Janet's Blog

Ah--the joys of walking the dog in the summer. Neither of us need a jacket or boots when the air is balmy and the sidewalks are clear of snow. Evening walks are the best, when the cool breeze blows away the heat of the day, and the only sounds are the train in the distance, and a few cars on the highway. Hah! And the neighborhood dogs barking every time we walk past, and the car stereos blaring, and the kids yelling to each other as they play on the sidewalks. But, I love it all, anyway, and Jackson does, too. For nearly a month, we got to share our walks with the "granddogs," Bowie and Bella. Bowie is a black Pugapoo, and Bella is some kind of Beagle mix. They both just finished a couple of weeks of intensive training in Wisconsin, with the dog trainer who lives across the street from Erin, Reed, and Will. Bowie, who received a little extra training, was on his best behavior most of the time, walking sedately, rarely tugging on the leash or attempting to chase any bunnies or...

I made the 400 mile drive from Fairbury on Thursday without incident, my trusty iphone plugged in, providing the GPS guidance I needed to stay on track. But then, after I arrived back home that evening, my cell phone abruptly stopped working. As I plugged it in to recharge it, it suddenly got stuck in a loop, cycling between the white screen with the apple in the middle, and a black screen. Eventually, it just settled on the white screen. I've been told it's a common problem with iphones. So now I'm singing the no-cell-phone blues. For such a little thing, my phone certainly occupies a lot of my time. Like most people, I use it for so many things besides just talk and text: it's my alarm clock and ever-ready camera, my GPS, weather forecaster, reference guide, phonebook, and cookbook, my source for daily news and social media. I use the Gateway Bible app every day. In fact, since my eye surgeries, I find I can avoid a significant amount of eyestrain when I read almost e...