Noteworthy November 2011

November has been a fabulous family month, but it has flown by quickly.

The best and most joyous days were early in November when Mark and Hilde flew to DC and got to spend a long weekend with Jim and Kayme. The weather was wonderful: crisp, sunny and clear, so the five Henkels visited Mt. Vernon on Saturday, with little Rhia toddling up to “Martha Washington” and sitting on her lap! Since Rhia started walking, she seems never to stop and is deliriously happy to be so mobile—Grandma spent lots of time on her knees and on the floor playing with the speedy sweetie. After church the family went to Ft. Washington for a picnic and tour of the historic site, with time out for a nature study of a large praying mantis. It was hard to leave on Monday after a golden visit!

Central Wisconsin got an early dose of snow the 9th: we got 5 inches of very sloppy wet snow. Since there were still some leaves on oaks and it was windy, yes, the power was out for nearly two hours,. Hilde discovered that if the bread is almost done, leaving it in the oven will finish it off without additional heat, thank goodness!

Inevitably in a month foreshortened by holidays and trips, some secret formula decrees extra meetings and seminars for Hilde. Mining and zoning issues popped up, bringing small and large meetings, with lots of time on the phone, and the monthly county board meeting got lengthy and fairly acrimonious on the budget motion. Mark had another video deposition in Roseville MN, so a couple of days were spent on driving, deposing and driving, meaning the eager Packer backers had to listen to ONE of the many wins on the radio on the road.

Deer season had its good points and its disappointments. The weather was good (above freezing and not raining) for the opening, and Mark really enjoyed having Paul and Loren Fritz join him in the Seneca woods. However, no one saw any deer at all! Jim Douglas sat in the lower woods that morning and was entertained only by squirrels quarreling. It turns out to be good that the buck collided with the trailer last month…otherwise there would be no venison in the freezer.

This year for Thanksgiving, John and Evie went to Minneapolis (en route Evie delivered the hard copies of her doctoral dissertation in Madison!) and Jim and Kayme are coming in Christmas, so Mark and Hilde joined her family down in Pewaukee for the first time in years. Rachael and Ryan were down from Minneapolis, Curt and his fiance Lori were in town, everyone brought great food and the Packers beat the Lions---made for a wonderful get together!
Here is a picture of the grandchildren present for the holiday.

The final days of the month did get a little disordered as Mark and Hilde prepared the kitchen for new countertops. Mark had to finally install cut-off valves under sink and then disconnect everything. It is amazing what had accumulated on those counters and had to be moved. But the new countertops are beautiful and Mark has successfully altered the outlet faceplates to fit, so that Hilde can really push on Christmas baking--Christmas is just around the corner.

October 2011

What a delicious, varied and beautiful month October can be! The early days were golden and warm, allowing Mark and Hilde to finish the chicken run fence, paint and hang a new front door and clean up the lawn. Since one of Mark’s cases in Minnesota settled, the month was available for lots of other things. They took one day early in the month to go visit the woods in Lomira, stopping in Neshkoro --> and Green Lake to revel in the colors and light on the water. The Lomira woods is tangled and needs lots of work, but the dense maple cover makes for a serene and beautiful setting. Stopping by for some Widmers cheese topped the day!

It was still warm for the World Dairy Expo down in Madison, which three other from First Law Group attended also. It is always fascinating to see the newest machinery and the best of the line bovines . This year we saw a day-old calf and another was being produced.

All month Mark and Hilde cleaned up the last of the harvest: lots of fresh tomato soup was enjoyed and frozen for winter, and the pear crop was so very good! Neighbors and friends received visits from the ‘pear fairy’ and got little bags of sweet juicy fruit, and the last of the pears went into a wined compote using fresh cranberries for the tangy component. Cooking with fresh fruits and vegetables is so satisfying! The carrot crop was small enough that Hilde dug it herself, and the squash were fine quality this year.

NOT being in trial meant that Mark and Hilde actually got to attend social events also: the lovely outdoor wedding of Ben Nummelin and Kimberly Richardson at Powers’ Bluff and the happy gathering for Paul Onan’s 60th. There was also time for cutting and splitting wood (after getting the splitter starter to work finally!), both senior master Henkels were able to assist at taekwondo testing and Hilde didn’t miss a month of meetings.

