CURRENT JOURNAL - (began on January 16, 2006)
Tuesday - January 31, 2006 - No, I can't believe it either that this month is almost gone! Wow. Time does fly. I got an email correction from Grandpa about one of the pictures that I misidentified in the black and white Minnesota pictures. I put the correction on the page in RED. Thankfully, my loyal readers know what this "old" stuff is!! haha Thanks, Grampy! Right now, I have to go into town....and it's getting late. So, I'm going to pop in a picture here of Jarrett's kindergarten class. Maybe I shrunk it too much. I'll check it out later and see if I can see who is who. These are the kids who are graduating from high school this year. Amazing. Time does fly by whether you want to or not. bye bye for now, djb
Jarrett's kindergarten class at Kaneland Elementary School
Monday - January 30, 2006 - One more day and I'll be starting a new journal page and this baby will go into the archives! I spent hours yesterday scanning the old pictures. Of course, the one I'm looking for (young Glen in his sailor outfit), I can't find. But I'll find it ones of these days. We think that the reason we took possession of the original sailor suit when we did was that after Grandma Burkholder (Winnie) died, they divided up her stuff. She died when Andrew was a baby. I remember that we drove up to Minnesota in my Volkswagen rabbit (the hopping car). Although Bob's relatives have a lot of old pictures (and some of them are REALLY old), they don't seem to have a list of everyone's names somewhere handy (note to self: write names on back of your own photos). I'm trying to stick a name here and a name there as I come across them. You have to have someone in your family who is crazy about genealogy, plus being a little OC helps out. haha I put the old Minnesota pictures in the link on the home page (Old MN Photos). That way, they're all in one place. Now, that makes me think that I should do that for Grandpa and Granny's pictures, too. Yikes! I'm making more work for myself. Although, I do think that Granny has a folder with all of the black and white photos in it. Now you see where I get my organizational skills from! Thanks, Gran. It's early and I have to get some more coffee. Here's the Bob/Andrew sailor boy pictures. It'll be a hoot when I can put Glen in with them. Now that I think about it, the pictures of Glen are 85 years old. I would imagine that some of these pictures are over one hundred years old. Double Yikes!!!! It's a good thing I'm scanning them now before they all fall apart. Kudos to me. see ya later, djb P.S. Yes, maybe I scan myself before I fall apart...
Bob in his sailor outfit and Andrew in his sailor outfit - they both loved the water but Grandpa Burkholder (who was in the Merchant Marines) did NOT like to be in the water, and he lived in Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes.
Sunday - January 29, 2006 - 102 straight days without rain in Phoenix. It IS located in a desert. Let me go see what the definition is. A type of biome characterized by low moisture levels and infrequent and unpredictable precipitation. Daily and seasonal temperatures fluctuate widely. That's true, because I noticed when I was out there in October, although it would feel fairly hot during the day, it would get quite cool at night. But, it IS a dry heat. Not like Florida where it's so humid in the summertime that you can barely breathe when you step outside, and it rains almost every day. A different climate altogether and it certainly isn't a desert. Today, the weather here is rainy and not snowy - that's just not right. This summer we're going to have to pay a price for this warmness whether it's more bugs or shifting of the New Madrid fault - I certainly don't know. Tommy Skilling knows. He'll go back to his weather data from the late 1800's and give us the scoop. Enough weather talk. This is probably very boring for everyone except me. Here's some pictures of whatever I find when I go into my picture library. bye for now, djb
Veralee, Hope and Zoe in New Mexico - is it a desert or is it just extremely dry?
