What a full and wonderful month October was for Mark and
Hilde! The weather was mild and made the
many outdoor activities, family events and travel even better. Of course the
birth of Hazel Williams Henkel was the big news, as John and Evie
produced a darling little girl with dark hair, a mild disposition and an
amazing range of expressions. Mark and
Hilde were able to visit for a couple of days, cuddling and enjoying seeing
John and Evie as parents and present for Hazel's baptism. What a blessing!
Another addition to the family as Hilde’s niece Leslie was married and added
Mike Houtz to the family. This meant a
gathering of Bormanns from all over which was very fun. Everyone got home except for John and Evie as
this was just before Hazel’s arrival.
Caleb and his second cousin Marsden had a lot of fun playing (they are 3
months apart in age) and the larger gathering of cousins was fun to watch.
The next day Mark and Hilde enjoyed a
mini-celebration for Rowan’s 5th birthday. She is an amazing little girl.
At the end of the harvest season, mark and Hilde enjoyed
fresh raspberries until almost the end of the month, and then lots of lovely
Wolf River apples, which makes wonderful applesauce and baked apples. The carrot crop was large and beautiful and a
second harvest of parsley greened up the kitchen for a while. Finally, at the end of the month, Mark took
down all the fencing and cleaned up the garden for the winter.
Being centrally located in Wisconsin is finally proving
convenient for gatherings, as niece Alana (from Rice Lake) can meet here with
Kayme to practice for recitals at UWSP while Hilde watches the four
children. That also leads to fun cousins
interaction and a lot of joyous noise.
Rhiannon and Rowan liked the Rudolph scarecrow, but Caleb was not
impressed. As usual, the house seemed
very quiet when they left, but Mark had time out in the woods with Jim and
Hilde got to feed and cuddle the grandkids.
In order to enjoy the mild fall, Mark and Hilde got out and
visited Big Eau Pleine Park, Horicon
National Wildlife Refuge and Theresa Marsh, plus enjoyed the changing
colors and light of October just in Rudolph.
Fall is always a great show in Wisconsin. During the month, the long-delayed logging of
portions of the Seneca land was finally completed, fulfilling the requirements
of the managed forest program. The
landscape out there has changed quite a bit, but in spring the poplars will
spring up and Mark and Hilde will enjoy working to clear up the tops and
stumps.
There were the usual autumn activities dealing with the
chickens: first the Henkels transferred
6 surplus pullets to the new neighbors, kind of a house-warming gift. Then Mark
managed to find folks who wanted the old hens and mean rooster, so another
evening of catching chickens with resultant squawking. A third evening was similarly noisy as the
pullets were very vocal in their
objections to being moved to the henhouse, although they settled in nicely. Finally, on a mild morning, Mark and Hilde
butchered the 18 roosters—tiring and nasty work, but a very full freezer to
gloat over.
In between all these various activities, business went on
with lots of meetings for Hilde and much time on the phone for Mark He also had depositions in Decorah, which
Hilde attended as note-taker…..long, hot and interesting. But it was good things concluded a day early,
since the morning after getting home, Mark found the kitchen floor awash. It turned out that an impertinent mouse
chewed a leak into the water line to the dishwasher. Fortunately, Mark was able to replace the
line with braided metal AND catch the mouse.
All in all, a golden month, full of blessings and family and
fresh air. A great October!