The month ended with a flurry of activity as Mark had a farm visit in Campbellsport (Hilde looked at cemeteries and tried to find Scheid properties), went back to Minnesota for a couple of days, shared a dinner with Evie’s parents, Kathy and Tony, and then returned to Rudolph as Coach Fritz and some delightful track stars from Luther Prep visited.

John and Evie had a fairly quiet month since John had a long, nasty cold, but Jim and Kayme were out and about with Rhiannon, who is walking very well for 10 months old. They took her to a wedding in Mo (with a visit to cousin Heidi), camping in New York and then to a pumpkin patch where she tried hard to pick a large pumpkin, settled for gnawing on a smaller one, played with a calf and had a great day.

The month went out with a bang as Mark and Hilde turned their attention to their hunting land and spent three days out there, clearing trees fallen on the trail and building and erecting another tree stand. On the way home, a large buck decided to try to jump over the car and trailer, but didn’t make it. He hit the trailer hard and the ground harder, so the month ended with Mark and Hilde butchering a nice 7 point buck. Finally, the last day of October, the balance kits were installed in the front room windows: no more sticks holding them up! The month was filled with blessing for which to give thanks.

September 2011

Seldom has September been so full and so varied a month in Rudolph. It was wonderful starting off the month with a Labor Day weekend with John and Evie. The weather was warm and rainy, but Mark and John managed to do all the rust repair and painting on the pathfinder…probably the last of these fix up efforts as she is getting pretty old. It was great to be able to grill out and enjoy the newlyweds in lush summer aspect of Rudolph. The following Friday, Mark and Hilde drove down to Palatine for their first visit since the transformation of the condo. John’s work on the flooring and the paint job of John and Evie combine for a great improvement in their home. The weather was perfect the next day as all four headed to the Hamfest in Bellvadere. Mark and John found some good buys in gear, followed by a fine breakfast at the Steam House Restaurant.

This has been one of the craziest month’s for Mark’s schedule ever. As he struggled to complete work on the hen house, the two cases in MN kept morphing and changing, with lots of phone calls and conferences. By the very end of the month, it looked like all of October would be spent in Minnesota. The drive over to Mark’s depositions in Buffalo MN was beautiful with colors of trees, shrubs and purple asters, but Mark spent much of the time on the phone struggling to set up last minute farm visits. Then during the depos, the decision was made to delay the one trial, much to the relief of Hilde, who really didn’t want to spend October in Marshall.

Fall harvest and meetings kept Hilde super-busy in September. The magnificent tomatoes meant lots of juicing, cooking and canning, so the tomato sauce, ketsup and tomato jam are all stocked up for the year. Tomato soup simmering on the stove frequently made a wonderful aroma in the house and many containers have been frozen. Hilde had several extra meetings, including a 4 hour meeting with DNR specialists in floodplain regulation (which wasn’t dull, but intense!) the land conservation fall tour, budget meetings and the finalization of the county redistricting plan. She attended the Wisconsin Counties Association convention, which was fairly intense this year also, coming right before the run to MN.

September was also a month of firsts for our Rhiannon. She has begun to take two or three steps on her own, but then goes to her knees for speed. And just at the end of the month, the first of six imminent teeth popped out. John had a work trip out to VA, so he and Evie were able to visit Jim and Kayme, gaining new appreciation for the challenges of DC traffic and child-rearing in an apartment, too! It was good for the brothers to get together.

In addition to John and Evie’s visit, Terri stopped in one day and Donna another---getting to feed family and friends is always a joy. All month, as the weather cooled and the summer ended, the landscape was beautiful. Early in the month there were several misty mornings and some bedewed spiderwebs just beautiful in the roadsides. The fall bounty from the garden made for daily tasty and attractive meals—God has been very good!

August Assortment

Garden harvest, chicken coop coopering, and project wraps-ups filled August to the brim for Mark and Hilde this August. The month started with a business trip to Marshall MN where the farm visit was postponed at the last moment, irritating those gathered from various states, and really complicating the case preparation. Mark and Hilde went ‘straight’ from there to Wisconsin Dells for the annual civil trial conference, then back to Stevens Point in time for taekwondo. The best part was knowing that was the last of travel for several weeks, so things could get done at home.

