Global Warming?

The tides are quite low right now...probably having to do with it being close to the winter equinox as well as just having had a full moon, but I'd be lying if I said I know exactly what causes higher or lower tides (although I do know it's something to do with gravity :-)

Below are some pictures of our beach.  I'd always considered it to be a low tide if the bottom step was not underwater.  Today, our steps were completely dry.

Beautiful day here--water was very calm, and temperatures were in the 60s.  Still a little cool at night, but that is why we have our little heaters. 

Bode continues to like his Oculus (his virtual reality game player).  Ashley and I find it amusing because Bode is not aware of his surroundings when he's in game mode so we have some fun with him.  The first video is just of Bode playing, while the second video is of Ashley and me goofing on him.

I think Ashley and I find this more amusing than Bode does :-)  For those of you that want to know what Bode is seeing in the goggles, go here--it's a youtube video of someone else playing, but it gives you an idea of what is going on.  Bode is done with school for the year (for the decade!), I'm off until 2020, and Ashley's final day is tomorrow.  It should be a nice little break for us.  Pleasant weekend to all.

The Little Trumpet Boy

The Meigs Middle School band had their winter concert last night.  It was (surprisingly) quite good.  Bode is in the Beginner Band (it's his first semester playing the trumpet).  There was also a Concert Band, a Jazz Band, and a Symphonic Band.  The Jazz Band was very neat--we were trying to point this out to Bode, hoping he'd want to try to join next year, but he said he wants to be in the Concert Band.  The Beginner Band played four songs.  First up is a somewhat reserved edition of The Dreidel Song.

It's nice that Bode was seated near the front so we got some good video of him.  The next song they performed was Jolly Old St Nicholas.

Finally, they finished their performance with an old favorite, Jingle Bells.

I also took some still photographs.  Here was a shot of Bode setting up.  Note how big the boy next to Bode is--this is Brad.  He's 6'3" tall and is 12 years old.  Bode said he's the nicest kid as well--they both play the trumpet.

At the end of the concert, all the bands joined together and played Up on the Housetop.  I didn't record it, but I did take a couple pictures.

The fat-man comes in seven days.  We are all decorated up and ready for some action.  Here's a shot of our living room and the tree.

I also took a couple shots of our "exterior illumination."

Bode's last day of school is Thursday.  My semester is over, but I told a friend I'd work through some of the labs he rewrote in preparation for next semester, but for all intents and purposes, I am done.  Ashley will work the rest of this, and then we are ready for some holiday fun.  Perhaps we'll go see the new Star Wars movie!!!  Pleasant week to all.

Ashley VR

After our Thanksgiving feast, we had another birthday cake for Bode.  Thus, in four days, we've had three cakes in our house, which means we all need to go on a diet (except Joey--the big boy has lost ten pounds since we started feeding him less).  It was such a beautiful day here that we decided to have the cake outside.  First up is the cake--note we couldn't get the candles into the frozen ice cream cake Ashley made, so I had to put them in some of the leftover cake from a few days ago.  Note Jason, Olivia, and Papa were all anxiously awaiting their dessert :-)

Here's a nice shot of Nana and Jay, who was trying his best to get to the lit candles.

Next we have Bode getting ready to blow the candles out while Jasser watches.

Finally, a shot after the candles were blown out (although he did take two tries).

Such a good-looking birthday boy.  For the record, Bode is just about 62 inches tall and weighs 115 pounds (he's a solid kid--lots of beef on his legs).

We've all enjoyed playing on Bode's new oculus.  Beat Saber is a fun game where you use light-sabers to chop up blocks.  I was skeptical about the virtual reality at first, but I'm quite impressed at how far it has come.  Here's a movie of Ashley playing.

And here's a movie of Bode playing.  Bode's movie is smaller because it was longer, and I had to reduce its size due to the 100 Mbyte restriction.

With the end of Thanksgiving, let the Christmas season begin! Only 27 more shopping days until the fat man arrives.

Birthdays

Bode and Ashley both had birthdays this week.  Ashley turned 49 , and we celebrated with a home-made cake.  Bode and I worked for many hours, combining ingredients, greasing pans, and avoided burning the house down.  We then sang the obligatory tune...

After singing, Bode posed with his Mom for a nice picture.

Little man turned 12 today.  Hard to believe he is an even dozen.  We got Bode an oculus quest virtual reality system.  He seems to like it.

Here's a movie of Bode playing some game.  I'm sure it looks great inside the head-set, but outside the head-set, it looks a little goofy.

Ashley's family is coming over for some turkey and ham later today.  Happy Thanksgiving to all!

A Tween (almost)

Bode had his 12th birthday party today.  His actual birthday is on Thanksgiving this year, so we had the party a couple of days early.  Six kids came--Alex, Jacob, Brody, Dillinger, Colin, and Olivia.  Ashley arranged for a game-truck to come to the party--we did this a couple years ago in Colorado, and it was a big hit.  We had similar success here.  First, here's a shot of the kids.

Next, a shot of the exterior and interior of the truck.

After the party, we had everyone inside for some pizza and the obligatory singing of Happy Birthday.

Bode also opened some of the gifts his buds brought him.

All the kids seemed to have a nice time.  Ashley and I also had some fun, as we played a couple rounds of Just Dance 2020.  I'm sure we look awful, but we had fun doing this--we'll probably be doing this when we're in our 70's (something to look forward to...)

