Stupid Stupid Stupid

As you know, I have a garden.  I planted some things in mid-March.  Watering is a bit of a pain, because I didn't want to turn on the outside spigot until it was warm enough.  I decided to do this in mid-April, but as I was doing so, I reminded myself to turn the water off in case a freeze was forecast.  Fast forward to last night, when temperatures got down to 21 degrees.  Sadly, I forgot to drain the pipe to the spigot.  Around 11 this morning, Ashley hears water running, and sees a volcano-like eruption of water from beneath our back deck.  She was able to shut the water off, but sure enough, one of the pipes burst.  Sheesh.

We received some snow, but nothing too terrible.  It was cold, and I am worried about my trees--they had budded up so nicely and were starting to bloom.  I hope the hard freeze didn't do any irreparable damage.  I will check on them tomorrow.  I'm hopeful the carrots, lettuce, and peas that were coming in survived--they are fairly hardy, so I'm not too worried.  I have some raspberry plants that have been around for a couple of seasons, and I think I'll get a lot of fruit from them this season as long as they weren't too damaged.  Here's hoping.

My indoor plants continue to thrive.  Pumpkins can grow and grow and grow.  We could have our own pumpkin farm here this fall.

The corn is going great, and I hope to transplant it to the garden in two weeks.  Perhaps this year we'll get edible cobs and have a nice meal.  The corn from the last two seasons just wasn't ripe enough when we had to pick it.

I also have some honeydew melons...

and some peppers.

I'm very excited about the honeydew.  I had two or three on the vine last year; one got to the size of an apple, but then the weather started getting too cold at night.  I didn't plant the honeydew inside last year, so I'm hoping to get some good-sized melons.

I spent yesterday building a robotic arm.

I'm teaching an introductory robotics class this fall.  My department bought eight of these arms, and it's up to me to put them together and figure out what to do with them :-)  Actually, I already have most of the syllabus and lectures done, but learning the hardware will take some time.  I guess it'll give me something to do this summer because in two short weeks, I'm technically unemployed (at least til August :-)  Pleasant week to all.

USAFA Swimming

The coach of the Air Force Academy's men's swim team, Rob Clayton, has some children that swim on the same club team as Bode.  For the past two years, Coach Rob has held a clinic with the Rapids and some members of the USAFA swim team (who, for the past two years, have won the Mountain West Conference Championships, so these guys are pretty good swimmers).  Friday night was this year's clinic, so we went and had some fun.  Here's a picture of Bode at the first station learning how to improve his streamline on turns.

Next is a movie of Bode practicing what he learned.

There was also a quick session on starts.  Bode's start is a bit tentative--I think he could explode a little better of the block, but I guess he is only nine... :-)

And of course the accompanying movie...

They also swam some fun relays, but I didn't get any real good shots of those.  At the end, the team posted for a group picture.  Bode is on the far left, second row.

We had a snow storm yesterday--we didn't get much accumulation, but it was cold, and I'm worried about the trees that were budding out so nicely.  It's forecast to warm up today, so I'm hopeful everything survived.  Pleasant day.

Eli

One of Bode's best friends is a wild little dude named Eli.  Eli has spent the night at our house a few times, and every time he does, the boys have a great time.  Eli came over Saturday after Bode's soccer games (team played twice--great effort from the boys, but they were whipped, so we won't dwell on the outcome).  Bode and Eli currently sit near each other in school, which I don't think is a good thing for their academic progress :-)

We colored some Easter eggs Saturday night.  The boys did an even two dozen.

The big bunny came and hid them during the night, in addition to two more dozen plastic eggs.  The boys sent off on the mighty hunt at the crack of dawn (well, 8:30).

Amazingly, we found all the eggs...except one.  We think a bird or a squirrel made off with it (or the bunny just hid it so well that none of us could remember...err, find it :-)

We didn't do a whole lot after Eli went home.  The boys stayed up well past midnight, so I think Bode is a little worn out.  There are a little less than five weeks of school left for Bode, and three more weeks of classes for me.  We can both smell summer :-)  Pleasant week to all.

