Uncle Dave and Yuna

 Uncle Dave and his girlfriend, Yuna, were in Fort Walton Beach this weekend.  Ashley had just seen the two of them a few weeks ago when she went skiing with Bode.  I had not seen Dave in almost a year, and it was great to catch up with him.  We ran both Saturday and Sunday morning, and in our minds, we were running as fast as we ran when we were cadets many years ago :-)

Saturday was pretty low-key.  We hung out here at the house and then had a lovely meal at Nana and Papa's, although Ashley and Bode were both feeling under the weather so they stayed at home.  Fortunately, Sunday morning we are all feeling great, and we met at the Two Trees for a fantastic brunch; what made it even better was I brought my camera.  First we have a picture of Ashley, David, and Yuna.

Next is a very nice picture of Bode with Papa.  Lately, Bode has been wanting to avoid having pictures taken, but today, he was rather photogenic.

He even got out of his chair to take a picture with David and Ashley, although he does have a creepy look on his face.

After breakfast, he took a great picture with his grandparents.

When we left, we tried to get some family shots.  Jason and Olivia aren't in this one because I think they were chasing down Jay.

They did manage to track Jay down, although getting Jay or Jason to stand still for a photo is quite challenging.

David and Yuna flew out from Pensacola this afternoon, and they are probably flying through the air as I write this.  Hopefully things will get back to normal here in the next few months and we'll be able to see all the people we haven't seen in over a year.  Pleasant week to all.

Skiing

 Bode's school was delayed two weeks at the start of the year.  School began on 30 August; this means everything has been delayed for two weeks to include spring break.  Thus, his spring break is in early April, which is not prime ski time.  My school did away with spring break this year, and with the middle school swim season starting in mid February, Ashley and Bode had to make a quick trip out to Colorado to get their ski on (I stayed home and watched the dogs).  I can't provide much narration because I wasn't there, but it does look like they had a great time.  

Here's a cool shot of Bode; note he is wearing one of my old winter coats.

Ashley and Bode were at Breckenridge on a Monday, and I don't think anyone else was there :-)

They had a great time skiing and then had lunch at Downstairs at Eric's.

They got to spend some quality time with Uncle Dave, Teddy, and Charlie.  Teddy is all grown up--I think he'll get his learner's permit next month.

Of course, Joey was happy when they got home.

Pleasant week to everyone.

A Joey Update

 As you know, Joey was diagnosed with cancer in late December.  Ashley and I knew it was bad news when we showed up at the vet's office, and the room we waited in had a couch and a lot of Kleenex boxes.  We were told Joey had "weeks to months."  

Fortunately, Joey has made it past the weeks diagnosis, and for that, we are very grateful.  He's been getting chemotherapy through Auburn University, and he has just been the happiest, most playful dog these last few weeks; if you didn't know he was sick, you wouldn't know anything was wrong.  The first chemo drugs they used didn't seem to have any effect on the growing tumors (he has lots of them in all the wrong places), so they've put him on a different drug.  We hope this can help stop the tumor growth, but we also realize it's a very long shot.  Still, we'll do everything we can to keep Joey happy and comfortable. 

I've probably been taking too many pictures of the dogs, but I guess that's what happens when I get a new smart phone.  Here are some of my favorite shots.  The two dogs and Ashley like to take naps together.

And even when Ashley is not around, both dogs enjoy their naps.

People have asked me if Barkley "knows" Joey is sick.  I have no idea, but I don't think so.  I do know she likes to be around him (and vice versa).  She's known him since she was eight weeks old, and the only time she's been apart from him was the week that we moved to Florida.  He's her best buddy.  The weather has warmed up some, so we are all happy to get back outside.

I have noticed we do get some really low tides in the winter.  Here's a shot what could be called a beach behind our house.  I have never seen the water this low.

Finally, here's a picture of me and the Joey-dog.

I am taking Joey up to Auburn on Tuesday for another checkup.  They will assess how the chemo has affected the tumors, and from there, we'll talk about the treatment going forward.  We do hope for good news, but we understand it's a long-shot...but sometimes long-shots win!

MCU Phase II

 If you are looking for a page about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you have come to the wrong place.  The MCU to which I refer is the McGuirk Construction Universe.  I can see how you might confuse the two, as both have the same initials, and both, quite honestly, have about the same budgets (the Marvel MCU budget is on the order of a few billion; the McGuirk MCU is slightly less, but not by much).

The carriage house is done!  We have moved all of the old-garage stuff out to the new garage.  We even managed to install a pretty nifty bike rack.

You can also see the gym in the background.  The climbing rope has been hung, and I've been giving it a go every now and then.

Bode has taken an interest in working out (although it seems to have died off a bit as of late).  He doesn't like me taking his picture, so I had to sneak in a shot of him dead-lifting.

We have ordered a couch, a chair, new blinds, and some curtain hanging hardware for the upstairs.  These should come in within the next month or so, and then it will really look nice.  We'll also have to figure out a TV and a small desk and perhaps an area rug or two.  Ashley and her father are making a table, and Frank made a beautiful bathroom mirror (I'll post a picture when we hang it).  Thus, the invitation is out there for anyone that wants to come visit sunny Florida.

