Many Faces of May 2015

Mark tucking in the plants

Instead of a gentle transitional month, this May was a roller coaster ride with a couple very cold spells , tantalizing warm days and then a week of rain, rain, rain.  Hilde was musing about the range of “summer” clothes needed in Wisconsin, and the layers needed to cope with variations within a day.  In fact, she waited until the second week to put away turtlenecks and flannel sheets—and then the month ended with over 5 inches of rain and two nights of frost, just a week after Mark and Hilde had planted everything out ---a big garden this year.  So Mark had to painstakingly cover each of the more than two dozen tomatoes, all the peppers, eggplants and pumpkins, working on saturated clay loam.  

Caleb at 3 weeks

Despite the vagrancies of temperature, the spring bloom was wonderful this year with lovely colors and scents in the wild flowers, trees and planted favorites.  Due to the less than average snow cover, a few perennials did not make it but the rest made up for it…really lovely tulips and lilacs this year.  The ever-changing floral displays in fencerows, roadsides and flowerbeds was spectacular this year.

Mark:  attorney and arborist

The family side was great in May, as it started with a visit to Jim and Kayme’s.  Hilde got to cuddle little 3-week old Caleb at the college while Kayme accompanied her students at a competition.  What a joyous and satisfying way to spend a Saturday!  Mark spent the time working on Jim’s wiring and fixed a room fan before tackling a more complicated, mis-wired exhaust fan.  Watching Rhiannon and Rowan play outside in golden sunshine, paint their toenails, giggle and  tumble together made for a golden day for all.  Those little girls are so sweet with their tiny brother! Attending church and Lord’s Supper with the expanded family made for a great finale…followed by supper by candlelight, until the power came back on.

Daddy Jim with Caleb

The family time was precious and needed before the trial preparation took over the rest of the month.  Mark re-tried part of a three week case from 2012, where the plaintiffs had added many more claims and wanted big money.  Despite Mark’s best efforts, the jury awarded much of that and the week in Buffalo ended with the home team pretty disappointed.  The intensity and near round-the-clock attention of trial work is hard to imagine.  Hilde had a much better time for the week of trial:  one day she re-trained on the town website, another day she had a lovely lunch and visit with Laurel, and one day was taken by review of the county board video---she missed quite a lively meeting!  The technical connections do help Hilde when Mark’s work takes them out of town, and getting locked in the bathroom added a little comic relief.  

Sweet Sister Fun

The best way of forgetting that kind of stuff is getting busy, and Mark and Hilde really dug in the last days of the month.  Mark only worked a couple half days at the office, but he planted both gardens, fixed a lawnmower, trimmed trees, mowed a year’s growth of weeds in the dog pen, stabilized the deck stairs, replaced fence posts, fenced the garden and added fencing on the perimeter.  After some shopping on the rainy days, a new recliner is ordered and a hammer drill ready for the radon project, plus Mark contrived some rain diverters to eliminate the rain overshoot problem.  When he gets a head of steam of things really get done! 

Hilde has been struggling to keep up with grass mowing, between the down pours and meetings.  Amazing how fast the green stuff grows around here.  There was time to celebrate Dr. Stevens birthday, have lunch with the crafts gals and read a few books, thank goodness.

The surprising thing about Mark being home is that he is getting things done remotely at the office,  finding lots to do here AND creating a growing list of jobs to work on.  Hilde and Mark are much happier with the more flexible schedule and Mark working from home more often.  It looks as though the personnel issues for the county will be resolved soon, so Hilde will see the special meetings let up, too. Hurray for summer!

This smelled even better than it looked

Sisters, Sharing Sunshine

Joyous April 2015

April in Wisconsin can be capricious, weather-wise, and this year was no exception with extremes from upper 70s to down to 22 plus snow and icy winds.  But none of that stops the arrival of spring, the return of birds and flowers—makes folks go around with smiles on their faces.

Rhiannon admires her new brother Caleb

Mark and Hilde were especially happy this month with the arrival of another precious grandchild:  Caleb Fritz Henkel on April 8.  He is beautiful, concentrating on eating and growing and Rhiannon and Rowan are enjoying the new family member.  He was baptized on April 11, with both sponsors, cousin Alana and her husband Justin Laufman, down from MN for the night.  The gathering of family for happy times is always special – all the Fritzes were there (with Grandpa Fritz baptizing his first grandson),  great-Grandma Arlene, and others from the Bormann clan, including Leslie and Kim, Heidi and Erich Zeimantz.

Just before Caleb arrived the four prospective grandparents shared Easter with a lovely meal Claudette prepared.  It is nice having them ‘nearby’ in Waupaca!  Hilde and Mark were so grateful that the postponement of the Iowa trial allowed them to be around to celebrate Easter, to rejoice at the baptism and get the gardens plowed up and ready.  Perhaps in December when they head to Iowa it will not be too nasty.

 

Mark and Hilde were also able to attend the pressure points seminar that Dr. Stevens presented.  They are always enjoyable.  Even those participating in several learn a few new tricks and refresh the other skills, while seeing old friends.

The weather was really nasty when Hilde helped with the county’s tree and shrub sale, but bags and bags of small, medium and rather tall trees were separated and tagged, with a little hot cocoa to warm the ladies up.  Then Mark and Hilde planted another 25 tamarack and 25 hazelnuts…and flagged them all so they don’t suffer a ‘baling death’ like some others have.

