The Road to Farley is Less Traveled

On my way to O'Hare Airport this morning, traffic was backed up in the westbound lanes of 80/94 for a "gapers' block." I'd heard this on the traffic alert, but decided to go this way as my alternate route would be to go through downtown Chicago, which had its' own traffic issues because of the looting and rioting that took place overnight. But, that is another story.  So, back to 80/94. Sure enough, the slowdown occurred right at Kennedy like they said. It was clear the eastbound lanes were shut down because there was no traffic. As I approached Torrance Avenue, I could see the accident scene. It was horrific. It's not clear exactly what happened, but a semi tractor was involved and the driver side was smashed in and the windshield shattered. There was a large pickup off on the shoulder with pretty bad front end damage as well. Then, there were two cars in the middle of the four lanes completely destroyed. There was debris across all four lanes for at leas...

We can all agree that 2020 has really been one for the record books. Now, more than ever, the level of hypocrisy coming from our elected leaders to our neighbors across the street has been on prime display.  hy·poc·ri·sy /həˈpäkrəsē/ Learn to pronounce noun the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.     Quite frankly, I'm sick of it.  If "All Lives Matter," where is your outrage when:  Migrants are kept in cages at the border Innocent people are put to death in our prison system A court denies an appeal to end the life sentence of a man (who has already served 20 years) accused of stealing hedge trimmers Peaceful protesters are brutally attacked by covert federal agents Thousands of individuals are dying daily due to COVID-19 but people refuse to wear a mask People are insistent that children go back to school en masse this fall If your constitutional or civil rights are being thwarted...

There is one thing I just really hate about dogs. I mean *really* hate. They never live as long as you do. And, losing your dog just sucks. I'm losing my Bailey girl. You know it is going to happen, but you just can't prepare for it. She is almost 13, and she has a heart murmur. For the past six months, she's been losing weight, but she was still the girl who begged for treats and barked like an attack dog at the UPS driver.  This week, I took her for her routine vaccinations, and I think it was just too much of a stress on her system. Within hours she was throwing up and extremely lethargic, by the next day, she was back at the vet on IV fluids. Her kidneys are failing. She doesn't want to eat.  The really crazy thing is I'm crying more for Bailey than I did when I lost my dad in April. Like, I can't stop crying, and she hasn't even died yet. Honestly, a therapist would probably have a field day trying to crack my fuc...

It's been one week since we laid my dad to rest. Dementia finally claimed his worn mind and body. We wrote in his obituary that he died from dementia   because so many people assumed he died of COVID-19. But, as I have been reflecting in the past week on his passing, I do consider him a victim of the virus not because he was afflicted with it, but because we were forced to be separated from him for the past month.  I think he just gave up, thinking we had just abandoned him. When my sister called the nursing home to check on him on April 2nd, they said they were getting ready to call us. They said he had been asking when people were coming to visit, but his brain could no longer comprehend or remember the details of the pandemic. They said after two weeks he stopped asking, and stopped eating, and slept all the time. He lost more than 20 pounds during that time. By April 6th, they had advised calling hospice. He died on the morning of April 9th. We are comforted th...