March 2017

Timber!

Jim and Mark at work

March 2017 roared in like an angry lion and growled on thru the month, starting with a nasty snow on the first, followed by several days of single-digit cold.  Making lemonade out of this batch of lemons, Mark and Hilde found the ground re-frozen enough to tackle the cutting of the large nearly dead elm in the west fence row.  This project included Hilde pulling on long ropes to direct the fall of limbs and Mark high in the tractor bucket, and both managing complete the job without injuries.  The rest of the month saw lots of tugging and hauling to remove the brushy sections, and a father-son two chainsaw  blitz to get the wood cut into manageable hunks.  Thanks to Jim for the help with that.

The vagrancies of weather controlled the rest of the month also as 2017 featured a bifurcated sap season started early, ran well, then stopped for over a week.  In the hiatus, Wisconsin was battered by very high winds for two days, bringing down trees, limbs and power lines all over the area.  While the Rudolph house creaked and rattled, the power stayed on, and only one section of the soffit came free. 

Rhi helps Grandpa drill

Happy Henkel pile

The farm truck began giving trouble, requiring jump starts a couple of times.  After replacing the starter relay and having the starter and alternator replaced, the battery drainage was finally traced to a fault in the seat belt warning system which was intermittently activating and buzzing away out in the shed.  Since there are no pictures or guide to the location on such an old truck (1978 F-150), Mark has been disconnecting the battery between uses, and plans to continue his delving and seeking for the target system.  Vehicles are often the source of puzzles, but the Henkels do not want to give up on the truck which has moved and re-moved sons, hauled wood, hunting and building materials and still has miles in her.

Dragging more branches

Mid-month, Jim brought up the grandkids to visit and they were able to assist Grandpa as he drilled for and set another tap in the big soft maple in the yard.  Every visit is a delight, with Rhiannon reading an entire book, Rowan demonstrating summersaults and our point-and-grunt Caleb revealing a bit of his hidden vocabulary by calling for ‘Gamma.’  Jim took each kid on a ATV ride and took pictures of Rhi helping with the sap operations.  Rhi and Rowan can now play UNO with a little help!

Mark and Hilde accompanied Dr. Stevens to meet with the YMCA about taekwondo classes.  The plan is, with them more flexible on schedules, for Mark and Hilde to  get to health fairs, summer camps and UWSP orientation with information on the taekwondo class.  They worked up a small display and will start next month with one event.  The entire quartet of senior master Henkels has been invited to be tested for seventh dan by grandmaster Robert Stevens sometime this summer.  The details are still in the works, but four papers will have to be written, and a rather difficult form learned.  It will be quite a feat to get four 7^th dan black belts---just finding a date which will work is the first hurdle.

In between gathering and cooking down the excellent yield of maple sap this month, Mark and Hilde began the daunting task of removing thirty years of sumac, prickly ash and honeysuckle which turned about a half-acre corner of the field into a wasteland.  So far they have amassed three huge piles of cut brush and as things warm hope to get it all burned.  This is only the beginning of a long war on those species, but with the new chainsaw and the excellent brush cutter, progress will continue, while providing them with excellent exercise.

Plant pokes

Mark has been able to fit in all legal calls between all this outdoor labor, and Hilde shoehorned in several meetings, including a 5 ½ hour marathon on economic development and a special meeting about the coming changes in UW Extension.  Her many craft projects are getting done---sometimes there are sewing, cross stitch, knitting and ‘other’ all going on at once, at different locations.  This is productive, but sometimes confusing!

The seasonal progression has been uneven, but by March 5, the first blackbirds and an early woodcock were heard in the woods, and March 22 the first crocus.  Finally the frog chorus started on the 26^th---hurray for spring!

February 2017 Flew By

 February has been a very eventful month, and hard to summarize succinctly.  As usual, weather played a big role in the way things went.  Central Wisconsin had very cold days,  then thawing and fog, then cold…not much sunshine, which can get you thru everything.  There was thunder and lightning in the cold winter rain, with wild variations of temperatures.  It was so icy one day that Hilde decided going in to one morning meeting was unduly hazardous, the conditions made for some interesting sunsets, too.

February brought the 45^th wedding anniversary for Hilde and Mark.  The actual day was quiet with church, a chilly walk and later dinner at the China Palace, but the following week, they returned to Panama City Florida, where their weekend honeymoon occurred.  The timing was touchy, with taekwondo testing on the Sunday and departure directly from the Y, but throughout the week, the roads were clear and travel went smoothly.  Mark and Hilde like to travel together. 

Happy couple

On the way south they stopped at the Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuge and then kept heading south, enjoying the subtle signs of greening, magnolias and then real flowers in West Florida.  Since they arrived on Valentine’s Day, they enjoyed some great specials in seafood right off the bat and then days of walking at various beaches and parks around the area, with seafood every night including crab cakes!  Sunshine, turquoise water and white sand were surely cures for the winter blahs.  The final day included the Gulf Island National Park where the crews were plowing sand drifts off the road and the ancient fort on Pensacola Bay was great fun to visit.  One day of the drive home was in rain, but eight days round trip went very well.  Mark and Hilde were very glad we finally returned to Panama City and very relaxed finally home.

Old turpentine mill

While Mark is happily telecommuting from home and getting lots of other things done, Hilde has had several stressful and LONG meetings—the tensions reflect the national mood.  She also lost her last uncle Gerry out in California at the age of 90. 

All the freeze, thaw, rain stuff let less ground cover, so at the end of the month, Mark and Hilde began what will be a long season of wood and brush cutting.  First up were three dead elms across by the mine…which fell into the tangle of prickly ash, sumac and honeysuckle (also in the cutting plan.)  They will have plenty of dry wood for the syrup cooking and the work plan promises lots of outdoor exercise in the near future.

Sunset from our balcony