And now ...............the rest .......of the story.

Vishnu Springs was a small village and resort located in west central Illinois. There is a small spring located on the property that is thought to have healing powers. So the area was sought after and went through many owners from when it was first developed for use to the present day.

The property was first developed by Darius Hicks in the late 1800’s. Hicks started out with a hotel that had many attractions to it, one of those being indoor plumbing. There were also swings and hammocks, flower gardens, a deer park, horse-powered merry-go-round, a pond filled with goldfish, and many other attractions. The village would eventually surround the resort.

Eventually the town failed though. Hicks committed suicide after the death of his wife. There were many owners after him who tried to get the place up and running. Ownership traded back and forth. Some Western Illinois University students even rented the place in the seventies because of its beauty and tranquility. Today though, Western Illinois University owns the property and will be turning it into a wildlife refuge. What will be come of the hotel which still stands? Who knows what will happen. No one can deny the history that will stay locked away in the memories of ones who have visited.

No Trespassing signs are posted.

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Trespassing at Vishnu Springs

In what's been an ongoing occurrence, people continue to trespass at Vishnu Springs. McDonough County Sheriff Rick VanBrooker says seventeen people were charged last weekend with trespassing. Around 3:30 Saturday afternoon, two cars were found parked outside the gate and blocking the entrance and the road that leads to the former hotel and springs and police ticketed *seven people. Just after 10 o'clock Sunday night police again found two vehicles parked at the entrance. This time they ticketed 10 people. The ages ranged from 18 to 22. There are rumors that the former hotel on the site is haunted and the spring water was rumored to have healing power. People pry off the boards covering the hotel windows and doors to get inside, and the walls inside are spray-painted with graffiti.

* My 21 year old good as gold daughter and friends, on Halloween. How did I find out? Her court summons came in the mail today. Am I thrilled? Not so much. Am I angry with her?

Would you be?

**Added - They did not go inside, it is all boarded up, nor did they vandalise anything. They poked around and explored outside.

We're not normal

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We don’t talk in the morning at my house. At least my son and I don’t. Neither one of us is morning - or day – people really. I am forced by my responsibilities as head of the household, to hold down and keep a day job. Unfortunately that means morning is part of my routine.

My son generally goes to work around 3:00pm-ish, and does not come home till quite late, and it’s not unusual for him to just be laying down to go to sleep when I am getting up in the morning. If we do pass each other in the kitchen or as one of us enters or exits the bathroom, there is no eye contact and oh my God there is certainly no form of communication between us. Just doesn’t happen.

So yesterday morning was quite funny actually. I had slept in a tee shirt and underpants which is kind of unusual, I normally wear some kind of ‘jammie’ shorts or something, but I was tired Wednesday night. Getting up Thursday morning I did what I always do. I headed for the kitchen on autopilot.

I was standing at the counter serving up the morning canned cat food to the varmints that were circling around my legs, again, as usual. I had just bent over to put it down on the floor when Andy came around the corner into the kitchen on his way to the bathroom. In his boxers and a tee shirt. As usual.

The house is very quiet at that time of day, except for the demanding cats impatiently meowing at me while I am getting their food. I am definitely not completely awake at that point on any given day, and this day was no exception. So I can say with total honesty that it is a complete miracle that I did not wet myself and throw ocean whitefish in the air when Andy saw me and did what any 20-something boy does who sees his mother in her underwear. He screamed like he was being blinded! And the face! You would have thought he had just caught a glimpse of Rosemary’s baby!

Too funny. It was almost as bad as the morning he came around the corner and caught me in my jeans and my bra! I laughed so hard I had to cross my legs until he was out of the bathroom and by then I had tears streaming down my face.

His horror was matched only by my amusement. :)

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7 weird things

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Reading the road less traveled this evening, Jen did a meme and kindly did not tag anyone. I have trouble doing those things if tagged, I must fold under pressure. This meme appealed to me though, so I decided to do it. 7 weird things about me, and I just know these are things people will find so interesting! Or maybe not.

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I am very good at tripping and falling, I have broken one ankle and sprained the other, twice. Usually I just hurt my pride.

I like to be alone. There was a time I was made to feel badly about that but now I think of it more as being secure enough in myself that I don’t need to surround myself with other people all of the time. Sometimes is plenty. And that person that wanted me to feel bad? Totally insecure.

I love the jewelry I make but I rarely wear it myself. I wear a ring, a necklace, and a bracelet every day, each from my BF. Other than that – I do wear earrings I make, but not much else.

