Shrimp And The Swing

One sunny afternoon Shrimp watched farmer Joe cut a few thick branches off of the big oak tree in the back yard. When he was done, he cut the branches up and stacked the wood along the outside of the barn. Shrimp jumped up onto the stacked wood and sat down to watch what Joe was going to do next. Joe moved the ladder and then climbed up it again carrying some rope. Shrimp watched Joe as he wrapped the rope on the thick branch that still hung the lowest on the tree.

“I wonder what he is going to do with that rope?” Shrimp said to herself.

Joe then moved the ladder again and wrapped another rope a couple of feet apart on the same branch. Both six foot long ropes now hung down and touched the ground. Shrimp sat there with her head cocked and tried to figure out what Joe was doing. While Shrimp sat there watching Joe, Billy the blackbird saw Shrimp sitting on the wood pile and flew down toward her. He landed on a log about two feet away from Shrimp.

“Good afternoon Shrimp, how are you today?” Billy asked.

“Hi Billy, I’m doing good but I’m not sure about farmer Joe,” she said.

Billy watched Joe climb down the ladder and then pick up a wood plank. Joe fed the end of one rope through the previously drilled hole in the plank and tied a couple of knots. Then Joe fed the second rope through the other hole in the plank and tied a couple of knots.

“Oh, I know what he’s doing,” Billy said.

“What? What is he doing?” Shrimp asked.

“He just made a swing,” Billy said.

“A swing? What’s a swing?” Shrimp looked at Billy.

“Watch what he does and you will see,” Billy said as he watched Joe.

Joe pushed down on the plank that now hung about two and a half feet off of the ground. He turned around and carefully sat down on the hanging plank. Shrimp watched as Joe bounced up and down a couple of times and then backed up with the swing behind him.

“What’s he doing now?” Shrimp asked.

“You’ll see. Just watch,” Billy said.

Joe moved the plank down his back and sat down. He lifted his feet and let the swing carry him forward. Joe did that a few times to make sure that the swing was safe for his granddaughter.

“Oh wow, that looks like fun,” Shrimp said as she watched Joe.

Carefully Shrimp jumped down off the wood pile and looked back at Billy, “come on Billy.”

“No, I’ll just watch from here,” Billy said.

Shrimp trotted over to farmer Joe and watched him swing back and forth a few more times.

“Oh, hi Shrimp. What do you think? I put this up for Gracie when comes to visit this spring,” Joe stopped with his feet.

Shrimp looked up at Joe and the swing while Joe bounced a couple more times.

“This seems pretty safe to me,” Joe stood up. “Do you want to try it Shrimp?”

Joe picked Shrimp up and put her on the plank. He grabbed the ropes and slowly moved the swing back and forth. Shrimp stood still and gripped onto the wood the best that she could. Joe was careful not to make any sudden movements with the swing.

“There you go. How about that Shrimp, you’re swinging,” Joe smiled.

Shrimp felt like she was flying with the way the breeze gently hit her in the face and the ground moved underneath her.

“Joe, what are you doing?” His wife called out.

Joe looked back at his wife and laughed, “I’m practicing for when Gracie visits.”

Shrimp wobbled a little bit and Joe saw that, so he slowly stopped the swing.

“There you go Shrimp.” Joe held the swing so Shrimp could hop down, and then he looked at his wife, “I think she liked it.”

When Shrimp was back on the ground she rubbed up against Joe’s legs. That was fun, Shrimp thought. Billy the blackbird watched and waited for Shrimp to come back over to him.

Shrimp looked at Joe and then ran back over to the wood pile, “did you see me Billy? It felt like I was flying,” Shrimp said.

“Yes I did, and it is pretty close to flying, just not as far off the ground,” Billy said.

“I hope that I can do that again,” Shrimp said.

“Who knows, maybe you can,” Billy said.

For the first time on a swing, that was enough for today. But Shrimp planned on doing it again when she could. Maybe Gracie will even help her swing when she visits.

Please join me again for another adventure on the farm with Shrimp and Tiger.