July 2011: Jubilant, Jam-packed and Just Sizzling

This July will be long-remembered at a jubilee of joyous activities for the Henkels. The month was hot and stormy but it really brought along the flowers. It all started with a wonderful four-day weekend at home which was restful, productive and the quiet time needed before plunging into all the activities. Mark cleaned out the basement addition, fixed the leaky sink, and shoveled a truck-load of shredded bark for home projects. Hilde finished two sundresses for little Rhia, and then dug up and fixed the edging around the deck using lots of bark and sweat-equity. Working together, Mark and Hilde picked lots of beautiful cherries from their little trees, made a double batch of cherry jam, pitted and froze a year’s supply of cherries and enjoyed the traditional cherry soup for the Fourth. Since Mark also finished the repair of the electric dog perimeter, Freddie is now allowed out to play and roam part of each day.

The high point of the year and the month was the wedding of Evelyn Williams and John Henkel in Minneapolis. The service was beautiful, moving and music-filled. The bride and groom were elegant, relaxed and radiant. Sharing the day with so many friends and family who came to MN was truly wonderful—especially since the date was also Hilde’s 60th birthday. Getting a special new daughter-in-law for a birthday gift is certainly unbeatable. This was the first time the Henkels had all gotten together since Hazel’s funeral last May, so it was a wonderful reunion of the expanded family. The wedding reception was right down on the river with a unique setting and the fun of board-breaking for any who wished to try, from the Lane and Buehler children to some fairly senior folks. Evie and John did a special forms dance and broke boards themselves. Meantime, the Henkel clan’s secondary interest was the game of “Pass the Baby! with Rhi (here with Great-Grandma and cuz Heidi) sweet in an heirloom crocheted dress. No one got permanently lost in the cities, everyone rejoiced together and eventually Hilde’s parents, Ray and Arlene Bormann, were released from the defective elevator. A very memorable day!

As quickly as everyone gathered, folks returned to their many states of origin, but Mark and Hilde were only home for a week to try to catch up on the delayed meetings, garden and lawn. They attended Farm Technology Days in Marshfield (huge tent city of farm-related activities, innovations and equipment) and then drove the load of wedding gifts down to Madison, enjoying lunch with the newlyweds, after their honeymoon in Door County.

Kayme returned with Rhiannon to give a very happy Grandma Hilde her first ‘grandma gig' as the three generations drove to St. Peter MN for the WELS National Conference on Worship, Music and the Arts. The weather was again hot and humid, but the Henkels, with Rachel and Naomi Fritz shared an air-conditioned dorm suite, so cooling off baby was easy (and necessary!). The conference (nearly 1000 people participated) was chock full of wonderful music, with an opening concert, five special church services and a closing hymn festival. Kayme played for the fifth service—her playing sounded wonderful in the chapel. The many practices and two presentations which Kayme played for meant that Hilde played, strolled and fed that precious girl, which was pure joy.. Rhiannon is crawling, pulling herself up, bouncing and balancing with great vigor…she will insist on walking and running early, it appears.

While Hilde and Kayme were away, Mark received the shipment of 30 little chicks, so when the gals rendezvoused with Kayme’s dad Loren in Rudolph, Grandpa Mark got to introduce Rhi to the chickens. It was hard to see them leave again, but Rhi was definitely missing her Daddy, looking hopefully at men with beards and glasses and rejecting and sometimes shrieking at those who WEREN’T Daddy.

The final week of July included more downpours and heat, plus the complications of car repair that took twice as long as estimated, so that Hilde was driving Mark to Stevens Point, then going to Wisconsin Rapids for meetings, then to Rudolph to work on raspberries, beans and lawn. Finally the clutch is good, springs replaced and things are in order. In between the storms and much rain, Mark had some interesting times on the radio with long-range propagation and contacts from Canada to Connecticut and the Caribbean. He now has new QSL cards featuring this picture of his stacked beams. From now on, the garden will dominate and the main crop of the lovely fall raspberries look to start early.

