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

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?!?

Lincoln Marsh 10/16

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.

September Recap

09/01-09/02Second half of Labor Day weekend recap

09/02 (Mon) – I put out some new outdoor fall lawn decor I found at Dollar Tree. These metal sunflowers in particular are so pretty!

09/05 (Thu) – I found this super brightly colored squirrel figurine at Dollar Tree and was intending to add it to the patio garden but decided to add it to my inside fall decor.

09/06 (Fri) – I learned Linkin Park got back together and has a new female lead singer. People apparently are losing their minds, and not in a good way. I don’t know much about the singer’s personal life, but from a music perspective, they sound great! Their latest single, The Emptiness Machine is great and actually gets me choked up when I listen. I’m not sure I understand why people are angry at them for reforming. It’s not the rest of the band’s member’s fault Chester committed suicide. Are they not allowed to move on after seven years? If they had formed under a different name but continued with their signature sound I’m sure people would have been angry about that too. If it’s one thing I’ve learned this year is you should do what makes you happy because people are always going to have something to criticize about it anyway. As long as you’re not hurting anyone, you do you.

09/07-09/08Weekend recap

09/09 (Mon) – Tried these new to me Bigelow cold infusion teas from Meijer. I usually drink water so they’re a nice alternative when I want something with flavor. I’m sure that’s why people drink sparkling flavored water, in fact, I just could never get into those.

09/10 (Tue) – We decided to check out the Lombard Farmer’s market since it’s in the evenings and let me tell you, it’s small and not very interesting. We contemplated getting food at one of the restaurants in the area but the prices are just outrageous and nothing looked good enough to tempt us to spend the money. We ended up splitting a Blizzard from Dairy Queen to tide us over and went to nearby Lilacia Park. Afterwards we stopped at Aldi so I could get ingredients to make a hearty pasta dish for dinner.

09/12 (Thu) – Warned my Facebook friends not to buy this “apple” scented soap from Softsoap because it just smells like cinnamon.

It’s not actually a bad scent, just not what I was expecting.

09/14-09/15Weekend recap

09/16 (Mon) – Joined the DuPage Birding Club

09/17 (Tue) – Ran out to a park looking for migration birds and then to a couple craft stores to look at fall decor. When exiting the last store Joe pointed out the beautiful harvest moon. Luckily I had my camera with me so I photographed it from the parking lot.

09/18 (Wed) – Had my annual exam with my OBGYN where we discussed my birth control (to help with perimenopause yay) and all the health stuff. I love this doctor so much because she’s kind, knowledgeable, and a joy to be around.

Afterwards I stopped at Aldi to look for macaroni because I was planning a surprise dinner for Joe, a dish his mom referred to as Slop In the Pot (a variation of Ghoulash). They were out of it, though, so I had to go to Target. We don’t shop there very often these days so I decided to peruse the Bullseye Playground area and their clothing for the first time in a long time. Ugh, everything sucks! Cropped sweaters/sweatshirts and thick flannels with short sleeves make no sense. Oh and plunging necklines for cold weather clothing. I will never understand it, and even if it’s trendy, why can’t they also include long sweatshirts and sweaters without a low neckline for those of us who dress for the weather? At least then everyone wins.

Added new leaf garland I got at Michael’s to the fireplace mantel. I love the colors! The leaves are made of wood instead of felt like the other garland I’ve seen so it should hold up for many many years.

Tried the Ben & Jerry’s coffee ice cream we had purchased over the weekend and instantly became addicted. It’s too bad the chocolate pieces give me reflux or I’d be eating that stuff daily. It reminds me of Edy’s Espresso chip that I used to enjoy.

09/20-09/22Weekend recap

09/21 (Sat)Wookie’s 8th birthday

09/23 (Mon) – Put the suet feeder up in hopes to draw in the woodpeckers and chickadees.

When Joe got home for work we went out to Churchill Woods and surprisingly it was very busy bird-wise and I got photos of some warblers, including this orange-crowned one I had never seen before.

09/25 (Wed) – I had been anticipating a package from Amazon to arrive between 4-8 am and happened to be up at 6 am when I saw the Amazon guy, via the doorbell app, drop off two packages between the doors, and after taking two photos of said packages, look toward the neighbor’s door and say “have a nice day” before leaving.

I pulled up my Amazon account to check my order delivery status only to see this photo confirmation which included Hank, the next door neighbor’s dog, with glowing eyes. ?

But wait, there’s more…

I immediately went outside to retrieve my package and was so confused – both packages were gone! I’m like “did I just imagine all this, or did the neighbor take my stuff?”. Just then she came out and handed me an envelope, said “I’m sorry!” and quickly went back inside. Apparently she was expecting something too because both my items were in a single envelope.

When I got inside I realized my package had been torn open (and not the right way along the top tear edge either). Damn, that girl is a bit of a savage, lol! I’m not even mad about it.

I wonder what she was so excited to receive.

I’m just thankful she realized her error so quickly and didn’t throw the packages inside and leave for work, thus holding my stuff hostage. I was preparing for an upcoming last minute birding trip and needed the SD card to ensure I wouldn’t run out of room in the field.

There’s no chance of that now as the new card should hold over 4000 images and my old card will serve as a backup.

