More rock

Ran out of rocks at the pond project at Hotel California; a second shipment arrived today. They will keep until Stan arrives to perform his specialty: moving rocks from the front to the back yard pond. Hai is stone placement specialist.

Bridge men

How to use blog to remember Jen

Welcome.

This blog has given us some comfort in the days following the loss of our daughter. It is filled with stories and pictures of her many life experiences. If you knew and cared for Jennifer, you might wish to do what we do too.

Look in the upper left corner of this blog and find the search box. Type in Jennifer and it should sort a treasury of photos and stories involving our Jennifer. There are quite a few pages, you may wish to just scan for the ones you’re interested in. Perhaps you can search your name too.

Friends are welcome to visit this blog whenever. No password needed, it is public domain.

If you have difficulty or think you might not be getting the full documentation, keep trying or let us know. There is an awful lot here and we hope you enjoy using this to give comfort at our great loss.

Stan and Kathleen, hosts

www.rolfsruds.blogspot.com

More progress

Today's dispatch from the construction site at Hotel California:

Work continues without old guy

Hai sent this today to prove he wasn't out ocean fishing. He's continued working on the pond project, despite the loss of his partner, who returned to Minnesota in time for The Big Chill and Christmas. Plantings will eventually soften the coarse rocky texture around waterfall, he explains. We promise to finish before the Crazy Horse monument.

No early birds

Just spotted this outside the window on a rainy day at Hotel California. We've been working the past month on building a pond here and we've got the vinyl liner down and it is filling with water. But we're months away from when this bird can go fishing for koi. Not that it is invited.

Hey Minnesota, we've got snow too

View of Mt. Jacinto over the back fence of Hotel California. Lots of snow in the mountains. Drying out on mainland.

It rains is southern California, man it pours

At least now we know the pond will hold water.

Bridge Over the River Hai? -- The Ranger

Here’s November’s project at Hotel California, finished ahead of schedule and over budget. Eight sturdy redwood 2x4s were ripped, bent and glued to form the backbone and railings of this bridge, squeezed between matched sidewalk edges, that had been exposed with a borrowed cement saw and jackhammer. Why did the old retired guy build a bridge over the future fish pond? Boredom? Stroke therapy? Life fulfillment? No. He built it to get to the other side.