Piano Concerto

Bode continues to excel at the piano.  I didn't tell him I was recording tonight's practice (which explains him burping a number of times), but it's obvious he plays the pieces really well.  He practices almost every day (under penalty of no electronics if he doesn't, so he's not quite self-motivated), but he doesn't complain (much) about playing.  The original video was too large, so I had to break it up into two smaller files, but I think I have a future as a movie editor :-)

The pumpkin vines are all dead.  We had a hard freeze the other night.  Fortunately, this was forecast well in advance, so Ashley and I harvested the pumpkins and remaining cucumbers.  I was surprised the raspberry plants survived--we still have about 50 raspberries that are ripening up, and the weather is supposed to be pleasant the rest of the week.

Ashley's new job is going well, I'm at about the mid-point in my semester, Bode's first report card is this Friday, and the ski resorts are making snow.  Bring on winter!

Eighteen Years

Ashley and I have been married for 18 years (as of tomorrow).  We celebrated with a family brunch to the Broadmoor, a place we love to go and make pigs of ourselves.  We all planned ahead by eating dinner the previous night at 6:30 pm.  None of us ate breakfast nor lunch.  We were seated for brunch at 12:30, so we were all famished.  Let the carnage begin.  I think Bode had four plates of food.

We feasted on ham, roast beef, potatoes, shrimp, crab claws, lovely meats, cheeses, and raw fish, salads, fruits, and pastries.  We topped things off with dessert.  Ashley loves the Banana's Foster, while Bode is a connoisseur of the iced creams.

Afterwards, we took some family pictures.  It was rather cold and rainy here, so the weather wasn't perfect, but we did have a wonderful day together especially since Auburn won yesterday.

What a wonderful 18 years together.  The last 10 have been especially awesome since Bode's been around for almost a decade.  Time sure flies.  Pleasant week to all.

The Pumpkin Patch

McGuirk Farms continues to produce.  In the previous post, I showed a picture of my cucumbers.  Well those were probably half, if not less, of the total harvest.  I had close to 30 cucumbers this year.  What to do with them?  I decided to try my hand at pickling.  I now have close to 20 jars in the basement, all in the process of producing (what I hope to be) fabulous pickles.  I'll take some pictures of them when we get closer to eating time.  I'm worried they'll be horrible, and then I'll be stuck with a bunch of jars of bad pickles (Christmas gifts?)

Bode's soccer season is in full swing.  The team has won one game, and lost two.  One of the losses was a tough match--3-2, with the other team scoring in the closing seconds.  We won't talk about the other loss.  I think the boys are having fun and learning a lot (at least I have to keep reminding myself of that fact--it's fun for the boys, and the wins don't matter :-)  Ashley took a few pictures with the camera.  First, a team photo that she surreptitiously took while the photographer wasn't looking.

She took a lot of action shots, but no real ones you can tell that the particular player is Bode.  In the below picture, Bode is the kid holding the ball.

We also have a nice shot of the boys and me at half time.

Bode is also back in swimming, having moved up to Class 2.  He does swim practice twice a week, soccer twice a week, piano lessons once a week, and he joined the school orchestra and does the violin.  While I love soccer, I can't wait for 28 Oct, which is when the season ends, and Bode's (my) schedule will get much easier.

My pumpkins have gone nuts.  They've left the garden and are making their way through the yard.  Barkley also likes to keep an eye on them.

 

I have five or six good-sized pumpkins.  I had another one, but it was growing on the vine in a position such that its weight wasn't well-supported, so it snapped off.  Below is a nice picture--I can't imagine how big it would've gotten if it had continued to grow on the vine.

Not much else going on here...except that Ashley is UNEMPLOYED :-)  This was planned, as she has taken a new job with a different company.  Her last day with Harris/Peraton was Friday, and she doesn't start up until 2 October.  Thus, for the first time in over 17 years, she has no responsibilities whatsoever.  She certainly deserves the rest.  She plans to spend some quality R&R in Breckenridge this week.  Bode and I will keep the home fires burning.  Pleasant week to all.

Labor Day

Summer's over, football is here, and we're all back in school...well, I guess one of us was never really off, but let's not split hairs.  We spent a couple days up at the mountain estate.  There's usually a big crowd in Breckenridge, which is fine.  We're sort of home-bodies on these weekends.  We went up Friday afternoon and just enjoyed the day and scenery.  We took the dogs down to the river behind the house.  Bode and I were feeling brave, so we each got in...brrr.

The little spot is quite scenic.  I also got some other shots of Bode wading through the water.

Keep in mind Hoosier pass is just five miles to the south of us.  For those that failed geography in elementary school, Hoosier pass is part of the continental divide (if this confuses you, Google it).  Thus, the water is pretty much fresh snow-melt.  It almost hurts when you put your feet it, but the air temperature was quite warm, so once you got out, it actually felt quite good.  Bode and I spent about 30 minutes walking up and down-stream--some good father-son time.  Barkley liked the water...

while Joey wanted nothing to do with it.

On Saturday, we watched some football--the mighty Auburn Tigers had an impressive (sort of) win; the big test is next week versus Clemson.  Sunday, we took a hike to the Blue River Tarn (a big lake).  It wasn't strenuous, but it was very nice.

