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!