March 17, 2024

A Visit to Hoċokata Ṫi

 
A Visit to Hoċokata Ṫi
Todd Swank's Diary Entry for March 17, 2024
We were driving by Canterbury Downs in Shakopee and saw a large construction site actively at work.  I wasn't aware what was being built so I asked ChatGPT who told me the following:  
The big brick building being constructed near Canterbury Downs in Shakopee, Minnesota, is a new outdoor music venue. This open-air amphitheater, with a capacity of 19,000 seats, is part of a larger project expected to open in the summer of 2025. The project is being funded by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC) and PCL Construction Services Inc. They are collaborating to develop a $400 million entertainment district in the area. Besides the amphitheater, the entertainment district will include a casino expansion, a hotel, a golf course, a water park, a multi-sport dome, retail spaces, and restaurants, aiming to create a comprehensive entertainment and leisure destination.
I had no idea this was coming to the area, but now that I do know I'm excited for summer of 2025 to get here.
Speaking of our local Native American Tribe, Miss Sheri had been asking to make a visit to Hoċokata Ṫi which is the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community’s (SMSC) cultural center and gathering space.  
It opened in July of 2019, but we'd never been here before.  We wanted to see their 3,805-square-foot public exhibit, Mdewakanton: Dwellers of the Spirit Lake, which their website says provides visitors with a cultural experience that enhances their knowledge and understanding of the Mdewakanton Dakota people and their history.
The beginning of the exhibit features a small theater with a neat multi-media set-up around a fake fire which makes you feel like you're in a teepee hearing stories from your elders.  It features tales of how the universe and human beings were created as passed down over the centuries from the tribe's ancestors.  I honestly found it to be pretty inspirational and very well done.
Miss Sheri is a big fan of eagles and always excited whenever we see one in nature.  So she was thrilled to see their display featuring an eagle's feather.  I'm not sure what they said about it as I forgot to read the display explanation, but I'm sure it was fascinating.


  Their pamphlet said the Dakota used canoes for travel and for Psinjhnaketu otherwise known as wild rice harvesting.  This dugout canoe was found in Lake Minnetonka in the 1930s and is almost 300 years old!  I'd sure like to ride in that thing.


I've always been fascinated with arrowheads, so this display of many of their hunting tools caught my attention.


 This book was pretty troubling to read.  It showcases the history of the land in Minnesota they once owned and how it was subsequentially "Negotiated" away from them throughout history through a variety of treaties with the US Government.  Pretty eye opening stuff.


 Before the age of Indian casinos, they didn't have a lot of money in their community.  They had an old trailer set-up to represent this era with a radio playing stories as told by tribe members for how they were treated in the community back in the day.  It was pretty powerful stuff.    


It's not a huge museum, but I was pretty impressed with it.  It does a nice job telling about the Mdewakanton Dakota people and their history.  If you're in the area and have an hour or two to kill, I'd recommend checking it out.  


On Saturday night, we connected with our buddies the Browns and the Zitzewitzes for an early St. Patrick's Day celebration.  They were serving corned beef and cabbage at the Savage Legion.  I draw the line at green beer for my celebrating, so enjoyed watching those who partook in that menu choice while I ate a burger instead.


Miss Sheri took this sunset picture earlier this week.  If you squint you can see a couple of trumpeter swans in the distance under the majestic hues painting the sky.  Ha ha.  I said hues.

March 10, 2024

Spending the Weekend with Caitlin Clark

 


Spending the Weekend with Caitlin Clark

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for March 10, 2024


Like most women who grew up in Iowa, Miss Sheri has been a bit obsessed with watching Caitlin Clark over the past couple of years.  So when we heard the Big10 Women's Basketball Tournament was coming to Minneapolis, we jumped at the chance to buy tickets.


At least we were able to stare at Bob Dylan while waiting in line. That's always very comforting.


Of course everyone wants to see Caitlin Clark. She's been an absolute phenomenon. She has become the leading career scorer across all NCAA divisions, the only player to lead her conference in scoring and assists for four seasons, and has broken records for 30+ point performances. She also broke Steff Curry's college career 3 point record during this tournament. It's such an awesome thing to see happen for women's sports.


Of course she had some help and her Iowa Hawkeyes were pursuing a Threepeat to win the Big10 tournament for a third year in a row. We were excited to be there to cheer them on!


Lisa Bluder, their coach, is no slouch either. She's made significant achievements of her own by becoming the all-time wins leader among Big Ten women's basketball coaches in conference victories.


