April Activities 2012

April 20

April is always transitional, but with the weather 
fluctuations, it felt like Wisconsin  moved from warm
 to cold to warm almost every day!  The early blossoms on fruit trees got some hard freezes and some rather attractive snow along the way, so the fruit crop looks to be minor this year—very sad after the failure in maple syrup!

One is Not Enough!

April featured some great family moments, right from the beginning.  Jim and Kayme flew into Milwaukee (with Rhiannon, of course!) to look for a future home.  As Mark and Jim examined basements, roofs and carpentry details, Hilde got to play with Rhi and help keep her out of trouble in each house (some had LOTS of breakables!).  For the evening, Claudette and Rachel brought food and the very good gathering with four grandparents, both parents and Aunt Rachel had Rhiannon very happy and excited---all those people to read to her, to feed her and to pay her attention!  Rhi got a little Easter candy, too, so all was good with her world.  Although there was no immediate solution of the housing problem, Jim and Kayme are waiting to see what will happen next.  The move will occur later in July so there is a little time yet.

 For Easter, Mark and Hilde headed south again, to Palatine to share the weekend with John and Evie.  With John tackling the crazy traffic downtown on Saturday, the four got to visit the Chicago Field Museum and see the Genghis Khan exhibit plus lots of very interesting animal exhibits.  The day was lovely, and the delay with the drawbridge up did give a glimpse of a sailing armada.  The “Next Generation” put together a delicious Easter feast for the evening and then some Cattan .  Worshipping together on Easter morning was very special.

Hilde was unopposed and re-elected to Wood County Board, and then received some new assignments.  Since she knows that Executive committee (finance, treasurer, clerk, human resources, maintenance, insurance and risk management are the oversight responsibilities) will take more time, she reluctantly asked to be removed from the McMillan Library Board after ten interesting and pleasant years there.  Hilde will also step down as chairman of the Aging and Disability Resource Center in June.  Both of those boards have been friendly and challenging---but especially while acting as chair, the time commitment is large.  Zoning issues, both town and shoreland (thru the county) have added meetings, study and lots of phone calls to fill out the month.


Mark has been busy preparing for both the long trial next month in Missouri and the two trials later in the year (both in Wisconsin, thank goodness!), however, he got some other interesting tasks done also.  In the violent winds accompanying the flip-flopping weather, the rotor atop his radio tower vibrated so much that his rotor came apart when the bolts shimmied out!  He ordered some replacement parts and re-installed the old rotor until that can be done.  Mark has been busily diving into spring tasks: working up the two gardens, transplanting blueberries and a tamarack and weeding and working up the blueberries and strawberries.  He added some summer raspberries to the small berry bed also.  It took about four hours of both Hilde and Mark digging and pulling and grubbing around to remove the violet infestation in the huge fall berry bed.  Mowing season for Hilde has begun—Mark sharpened the blades and Hilde hopes to avoid any rocks, bricks or other noisy mowing impediments this year.

Happy Rhi

There were some other really good moments:  Hilde went to Waupaca to visit Claudette and admire their lovely home and yard there, and she accompanied Mark to Platteville—always a pleasant and nostalgic place to visit.  The first asparagus was enjoyed April 15th which is very early for this northern location!  Down in Maryland, our Rhiannon has learned to climb and slide down the playset and is happy whenever she is out there—what a smile!



 

Maddening March

March was mostly spent in Buffalo Minnesota for Mark and Hilde. Going early by one day avoided a horrible sloppy spring storm with ice, sleet and wet snow, but extended the already lengthy time away from home to nearly three weeks. The town is rather small and mostly summer tourism, so things were not very lively there, with limited shopping and activities during winter.

While “Mark’s” trial (he was assisting another attorney for this one) dragged on, Hilde kind of zoned out, and explored Buffalo. They had lots of decorated buffalos in town, but 3 of them caught her eye. The one with a mural of the town welcomes people coming in from the south, the martial arts one stands before a karate dojang and the fenced-in, finny one represents the reason for the town name: buffalo fish in the lovely lake. Hilde read up on town history one sunny afternoon in the library.

Being in MN so long allowed Hilde to have a special reunion lunch with Marilyn Baxter Carver, who lives a ways north, but they met in St. Cloud for a long, long lunch full of chat. It was great to see her after 41 years! Marilyn and Hilde were at Arrowhead High School together, where Marilyn played bass clarinet and Hilde alto clarinet for all four band years. They also had a couple years at Ripon College together, and both had sons get married last year, so there was lots of sharing and laughter.

The 16th, the happy day when Mark and Hilde finally returned to Rudolph, was also the 83rd birthday of Hilde’s dad Ray AND the day he returned home after rehab from his fall back in January. The entire family is hoping for no more falls and a healthy spring and summer for Ray and Arlene!

The best news of March was (1) the official call for Jim to teach microbiology at Wisconsin Lutheran College and Jim’s acceptance. This means that in July, Jim, Kayme and Rhiannon will be moving back to Wisconsin, to the great joy of all the relatives on both sides of the clan. The moving plans are a little complicated, but lots of family help will make it work. They plan to locate and offer on a home in the coming month so to be well settled when classes start the end of August. Oh yes there is a (2)! It is the joyous news of what Jim calls "Henklet #2" , a little sister or brother for Rhiannon and a second grandchild, who will arrive after they are back in Wisconsin. It made March so happy for Mark and Hilde. This is the news which has had Hilde beaming all through the month

Like most of the Midwest, our spring came very early and in such a rush that Henkels had NO maple sap for the first time ever. Others who tapped early got a small yield, but most did not have enough sap to cook down. The plus side is that things are green and flowering and lovely much earlier than usual—the lawnmowing is about to begin here. Now if only the fruit trees don’t suffer any damaging freezes, the year could be great for apples, pears and maybe even a peach on the lone hardy peach Henkels have been nurturing.

Our niece Heidi took her spring break out in DC to visit Jim and Kayme, and see the the capitol. Heidi took some really great photos of cherry blossom, and historic sites, but I liked the pictures of her and Jim with our Rhiannon the best. The last one, at Mt. Vernon, shows Rhi clearly pondering HOW to get some of those neat sheep for her own.