Category: Animals

2025 1st Quarter Recap

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01/25 (Sat)
We attended a LEGO train show at the arboretum.

01/27 (Mon)
Deactivated/deleted all my X accounts because F you know who.

01/31 (Fri)
Decided The Pink Stuff is a scam. I’ve owned it for years and I’ve yet to find a single thing it can clean better than the other products I own. In fact, it barely cleans at all. If someone knows what I can use this stuff for, please let me know, because it was a waste of money as far as I’m concerned.

Got a photo of the Rock Dove (aka city pigeon) that started showing up recently. We decided to name him Vinny (and as time would go on, he invited his friends and we’d have up to 8 of them at a time under the feeder).

02/01 (Sat)
Finally found a use for my E.T. TV tray from the 80s – to hold my Sonic order while I eat in the car.

The Philly Cheesesteak at Sonic is pretty good, by the way.

02/02 (Sun)
Put out a new welcome mat. I realized I didn’t have any for that time period between Christmas and spring, and this one suits my sentiments exactly.

02/04 (Tue)
Loving these pretzel twists from Trader Joe’s. Not quite the same as the ones Sonic sells, but still quite good when made in the air fryer.

02/14 (Fri)
Celebrated Valentine’s Day like the romantic couple we are by getting Mexican takeout (ironically from the same place as last year) and finishing the Dexter prequel, Original Sin.

02/15 (Sat)
Went to an ice hockey game at an arena close to home. A longtime friend and her sister are on a team that was playing an exhibition game that night. Joe and I sat by her husband (who happens to also be my ex from the mid-90s haha), his friend, and their two kids. It was nice getting out of the house for an event even though I hate going out at night. It’s also really cold inside the arena so I was so happy to get home and under the covers with my heating pad to warm up my cold feet! It was nice seeing everyone, though. I met my friend, her hubby, and her sister in the 90s on a BBS; and while the friend and her hubby have been to our house for a game night, I hadn’t seen the sister in decades.

02/16 (Sun)
Had to contact Discover to get a new account because someone got ahold of the card # and was making fraudulent charges labeled as Apple.com

02/21 (Fri)
Migraine City! That is what this month has felt like as I’ve had one every week. Typically I get at most two in a month so this is concerning. Not sure if it’s due to tight muscles in my neck, dry eyes, or hormones, but it’s annoying nonetheless especially because over the counter headache medicine isn’t making it go away like in the past, so they last two days.

02/24 (Mon)
Had my longtime ComEd electric account hijacked because someone can’t do their job correctly. Apparently someone in the same town called to put electric in their name and somehow ComEd wasn’t listening properly and changed my account instead of the correct address that has the same number but a totally different street name (that doesn’t even sound like ours so how they made the error I’ll never know). They couldn’t reinstate my old account so I had to get a whole new account # too. So annoying!

02/25 (Tue)
Received my new Discover card and had to go through all my auto-pay accounts to update the payment information. At least it was relatively warm outside (60 degrees) so I could open the windows and listen to the birds.

02/26 (Wed)
Had to contact Amazon a second time about getting a refund for a gift I returned over a month prior. When I spoke to them the day before they assured me they would process the refund, which they did, but they shorted me $4.42 for some reason, so I had to get them to fix the error. They acted like they were doing me a favor which infuriates me. I returned the item. I got confirmation I returned the item. The confirmation also listed what was paid for said item. So why didn’t they refund the full amount in the first place?

02/28 (Fri)
Tried to get Paczki from a local bakery called Hannah’s that everyone on Facebook was raving about, only to arrive and find they had two flavors available and wouldn’t have any others until later. Call me crazy, but as a bakery shouldn’t you have all items available upon opening? We left empty-handed because I didn’t want to give them our business. We got some Paczki from Caputo’s for $2 each and were labeled as also being from a local bakery but they were quite dry and I didn’t care for them.

03/02 (Sun)
Tried a Burger King iced coffee for the first time and wow, it was not good. I asked for a plain iced coffee but I swear it tasted subtly like mocha to me. In any case, for almost $3 I’d rather get an iced coffee from McDonald’s; it tastes much better and is only $1 via the app deals.

Although now that I’ve found the perfect products, I’d rather just make iced coffee at home.

03/03 (Mon)
Had a new hot water installed. You can read about that debacle here.

03/15 (Sat)
Visited my parents for the first time in nearly a year. It was actually a pleasant experience without Brother #2 there (which is why we chose a non-holiday timeframe). We worked on everyone’s computer (what else is new haha), got some food from the local Burger King (the location of my first job in the 90s), enjoyed some of my mom’s food as well, and played a game called What’s Your Like?