The sagging chicken coop roof had been a concern for a while, and this year, with only young chickens, no layers, was the perfect time to replace it. Not just replaced, but raised, sloped and even a new window so starlings cannot nest in the chicken coop! While there was mention early on of this taking only ‘three dry days’, reality meant 2 ½ truckloads of junk to be pulled off and removed to the dump, building wall extension sections and then building the roof joists. Mark did a great job, but it was a much bigger job, and took much longer, than he expected. Those pullets better be grateful (and productive) when they move into the airier, lighter and less drafty coop next month!

Hilde worked mostly on garden produce: sweet pickles, dill pickles, pickle relish, and an amazingly abundant yield of muskmelons. Mark helped her freeze corn and begin on the fall raspberries. Those efforts were slowed by many extra meetings and her nasty case of bronchitis mid-month. Hilde's energy levels have finally returned to normal…none-to-soon in this busy season.

Mark and Hilde had one special family event mid-month also: a memorial service for his Aunt Sylvia in Winchester. That was preceded by a great lunch and gathering of Henkel relatives, including his Aunt Veiga, her sons’ families, Sylvia’s daughter Kathy and two of her children, plus Richard’s daughter and son-in-law Sandy and Dick. It was very good to get together.

Hilde’s many meetings included two on the county redistricting plan, which was complicated by some state-generated changes. The committee and advisors worked well together, so that major project is done. Hilde also went on a conservation tour which included the production line oat Del Monte. It was totally fascinating to see the commercial methods for green beans compared to home freezing and canning.

The last weekend in August is time for the Edgar Steam Engine show. The weather was perfect and Mark and Hilde had a lovely morning there after church. The only disappointment was the absence of “the buckwheat lady” who would grind the buckwheats for your pancakes. But wandering around the show grounds and enjoying great ice cream is wonderful.

Our Rhiannon just keeps growing and is eating lots of great food now. We enjoy hearing her babbling and seeing her wearing her food. Here she is enjoying blueberry pancakes at 8-months old.

July 2011: Jubilant, Jam-packed and Just Sizzling

This July will be long-remembered at a jubilee of joyous activities for the Henkels. The month was hot and stormy but it really brought along the flowers. It all started with a wonderful four-day weekend at home which was restful, productive and the quiet time needed before plunging into all the activities. Mark cleaned out the basement addition, fixed the leaky sink, and shoveled a truck-load of shredded bark for home projects. Hilde finished two sundresses for little Rhia, and then dug up and fixed the edging around the deck using lots of bark and sweat-equity. Working together, Mark and Hilde picked lots of beautiful cherries from their little trees, made a double batch of cherry jam, pitted and froze a year’s supply of cherries and enjoyed the traditional cherry soup for the Fourth. Since Mark also finished the repair of the electric dog perimeter, Freddie is now allowed out to play and roam part of each day.

The high point of the year and the month was the wedding of Evelyn Williams and John Henkel in Minneapolis. The service was beautiful, moving and music-filled. The bride and groom were elegant, relaxed and radiant. Sharing the day with so many friends and family who came to MN was truly wonderful—especially since the date was also Hilde’s 60th birthday. Getting a special new daughter-in-law for a birthday gift is certainly unbeatable. This was the first time the Henkels had all gotten together since Hazel’s funeral last May, so it was a wonderful reunion of the expanded family. The wedding reception was right down on the river with a unique setting and the fun of board-breaking for any who wished to try, from the Lane and Buehler children to some fairly senior folks. Evie and John did a special forms dance and broke boards themselves. Meantime, the Henkel clan’s secondary interest was the game of “Pass the Baby! with Rhi (here with Great-Grandma and cuz Heidi) sweet in an heirloom crocheted dress. No one got permanently lost in the cities, everyone rejoiced together and eventually Hilde’s parents, Ray and Arlene Bormann, were released from the defective elevator. A very memorable day!

As quickly as everyone gathered, folks returned to their many states of origin, but Mark and Hilde were only home for a week to try to catch up on the delayed meetings, garden and lawn. They attended Farm Technology Days in Marshfield (huge tent city of farm-related activities, innovations and equipment) and then drove the load of wedding gifts down to Madison, enjoying lunch with the newlyweds, after their honeymoon in Door County.