Another version of Jarrett jumping out of the tree
later Saturday - (1/28) - I remember 20 years ago today very distinctly because I was 8-362/365th months pregnant with Andrew. He must have been due on the first of February because I also remember that I was 2 weeks overdue when he was born. Nowadays, they'd do a c-section and I'd be out of there. The doctors I had were berserkos. No, let's just wait for the baby. You mean the 10 pound 7 ounce gigantic human being who is almost overdone. He was twice as big as any other baby in the nursery. When Andrew cried, ALL the babies cried. Anyway, I heard about the Challenger on the radio and then turned on the TV. Of course, this was w-a-y before the days of 24 hour news coverage by CNN, however, it was on all the TV stations anyway. Since I could barely move my gigantic baby laden body, I just sat in the oak rocking chair and watched the post-disaster news unfold. Many years before, I had worked at Martin Marietta Aerospace so I was vaguely familiar with some of the technical terminology. Plus, I was a retired teacher so the fact that Christa McAuliffe was the first teacher in space was very interesting to me. I remember my family in Florida telling me that they watched that death cloud in the sky for hours. It just didn't go away. Very haunting. Very unsettling. Very sad. Especially since they were pretty certain that none of the astronauts made it out alive. There was talk for awhile that they might have landed in the ocean but I don't know if they ever found them or not. I don't remember that part but I'll never forget that day. I still have the chair - it's in Andrew's bedroom. It's one of the things I haven't given away. God bless those space pioneers and their families. I'm sure they were all well aware of the risks involved. djb
Saturday - January 28, 2006 - I can't help myself. I LOVE these old photos. Well, of course, I love photos to begin with. And these old ones are just simply fantastic treasures. Can't get enough of them. Thanks to Bob, I have a big box of these to go through and make copies of and look at and just have a good old time imagining his ancestors trying hard to get posed just right, and then sit there for a long time frozen in a particular position while the itinerant photographer took their picture. Fascinating. We take a lot for granted these days - e.g., our super-duper digital cameras---we can take a hundred clicks just to get one good photo. Yes, someone did that last weekend of the icicle melting!!! When I look at this picture below, I would love to see the painting that's on the wall in the center. It looks pretty much like the paintings I like to paint. Very fascinating old photo!! Anyway. I've got to be going now and find some food to eat. I've been at this for a couple of hours and I'm hungry. bye for now, djb
later today (1/27) - When Bob was down in Florida, they were going through all of the old pictures and STUFF that his mom had saved. He brought back this article about his grandfather, Jake Burkholder. Then, I remembered that I had in my possession the picture of the Burkholder sod house in North Dakota. Plus, Bob had this other picture of his grandfather and grandmother maybe when they got married. I don't really know. Most likely no one knows for sure. Anyway, it's quite interesting to see these pictures. I'm fascinated by what they must have gone through. Thought you might enjoy seeing it all. bye for now, djb
Ernest, Joseph, Levi, Harvey, Annie, Verne, Jake & Dallas (Burkholders) in front of their sod house (maybe 1898?)
This story was in the Monticello Times - (dray - a low heavy horse cart without sides; used for haulage)
just a bit later (1/27) - I didn't realize that Ginny was born on Mozart's birthday! That's a hoot. Plus, it's the anniversary of the big snow that shut down northern Illinois for a few days back in 1967. WOW! That's a blast from the past. bye, djb
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GINNY!!!
Diane standing next to the big pile of snow in 1967 on the farm in Rochelle
Friday - January 27, 2006 - When we got the Elburn Herald yesterday, it was full of the "train news." I can't help but smile when I see how excited everyone is about the train service to Chicago. I think that it had gotten to the point where it took SO LONG to get into Chicago that we'd find somewhere else to go or just forget about going in there because it has been such a hassle for so long. It's kind of exciting to think that at the other end of the line is the BIG city. When we were little kids, we'd always go into Chicago to the zoo. When I was in high school, we'd spend the day in there and go see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at night. Of course, these musings have driven me to the photo album. Believe it or not, it was 25 years ago that I started working in downtown Chicago!! I know, it's almost impossible to believe. However, I have proof that I was actually there. Here they are below. Must get fresh coffee now. see ya later, djb
This is me sitting at my word processor typing stuff - lots of windows!
This is the view out my window in the 33 South Wacker Drive building - 8th floor
A barge traveling down the Chicago River - you never knew what was going to show up out there!
Sears Tower - when I was there, it WAS the tallest building in the world!