Jumbled June

Early June was quite a rush with as many things as possible done by the 10th: last garden plants out, an extra zoning conference fit in, new window balances installed, hair cuts, transfer of the boat to Paul and lots of planning for the trip to southern Missouri. Hilde had Irene and Melodie out for crafts, and rushed through a lot of sewing, which was fun. The flowers were really nice this year: clematis are both doing well and birds have been frequent visitors. In fact, our red-bellied woodpecker brought her young one to the feeder, stuff some seeds into his mouth and then left him to the buffet.

Things never seem to go in a straight line, and this June was a perfect example of that. Mark and Hilde had done all the planning for a lengthy (three-week) trial in Springfield: Mark had shipped 14 boxes of documents and hauled another 5 along in the car, Hilde had made arrangements for the animals and had others take over her meetings, everyone concerned had gathered, set up the courtroom and even the jury selected, Mark primed to give his opening statement, but after only one day, the trial delayed until next May and everything had to be canceled, changed and replanned due to ill health of one of the plaintiffs. Hilde had one day of being at leisure by the pool; Mark ended up doing a 6-hour video deposition, then they turned around and came home.

While coming home early was irksome (and took a full 14 hours due to road delays!), it did allow Mark to rototill the entire garden in the one dry day before a week of rain and gloom. Other places enjoyed the longest day of the year, but in Wisconsin, the evidence of sunlight was not there! Being home for Father’s Day let Mark to do what he wanted: which was to crawl under the deck, jack it up and replace supports to remove a slight sag. Since this had been nagging at him, Mark was very satisfied to get this remedied.

Hilde was glad to be back for county board and for marathon mowing and weeding days: the rain really brought things along. Food production has begun, and the last day of the month was spent on freezing the peas for the year. Toward the end of the month, Hilde was tickled pink to watch Rhi crawling via skype. She knows where she wants to go and now she can get there! It should be fun to play with her when the family gathers.

Anticipation and excitement is mounting for John and Evie’s wedding, the whole focus of July is that happy day. Those two are very organized and efficient and have really gotten lots done while both are so busy, and seem happier as the day approaches.

Over-filled May

It’s a good thing there were 31 days in May---but a week extra would have helped fit everything into this month for the Henkels. The busy-ness meant missing some family events, like Leslie's confirmation and Evie's bridal shower, but they were thought of, for sure. Mark’s trial preparation is really dominating the schedule and meant that Mother’s Day was spent on the road to Springfield MO again. But making lemonade from lemons led to going to Madison the night before and having a great dinner at Delaney’s with John and Evie. Since it was still very chilly and un-green in Wisconsin at that point, driving south was a fast-forward into spring with lovely flowers and , of course, road construction delays. Meantime, in Maryland, Jim and Kayme took Rhiannon strawberry picking for the first taste of berry good stuff.

That evening, food as always was great at Zio’s, spiced with a strange encounter with a lady from down there who “just felt” that Mark was a head directed person who needed to ‘listen to his heart.” Doesn’t sound like good trial strategy advice. She also told of trying to use a long feather-duster to wave the flies off her employer’s purebred cattle….imagine the ensuing stampede. Lots of interesting folks out there.

The trip to Missouri was just short enough that Mark and Hilde were able to get back to taekwondo on a very hot night in time for the celebration of Dr. Stevens birthday. Mark had to fly back to Springfield the day after the terrible tornado down at Joplin. Flight down was just bumpy, but trying to get home was much longer and round about.—Mark went to Denver, Minneapolis and then Mosinee. Since he had departed from Appleton, Hilde had to retrieve him from one airport and then the next morning drive him to Appleton to retrieve the car.

This has been a fantastic month for flowers: the cooler damp weather was great for holding the blossoms on all the fruits trees: cherries, crabapples, apricot, pears, apples and for the first time, blossoms on the little hardy peach tree. Lilacs, and lots of spring flowers made it a delight to spend hours land hours on the lawnmower and on weeding the two raspberry beds, the foundation beds and the rose bed. The rabbits have done serious damage to the roses (how can they nibble on those thorny stems?) to the naking bush cherries and even the burning bushes. One smart-alec bunny came up on the deck all winter to nibble on the upper branches of one burning bush, since there was fence on the lower portions.

