Happy Halloween

Soccer season is over, and I think it would be poor form for me to say I'm happy that's it's done (I am).  It was lots of fun, but the time commitment can be a bit much--we'd practice twice a week and games on Saturdays.  Of course, it's not like I have an overly busy schedule.  But Bode did have a lot on his plate--swimming, soccer, piano, violin, and he's started doing science club this semester.  Thus, I'm happy for him to have a couple days back to just be a kid.  The season wasn't great in terms of our won-loss record, but we did finish strong with a 3-0 victory.  Ashley took some action shots of the game (I was too busy coaching), but for some reason, she didn't get any shots with Bode in it :-(  She did get plenty of pictures of the boys during the post-game pizza party.

I might have mentioned I did some pickling of my cucumbers from the garden.  I've started eating them and find them to be quite tasty.  I think I might have overdone the dill on some of the jars, as it's a bit potent.

Today is Halloween, and we just finished trick-or-treating.  This morning, we awoke to snow, cold, and ice, and we dreaded the evening.  Fortunately, the weather cleared and it warmed up a tad.  Bode got a great haul of candy, and we all managed to stay warm.

Bode has a swim meet on Saturday.  Sadly, it directly conflicts with the Auburn-Texas A&M game.  Ashley has been hoarding her data so she can watch the game on her phone.  Hopefully Auburn does well; otherwise, Ashley's phone might end up in the pool in disgust.  Pleasant week to all.

Fall Carnival

Bode's school had its fall carnival this past Saturday.  Bode and Ashley both dressed up in their costumes.  Bode's is pretty awesome--he went as Slender Man (Google it if you don't know what it is).  Ashley was going to be a white walker from Game of Thrones, but there was a problem with the delivery of her costume; thus, she had to quickly find an alternative, which turned out to be a pretty cool looking Supergirl.  Here's a good picture of Bode in front of our house.

Next is a good shot of Ashley.

And finally, a picture of Mom and son together.

The carnival was fun.  This was the first time Bode went off on his own with his friends to do the various activities.  I did get a picture of Bode and Eli together.

Ashley and I hung out in the cafeteria, ignoring her smart phone so we didn't know what was going on in the Auburn game (we taped it).  We also participated in the silent auction, which was fun.  There was a pretty good item--tickets to the USAFA-Army game with some jerseys and other paraphernalia.  We put a bid on, but noticed there was this group that kept bidding on the item whenever someone outbid them.  Since all proceeds go to the school, we decided to try to push the price up.  When we started this, the bid was at $50; I think we got it up to $95 :-)  The carnival has various games in different classrooms, and the prizes are usually candy or something along those lines.  This year, one game gave away a living goldfish in a plastic bag as a prize, which I thought was horrible, especially when Bode brings me a bag with a fish in it.  I wanted to give it back, but Bode seemed to really want this fish.  Therefore, today, Bode and I went to PetSmart and got a little tank and other aquarium odds and ends.  Here's a picture of Bode with Mike the fish.

Bode took the below picture of Mike; I'm putting the over-under on how long Mike lives at 14 days, but you never know...

We had a nice weekend--Auburn won, Air Force won, the Steelers won...the only drawback was the Broncos, who played horribly against the Chargers.  We also managed to take Joey and Barkley to the dog wash.  Barkley was filthy--she wasn't really a black dog anymore but more of a dirt-stained brown.  Joey has been to the dog wash a number of times, so he's fine with the bath.  Barkley wasn't thrilled with any of the process, but in the end, we got her nice and clean.

Another week of work for Ashley and me.  Bode has a 3-day week, as Parent-Teacher conferences are Thursday and Friday, which is when we'll get Bode's report card.  Here's hoping it's good! :-)  Pleasant week to all.

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.