Lake Shore Drive in Chicago - that's Lake Michigan for the geographically challenged.
later (1/26) - Speaking of pictures, here's a couple:
Mammy's 100th birthday party with Andrew, Jarrett and Bob in Minnesota
Karen, Mammy and Krissy in Rochelle
Thursday - January 26, 2006 - I sent this letter below to Bob's grandma (aka Mammy) in the summer of 1989. What a riot to read it again! Aunt Vada sent it to me a while ago. Thought it was pretty cute. Plus, I'll put in a couple of the pictures that the boys "painted" for her. see ya later, djb
Andrew's watercolor painted the previous year (August 1988)
Picture by Jarrett with help from Karen (July 1989)
Wednesday - January 25, 2006 - This card was sent to me by Mrs. O'Brien the summer after the boys died. She lost her son, Connor (10 years old), to a congenital heart problem. She was one of Karen and Krissy's teachers in grade school. This is how I feel. djb
just now (1/24) - I went to the paper and found these pictures. They had quite a fun time at the opening of the train station. It's almost like the pioneer days out here in the country. Going into the BIG city to see those TALL buildings. In the early 1980's, when I worked in Chicago for four years and took the train from Aurora every weekday, I was still always amazed at how impressive those buildings were. Plus, after the Merc moved to its own building, we were right down the street from the Sears Tower. At that time, it was the TALLEST building in the world. That was pretty awesome for me - small town/farm girl. I guess once we stop being amazed and amused by life, we begin to get old. that's all folks, djb
People from Elburn looking at a train
The paper said that this is Robert Houtz (left), Griz Stover (middle) and Carl Houtz (right)
Tuesday - January 24, 2006 - I went back and changed my entry yesterday because I was right. Yesterday, the trains did begin their service into Chicago from Elburn (and back again). It puzzles me that the newspaper would print the WRONG information. Gee, how often does that happen??? At first, they said it would start tomorrow, then yesterday, they said it would start on Thursday, now today they said it started yesterday. Do we have any FACT CHECKERS working at the papers any more. I try to be my own fact checker - but Bob and Gran will give me a heads up from time to time. I'm usually amenable to being corrected. haha That's funny. It's cold and windy here today but not very cold - 33 degrees - so it's above freezing. Time to go, djb
Downtown Elburn in August during the Elburn Days parade - Americana panorama
later today (1/23) - I got my DVDs back from the DVD place. Last week, I took in a bunch of big old videos and a bunch of newer little videos and had them transformed into DVDs. They are AWESOME! I watched the Loch Ness Monster video made by Jarrett for 6th grade. It cracks me up every single time I see it!!! Also, I found a very long video of Grandpa Burkholder's birthday. Andrew and Jarrett are older in that one so it's a little more interesting than watching 20 minutes of me trying to get baby Jarrett to roll over. However, as the youngsters say, "it's all good!" In my pack of pictures from Florida, I found this one of Jarrett after his sledding accident. Poor guy. I'd better go. It's getting late and I have to go somewhere to eat. bye, djb
This is what it says on the back of this picture: Jarrett's lower lip was split open by a runaway sled (lots of blood) 3-91
Close-up of the split lip - awwww
Monday - January 23, 2006 - They kept saying that it was going to be foggy this morning - not true. During the night, I heard the Metra trains making their presence known. This morning, the commuter trains begin their daily trek between Elburn and Chicago. It's quite the HUGE deal in these here parts since the person who is third in line for the presidency is coming to our little town today for the formal dedication of the train station. Yes, Denny H will be here. Maybe some other bigwigs, too. Now, everyone in the world can come to Elburn on the train. Of course, we have no taxis or buses (just those big old yellow school buses) out here in the COUNTRY!!! When you get here, you'll have to walk wherever you want to go. haha It's pretty funny because when I was in high school (many, many years ago), I was able to take the train from Rochelle to Chicago - no problem. Then, I'd get on the City of New Orleans and go down to Carbondale, IL. Now, it's turned into a gigantic spectacle. We already have hundreds of new houses being built for the throngs that are longing to live in the peaceful, quiet pastoral setting that is Elburn. Wait a minute - back up the bus - after last night - not so true. The trains are bringing not only easy access to the Art Institute and the Bear's games, but noise pollution. Plus, the city people who move out here, always want to tote along their "city ways." Kind of annoying. If you want that sort of thing - stay where you are because out here the spirit of volunteerism is alive and well. We don't "need no stinking" Park District because you just call up Phil and he comes and takes