we're going to the Memorial Day Parade in Round Lake. Should be fun - Grace always has fun at a parade! Hopefully we can get a good bike ride in since it's supposed to be nice out tomorrow too. But the house is a disaster after having those many people coming in and out, so maybe I'll be cleaning again.

Picnics

Spent the majority of the day today getting ready for our picnic tomorrow. We got most of the house cleaned up, most toys put away (they come back out immediately) and the carpet vacuumed and shampooed. Plus I got the groceries bought. I still need to clean the hardwood floors and start cooking; boil the brat's and cook the corn. But we didn't buy any pop or beer, so we may have to run out and buy a few things tomorrow yet. Looks like the weather should hold out and it should be a nice sunny and fairly warm day.

Some friends of ours are moving out of the country and we wanted to take them to dinner tonight, but they were busy packing and couldn't make it. Maybe they can come to our picnic tomorrow. We're going to have to get a bigger house for these picnics. Looks like we will have a minimum of 34 people plus 4 more who might stop by and 8 more we mentioned it to today. Sure hope we have enough food. That's always my biggest fear. Maybe I'll grab more burgers tomorrow when I'm buying the beer and pop.

I'm moving along on my book about ASP.net 2.0 Programming. Made it through chapter 5 this morning while Julie was at dance class and Grace was still sleeping. Now it's getting to the fun stuff where you actually start doing things that create a web site.

Finally got to talk to my Mom tonight. Haven't talked to her in a while - probably a month. She seems to be doing good. She bought a Toyota Prius a few months ago and Mom said that my step-Dad bought one just a few days ago. So they are a two Prius family now. Would have never guessed that as he has driven a Rav-4 forever. Mom said she's been getting between 45-50 mpg and my step-Dad has been getting more since he does more city driving. I can't wait to get my new Escape. It should be in no longer than 3 1/2 weeks from now.

We're driving the loaner now which is a 2007 Ford Edge. It is a nice car; great ride, excellent acceleration and lots of bells and whistles but the fuel mileage isn't that great and the headrests aren't very comfortable. I do kind of like the color - Ford calls it copper, here's a picture.

But again, I can't wait for my new car. With gas at the price it is, I need the fuel mileage. I wish I could have the profits of one of the big oil companies for just one day. Boy would that change things in my life.

Alright, well I'm tired and must get to bed.

Another busy day

Well today was another busy day. Grace slept in to 10:15 this morning which was nice, but that made the day shorter. Her friend came over before I could jump in the shower, so I had to postpone that for a while. Instead, I got breakfast for Grace and checked my email. Grace's friends mom called to see when her daughter should come home and we talked for a few minutes and then Julie called. We finalized the menu for the picnic! Another thing I can check off the list. That was good.

Then Grace was done with breakfast and her and her friend were out in the backyard playing on the swing. I asked them to come in mainly because I wanted to shower, but I also said that they didn't ask if they could go outside. They are both the same age and suddenly think they don't need to listen to everything us parents say, especially when they are together. So they came in and I locked the front door and told them not to go outside while I was in the shower (I'm sure you know where this is going already.) So I get in the shower and "big surprise" it gets really quiet in the house. I get out, get dressed and go to check on them and I find that the "escape artists" have figured out how to open the gate in the backyard and have moved the party over to her friends house. I was not happy! But they were alright and I guess that's the bottom line. I'll learn from my mistake and lock the back door too if this ever happens again.

So Grace stayed there for lunch and I had a little free time. But it wasn't long as both girls come in with another neighbors two dogs. Our dog Rosco wasn't so happy and was ready to attack. I put him outside and was trying to ascertain what the girls were telling me with their excitement. Apparently the dogs had escaped from their yard and went into Grace's friends backyard so they brought them here since we have a fenced yard (actually pretty smart.) But it couldn't go on for too long as Rosco is outside barking the whole time wanting to get at these two dogs. Unfortunatley, as you would suspect, this neighbor wasn't home but the back door wasn't locked. So I called the neighbor at work and left a message that we were just going to put them in his house. So we got leashes on the two of them and took them home. When I got back the neighbor called and was glad we had done what we did.

So then the girls went back to Grace's friends house to finish lunch, but were only there for about 30 minutes and were right back at our house. Then it was time for Grace's friend to take a nap, so her Mom came over to get her. Then we had a few minutes with just Grace and I and then another neighbor came over to play. They played for about a half an hour and then Julie called and said she had gotten off work early - yea! So I told Grace and her friend that we needed to go because we were taking my car back to the dealer to give it back.

So we drove to the dealer and turned the car in and Julie met us there. We turned it in with 23,993 miles on it - 7 miles shy of how many we could put on it without a penalty - Yes! Then we drove to the dealership where we ordered our new car from and got the loaner they were giving us and came home. So that's all taken care of and I can drive places again - thank goodness.

I got a letter from Lisa Madigan the Illinois Attorney General today and what it said sounded good. I'll have to write about that another day though, because it's a long story and I need to get to bed. But at least this way, I won't forget.

