Prior Lake Ice Out 2018

Prior Lake Ice Out 2018

Todd Swank's Diary Update for May 6, 2018

We finally had ice out on Prior Lake and several days of beautiful weather have followed.  We have some of the most incredible sunsets anywhere this time of year and I just love capturing all the rich colors that happen in the sky during that time.  I think Prior Lake hit a record for the latest ice out this year, but I haven't heard that officially declared yet.  Our old record was April 29, 2013.  Hopefully next year we set a new record for earliest ice out!

Double Duck.

Our friend Robin Bauman was in town this week so we naturally invited her to take a bath with us.   Robin is from Hawaii and lives on the big island which was recently rocked by volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.  Her family and home are all safe, but we'd like to keep them all in our prayers and hope that mother nature has now settled down and won't be causing them any more problems.  I love Hawaii, but there's a lot of things there that can be quite stressful there.

I bumped into my old buddy, Jimi Gilbertson, at the grocery store a couple of weeks ago and he told me I should join the Rotary Club with him.  I went to a meeting on Wednesday morning and enjoyed seeing Jimi speak as we was the "Rotarian of the Day" and got to share some of his story with the group.  It's a really neat organization and I look forward to attending more meetings in the future.

It was also Jimi's birthday so we all got to celebrate with him and eat some cake.  Which is always a good thing.

On Wednesday night, we drove to Hastings to spend the evening with our friends, Cathy & Jeff Blomberg.  They have a beautiful home out in the country and a great view of a bunch of farms.  It was a beautiful night and we had a real nice time together.

 Jeff is a professional Chef and spoiled us with several of his home-made pizzas which were quite yummy.

Thursday night was time for our monthly get together of the Prior Lake Empty Nester's Club.  We decided to try a brand new business in downtown Prior Lake Called Boathouse Brothers Brewing Company.   It's a tap-house featuring 10 original flavors of beer.

We had a lighter turn-out than normal and then we had a mishap with our group photo, so I wasn't able to catch a shot of all the people who showed up.  I think everyone had a good time.  Next month we're going back to Charlie's on Prior Lake where we started last fall.

Usually one of us is taking the photos, so it's not very often that we get a shot of us sitting together.  So it's always special for us when we do.

Blue is probably the most excited among us about the ice being gone.  It means he can resume swimming in the lake whenever he can talk one of us into taking him over there.  It's like his most favorite activity in the world.  Right after eating and going to the bathroom.

There's a cemetery about a mile away from our house that we often visit during our walks.  I've never ventured over near this grave before but it caught my eye after seeing the vulture perched on the top of it.  I wandered over and noticed the dates on the tombstone and was amazed to discover that someone has been buried here since the 1860's.  I had no idea this cemetery was that old.  I spent a lot of time on the walk back wondering what life would have been like in this community more than 150 years ago.

I went to lunch at Charlie's on Prior Friday and was pleasantly surprised to find that Joe Soucheray was broadcasting his radio program live on location.  Joe has been a sports reporter for twin cities newspapers and radio stations since the seventies.  It was great getting a chance to say Hi to him.

On Saturday night, we were invited to a BBQ at the home of our good friends, Jen & Scott Fowler.  Jen & Dan Walters were there as well and we had a ball playing Cards Against Humanity.  It's a very naughty game, but we did our best to keep it clean.  At least I told Miss Sheri I was trying to do my best.