Kayme returned with Rhiannon to give a very happy Grandma Hilde her first ‘grandma gig' as the three generations drove to St. Peter MN for the WELS National Conference on Worship, Music and the Arts. The weather was again hot and humid, but the Henkels, with Rachel and Naomi Fritz shared an air-conditioned dorm suite, so cooling off baby was easy (and necessary!). The conference (nearly 1000 people participated) was chock full of wonderful music, with an opening concert, five special church services and a closing hymn festival. Kayme played for the fifth service—her playing sounded wonderful in the chapel. The many practices and two presentations which Kayme played for meant that Hilde played, strolled and fed that precious girl, which was pure joy.. Rhiannon is crawling, pulling herself up, bouncing and balancing with great vigor…she will insist on walking and running early, it appears.

While Hilde and Kayme were away, Mark received the shipment of 30 little chicks, so when the gals rendezvoused with Kayme’s dad Loren in Rudolph, Grandpa Mark got to introduce Rhi to the chickens. It was hard to see them leave again, but Rhi was definitely missing her Daddy, looking hopefully at men with beards and glasses and rejecting and sometimes shrieking at those who WEREN’T Daddy.

The final week of July included more downpours and heat, plus the complications of car repair that took twice as long as estimated, so that Hilde was driving Mark to Stevens Point, then going to Wisconsin Rapids for meetings, then to Rudolph to work on raspberries, beans and lawn. Finally the clutch is good, springs replaced and things are in order. In between the storms and much rain, Mark had some interesting times on the radio with long-range propagation and contacts from Canada to Connecticut and the Caribbean. He now has new QSL cards featuring this picture of his stacked beams. From now on, the garden will dominate and the main crop of the lovely fall raspberries look to start early.

Jumbled June

Early June was quite a rush with as many things as possible done by the 10th: last garden plants out, an extra zoning conference fit in, new window balances installed, hair cuts, transfer of the boat to Paul and lots of planning for the trip to southern Missouri. Hilde had Irene and Melodie out for crafts, and rushed through a lot of sewing, which was fun. The flowers were really nice this year: clematis are both doing well and birds have been frequent visitors. In fact, our red-bellied woodpecker brought her young one to the feeder, stuff some seeds into his mouth and then left him to the buffet.

Things never seem to go in a straight line, and this June was a perfect example of that. Mark and Hilde had done all the planning for a lengthy (three-week) trial in Springfield: Mark had shipped 14 boxes of documents and hauled another 5 along in the car, Hilde had made arrangements for the animals and had others take over her meetings, everyone concerned had gathered, set up the courtroom and even the jury selected, Mark primed to give his opening statement, but after only one day, the trial delayed until next May and everything had to be canceled, changed and replanned due to ill health of one of the plaintiffs. Hilde had one day of being at leisure by the pool; Mark ended up doing a 6-hour video deposition, then they turned around and came home.

While coming home early was irksome (and took a full 14 hours due to road delays!), it did allow Mark to rototill the entire garden in the one dry day before a week of rain and gloom. Other places enjoyed the longest day of the year, but in Wisconsin, the evidence of sunlight was not there! Being home for Father’s Day let Mark to do what he wanted: which was to crawl under the deck, jack it up and replace supports to remove a slight sag. Since this had been nagging at him, Mark was very satisfied to get this remedied.

Hilde was glad to be back for county board and for marathon mowing and weeding days: the rain really brought things along. Food production has begun, and the last day of the month was spent on freezing the peas for the year. Toward the end of the month, Hilde was tickled pink to watch Rhi crawling via skype. She knows where she wants to go and now she can get there! It should be fun to play with her when the family gathers.

Anticipation and excitement is mounting for John and Evie’s wedding, the whole focus of July is that happy day. Those two are very organized and efficient and have really gotten lots done while both are so busy, and seem happier as the day approaches.

Over-filled May

It’s a good thing there were 31 days in May---but a week extra would have helped fit everything into this month for the Henkels. The busy-ness meant missing some family events, like Leslie's confirmation and Evie's bridal shower, but they were thought of, for sure. Mark’s trial preparation is really dominating the schedule and meant that Mother’s Day was spent on the road to Springfield MO again. But making lemonade from lemons led to going to Madison the night before and having a great dinner at Delaney’s with John and Evie. Since it was still very chilly and un-green in Wisconsin at that point, driving south was a fast-forward into spring with lovely flowers and , of course, road construction delays. Meantime, in Maryland, Jim and Kayme took Rhiannon strawberry picking for the first taste of berry good stuff.

That evening, food as always was great at Zio’s, spiced with a strange encounter with a lady from down there who “just felt” that Mark was a head directed person who needed to ‘listen to his heart.” Doesn’t sound like good trial strategy advice. She also told of trying to use a long feather-duster to wave the flies off her employer’s purebred cattle….imagine the ensuing stampede. Lots of interesting folks out there.

