Many Januarys are brutal, with constant variation
from sub-zero temps and rounds of snow and
digging out. But not this
year! After a few really frigid days
early in the month, Wisconsin got a break (it looks like other parts of the
country had Wisconsin weather inadvertently delivered to them!), with a mild
month, light snows and moderate (for winter) temperatures. The only down side was the gloom---very many
of those milder days were sunless and dark.
They took advantage of the few sunny days.
In Rudolph, Mark and Hilde decided to just dig in
and get things done. Since the snow was
not deep and the ground well-frozen from the earlier cold spells, Mark and
Hilde had access to the lowest (wettest) portion of the 17 acres south of the
house and all the dead elms which had been out of reach. Mark cut, trimmed and snaked them out with
the ATV, then both loaded the lengths into the truck and brought them out to store
on the east lawn. Come spring they will
be cut and stacked for the 2016 syrup season.
While Mark was doing the elm-removal, Hilde had a couple of days
trimming the pines by the driveway. Mark
wanted to keep them natural looking, but Hilde felt unobstructed driveway (she
was tired of getting twigs stuck under wipers) was better and took that bow saw
in hand and got it done.
Lots of paperwork got straightened out this month
including 14 years of town zoning info.
Hilde got two pending and one new
craft projects done and Mark has tax papers almost ready for the accountant,
which is a great relief. This year the
Christmas tree stayed fresh and didn’t dry out until mid-January, so the
decorations and lights helped balanced the gray to white skies—finally took it
down on the 24th, a full 6 weeks of balsam scent and cheerful
lights.
It has been a constructive month for the entire
family. Mark has been planning and preparing for a radon removal project. Hilde is hoping the concrete cutting will not
be a messy as when the basement wall into the
addition was done. Jim is working
on new butcher-block counter tops for their kitchen, while John is re-arranging
and installing new cabinets in his place. Building
and fixing are very satisfying hobbies for them all.
Mark and Hilde spent a couple of days in northern
Iowa (Mason City and Algona) where he will try a case in April. January is not a great time to visit over
there, but April should be nicer. The
timing for the trip meant Hilde had to rush home after a county board meeting
and miss the 8th (so far!) meeting on Spray Irrigation of Waste,
plus a workshop on the new phosphorous rules.
Those topics may not seem appealing, but counties need to make informed
decisions on if and when to regulate plus deal with ever-increasing regulations
from the state level. Hilde admits that
sitting through all the meetings is surely a pain in the posterior, though.
All in all, January was a fairly quiet,
contemplative month, especially after the Packers lost the championship game in
OT. That cast a cloud of gloom over the
entire state. So close to the Superbowl…..
However, next year is already here and like this little spruce discovered on
the lawn, there’s always the future season.