care of business. Well, Phil or John or Joe. That's the way it's always been. You hate to see that spirit get stomped into the ground by the anonymous commuters who all dress EXACTLY alike in their black, shiny shoes and spiffy black coats, running for the train with their ipods, laptops and I almost forgot the ubiquitous cell phones, past the fertile farm fields that have been transformed into cookie cutter subdivisions - shades of Naperville. shudder-shudder-shake. Naperville - one of the BEST places to live in the USA. Yikes!! I must be totally out of step with reality. Yes, that could be true. Maybe because I lived that life a long time ago and all I saw was people trying to make a lot of money so they could buy a lot of stuff which didn't seem to make them particularly happy so they could retire to the country for the peace and tranquility. I'm getting dizzy trying to figure this out. see ya later, maybe......dj
Jarrett, me, Andrew - February 15, 2003
even later today (1/22) - I scanned these this morning - might as well put them in here. bye for now, djb
Snowman in the back yard in North Aurora
Cropped portion of the photo of Jarrett & Andrew in the back yard in Elburn next to the swimming pool
Jarrett on Andrew in the snow
Andrew smiling in the snow
later today (1/22) - For some reason, I became fascinated by the icicles dripping off the eaves. So, I tried to take pictures of the drips dripping. You're thinking to yourself, "hmm, I could do that." I don't think so. It's not as easy as it sounds. It's taken me about a hundred snaps to finally get what I wanted. Here are my results. bye, djb
The annoying icicles outside my kitchen window
A few isolated icicles and drips
Using my telephoto lens in manual mode I got this shot
and this shot...
and finally, this shot.
Sunday - January 22, 2006 - It's very foggy here this morning - it has something to do with the snow and temperatures and clouds. I want to say inversion, but I'm not sure if that's the right word, and I don't want to go look it up to see if it is because I really don't care. It's foggy - be careful out there. Here's a picture of it. I'll be back later. Just wanted to get this in here so you can see what we have to deal with! bye for now, djb
The back yard a short time ago
much later (1/21) - When I was in Florida, I found these pictures I had taken in September 1990. I went in to wake up the boys and Jarrett was really sleeping and I thought it was so cute that I got my camera and took his picture. Andrew was already awake so he said that he wanted his picture taken just like Jarrett. So, he laid down on his bed and put his arm around the bear and closed his eyes, and I snapped the fake picture of him sleeping. What a hoot! I love these pictures! nighty night, djb
Jarrett - really asleep hugging his bear
Andrew - fake sleeping also hugging his bear
later today (1/21) - Some time around 11 or so, I went out into the garage to check on my clothes that were drying and I heard some music or singing or something on the other side of the door, so I went out and there was Elliot shoveling the driveway. Oh my gosh! Thanks a lot, Elliot. He said that although I had told him earlier that I would need some help in March cleaning out the shed, he knew I'd need help before then. Very nice surprise. He had more than half of it already shoveled, so I grabbed one of my shovels and helped him. That snow was VERY heavy. Good snowman snow. It's already starting to melt. In fact, it was steaming on the driveway. Okay, I took a picture of it. And, I went inside and got the metal yardstick that I had purchased three years ago for one of Jarrett's projects so we could see exactly what we were dealing with. The snow in the driveway measured 6 inches - the snow in the yard measured 7 inches. This morning, I read in the Tribune that St. Charles got 7 inches, so I guess we were in that same band of precipitation. I'm not sure how much the other places got around here. It's very exciting because we need the moisture and the ugly ground is covered. yippee skippy! bye, djb
Clean driveway
Right in the middle of the picture is the steam rising from the driveway - looks weirdly interesting
Nice snowman - drawn by Jarrett!
Frosty the snowman - built by Jarrett
Saturday - January 21, 2006 - I thought for sure that I heard someone on the radio yesterday saying that TODAY was the anniversary of the coldest day ever in Chicago. True, they might have said that and they would have been wrong. I'll always remember the day (apparently not the EXACT date) because it was a few weeks before Bob and I were flying to Maui to get married. He told me that he was going to walk around the block because it was the coldest day ever and he'd always remember it. Worst case scenario: I knew he would get flash-frozen and I begged him NOT to - besides he's not Norwegian - if anyone should go out there, it should have been me! Okay, so I eventually told him to have a nice walk since he was bound and determined to do it no matter what I said. Amazingly, he didn't freeze and he came back. Twenty-one years ago - yesterday. hmm.
