MCU Phase II

 The McGuirk Construction Universe Phase II (MCU II) has started.  We are reclaiming the old garage and plan to make it a mud-entryway and den.  First, here is a picture of the exterior when it was a garage.

We have taken out the garage door and installed five large windows.

Brick will be added to the bottom, and it should look like it was part of the house.  The inside is coming along.  The entryway wall has been framed, and the electricians have been running wire and adding lights.

I think we'll get some insulation this week, and maybe drywall will start next week, but I'm not sure.  We're hopeful it will be done by some time this summer.  The furnishing of the carriage house is also going well.  We had a couch and a chair delivered this week.

The newspaper is the size of a 55-in flat screen television, which we'll get at some point, but not quite yet.  We also had blinds installed.

The blinds are on all the windows--I just closed two of the blinds to show that they do work.  Ashley plans to build a large high-table to go with the chairs you see in the above picture.  I'm not sure of the timeline for that project, but I'm sure we'll post pictures when it is done.

Nothing else too exciting is happening here.  Bode is off tomorrow from school for a teacher workday.  I have about a month left until our summer break, and I am really looking forward to that!  Pleasant week to all.

Another Swim Meet

 Meigs swam against Liza Jackson yesterday.  They are a pretty big team, but they only beat the Meigs boy's team by 20 points, which is very impressive considering Meigs had a number of DQs.  Bode swam amazingly well.  His first event was the 200 medley relay.  He swam the butterfly leg.  Note how far behind Bode is when he starts, but if you watch until he finishes, you will see he finishes at exactly the same time as the kid next to him.

His next event was the 50-fly.  The boy next to him in lane four is a friend of Bode's and he told Bode that he was going to beat him.  I think Madden was joking and trying to get into Bode's head, because he knew going in that Bode was faster.  Still, it was a very exciting race.

His fly-time was 29:81, which I think is quite fast.  He's really improved this past season.  His third event was the 50-free.  I thought the boy next to Bode is lane four was going to beat Bode, just by looking at the kid's physique (leaner than Bode, a little more muscle definition), but our little dolphin swam like a shark closing in on his prey and finished in personal-best time of 27:28.

Bode also swam in the 200-freestyle relay.  His team was up by a good bit going into the anchor leg (Bode swam lead-off), but the boy on Bode's team lost his goggles when he dove in, which really slowed him down.  Liza won by only two seconds.  Oh well--it was a very exciting race.  Before the meet, Bode even posed for a picture with Ashley.

After the meet, Bode's dinner was a giant sub from Jersey Mikes.  I'm still amazed at how much he eats. 

Today, I worked in the garden and the yard.  My peas are coming in nicely...

The corn is starting to grow...

The black beans have sprouted...

And even the broccoli has broken through.

It was a beautiful weekend here on the emerald coast; if only we didn't have to work tomorrow :-)

Happy spring to all!

Another Gardening Year

 I did not have much success with the garden in 2020 (I blame Covid).  I am going to take a more proactive approach and plan to spray early and often for bugs, mold, pests, and fungi.  I did some planting last weekend, and there are already some corn and peas sprouting up through the surface.

The first picture is of the entire garden.  I tilled each of the boxes and added some new soil.  We'll see if this helps.

The blackberry vines have a lot of new growth on them, so I'm hoping we can defeat the birds and get some good fruit.

Since I already have the trellis in place to support the berries, I planted some peas along the base.  These are already starting to break through the ground, although I don't know if you can really tell in the picture.

I planted a lot of corn--5 rows worth--in the second box.  I have my owl standing guard over the seeds, and I think they all survived.  There are some little shoots coming up, and I imagine I'll have some good growth by next week.  I also planted some cantaloup at the far end.

Today, I planted a lot of beans in the third box--black beans, lima beans, and green beans.  I also did some broccoli, but I don't know why.  I've never had any success with broccoli down here, so maybe it's just too warm for it.  We'll see if we have any luck.  What you see growing are radishes.  I planted these back in January because a friend told me radishes do great in the winter.  He was correct, although I don't really eat them, so this was sort of just for show :-)

It's Sunday night, and we are all tired from the weekend.  Well, I should say Ashley and I are tired.  Bode thinks Ashley and I are old because we go to bed so early (he is probably right :-)  Pleasant week to all.

Middle School Swim Meet

 The first middle school swim meet of the season was on Saturday.  Meigs swam against the Emerald Coast Middle School (ECMS).  I haven't seen the meet results, but I am pretty sure Meigs won because they simply had far more swimmers, which means more points in more events.  Bode swam great--he did the 50-butterfly and the 100-IM.  He also swam the lead-off leg of the 200-freestyle relay and was the butterfly leg of the 200-IM relay.  He swam very well--he posted a sub-30 second time in the 50-fly (29.99!)  

Middle school swimming is not as competitive as club swimming.  However, I do think Bode has a good time, as he is hanging out with his teammates for a few hours.  We took some pictures of the team warming up.  Here's Bode (bottom left) with a couple other kids and also getting ready to work on some starts.

The first swim was the IM-relay.  Here's Bode's leg--his butterfly is looking very good.

Bode's team won the relay; here's a shot of the team cheering as their final leg finishes.

The next event was the 50-fly.  Bode rocked this, although I did tell him that he is going to have to start racing the 100-fly now that he's 13.  He was not thrilled.  In the video, you can see that he does a great job staying underwater, which helps him conserve energy.

Bode did not have much time to rest between the fly and the IM.  Unfortunately, the video was very blurry, so I won't show it.  The final race was the 200-freestyle relay.  Here's Bode swimming the lead leg.

There is another swim meet next weekend.  Coach told Bode's team that this next school will be much more competitive, so they will need to bring their A-swims.  I'm sure we'll take more videos :-)  Pleasant week to all.

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!