May 22, 2016

The Winnebago River in Mason City, Iowa



The Winnebago River in Mason City, Iowa
Todd Swank's Diary Entry for May 22, 2016


On Monday night, we attended the annual Prior Lake Robotics KING TeC #2169 FRC team's awards banquet.  It was a great event that honored the team's achievements and accomplishments for the past year.


The juniors were sad to say farewell to the seniors and started to learn what their responsibilities would be for next year.  Jackson, Katie, and Luke were all named captains of the team next year along with 3 others.   Avery expects to be heavily involved in the programming department.  We're excited to see what the future holds for next year's team!


Miss Sheri, Jen, and I collected money for the banquet and sold Lakefront Music Fest tickets.  I think we looked pretty darn good while doing it.


Krazy Kory stopped by for a visit as he came up to St. Paul for a job interview.   He played a game of bags with us and then left to prep for his interview and get a good night's sleep.  It must have worked out well for him, because he got the job!


On Friday, we drove down to Mason City, Iowa to meet my ex-brother-in-law Cliff, his wife, Claudia, and their daughter, Chloe.  Unfortunately, Cliff's mom, Fran Nelson, passed away at the age of 89 last week and we met them there for the funeral.  It was great to see Cliff and his family, but of course we wish it would have been under better circumstances.


Cliff said he was nervous because he had to deliver a eulogy for his mom and claims not to be much of a public speaker.  But he did such a good job at paying homage to his mom.  He was funny, inspirational, moving, and engaging all at once.  Cliff told us about the challenging life his mom had lived, but honored her memory by sharing with all of us the lessons she'd learned in life and all the love she gave to those around her.  Fran Nelson will be missed.


On Friday night, I met up with some members of the Hornbuckle and Bailey clans to attend the opening night of horse racing at Canterbury Downs.  


I also enjoyed the time I got to spend with the lovely Jen & Madison.  Madison had her arm in a sling after a mishap which left her with a shattered shoulder blade.  Something about the word shattered mixed with any different body part always makes me cringe a bit, so I wish Madison a very speedy recovery!


I usually lose money when betting on the horses, but I followed the strategies of Jason and Mike and ended up walking out of there with more money than I walked in with which is always a good thing!


On Saturday, the weather was beautiful so we decided to pull the boat out of storage and go for our first ride of 2016.  Our buddy, Orlando, and his daughter joined us for the maiden voyage.


The water is still pretty cold so we all did our best to stay out of it except for the kids who wanted to go tubing for awhile.  Lucky for all of us, I was able to keep them on top of the raft and didn't send them off into the drink.  That would have been funny and sad all at the same time.


The birds are back.  We got that going for us.




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