According to the State of Illinois, the state animal is the ‘White Tail Deer.’ But, here in Wonder Lake, we know better. We know that the state animal is the road construction sign. Seen most often in the spring, summer and fall, the road construction sign is found out and about foraging for frustrated drivers on Illinois roads.You will usually spot the road construction sign near some of their

Some kids just love to play in the mud. They see a mud puddle and their eyes glow. They just can’t resist jumping in creating soul-satisfying splash. Then we have some ‘kids’ here in the McHenry area who never grow out of it. That latter group graduates from playing with Tonka toys in the mud to using bigger, and more expensive, toys in the mud. Those bigger toys are called “off-road vehicles.”With

It’s almost mid-April here in Johnsburg, IL. Even if the winter of ’22-’23 throws a fit or two before passing into the record books, at this point, we’ve got the worst of it licked. We could get two feet of snow but it won’t last long. Temperatures may fall but they’ll bounce back. But it’s time to think about the effects of winter on your steering, suspension and alignment.Winter is

Think of all the cars, trucks and SUVs out there you can hit with your vehicle when pulling out of your Richmond driveway should your brakes fail. It’s a target-rich environment. Of course, who wants to hit anything with your car, truck or SUV?Hitting things with your vehicle is the kind of thing most of us prefer to avoid. From Richmond to Timbuktu, accidents happen all the time. We all prefer they

You’ve got your eye on that Princess 50 Flybridge yacht and you can almost feel the spray of water in your face as you imagine yourself navigating from the bridge spinning the tiller with cool and collected mastery. Well, none of this is very realistic. That 50-foot boat is too big for your Johnsburg driveway and it’s not the kind of boat that really fits Pistakee Lake. Additionally, it’s not

We may have more snow, ice and cold to face here in Richmond but, there’s little doubt that we’re nearing the end of the winter of 2022-23. If you have run snow tires this winter, you may want to run them a little bit longer, just to make sure you don’t need them before you take them off. But it is time to start thinking about rotating your tires.Rotating your tires is a procedure that Richmond,

Will your car have the luck of the Irish as we approach another St. Patrick’s Day in McHenry? Or will the Blarney Stone hit and crack your windshield? Will four-leaf clovers grow inside your fuel injectors clogging them so your car won’t run? Will Leprechauns turn your tires to corned beef and cabbage?Fortunately, few of these hazards are concerns you really need to consider. The Blarney Stone,

Welcome to March in beautiful Johnsburg. This is the month when winter will officially end, though there’s no guarantee winter-like weather will pass on schedule with it. But, regardless, we’ve now put the first months of winter in the rearview mirror and warmer weather is sure to follow, eventually. March is known as the windiest month of the year. Is that true? Has March earned the reputation

Lillie is always busy around her McHenry home. She weeds and plants out in the garden. She cuts the lawn and edges along the driveway and sidewalks. She regrouted her bathtub recently and, on the same day, replaced the air filter in her furnace. She had the gutters cleaned in the Fall and plans to power wash the house in the Spring. But is she as attentive to her car, such as changing the oil on schedule?Lillie’s

filterNounfil·ter ˈfil-tər 1a: a porous article or mass (as of paper or sand) through which a gas or liquid is passed to separate out matter in suspensionb: an apparatus containing a filter mediumMerriam-Webster DictionaryOil Filter: Most of us know that there is an oil filter in our cars. It cleans particles out of the oil so the oil can do its job of lubricating moving parts in the engine