Spring Break

We spent the past four days up in Breckenridge.  We didn't do much other than ski and watch TV/movies and read.  Not something you'd make a movie out of, but definitely some good relaxing time as a family.  We skied on Monday, and it was almost too hot.  The high was probably in the low 40's, but it was sunny and not crowded.  Here are some pictures.  First up are Ashley and Bode, with Ashley taking a picture of me while I take a picture of them.

Next is a shot of Bode as we head over to the Peak 8 mid-way connect.  This is one of my favorite places to take a picture due to the lack of people and the rather scenic background.

Bode had never been on the Imperial Lift, which takes you up about as high as you can go at Breckenridge (other than hiking to some place).  Here's Bode and Ashley riding the lift.

Next is a shot of the terrain below the lift.  No trees and an intimidating sky...not for the faint of heart.

I don't know why the sky looks such a dark purple...it really was quite blue.  I then took a picture of Ashley and Bode from "the top of the world"...well, our little part of the world.  Bode did great on the way down--he said it was scary but fun.

We skied until lunch time, and then went home for food.  We watched The Flash and Supergirl and Mockingjay parts 1 and 2 (not all at once, but over the course of the week).  Ashley took Joey on some long walks, and we even read some books.  Tuesday was a bit snowy, which was good because we could use the powder, but not so good for skiing (we are quite the weather snobs).  We went to the gym and swam and goofed off in the hot-tub.  Wednesday was a great day--a little cloudy, but the mountain received about eight inches of fresh snow, which made for some good conditions...at least for Ashley and me.  Bode has yet to become a powder hound, but he'll learn to love it as he gets older.  I took a couple of movies on Wednesday.  First is one of Bode and Ashley skiing over some bumps--nothing fancy, but for some reason, the little fellas likes them bumps.

Next is a normal movie of me skiing behind Ashley and Bode.

We also headed over to Peak 8, and I took more shots of my favorite location.  You can see the new snow on the ground, and the clouds were clearing for a beautiful blue sky.

Finally, I took a shot of some of the runs near E-chair--note the snow on the trees.  A very pretty day.

Ashley skied this morning--Bode and I wanted to sleep in, as we are lazy.  Ashley and I are both above the 100,000 vertical foot mark, and Bode is around 80,000.  We'll have one more weekend in mid-April, and Ashley said she might be "sick" sometime in the next week or so.  We did get a nice family photo on Wednesday...Ashley isn't thrilled about how her hair looks, but who really cares about things like that :-)

We are back home now...I'll do some work in the garden and we'll all try to get some rest after some great skiing.  Pleasant weekend to all.

Swim Update

I was a bit premature in my most recent post when I said I didn't think Bode did very well competitively against the other swimmers in the most recent swim meet.  Bode swam in the 10-and-under events, but they awarded prizes to 9-and-under boys.  Thus, Bode was third in the 50-yard butterfly, 4th in the 100-yard backstroke, and 5th in the 200-yard freestyle.

As last time, has he not been DQed in the individual medley, he might have been way up on the podium...but live and learn I guess :-)

Weather in Colorado Springs has been unseasonably warm.  I put my bird-net up in my garden, and even planted some broccoli, lettuce, carrots, potatoes, peas, garlic, and beans.  All but the beans can be planted now.  The beans won't do well if there's a hard frost, but if I lose them, no big deal...but if there is no frost, then we'll be in green-bean city.  The indoor plants are doing great.  I have pumpkins, peppers, honey-dew melon, and corn, all going strong.

I am tempted to put some of these outdoors, and just put buckets over them in the event of a bad forecast.  I might try this in early April--still a bit early to be putting corn outside.