03/17 (Mon)
Made corned beef and cabbage in the crockpot for St. Patrick’s Day. We splurged this year by getting Vienna from Woodman’s which was $27.79 but it was the most tender cut of meat with almost no fatty pieces.

It was a bit on the saltier, side, though, so if we get it again next year I might rinse off some of the spices (the meat was marinated in it instead of having a spice packet).

03/21 (Fri)
What the hell happened to McDonald’s Shamrock shakes? They are awful now! We usually get one every year, but missed out last year, so I’m not sure when they changed the formula but I will not ever get one again – it tasted medicinal.

03/24 (Mon)
Learned our association hired a new landscaping company. I really hope they actually stick to a schedule and not show up on random days multiple times a week making noise with their leaf blowers like the last company.

03/28 (Fri)
Joe took the day off work and we ran a bunch of errands before visiting the arboretum in the afternoon. We were delighted to see not one, not two, but three belted kingfishers by Sterling Pond, but I was not able to get a photo of any of them that I liked because they were way too far away and kept getting spooked whenever we got closer.

I did get a photo of this bluebird, though.

And this Northern Flicker peeking from behind a tree.

03/29 (Sat)
Joe’s son, E, and his girlfriend, A, paid us an early afternoon visit. I made chicken salad sandwiches for lunch which they really seemed to like. So much so, A wanted the recipe (apparently neither one had ever had chicken salad before).

03/30 (Sun)
Paid a visit to West Branch Forest Preserve to get some fresh air where I was finally able to photograph a Brown Creeper!

We timed our visit perfectly – it had rained in the early morning and started to drizzle as we made our way back to the car. We stopped and picked up Bibibop on our way home.

The next morning someone posted about a loose dog they saw about four miles from the preserve. The dog looked a lot like the dog we saw that afternoon. The lady with it didn’t have a leash on the dog, so now I’m wondering if it just got ahead of her and lost, or something happened to her. I had been tempted at the time to tell this lady to leash her dog, but I don’t think it would have made a difference.

Notable series this quarter:

Shrinking (Apple TV)
We finished season two which I thought was even better than the first season. We binged it hardcode during Apple’s free preview weekend.

Dexter: Original Sin (Showtime)

I wasn’t expecting to like this prequel but Patrick Gibson really picked up on Dexter’s mannerisms beautifully. The actors playing a young LaGuerta, Batista, and Masuka looked a lot like their older counterparts as well. We were hooked and had to stop ourselves from binging it too quickly. Once we were finished we were inspired to watch the original Dexter series which we fell in love with all over again. There was so much we had completely forgotten in the two decades since the series originally aired. And while seasons 5-8 weren’t as good as 1-4, overall it’s still an 8/10 for me.

October Recap

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10/02 (Wed) – Discovered the deliciousness of pork schnitzel.

10/04-10/06 – Extended Weekend Recap

10/06 (Sun) – The first dark-eyed juncos of the year were spotted behind our house.

10/08 (Tue) – Started using eBird checklists which can be fun, if not a bit frustrating when entering species into the app. I like being able to add my photos to the checklist later on, though. I’m very much into documenting things, so I’m not sure why I didn’t get into birding checklists sooner. It’s like Pokemon Go, but with birds!

Finally saw the Northern Lights, aka Aurora Borealis.

10/09 (Wed) – Updated my iPhone to iOS 18. Liking the new photos app in particular. I think it’ll be time for a new phone next year as I heard this is the last iOS that will be available for the iPhone 11. I haven’t had any issues with this phone, but I am looking forward to getting one with better cameras.

10/10 (Thu) – Pulled out my newest Halloween decor purchases. The ghost solar light (Dollar Tree) ended up being a cool white LED which I didn’t care for, so no more were purchased. The towel (also Dollar Tree) was hung from the oven handle, and the bat (from Old Time Pottery) was hung from the left side of the fireplace mantel.

Shared a photo on Facebook of the orange mums from Meijer still looking good, with an owl I added to the hanging basket.

Took another stab at photographing the Northern Lights with my phone.

10/11 (Fri) – Decorated for Halloween inside.

Went to Mallard Lake after Joe got off work and spotted this beautiful juvenile bald eagle.

The sky was also pretty at the end of our walk as the sun was getting closer to setting.

10/12-10/13 – Weekend Recap

10/15 (Tue) – Got a halfway decent photo of the comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS.

10/16 (Wed) – Lincoln Marsh

10/19-10/20 – Weekend Recap

10/20 (Sun) – Started practicing standing on one leg to see how long I could do it since reading it’s good for one’s mental and physical health. Proud to report I was able to go a full minute on each leg and only 40 seconds was needed in my age group.

