23 Saturday Aug 2025
Posted in family, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cool weather, exploded, family, garden, moments, morning glory, nature, rain, self-sown, weather, widow
the self-sown morning glories in the front flowerbed have exploded with all this rain and cooler weather…
I took this first photo yesterday and the second one this morning;-)…
22 Friday Aug 2025
Posted in family, food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, breakfast, donor, English Garden, falafels, family, food, Leo Mol Garden, lilies, moments, muskrats, nature, Park Cafe, pond, rose, walk, widow
finally walked over to the Park this morning…
started with breakfast at the Park Cafe… I really enjoyed the falafels…
from there it was over to the English Garden which is just gorgeous right now…
I found a lovely rose, just after we saw a hummingbird, although it moved too fast for me to get a photo…
in the Leo Mol Arbor we spotted one of the muskrats;-)…
had some fun with water lilies and frogs at the lily pond…
the gardens were being prepped for the big donor event this week… pressure washers were cleaning up the concrete, while lights were being added to the trees throughout the space… it will look lovely in the evening;-)…
21 Thursday Aug 2025
Posted in business, family, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blades, blessed, company, family, fans, fixed, help, list, moments, power post, projects, snaking, Technology, thermostat, widow
yesterday was a great day;-)…
my company magically touched the power box beside the pond and got it working…
we need a short extension as the pump in the pond has moved a little further away, and I will be very happy to remove the orange extension cord that has been snaking through the grass, lol…
I’d been hopeful that the photos which have been sent to my electronic frame could be copied before deleting from the frame, but it was clear that isn’t possible…
then, three rooms got new fan/light combinations to replace the thirty-year-old ones that were beginning to break down… my job was to join the blades to the connecting hardware;-)…
the thermostat, which since it was installed two years ago, hasn’t been able to run the fan continuously when the furnace was off was finally fixed, yay…
so happy to remove these items from the project list;-)…
17 Sunday Aug 2025
Posted in family, food, garden, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, corn on the cob, family, garden, moments, sandwich, technique, tomato, widow
as a child when we had corn on the cob it was always with fresh tomatoes, lol…
yesterday I had some excellent corn with a bit of garlic sausage…
today I made a delicious toasted tomato sandwich with another tomato from the garden…
seems like my technique of bringing them in just as they start to turn from green and putting them on the shelf in the kitchen has been working…
15 Friday Aug 2025
Posted in family, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
bed, big girl pants, blessed, company, cozy, family, flowers, happy, mattress, moments, pullout, Technology, widow
spent some time yesterday changing the den to a bedroom;-)…
furniture was moved inside and outside of the room… a second mattress was brought down from upstairs to make the pullout couch more comfy, a quilt came up from the basement, and then the bed was made up in anticipation of company…
a basket of towels was put together, a bigger fan moved into the space, and a little rosebush was added to brighten it…
post its were added to advise the proper names to use when speaking with the household technology so that lights would go on and off as requested, lol…
looks very cozy…
14 Thursday Aug 2025
Posted in family, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, carpet, family, grandson, helpful, moments, mortar, nature, steps, tidy, weather, widow
last evening my middle grandson arrived after his workday…
we had supper and then he patched the steps, making the mortar in small batches…
as he worked he tidied everything up, which I really appreciate;-)…
it took about an hour and a half to get the job done and it came out very nicely;-)…
next will be scraping the steps in preparation for laying the carpet…
we’ve had to postpone this work a number of times due to the weather, lol…
13 Wednesday Aug 2025
Posted in family, garden, life, loss, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
attempts, big girl pants, blessed, blocks, friends, garden, grandson, leaking, meltdown, moments, new liner, pond, rocks, Technology, time, water, waterfall, widow
the work on the pond waterfall area started in early June… when the first two fixes didn’t work we moved on to more serious attempts…
the water in the upper pond was removed, and all the gunk was vacuumed out…
a group of three attempted to lift out the waterfall rock… unfortunately, it broke in the process… one of us might have had a meltdown;-(…
next the remaining blocks were removed and a new liner was installed… then the blocks were put back in… a bit of a puzzle to remember where each one went, lol… possibly they should have been numbered;-)…
the next step involved filling cracks with foam and gluing down some of the rocks…
with help from a friend the main piece of the waterfall rock was carefully lowered back into its spot…
it took three of us, but the three pieces of the waterfall rock were joined together with special rock cement and we waited a week for it to cure…
then the flat rock portion was glued down and left to cure…
next the hose was put down inside the liner and the waterfall spillway was placed back into the waterfall rock… there were a lot of crossed fingers at that point…
finally, on Sunday night, August 10th the waterfall was turned on…
it was too late for a good picture, so this one was taken the next morning…
there is no leaking 🤪…
a great job by my housemate and various friends throughout the process as issues arose and heat and rain caused stoppages…
what a treat to hear the water running and not have to worry about adding water all the time;-)…
06 Wednesday Aug 2025
Posted in business, family, garden, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, family, fence, garden, gate, housemate, impact drill, moments, project, sunk, Technology, wheel, widow
our most recent project was fixing the back gate… one end had sunk down and it was dragging on the ground, making it difficult to open and close…
day one, session one, involved removing it from the fence and cutting a portion off the bottom… at the end of the day we put the garbage and recycling bins in the opening so it didn’t feel so open, lol…
session two was removing nails and finding a board to go from corner to corner to help keep the gate from sagging as well as one to go along the bottom… and purchasing screws and a gate wheel…
day two, session one, involved figuring out the angle of the cross board and reattaching all the pieces… and purchasing an impact drill…
we aren’t going to talk about how someone gave away the first one, sigh…
session two involved reattaching the gate to the fence and making sure the wheel was in the correct spot… sounds easier than it actually was, lol…
and job done…
this will make taking out and returning the bins much easier in summer and winter;-)…
05 Tuesday Aug 2025
Posted in family, garden, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
spent a good portion of Saturday working through the project list…
the flat rock in the waterfall area was glued down…
the sad planter got a few coats of bright blue paint…
a used pond hose had clamps removed and was cut down into pieces that fit into the garbage can…
large pieces of tyndall stone were moved to tidy up the veggie garden area…
a board under the bed was trimmed so I won’t bang my shins on it…
a broken piece of 2 by 10 was removed from the bench and clamped together to produce a template for the replacement…
what fun to check off so many items from the list😊…
04 Monday Aug 2025
Posted in family, garden, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, boyfriends, door, friends, garden, gate, memories, moments, repaired, widow
on Tuesday evening one of the doors on the side gate was taken away to be repaired by one of my beloved’s boyfriends…
a number of the “rays” had broken over time so it needed a delicate touch to return it to its former glory…
it was odd that only this one door had the broken pieces…
at bedtime I put a chair up in the empty space as I didn’t want the deer to come and visit (ie, eat) anything in the garden, lol…
Wednesday afternoon it was returned all beautiful and restored…
we screwed it back into the hinges and it looks excellent…
herbiggirlpants 