Mark managed three spring projects in and around his travels. He cleared out and sorted through all the junk in the north shed to get the fishing boat out of dry dock. It had been out of the water for 22 years, and the mice had chewed up the floatation vests, leaving lots of Styrofoam loose all over, but he cleaned it out, replaced the wheels and tires on the trailer, and repacked the bearings. The motor may not be repairable.. Mark also dug out a new strawberry patch and got that planted just at the right time, converting the old patch to a melon bed. Then Mark tackled the brick pillar holding up the rooflet over the front door. The plastic qualities of our Rudolph clay make stability a problem, but it had been up for over 20 years. He did a great job tearing out the old and mortaring a very nice new pillar. When spring comes, he really gets going.

Hilde has been pushing the whole month with lots of meetings, including the public hearing on and approval of the tentative county redistricting plan. Mowing seemed to be unending, whenever it wasn’t raining or too windy. The last days of the month featured very strong winds which snapped off the young sugar maple transplanted from the Henkel land in Lomira.

There have been more skype visits with Jim and Kayme to enjoy the antics of Rhiannon. She is rolling and squirming around now, almost crawling and loves bouncing in her play saucer. She recognizes and smiles at “Grandma and Grandpa in the Box” every time.

It was a very busy month, June looks even wilder, but we are counting down the days to John and Evie’s wedding for a great celebration and family gathering, before nieces Alana and Heidi head off to their grad schools. Thank goodness for facebook, skype, blogs and cell phones to help keep far-flung families in touch.

April 2011

April has been a chaotic month with strange weather, lots of activities and yet, as always, Easter raised our spirits and refreshed our faith and focus.

The month started with the finale of syrup cooking. The last day of gathering and cooking was April 2, with sap boiling early and finishing up by early evening, cooking around 120 gallons down. Despite the bifurcated season, the yield was good this year so both Jim and John will get plenty to enjoy this year. All the taps and bags got pulled on Sunday afternoon in gloom and fog from melting snow. At that point, one would anticipate warming weather and the progress of spring to flowers. But the weather did a flip flop on the 10th: to hot and stormy. Stevens Point (and the taekwondo testing) was fortunate, as tornadoes hit north and south and then things got colder and colder with another snow storm on the 19th; snow showers off and on in the end of the month. Those here in the north could only watch in horror during the end of the month as the southern states were trampled by twisters.

However, in Rudolph, the indoor time allowed for the completion of the bedroom renovation for Jim’s room. The room looks so great compared to the old look! The Henkels managed to get in some social moments also: lunches with Doc Stevens and the Onans, a scrabble afternoon with Irene and then crafts out in Rudolph, too. John came home for the Easter weekend, fixed my computer and let his mother feed him.

Hilde had MANY meetings due the task of redistricting the county (happens every ten years after census data comes out). It went very well with lots of interaction from committee members, county officials, and even the League of Women Voters representatives. There may be some minor changes, but the plan is fair and fits the odd municipal boundaries and school district boundaries as best possible. Hilde also opened and ran the town polls for the morning of the spring election, with things going smoothly.

Mark has been brought into some cases in Minnesota so we spent the end of the month over there, visiting the two areas of litigation, with Hilde along for the ride. This allowed for a stop in Minneapolis on the way west where Evie’s mother Kathy showed us Lake Harriet Methodist and the lovely area around there, plus the possible places for the rehearsal dinner. Despite the cold weather, July is not far away and plans are pretty set. Besides being a great couple, John and Evie are pretty organized, so all is going well.

Though the month we had skype visits with Jim and Kayme with Rhiannon wiggling and growing quickly. Kayme shared this wonderful picture of Rhi with her Easter bunny from Great-Grandma...gotta call it "Somebunny Sweet"! The technology is such a blessing, but we are looking forward to the gathering in person of the expanded Henkel clan in July.

April ended with slightly warmer weather a parade of turkeys through the yard and then a beautiful gleam of sunset while rain turned Powers Bluff violet. Wisconsin is a beautiful place to live.