Also saw my first ever Blue Jay behind the house. It was eating some of the bird seed I had put by the tree. I could not grab my camera quickly enough to get photographic evidence.

Went to Aldi, only to find they rearranged the majority of the aisles. Nothing makes sense anymore!

10/21 (Mon) – Got our first male downy woodpecker at the suet feeder. He has a spicy attitude and will peck at any sparrow trying to access the feeder, so we named him Loki. Our talkative female downy is named Lulu, so we are doing L names I guess. We haven’t yet named what we think is a second female downy.

10/22 (Tue) – We had a hawk sneaking around out back looking for a meal.

10/23-10/27 – Anniversary Extended Weekend

10/28 (Mon) – Spent a lot of time sitting out on the patio knowing the last nice day was coming soon. I don’t know how I’m going to make it through winter.

10/29 – Air Fryer review

10/31 – Halloween

New Food & Beverage Recommendations

7-UP Shirley Temple.

I’m not sure what it’s supposed to taste like, but I liked the flavor, so I plan to get more.

Trader Joe’s Sesame Honey Cashews

A little pricey at $8, but very yummy! We only eat a small handful at a time.

Notable movies this month:

We watched 1-2 horror movies every night in October, and these are the ones we had never seen before which I thought were the best.

Don’t Hang Up – I had some issues with the killer’s motive, not to mention a few plot holes, and I wasn’t scared by this, but it was interesting enough to keep me off my phone so that’s a successful movie in my book.

Gonjiam Haunted Aslym – Actually creepy, if not predictible.

Late Night With The Devil – Very unique premise that kept us glued to the TV trying to figure out where it was going on.

Tucker & Dale vs Evil – Horror comedy that kept us entertained.

Anniversary Extended Weekend (10/23-10/27)

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Joe took multiple days off from work so we could have a nice staycation to celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary, which was on October 23rd. I can’t believe how much time has passed. As I wrote on Facebook, it’s been a tough year with Wookie’s passing, but if there’s anything positive that came from it, it was Joe and I growing even closer in our shared grief. I’m so thankful to have a supportive partner and best friend throughout all these years. I’m truly very lucky.

Wednesday (10/23) we ran several errands in the morning (including TJ Maxx where I got a new watch band) before going to Texas Roadhouse at 3 pm for dinner. We wanted to get there when they opened to minimize how many people we’d be around as we are still not comfortable eating indoors and possibly catching COVID. We got boosters a few weeks beforehand, though, so we felt the risk was minimal.

The dinner started out rocky when we were seated by the restrooms and Joe noticed an awful smell come wafting our way. We asked to be seated elsewhere and were moved, so everything was good from there. The steaks we ordered were good and since I had gotten a gift card from Discover, I wasn’t stressed about the bill. It’s not like we can’t afford it, we’ve just had bad experiences where we paid a lot for a meal and didn’t feel it was worth it. That’s the reason we didn’t go to Cooper’s Hawk across the street (no gift card via Discover).

That being said, while we did enjoy our meal (minus the louder than necessary music in the restaurant), we both felt we really haven’t missed eating out. Food prices have increased too much and we’ve been just fine getting takeout when we don’t feel like cooking.

Thursday (10/24) we headed into the city to visit Lincoln Park Zoo. Since we wanted to beat the morning rush, we got into the city before the zoo opened, so we first went to Montrose Point where we watched the sun rise.

Sunrise from the bird sanctuary

Instead of trying to find street parking like in the past, we decided to park in the zoo lot even though it’s pretty expensive at $35 for the four hours we were there. But since the zoo admission itself is free, and I read the parking fees go to the zoo, I felt like it was the right thing to do since we’ve enjoyed many free visits over the years.

Since we were at the zoo when the gates opened at 8 am, and the zoo buildings don’t open until 10 am, we walked around the entire zoo, the nature boardwalk, and the farm in the zoo (which is even more boring than before now that the baby chick exhibit is gone) for the first two hours. One of our favorite parts of the zoo is swan pond and waterfowl lagoon area over by the small mammal house. I saw some new species of birds but didn’t add them to my life list since I don’t think they would count not being in the true wild. We sat on a bench by these bodies of water and had a morning snack of banana bread I had baked earlier in the week for our excursions. We always bring some snacks with us so we’re not tempted to buy overpriced food. Also it prevents us from wanting to leave too early because of hunger.

Once 10 am came we went back through the zoo a second time, this time seeing all the indoor exhibits. The only one we could not access were the gorillas since that building was closed for some unexplained reason. We sat outside that building for awhile just relaxing and enjoying the beautiful weather. I told Joe before we left I wanted to swing by the snow leopard for a second time. I’m glad I did, because while the leopard was nowhere to be found, the red panda was out, and I got the single best photo of a red panda I’ve ever gotten!

