January is often a let down after all the family and
gatherings around Christmas, but January 2017 managed to be both challenging
and have some high points in Rudolph.
Mark and Hilde surely enjoyed the start, as the packers looked great and
won three tough games before losing the NFL championship, but Mark spent the
early part of the month with a pesky cold---couldn’t even go to taekwondo the
first week. The weather was the news for
the entire month, including some VERY cold weather in a four-day stretch, but
after all, January in Wisconsin is like that.
With the outdoors unfriendly, Hilde did a lot of craft work
and managed to make a slew of ornaments for future use and a really nice baby
afghan and then some cross stitch. She
is continues to try to use some of the stores of craft materials, and enjoys
the challenge.
The weather caused some different challenges when 9 inches
of very sticky snow caused a power outage which left Mark and Hilde bundling up
and struggling to read by candle and lamp light. They are glad they had the lamp, but were not
happy to realize that the lamp oil was stored in the big shed. Fortunately, Mark was able to retrieve that
before the hideously howling winds picked up.
Just before they mounted a reluctant expedition to shovel out the access
to the generator, the lights came on and the furnace warmed things up. Flannel sheets surely are a blessing in
January, and the WONDERFULLY warm slippers which they got from John and Evie
were very helpful!
A prolonged thaw melted a lot of snow into winter fog and
made for very low light and short range visibility for nearly a week…being on a
high point in Wood County means the Henkels are sometimes up in the clouds…that
helped get rid of one bout of freezing rain which had vehicles sliding off of
Tower Road and many tales of slip and falls.
It was bad enough that county board was postponed for a week, first time
in memory. The quiet time led to Mark
and Hilde reminiscing about “old times” and they are thinking about writing up
some of his memories of life in Lomira back then and then perhaps more about
his law practice. There sure are some
odd stories there to retell.
It was slushy and drizzling later in the month when Hilde’s
youngest brother, Brian, worked on clearing his building site near Westfield,
with help from brother Ray, nephews Jim and Jarod and of course Brian wife Anne
and sons Erich and Ehren. The Bormann
crew got a lot of trees down on a slippery slope, and Hilde and Mark enjoyed visiting
and getting the gator tour of the prop0erty.
The final result should be beautiful, as the site is fantastic. It was good to see Jim and pass along some
goodies and gifts.
In an echo of the national nastiness, a couple of
malcontents on county board decided to be very unpleasant and make false
statements about Hilde. Although they
were voted into silence, the reminder that people will willfully lie about someone because they don’t like them is so
distasteful. Thank God those types are
the minority and most folks DO try to work together and find solutions instead
of creating problems.
The long dark month finished with tax work as mark and Hilde
gathered all the records and dug in on them.
They also galumphed into town with the farm truck (1978 F150 and going
strong!) to pick up the new sofa and tables for the law office. They also managed a fun lunch with Loren and
Claudette. He is recuperating from a
fall and has one of the “knee crutches” to skate around with. That’s a bit tough in the winter!
The last night of the month, the crescent moon
was low on the horizon as they drove home from taekwondo and then slowly hazed
into the clouds of a snow squall---it was beautiful. The end of January is always a triumph---the
worst of winter is past and the sun is moving north and gladdening everyone.
