A Wet and A Sick Labor Day Weekend, Didn't Stop Us Much-- Part 1

Liz and I aren't going to let little things like me getting a summer cold and a whole lot of rain Thursday to Monday.

Well, the sick stopped me Thursday and Friday.

 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1

Bummer.  Paid my $4,407.73 in property taxes this morning.  And, that's just half of the yearly property tax.
We went to the Fox Lake American Legion on Nippersink Lake and saw our favorite band, 3 Aces.  They play only pop and country oldies and is a big favorite at the Legion.  One group od boaters came in wearing Ole Miss shirts and we got into a talk with them.  They said the Ole Miss Rebels are now the Landsharks.  Hope that is not correct.  I hate these Confederate haters.

Sadly, we watched the Iowa Hawkeyes blow our NIU Hiskies out in a football game on the Big 10, 11-12-13-14 Network.

Then went to Spring Grove Pub & Pizza for a while.

--RoadDog

YOUR ENGLISH LESSON:  Did you know that the word "racecar" spelled backwards still spells "racecar"?

25 Ways To Tell You're From Lake County, Illinois-- Part 6: Shoveling and Lamb's Farm

21.  You miss the albino crocodile in Gurnee Mills (a huge outlet mall), but know that you can get your reptile fix at the Wildlife Discovery Center.

22.  You complain about taxes.  A LOT!!  But, you would never, ever, dream of living in Cook County, McHenry County (Hey, that's where I now live), or, heaven forbid, Kenosha County, Wisconsin.  (Too many Cheeseheads and Packer fans.)

23.  You understand that no one is growing crops over at Lamb's Farm, but they are nurturing human dignity.  They also, in fact, do have lambs along with a sizable herd of goats and other lovable creatures.

24.  You help shovel your neighbor's driveway during a blizzard, but you don't stick a chair or ironing board on the space shoveled afterwards like they do in Chicago.

25.  If you're a parent, you follow Little Lake County to be in-the-know on where-to-go to  have fun with your kids.  (This is where I got the 25 things from.)

A Crock You Wouldn't Want to Wear.  --RoadDog

JSS: Traffic Circle-- Property Taxes-- Boating

JSS--  Just Some Stuff.

1.  TRAFFIC CIRCLE--  Yesterday I checked out the new and much-ballyhooed traffic circle in nearby Johnsburg, Illinois.  I hate traffic circles.  You never know where they're going to hit you from.  Approaching from the south, they have a sign up "Traffic Circle Open.  Be Ready."  It Should also read, "Be Ready to Get Hit."

2.  PROPERTY TAXES--  Yesterday, I went to our local bank and paid my property taxes to the tune of $4,747.69.  That's a lot, but even worse, that is only HALF OF IT!!  I need a break.

3.  BOATING--  No boating Saturday to Monday because of bad weather and the crowds out on the Chain over Labor Day weekend.    We did go out yesterday and hopefully today and tomorrow.  So far, we've been out 28 times.

Just Some Stuff.  --RoadDog


SIGNS OF OLD AGE:  Your relatives longingly refer to your things as your "estate."

It's Them, Not Me: Paid My Collector

Drove over to my bank today and paid the McHenry County, Illinois, Collector.  And I can tell you this, that guy sure does collect something, he collects MY MONEY!!!  As in property taxes.  And, he collects A Lot of my money!!

I wrote out a check for $4,747.51!!  That was bad.  But even worse, that represented only HALF of the tax bill!!!  Wow!!  $9,495.02 in taxes.  The previous year, I paid $8,637.32.  That is the biggest-ever tax increase for me.

And, it had gone up $500 the year before.

And, in that time, I have lost about half the value of the house.  So much for their old, "You're paying more in taxes because the value of your house has gone up."  Apparently, if the value of your house goes up, your taxes go up.  And, if the value of your house goes down, your taxes go up.

Somebody Sure Has a Win-Win Thing Going On.  --RoadDog

It's Them, Not Me: That Was a Fast $80

I just got back from Fox Lake getting gas  before the GRBs raise the price.  Gas was at a lowest in several weeks, $3.96.  It took just a couple days to jump up 65 cents and three weeks to drop 20 cents.  It just doesn't compute that it can go up that fast and drop that slow.

Well, I guess that is not so surprising considering all these years our property taxes have gone up with the reason being that the value of our house went up.  Of course, in the last two years, the value of our house has plummeted drastically to where we could probably get what we paid for it in 1992.  One would then expect our property tax to go down,  Come on, that only makes sense.

BUT NO!!!!  Last year, our tax bill went up $500, a new record increase.  But, this year, it set another record, going up another $850!!

I guess things that used to make sense just don't anymore.

Anyway, to beat the Hurricane Isaac increase in gas price tomorrow, I got gas this evening.  I had to put a little over ten gallons in the '11 Malibu.  Then, got 5 gallons for the boat.  Then, after the movie and seeing gas was still at $3.96 (I kind of figured it would go up during the two hours of the Bourne Legacy), I got another five gallons for the lawn tractor.

How I spent $80.

Guess we'll never see gas under $3 again.

Things Ain't What They Used to Be.  --RoadDog

Property Taxes, How High is High?

