Pickles

We were getting a lot of good cucumbers, so I decided to do some pickling.  Here's a good shot of some of the cukes.

I sliced up up, created a nice brine, and added the future pickles to the jars.

I then boiled them to ensure a good tight seal (although I think I was supposed to completely submerge the jars...)

Voila! Five cans of pickles that should be ready some the end of the Tour de France (near the end of July). 

The rest of the garden is doing ok.  Some turtles (yes, turtles) were eating my peppers and also the cucumbers.  I will need to build some type of wire mesh to keep the critters out.  Plus, we also have a lot more bugs, and I have not yet found the best pesticide to use; I'll keep asking neighbors and figuring out what's best.  We had some corn--it was good, but something happened near the end--not sure if it was too hot or what, but it started to die.  Thus, I've pulled the corn and old beans and peas and have replanted.  I started some pumpkins and cantaloupes (I have a wire mesh around them as they start to grow).  I will probably plant something else after the fourth of July where the corn was, but I haven't figured out what.  I thought about doing a lot of strawberry plants to see how they do, but am not sure if I want to dedicate that much room to some perennials.  I'll think it over.

Barkley is doing great--as active as ever.

Pleasant week to all.

Bode in the ABQ

Bode spent this past week in Albuquerque.  Uncle Pat and Aunt Dana were nice enough to host him for the week; they are now in financial straits due to Bode's enormous intake of blueberries.

We talked to Bode every day, and it sounds like he had a fantastic time--swimming, playing games, tetherball, a movie, ice-skating, and quality time with the McGuirk cousins.  Pat was nice enough to send some pictures.  The tetherball games seem pretty intense.

 They also roasted some marshmallows one night.

 I imagine the kids spent more than a few minutes on the computer.

Finally, a very nice shot of the McGuirk cousins.  Pat has confirmed that Sean is now taller than him.  Crazy how fast they have grown.

Bode will be home in about five hours; this gives me ample time to get to the store and restock the fruit supply :-)  Pleasant week to all.

Callaway V: Water Sports Part 2

As I said in the previous post, Bode learned how to slalom, or, ski with just one ski.  This allows for more tricks, but it definitely is something one has to learn to do.  Bode never quite got starting with just one ski, but he was able to start with two skis and drop one.  He also had an instructor with him to help him keep his balance.  Here's a movie of his first attempt.

Here's his second attempt.  Note how Bode and the instructor can just talk back and forth while skiing.  The instructor is trying to help Bode get the feel for the transition; to do this, he wants Bode to practice just skiing on one ski by lifting his other ski out of the water.

The third time was the charm, because he was able to hold his balance and ski around on one ski.

I also took some action photos.

Here's a good one of Bode after having done a few runs; if he keeps this up, he could be working at Callaway in seven years.

Here's a good photo of Ashley.

And I like his picture of Bode giving me the thumbs-up.

Here are some still-photos of Bode dropping a ski.

We have far too many pictures and movies, so this is probably enough.  We had the best time on the water and were sad for our vacation to end.  However, it's probably good that it ended when it did, as we (Ashley and I) are both exhausted and need some rest :-)  Pleasant weekend to all.

Callaway IV: Water Sports Part 1

Bode first learned to water ski two years ago during a trip to Callaway.  He wasn't able to get up on skis on his own, but once up, he skied around the lake.  Fast-forward two years, and check out the improvement.  He is fantastic--he has no problem getting up on skies, and even ventures outside the wake.  We were out on the boat FIVE times this week--on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  We had an absolute blast.  Grandpa was able to go with us on one of these days.  Here are Ashley and Dad getting ready to get in the boat; Bode is in the background preparing to get in the water.

Here's Bode's first go of the week.  I had to reduce the resolution on the longer videos in order to not exceed the maximum upload size.

Here are some action photos.  Check out Bode looking sharp.

Ashley also did some wakeboarding; as usual, she made it look so easy.

She did have a couple "fun" falls, but she was ok after each one.

At the end of the day, it was my turn.  We had to ensure we told the driver to go a little slower for me.

Ashley even took a video of me; I think she mercifully ended it early because it looks like I'm about to biff at the end.

After a hard day of skiing/boarding, we finished with a picture.

Towards the end of the week, Bode wanted to go tubing, and I was the (un)lucky parent to go with him.  The driver of the boat had a fun time tossing us around.

I will post one more with a lot of videos of Bode and Ashley skiing.  Bode did amazing--he even learned to slalom!

Callaway III: Activities Cont.

