2017 October: A Month of Pressed Down and Overflowing Blessings

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 5^th 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!

September 2017

Were there only 30 days in September this year?  It seems like a lot got crammed into the month, with amazing weather, too, after a wet, mild summer, Rudolph had dry weather (half the norm for September) and then a stretch of HOT weather with three days in the 90 degree range.  This delayed leaf color change and fall, but made for some great days for getting out and about.  Mark and Hilde made the most of it, out visiting several lovely Wisconsin sites and county parks.  That Wisconsin park system is amazing, and the natural areas and wildlife areas are spread throughout the state for recreation.

 

September was also the peak month for harvest and some wonderful tomatoes.  Mark helped Hilde process stewed tomatoes, tomato juice , tomato sauce and, of course, a batch of great-grandmother Schultz's ketchup.  They gave away several boxes of tomatoes also--it is always good to share bounty.  There has been a great apple crop also, which has been shared out and fills the fruit cellar, so applesauce, apple pie and coffee cake are on the agenda.  They also had a bumper crop of cauliflower, now frozen and tucked away, and dried lots of parsley to season the winter meals..  After a slow start, the fall raspberries came along beautifully and Mark and Hilde spent many hours picking and eating the Rudolph Reds, plus freezing a year’s worth of oatmeal toppings plus!

This was the last year that canning frenzy will overlap County board frenzy for Hilde, and she is glad of that, because it was tough to fit everything in, especially since the retirement of two department heads and the reorganization of the extension program demanded extra meetings  and interviews on top of extra budget meetings, a zoning meeting and an ethics meeting tossed in for fun.  It would not have worked without Mark's help on the canning and the normal errands and his insistence on the recreational time.  He himself (Hilde doesn’t do heights) spent a couple days scrubbing and then painting the white on the big shed—aloft in the tractor bucket again!

Mark and Hilde were blessed with a couple of family weekends also.  Hilde' sister Terri had a family baby shower for Evie and John, so we could all gather in Palmyra...that was fun and the evening provided another grand parenting gig with Jim and Kayme's children while they attended a symphony.  The following weekend John, Evie and the dogs came to Rudolph for a pre-baby visit, which was very nice. Hilde and Evie froze grated zucchini and zucchini muffins and bread, and then they all relaxed with a grill out.

Mark and Hilde also got up to De Pere to visit his aunt Veiga just before her 99 th birthday.  It was sweet to be able to show her pictures of Adolph' four grandchildren and talk of two more coming this year.  They also heard from a gentleman trying connect with  Emma Schultz relatives, but this didn't seem to be the correct Emma.

One happy September surprise:  after several years and two different foresters, the current guy finally got someone to start the prescribed cut of the managed forest land in Seneca.   When he is done, the Henkel work plan will include clearing the tops and making sure the trail is maintained and kept free of saplings.

Also this month, Dr. Stevens publically announced his retirement from running Stevens Taekwondo Academy at the end of the year, and that Mark and Hilde will be running the school henceforth.  This has been in the works for a while, but now the couple is diving into all the administrative details that go with teaching the class, handling testings and certificates and even getting Mark hired as an official YMCA employee after years and years of being a volunteer.  The plan is for a reception celebration in December to recognize Dr. Stevens decades of influence through the school.  Hilde is working on those details..

All in all, September was a varied and fun month, although rushed. There were still times to sit in woods and by beaches enjoying peaceful, beautiful moments.

 

August 2017

Tall Corm

August in Wisconsin was neither too hot nor as rainy as previous months, so the Henkels got to enjoy a lot of time outside, and even got a glimpse of the “American Eclipse”!   Mark and Hilde enjoyed their annual visit to the Edgar Steam Show with all the happy folks remembering the old ways of farming.

Pitching grain at Edgar

The real joy of the month was family times.  Jim and Kayme came to visit and Mark’s niece Alana with husband Justin and young Thomas came from the other side to the state.  The cousins played and Alana and Kayme got in some practice time for future recitals.   Caleb is talking more and more, and the girls enjoy learning crafts and reading. 

