Non-Stop November

Great Grands Arlene and Ray watch Leslie play with Rhiannon

Rhiannon with Rowan and Kayme

The pace of 2012 just won’t slow down and November even seemed to  move faster, starting off with Hilde and Mark still in Asheville NC.  Hilde took a bus tour of the city to start the month and then the last morning, Mark and Hilde managed to  take a short hike to sample a little of the great trails in the Pisgah National Forest, right on the edge of the city.  What a beautiful place!  That gave them a little exercise before all the sitting in airports, in planes and then finally in the car heading home.

There was not much sleeping in after the late-night arrival home:  the tree-trimmers for the power company came by the next morning and removed nine of the big pines and spruce which the  previous owners had planted right under the power liens.  The mess left by that many big trees was another great opportunity for exercise as Mark and Hilde filled the truck  with branches several times, with Mark dragging the large logs away with the tractor.

The middle of the month was busy with many meetings, including one where Hilde spoke up against some zoning which prohibits farming in a township south of here.  How can anyone ‘buy local’ if the locals don’t want the smells and activities of food production anywhere around?  Mark and Hilde also spent a chilly afternoon checking and repairing some deer stands.  Apparently they brought back more than aching muscles, since Mark awoke in the night with a 1.25 inch western pinecone beetle behind his ear!

For the first time in four years, Jim was able to come north and hunt in Wisconsin.  Although the guys had no luck, they did see a few and managed in a deer season which ran the gamut from warm  to foggy to howling winds and temps in the 20s.  Hilde went home with Jim the 18th to help with child care a couple of days, since Rowan was just a week too young to attend day care.  Time with both little ones (one in constant motion and the other constantly eating!) was special.  Kayme and Hilde ran errands and took the girls to visit their Bormann great-grandparents.  Mark detoured from Platteville to Sussex to retrieve Hilde and put liners in the cellar windows.  He does enjoy helping out on the house stuff.

Thanksgiving this year was particularly special as we all gathered.  The house was full with noise and food and joy.  Evie read to and played with Rhi, Grandma gave her a bath and Grandpa played peek-a-boo from behind a mask, so she was a happy little girl.  The roosters obligingly crowed for her also.  Cuddling and feeding little Rowan is such a comfort!

Throughout the month, Hilde’s ears and sinuses gave her unending grief.  Although the antibiotics helped, eventually, at the end of the month, the ENT doc did two myringotomies (tiny punctures in each eardrum) which he described as airing out the attic.  Now she is hearing so much better—all the better to hear and sing Christmas music!.