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| Rhi & Rowan playing with Grandma |
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| ATV stuck in snow |
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| Sliding on the snow piles |
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| Jim with his sweet bunnies on Easter |
March was certainly ferocious this year---lion-like to the near end. In central Wisconsin, the weather varied from very cold with lows near zero to blustery snows, enough for snow days and lots of plowing. Since it stayed chilly all month, the snows stayed around also. To get out for walks, Mark and Hilde bundled up and headed down to a cleared road several times in the early part of the month.
Since Mark’s two-week trial was postponed, he had time during the month to accompany Hilde down to Sussex for a grandparenting gig while Jim was out of town for a conference in STI (yes they have conferences). Jim’s travel woes were lengthy, but Mark and Hilde enjoyed the time taking care of both girls. Rowan is getting very vigorous and wants to follow her sister around. Crawling will not be long but for now she rolls over and over to get around. Rhiannon is making great strides in vocabulary and loves to sing.
On the way home, Mark and Hilde visited her parents briefly and then hustled back to get the taps into the maple trees. Despite the cold temperatures, the sap did start dripping Holy Week. The problem was getting access to the trees in deep snow. The ATV got stuck many times and carrying out those heavy buckets of sap to a plowed area was LOTS of exercise. Later in the week, after Jim and Kayme arrived, they helped with the hauling of sap while Grandma Hilde played with the girls.
Those piles of snow around Henkel hill were fun for little Rhiannon. By Good Friday, there was enough sap to cook a good batch of syrup, starting early in the morning and stoking every 15 minutes.. Jim handled a lot of that, which was a big help. He fired while Mark and Hilde went to first service and then Mark cooked and Hilde tended girls while the younger Henkels went to church—things work out so much better with extra hands!
For Easter, Jim and Kayme went to her brother Paul’s church and then to her parents for happy family time, especially precious since they had all been in Minnesota earlier in the week for the funeral of Kayme’s grandfather. It really finished off the month beautifully. Looking forward into April, sap collecting continues and lots of meetings loom.
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| Strange snow bunny |
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| First sweet drip |