Mark had a lengthy trial vanish from his calendar as it settled, so the summer will not be on the road, but home enjoying all the activities of summer in the yard and garden.  That is very appealing!

Finally at the end of the month, Hilde was able to have lunch with Laurel over in Buffalo.  We don't run out of things to talk about, for sure.

Spring is here, the forsythia has fallen like golden stars on the newly greened grass…and the evenings are alive with our frog chorus.   A couple of evenings have allowed for sunset tranquility on the deck.   Enjoy spring!

Our sweet sleepy Caleb

March 2015

Set the spout

March has been a busy, variable and  challenging month for Mark and Hilde.  Wisconsin weather went up and down, with thaws followed by bitter cold, laced with icing and a very short season for sap run.  Mark did all the heavy work this year, allowing Hilde’s back to finally get back to near normal.

March started down in Palatine with Mark helping John on a dry-walling project.  Those two always enjoy working together and have skills in many areas of home repair, while Hilde takes pictures and Evie cooks up great meals despite the kitchen being rearranged.  The younger Henkels are getting lovely new cabinets, so the walls, paints and flooring needed to be prepped.  With the work on I90 finally finished, the trip back to Rudolph goes more smoothly and quickly!

Mark was exceptionally busy throughout the month as he and the trial team prepared for both 2 weeks in trial in Iowa and a re-try of one in Buffalo MN to follow that.  They had everything about ready to ship when, only a week before start date, the judge postponed the Iowa case.  That is a big let-down for them all, and who knows how long things will be delayed, as finding two weeks that fit the schedules of the courtroom and four attorneys  is always challenging.  However, this means the grandparents will not be out of state when Caleb arrives, so the delay has positive aspects.

5 of his senior masters with Grandmaster Stevens

Beautiful dawn for end of the month

Hilde got into a super-crafting mood for spring and made baskets, doilies, and wall art and  baked up some new recipes (and tested them on committee members!).  With more light, more energy and less back trouble,  things moved along very well for the month.  She got a multitude of minor tasks done, and seems to be getting the hang of one problematic print program.  There was a flurry of extra meetings for her, bracketed by lots of phone calls and the issues seem to continue, but eventually all the extras will finish and she will be able to relax more.

At the end of the month, Mark and Hilde assisted with an early taekwondo testing (shifted due to Easter schedules) where Dr. Locascio was promoted to sixth dan black belt.  Stevens Taekwondo Academy has 13 people who have been promoted to that senior master level by Dr. Stevens, which is almost 5% of the persons in USA reaching that rank.   In between the other activities, they have been pruning fruit trees and considering what they will do for the summer, after the other two trials are completed and things quiet down.  Chicks will be ordered for late in June and perhaps a dog to  join the family if Mark decides that way.  It has been over a year since Freddy the Great left us.  The month was a transition from snow to spring, and the last day of March was just lovely.  All but tiny remnants of snow are gone, the light has shifted to the north and the birds are returning and filling the air with song.

February 2015 Fast and Frosty

Fast and frosty-- February really flew past for the Henkels.  It was special to celebrate 43 years together and give thanks for the many blessings in those years and then fun to recognize Jim’s birthday with some old photos of him as a real cutie.  Mark and Hilde worked to drag the last of the elm out of the field with lots of challenges:  the truck got stuck in the snow, the tractor ran out of gas while pulling said truck and then the truck slid into the ditch while being towed, but eventually all was well and a nice pile of wood is awaiting cutting later in spring, since right after that the temperatures went sub zero..

When it is cold outside, that’s not unusual, but when awaking to cold inside, the problem is often the furnace.  When the control unit corroded (causing yet another chilly awakening), Mark and Hilde decided a new, efficient and reliable furnace was necessary.  There were a few bumps and complications, but all is toasty in Rudolph now—and this year the keep-fill folks have been showing up before the LP runs out, thank goodness.

Hilde had a some persistent back issues during the month, but things have improved quite a bit and she is planning on regular taekwondo in March.  She taught an introduction to self-defense toward the end of the month at UW-Stevens Point and had a great time…very enthusiastic gals attending.  She did a lot of baking, from goodies for Valentines day sent to Rhiannon and Rowan to desserts for church and some treats for meetings she anticipated (correctly) might be confrontational.  Mark and Hilde both got some time to work on hobbies this month, with Hilde converting lots of yarn remnants to pieces for an afghan and making some baskets;  Mark got some electrical work in, too.

The truly enjoyable part of the month came towards the end.  While John and Evie were up at the Birkebeiner, Mark and Hilde went to visit Jim and Kayme and had a great time playing with the girls (mostly Hilde) and helping Jim regularize some of the stuff in the basement (Mark).  Those girls move fast and light up the room---happiness and crawling around on the floor with them seemed therapeutic for Hilde’s lingering aches and pains, too.  The following weekend, the senior Henkels headed down to Palatine and had a great time with John and Evie.  Mark and John enjoy working together, even when it includes half dissembling a dryer to remove stray hardware!  Hilde has been enjoying the cooking talents of both couples on these visits—she appreciates their tasty meals and seeing the cooperative efforts!

Now Mark and Hilde are looking forward to the turning of seasons and despite a looming snow storm, are getting ready for starting seeds, tapping trees and thinking spring.  March started with two mild days but….this is Wisconsin and storms are inevitable in March.  Stay warm and safe, folks!