During the last week of January, the weather kept the neighbors snowed in Monday and Wednesday, but the rest of the week, most of us were out and about.
At the top of Zirk Hill, Evelyn and Jerry stayed close to home all week. However, when Friday came, so did the company. Randy and Sue Zirk drove from Madison and Bruce and Julie Zirk arrived from Dutch Hollow to have lunch with their mom and brother. A few minutes later Ev’s nephew Dean Preuss came from town for a visit.
Down in the valley, the biggest news of the new year is Steve Schumann and Deb Wood are formally engaged to be married. No date has been set yet, but I’ll keep you informed. On Sunday, Deb’s daughter Angie with hubby Ricky Bass and offspring Alex, Caleb and Haley spent the day with them.
On Tuesday evening, the roads were navigable, so my husband Dave and I went to the Kendall Public Library for the book club discussion of S. J. Watson’s book “Before I Go To Sleep.” On Thursday morning, the roads were again plowed out, and we headed north to Black River Falls to join Frank and Darlene Martalock at Joe and Margery Collins’ home for a Fauska siblings belated Christmas. That afternoon, we dined at Re-Pete’s Restaurant, and Steve Collins stopped in to say hi when he got off work. Then we went back to the Collins home for some good fellowship, staying overnight and coming home Friday.
Further up the valley, Guy Parkhurst came from Janesville to help grandparents Jim and Mary with some plumbing problems Friday. In the evening, they went to Mauston for supper at the China Buffet. The next day, Guy went north of Kendall to help his grandma Elaine Woodard. On Saturday morning, Jim and Mary attended visitation for Norbert Popp at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church.
On Saturday, after attending Norbert Popp’s funeral, Allan and Heather Vlasak joined the Zellmer and Marty families at The Ranch in Johnnycake Hollow for a belated Christmas. Lynette Vlasak also was there for the family get-together. Later on Saturday, Allan and Heather left the hollow to go to Leon, where they helped nephew Russ Everson celebrate his 40th birthday.
Lynette and Sally were at the book club at the library in Kendall on Tuesday evening, and the next evening, they were guests of Lori Cherf at the Hillsboro Brew Pub. There was a birthday celebration for Lynette and Sally at the library Thursday afternoon, and then they were off to La Crosse for supper with Mariane Weidenbach and Peggy Klein. They topped the day off with a concert by Honalee at the Viterbo Fine Arts Center. On Friday, Lynette took Sally to La Crosse, where Sally spent the night with friends before they boarded a plane for Mexico on Saturday morning for their annual trip.
On Thursday morning, we will get our annual spring report from that prognosticating rodent, the groundhog. I wonder if the Lord gets a chuckle out of some of the things His creatures dream up to entertain themselves. God is still in control whether or not the little fellow predicts six more weeks of winter. I remember some years when we had up to 10 weeks of snow after Feb. 2. What will be will be, and we’ll just wait and see. In the meantime, don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord for all of His blessings.