There's a Hole in the Bucket, Dear Liza

Dear Liza,

A hole in the bucket dear Liza, a hole!!

Does anyone else remember that silly song from Sesame Street a million years ago??

That's the song that has been running through my head all week, when we discovered that the water was leaking out of our new pond!!

Then fix it dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

then fix it dear Henry, dear Henry FIX IT!

That's what I sang back to my dear Henry after he shut the water pump off after only 2 days of operation.  You'll see from the picture above (where he is trimming away excess rubber liner and underlayment) that it was mustering up to be beautiful!! So Wednesday morning he marked a line on one rock and observed it at the end of the day--very little water had leaked out, but at any rate, some more water was gone.  We turned the pump back on, and within a couple hours, a noticable amount of water was missing.  By Thursday evening we had narrowed the water loss to the east side of the pond--so we rocked in the edge of the west side to cover up the liner.  For some reason Jeremy decided to put his hand down under the east side of the liner and came up with a handful of very wet mud!! Turning the pump back on, he conferred that the water was coming out of the tubing that sends water from the pump to the filter falls.  

Praise the Lord--the easiest thing to fix!! Friday I called to the pond store and the new tubing should be here Monday!!  I also ordered some oxygenating plants to get put in right away, as well as a water lily and a few marginal plants to naturalize some of the rock in the edging.  They are only mailed out M-W so that they will reach their destination before the weekends.  Unfortunately, my water plants are stuck in Lenexa, Ks for the weekend--I hope they don't arrive dead tomorrow!

To top off a very stressful week, I traumatically murdered our two very sweet kitties on Saturday afternoon with the tractor. Apparently they had climbed up under the mowing attachment for a peaceful afternoon nap!! I have no idea why they didn't run when I started the engine up, but they didn't.  And God love our friend Derek who had mercifully been placed in my driveway minutes after the incident happened.  He graciously listened to a hysterical mother who had just termintated her children's pets and took care of them for me!!

Cami thinks that they ran away, and the big boys were very sad but courageous for me (their dad was out of town to the races).  So after a long rest on the steps and 2 large glasses of wine later, D and I finished rocking and doing some other yard cleanup.  Photos to come later--I just didn't think about it Sat. 

We continue to stay very busy with school and sports.  Friday was homecoming, and the boys marched in the parade.  They also play pep band at all the home games. The boys have been enjoying football.  We have a bye this week and then 2 games left.  Then on to basketball.

D, Cami, and I walked with the rest of the 4-Hers who were too young to be in bands or floats. 

We also continue to stay busy with 4-H and church activities.  Tomorrow will be our first cooking meeting for the younger kids.  We are fixing monster cookies (in honor of Halloween of course!) and supreme hot cocoa mix (in honor of it being 41 degrees at night!)

The kids group at church is starting an AWANA program this week (and even Cami has a ride out to be a part of it!).  It looks like an amazing program, and will be very fast moving and fun for the kids! They have changed the timing, so I will no longer need to rush, rush from work to get to church in time to lead worship music.  But, from a junior high standpoint, I have been stretched to find something "cooler" than singing off an overhead.  I am amazed by youtube (yes I am a dork--and have never really looked at that type of media).  I found many songs that we liked from last year and many new ones to introduce them to this year.  They are set to video and have lyrics that flash up on the screen.  Last week we did Garbage in, Garbage out--by Tai and Acacia--if you haven't heard it--go to youtube and check it out!! GREAT LYRICS--and beat--the kids loved it! And many thanks to Connie for figuring out how to get my youtube videos downloaded to the church laptop and on to a flash drive!  That whole process caused me a LOT of grief--And that's a whole different story!

So, welcome October--and with your arrival, the glorious crisp fall air.  I'm so thankful to live in a part of the country that enjoys changing seasons--even if I don't really like all of them!! It is wonderful to change the pace!  I hope to be able to share photos of a landscaped and operational goldfish pond later this week.  Salsa Day is Saturday!!  We have tickets to a Wichita Thunder Ice hockey game in a few weeks.  We'll also enjoy a trip to my sisters to help landscape the front of her house--my very first Curb Appeal attempt (for someone other than me).  Get the beer on ice. . .all my rowdy friends are coming over tonight!!

Not to mention, a jam packed schedule the final weekend of October--corraling 4-Hers to clean during the WEPAC basketball game (a women's BB game to promote breast cancer prevention for women in our communities!); a singing performance during the Wilmore Saturday Nite Live show; and the annual Halloween Bash--right before some serious trick or treating!! IS IT NOVEMBER YET???  I'm afraid that in a twirl and a blink it will be!! Hope you enjoy your month as much as I will!! Be blessed!