When I was pregnant with my daughter the hair stopped growing on my legs, and I could not taste garlic. I would put so much garlic in spaghetti sauce it was literally hot to other people and I still couldn’t taste it. Or was it my son?

I hate the telephone. HATE it. I answer for my BF and my family. Usually. Other than that – I barely even check my messages.

I go to sleep every night to forensic programs on TV. And if there aren’t any on – I put a tape in of shows that I have recorded for that very purpose. I find them interesting to listen to as I fall asleep, and Bill Kurtis’s voice especially soothing.

I cannot stand cloth on teeth. It’s worse than fingernails on a chalkboard. If I accidentally feel cloth or tissue on my teeth somehow - I literally shudder, cringe, and get a chill. Get goosebumps. If I think about it – I do the same. I just did it. And it will happen every time I read this so I won't read it again.

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Like Jen, I won't tag anybody. But if you feel like doing this, leave me a link so I can see if you're more weird than I am! Here's hoping!!

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Long day.

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So far so good on the furnace. The heating guy who came out yesterday replaced the whole pilot assembly and it has not gone out yet. It's only been one day but I am hopeful. It was the first day in a very long time that I walked in the door from work and the house was warm. So again, I am hopeful.

What I'm not hopeful about is keeping up with all these blog posts! All of you wonderful people that I love to read who are participating in NaBloPoMo, you're killing me! It's really nice when people post a lot, but every other day is fine. Every single day is simply too much for me to read without sacrificing my sleep or my sanity. So I really hope you will forgive me if I do more of that skimming I was talking about not too long ago. And I probably won't comment as much either because after I read one post, I know I have fifty two more to go!

I feel bad about that, and not for the reasons you may think. It's more selfish really. I'm disappointed because I am sure there are posts being written that normally I would really enjoy and I know I am going to miss some good stuff. Posts that if they came out at a normal speed as opposed to rapid fire, I would love to sit back and fully enjoy. The way it is now I feel a little bit like I'm on the other side of one of those machines that whip tennis balls at a player, or maybe like Lucy stuffing her mouth and her blouse with chocolates because too many have come down the conveyor belt.

A few have dropped out already and I am quite pleased. Sorry to the rest of you who are doing quite well with posting every day. It's an achievement to be sure, I know I would have a great deal of trouble with it. But from this side - I'm hoping for a few more drop outs.

On a totally random note here, I almost peed myself at work today because of my natural gracefulness. Walking back to my desk after going to the fax machine, I stumbled over my own wide, Flintstone feet, and had to put my hand out to stop myself from totally falling down and ending up with my face resting on the wheels of my chair. The heel of my hand smacked right down on top of the banana sitting on my desk - literally squirting banana out the end and onto my wrist. I truly almost wet my pants I was laughing so hard. And why can I eat a banana and not find anything at all wrong with it, but get totally grossed out by that same banana smooshed onto my arm? It was like a cartoon and it was worth tossing out the banana just to have that giggle.

Hope you find something to giggle about today!
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Earrings and heat, earrings and heat ...

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For those of you who have asked, the chandelier earrings are coming. I made some this weekend, but my photography was a little dark. I thought gee - when I get home from work today I'll take some better pics with the daylight coming in the window. Works wonders. Uh, no. Because of the time change, it's now dark when I get home from work. Gr-r-r-r.

Since I will be taking a half day tomorrow, I will get some pictures then, and will list the earrings tomorrow evening. Really.

Why am I taking a half day tomorrow? Thanks for asking! I will be home by noon so I can be here to graciously welcome the furnace guy. Again. Yep. The pilot still keeps going out and my landlord is under the impression that the pilot just needs to be adjusted. She thinks the pilot is set too low, which proves that she hasn't seen it because when it's lit - it's not one tiny flame. It burns more like a flower, with flame all around the metal core. The furnace guy told me it's a gas hog with a pilot like that.

My landlord is basically telling the heating company that she doesn't want to pay for another service call, she wants them out there to fix what's wrong. Her contention is - it's not the furnace that's not working, it's the pilot. Fix the pilot, the problem will be solved.

Here's the thing. The suburb I live in has some prime real estate in it. The land this house is sitting on is worth a bunch. The house? Not so much. Down the street from me they pulled down a cute little home and put up a great big house - and it's going for just under a million dollars. That is a single lot. I am sitting on a double.

I'm thinking my landlord plans on renting out this house, putting as little into it as possible, until it's not rent-able anymore. Then she will sell it for the land, not the house. She knows she has to keep the furnace running, but she isn't going to replace it until she absolutely has to.

