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.