March Medley

March has been a roller coaster of a month, with warming and thawing clearing the driveways and roads , starting the sap run and then BAM! another big snowstorm followed by a week of way below average temperatures, getting down below 10 degrees for a week. Some of the temperature downs were echoed in other downs: Mark’s aunt Sylvia died down in Tucson, at the age of 91, then one of his partners lost her fiancé and one of Hilde’s friends lost her son in a motorcycle accident.

During the struggles with the weather, Mark and Hilde were a little restless early on in the month. Hilde’s suggestion one night that they “plan” the redoing of Jim’s bedroom meant that 13 hours later they were selecting a floor covering, returning to the house to move everything into John’s room, hallways and porch and then started tearing out the old dark paneling and ancient RED carpeting (this is the before picture). The rest of the month included putting up and mudding the sheetrock, priming, texture and top coats of paint and a start on the flooring. After a hitch in the floor matting, the process should be finished in a couple of weeks—an after picture then.

While the main part of the house cluttered with furniture or tools for the project, the lower level had its own clutter. With the cold weather not quite halting the sap flow, after the first cooking of syrup, the rest of the accumulating milk cans of sap froze solid and had to be wrestled into the basement to thaw. They took up a lot of room!

Meantime, the expeller fan on the furnace gave a dying scream and was replaced, but a couple days later—no heat! Since that night 4 degrees was forecast, Henkels hurried called the furnace man who replaced the gas valve, but still no heat until the discovery that the LP people had NOT done a “keep filled” run for 3 cold months. Contacting the right folks and getting LP late on a Saturday night is challenging! Mark had to go out with the tractor and drag away the sap cooker which had been frozen into place just where the tanker gains access to the tank.

With so much snow for the first part of the sap season, even the ATV couldn’t get through the drifts, so Mark and Hilde pulled and occasionally pushed a toboggan with sap pails in and out of the woods: highly aerobic exercise! They cooked two days in March and will do a final batch April 2 & 3rd.

Between sap gathering and cooking, painting and special meetings, Hilde got the urge to sew little items for Rhi, starting with a non-pink (denim) sunhat and adding a “camo pink’ crocheted hat, a romper, sundress and matching hat. But even better than making clothes is getting to hold grandchildren: the northern Henkels rendezvoused with John and Evie at Naomi Fritz’s home in Watertown to enjoy Kayme and Rhiannon, in Wisconsin for a conference. Rhi is thriving and getting so strong and energetic…and she watches people with cameras, too! It was great to have almost all the Fritz and Henkel family gathered, tho Loren and Jim were missed.

The end of the month was milder, but still snow on the ground and possibility of more for tomorrow. However a fat and sassy bluebird perched on the deck today, so spring has to be coming.

Frozen but Focussed February

This month will always be pegged as the month the Packers won the Superbowl and Mark won the big case in Madison. Both were exciting and intense occasions, with Wisconsin’s very snowy, cold February as the setting. Early in the month, the winter-starved turkeys were coming right to the front door looking for shelter and food, leaving neat tracks.

Our 39th anniversary was almost unnoticed, except for a visit from Heidi, as we packed and prepared for moving to Madison for a couple of weeks trial. We arrived at the hotel in time for me to watch and enjoy the Packers winning Superbowl XLV. Mark only saw parts as he prepared for the jury selection and opening day of trial. The ‘stray voltage’ case was one where a farmer who had lectured and been interviewed about his successful grazing operation decided he was not successful enough and that it ‘must’ be stray voltage, going back nearly 30 years. Mark’s opponent asked, in his opening statement, for $15 million dollars to just ‘bring them up to even’!!!! While the trial had some humorous moments, like the day Mark and his opponent were scribbling alternate equations for the poor jury, the high stakes made things pretty tense. In cases like this if the jury agrees there is “willful, wanton and deliberate” damages, the award is trebled! In closing arguments, the plaintiff’s attorney told the jury to ‘listen to the cows’ while Mark asked them to make a responsible decision on evidence and facts, not emotions. What a great result when they awarded not a penny!.

