Fabulous June 2016

Prairie flowers at First Law Group

This month has been a fabulously busy, happy time for Mark and Hilde.  The month was chock full of flowers, fun, and family time—what more can you ask for? 

Mark hard at work

Mark started in right away on the first, reroofing the wood shed and finding he needed to replace chunks of rotten edges, but it is now tidy and waterproof.  He does a good job, utilizing the tractor bucket as a lift, and he got everything cleaned up and debris to the dump before it rained.  When it rained, Henkels discovered that the new HOUSE roof leaked---through the main storage closet in East bedroom and on down to the basement.  After a couple investigations, the roofers found the installation of the main roof had unsealed the valley on the addition roof.  Once that was resealed, all is good overhead.  To continue the theme, Mark also tied himself to the truck via a long rope and got up on the much higher main shed to replace loose nails with screws, with Hilde watching nervously below. 

The above-average rainfall for the month meant that the garden, the weeds, the lawn and the flowers all exuberantly grew and grew.  Lots of yard and garden work was very rewarding in the beautiful surroundings. Mark and Hilde picked strawberries three mornings to spread out the deliciousness and have just covered the blueberries, blackcaps and summer raspberries to save them from birds.  The wildflowers were especially lush and both layers and young roosters are clucking along happily.

Reading to Three lovebugs

Although the roof project meant Mark and Hilde couldn’t get to Kayme and Alana’s recital in Milwaukee, the reports from Hilde’s mother, sister Terri and her hubby David say that it was really great.   Piano and oboe make a striking combination.   Mark’s brother Phil and niece Alana visited on their way home which was fun.  Alana is going to make Phil a grandfather this summer, and has moved back to Rice Lake after living in Ohio, Montreal, Hinckley and Duluth.    Mark and Hilde enjoyed a lunch with Pat and Paul Onan (cousins) to finally get caught up on each others’ lives.    With Mark working part-time, there is time to do the fun things and see folks.

Another family visit saw Mark and Hilde driving off to Oconto to visit his aunt Veiga and cousins Richard and Terry.  It was a real delight to see Veiga, who will be 98 in September.  She lives with Terry and his wife Diane and has a snug sunroom to sit overlooking the harbor, with Richard and Elice only a couple miles away.  It had been years since the cousins had been able to visit—everyone busy and spread out---but a lovely day.

Tamarack buds

The finale on family visits finished off the month.  Mark and Hilde went to Sussex for a long weekend.  Jim and Mark worked like beavers (or more as they worked late after dark!) doing the drywalling downstairs before and after Saturday church, and then more.  Sunday evening Hilde’s mother came for dinner and included a delightful interlude as Rhiannon and Rowan scampered around the lawn collecting fireflies in the dusk.  There were many fireflies and the girls’ laughter just as enchanting.  In the morning, Jim departed to drive a carload of teens to the WELS Youth rally in Colorado (and then hike and camp by himself), and Hilde and Mark watched and played with the kids while Kayme worked.  It was a very satisfactory visit, lots of cuddling and reading.  Rhiannon is reading to Grandma, Caleb is moving faster and faster, and Rowan is giggling and doing summersaults.  They are delightful children.

As always, there were contentious meetings, long meetings and interviews and more meetings for Hilde.  Things have been pretty busy on the county level.  Mark has been working with the insurance and restoration folks to finish things off from the office flood in April, but only working part-time, leaving lots of time for garden, radio, projects, and golden moments on the deck watching the sunsets.  The frequent rains did lead to one six-hour power outage and a phone outage on another day, but the lushness in Rudolph is beautiful, the frogs sing at night and the  birds in the day.  June has been very, very good.

 

Rhi, Ro and Caleb