May 2016

Roofing underway early in month

Mark setting fence

May was an amazing month in Wisconsin with heat coming early, followed by one last nasty snap of freezing weather and snow while the fruit trees were flowering (likely lessening pears and apples unfortunately), then enough dry days for folks in Rudolph to get their crops and gardens in and finally rain to bring everything along.  Rudolph was abuzz with activities and all the wonderful sounds and scents of spring.  The Henkel hilltop was awash with the scent of lilacs for nearly ten of those days.

Apple Blossom

The month started with the long-awaited replacement of the house roof for Henkels.  The crew from Goodwin were excellent in speed and clean up and the relief of having that done without rain issues was enormous.  Mark tackled resetting the cedar fences on the east and west of the property and Hilde  ripped out yards of iris and weeds to decrease the perennial bed behind the house to half the size, so both were outside trading mattock and shovels   They worked together to weed and re-set raspberry starts in the huge bed which supplies them with the years topping for oatmeal.

as needed.

Fighting thru the prickly ash

Mark and Hilde also spent two days clearing prickly ash and other brush out of the farm lane at Lomira, regaining access to the ancestral woods.  The first day it was 91 degrees and the lane is on the south side of a slope!  Using the brush cutter and a tractor loaned by the helpful Priest family, a narrow path is now  open, but the amount of prickly ash cannot be expressed….much more to cut, dig and remove.   The second visit included cutting some downed wood (until the chainsaw died) and preparing for cutting and stacking more for future syrup making.  These things take time and sweat equity.  There was also time for a visit to St. Paul’s cemetery and what turned out to be a depressing tour of the old family barn….years of hard labor to build and maintain it and it is slowly collapsing. 

Trilliums were abundant this spring

There are hand hewn beams in the original section, cut by Schultz forebears from the adjacent land  in the 1880s and still strong, but the foundation is heaving and buckling without animal heat in the winter.  Sad.

remove.

This was a spectacular spring for flowers---long, lovely, lingering trilliums, hepaticas, violets, lilacs, mayapples, jack-in-the-pulpits,  and more.  Without out of town travel, Mark and Hilde were able to get out almost daily to enjoy and photograph the succession of bloom.  When

Oriole antics for grape jelly

Mark’s assistant Sandy gave Hilde a cute oriole feeder, it immediately drew several pairs of orioles, which brighten any day and will sit and chirp at those too close to the feeder.

The usual spring tasks of garden planting and chick tending were much more leisurely with Mark’s reduced schedule, although he had several office days connected with the flood repair and the official testing of the  sensor to show it was indeed defective and tried again to flood things.  Hilde had the usual spurt of extra meetings for spring, many of which were lengthy, and a few contentious and upsetting.  A county board meeting opening with folks making inaccurate accusations and wild comments segued into some really nasty comments on line.  The national politics reflect an increasing level of incivility and irrational suspicion existing on every level. 

Mark shows grandkids the chicks

A sorry situation nation-wide and locally.

All the spring activities culminated in a short visit from Jim, Kayme and their three kids on their way home from holiday camping.  Caleb is trying hard to talk, wants to get his two cents in, and he is moving at top speed.  Rhiannon is maturing, and a sweet big sister ready for kindergarten in fall.  Rowan is so joyful and  curious.  It is always fun to have them come by and always amazing how they have grown and changed.

Rhiannon, Caleb and Rowan