this morning I finally got around to sorting out a working pump for the bathtub pond…
I had switched the two pumps between the main pond and the bathtub, but not long after that change the pump in the tub stopped working completely…
and because there are no fish in that pond, the chance of mosquito larvae growing in it was a problem…
happily, the first extra pump I came across worked, although it didn’t have a piece extending out of the water… luckily that doesn’t matter as the water just needs to move to ensure no larvae can survive…
Friday was a delightful day… the sun shone and the temperature rose to 25°C…
throughout the day, I prepped for a dinner party… between organizing and setting the table on the deck, there were plenty of opportunities to sit, read, and relax…
preparing a space or food for special people is always enjoyable for me as I think about those who I am doing this work for and how important they are to me…
for this gathering, it was mainly about making the space comfortable and considering what dishes we would need as the food was being picked up from a Charleswood Rotary fundraiser…
they provided a whole lobster, baked potato, fresh bun, coleslaw, brownie, small bottle of wine, with a bib and a lobster fork;-)… each person received a shopping bag with all of the goodies in it… I added a few fixings for the potatoes, warm facecloths with lemon for our fingers, and garlic butter in warmers…
once the food was warmed up, we had a lesson in how to eat the whole crustacean… I was a bit slow, lol, so had to keep having information repeated…
the weather was perfect, well, except that the wind kept blowing out some of the butter warmers… lots of conversation and story telling kept us busy throughout the meal…
my housemate took the requisite group photo which he was happy to do (and not be in) before we spent time around the pond…
happily, the fish came out for a short visit before returning to their favourite spot under the bridge…
and before you knew it, everyone headed off into the sunset;-)…
the one on the deck worried me for a while because all the flowers appeared to die off at once… I was concerned that all the rain was too much for it, but now it has begun to bloom again, yay…
the one in the driveway opened its first bloom nearly a week ago, and now there are many more buds opening;-)…
I think I need to train it a bit better so that it stays closer to the trellis…
recently, as I was watching my grandson leaving the garage, I realized that he was having to struggle with all the virginia creeper that was attempting to take over the doorway, lol…
so, I brought out a pail, put on my gloves, and used the clippers to make the space a little more open…
from there I went to the side gate and did a fair bit of trimming as it was getting difficult to get to the tap and hose…
did some work on the small pond pumps, which are used to move the water in the bathtub pond and add more oxygen in the main pond…
climbed into the pond and brought the pump onto the edge of the deck and cleaned out all the gunk that was in it and then put it back into the pond…
brought up the second pump and after climbing into the bathtub pond, got it set in the correct spot so it wouldn’t send the water out of the pond… then it was turned on and that pond was topped up…
now there won’t be any issues with mosquitoes and I’m going to add a few more plants to that one…
quite awhile ago the last of the plants made their way into the garden, either in pots, or the ground…
I’ve been watching daily to see if things are sprouting out of the planters… so far, three of the dahlias have popped up, but one has not, and it was the one I was most looking forward to, lol…
the strawberry that had gone into the ground in the fall has moved into a pot and has quite a few blossoms on it… as well as the beginnings of berries…
I painted rocks red to hopefully keep the birds from eating the berries before we get to them…
apparently the birds will go for the red rocks and decide that red things aren’t worth it, lol…