Our First Visit to the Farm in over a Year

 

Our First Visit to the Farm in over a Year

Todd Swank's Diary Update for May 23, 2021

We had an exciting week that started with watching the home team Prior Lake Lakers defeat Eagan in LaCrosse.  It was bittersweet for our friend, Connor Walters, who played his last home game since he graduates this year.  We're glad we had the opportunity to watch him play a couple times this season!

The orioles are still stopping by to see us on a regular basis.  Last week, we had a few friends tell us we should put out grape jelly for them which has been a huge hit with our orange and yellow friends.  They suck that stuff down like they are lined up at the bar doing tequila shots.  Lucky birds.

We had a Turtle Dove stop by for a visit also.  If only he would have brought a friend I would have felt like it was the second day of Christmas!

On Friday, the boys had some friends over to have some fun on the lake.  I'm beginning to wonder if I'm going to get to have my boat to myself ever again.

Miss Sheri and I did sneak out with it when they were done to stalk our turtle friends.  There were a lot of softshell ones mixed with the painted turtles which I thought was nice.  It's good to have a diverse group of friends.

On Saturday, we drove down to Iowa to spend the day on Grandma's Farm.  It's been over a year since we've been able to make the trip because of the pandemic and we were happy to be able to have the boys join us.  

I think Grandma Leona & Uncle Jerry were excited to see us.  I know we were happy to see them.  We had a very pleasant afternoon & evening playing games and catching up on life since we were last able to be together.

Blue loves going to the farm.  We found it funny that he remembered exactly where the kitties like to hide and he started whining to go look for them the moment we arrived.  Sadly for Blue, the kitties never came out to play with him.  He searched all over Grandma's yard and in the fields, but they stayed well hidden and he never found any.  I'm sure that made the kitties pretty happy, but Blue left just a little bit dejected.

We didn't get to stay with Grandma for too long this time.  Hopefully now that this pandemic seems to be behind us we'll get to make another trip to see her again real soon.

We drove by Lake Crystal, Minnesota on our way home and were surprised to see a large flock of pelicans swimming around the water.  I always thought these guys only lived by the ocean, but apparently there's various groups of them throughout Minnesota.  I believe these are called America White Pelicans.  At one point they were thought to be gone from the state, but they started making a comeback in 1968.  Pretty cool stuff.  I hope to be able to come back down there and swim with them sometime.