The trip to Missouri was just short enough that Mark and Hilde were able to get back to taekwondo on a very hot night in time for the celebration of Dr. Stevens birthday. Mark had to fly back to Springfield the day after the terrible tornado down at Joplin. Flight down was just bumpy, but trying to get home was much longer and round about.—Mark went to Denver, Minneapolis and then Mosinee. Since he had departed from Appleton, Hilde had to retrieve him from one airport and then the next morning drive him to Appleton to retrieve the car.

This has been a fantastic month for flowers: the cooler damp weather was great for holding the blossoms on all the fruits trees: cherries, crabapples, apricot, pears, apples and for the first time, blossoms on the little hardy peach tree. Lilacs, and lots of spring flowers made it a delight to spend hours land hours on the lawnmower and on weeding the two raspberry beds, the foundation beds and the rose bed. The rabbits have done serious damage to the roses (how can they nibble on those thorny stems?) to the naking bush cherries and even the burning bushes. One smart-alec bunny came up on the deck all winter to nibble on the upper branches of one burning bush, since there was fence on the lower portions.

Mark managed three spring projects in and around his travels. He cleared out and sorted through all the junk in the north shed to get the fishing boat out of dry dock. It had been out of the water for 22 years, and the mice had chewed up the floatation vests, leaving lots of Styrofoam loose all over, but he cleaned it out, replaced the wheels and tires on the trailer, and repacked the bearings. The motor may not be repairable.. Mark also dug out a new strawberry patch and got that planted just at the right time, converting the old patch to a melon bed. Then Mark tackled the brick pillar holding up the rooflet over the front door. The plastic qualities of our Rudolph clay make stability a problem, but it had been up for over 20 years. He did a great job tearing out the old and mortaring a very nice new pillar. When spring comes, he really gets going.

Hilde has been pushing the whole month with lots of meetings, including the public hearing on and approval of the tentative county redistricting plan. Mowing seemed to be unending, whenever it wasn’t raining or too windy. The last days of the month featured very strong winds which snapped off the young sugar maple transplanted from the Henkel land in Lomira.

There have been more skype visits with Jim and Kayme to enjoy the antics of Rhiannon. She is rolling and squirming around now, almost crawling and loves bouncing in her play saucer. She recognizes and smiles at “Grandma and Grandpa in the Box” every time.

It was a very busy month, June looks even wilder, but we are counting down the days to John and Evie’s wedding for a great celebration and family gathering, before nieces Alana and Heidi head off to their grad schools. Thank goodness for facebook, skype, blogs and cell phones to help keep far-flung families in touch.

April 2011

April has been a chaotic month with strange weather, lots of activities and yet, as always, Easter raised our spirits and refreshed our faith and focus.

The month started with the finale of syrup cooking. The last day of gathering and cooking was April 2, with sap boiling early and finishing up by early evening, cooking around 120 gallons down. Despite the bifurcated season, the yield was good this year so both Jim and John will get plenty to enjoy this year. All the taps and bags got pulled on Sunday afternoon in gloom and fog from melting snow. At that point, one would anticipate warming weather and the progress of spring to flowers. But the weather did a flip flop on the 10th: to hot and stormy. Stevens Point (and the taekwondo testing) was fortunate, as tornadoes hit north and south and then things got colder and colder with another snow storm on the 19th; snow showers off and on in the end of the month. Those here in the north could only watch in horror during the end of the month as the southern states were trampled by twisters.

However, in Rudolph, the indoor time allowed for the completion of the bedroom renovation for Jim’s room. The room looks so great compared to the old look! The Henkels managed to get in some social moments also: lunches with Doc Stevens and the Onans, a scrabble afternoon with Irene and then crafts out in Rudolph, too. John came home for the Easter weekend, fixed my computer and let his mother feed him.

Hilde had MANY meetings due the task of redistricting the county (happens every ten years after census data comes out). It went very well with lots of interaction from committee members, county officials, and even the League of Women Voters representatives. There may be some minor changes, but the plan is fair and fits the odd municipal boundaries and school district boundaries as best possible. Hilde also opened and ran the town polls for the morning of the spring election, with things going smoothly.

