No, you probably won’t see the big-bash New Year’s Eve parties this year as you have in years past. But that doesn’t mean we won’t want to kick up our heals and welcome in 2021 with a bang.We’re due. You’re due. This has been a long year. Hope for a better year ahead is almost assuredly in all of our hearts. And there’s good reason to believe 2021 will prove superior for most compared

More folks from Richmond will probably stay home for Christmas this year what with the coronavirus and all. Not everyone, however. Some people will fly somewhere to spend the holiday with family and friends. Others will pack up the car and drive to mom and dads, or a sibling. No doubt, they’ll observe social distancing and will wear masks, but they will recognize Christmas as a time to spend with

It’s cold, the snow is wet and the last thing you want to do is to walk around your car, truck or SUV, the frigid wind in your face, as you brush the snow from you car in your McHenry driveway. But this is Illinois. If you don’t clear your windows, you can get a ticket. If you drive over the border into Wisconsin, you can even get an ‘Ice Missile Law’ ticket – a law designed to ensure pieces

Don’t you just hate coming out to a cold car, truck or SUV in the middle of a Johnsburg winter? You have to sit and wait for the car to warm up before you feel the comforting heat blowing out of the vents. Until then, you hunker down and shiver for as long as it takes.Winter in Johnsburg gets cold, darn cold. Some winters are colder than others but there’s no mistaking this for a tropical paradise

When you get in the car, truck or SUV and back out of your McHenry driveway, the condition of your tires is probably not top of mind. They’re round. They’re made of rubber. They roll on the road to make your vehicle move. But, otherwise, what’s there to know or consider?Let’s picture you driving down Eastbound on Route 120 near the intersection where Route 31 turns South. It’s January and

Way back in the 17th Century, Pilgrims in Massachusetts started a tradition we still recognize today – they celebrated the first Thanksgiving. It was a celebration of the harvest. It was a celebration of life since the harvest offered the sustenance necessary for survival at a time when survival was hardly guaranteed.The story goes that 102 pilgrims made the journey on the Mayflower. Of those who

I pulled the car into the garage of the large tire and repair center for a now-defunct department store chain. As I got out and walked to the front of the Cadillac to open the hood. As the hood came up I looked to the battery but didn’t quite see what I expected to see. The entire top of the battery was gone. The shattered tops of lead plates were lined up like injured soldiers trying to stand in

If the battery in your car was brand new yesterday and almost worn out today, you’d recognize the difference easily. But it doesn’t work that way. Your battery ages slowly day by day. The change is gradual, imperceptible until that day when something pushes your old battery over the edge.Often, that ‘something’ doing the pushing is winter. It’s not that the cold is bad for the battery; the

The first frost of the year in McHenry was October 9. The low temperature in the area has been at or below freezing since October 24. And yet, if the weatherman is right, we can expect some unseasonably comfortable temperatures this week and through the weekend. But that doesn’t change one immutable fact: winter is coming.If the Old Farmers Almanac is to be believed, we’ll have a winter with temperatures

Most years, we would use this page as a friendly reminder to watch out for little ghouls and goblins on the roadways as they scour the neighborhoods looking for treats in lieu of tricks. This year, however, with COVID-19, it’s not clear how many trick-or-treaters will go door to door in McHenry in pursuit of sweets. Yes, McHenry is having Trick-or-Treat. So are most of the communities in the