Wisconsin

On Friday we pointed the car toward Wisconsin to spend the long weekend with Martha's family. Traffic was light and we made good time, reaching a sleeping Waupaca well before midnight. The desire to go out and hit the bottle at that time of night is decreasing with age and knowing that a good hangover will ruin an entire weekend we went to bed.

Outdoor shenanigans began early on Saturday. Fran offered the option of physical labor on his land and I accepted. One pile of wood was broken down into three piles. Usable construction timber, burnable firewood, dead wood with no other use than to be thrown on top of a new pile dedicated to decaying branches, leaves and other tree matter. A man with piles. Some two hours later Martha and Marci arrived on the scene with supplies of Heineken and cheese sandwiches.

Good weather is never to be wasted. Later that same day we set fire (LINK) to a bunch of wood, had more beer and began to wish that we brought tents. Looking up at the stars and enjoying the warm crackling fire Fran summed up life at that point in time: "eat food, drink beer, burn wood."

The rural night sky is as black as coal and millions of stars are visible. What appears to be thin dusty clouds is actually the Milky Way galaxy, our home. Beer and stars, makes you think. Good times.