Phase II of the MCU has started (Phase I ended with the completion of the carriage house).  The first major project in Phase II is making the old garage part of the existing house.  We're not exactly sure how we'll furnish it (there are rumors of a Ping-Pong table or an air hockey table), but we do know there will be a lot of bookshelves and a desk for me.  Construction should start in the next couple weeks; for now, Ashley and I did the destruction by removing all the drywall.

We are very excited to get Phase II underway, and we hope for completion by the beginning of summer.  The only hardware we are waiting on is the windows; we ordered these back in December, and they are supposed to be delivered this week; here's hoping!

Swim Meet

 Bode had a swim meet today over in Pensacola.  This was the first big meet since Covid, and there were a lot of precautions.  Parents were escorted in and out of the building, which actually worked out great.  We went inside, watched Bode swim, and then let the next group of parents come in to watch the next heat.  Overall, it went very well.  I took some pictures.  First, we have Bode and Ashley.  I can't believe how old he looks in these.

Bode swam three events.  The first event was the 100-IM; he swam about the same time as his entry time, so no PR for this event.  Still, he swam great, especially since he said his legs were sore from running the mile in gym class for time yesterday.  Also, Bode was in the "fast" heat for this race, but he just turned 13 a couple months ago, so he is racing against 13- and 14-year olds.  We do think he needs to work on that breast stroke ;-)  He is in the second lane from the left.

Next, he swam the 100 freestyle.  His best time coming in to the meet was 1:12; he swam a 1:05.  I took some pictures, but none came out very well.  Ashley has a movie on her phone, and if I get that, I will post here.  There were only three (3!) heats between Bode's 100 freestyle and his 50 butterfly.  He said he was still winded when he got on the blocks.  Still, he did amazing, swimming in 32 seconds--his previous best was 36 seconds! Below is a movie--he is in the far-right lane.

After the meet, we went to Jersey Mikes.  Ashley and I split a 7.5-inch sandwich.  Bode ate a 15-inch sandwich on his own.  Crazy how much food teenage males eat!

The carriage house is done!  All work is finished, and we even got a final bill.  Here are some photos.  First, the garage interior where I am setting up my gym.  Note the climbing rope!

Next, we have the upstairs.  No real changes here, but we do have a bed up there and are trying to figure out the right size for a couch.

We moved Ashley's framing gear into her shop and mounted the cutter on the wall.  She's ready to get back into the framing business.

Finally, here is an exterior shot--note the numbers on the carriage house.

We don't have any major plans other than relaxing.  The weather is a little cool here--in the 50's which feels like sub-zero to my thin-blood.  Joey is doing well.  He has started his chemotherapy with Auburn University.  He gets a couple pills every other day, and on the days he's not taking chemo, he takes a steroid.  He seems like a perfectly healthy dog--huge appetite, happy and playful.  We will hope the chemo can do some magic, but we also understand the factors Joey has working against him.  Still, we won't give up hope!

Happy MLK weekend to everyone!

Sub Tropical Plunge

 As has been the long-standing McGuirk tradition going all the way back to the 1850's (more like 2019), Bode and I did our version of the polar plunge.  Even though the air temperature was in the 60's, the water was still quite cold with the newspaper saying the Gulf temperature is 62.  I don't know how people do this into water that is near freezing because 62-degree water felt like ice.

Bode and I posed for the traditional pre-plunge picture showing off our Covid physiques.

Sadly, Ashley failed to get an actual movie of the plunge.  She was taking the movie, but then for some reason didn't think we were going to jump, so she stopped the movie, at which point we both jumped into the water, so she then tried to start again, but only got Bode jumping up in the freezing water.

One of these years we'll get Ashley to do this with us.  We told her that Auburn lost today in their bowl game because she didn't do the plunge with us; I don't think she believes us :-)  Happy 2021 to all!

Final Post of 2020

 It what seems like the longest year ever, 2020 has finally drawn to a close.  I wish I could say it was a great year, but I think we all know otherwise.  Still, we had some great times together and some wonderful experiences which I won't delineate here.  As always, we will show Bode's school picture to mark his progress through the years.

We were a little disappointed that neither of us remembered to tell Bode to not wear his zombie shirt on picture day, but despite not having on a nice shirt, the photo is a pretty good one of the kid.  Bode is now just a scosh taller than Ashley, and he's tipping the scales at just over 135 pounds--he's a very solid young man.  He's really starting to look like a teenager--he's no longer our cute little boy; it seems like only yesterday that Bode was in kindergarten...

If you are looking for a good book to read, I did self-publish a book I wrote on Amazon.  It is available for Kindle and you can also order paperbacks on demand.  You can get to the Amazon page using this link.

I guess it wouldn't be 2020 if we didn't end the year with some somber news.  Joey has multiple tumors in his abdomen and on his skin.  One is on a kidney and another is on his lymph nodes.  Obviously this is not good news, and the prognosis is not great.  However, we are not giving up, so yesterday, Ashley took Joey to the Auburn University small animal clinic oncology department.  He spent the day undergoing tests and other things.  They took samples of the tumors and once we get the pathology results, we will hopefully have a treatment plan.  Until then, Joey is getting spoiled and a lot of love from all of us.  He even got a new favorite pillow.

Like most, we will hope 2021 brings better times and catchier rhymes.  Happy New Year to all!