Not only did we golf while at Callaway, we also played some Frisbee golf, or disc golf as the professionals call it.  This was Bode's first time playing, and he did surprisingly well.  Ashley also played--here she is finishing off a long hole.

Here's a shot of Bode getting ready to tee off.

Here he is in mid-throw.

Finally, one more of Ashley with Bode looking on.

I think there are some disc-golf courses here in Fort Walton, so I'm sure Bode and I will head back out to play.  We also spent some time at the beach.  Here's Bode digging in some sand.

You see the big inflatables on the lake?  Those are all part of Aqua Island.  We all did this twice and had a great time.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures, but it was amazing fun but also exhausting.  Here's a nice one of Bode and Ashley.

And one of the little man and me.

We also went to a bird show, which was neat, but weather forced it to be inside, so not near as cool.  We did the tree-top adventure which was incredible.  Bode actually did all the ziplines, which is something he would not do two years ago.  Finally, we went to the Florida State circus, which was fun to watch.  Lots of amazing activities, but the most fun had to have been water-skiing...(next post).

Callaway II: Activities

As I said in the first post, we did a lot of different activities while at Callaway.  On Wednesday, we went kayaking, which marked Bode's first time in a kayak.  He seemed to enjoy it...but I also think he simply liked splashing people with his paddle.

Here's a pretty one of Ashley and I approaching a bridge.

Here's one of Dad and Bode coming under the same bridge.

Kayaking was a lot of fun.  It looked like it was going to rain, but it never did, and the cloud-over was probably a blessing, as we did get enough sun throughout the week.

Ashley and I did the circus trapeze.  Ashley's performance far exceeded mine; I guess this age thing is starting to catch up to me.  Bode was the photographer and captured the following shots. First, it's Ashley heading up the ladder.

Here she is reaching for the bar.

Next is a movie of her routine.  She did it perfectly.

Next was my turn on the bar.  Here I am going up the ladder.

Next is my routine.  I did not do it perfectly--my flip was fine, but I was not able to get my legs over the bar to swing upside-down.

Finally, after a long day, Dad took us to the Gardens restaurant.  Bode loved it--he got a NY strip steak, and surprised us by eating almost all of it; fortunately, he saved the leftovers and had the rest with his eggs the next morning.

After the big meal, we all decided we need to do a little more to burn more calories during the day.  Fortunately, we were at just the right place, as there were activities galore.

Callaway I: Golf

We just returned from a week at Callaway Gardens.  We did a lot--more than we've ever done before.  Rather than go chronologically, I thought I'd group the various events together--it's easier for me, and it's not like we're writing a book that has to be in chronological order (although it does pain me to have separate timelines, much like Avengers Endgame :-)  We played a couple rounds of golf.  My dad was able to drive down from South Carolina, and Bode was nice enough to join us, especially when we bribed him by letting him drive the cart.

We even let Bode try his hand at hitting some balls.  He, like the rest of us, hit some good shots and some bad ones.

Here's an action shot of Ashley--I don't have where the ball finished, but let's just say the ball landed within inches of the cup :-)

Here's an action shot of Dad

Finally, here's a movie of Ashley--she should have stopped playing after this one.

We played on Monday and Tuesday.  I didn't bring the camera on Tuesday, which is a shame because it was simply a beautiful day.  We sort of kept score; no one shot really well, except on the back nine of the second day, I amazed myself and shot a 36.  I should note it was a par 34, but two-over is pretty good for me.  Plus, I even had an eagle putt on a 513-yard par 5.  I missed it (d*mn it!), but I did make the birdie :-)

Bode enjoyed driving the cart.  We'll see if we can convince him to do some actual golfing.  We live just a spit away from the Fort Walton Beach golf course, and I'm sure we could get him some lessons.  We'll have to see if anything sparks his interest.

June

June is officially here, which means I had another birthday.  Ashley and Bode were nice enough to get me a whole pile of birthday donuts in lieu of a cake.  Ashley also got us the water version of Spike Ball, which is a pretty fun game Bode and I have been playing.  We set it up in the water this morning and had some fun.  Here are some action photos.

As we were getting out, Joey and Barkley were playing.  If you ever come over to our house and wonder why we have some much dirt inside, here is why...

We went to the Waffle House for a nice lunch and then headed over to goofy golf.  Ashley destroyed us--she had FIVE holes-in-one, which has to be some type of McGuirk record.  I was lucky enough to have recorded one of them.

We had our first big garden harvest--peas, beans, and one of the potato plants.  The potatoes were smaller than I thought they'd be, but I'm sure I can make some soil adjustments as we go forward.

We will probably watch the Auburn baseball game tonight; otherwise, we are very dull people :-)