During the first week of trial, the temperatures plummeted, making walking to restaurants and meetings very painful. Hilde enjoyed meeting Evie for lunch one day and was introduced to anise-flavored, red cabbage cole slaw at a great little cafe. Hilde also attended the governor’s conference on economic development for two days, spent several hours on phone conferences and ‘attended’ a library board meeting by phone to supply a quorum. Time at the State Historical Library and the Norwegian American Genealogical Center and Naeseth Library led to information on the Peterson ancestry. People at both places were very willing to help. Hilde also had lunch with niece Alana, trying the wonderful buffet lunch at the Indian place just across the street.

We got home just before another BIG dump of snow. Here in Rudolph we got a foot of snow in two days and could barely see for it blowing around.. It took quite a bit of digging out by tractor, snowblower and regular shoveling. At least we know it won’t be lasting for three months…the sun is definitely warmer now, when we see it!

None of the above kept us from frequently skyping Jim and Kayme to see our little Rhia.
This was a favorite picture.

The year of 2011 has started out with the usual round of winter challenges in Wisconsin, cold, snow and garage door difficulties. It is uncanny how the chain breaks or jumps the track or the plastic thing breaks---always in the coldest snap of weather. This year the chain jumped off the tracks as Hilde was heading for a state steering committee on land use, so she merely locked the inner door of the garage and headed off, confident that Coffee, who is nearly dormant and very fat in winter would find refuge in the hay pile in the other shed, even on a day it didn't get above 1 degree. Mark ended up getting things in place late at night in below zero conditions, again.

Mark and Hilde have been delighting in the many photos Jim and Kayme post on line of darling Rhiannon. When the eastern Henkels skype with Rhia looking around and waving her arms, the Wisconsin Henkels want to reach thru the screen to hold her---she is so sweet! Already she is cosmopolitan with a part-time babysitter (Kayme returned to part-time teaching) and she is growing so quickly! Rhia has already visited two other states in her second month---Jim and Kayme went up hiking in West Virginia with her and the following weekend, she visited her Fritz grandparents down in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Middle of the month, two fun days of non-work. John and Evie stopped by overnight on their way up to the Williams annual winter weekend WAY up near Ely MN. It was great to see them and feed them. They had wonderful times skiing and building an igloo up there. Then, Mark and Hilde attended the wedding of black belt Bethany Reed down near Madison. It was the day of the Packers vs. the Falcons in the playoff—we left the reception a little early to enjoy the win and cheer loudly.

This month, Mark was only gone two nights to Missouri --but they were cold, three- blanket nights here. Most of the month he has been working long hours preparing for the two-week trial in Madison. Contrary to the way lawsuits are presented on television, civil litigation requires many, many hours of depositions, discovery and then intense study of those materials, so that the defense attorney is very familiar with allt he details of the testimony and exhibits. During the trials, Mark works long hours preparing every night for the next day, making sure experts and fact witness are present and prepared, and focusing intently in court on every statement. It is not unusual for Mark to lose five pounds a week during long trials, although since Hilde has been accompanying him, he eats more regularly.

January is the month for performance evaluations for county department heads and for ADRC executive director. This meant Hilde spent many hours tabulating surveys, drafting summaries and then writing up the evaluations before delivering the good or not good news. It is time consuming and often unpleasant, but done. Hilde also managed to get the virus going around and spent nearly a week with an unhappy tummy and headaches….another winter occurrence, unfortunately.

Somehow, it is always a relief when January is over---the days are getting longer (if not warmer) and the accumulation of snow will not stay forever! It has been quite a winter already. It has seemed if Rudolph was not getting bad weather, DC was or Chicago. With a blizzard looming for southern Wisconsin and Chicago tomorrow, things will grind to a halt for a while again. Despite the snowy conditions, some of the local denizens came to visit on January 30--turkeys really fluff out their feathers in these temperatures.

Dizzying, Delightful December to Remember

What a wonderful whirlwind of a month December has been! All parts of our lives came together and made for some incredible emotional highs, framed in wild weather, lots of traveling and a wonderful addition to our family.

