Back in Wisconsin tonight.  Hated to leave Florida, it has been such a great winter in south Florida.   And we had another great 10 days.   We have good friends we enjoy spending time with and the time was special.   Noel and JoAnn spent a weekend with us and we had a very relaxing weekend including a picnic at the pool.  And ended with a St Patrick’s day dinner.

And actually coming back to 38 degrees was not bad.  Certainly better than every other time this winter!  And I am very surprised at how much snow has melted in the last 10 days.  Although we saw cars driving on the lake when we got home, the water under the ice is probably 34 degrees, so that will be with us for awhile.  Although it looks like we could use some melting of culverts and ditches so some water can continue to run off.  And it looks like my neighbors may have been working on getting the ice off our road, which is in better shape than I thought it could be at this point.  So if Spring is really coming that will be welcome by all of us.

So now getting back to our regular life, what ever that is!  I will check out the house and yard tomorrow. And I have some issues at work to dive into.   But hopefully it won’t take much to get back into the groove.  And we have a weekend beer festival at the Heidel House to look forward to.  So life continues to be good, even if not as warm.

picnic on the water

Our daughter painted us a picture for the condo

Life is good!   Had a great Friday night catching up with cousins and brother and sister in law,   had some good food and beer at St Francis Brewery.    Then on Saturday made our way back to Florida.   This is just a different world than home.  7:30 pm and just came in from sitting outside with neighbors, having a few drinks and catching up as the sun went down.   Took a walk to the beach this morning, a nice breeze coming in from the Bahama’s.    Did a little work on a bathroom today, a project I started in January.   But it just feels so good to be warm!   You have to try it!      Hoping my driveway does not get snow while we are gone.  There should be some better weather in Wisconsin while we are gone,  glad to hear that for everyone.  But for me I will take 80 degrees and sunshine!

Boating was busy today on the intercoastal

Things are flowering here!

At the ocean this morning.

I know as we grow older the age affects how we think. I think at times the car I would like now probably costs upwards of $50,000, heck pick up trucks can cost upwards of $50,000, and you know in 1980 we bought a brand new Dodge pick up for $5000??

When my mind goes down that road I remind myself of my Uncle Augie. I always remember Uncle Augie as being pretty negative. And the many weekends in our neighborhood back yard I always remember at some point Uncle Augie saying the world was going to hell, how could a loaf of bread cost $.25?   Clyde would tell me a story of his father-in-law Augie coming over to the tavern when he saw Clyde go in, and Clyde would always buy him a brandy. And Augie would rage on that Clyde also paid $.15 for a snit of beer on the side, and the snit of beer should not have to be paid for. And then Augie would excuse himself with a promise to buy one next time.
OK I digress. But I heard when you let your mind go negative like dwelling on criticism, those parts of the brain just take over and those parts of the brain are so strong the rest of the brain cannot do anything.    Even with the evil people in the world I have to believe we are inherently good. In all of us is the desire to be happy   and to make those around us happy. We let our environment pull us down, but we just need to give our selves the chance to be positive. Thinking of Clyde and Uncle Augie brings a smile to my face.

And the point of this is really to have you watch something that touched me this morning. Watch this and feel good about the world, maybe with a tear in your eye, but still feeling good about the good things we are all capable of.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-8-year-old-turns-20-into-priceless-gift/