Murph

Ashley, Bode, and I did the Murph workout today.  This involves running one mile, and then doing 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, and 300 air-squats, and then running one mile again.  Ashley and Bode did a shortened version of it, while I did the whole thing.  My goal was to finish in 48 minutes (my age in years tomorrow), and I came in at 47:12, slightly slower than last year, but I was very pleased.

Afterwards, we paused for some pictures.  Sondra and her two daughters, Lexa and Mia, also did the work out, and it was a very motivational morning.  You can see them below working hard.

Next we have a goofy shot of Ashley and Sondra.

Here's a funny one of Bode and Ashley.

And then a good one of the three of them.

We also got a good larger group shot of some of the athletes.

Finally, a nice family picture of the three of us.

You can really see how much taller Bode is than Ashley.  He's also pretty solid--the kiddo has some muscles under that shirt.  He weighs over 150 pounds, and when he shoves me, I move a lot more than I used to :-)  Happy Memorial Day to all.

The Big O

 I spent the last few days in Omaha catching up with some old friends.  This year is my 30-year high-school reunion; I didn't know if we were doing a reunion this summer or not due to Covid, and the big man was going to be in town for his nephew's graduation, so we all decided to have a mini-reunion on our own.

I stayed with Jon and Shelly, and they were kind enough to take me golfing at their semi-private club (they are living the good life in Nebraska).  Here is a lovely shot of the two of them.

Next is a nice shot of Jon showing off his elite punch-out game.

Finally, Jon said we had to take a picture showing off the lovely woodpile that has adorned 7-fairway since 2018; apparently they club is hoping it will simply decompose rather pay someone to haul the debris off.  Note Shelly's perfect form in the background, oblivious to our shenanigans while getting ready to crush driver off the tee. 

We had a great round of golf, and I'm sure Jon beat me soundly.  We also had a small gathering of folks at Jon and Shelly's, but sadly, I left the camera in basement and didn't snap any memories (probably a good thing because Marcus brought over a tower of bourbon).

One evening, we had a nice cookout at Jon and Shelly's with his parents.  It is always great to see the ageless Ken and Mary Peterson, who as I write this, are probably finalizing the paperwork on a new home they are purchasing in the Papillion area.

On Monday, Jon, Steve, and I went out for another round of golf--the three bulls just lighting things up at Tiburon.  We were all smiles before teeing off.

As usual, I did have to take some movies of the players.  Here's JP just striping one dead center.

Next we have big Steve (well, not-so-big Steve, as he's dropped 50 pounds).  Not quite dead center.

At some point while waiting for the group ahead of us (obviously we were waiting for the green to clear on a long par-5 so we could go for it in two), Steve and I posed for this gem.

Jon and I also posed for a shot; I think my pained expression is indicative of my play.

It was a beautiful day on the course, and I managed to capture this Bobby Jones-esque swing.  I'll have to send this to Golf magazine--they'll definitely want to use this in their instruction series on perfect form.

The golf was wonderful, but spending time with the book-ends was even better.  That evening, Melissa (Steve's wife) got us all together for more socializing to do an early celebration of my and Steve's birthdays.   This is not a good picture, but we were all just being goofy.

We asked the waitress to take a picture of everyone, but apparently only Melissa and I knew a photo was being taken.

Melissa even planned ahead and had a cake decorated for us.

And a trip to Nebraska wouldn't be complete without a picture with me and the Duke.

On Tuesday, I visited Kristine and her family; she was a terrible host because she destroyed me in two games of Scrabble--I don't even think the scores were close, but I did beat her in their mini-Ms Pacman game, and that's really all that matters.

We also took a picture, and again, I have that pained look on my face, this time due to my poor performance on the Scrabble board.

I returned to Florida yesterday to some happy dogs, a fairly happy son, and a wife that was thrilled to see me (but I think her elation was due more to not having to take care of everyone than my actual presence :-)

We are getting ready for Memorial Day weekend--the weather is hot and humid.  Pickle ball anyone?

Spring Orchestra

Bode had his spring orchestra concert yesterday.  The kids sounded amazing, and they looked so professional all dressed up.  We snapped a quick photo of Ashley, Mom, and Bode when we got there, but failed to get one of JoAnne and Frank (they arrived shortly after we did and Bode had already left to prepare).

The venue was a very nice church out in Destin, and the acoustics were very good.  Here is a picture of Bode warming up--you can only see his head right in the middle of the stage.

The group opened with Romeo and Juliet by Tchaikovsky.  This is a rather long piece and has a wide range of emotions.