I'm sure some of my high school buddies will call me a hypocrite for cheering on the Hawkeyes since I've been much more of a Gophers fan since I moved to Minnesota more than 31 years ago. However I'll make the argument that I earned the right to jump on the bandwagon as I did go to school in Iowa, actually went to University of Iowa for one semester, and my wife was a 4-year varsity basketball player at her Iowa high school. I still felt like a bit of a fraud though, but who cares. It's such a cool story!


On Wednesday night, we did get to cheer for Minnesota as they took on Rutgers. Iowa didn't play that night so we were able to get seats on the sideline for the game. It was fun to watch the home town team get the victory by a score of 77-69. Unfortunately they didn't fare as well on Thursday when they were beat by Michigan to end their run. I'm kind of glad we didn't have to watch them play Iowa.


Our first chance to see the Hawkeyes play was on Friday night against Penn State. We were lucky enough to get lower level seats for this game and watched Caitlin get a double double as they went on to win the game by a score of 95-62.


Everybody was pretty excited about that.


Well, everybody except for the Penn State Players.


We had a lot of fun memories singing the Iowa fight song and joining the crowd spelling out I-O-W-A with each side of the court taking a letter. The cheer was helped by the fact that approximately 90 percent of the people in the audience were there to cheer on the Hawkeyes.


On Saturday, Michigan gave the Hawkeyes a bit more of a fight leading the game by a score of 25-22 after the first quarter. But Caitlin had a double double by half time and the Black and Gold eventually won the game by a score of 95-68.


On Sunday, we left for the game three hours early, but still ended up in the upper deck for the championship between Iowa and Nebraska.


The final game was a great one. Caitlin had a tough first half going 0-9 from the three point line in the first half. She and the team turned things around in the second and overcame an 11 point halftime deficit to take the game into overtime. It was a tense time and everyone was on the edge of their seats to see who would eventually be crowned the winners.


In the end, the Hawkeyes won the game and hit the threepeat for the Big 10 tournament.  We spent a lot of hours downtown to be part of it, but it was so worth it.  We really enjoyed ourselves and look forward to seeing how they do in the NCAA Tournament next.   
The word is Fight! Fight! Fight! for Iowa!


Attention friends and neighbors. My old buddy, Mike Lins, who was Luke & Avery's robotics coach is running for the Minnesota Valley Electric Coop board. Mike is a great guy who served our country for 35 years in the National Guard and guided many young minds in Prior Lake High School to build some pretty incredible robots. When you get your ballots be sure to vote for him and my other buddy, Tom Wolf, at the same time. Thanks for your consideration!!
@toddswank The line to see Caitlyn Clark. #caitlin #hawkeyes #iowa #basketball ♬ Powerful Women - Pitbull & Dolly Parton
We've been to several sold out Minnesota Timberwolves games at Target Center before but for some silly reason, the only tickets we were able to purchase were general admission. This meant we had to show up 3 hours before game each day and we still ended up in the nosebleed seats every game but 1. I read this was the first time in the 31 year history of the event it's ever sold out tickets. Just my luck!!

March 3, 2024

Trekking the High Road at the Minnesota Zoo

 


Trekking the High Road at the Minnesota Zoo
Todd Swank's Diary Entry for March 3, 2024


It's Super Tuesday this week!  That means primary elections for presidential candidates in Minnesota.  We had the opportunity to go see Nikki Haley speak when she came to our area on Monday night.


Before anyone criticizes me for my choice of candidate, I'd like to say the following. I've never pushed my political opinions on anyone with my blog or in my social media postings. I don't see the value in it. That being said, I'd like to consider myself to be very open minded. I'll listen to anyone's ideas how to make our world a better place. I would have gone to see any of the major candidates under similar circumstances whether it be Biden, Trump, or that Teddy Kennedy guy. Bottom line is I love to get my picture with famous people and jump at the chance when given the opportunity!


Friday night brought us to Target Center again for another Timberwolves game.  


Miss Sheri agreed to accompany me again.  I'm so glad she's still willing to do that!  Honestly, she's probably a bigger fan than I am.


And yes, I was able to get our picture up on the big screen again.  Apparently not a lot of people try to do this otherwise I'm just really lucky in this one area in life.


Miss Sheri loves to capture photos of the players while smiling.  Jaden McDaniels doesn't seem to do that very often so she was quite excited when she was able to capture this one.


We take lots and lots of pictures during games to try to get a handful of good ones.  I found this one really interesting despite the lighting challenges it apparently experienced.


The game itself was kind of a bust.  Anthony Edwards left at half time because apparently he had the opportunity to witness the birth of his child.  The team seemed a bit lost without him and went on to lose in overtime to the Kings by a score of 124 - 120.  Kind of a bummer.