Mark has been brought into some cases in Minnesota so we spent the end of the month over there, visiting the two areas of litigation, with Hilde along for the ride. This allowed for a stop in Minneapolis on the way west where Evie’s mother Kathy showed us Lake Harriet Methodist and the lovely area around there, plus the possible places for the rehearsal dinner. Despite the cold weather, July is not far away and plans are pretty set. Besides being a great couple, John and Evie are pretty organized, so all is going well.

Though the month we had skype visits with Jim and Kayme with Rhiannon wiggling and growing quickly. Kayme shared this wonderful picture of Rhi with her Easter bunny from Great-Grandma...gotta call it "Somebunny Sweet"! The technology is such a blessing, but we are looking forward to the gathering in person of the expanded Henkel clan in July.

April ended with slightly warmer weather a parade of turkeys through the yard and then a beautiful gleam of sunset while rain turned Powers Bluff violet. Wisconsin is a beautiful place to live.

March Medley

March has been a roller coaster of a month, with warming and thawing clearing the driveways and roads , starting the sap run and then BAM! another big snowstorm followed by a week of way below average temperatures, getting down below 10 degrees for a week. Some of the temperature downs were echoed in other downs: Mark’s aunt Sylvia died down in Tucson, at the age of 91, then one of his partners lost her fiancé and one of Hilde’s friends lost her son in a motorcycle accident.

During the struggles with the weather, Mark and Hilde were a little restless early on in the month. Hilde’s suggestion one night that they “plan” the redoing of Jim’s bedroom meant that 13 hours later they were selecting a floor covering, returning to the house to move everything into John’s room, hallways and porch and then started tearing out the old dark paneling and ancient RED carpeting (this is the before picture). The rest of the month included putting up and mudding the sheetrock, priming, texture and top coats of paint and a start on the flooring. After a hitch in the floor matting, the process should be finished in a couple of weeks—an after picture then.

While the main part of the house cluttered with furniture or tools for the project, the lower level had its own clutter. With the cold weather not quite halting the sap flow, after the first cooking of syrup, the rest of the accumulating milk cans of sap froze solid and had to be wrestled into the basement to thaw. They took up a lot of room!

Meantime, the expeller fan on the furnace gave a dying scream and was replaced, but a couple days later—no heat! Since that night 4 degrees was forecast, Henkels hurried called the furnace man who replaced the gas valve, but still no heat until the discovery that the LP people had NOT done a “keep filled” run for 3 cold months. Contacting the right folks and getting LP late on a Saturday night is challenging! Mark had to go out with the tractor and drag away the sap cooker which had been frozen into place just where the tanker gains access to the tank.

With so much snow for the first part of the sap season, even the ATV couldn’t get through the drifts, so Mark and Hilde pulled and occasionally pushed a toboggan with sap pails in and out of the woods: highly aerobic exercise! They cooked two days in March and will do a final batch April 2 & 3rd.

Between sap gathering and cooking, painting and special meetings, Hilde got the urge to sew little items for Rhi, starting with a non-pink (denim) sunhat and adding a “camo pink’ crocheted hat, a romper, sundress and matching hat. But even better than making clothes is getting to hold grandchildren: the northern Henkels rendezvoused with John and Evie at Naomi Fritz’s home in Watertown to enjoy Kayme and Rhiannon, in Wisconsin for a conference. Rhi is thriving and getting so strong and energetic…and she watches people with cameras, too! It was great to have almost all the Fritz and Henkel family gathered, tho Loren and Jim were missed.

The end of the month was milder, but still snow on the ground and possibility of more for tomorrow. However a fat and sassy bluebird perched on the deck today, so spring has to be coming.

Frozen but Focussed February

This month will always be pegged as the month the Packers won the Superbowl and Mark won the big case in Madison. Both were exciting and intense occasions, with Wisconsin’s very snowy, cold February as the setting. Early in the month, the winter-starved turkeys were coming right to the front door looking for shelter and food, leaving neat tracks.