Busy Day

Well today was a busy day. Grace went to Dance class with her friend and then another friend took her home for a play date. So I had most of the day to myself. I got the grass mowed and pulled some weeds. I got tired of pulling them and resorted to spraying them especially since it seems to work better anyway. Looks like I picked a good day to mow as it's now raining.

eBay was having a special today on their listing fees, so I added an extra American Eagle Silver Dollar that I had. Then I was working on my Windows Server 2003 installation again. It seems to be all installed, I'm just not sure how it works and I'm not sure how the licensing works either. Hopefully my brother-in-law can shed some light on that on Sunday. I didn't work on ASP.net at all today. And I didn't ride my bike either.

Still have a lot to do to be ready for the picnic on Sunday although I did work on the menu today. I still need to finish that, clean the house and till the garden. I need to get my plants ordered too for the garden. Probably should get that taken care of this weekend so I'm not planting too late again like I did last year. Then I didn't get much if any crop from some of the plants. Plus somehow I need to get to the grocery store to buy the food. That'll have to wait for Saturday I suppose, even though nobody likes to go grocery shopping on the weekend.

I'm afraid I've done a terrible thing. Yesterday was Grace's last day of preschool and when I went to pick her up (after I had gone to the library) I was a little early. So I was reading a book while I waited for her class to be over. Then I went in to get her and they had a whole stack of papers to send home with her. There was a scrapbook they had made with different little hand-made projects Grace had done throughout the year, some with hand prints and stuff like that. Plus there was her certificate and a progress report and a couple of other things she had done. Well there is a park right next to her school and Grace wanted to go down the slide so I agreed and while I was waiting, I put her papers on the bench by the slide. Then when I finally pried Grace away from the slide to go to the car, I think I left them there. I went back in the evening and there was nothing there and no papers were anywhere in the park either.

So today I called the school and they said nobody turned it in. Now I guess my only chance at reprieve is that someone picked it up with the intention of returning it later. There is a small chance that I left them in my neighbors car that I borrowed yesterday, but I was pretty thorough about taking everything out of his car when I was done with it. Maybe I could call all the parents on our class phone list tomorrow and ask. I need to ease my mind. If I just would have brought her backpack like we always do this wouldn't have happened. I didn't bring it because I thought it's the last day, probably don't need it. Stupid mistake. I just really hope we find it.

First blog post

I thought it was time I started blogging so that far-away family and friends can keep up with our day-to-day happens/turmoil/etc.

The days of driving the Freestyle are officially over. I only have about 16 miles left before I reach the magical number (24,000 miles) and will have to start paying by the mile since it's a lease. The dealership is only around 10 miles away, so that isn't a problem. Good news is that we're turning it in on Friday (2 days), bad news is I haven't really done anything except take Grace to her activities for the last two weeks. I'm getting a little stir crazy with not being able to go anywhere.

And you'd think that since the weather's been nice and gas prices are so high (lowest by me is $3.57 as of today) that I'd be able to ride my bicycle, but I had a flat on Monday. I built it up all morning with Grace after school and we came home and the front tire was as flat as a pancake. So I thought: no problem, just air it up. Ha-ha-ha - no, didn't help. Gaping hole in the tube. And I can't drive anywhere to get it fixed. No places close enough to walk to, so I'll just wait until I can use another car to get it fixed. Well, my neighbor let me borrow his car today and I thought I'd go and get the tire fixed while Grace was in school (her last day of preschool until the fall.) But the bike shop we go to - M&M Bikes in Mundelein - didn't open until 11:00am which is when Grace gets out of school. So I went to the library while Grace was in school and then her and I went to the bike shop after school and got it fixed. Turns out it was a spoke that put the gaping hole in the tube as the inner protector that covers the spoke holes had shifted and allowed the spoke to touch the tube - bummer!

So anyway, I now have two tires that work and my bike is ready to go. I'm planning on using it tomorrow (Thursday) to go somewhere, just because I have to go somewhere. I can't stay at home all day. But I do have things to do at home. I need to cut the grass as we're hosting our "Somewhat Annual Memorial Day Picnic" on Sunday and I want the yard to look good. Probably should pull some weeds in the flower beds too. Also need to get to cleaning the house and we still haven't planned the food we're going to serve and therefore can't tell anyone what to bring yet. Good news is the RSVP's have been coming in pretty darn strong and no "no's" yet.

I'm trying to learn ASP.net 2.0 and since I only have Windows XP Home on my computer, I don't have and can't install IIS which allows you to run ASP.net files (basically a web server.) So I've been using the Cassini Web Server that Microsoft provides on the asp.net website but it doesn't do everything that IIS does. So I've been playing with Windows Server 2003 on a spare computer and trying to figure everything out so that I can run IIS on there and have access to all of it's features. I'll let you know. Hopefully my brother-in-law can help as he uses Windows Server 2003 all day at work. I was talking to him tonight and maybe he can help me a little at our picnic on Sunday! I'm actually kind of excited - learning can be fun!

Alright, this will have to be enough for my first post as it's late and I need some sleep.