Fairly Frenetic February

Whew! The Olympics and February are both over...it was quite a month, wasn't it?

First thing this month, Mark took off for a couple depositions in California. Getting there from here by air took an entire day plus driving, not much fun, all work. I "fail to thrive" or to sleep well while he is gone, so things were less than happy. However, he got home on the 4th, unwound at taekwondo and then took off on the 5th so we had the entire day together for our anniversary. We went to Menards and his office for an hour then dinner at the Hilltop. Thirty -eight years sounds like a long time, but seems to have sped by.

Jim had a LOVELY birthday--snowed in there in DC again. It is truly amazing how much snow they ahve gotten socked with and for Wisconsinites, they could kind of watch in amusement at the way people dressed, drove and dug out.

February always includes a taekwondo testing. Mark helps with the actual judging and I do registration and photos and then write everything up for the paper and our school blog. This time, it was Valentine's Day. There were 60 color belts testing, and the three black belt testing performed quite well, always satisfying to watch that.

After two and a half months of being unable to walk outside, the ice on Second Avenue cleared, so we drove down there and walked several times. There is a good view of sunsets from there!

The week of 14th was hectic as I squeezed in two weeks of meetings into one, wrote up all the taekwondo stuff, cleaned house, and enjoyed having the crafts group out on Thursday night. Since I can't drive at night, when we have a week off of taekwondo workouts, I try to get them to come out here for stitching, chatting and goodies. Then one more meeting before packing up.

Since Mark needed a week in southern Missouri for lots of depositions, we both went down, driving twelve hours straight through wetter and wetter conditions, poor visibility and hidden potholes. Although Springfield is nearly 700 miles south of Rudolph, it was not a lot warmer down there...they were having a cold snap until we left. It didn't matter to me...I got to relax completely. Mark and I walked almost every morning and a couple of evenings, and then he worked. I shopped, read, worked on computer, and visited the zoo. I got to see a three-day-old baby giraffe named Billie---just about 6 foot tall and curious about visitors. I also went to Fantastic Caverns....really interesting history of use for that place and fascinating formations. Saturday, we drove another 12 hours back, with much better weather, clear roads and light traffic. It sure felt good to be home.

While we were gone, a neighbor did the critter chores, but he warned us the faucet was leaking, so Mark finished the month by fixing plumbing after church. We would like to stay home for the near future, but the trip was much better for Mark with me along, and much better for me than staying home not sleeping, worrying about Mark and dripping faucets. That's what 38 years mean--everything is better together.

News from January

The Christmas Eve ice storm damaged or snapped off several of our trees. Jim and Kayme could hear the snapping during the night. Morning showed branches and pieces all over the yard. We are only slowly cleaning them us...lots iced into the snow and footing is so treacherous working out there is tough. Mark and John took down the remnants of one birch, but we will probably wait for early spring to climb up and deal with the higher limbs from the white pine and cotton wood. It is discouraging how much damage can occur and how many years of tree growth can go in one night!

The New Year started very quietly here, since Mark was only semi-mobile after an attempt to smash the icy coating in the yard with his back. Neither the ice nor he broke anything, but he moved from one uncomfortable position to another for several days.

John actually took a vacation in Arizona, going out for a short week to visit friends in the warmth and sunshine. He visited a missile silo, aircraft museum and got in some hiking. It looks like he got up fairly high.

Hilde had lots of meetings to make up for the long break for Christmas and new Years...at least most of them were in Rapids and Point, only one run to Wausau. Planning meetings in the winter months is tricky, especially when most of the folks are considerly older than Hilde.

Jim and Kayme took a long winter hike up a trail called the Old Rag in the Shennadoah Vally area. They seem to like heights also. It was good for them to get out in daylight and fresh air. Jim works long hours in the lab and Kayme is teaching or in transit many of the daytime hours.

Mark's mother is, at 91, feeble and more and more confused. It is painful to see and hear her in this condition, but Phil and Connie really spend a lot of time and love making things work, so far.

Heidi stopped by for a visit on her way to her last semester at UW-Stevens Point--that was fun--it was good seeing her.