Our 39th anniversary was almost unnoticed, except for a visit from Heidi, as we packed and prepared for moving to Madison for a couple of weeks trial. We arrived at the hotel in time for me to watch and enjoy the Packers winning Superbowl XLV. Mark only saw parts as he prepared for the jury selection and opening day of trial. The ‘stray voltage’ case was one where a farmer who had lectured and been interviewed about his successful grazing operation decided he was not successful enough and that it ‘must’ be stray voltage, going back nearly 30 years. Mark’s opponent asked, in his opening statement, for $15 million dollars to just ‘bring them up to even’!!!! While the trial had some humorous moments, like the day Mark and his opponent were scribbling alternate equations for the poor jury, the high stakes made things pretty tense. In cases like this if the jury agrees there is “willful, wanton and deliberate” damages, the award is trebled! In closing arguments, the plaintiff’s attorney told the jury to ‘listen to the cows’ while Mark asked them to make a responsible decision on evidence and facts, not emotions. What a great result when they awarded not a penny!.

During the first week of trial, the temperatures plummeted, making walking to restaurants and meetings very painful. Hilde enjoyed meeting Evie for lunch one day and was introduced to anise-flavored, red cabbage cole slaw at a great little cafe. Hilde also attended the governor’s conference on economic development for two days, spent several hours on phone conferences and ‘attended’ a library board meeting by phone to supply a quorum. Time at the State Historical Library and the Norwegian American Genealogical Center and Naeseth Library led to information on the Peterson ancestry. People at both places were very willing to help. Hilde also had lunch with niece Alana, trying the wonderful buffet lunch at the Indian place just across the street.

We got home just before another BIG dump of snow. Here in Rudolph we got a foot of snow in two days and could barely see for it blowing around.. It took quite a bit of digging out by tractor, snowblower and regular shoveling. At least we know it won’t be lasting for three months…the sun is definitely warmer now, when we see it!

None of the above kept us from frequently skyping Jim and Kayme to see our little Rhia.
This was a favorite picture.

The year of 2011 has started out with the usual round of winter challenges in Wisconsin, cold, snow and garage door difficulties. It is uncanny how the chain breaks or jumps the track or the plastic thing breaks---always in the coldest snap of weather. This year the chain jumped off the tracks as Hilde was heading for a state steering committee on land use, so she merely locked the inner door of the garage and headed off, confident that Coffee, who is nearly dormant and very fat in winter would find refuge in the hay pile in the other shed, even on a day it didn't get above 1 degree. Mark ended up getting things in place late at night in below zero conditions, again.

Mark and Hilde have been delighting in the many photos Jim and Kayme post on line of darling Rhiannon. When the eastern Henkels skype with Rhia looking around and waving her arms, the Wisconsin Henkels want to reach thru the screen to hold her---she is so sweet! Already she is cosmopolitan with a part-time babysitter (Kayme returned to part-time teaching) and she is growing so quickly! Rhia has already visited two other states in her second month---Jim and Kayme went up hiking in West Virginia with her and the following weekend, she visited her Fritz grandparents down in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Middle of the month, two fun days of non-work. John and Evie stopped by overnight on their way up to the Williams annual winter weekend WAY up near Ely MN. It was great to see them and feed them. They had wonderful times skiing and building an igloo up there. Then, Mark and Hilde attended the wedding of black belt Bethany Reed down near Madison. It was the day of the Packers vs. the Falcons in the playoff—we left the reception a little early to enjoy the win and cheer loudly.

This month, Mark was only gone two nights to Missouri --but they were cold, three- blanket nights here. Most of the month he has been working long hours preparing for the two-week trial in Madison. Contrary to the way lawsuits are presented on television, civil litigation requires many, many hours of depositions, discovery and then intense study of those materials, so that the defense attorney is very familiar with allt he details of the testimony and exhibits. During the trials, Mark works long hours preparing every night for the next day, making sure experts and fact witness are present and prepared, and focusing intently in court on every statement. It is not unusual for Mark to lose five pounds a week during long trials, although since Hilde has been accompanying him, he eats more regularly.

January is the month for performance evaluations for county department heads and for ADRC executive director. This meant Hilde spent many hours tabulating surveys, drafting summaries and then writing up the evaluations before delivering the good or not good news. It is time consuming and often unpleasant, but done. Hilde also managed to get the virus going around and spent nearly a week with an unhappy tummy and headaches….another winter occurrence, unfortunately.

Somehow, it is always a relief when January is over---the days are getting longer (if not warmer) and the accumulation of snow will not stay forever! It has been quite a winter already. It has seemed if Rudolph was not getting bad weather, DC was or Chicago. With a blizzard looming for southern Wisconsin and Chicago tomorrow, things will grind to a halt for a while again. Despite the snowy conditions, some of the local denizens came to visit on January 30--turkeys really fluff out their feathers in these temperatures.