I’m officially “on vacation” today, so that means I’m allowing myself only another half hour in front of the computer this morning.

We are in the Great Northwoods of Wisconsin for our official family vacation. The rest of the gang is here for the week. I was only able to get approval from my boss for Friday night through Sunday night away from the office.

I set rigorous rules for myself while I am vacationing, and I’ve only broken half of them. First, I didn’t plan very well for being “off the grid.” I came equipped with a tub of electronic equipment and papers. There’s some stuff that can’t wait, and if everyone else sleeps in, I figured I could sneak some screen time. And I did. Now, I am going to wrap things up shortly and exchange screen time for lake time in and see if I can avoid sunburn. There are certain parts of my head which are introduced to sunlight for the first time each summer because of there’s less hair up there every year.

I am thankful for my wife. She picked a place with central air, and that sure makes for a better vacation when it’s 95 degrees outside. Saturday morning, I made a run to civilization for ice and a 12-pack of vacation supplies. As I stood in line at the convenience store, each person made a remark to the clerk about the intense heat. Her reply was always the same: “At least it ain’t snow.”

To make sure I got the message, I gave her a “Hot nuff for ya?” when I got to the counter. Sure enough, she countered with, “At least it ain’t snow.”

I can really appreciate that. While 90-plus degrees may be on the outside of comfortable, I do hate winter. My career choice means I’m on the road for a significant part of each day, and winter is complete misery. There’s two kind of people I don’t understand: People who love winter and people who love bread and butter pickles, but I don’t want to go back down that road.

I love that in Wisconsin we get to have four seasons, and I’d be in favor of some sort of legislation to make sure they get equal time. Let’s face it, winter really gets here in mid-November most years and has been known to stick around until May. That’s just plain rude. And it should be illegal! This is something I think everyone can get behind: Republican, Democrat, liberal, conservative, socialist. We need equal time for all seasons!

I’m going to go do my best this afternoon for the remainder of this vacation to take in at least a half hour outside, until I’m thoroughly overheated. Sure, it’s hot, but at least it ain’t snow!