Holiday season, 2021-22
The holiday season of 2021-22 was certainly one of note for Bragg Family South... As always, we did a limited amount of decorating at our home in Monticello, since we head north every holiday season to be with family. This year was no different; our modest Christmas tree represented a good chunk of the holiday cheer in our home this year...
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As I have also long learned, every time I dig into this house, I find challenges and complications. I assumed that when the original cabinets were removed that a structure would be in place behind them that would hold up the new cabinets...which didn't prove to be the case. So I had to come up with a new way to support these heavy wooden boxes and their contents, for which I engineered up some dimensional lumber to be the support.
So far, this is working, and here is Hope thrilled with her first newly installed cabinets. I have since added a number of other upper cabinets along that brick wall, and will start the uppers on the opposite wall soon (the holidays have slowed our progress). I'll post more with time...
After our kids had wrapped up school, we headed up to my parents' home in Rhinelander and met up with Kenny, who came down from college in Houghton.
My brother John had arrived a day or so before us, and he and I walked into our woods to enjoy the winter scenes and look for downed trees from a big wind event they had some days before our arrival...which we found:
While in Rhinelander, we did the typical holiday things, like going to see the light show in Hodag Park and the hodags pulling Santa's sleigh display was our favorite:
We also enjoyed the little things about the visit, such as watching deer coming up to raid the birdseed:
Probably my favorite activity was walking in the snow-covered woods, either alone or with my family:
(For scale, Kenny is over 6 feet tall; that eastern white pine is the biggest on our land). My brother John had to leave before Christmas, but my sister Laurie and her husband Mark (in his covid Mohawk haircut) came up to fill the household on Christmas Eve:
Mark is a professional chef and restaurant owner in the Madison, WI, area, and he and Hope combined to put out a wonderful Christmas feast:
In addition to gorging on all the wonderful food, Beth and Mark & Laurie's dog Lily spent some quality time reading:
I photographed this picture Christmas morning of the ice crystals that had formed on mom & dad's car...this foreshadowed events in the near future...
We need to head to Michigan on the day after Christmas, so we rolled out over the now very slick (Christmas eve and Christmas day were warmish and had some freezing rain, leading to ice building up in places). By the time we reached Hope's dad's house in Michigan, the roads were fine. We spent our time there enjoying the local sights, including a visit to the University of Michigan's awesome archeology museum:
and doing some shopping--in this case, driving about an hour north to the small city of Frankenmuth to eat fried chicken and fixings (German style) and visit the massive Bronner's Christmas store:
We also learned the troubling news while in Michigan that my mom had fallen on the ice on her way to their mailbox and broken a bone in her leg! She was able to get some emergency care the day of her injury, but the medical system being overwhelmed by covid-related illnesses meant that she got sent home with only a temporary cast, a wheelchair, and some basic instructions and an appointment a few days later for a more detailed examination by an orthopedic surgeon. Knowing that my sisters could help out in the short-term, we decided to return to Arkansas a bit early, much to the relief of our cats:
Because I'm still technically on telework with my Forest Service job and have a lot of leave (and a flexible work environment), I was able to immediately return to Wisconsin after getting the rest of the family back to Arkansas so they could go back to school and work.
In the meantime, mom was to stay at home with her legs elevated to reduce the swelling, to which she found little to enjoy:
Mom needed more care and therapy that we could provide at home, so we were able to arrange for her to go to a residential rehabilitation facility to rebuild her strength while her leg mends, and learn the skills she'll need to return to independent living after she can get around better. One of the new realities for mom is that for at least a while, she'll need to get around using a wheelchair...hence, I built a ramp into their main entrance:
After a period of adjustment to her new setting, mom is getting into a new routine of therapy and rehabilitation. Below, she is sitting in the chair next to her bed; note her large cast!:
We (dad and the kids) have been able to visit her frequently, which she really enjoys, as can be seen from her with a visit from Bob and me:
She also greatly appreciates getting cards and letters, so if you want to write to her, she'd really appreciate it! These can be sent to their home on Timber Lane, and dad will bring them in to her at the rehab facility. We expect her recovery to take some time, and other adjustments are being made to accommodate this new reality. I'd also like to say that all of the family has pulled together to help mom and dad through this troubling time...Laurie and Lisa really helped out during those first days following the break, and Bob has come up several times as well...John and Bill are a long ways away, but have stayed in touch with calls and cards. Dad has been super about this new reality, and we'll make it through this as a family!
Oh, and one other visitor that has been showing up at the house as of late--a barred owl:
It has been perching in the trees not far from the house, likely hoping to snag one of the squirrels fattening itself by eating the seed put out for the birds!
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