I’m pretty sad that my photo didn’t get many likes online because I really think it’s a fantastic photo, so much so that I set it as the background on my PC.

We thought about heading to Chinatown for lunch but I want to do more research on the best restaurant to try, plus we plan to visit Jackson Park during spring migration which would be a closer drive, so we decided to save that trip for another time.

As we took the scenic/long drive home, we could not think of a place to stop for lunch until we were much closer to home and we passed this Polish deli called Helen’s. We stopped inside to grab some potato pancakes, stuffed cabbage, soup, and a dessert. Unfortunately they don’t have pierogis or blintzes during the week, or we would have gotten some of those too. We also stopped at A&W for a root beer cream freeze since they are delicious (and it was; we drank it as we drove home). The Polish deli food was really good, especially the pancakes and vegetable soup. I didn’t think the cabbage rolls were as good as the Polish deli closer to home, though.

Friday (10/25) we went on a morning bird walk with the DuPage Birding Club at Fullersburg Woods. I opted not to bring along my camera as I was still tired and sore from all the walking at the zoo. Our guides were a married couple who were both extremely nice and knowledgeable. They made the walk fun despite my aches. They showed us where to find a screech owl and I swear I spotted its side profile for a few seconds, but it’s hard to say for sure. They really blend in well with the tree bark, plus it was inside a tree cavity which makes it even harder to see fully.

After our walk we stopped at Trader Joe’s and Target for a few things and then got Chinese food for lunch (and dinner, and dinner for the next two days too since we always order three large dishes).

As if we didn’t want to torture ourselves enough, we went on another bird walk on Saturday (10/26) to Busse Woods in Schaumburg. Luckily the main walking portion was in the first area we visited and the other two spots were close to each subsequent parking lot. I left my camera at home once more but kinda wished I had it with me so I could contribute to the group checklist on eBird.

When we were at our final spot, I suddenly had a craving for a corndog, and started looking on Yelp for somewhere to grab lunch after our walk was complete. We ended up settling on Sonic of all places. The corndog was ok, but the other things we tried were even better.

The grilled cheeseburger (an app exclusive) tastes like a Wendy’s doublestack but on Texas toast. Very tasty! Their Philly cheesesteak was impressive. We weren’t expecting it to be as good as it was, or as large. The only thing that would have made it better was a little salt, pepper, and mayo. I dipped mine in Sonic’s signature sauce which is also very good.

I got a pretzel twist to take home and it crisped up nice in our new air fryer. The cheese dipping sauce it comes with is good; reminds me of the old school cheese you could get with an order of nachos at the roller rink (showing my age with that reference).

The highlight, however, was the Dirty Dr. Pepper, a drink you can only order in the app.

Very unique and flavorful. I’m not even big on Dr. Pepper, but made this way I’d drink it much more often.

Oh and a funny thing happened earlier in the morning. We had been discussing how ABT was having a customer appreciation sale and that we should really replace our living room TV (it has developed the purple spots of death which have been growing since earlier this year) and were leaning toward getting an LG TV. Joe placed a mobile order for an iced coffee at McDonald’s and the code to give at the drive-thru was LG24. Freaky, right?!?

Weekend Recap (10/19-10/20)

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Nothing much was done on Saturday (10/19) because Joe was still in Pennsylvania on a work trip, his first since Wookie passed away. It was really weird being home alone for days and not having my Wookie alarm on standby at night. I may or may not have put a knife under the pillow because I watch a lot of true crime and one can never be too cautious.

Joe got home fairly early Sunday (10/20) morning so we ate homemade breakfast burritos before heading to Lincoln Marsh. We saw the Great Egret again, and found the Great Horned Owl.

But the most interesting thing was when we were looking for the owl we noted how quiet it seemed. And then I looked up and saw something sitting on a tree branch but wasn’t sure at first it was a bird since it was not moving at all. So I took a photo and zoomed in and it was a red-bellied woodpecker staying completely still. I told Joe “there must be a predator nearby”.

I noticed it had its head turned toward the right, and when I looked at the other side of the tree, that’s when I noticed the Cooper’s Hawk sitting there, looking in the direction of the woodpecker.

No wonder it was so quiet! The birds were trying not to become a meal.

We also watched an egret fishing. Prior to this we were looking at something in the marsh and the egret very quietly landed very close to us without us knowing. Joe turned around and was startled by it. According to the chatting guy from the other day this egret isn’t really scared of people and will get close and let people get close to it.