Last night, we got a lot of snow. Can't tell for sure exactly how much. It's around 6 or 7 inches maybe. Very gorgeous. In fact, I'll put some pictures on here that I took this morning. see ya later, djb
The back yard - you can see the footprints from a critter on the bottom of the picture
The evergreens in the back yard
I tried to get a long-range view of Elburn - not that good really
Front yard view - the road has been plowed a couple of times!
Driveway view - yes, it's still full of snow!!
The boys' candles in the snowy yard - very nice
The evergreen trees next to the driveway - snowy
Celebrate the anniversary of Chicago's coldest recorded day! The official temperature at O'Hare was -27 degrees on January 20, 1985 and 36 mph wind gusts produced wind chills as low as -93 degrees.
Friday - January 20, 2006 - This month is going by so fast that I just can't believe it! Plus, we're on the weather watch, once again. They're predicting snow tonight into tomorrow. But, the totals vary so widely that they might as well just throw a dart at a chart and pick a number - any number. It's ridiculous. One good thing is that I'll be able to use one of the snow shovels to shovel the driveway. They've been sitting around waiting for something to do for a very long time. This has been the warmest January I can ever remember. Today is the anniversary of the COLDEST day ever recorded in Chicago. I'll have more to say about that later. bye for now, djb
Jarrett is sitting in his high chair - Andrew is involved with his dolls - "my little buddy" is laying (or lying) on the table to the right
Jarrett looking at the camera and Andrew holding his bottle upside down and tending to my little buddy
later today (1/19) - Diane is out of the hospital! Hurray for her. Here's a picture of Marc and Diane. Plus, let me put in a picture of Saki, the cat who got her hair cut just before I arrived in Florida for Christmas. It's pretty hilarious. She's a Persian kitty but after her haircut, she looked like a grey lion. bye,djb
Marc and Diane in Florida at Christmas 2005
Saki is wearing the sweater that I made to keep her warm.
Thursday - January 19, 2006 - It appears that the reason I do things the way I do them is because they work that way! I still want to change my format but because I put the photos in here every day, I don't have a lot of wiggle room - if I put two photos next to each other, on some computers, they wrap around and the words aren't under the pictures. Very annoying. I've tried the photo album but that doesn't seem to work very well either - probably because the picture files are so large that it's hard to transfer so many of them, plus it's incredibly time consuming to be moving all of these pixels around. I have enough room on Andrew and Jarrett's website for all of my pictures. So, I've got that goin' for me. Recently, some very old pictures have come into my life - you'll see them sooner rather than later. Some were taken at the turn of the century. Awesome photos. Bob's grandfather was a lumberjack in northern Minnesota. Wait 'til you see these pictures. Can't wait to scan them and see the detail up close. You all will just have to wait patiently. Thank you...
Diane is still in the hospital - I think by now, she's been seen by at least a dozen doctors. Yesterday, Marilyn and Chuck stopped by to visit the Bergs. Marilyn and Granny went over to the hospital to visit Diane. The flowers I sent her are gorgeous according to the rumors that are flying around. This is the flower shop that I always use when I send flowers to anyone in Florida. Most of the time, I've talked to the owner's mom - she's hysterically funny. I'd have to repeat everything about three or four times because she wanted to get it "right." This time, I think I talked to the owner because she said that she had this gorgeous sunflower arrangement - "it'll last for two weeks, plus it has raffia!" So, that's what I got. Hopefully, she's not in there THAT long!
I remember one time I was ordering flowers for Berg's anniversary and I gave the website and phone number to Uncle Ron. By the time, I called them, and started to give her Berg's name and address, she said, "Oh, yes, they're celebrating their 58th wedding anniversary. Isn't that wonderful!?" What a hoot. Okay, it's time to go now. Yesterday, I tried to find my painting teacher - I called her phone number and it's been disconnected. This is the person who has the best painting I've ever painted in her basement studio. I only had two more session MAX before I finished it. I guess I'm going to have to drive out west and see what's up! Okay, it is time to go now, djb
I saw these two pictures near each other in my digital library and I liked the juxtaposition (hey Bob, is that the right word?)
later - 1/18 - So I lied. I never did get back on here. I'm having a very hard time with my computer stuff. Everything new that I try doesn't work. It takes a long time to set it up and then it crashes in a sad heap. Bob and I just got back from Blackberry. I'm done for. bye, djb
Alan and Veralee in AZ
Gayla and the girls
Zoe and Hope - swingers in AZ
Jake and Hopey
Gayla and Zoe in AZ
Bob and Donna got too much sun
Jake and girls in the pool
Hope is crying because she's NOT swinging
Wednesday - January 18, 2005 - I'll be back....
