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