Taekwondo was the planned focus for December, with Evie getting her black belt in grueling and lengthy testing in Madison on the 5th. Mark and Hilde were able to get there to see her impressive performance! Then John and Hilde finally tested for sixth dan black belt the following week. Since the WTF requires candidates to be 30 years old, Hilde waited to test until John was eligible and then worked to match his awesome technique. Both wrote rather lengthy papers (Hilde’s was “Taekwondo: Training for Life and Success” and John’s “Teaching the Art of Taekwondo”), and gave speeches on the topics at the testing, plus did the Ji-Tae form in close unison. Then John wowed the onlookers with a spinning hook speed break thru three boards. Hilde’s board break was minimal—she was still beaming but shaken from hearing about the real news of December 12—a new granddaughter!

Yes, Jim and Kayme became parents just before the testing started. Rhiannon Clara Henkel weighed 7 pounds 9 ½ ounces and took a long time to arrive, but she is absolutely beautiful. Kayme had a tough labor, but has been recovering very well and looks fantastic. Skyping was neat, but Mark and Hilde got out there on Dec. 23 to spend Christmas cuddling and rejoicing in her! The heavy snows on the East Coast meant that flights were canceled and the happy grandparents got to spend an extra day delighting in the granddaughter. Jim and Kayme are already very good at handling her AND they made a wonderful Christmas feast also. It was a very memorable Christmas! The delay getting home sent the senior Henkels to go directly to Madison for Mark to do depositions, but that also allowed for a birthday breakfast with John and Evie---there was lots to talk about with baby news and wedding plans.

All through the month, Mark was on the road, doing depositions and prep work for the four long trials scheduled for next year. He was gone more than half the month and had a minor problem in central Illinois when an ice chunk off a semi damaged the rental car, but he managed it all well. The weather surely complicated things when central Wisconsin got 14 inches of snow on the 11th causing cancellation of the black belt Christmas party for the first time ever. It was very beautiful, however, followed by some really cold days with wonderful hoarfrost. Then after Christmas, warmer weather meant fog and rain and really messy conditions. Perhaps January will be calmer, weather-wise and work-wise!

This year, Hilde did fewer Christmas cookies, but lots of stollen and candies to give as gifts. The fruit baskets for shut-ins went well this year and she even managed to run a meeting with 15 people by videoconferencing, which was challenging, and did better than usual when Mark was out of town so much, even when there was a dead hen to dispose of and a rabbit hunter to send away. This month really had everything in it!

All in all, December was a wonderful end to the year 2010. We look confidently forward to 2011, trusting God to guide us and bless us all the way.

November News

The month started out with elections for all of the country, but Hilde was chief election inspector for the morning shift in Rudolph and that meant starting early and coping with a irritating set of machines. First the counter jammed repeatedly and then it beeped for four hours and turned off! It seems the fiddling from the first invisibly disconnected the power and four hours is the battery-backup limit. NOW workers know what the beeping meant! The changes in governmental leaders in Wisconsin made for an abrupt change.

Mark and Hilde were in Madison the next morning for a couple days of depositions, allowing for a photo of “new light on state capitol”---certainly a prettier shot that the political fall-out may turn to! We were able to meet Evie (John’s fiancée) for dinner at the Great Dane and transfer to her a couple of sacks of squash and pie pumpkins. Even Madisonians, used to the outré, likely wondered at the middle-aged couple hauling chicken feed sacks down the sidewalk! Hilde used the time during the day to retreat in the far corner of the historical library’s reading room and get thoughts, quotes and outline together for her required taekwondo paper.

Mark spent another couple of days in Madison the next on his own, but when he returned the third week, Hilde went with him and thus got a cold weather visit to Dodgeville and Spring Green. The pace has been fairly hectic for him with several trials in 2011---lots of depositions, discovery and all out of the area, requiring lots of time on the road.

Even as winter approached, we had some sunny, cool days to get things done outside, including the removal of all the sumac on the west fence line and the replacement of rotted off cedar posts, so that fence looks orderly for winter. Hilde got the ditches tidied up and Mark and Hilde went out to the hunting land to check out stands and then to go thru and mark the ‘trail’ again. Our little portion of Elm Creek is running full and cold right now after several years of nearly drying up in fall. The weather allowed for other chores also: snow fence is up, and over Thanksgiving, John helped Mark get the tractor chains on so we are ready to plow. That turned out to be necessary once already as we got an icy mix of sleet and snow the night before Thanksgiving, leaving our driveway fairly nasty..

