Man trying to rescue bird saved from pond

From the Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008 edition of the Northwest Herald:

Man trying to rescue bird saved from pond
By DIANA SROKA - dsroka@nwherald.com

WAUCONDA – Bruce Brown was used to fetching his pet cockatiel, Happy, out of the retention pond near his Wauconda home.

But Thursday afternoon, Brown had a harder time than usual getting back to shore when Happy flew into the pond just east of Routes 12 and 176.

“I started going down; I couldn’t stay afloat,” said Brown, 60. “The weight of my clothes is what almost killed me.”

Island Lake resident Shawn Prate was fishing with his 7-year-old son at the pond when they saw Brown struggling, so he called 911.

Prate thought it was too dangerous to follow him into the pond, which is about 200 feet in diameter, so he used his fishing rod to hook Brown and reel him in.

“He was going underwater, and he wasn’t coming up as often as he should have,” said Prate, 39. “The pole was there, and so I just did what I could.”

Prate, whose father owns the property that Brown lives on, managed to snag Brown’s sweat shirt and reel him in close to the shore. Then he climbed into the pond and held Brown’s head above the water until paramedics arrived.

“We have rescues that happen, but this is a pretty incredible story,” said Tomm Smithe, Wauconda Fire Department public education coordinator.

When authorities arrived, Brown was taken to Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington. Outside his Harmony Village home Friday, Brown said he was treated for hypothermia and was on antibiotics for pneumonia. He was released from the hospital late Thursday.

His beloved pet, Happy, did not survive the ordeal.

“I’m not sure if the bird drowned or died when I was squeezing him,” Brown said.

Happy was Brown’s pet for at least three years, he said. He was an Australian bird with gray feathers and a yellow head. The bird’s wings were clipped, but he still was able to fly about 50 yards.

Brown said he wasn’t sure whether he would replace Happy.

“I’m definitely sad about the bird,” he said. “I’m feeling very lousy right now.”

Residents concoct spooky yard scenes

From the Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008 edition of the Northwest Herald:

Residents concoct spooky yard scenes
By DIANA SROKA - dsroka@nwherald.com

It started with one wolfman about 25 years ago. Lila Harris thought trick-or-treaters would enjoy seeing him in the yard when they came by for candy.

“It was a way of keeping Halloween exciting for them,” said Harris, who lives at 4410 Barreville Road, Prairie Grove. “They say, ‘Trick or treat,’ but I don’t think most of them know sometimes you’d get tricked.”

The wolfman was such a hit that each following year, she upped the ante by adding another monster or ghoul to the display. Now her residence is as much a home to the handmade ghouls, monsters and ghosts that populate the front lawn every Halloween as it is to Harris and her husband, Lee.

For some, a carved pumpkin on the doorstep doesn’t get the job done anymore. Nowadays, extravagant, outdoor Halloween decorations are as important to enthusiasts as eating turkey on Thanksgiving or having a tree at Christmas.

A top-notch Halloween display has lights, fog machines and life-sized scares.

Area retailers are stocking and selling more decorations this year than in years past.

At the McHenry Wal-Mart store, this season’s most popular decorations help transform suburban lawns into cemeteries.

“The top of the list is a foam tombstone,” said Katherine Michaels, who manages the seasonal department. “They’re very precise looking, very real.”

The prices for the tombstones range from $1 to $13, and the most expensive tombstones are 3 feet tall, she said. Fog machines also are popular this year, and cost about $15 at the store. Other top sellers include caution tape and strings of Halloween lights used to create spider webs.

But many residents are opting out of the store-bought decorations and creating their own masterful scenes.

Every year Lawrence Priester constructs elaborate, mechanical scenes with mad scientists, Frankensteins, aliens, cannibal families and graveyards on his property at 11218 McConnell Road, Woodstock.

Priester’s hobby started 15 years ago, when he discovered some machinery that made for a perfect alien scene.

“I’ve got the little aliens rotating out of the person’s stomach, and the alien’s head spinning around in glee,” said Priester, 43. “It was just an old piece of farm equipment that had two different motions.”

This year he has eight scenes spread over 2 acres. He’s been working on the scenes since September so they are ready in time for an annual, family Halloween party.

“It’s almost like a Thanksgiving or holiday for us,” he said.

All the decorations in Harris’ front yard are handmade, too.

“We build the ghouls ourselves, and we build a new one every year,” she said. “A lot of the ghouls are wearing my husband’s old clothes, or mine.”