09/26 (Thu)Our day trip to Chicago’s Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary

09/27 (Fri) – Not only did I hear a couple of chickadees outside, but when I ran to the window to observe them, I saw that there were five taking turns at the suet feeder. FIVE! I’ve only ever seen two at once, so it makes me wonder if it’s the bonded couple plus their offspring? One can hope. I’m so happy my chickadees are back and brought more with them. I love their little songs! Their very existence makes my heart so happy.

09/28-09/29Weekend recap

09/30 (Mon) – Got our flu and COVID vaccines from the CVS in Target. This will be the first year I’ve gotten both shots together. I noticed the flu one didn’t hurt but the COVID one sure did. Must be a larger needle.

Weekend Recap (09/28-09/29)

Saturday (09/28) we had planned to go out to St. Charles to visit a few birding spots but the weather decided to ruin those plans so instead we took advantage of a T-Mobile Tuesday offer and got free food from Tropical Smoothie Cafe for breakfast. We got a mocha madness smoothie (free), acai bowl (free), and the cali breakfast flatbread (paid), all of which we split and enjoyed.

Their food is really good but I wish they had smaller sized smoothies which cost less than $8+. The one size smoothies are huge and I would order from them more if they were half the size and price.

Later that afternoon when the rain let up we stopped at the library on the way to our town’s Harvest Fest. This fest is rather small without much to do for adults, but we knew the Girl Scouts would have a bake sale booth. I was really looking forward to some zucchini bread but they didn’t have any this year; I guess I’ll have to make my own soon. We picked up a few items including some really yummy “monster” cookies that were a mixture of oats, peanut butter, and chocolate.

Sunday (09/29) we went on a bird walk at Danada Forest Preserve with the DuPage Birding Club. We weren’t seeing many migrating birds so our guide, Robert (who looked a lot like Hal Sparks), decided to cut the walk short and said we were welcome to follow him over to the nearby Hidden Lake Forest Preserve where people had spotted a Sage Thrasher, a bird that should not be in this area at all, not even during migration. Its territory is in the western states, so people had been flocking to the area to get a chance to see it. I had heard about it prior to Robert bringing it up, but figured there was no way I’d know where to look, so hadn’t intended on trying to find it. But knowing he had coordinates from eBird (which I still can’t seem to figure out), I was excited to take a look.

When we got there we all ended up in the wrong parking lot (on the left instead of the right) but one of the guys in our group got in touch with Robert to find out where he was and we walked over toward the other parking lot. Sure enough, there was a group of people gathered staring at a bush near a bridge where the bird had been spotted. Then to my amazement it came out so we could all get a very good look at it. It was almost as if it knew it was a celebrity and was coming out to greet its fans, and we were the Paparazzi! I got so many good photos I’m still working on them, but I’ve included this one.

After that excitement we headed to the arboretum for a quick look around. It had starting misting out, though, so we headed over to Lisle Community Park to check out this year’s Barkapalooza. Wow, there were so many dogs there between the rescue organizations and people bringing their pets.

The sponsor, West Suburban Humane Society, had a huge bake sale where we got some really yummy treats.

Note: We tried almost everything and it was all so good, especially the rice krispie treat which was my favorite. The only one I didn’t love was the cranberry bread.

We really love Barkapalooza – it’s where I got one of my favorite photos with Wookie in 2018 – so it was disappointing that it was raining more and ruining our ability to hang out longer.

On the way home we stopped at Trader Joes.

We’ve always loved TJs but prior to rejoining the arboretum wouldn’t go there often, but now that it’s on the way home we’ve been stopping quite frequently. The granola is something we picked up last time we were there and I fell in love with it and wanted to get more before it was gone. I’m pretty sure it’s seasonal. We also got the fish nuggets a week or two ago and tried them on Saturday. I was pleasantly surprised how good they were (I’m not really a lover of fish) so we had to get more. They’re a quick meal made in the air fryer.

When we got home Sofi Tukker was still live streaming on Twitch so we turned that on while we ate lunch and beyond. I want to say they streamed two hours, possibly longer. The more I listen to their new album, the more I love it. Even though we have Spotify, I plan to buy the album on CD as well which I always do for my favorite bands.

The chickadees also came by to visit the feeder briefly, so it was an awesome afternoon!

Weekend Recap (09/07-09/08)

Saturday (09/07) began with grocery shopping at Meijer followed by picking up breakfast from a new local bakery. We did not care for how they treated us at the bakery, nor their prices, and their lack of transparency by not listing any prices at all. That being said, I did enjoy their nutella stuffed donut and that was only $2.

I’d like to try the pistachio one possibly, if we decide to give them any future business.

After breakfast we headed to K’s house to have a puppy party! She was watching her brother’s and parents’ dog(s) while they were at an event and I was so happy to spend time with them both because they are so friendly & adorable! Her friend J joined us in the afternoon which made the day even better. Good friends and dogs, what more could you ask for?

Sunday (09/08) we went to Morton Arboretum for their Tails on the Trails event which happens twice a year.

We got there early to look for migrating birds first, but didn’t have much luck spotting any previously unseen birds, although we did see a rare bird – a black-billed cuckoo.

It was foggy out when we first arrived so I got a few cool photos of that before it burned off.

It was bittersweet seeing all the lovely dogs, as always. Someday I will be bringing a dog to these events, hopefully by the next large dog event in May next year.