This year for deer season Loren Fritz (Kayme’s dad) came up and hunted with mark for opening day. They saw nothing near enough to shoot, although Loren also staked out the lower woods in the afternoon. When John went for a run after thanksgiving, he spooked up three does, but was not able to chase them down.

The month ends with Hilde working diligently on the JI-TAE form to prepare for testing and both prospective grandparents waiting for that special phone call. Kayme is on maternity leave as of December 1 and is definitely ready to carry her daughter in her arms instead of out front. Apparently little Rhiannon wants to really fit into the Henkel clan, where December is preferred for birthdays. We eagerly await her arrival!

Awesome October

This month turned topsy-turvy early on and became a winner! Mark’s big trial in southern Missouri was delayed from October to next June (yes, it will be hot then ), which allowed him to take off three days in the absolute best weather…beautiful sun-drenched days with warm temps and fantastic colors in the trees. We did things around the house and yard, then went to the range one morning and out to Sherwood Lake and the county forest out there for a fine walk. After the past three months of lots of deadlines and pressure for Mark, he really relaxed.

All through the month, I felt better and better and finally got back to lots of energy and worked on getting fall harvesting and cleaning done. We gathered in an enormous yield of squash and pumpkin and throughout the month shared them with family and friends and took about 30 squash to St. Paul’s School. I began enjoying the pumpkin baking: pies, breads, and those melt-in-your- mouth orange blossom sweet rolls, which I made for the crafts ladies. I enjoy having them out very much…on those seventh Thursdays when there is no taekwondo.

The postponement of the trial allowed Mark and me to be here for the October taekwondo testing, always a good gathering and celebration of the progress of students. I also had election training, attended a conference on the redistricting coming in spring, and the last meeting of the board of Aging & Disability Resource Center of Central Wisconsin as a two county agency. Starting November 1, the ADRC CW will serve four counties---Marathon, Wood, Lincoln and Langlade. It will be exciting to chair meetings of such a large group and watch the expansion happen.

At the end of the month, a buyer showed up for Hazel’s house in Rice Lake, so Mark and I took the trailer over and retrieved the other pieces of furniture to be cherished by the grandchildren. Of course, until they have room, the bed, chest, desk and low dresser will be here. That trip on the 22nd of October was not only the last day of really nice weather, it began with this full moon setting just at dawn over Rudolph. Very nice!

As nice as the beginning weather was, allowing lots of outside detail work, the final week of October featured two days of very high winds and some of the lowest barometric pressures ever recorded inland (not from a hurricane) The wind did damage in several areas, but mostly, made it hard to sleep and concentrate…it felt like an attack! Further north, power was out for several days and schools closed.

We don’t have a lot of spooks and goblins out here for Halloween, but we did get to skype with Jim and Kayme….they are fine and nearing the time for the new arrival in the family. We are all counting down the days.

September Summation

September is always a transitional month, but this month was not a smooth transition, ups and down, floods and trips, sickness and celebrations all combined!

We did have a warmer period to start off the month which helped the later produce finish and ripen---tomatoes were the focus for Hilde with lots of stewed tomatoes, tomato juice, tomato sauce and tomato soup put up and squirreled away for the dark months. The first cool, wet weather coincided with John and Evie’s corn roast and congratulations here on the 3rd. It is amazing how a small gathering seems large when crammed indoors with four healthy and energetic preschoolers bouncing around. It was a fun start for the Labor Day weekend! Mark and John did the annual remove rust and weld on the pathfinder, but that may be the last year for that. From three pathfinders, we are down to only one 1995, and it is putting on lots of miles between Chicago and Madison. Evie’s parents came through and got to see Rudolph in the ‘green’ mode, so the Labor Day weekend was social and great.

