The temperatures were 70 degrees with partially sunny skies with winds whipping the patio umbrellas. A fearless seven gathered on the patio without concern for their safety. Dave Schoenbeck was showing his bravado when he ordered chicken fried stead, gravy, eggs and hashbrowns.....boy did it look good. He and Ellen are about to leave on a 30 day trek to New Zealand on February 28th. New Zealand Airlines will be escorting them both to Auckland to start their adventure. He seemed to be hesitant to do bungie jumping and zip lining in Queenstown.....do you think it is his back? We can’t wait to hear about their adventures. Pat Johnston joined the group after leaving the tennis courts...he need eggs benedict to replenish all the calories burned on those clay courts. Jerry Ostermann is about to leave for the frozen tundra at the end of the upcoming week, but soon to return. Brent was looking great and telling us that Tom Nielsen, in fact, broke his tibia after falling 5 feet off a ladder a couple of weeks ago. No surgery is necessary and it will take about 6 to 8 weeks to bounce back. We missed Curt Larson the last couple of weeks because he took a side journey to Florida for two weeks. He is everywhere! Ron Grove indicates that he and Liz are still waiting for a firm offer on their estate. He was wondering if he should drop the price from it’s current listing of $25 M. We said to hold off and it is, in fact, a historic residence. We talked about the challenges of farming and how many small participants have left the business after several generations...the number of diary farmers who have moved on is staggering. Wes was talking about the equipment necessary to be in that business and how the “average” farmer financed those tools.....many lease. Wes, being from South Dakota indicates that the stocks he follows daily happen to be Cat and john Deere. Wonder how many green and yellow trucker hats he has. Of course we had to talk about the homeless situations, but we didn’t have one firm solution. Unfortunately there are now signs of tent type gatherings in Phoenix near Washington and 12th Avenue. It appears that no one is interesting in going on a cruise anytime soon......that industry will be hurting for more than several months. It does seem, that no one has any firm solutions on curbing the outbreaks. I am happy to say, not one word was mentioned about politics....