Christmas was spent at home this year, just like the last few years. My mom arrived on Christmas Eve. She could only stay until after Christmas dinner, but the girls enjoyed every minute they had with their Grandma. Mike picked up Matt Larson in Chicago on Christmas Eve, so he could also spend a few [...]

Mike used cutting trees as an excuse to head west to visit a couple of friends in South Dakota. It turns out the weather was just a bit too cold and windy to get much of the intended goal done. The plan was to start driving as soon as Mike returned home from work on [...]

Well, school was cancelled today due to the foot (so far) of snow out there. Mike got up early this morning to shovel, but it didn’t make a dent in what was to come after. The shovel was left outside and only about half of it was sticking up out of the white stuff. The [...]

This winter has come with a fierceness of which I wasn’t prepared. I knew we lived in a windy spot being close to Lake Michigan and having a cornfield as the backyard, but I didn’t realize how much that would affect the winter around us. Today is 5 degrees outside. Although the wind chill makes [...]

Dear Loyal Visitors of the Hawley Focus, I’m truly sorry for the confusion this website may have caused this weekend/part of today. It was entirely my fault as I let the bills go unpaid until it was too late. I kept meaning to pay them, but I’d always find something else to do. However, when [...]