We came home Sunday night and just lazed around today.  I harvested the cucumbers from my garden--I can't believe how many I got.  The garden was quite successful this year--potatoes, raspberries, green-beans, strawberries, lettuce, broccoli, peas, carrots, and green peppers.  There are still pumpkins ground, and I also have more carrots and potatoes in the ground.  I even started some onions in late August--the root veggies should last awhile.  The pumpkins grew until Halloween last year, so we'll see how that goes.

Our neighbor just sent us the below picture from our mountain estate...that is our front-door in the background.  Those moose are simply huge.

Swim practice starts up this week.  Thus, Ashley and I will spend some quality time on a pool deck--time to stock up on books.  We read some good reads over the summer--The Orphan Master's Son, The Woman in Cabin 10, The Nix, and a few others.  I tried reading The Chemist--it was well reviewed, but I just couldn't get into it.  Right now, I'm reading 1984 again--it was mentioned a lot in the Netflix documentary, Icarus, so I wanted to read it.  I plan to tackle Bleak House, which is one of Dickens's longest...should be fun.  Happy week to all.

Fourth Grade

Bode started the 4th grade last Thursday.  His teacher is Mister Glisson, and he is a very likeable guy.  Bode said he's not as strict as his 3rd grade teacher, so hopefully Bode will thrive in an environment where his creativity isn't stymied (which is code for a less lenient teacher who will tolerate Bode's incessant yapping to his friends :-)  Here's Bode on the first day--such a handsome young man.

Bode's buddy, Tylen, is in the same class, so Bode is excited.  Eli, sadly (but likely for the best, as Bode said), is not, but they do get to play together at recess.  Bode said he wants to join the orchestra this year, so we went and picked him out a violin.  We will see how this goes.

Barkley is getting bigger and bigger, but she still loves to sleep on her back next to the door.

She's getting quite big--not quite bigger than Joey, but getting there.

The summer is quickly coming to an end.  I started classes yesterday (bah), and am already looking forward to the winter break.  I did a lot of work on the yard, putting in over 300 square feet of sod (yes, I cheated--growing from seed was not an option with the two beasts).  We think the yard looks pretty good.

With fall quickly approaching, Ashley is anxiously awaiting the start of the Auburn football season.  The mighty Tigers are ranked 12th in the AP preseason poll--that has to be a typo :-)  Pleasant week to all.

Houston II

We had a couple of outings while in Houston--nothing major, and that is how we wanted it--why would we ever want to leave a private pool and slushy machine?  Milton was kind enough to get us tickets to the Astros-Bluejays baseball game.  Milton and Penny could not attend because Callie (their senior-to-be daughter) had a volleyball function.  Thus, the three of us and Cricket (their 19-year old college sophomore) made the trip.  First, here are Bode and Cricket outside of Minute Maid stadium.

Next, here are the three of them in the stadium.

The ball park is a very nice venue, and our seats were down the third-baseline.

It was an offensive showdown, with the Astros scoring nine runs in the bottom of the fourth.  There were an inordinate amount of home runs--if all baseball games were like this one, I'd be a bigger fan :-)  We also got some Jeff Bagwell jerseys because the team was celebrating Jeff's Hall-of-Fame induction.

On Sunday, we went to the lake and spent some time tubing.  Before leaving, Bode wanted a picture next to one of Milton's deer-heads.  I don't think Bode knew that Milton killed the deer--he just thought it was a stuffed toy :-)

The lake was loads of fun.  Here's Ashley relaxing...

and Bode, Cricket, and Callie prepping for some tubing.

Cricket made a big jump into the water...

and Bode followed shortly thereafter, albeit not with a big jump.

Bode and Cricket went first on the tube.  The movie isn't the best of quality, but I'll include it because it's all I've got.

Afterwards, Cricket and I tubed, and then Ashley and I tubed, and then Cricket and I went again, and finally it was Callie and Cricket.  We had a great time on the lake, and topped of the evening with trip to some country kitchen serving catfish (and a side of alliteration).

Sadly, we returned home (back to reality) today, and Ashley has to work tomorrow.  While in Houston, we also went to Top Golf, and saw Uncle Dwight and Aunt Patti, but I don't have any pictures.  I'm hoping I can get Ashley to download her phone's pictures to the computer, so when she does, I'll post one more Houston adventure.  Bode starts school on 17 Aug, and UCCS starts up on 21 Aug.  Is summer really almost over?  Bah.

Houston I

We spent the last five days down in Houston, Texas.  Yes, we just had a nice vacation to Georgia in July, but we felt the need to get back down to the heat and humidity.  Last year, Bode and Ashley made the trip (I had to stay home to take care of Harley...)  This year, all three made the quick flight down to Houston.  We woke up Wednesday morning in (relatively) cold Colorado, and by mid-afternoon, we were soaking it up in the pool.

Bode and I (and Ashley too--she's more than willing to swim when the temperature is 90+) spent some quality time in Penny and Milton's pool.

But swimming in the hot sun is exhausting, as Ashley can attest.

Our first night, Josh, Sarah, and Owen came over for dinner.  I did a poor job getting pictures, but I did try to get one towards the end of the evening.  Josh is at the end of the table, Penny is across from Ashley, and Milton and Sarah are on the far right.

Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of the slushy machine, but it was running strong with lemonade slushies the entire time we were there.  I am convinced we need one of the these machines, and have charged my executive assistant with getting us one :-)