The rest of the month was a muffled one, as Hilde got a very nasty bug which left her ears blocked up and her energy levels just above zero. We were also praying constantly for the relief from pain and reconstruction of nephew Adam’s knee---he had a very comprehensive football injury. Thank God for skilled doctors and a full-time mom/nurse/chauffeur for him. We hope he will be on his feet before Christmas.

September 9th was the 60th wedding anniversary of Hilde’s parents, Ray and Arlene. Some 35 Bormann family and friends gathered in Oconomowoc to celebrate, with Jim and Kayme, John and Evie, and Hilde’s brother Steve joining by skype, thanks to Terri’s wireless card. It was a special day with shared memories and photos, great food, a lovely house (thanks for hosting, Laure!), and even unexpected ‘entertainment’ with a brief dogfight in the middle!

Mark is in the intense, pre-trial mode and flew to Springfield Missouri for a court appearance, being gone during THE rain event of September 21 & 22 and 23, when Rudolph received at least 6 inches (overfilled the rain gauge!) and Pittsville nearly washed away. He returned to find detours and roads closed as the water gathered and over-flowed almost everywhere in Wood County, where 50 roads were closed at one point. The Henkel home, being on one of the highest points in the county, had no damage, but so many folks did!

Other assorted incidents included the dryer deceasing after more than 20 years hard use, the garage door opener breaking again, Hilde winning a raffle of a beautiful Amish quilt, and the raspberries and lawn continuing productive. Despite all this busyness, Hilde has begun to update and outline the family lines from her genealogy records, so relatives are going to be getting questions and draft outlines to add to, update and embellish. She also wrote up some early Bormann memories to share with her parents and siblings and during those long dark months of winter hopes to continue on that. Now on to October, to pumpkins and long trials, to frosts and prepping for winter. The view down the hill here is absolutely lovely!

Active August

August has been a sizzling month---not just in temperatures, but with literal shocks, special surprises and socializing!

Mark and Hilde were happy to attend the installation and the welcome luncheon for St. Paul’s new minister, Jim Douglas. We had Pastor Douglas, wife Sara and little two-year-old Emma out for lunch at the end of the month and enjoyed our discussions and getting to know them better. We also had a visit from Paul and Rachel Fritz. We all picked raspberries together and had a great afternoon. The main social event of the month was a black belt corn roast here. It is always good to have those gatherings!

The hot, wet weather continued and resulted in great garden growth, lawns that just didn’t stop and some really healthy weeds. When we talk about weeding all the time, it is in an effort to avoid any the size of this lambs quarter which we finally chopped off at around 10 feet! The intense heat led to some really noisy storms, including the one early August 11 when lightning struck Mark’s antenna tower. That was "shockingly" loud! While the tower is grounded, the one rotor cable formed a pathway for some of the charge. The rotors, the cable, Mark’s digital interference filter, the internet card for my computer and our cordless phone and answering machine all got zapped. Getting things replaced, fixed and remounted took much of the rest of the month.

Right at mid-month, Jim and Kayme informed us that the new Henkel will help even the numbers---sonogram shows a GIRL! They are going to name her Rhiannon. We got to see Jim and Kayme down in Watertown, with John and Evie meeting us there for church, lunch (thanks, Naomi!) and lots of talking and hugging.

Although the month really focused on the harvesting and preserving of corn, berries, tomatoes, onions, crab apples and other good things, Hilde has also had some extra meetings and tours, including a celebration of ADRC CW, a thank you lunch for the library parking lot , election workers training and a fascinating conservation tour to a farm with robotic milking -- the cows come in to be milked and the farmer reads the yield and data without touching the cow. Mark and Hilde both attended a day of taekwondo referee training and enjoyed the annual Edgar Steam Engine show.

Mark has been working long hours on the preparation for a big trial, doing depositions, motions and briefs. In among all the business travel, we found time for a special visit to Madison to meet Kathy and Tony Williams, Evie’s parents. We all went out for dinner together and then on a walk. There, with all parents witnessing, John asked Evie to marry him, and she accepted. It was a very special evening for all of us. While dates and details are not settled yet, the joy in both their faces left us misty-eyed and glowing. As an odd coincidence, John actually proposed outside the house Mark had lived in back while in law school. It has been quite a month!