When you get in the car, truck or SUV and back out of your McHenry driveway, the condition of your tires is probably not top of mind. They’re round. They’re made of rubber. They roll on the road to make your vehicle move. But, otherwise, what’s there to know or consider?Let’s picture you driving down Eastbound on Route 120 near the intersection where Route 31 turns South. It’s January and

Way back in the 17th Century, Pilgrims in Massachusetts started a tradition we still recognize today – they celebrated the first Thanksgiving. It was a celebration of the harvest. It was a celebration of life since the harvest offered the sustenance necessary for survival at a time when survival was hardly guaranteed.The story goes that 102 pilgrims made the journey on the Mayflower. Of those who

I pulled the car into the garage of the large tire and repair center for a now-defunct department store chain. As I got out and walked to the front of the Cadillac to open the hood. As the hood came up I looked to the battery but didn’t quite see what I expected to see. The entire top of the battery was gone. The shattered tops of lead plates were lined up like injured soldiers trying to stand in

If the battery in your car was brand new yesterday and almost worn out today, you’d recognize the difference easily. But it doesn’t work that way. Your battery ages slowly day by day. The change is gradual, imperceptible until that day when something pushes your old battery over the edge.Often, that ‘something’ doing the pushing is winter. It’s not that the cold is bad for the battery; the

The first frost of the year in McHenry was October 9. The low temperature in the area has been at or below freezing since October 24. And yet, if the weatherman is right, we can expect some unseasonably comfortable temperatures this week and through the weekend. But that doesn’t change one immutable fact: winter is coming.If the Old Farmers Almanac is to be believed, we’ll have a winter with temperatures