I almost feel like telling the furnace guy not to bother because I don't believe there is anything else they can do, but we will see. Tomorrow is another day, right? One way or another, I will have heat that works all of the time, not just some of the time.

I really do hate this house.
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Fidelity personified

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A lot of people have toys, personal toys, appliances, if you will. They usually keep them hidden in a drawer, under the bed, or on a high closet shelf. And they don't talk about them, much less bring them out in front of guests in their home.

My old man cat Riley has a different idea about that. When he was a young cat, even after he was neutered, I would find him rubbing up against my daughters robe that was left in a heap on her bedroom floor. She had a Simba stuffed toy, and I would find Riley trying to molest it, even though it was a bit small for him to maneuver into position. It got to the point where I said - he just has to have something for himself because he's obviously not going to stop this behavior.

I came home from shopping with a 5 dollar pet toy for him. I walked in, dropped the lamb on the floor in front of Riley. He stood up, sniffed her, bit into her tail and carried her away. From that moment on he never bothered anyone else's stuff. He was in love.

You know when you see something that just creeps you out, or grosses you out, to the point that you physically shudder? You know that noise you make - that kind of deep in your throat ugh-uh-uh-h? Well - that is the name of Riley's girlfriend. We thought that was appropriate.

He likes to show her off. He can leave her alone for days at a time but as soon as someone comes over, there he is grabbing her by the tail and dragging her into whatever room the people are in, and going right ahead and getting busy. Loudly. He yowls louder than any cat you ever hear outside in a fight, always in a guttural manner because his teeth are clenched on the rear end of Ugh-uh-uh-h.

Years have passed and Riley's girlfriend has seen better days. I have washed her, but she is still filthy. She has patches where the fur has been rubbed completely off, and I'm not sure what color she was before. I thought that Riley being male, might welcome a younger, fresher model, with fluffy fur without the rode hard look. Uh, no.

I brought home another, I thought, lovely 5 dollar pet toy for Riley. I dropped her on the floor in front of him expecting him to throw the old one off in a split second and start flirting with the new younger girl in the house. Uh uh. He looked at her with disdain and walked away. We tried taking Ugh-uh-uh-h away from him and leaving him no choice of girls. He did without. We tried rubbing the old one all over the new one to transfer the familiar scent of one to the other. He ignored her. My daughter went so far as to duct tape the 2 together, thinking Riley would have to be doing 2 at one time and might slowly transfer his affections to the 2nd girl. Nope. Wasn't gonna happen.

So the new fluffy toy sits unmolested but hopeful in the living room. Ugh-uh-uh-h gets a regular workout, depending of course how often someone else visits. And Riley? He's a happy old guy. I must admit to a bit of admiration for his loyalty. He loves Ugh-uh-uh-h even though she's old and her body isn't what it once was. And he was faithful to her, even when he was sorely tempted by a younger gal.

A lot can be said about Riley, he's a horny old exhibitionist, but he's got standards!

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From the bottom of my heart ...

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I have been a ba-a-a-d blogger. I read that every now and then and I know the feeling because I am feeling it right now. It’s not so much that I have readers waiting on the edge of their seats for my next post. It’s more about the blogs I read.

I have tried to cut back on the sheer number of blogs I read, and as I have written about before, I use my Google reader to keep me up to date with all my favorite’s posts. But sometimes, like this week, I get sidetracked and single minded about something and all but ignore a lot of the blogs I usually visit. A lot. Then when I realize how behind I am, some of those blogs have 2 and 3, sometimes more – posts a piece waiting to be read! And I want to read them!

This is where I must confess to out and out skimming and marking as read and moving on. Yes, that’s right, and I am sorry. I am guilty of not fully reading the posts sometimes, and only leaving comments here and there. So rude!

Like yesterday. At some point during the day I realized I had over 70 unread posts sitting there in my reader which normally I would open and read with interest, if there weren’t so dang many! So out came my skim technique, ever aware of how quickly the posts would stack up with several people participating in posting every day for the month of November if I didn’t get it in hand right away.

I have been preoccupied with changing the design of my blog, but also with finding some better suppliers of gorgeous silver for my jewelry. Because of those things I have been a bad reader, and a bad beader. I was supposed to work on some earrings last weekend and I didn’t do it, and I am sorry about that too.

There have been some other things on my mind but I will write about that another day. With all those people blogging every single day it seems inconsiderate to write a very long post when everyone has so much to read!

And now – off to work on some chandelier earrings! Really!

Oh, but first - how about a pretty picture? Nite all!

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