I am of the opinion that my property taxes are a bit high out here in Spring Grove, Illinois. For an 2200 square foot home on an acre, I'm paying $7600. As a matter of fact, when I finally paid off the mortgage, my monthly property tax was the same as the mortgage payment!!! Now, that's BAD!!!

Yesterday, my buddy Kip and I took a ride out through a subdivision in Grayslake, Illinois and saw many For Sale signs all over the place. Several homes had flyers and we stopped to get copies.

These homes are on perhaps an 8th of an acre and although striking, some are modeled on Frank Lloyd Wright's work, not very big. Two were listed in the $420-465,000 range and one at $596,000. I doubt that any had more than 2200 square feet.

Now Get This--- Taxes on the two less expensive ones were around $10,900 and $14,114 for the bigger one.

Now, how are people going to be able to pay this much??

Guess I shouldn't complain as much. But I Will!!!

If we do move from here, a big part of it will be because of taxes. --RoadDog

Bad Place to Trick or Treat

Our subdivision, Orchard Bluff Estates in Spring Grove, Illinois, would not be my first choice of places to trick or treat. As matter of fact, if I were a kid, I'd ask my parents to take me to another subdivision. Logistically, it is a nightmare. There is just TOO much ground that has to be covered to get a candy return on our efforts.

The problem is that we are a subdivision of one acre lots. Now that is true joy to the McHenry County tax collector who sees the word acre and thinks "Cash Cow." Plenty of money to be milked here. My property tax surely reflects this.

However, this is way too much territory to cover if you're in the business of acquiring candy. Plus, the majority go back to the street instead of cutting across yards, even more candy collectin' time lost.

Now, what I would do would be to get my parents to take me to one of the canyon subdivisions. You know the ones where all the homes are on postage stamp-sized lots and go straight up to save land. You feel like you're driving through a canyon in these places. The great thing is that they're right next to each other. MAXIMUM candy ACQUISITION time.

I know my brother and I carefully mapped out our plan of attack to get the maximum in the minimum. That included taking mental notes of the "great" houses where the candy was the best for a possible return visit.

Then, Again, an Apartment Complex Would Even be Better. --RoadDog

Great High School Football Rivalry- Johnsburg vs. Richmond-Burton

I've decided to start going to see some local high school gridiron action on Friday nights for entertainment. You can't beat the price and pageantry. Parking is free and usually there are not the big crowds that make getting out of the parking lots, or grass as was the case last night, too bad of an effort. The food is relatively inexpensive as well, definitely better prices than you'll get at Soldiers Field for Da Bears.

Last night, I paid $4 after a long walk from where I ended up parking the Dakota to see a game at Johnsburg High School, which is located about two miles directly south of our house. It was between them and arch-rival and neighboring Richmond-Burton which serves students from our village of Spring Grove and Richmond.

I normally would have pulled for Johnsburg, and, until they built the new subdivision between our house and the school, I could hear the pa for their games when it wasn't too windy. I'd sit out on the deck or out by a bonfire on the Grand Strand (what I call the lower patio) and listen to the game. However, since the kids in our subdivision go to R-B (Richmond-Burton), I decided to play it loyal and pulled for the Rockets.  And besides that, I send a whole lot of money there  in my property taxes.  I mean a WHOLE LOT!!!!

Can't do that anymore.

Got a hot dog and drink for $3.50 and walked over to the visitors side. The whole field was packed and there was nowhere to sit in either grandstand.

I took up a position by the fence at the 20 yard line and watched the end of the sophomore game which ended in a 40-7 rout for the Rockets.

Johnsburg has been to the state playoffs quite often in the last ten years and was heavily favored to win...again. While talking with one of the player's fathers, I found out Johnsburg has the whammy on R-B and usually wins six out every seven contests. Kind of like Arlington High School was to my alma mater, Palatine. We just couldn't beat them. The University of Toledo has the same thing going against my college, Northern Illinois. Even on those VERY RARE times we beat them, they still go to a bowl game and we stay home.

Standing along the fence in the grass, we got to watch the game and battle the hungry-for-your-blood mosquitoes all evening. After all the rain, they are the worst I've ever seen.

The Johnsburg Seahawks got the opening kick off and were marching down the field when a pass was intercepted and run back to the ten yard line and that led to a R-B touchdown. They came back and scored, and were easily containing the R-B offense the whole first quarter.

In the second half, a Rocket running back took the hand off and ran 70 yards to set up another TD a few plays later. The father I was talking to said that the player was his son, who very rarely ever plays offense. He didn't seem too excited about the run as he wasn't cheering any louder than the other fans. Later, his son went down with leg cramps, but after a few minutes got up and was able to walk off under his own power.

His father said his son, a senior, was going to go to Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, about 45 miles away. He won't play football, but will do track. He will join two other siblings already there. I told him his money was definitely going to Carthage as it is a private college.

I left with ten minutes to go as I was getting tired of standing, had lost a fair amount of blood to the mosquitoes, was getting chilly as I was wearing shorts and a polo shirt, and, when the game ended, there would be quite a mess getting out with all those vehicles. Richmond was winning 20-10, and I saw this morning that that was the final score as well. Congratulations Rockets.

Love Them High School Football Games. --RoadDog