Outdoor News weekly features area youth

What time of the year is it? It’s Twins Time!! The Twins most certainly didn’t get off to a good start. I don’t expect them to win the pennant, but I do expect them to play good baseball the entire season. No collapse at the end of the season like last year.

I'm in a confused state regarding the Twins games being televised in Albert Lea. Some of the different cable systems outside of Albert Lea are televising the Twins games, but not Spectrum in Albert Lea. (Spectrum is the cable TV company in this area.) and now for a running of the words.

Gary Trebil, a great guy, an army veteran, a great caregiver for his wife Cynthia, an unbelievable walker. (Many times more than once a day.) In my days of walking around Fountain Lake, I was almost certain to meet him for a brief chat. Gary, thanks for the memories. I’m sure there is a walking path as well as a room reserved for you in heaven with Cynde.

When I-90 was completed at Blue Earth, Minnesota, I was part of the Minnesota commission honoring the meeting of the completion of Interstate Freeway 90 laying of a gold stretch in the payment as east meeting west at Blue Earth, Minnesota.I wondered if the gold concrete would be preserved in the future. Now I know that a freeway improvement project included rebuilding the “golden Stairs.”

Outdoor News weekly paper featured a picture of the following area youth in the April 4th paper: Nash Roeker of New Richland, Logan Field of Minnesota Lake, Hadley Roeker of New Richland, Nicklaus Groskreutz of Wells, Jace Bammert of Mapleton, Presley Roeker of New Richland.

All six were proudly displaying a wood duck box built and placed near their home, towards the end of February 2025.

I am a deer hunter having hunted on the shore of Lake Winnie by Bena, Minnesota just about every year with the 1st time when I was 21 years old of age. One of the years when we lived six months of the year in cabin #64 at Beaver Lake, I didn’t shoot a deer. I found a wood duck house by a tree that had fallen down with the wood duck house in the tree. I decided to use my deer tag and tagged the wood duck house and brought it home and put it in an oak tree where we could see the hole in the wood duck house while sitting at the kitchen table.

Every year a pair of wood ducks nested in the wood duck house. The female would fly into the hole on top of the house and do her thing of laying eggs, hatching the eggs and feeding the babies. The male would sit in a tree and wait for her to come out and join him early each morning as she bathed, ate and flew around Beaver Lake. He would do this until the babies hatched. The female would sit on the ground by the deck while making a peep-like sound, calling the newly hatched babies to join her. The babies would crawl to the hole, drop out onto the ground and stay by mom until they all were on the ground by her and then follow mom to a nearby pond. At this point dad wood duck was no longer part of the family.

An interesting thing Genie and I learned was: Mama wood ducks can count. How did we learn this?? We knew it was time for her eggs to hatch as we had seen her going in and out of the wood duck house for at least three weeks.

We were both home when we saw mama land on the ground below the wood duck house (about 9ft) and start calling her babies to come to her. One by one eight babies jumped out, bounced and came to her. She kept calling for three to four minutes, but nothing came. Genie and I both thought all the babies were out - suddenly one more jumped out and went to mom and the other eight. Immediately off to the nearby pond. Yes mama can count.

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Bob is a retired AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans) agent, currently working on his master’s degree in Volunteering. His wife, Genie, is a retired RN, currently working on her doctor’s degree in Volunteering. They have two children, Deb in North Carolina, and Dan in New York. Bob says if you enjoy his column, let him know. If you don’t enjoy it, keep on reading, it can get worse. Words of wisdom: There is always room for God.