Then later in the month, a joyous occasion in Minnesota as we gathered to celebrate a new baby coming in October.  Lots of family and friends made it to the baby shower for John and Evie, including Alana, Connie and Curt, so Hilde finally got to see not-so-little Henry, too.  Then a tasty dinner at Evie’s parents’ also, so the prospective grandparents got lots of talking time.

Caleb and Thomas

Happy times at baby shower

Rhi, Rowan, Thomas, Caleb

Late summer is always busy around Rudolph as the vegetables and fruits ripen and the canning and freezing must be done.  Unfortunately, it is also a very busy time on county board, with extra budget meetings, interviews for new personnel and other issues.  With Mark’s help, Hilde made cinnamon crab apple jelly, cut and froze corn from 10 dozen, froze beans, and canned lots of stewed tomatoes and tomato juice while getting to seven heavy-duty meetings (missed a couple) They also got all their social security applications handled and mowed a lot of grass!

This month, lots of thanksgiving  for protection in two occurrences in the end of the month.  No one was hurt in what could have been a very nasty accident, when a guy ran into Kayme (and kids) on the highway, and she had successful repairs on a hernia, so will be feeling much better.  It reminds one of the Amy Grant song:  “Dangers all around I see, Everywhere I look…Angels watching over me..”  Hilde and Mark went down a couple of days to help out so Kayme could rest and recuperate.  They always enjoy their time with the kids!

Some of Kayme's flowerbed

July 2017

Yucca

Summer months can surely be full of varied activities, and this July was certainly that way for Mark and Hilde.  The month included many storms of both rain and wind, but only one small black walnut lost in Rudolph, unlike other folks.  The gardens and fruits are flourishing, along with hordes of mosquitoes, Japanese beetles and ticks.  Mark awoke mid month with a wood tick gnawing on him---actually three attempts in a row, all of which got rather inflamed, but not infected.

TKD parade crew

July was also the month that Mark and Hilde did more taekwondo promotion:  walking in the Fourth of July parade in Stevens Point, and then teaching intro classes at day camps at the YMCA and outside intro classes at the Glacier Hollow camp.  Intro classes are always fun as kids enjoy their exposure to the sport and absolute technique is not the goal.

The garden and berries kept both Henkels busy in July.  Right on schedule the cherries ripened for the Fourth of July, as the double poppies added red to the flower beds.  Then on to the blackcaps and blueberries, which have finally really gotten going.  Starting about the 9^th, they have been picking blueberries every other day and enjoying fresh, in cakes, breads and smoothies, and of course, on ice cream and oatmeal.    The succession of bloom in July runs from the brilliant red poppies to black-eyed susans, to the flame colors of lilies, with a lovely tall yucca silhouetted against the west fence line.

The month included family time, too.  Mark and Hilde drove down for the graduation party of her youngest nephew, Jarod, getting to see lots of Bormann relatives, all doing fine.  Then later in the month Mark and Hilde descended on Jim’s house to muscle the yard shed into position perpendicular to the ground, re-side it and then build the sliding door.  They also got to enjoy time with Jim, Kayme and the grandkids.

Ice cream and Caleb

Hilde noticed that the unpleasant tenor of the local meetings mirrors that of national politics, with ever increasing venom and decreasing accuracy.  Despite that, she is meeting her goal of trying to sweeten the meetings during this last year with goodies like cherry coffee cake, lemon-zucchini cake and blueberry bread.  With long meetings, a little treat can’t hurt!   Mark met once again with his former partners as the books are finally coming to a close on the First Law Group.  Just as the law grinds along slowly, closing up legal businesses takes quite a while.  Mark is working on another stray voltage case and one day was spent in a tiny court in Trempealeau County listening to some witnesses who will be involved in Mark’s case.

Hilde and Mark got to enjoy a small thresheree in Rosholt and then a relaxed day with dinner out for Hilde’s 66^th birthday, with lots of greetings from friends.  All in all, July was a sweet month with variety, color and great times.

Cutting metal for door

Lovely lilies