What a month! Henkels
were busy bees, the weather varied wildly from a few golden days, to many cool,
wet days and three days of snow, and the family experienced birthdays,
emergency surgeries and other special events.
October was FULL!
Those early days of cold prompted the earliest ever switch
to flannel sheets and some very hurried outdoor activities. Hilde hustled to plant fall bulbs, ruthlessly
prune the forsythia (again) and get those brilliantly colored blueberry bushes
tucked in with pine needle mulch. Mark
went aloft to tuckpoint and repaint the chimney, picked late raspberries until
about the last week (once after the first snow!), pruned SOME of the wild grape
vine on the antenna tower and crafted two beautiful wooden spoons from heritage
Lomira ash.
That last project was preceded by dealing with a mess in the
wood shop, where an enterprising mouse had made a nest IN Mark’s drill
press. Cleaning that up took hours and
disassembly of the drill press. Mark and
Hilde also made an
early Christmas delivery, taking the refurbished JD lawnmower down to Jim and Kayme just before Halloween,
between those aforementioned snows.
.
The usual fall harvest finales took time: the Henkels had some helping hands for the
major chicken butchering on a fine frosty morning, and did the last three roosters
(which needed fattening) a couple weeks later.
They dug the poor carrot crop, brought in the three pie pumpkins and all
the deck plants and enjoyed one last dinner on the deck, too. After picking apples and clearing the garden,
Hilde was quite busy making applesauce, drying apples, freezing final peppers
and making a few more batches of those delicious chocolate zucchini muffins for
winter desserts. Mark got the fence down,
and then the gardens disked up so things were ready for winter.
The autumn colors were lovely, but the season late and then
shortened by the early snow and cold. Mark
and Hilde took some time to enjoy one day at Horicon, another at Lake Sherwood and
a special fish fry down at the Silvercryst in Wautoma. While they were not able to visit them, they
rejoiced in Rowan’s 7th birthday and Hazel’s 2nd birthday---both happy girls and growing
nicely.
Hilde has been on a crafting binge: she finished one really interesting afghan in
rich colors, knit two children’s sweaters and sewed a table runner, just to try
out a pattern she noticed on line. Mark
started getting fairly busy on the (final???) out of state lawsuit, so phones
were ringing, the printer was spewing lots of paper and his usual pacing to and
fro began.
On the family side, Alana and Justin visited on a nice
Sunday, and Hilde’s mother scared everyone by having an emergency appendectomy
at age 87. After a couple weeks in rehab,
Arlene is back at her assisted living apartment and doing well. One of the neighbors on Tower Road dropped
over dead way too young (55) and made everyone think about “numbering their
days aright.”
Annual physicals and the
ensuing scans and tests took some time, but with those were all fine. The flat tire on one car, and nearly empty
gas tank on the other were only minor irritations ---and they were not even
late for the taekwondo class---just not as early as usual.
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| Mill Creek mid month |
With the wet conditions, two expeditions to the Seneca swanp
were quite challenging: high water,
tangled tops from past logging disguised by tall undergrowth, and hidden
stumps. The moss and leaves were quietly
beautiful, as Mark and Hilde struggled to find and reclear the serpentine path
leading to the back deer stand out there!
As usual way out in rural Rudolph, no trick or treaters, but a quiet
night for Mark and Hilde to snuggle down and face up to an early winter.
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| So Wisconsin! |
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