Bode is off from school the rest of the week.  I have to work tomorrow, but then I'm done.  I think we'll try to exercise on Wednesday in preparation for the feasting on Thursday and Friday...and hopefully on Saturday when we celebrate an Iron Bowl victory.  Pleasant Turkey Day to all!

Dogs on the Dock

We have found the dogs expect to be taken down to the dock each evening.  You'd think Joey would be a bit hesitant to want to go to the beach since he fell off the dock, but he's none the worse for the wear.

It's been very pretty here with some beautiful sunsets.  I don't think my little camera is the right one to use to capture all the colors, so I guess you'll just have to use your imagination.

The work on the carriage house is going...slowly.  Here are some shots of the progress. 

We talked to the builder, and the next step is for the plumber and grader to do some work.  I'm sure I'll be out there checking to ensure everything is done right :-)  Pleasant Vet's Day to all.

Science Project

Bode had to do a science project for school.  They needed to show the five layers of the earth's crust, and they also had to write a story.  Here's Bode's finished product.

Ashley and I did help Bode just a little bit with the model.  However, he wrote the entire story himself; the only help I gave him was with spelling and punctuation.  Therefore, I present to you, Bode's first story.

The Journey to the Core

 by Bode McGuirk

 Sometime in the future, in the United States, there were two men named Marcus and Brandon who wanted to know what the layers of the Earth were. They were so interested that the wanted to travel directly to the center of the Earth, so they came up with heat resistant pads which they thought would protect them from the temperature of what lies beneath the Earth’s crust.

  Brandon (he had the idea for the heat pads) said, “Marcus how’s the drill going?”

  Marcus replied, “Great how about the heat pads?” 

  “We might have to delay our plans,” said Brandon sadly.

  “Why?” questioned Marcus.

  “The heating pads may not be able to handle the heat from the Earth’s core,” replied Brandon.

  “Nonsense” said Marcus confidently. “The heating pads have been able to block the heat from rocket ships!!!”

  “But…” Brandon tried to speak but Marcus said, “No buts. This will work. We have been working on this for years.”

  Brandon asked, “Even if the heat pads work, where do you plan on getting a power source to power the drill and the heat pads?” 

  Marcus said, “ I was busy while you were working on the heat pads.” Marcus lifted some strange object and showed Brandon.

  Brandon said in amazement, “Where did you get one of those!?”

  Marcus replied, “ I have my ways,” as Brandon was still shocked.

  Brandon said, “That is a quantum fusion reactor. I thought those were millions of dollars. How did you get one?”

  “I built one,” replied Marcus.

  Brandon asked, “Where did you get the parts for one?”

  “I bought most of them,” Marcus said, “and got some of them from a friend.”

  Brandon said, “Well let’s get to installing this reactor.”

  After three months of hard work, Marcus said, “I think it is finally finished.”

  “Well. we still need to make sure the heat pads are working and make sure there are no holes.” Brandon replied.

  “I was doing that while you were installing the reactor,” said Marcus. “I also added a massive teleporter so just in case we won’t lose the drill or our lives.”

  “Well let’s start drilling down then,” said Brandon in amazement.

  “Wait--first we must learn what the layers are so we know what layer we will be in and how hot they are,” Marcus said.

  “Why must we know how hot they are?” questioned Brandon?

  “So we know what layer we are in. And I forgot I never told you I put a thermometer on the drill.”

   “Oh that makes sense,” said Brandon, “but what layer are we standing on right now?”

  “Let me look it up,” said Marcus “ It says that we are standing on the lithosphere.”

   Brandon asked, “ What is the next one?”

  “You will find out,” Marcus said, “so lets start drilling!!!”

  Brandon and Marcus got in the drill and started drilling away. After awhile the thermometer read 300 degrees Celsius. Brandon said in amazement, “The heat pads worked!!!”

  “I told you they would work,” said Marcus, “ but just look how hot it is already. We are only in the second layer and according to my research the asthenoshpere is part of the lithoshpere.”

  Brandon replied, “ I could have sworn we were on the fourth layer. How hot is the inner core then?!?!”

  “Very hot” said Marcus.

  After a day of digging the thermometer read 600 degrees Celsius.  As the two men kept digging, they threw a rock out the back of the drill to see what would happen to it. The two men were surprised when the rock started to melt. Brandon said “ How hot must it be to melt that type of rock!?”

  “Pretty hot” replied Marcus. As the two kept digging, Marcus noticed that the thermometer started glowing. Marcus was becoming worried about the heating pads.

  After a long time of digging they get to the outer core, but the two men didn’t know yet because the thermometer melted.  They would have to wait for the pressure barometer to tell what the pressure is. “It appears we have entered the outer core,” said Marcus

  “Indeed we have” replied Brandon. Marcus noticed the heating pads starting to glow.

  Marcus said worried, “this is bad”

  Finally the two reached the inner core. Marcus said, “We have reached the inner core.”

  Brandon said very worriedly, “The heating pads are getting too hot, and the drill is getting crush!!! We need to teleport now!”  Brandon and Marcus both ran as fast as they could to the teleporter just before the heating pad failed.  They teleported back to the earth’s surface.  They both were relieved when the saw the outside of their houses.

  “We barely made it out alive,” Brandon said.

  “Well we turned out all right. I don’t think the drill did” said Marcus. Brandon turned around and saw the beat up drill. “I think it’s still in good enough condition that we can get some parts out of it.” The two men started scrapping the drill.

  “Well at least the reactor and teleporter are still alright. We can sell them for money for our next adventure,” Marcus said.

  “Well, see you next time Brandon.” The two men went home and thought of what they should do next.     

The End...?