Next, they played March to the Scaffold by Berlioz; the clarinet solo at the ending if very beautiful.

I think the next piece was their best--the theme from Rocky along with some parts of Gonna Fly Now, Fight from the Heart, and Eye of the Tiger.  Sadly, the memory card on my camera filled up before the song ended.

Finally, they finished with some parts of The Firebird Suite by Stravinsky.

Afterwards, we took a picture of Bode with Aaron.  

Two years ago, we took a similar picture.  As Aaron says, "Bode sure has gotten taller."

This ends the spring performance season.  Bode will continue to practice over the summer, and maybe I'll work with him on some scales, because I know how much he likes that :-)  Pleasant weekend to all. 

County Swim Meet

 The final middle school swim meet of the year was this past weekend.  Bode swam four events--two relays, the 200-yard free, and the 50-butterfly.  There were swimmers from all the local middle schools attending--the meet was the "county" championships.  Bode did great.  He placed third in the 200-free and fourth in the 50-fly.  I think a number of the boys that beat him were 8th graders, so next year, Bode might get up on the podium :-)

First, here are some shots of Bode just relaxing before the meet.

Next, we have Bode swimming the 200.  He took three seconds off his personal best times (and note the boys that got first and second were very fast and very strong swimmers).

Finally, here's a video of Bode swimming the 50-fly.  He swam it in 29.6, which is another personal best for him.  The boy that won this race is just a freak of nature.  I think he's only been swimming for nine months (compared to seven years for Bode), and the kid is just amazingly fast.

We are very proud of how hard Bode has worked, and we are also grateful that we don't have to get up at 0430 morning anymore :-)  Pleasant week to all.

Band Concert Addendum

 I managed to steal Ashley's phone from her and get some of the pictures and band movies.  First, we have one of the selections which I didn't record.

Ashley also got a nice picture with Bode and Ms Noe, the band director.

I remember the good old days when Bode was shorter than his teachers :-)

The Garden

 My garden has really come alive the past few weeks.  The peas, which I started from seed, are now taller than me, and there are some little pea-pods forming.

The cucumbers are starting to get some nice leafs on them, as are the water melons and honey dew, but I'm not yet sure if I'll have any success due to all the fungi issues I had last year.

The corn seems to grow some every day.

I have two sets of beans--black beans and green beans.  The are a lot of green beans growing right now.  The black beans have a lot of green, but I've never done these before, so I'm not sure when to exact the beans to form.

The broccoli is actually doing quite well.  I had to put up some chicken wire because it seemed the broccoli leaves were being eaten; now, there is some good growth.  Hopefully we will get a stalk or two before it gets too hot.

There are probably 20 or so blackberries that have formed, and I'm trying to keep the birds away from them, but I think it might just be a matter of time before they figure out how to get at the fruit.

Not sure when I will start harvesting, but it should be soon.  I think the peas will be the first things picked.  I also planted some tomato plants, some pepper plants, and some basil, so hopefully come June, we'll have some fresh food to eat.  Pleasant day to all.

Final Band Concert

 The Meigs Middle School Band had their final performance of the year last night.  They sounded amazing, and it was great to being in a theater with a lot of people.  Before we headed out, we took some pictures.  Note that Bode is really getting tall.

Before the start of the concert, I embarrassed Bode and got a picture of him and his friend, Brendan.

The band played, and they sounded great.  I recorded two of the selections...sort of.  The first recording is tilted 90 degrees the wrong way, while the second recording ends abruptly because my phone ran out of memory.  From now on, I am using my camera for the important movies :-)

Ashley has a video of the third song, and I'll try to get that from here if I can pry her phone from her hands :-)  Pleasant weekend to all.

Kelly Plantation

 Grammy is in town for a couple weeks.  Ashley played hooky from work yesterday, and we all headed out to Kelly Plantation for some golf.  We had a lovely time.  Here's Ashley dusting off the rust on the driving range.

Note the perfect form :-)  Before heading out, the starter took our picture.

The course was in great shape and was very scenic.  I took some movies, but the focus isn't very good--I guess I need to go back to using my camera instead of my phone.

Here's an action shot of Ashley, again with the perfect form.

Here's a shot of Mom hitting what certainly was a perfect drive.

Finally, a good shot of Ashley crushing one way out into the distance.

We had a lovely time out at Kelly.  We didn't set any records, but I think Ashley parred a par 5, and that is something she'd never done before.  The weather was perfect, and best of all, we didn't see any snakes :-)