I was reminded by my TimeHop app today that I’d posted to the website 3 years ago today about having trouble keeping the blog going. I really wasn’t sure what to write – the title of the post was “What to Write About“.

I was explaining to my father last week about feeling guilty for not keeping the blog up to date. He asked me, “What is the purpose of the blog? Why are you writing it?”.

It gave me good pause; I decided the purpose of the blog was to document the things going on in our lives. However, I spend most of my energy documenting my life on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. In fact, I assume most anyone reading this likely sees my posts on any of the above social networks. But, that brings me back to why this blog is here. I want THIS to be a documentary of our lives lived.

If you look at my last post here (way back on December 14), you’ll see and hear the girls playing a Christmas recital with the rest of Linda’s piano students. However, a lot has happened over these past 5 weeks. Let me explain…

The following week found me extremely busy with the Kansas City Symphony Chorus performing on the Christmas concerts. I had rehearsal every night of that week and then had 6 performances between Thursday evening and Sunday evening. I was exhausted.

Of course, Christmas came right after that and I worked almost every day from the 22nd until the end of the year; all of the shifts were 4pm-2am. I couldn’t really enjoy the visit from Linda’s sister and family until the last day they were here. Ed, my brother-in-law, and I tried to do a quick tour of the Boulevard Brewing Company, but the tours were all booked and we had to settle for doing tastings in the Tasting Room.

New Year’s Eve was upon us pretty quickly and I did have the day off. We were invited to a neighbor’s house for a party; it was fun, but, because I had to work the next morning, were home and in bed pretty quick after midnight.

In short time, we gathered our friends in our basement for the K-State bowl game at the Cotton Bowl against UCLA. The Wildcats started the game pretty poorly, but they made it an interesting game and almost came back for a potential win. We lost 40-35. The great part was spending the evening with some of our closest friends – all of them K-State fans. EMAW!

This brings us up to January and we’ve continued to be very busy. However, I’m going to tell you more about that in the upcoming posts. Here’s hoping for some consistency on my part.

Linda and I have been wanting to build a pond in our backyard for several years. We have had small water fountains, but never one that created the sound that we really desired.

We had an area in the back yard that had been pegged for a while as the perfect spot. The only holdback was that it was where the swing set was located. The previous owner built it and it was perfect when we moved in when our girls were 4- and 5-years old. However, they never really used it anymore except a couple times a year when they would sit on the swing for about 45 seconds.

It was decided that the structure would come down and we would put our pond there. I enlisted deconstructing help from one of our neighbors for the price of one sixpack of beer; he owned the power tools.

We made the decision to leave a portion of the structure to create an arbor that plants could grow up and over.

We then waited for the company, Swan’s Water Gardens, to have an open date when they could get started. While Linda and I were out riding our bikes one morning, we received a phone call stating that they would be there that afternoon. We were very excited to see them come start pulling up grass and digging a hole. Stephen, Micky, and Eric were a fabulous and efficient 3-man crew!

Amazingly, this was all done in just about four hours. They said they would be back in the morning to start laying rock. They predicted it would take another 1.5 days.

The next morning arrived and they were efficient getting the liners and barriers installed. Wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow were brought back with rocks and rocks and rocks. Watching all of the rocks hauled reminded me why I was glad I wasn’t the one haling all of those heavy boulders.

After the liner was laid out, the stones were installed – ONE by ONE!

The 3 pond water lines were placed within the hole just after the picture above was taken. They were secured and more rocks placed around them. Once the large boulders were laid out, a large gravel mix was used to fill in any gaps. This was not thrown in by the bucketful or shovelful, but laid carefully by hand and shovel. The meticulous work was amazing.

The rocks were all laid out by about 3pm. It would’ve taken me three weeks of daily work to get to this point. It was time to start washing the dust off all the rocks.

I was amazed at how beautiful the rocks became once the dust was washed off and their colors started showing through. After washing the rocks off and pumping out the dirty water, it was time to start filling the pond. The hose was cranked to full blast and allowed to fill the hole.

A full 55 minutes later and the pond was filled.

The pond was started at 1pm on the first day and finished by 5:45pm the next day.  WOW!

Linda spent the next few days obtaining plants and fish. We started with 10 small gold fish (we’re currently down to 9).

Here’s a picture of our waterlily that finally bloomed after sitting in the pond for almost 10 days.

If you’d like to enjoy some video of the pond and backyard, here are Instagram videos posted. Enjoy.

http://instagram.com/p/r-lqGOluHd/

The relaxation possibilities are endless – from the hammock, to the dining table, and finally to the patio furniture.

http://instagram.com/p/sIvTfzluBd/

And finally, enjoy the goldfish!

http://instagram.com/p/sfqi9pluGi/

We, as a family, had the unpleasant misfortune of attending two funerals today.

The first funeral of the day was that of Jack Cook, age 12. Jack is the little brother of one of Anna’s friends from neighborhood. Additionally, Linda and his mother have been very good friends for at least 10 years. Jack unfortunately died in his sleep from a medical condition that was unknown. It was truly a shock to hear of his passing.

It was amazing to see the funeral home overflowing with friends and family; the parking lot was so full that people were parking in adjoining business parking lots. Several adults and young people spoke during the funeral, each giving testament to the love and life that Jack gave to everyone who knew him. I was reminded that we mourning the things that will never be for Jack, but we were clearly celebrating an amazing life that he lived to the fullest.

Our hearts go out to the Cook family. As a father, I shudder at the thought of having to attend the funeral of one of my children.

Jack David Cook
Aug 6, 2001 –
Jul 7, 2014

Then, later this afternoon, we joined others at a memorial service to celebrate the life of “Miss Nina”. Nina Molleson, age 88, was the dance teacher for both our girls. They started taking from Miss Nina when they were only 3 years old. I wrote of Miss Nina’s passing about a month ago. She had informed the girls towards the end of the spring classes that she was sick and wasn’t sure if she’d be able to teach in the fall, but she would do all she could to be there. Three weeks after the spring recital, we received word that she had died. I found out today that even those close to her didn’t even know how sick she was – she was that strong of a woman who never relaxed her poise.

Miss Nina was extra special for our family. Despite having taught dance for 65 years, she never seemed out-of-touch to the young girls. In fact, she was very instrumental in teaching them grace, manners, and how to be a young lady. The girls may have learned dance steps, but they learned much more from her. As the very full room of people testified, Miss Nina was a major force in many lives. There were tears, but they were tears of joy and true celebration for an amazing life lived. If only we could all aspire to live the life that Miss Nina gave.

Nina Molleson
Oct 9, 1925 –
Jun 11, 2014

It was a bit odd attending the funerals of a 12-year-old and an 88-year-old in the span of 5 hours, but it was so good to see how two people touched the lives of so many. It made me stop and think about my family and how much I love them. I can only hope that I have touched half as many lives.

Eternal rest, grant unto them, O Lord
And let perpetual light shine upon them!