Sweet baby Jesus – it’s never felt so good to be back in Wisconsin. That text was Tara’s way of letting me know her plane was on the ground last night. Woo-hoo!
For a while there, we weren’t sure that was going to happen. When her flight from Manzanillo touched down in Dallas, they sat on the runway for almost 40 minutes waiting for another plane to clear the gate. And she still had to make it through Customs. Upon hearing this, I got to work doing what I do best and manifested her onto that flight. I literally said, “You are not missing this plane,” putting the Universe on blast if you will. This must have worked, because she arrived in Milwaukee at 9:17 p.m. Whew!
Just like a week earlier, the trip to the airport took place in the dark. I was a little worried about the roads after our Thursday snowstorm, but Highway 12 was perfectly fine. It was a bone-chilling 5° but I just waited in the cellphone lot with the heat blasting until she had gone through baggage claim.
Despite Tara’s text, she had a great time in Mexico. No matter how fun the getaway, it always feels good to return home. Especially when it’s been a week. And especially when you’ve got a groovy guy like me waiting for you.
Just sayin’.
Saturday, I’d been feeling restless. I would have loved to have built a fire in my scowly faced wood stove and watched a movie or two, but it’s hard to relax knowing you’re going to have to venture out after dark. Rather than pace around the house continuously, as I found myself doing, I decided to make cookies to pass the time.
Bad idea, you might be thinking, after my Wednesday night cookie fail. But these were spritz cookies, something I’ve mastered over the years. It isn’t the holiday season until the cookie gun comes out! Two hours later, I’d baked a festive array of vanilla, almond, coconut, and lemon cookies.
Go me!
It was too cold to do anything outside. Luckily, I got that out of my system on Friday with a chilly hike along the Bark River.
That birdhouse, by the way, was dedicated to Dick – yes, our Dick, aka “the bird man of Fort Atkinson” – in recognition of his contributions to the community. Pretty cool, huh?
We ended up with 4″ from the storm. Plenty to coat the trees in a beautiful blanket of white, like this beauty in our yard.
You know, I could easily string up lights next year and turn that into a living Christmas tree. Hmm…
With all that snow on the ground and the bitterly cold temperatures we’ve had, you’d think a white Christmas was a guarantee. But you would be mistaken. It’s going to warm up over the next few days, flirting with 50° and rain by the end of the week. Bah, humbug.
By the way, I’m having issues with my comments. Most of them are landing in your Spam folders. Normally, I’m a huge Spam fan, but this ain’t canned meat, folks. I’m working with WordPress and Akismet to resolve the issue, but in the meantime, if you haven’t heard from me in a few days, please check your Spam folder. A couple of you have done so and successfully sprung me from jail. Thank you! Freedom never felt so good.
In the meantime, I’m wondering what caused me to land on the naughty list. It’s not like I go around leaving lewd comments (anymore). Geez Louise, I didn’t even get into this much trouble when I rearranged the letters on a coworker’s office window to turn something cheery into something leery.
And for the record, when I said “our Dick” above, I was referring to the former owner of our house, WordPress. Get your mind out of the gutter!
Mark My Words 
Leave a reply to Cheers! And pass the Irish Spring. – Mark My Words Cancel reply