July 2015

Happy Caleb

Some months are just fuller than others—full of family, activities, scares, travel and lots of mowing.  July was like that for the Henkels.

The month started with a bang as Jim, Kayme and their delightful trio of kids came for a visit.  The girls would make Scrooge smile to see their sheer, energetic enjoyment of life.  The family celebrated the Fourth on the third with the men setting off fireworks and admiring wives and children on the lawn feeding the mosquitoes.   Jim is constantly teaching “Bio 101” when he finds a frog, caterpillar or interesting plant so the girls’ vocabularies are amazing.  Rhiannon, 4 ½, commented very carefully and politely about “the grass getting pretty long, Grandma” and when shown the tiny pumpkins set on the vines,  2 ½ year old Rowan remembered last October and stated “They get orange, we take the insides out and make a smile.”  The girls played in the wading pool, picked cherries and made puzzles with Grandpa.   Caleb is stretching out and taking interest in things---lots of smiles and one little giggle for Grandma Hilde.

Watching the fireworks

Mark and Hilde spent many hours weeding and mowing during the month, as the grass grew at spring rates from rain and moderate temps.  Beans and cucumbers joined lettuce on the menu, with Hilde trying more uses for zucchini.    She also made a couple batches of peach jam.  The chicks are now big enough to go outside, so they are carefully released each morning into the  netted area, and shut up at night.  The caution has been enforced as there have been wildlife sightings in abundance within a mile radius of the Henkel hilltop:  a bear, a cougar (on a game camera) and a rabid raccoon.  Hearing a fox bark as the blue moon was rising on the 31^st was magical.

 For Hilde’s birthday, Mark took them down to Green Lake for a boat tour and then over to Wautoma for a very nice dinner.  It is unusual to be absent from taekwondo, but it was a special day.

Cuddling with Daddy after the pool

The senior Henkels also went to Sussex to assist in a repair job which had Mark and Jim digging and the water off, so Kayme and Hilde took the three kids to the zoo on a rather hot day, staying until things closed down.  Caleb was not unhappy to have Mommy all day, and the girls loved climbing on a dinosaur, seeing snakes and peacocks and enjoying a little ice cream.  Hilde hadn’t been to the Brookfield Zoo since courting days, and enjoyed the time with Kayme and the kids very much.  The next day Jim and Mark worked on gutters and drainpipes—always enjoyable for Mark to work with one of the sons.

There were some alarms for the family, with scary possibilities from Mark’s dentist checkup. It was a great relief to find out nothing was wrong.  Right after that, Jim had a violent reaction to an unknown substance and needed urgent care, oxygen and massive antihistamines.  The really scary thing was when Hilde’s mother was rushed to the hospital –it took about five days to get her heart settled down and all of that during the time when she was supposed to move into new apartment.  She was moved in absentia  (Hilde’s siblings did all the work!) and will be going to her new home after a few days of rehab.

Ready for the day at the zoo

Mark and Hilde have been tackling some of the odds jobs between things:  Mark eliminated several hornets nests, replaced a full pound of nails on the pole buildings and then they both tackled the “terrible triangle” –west ditch (steep and rocky) and fence row (eight massive pine stumps and a neighboring field sharing sumac and prickly ash).  The assortment of undesirable and even invasive species which can grow in a strip of pine barrens is amazing, but  the poison ivy, prickly ash and thistles were chopped down.

For the end of the month, Mark and Hilde headed to Madison where Mark networked and earned continuing education credits, while Hilde struggled to draft a resolution to change the county board rules.  They came home to find the refrigerator freezer had popped open and half the food either “toss-away” or “use immediately” which made for some interesting and immediate actions.

Gutter improvement

 July:  full of fun, fruit and family, what more can you ask for?

Which kind of leaf does he like?

Climbing a dino

Just Fine June 2015

Happily expanded Henkel family

June is the month of weddings, reunions, roses and gatherings.  Mark and Hilde had a wonderfully full schedule and some leisure time to enjoy, so this June was especially great.

Rowan and Rhiainnon snuggling at the wedding

The month started with Joel and Lisa Henkel’s wedding in Rice Lake, a happy gathering anytime, but this was first time since Thanksgiving that the Rudolph family was assembled in one place and first since the addition of Caleb.  Rhiannon and Rowan were good as gold at the church, loved the reception and managed to both dance with Daddy, with Alana and Justin and with Uncle John and Aunt Evie.  Mark and Hilde just enjoyed having all the loved ones assembled as the family expands again.

Day old chicks are so neat

June was also the month that Mark switched to working half-days for the summer….and he is liking it a lot, since there are many things around the place he has been itching to work on.  He has gotten the garden into very good shape, despite the relentless rains and soggy conditions, and tackled another big project:  planning and constructing a radon removal system for the lower level.  He spent a lot of time on it, but enjoyed the new hammer drill for cutting the concrete floor and the brick wall, and the system seems to be working.  Between that work, Mark constructed and installed a new door for the hen house, a screen door for the entrance to the workout room and cleared away another FULL pickup load of stuff to the dump.  Hilde mowed grass, weeded and mowed more grass. 

John, Evie, Genghis and Kubla came to visit mid-month when Evie tested for her third dan black belt.  Mark and Hilde were very proud of her speed break and sparring (and her instructor).   John and Evie did a demo form together in very nice synchronization and elegance…great to have John out there leading testing once more.  Evie’s folks, aunt, brother and friend stopped by to see her, so we got to see them too.  Life is so busy that visits with or from friends and family make for a special treat.  Hilde had the ladies from crafts out…all long time friends she enjoys so much.  It was fun attending the office picnic in Stevens Point, too.

Evie's speed hook break

June is a fruitful time, also.  Rudolph has a fine pick-your-own strawberry farm just 2 miles from the Henkel hilltop and Mark and Hilde went over two mornings to fill up on the great fruit.  The cherries ripened a week early this year and despite a strange malady of cherry trees, Mark and Hilde picked plenty of cherries for jam, soup and cherry crisp.  Hilde had several days of jam-making, leading to rows of beautiful jam jars in the cellar.  Both Mark and Hilde spent time ‘clucking’ over the new chicks, happy to have chickens after nearly a year.

The only downside for the month (besides the too frequent rains) involved some nastiness at the county level for Hilde.  Why do people complain about the federal level politicians and then try to be just that nasty at the local level?  However, two staff vacancies have been filled, so planning and interviewing for that is out of the way.  Ever the optimist, Hilde expects things to smooth out eventually.

Mark atop the ladder picking cherries

The month concluded with Mark’s 45^th reunion at Ripon College.  They had a great time visiting campus---Ripon is a beautiful college and town---and seeing folks, including his 3^rd cousin Larry and Larry’s new grandson.  In between the scheduled activities, there was time for lovely leisurely time various places on Green Lake.  While Mark and Hilde did get booked into a ‘vintage’ (meaning shabby retro!) room, they still had a fun time.

So June was just fine,  with family, friends, food and fun.  Just the way summer should be.

Ripon College Harwood Union

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