We had a nice weekend.  The three of us went on a ten-mile bike ride (well, 9.93 according to map-my-ride), so Bode and Ashley were spent last night.  We played some putt-putt today, and Bode helped me in the garden.  Tonight, we are going to watch The Goonies, which we think (hope) Bode will love.  Pleasant week to all.

Ho-Hum

It's now almost mid-March; hard to believe the semester is almost half-way done, and spring break is just around the corner...and shortly after that, Bode will be done with school and will be a 4th-grader.  Ashley and I recently realized we have been married for almost 18 years, and Bode has been around for more than half that time.  Scary.  The little Dude is doing fine--he spends a lot of time with his dog, Joey.  I tried to get a good picture of the two of them playing, but this was the best I could do.

Bode has a swim meet this past weekend.  He swam great, but didn't place very well.  This is because there was an 8-and-under category and a 10-and-under category.  Bode is a young nine years old, so he was swimming against guys that could be close to 11.  His times were improvements over any of his previous times--his 100-individual medley time was 1:51, which I thought was very good.  Sadly, he was DQed (again) for a bad turn.  He was really upset when the judge told him--neither Ashley nor I realized what he did was a DQ.  Fortunately, I filmed the race, and I think I now understand the rule.

The bad turn occurs at the ~1:06 mark.  I think Bode's body has to remain mostly horizontal until he touches the wall.  In this case, his body was coming perpendicular when his hand touched, which made it an illegal turn.  He also swam the 50-yard butterfly, the 100-yard backstroke, and the 200-yard freestyle (the last one was probably too long, but we're proud of him for finishing it).  The meet is very well organized, and there's even a scoreboard with the swimmer's name for each heat and event.

Here's an action photo of Bode getting ready to start his backstroke.

Finally, a sweet one of Bode and Mommy.

Afterwards, we let Bode pick the lunch location.  Ashley has brain-washed the kid, and all he wants to eat is Waffle House (the boy is a true southerner...)

The weather has been unseasonably warm, and I am tempted to try to put some of my plants outside...but I won't fall for this deadly call of the Siren.   I'm sure we'll have some hard freezes in late March or early April.  My indoor plants are going great--I've moved the pumpkins and corn to bigger pots.  The melons are also going strong, and my hope is to have an edible honey-dew melon in late August, but I do need to figure out how to keep the bugs off my fruit (short of keeping chickens, which is a definite no-go).  Pleasant week to all.

Bode Superior

Bode participated in the Colorado Springs Music Festival.  He did this same festival last year, and the format was the same.  Bode had to memorize two pieces of music, and then provide the sheet music to the judges.  He then had to perform the music from memory in front of judging panel.  Yes, it seems a bit nerve-wracking, but Bode didn't show any signs of anxiety.  We were allowed in the room for the performance, but, like last year, there was a big sign on the door that say no recording of any kind was allowed.  Thus, we only have our memory of Bode's playing, which was exceptional--note perfect on both pieces and I also believe the dynamics were spot on.  Here's a picture of Bode with Mommy holding up the blue-superior ribbon.

Bode and I also got a shot together, but this was before he was awarded his Superior rating.  Note also how tall Bode is getting--just past Ashley's shoulder, which is just scaring the crap out of the both of us.

Finally, a close-up of the ribbon and certificate.

The festival is structured such that if you participate for three years in a row, and get a Superior for each performance, then you will be awarded a gold-cup.  Bode is very excited about this possibility, but we have told him he needs to keep practicing because next year's pieces will be that much harder.

It's the end of February, so this means it's time to get ready for the garden.  I spent some time putting up some lattice for the ever-growing raspberry bushes, and I also planted some seedlings.  I have planted pumpkins, melons, corn, and peppers.  Thus, far, only the corn and the melons have hatched, but it has only been seven days.  Here's hoping to continued good indoor-growing :-)

Work is going great (there's always one lie in each blog post)...but spring break is only four short weeks away.  Pleasant week to all.