I like this picture because it has: Diane (flower girl), next to me, then Veralee, then Alan (and that other guy) and Karen's on the far right - we're so young!
Tuesday - January 17, 2006 - This is turning into a disaster because I can't move anything around - it's stuck. I'll probably go back to my other format tomorrow. Last night, I asked Bob if he noticed anything different about my Current Journal page and he said no. I said, "What? All that work and you didn't notice any difference." Well, the writing was on the left side of the page. Do you know HOW LONG it took me to do that? sigh.... It's not his fault. I'm sure we're all so used to being bombarded by millions of words & images every day that at some point we become inured to it all. Format - what format? What are you talkin' about? When Bob was going through his mom's stuff over Christmas, he came across this card that we had sent to Grandpa Burkholder for his 78th birthday. At the time, Andrew was 12 and Jarrett was 10. I'm so thrilled to see it again, and I'm glad that I have a compulsion to put the date on everything. It's also fun to see that Hobbes is on there, too. I put some funny pictures in the Photo Gallery just now. The thumbnails aren't coming through for some reason but if you click on each picture, you can see it bigger on the screen. Grandpa took the pictures in September, and we had just moved here in July 1990. You can see how bad the driveway looks!! bye for now, djb
Birthday card to Grandpa Burkholder from Andrew and Jarrett
Monday - January 16, 2006 - I'm going to try something different because I have to start a new page today. Bob told me that as the month goes on, if I don't break it up then it takes forever to load. For some reason, my connection doesn't have that problem but I do appreciate the fact that it does occur for others. This is my first attempt. I seriously do have to go to the grocery store today because I have no Special K. Plus, I need some more of that fruit in a jar - it's Del Monte (pink grapefruit, oranges and white grapefruit). It is so good. Either that or I'll get some real fruit and peel it. No, I won't do that. I'm going to try and see if this works at all. It's a technical workshop here. Some things take me a while to do because I don't know what I'm doing! See ya later, djb
Andrew and Jarrett standing back to back in April 1991.
Andrew wearing the famous Spiderman pajamas and Jarrett wearing a Homer Simpson sweatshirt. Jarrett looks like he's not feeling well - a cold or something else - his eyes look sickly.
A laugh really is best medicine - from the New Zealand Herald 1/18/06Watching a comedy could be as effective as going for a run in boosting health.
Researchers have found that a spell of hearty laughter causes the tissue that forms the inner lining of the blood vessels, the endothelium, to dilate, increasing blood flow in the same way as a bout of aerobic exercise.
The finding adds to evidence that a laugh a day may help keep a heart attack away. Michael Miller, of the University of Maryland, who has studied the healing power of laughter for a decade, said: "The old saying that laughter is the best medicine definitely appears to be true when it comes to protecting your heart."
For his latest study, twenty volunteers watched 15-minute segments of sad movies, such as the opening of Saving Private Ryan, and funny ones such as There's Something about Mary.
Researchers using ultrasound monitored the blood flow in the brachial artery in the arm of each volunteer. They found blood flow was reduced in 14 of the 20 participants after watching distressing movie clips and increased in 19 out of the 20 participants after watching clips that made them laugh.
The difference in flow between happy and sad responses exceeded 50 per cent. The findings are published in the journal Heart.
Dr Miller said: "The magnitude of change we saw in the endothelium is similar to the benefit we might see with aerobic activity, but without the aches, pains and muscle tension associated with exercise."
"We don't recommend that you laugh and don't exercise but we do recommend that you try to laugh on a regular basis. Thirty minutes of exercise three times a week and 15 minutes of laughter on a daily basis is probably good for the cardiovascular system."