It was a balmy 74 degrees on Sunday which is pretty much unheard of on March 3 in Minnesota.  We figured we'd better take advantage and hooked up with the kids for a trip to the Minnesota Zoo.


We'd been wanting to go there since they opened the new "Treetop Trail" last summer.  Many years ago they had a Monorail running through the zoo which hadn't been used in a long time since it was too expensive to maintain.  They finally decided to do something about it and redesigned the track into a new 1.25 mile walking trail that goes around the zoo and several of the animal exhibits.  It's pretty cool.


I don't know if it was the warm weather or the fact that so many people were traversing through their territories, but many of the animals seemed to be active and willing to pose for photographs.  Normally when we go there all the animals are sleeping near a back fence somewhere.


Even the Minnesota Lynx who was laying down giving herself a bath when we arrived, stood up, walked out of her den, and gave us a big stretch and a yawn.  She then turned around and went back to laying down on her bed again, but it was nice she stepped out to say Hi.

February 25, 2024

A Weekend With Wolves

 

A Weekend With Wolves

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for February 25, 2024


I bought a pack of tickets to the Minnesota Timberwolves back in December and selected a version that was heavily concentrated on weekend games.  I didn't really pay attention to the fact that this weekend included games for both Friday and Saturday night.  So it ended up being a Weekend With Wolves.


Luke joined me on Friday night.  He wore his favorite new shirt and if you're a fan of the team, you'll find it hilarious.  If not, you probably don't get it.  Understood.


I'm like 10 in a row for getting my picture up on the scoreboard during the game.  Either I'm really lucky or I'm the only one who cares to achieve this particular goal in life.  


Giannis Antetokounmpo graced our city with his towering presence, courtesy of our friendly neighborhood rivals, the Milwaukee Bucks.  And just like going to a Vikings/Packers game in Minneapolis, it seemed like half of the crowd were Bucks fans.  I should probably add the word obnoxious Bucks fans to the end of that phrase.  


The Timberwolves are having their best season in team history and are still in first place in the Western Division.  This means that more celebrities are sighted at the games.  Last time I saw 50 Cent and this time it was ESPN's Stephen A Smith.  He was sitting next to ARod during the game which was in the same section we were seated in about 30 rows behind them.  Unfortunately Mr. Smith never turned around while I was stalking him with my zoom lens so this is the best picture I was able to capture.


We also got to see former Twolves player and coach, Sam Mitchell.  He looks a lot older than I remember seeing him last.  Given that my own aging process is less 'fine wine' and more 'milk left out overnight,' I'm hardly one to judge.


Minnesota puts on a pretty good show.  The mascot Crunch is usually pulling shenanigans and there's always something to entertain you before, after, and during the game.  

It had been 19 days since the last home game.  The Wolves had been on a 4 game win streak before the all-star break and we were hopeful to see the streak go to number 5.


Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be.  Minnesota had a tough time making their shots and the team seemed to be a bit too discombobulated to pull off the victory.  They lost by a score of 112 to 107.  And the Bucks fans all around us were happy and even more obnoxious than they had been earlier.


On Saturday night, Miss Sheri joined me for the game.  It was Scarf Night so we felt pretty lucky.


I also made it to 11 times in a row getting our picture on the Big Screen.  I Rule.


Miss Sheri is a huge fan of the Wolves and watches a lot of pregame shows, postgame shows, and videos on social media about her favorite team.  She's a big fan of Wolves announcer, Marney Gellner, and wanted to get a picture with her.  Miss Gellner was nice enough to participate.  She's awesome.


Our opponents for the evening were the Brooklyn Nets.  When we were driving to the game, my wife asked me who the big names were on their team and I must admit, I struggled to identify anyone who she would recognize.  I kind of forgot Ben Simmons plays for the team, but is he even a big name?  


Even Kyle Anderson is befuddled by that question.


I imagine Jaden McDaniels was chanting "Naz Reid" over and over again in this huddle.


Rudy Gobert  had 19 boards for the Wolves on Friday night, but must have pulled his groin or something because he was sitting on the bench for this game.


Our Wolves get less respect from the refs than I do when I claim I can dunk the ball.  Both Karl Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards seem to get fouled an awful lot, but never get the whistles they feel they deserve.  They spend a lot of time telling the referees how to do their jobs, but I'm not sure it has the effect they're hoping. 


Nevertheless, the Timberwolves took control of the action and went on to win the game by a score of 101-86.  That puts them at 40-17.  I've been coming to Timberwolves games since the Christian Laettner years and this is the best team I've ever seen.  Their lead in the west is tenuous, but they've been holding it almost the whole season.  I think this team will continue to gel and do some real damage in the playoffs.  Let's Go!