After visiting the marsh, we headed to the arboretum. We got there so late (almost noon) there was actually a very long line of cars waiting to get in. Every parking lot was packed, but since we mostly drove around and could park alongside the road it didn’t affect us too much. I think everyone wanted to enjoy the last nice Sunday.

Over by one of our favorite sections, Turtle Pond, was a huge swarm of Asian ladybeetles, the ones that look like orange ladybugs. They were landing all over us; it was creepy! We had to flick them off us, so we got the heck out of there.

Lincoln Marsh 10/16

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Lincoln Marsh is located in Wheaton Illinois. It’s not a far drive from our house and is home to a lot of great wildlife, including a pair of Great Horned Owls that have babies there every year. The problem is it’s overrun with mosquitoes that seem to be impervious to bug spray, so we avoid it until those little bastards have died off. Needless to say, October 16th was our first visit back since early spring.

Sure enough, we saw two great horned owls sitting on the same tree limb just a few feet apart so I assume it was the owl couple from the winter. I guess the babies might be around too? I don’t know when they establish their own territory.

After that we headed toward the marsh area and saw a hermit thrush! It was so cute doing this little move on the branch where it really flick its tail and turn the other direction. That’s a new bird for my life list and I got some really clear shots of it.

Right after that, we looked to the marsh and stopped walking when we realized there were two muskrats sitting there grooming. They looked a bit small so I’m guessing juveniles. I was able to get a bunch of photos and from different angles where the lighting was really cool.

Eventually after I got enough photos we decided to walk down the pier to the bird blind which required walking right next to the muskrats, thus scaring them into the water. The one took off pretty quickly but the other one waited until we were really close before doing so. I’ve never seen them so close before and so much of their bodies as they’re usually swimming, so that was cool.

After that we walked toward the second marsh area where we ran into another photographer who was very chatty. I don’t mind when people tell me about things they’ve seen before or whatever but it gets irritating when you mention something you’ve seen and they just keep talking about themselves without acknowledging what I’ve said. I get enough of that from my parents, so I kinda walked away from the guy to go look for photo ops and Joe got stuck listening to his monologue.

There was an egret (which the guy kept calling a white heron) in a tree that flew over, caught a fish, and then started eating it. Not only did I get good photos of it with the fish, but the lighting gave it a cool glowing effect.

We were there about an hour or so but it was a fun little trip and I’m glad Joe was able to leave work early so we could get there right when the lighting was perfect.

I forgot to mention that beforehand we stopped at the DuPage County Fairgrounds to drop off our mail in ballots, so we’ve officially voted! Let’s hope that disgusting cheeto looking devil doesn’t make it into office.

Afterwards we got McDonald’s because we were interested in trying their limited edition Chicken Big Mac. We split one and also a Quarter Pounder with cheese. I haven’t had one of those in years but it was pretty good too although not as good as Culvers. We got a basket of fries which was more fries than either of us should have and were only good until they got cold, but we finished them anyway because we’re afraid to use the air fryer after the other day when I went to unplug it and noticed how hot the cord was. I don’t think that’s normal. I guess this is the best time of the year to need to replace an appliance since they’ll all be on sale. I just need to figure out what a good brand is. Ours was free from a T-Mobile catalog when Joe worked for them and employees earned points for good work that could be used toward merchandise. Anyway, the chicken Big Mac was delicious. I’d rather have one of those than the regular Big Mac.

After dinner Joe took a shower and I changed into my comfy clothes and we watched Interview With the Vampire which we’ve seen before but not anytime recently.

Funny story about that movie. Back in college somehow I was picked to be part of a “future leaders of America” type group which is hilarious since I’m not that outgoing. I don’t remember how I even got involved in that thing. Maybe it was a condition of my scholarship? Because it’s not something I’d ever seek out. In any case, we went on an overnight trip to Lake Geneva and the first night everyone decided to go see a movie in this little theater in town and it was Interview With the Vampire. No one really talked to me so I sat alone in the theater but I remember really getting into the film. I wonder if I would have felt differently about it had I been with a group of people. Did I only really love it because of the other emotions I was feeling at the time? That trip made me feel like such an outcast and the movie was the only fun I remember having.

I don’t think I was journaling back then which is a bummer because my memories of the time can get a bit fuzzy. Although I do remember we stayed at a bed and breakfast type place and all sat at this really long table for meals. I think it was in a wooded area in the fall because I can picture big windows in this dining area and colorful leaves on the trees outside.

Ok, I looked it up – the movie was released in November 1994 so that tracks with my memory.

Also a fun fact – most people call it Interview With a Vampire, myself included, because that sounds better than Interview With the Vampire.