spent a lovely afternoon in the garden before the rain…
pulled more leaves out of the pond… more are coming down into it every day…
I read and listened to the birds as they crunched through the leaves looking for bugs and seeds… considering how small they are, they made a lot of noise…
flocks of white-throated, song, and house sparrows, as well as pine siskins landed in the grass and around the pond where they would carefully jump from rock to rock to get a drink…
went outside to see if I could get the waterfall going… it stopped for some reason early in the week so I had gone out and unplugged it… I wasn’t looking forward to the prospect…
I took a ton of leaves out of the pond and dug around the pump with my hands to clear out some of the muck… the water was cold…
got everything working, moved the milkweed, and emptied some of the pots which held dead plants… I left the fishnet in the water hoping the fish will get used to it so when we go to catch them they will be more cooperative, lol…
then I spent time cleaning out the morning glories, adding plants to a pot by the hot tub and rearranging furniture around the lower deck…
it looks lovely and will be a great place for any garden visits that might happen on nice days;-)…
by the time I was finished, I was very happy and pleased with all that had been accomplished…
the majority of the plants in the garden and front yard have been hit by the frost…
I had been waiting to bring in one of the daturas but I couldn’t decide which one to use…
this morning the decision was made for me as two of the three plants I had been looking at were dead, lol…
I went out and was able to lift the remaining planter and then carefully moved it step by step into the house… then I put it onto a towel, lifted a portion of the carpet, and dragged it to the window…
we finally got the dust to deal with the 3 wasp nests we have discovered around the yard… I had spoken with someone at Poulin’s and they recommended we try this before having someone come out and basically do the same thing, lol…
my grandson picked it up and sprayed it in all the places…
a dear friend brought my favourite fish and chips, from Captain’s Table and we had a great visit…
after she left I went out, filled the garbage bin with more goodies from the garage, and set it out for tomorrow’s pickup…
then I wandered around the yard and took some pictures of the Virginia creeper… it is a vivid and glorious colour although many of the leaves have already dropped…
I’ve been contemplating how lucky I am to have the time to spend on such activities;-)…
have been having some problems with the hot tub leaking for quite some time, but wasn’t certain that the water wasn’t just evaporating with the hot weather we’d been having…
finally it was clear that there was a problem so I called up the company I deal with and made an appointment…
a fellow came out on Monday morning and discovered water dripping from a portion of the pump… he thought it would be about forty dollars for the part which needed to be replaced… he worked for well over an hour and then advised that the entire pump needed to be replaced because the new piece wouldn’t fit in properly as they are now made slightly differently…
we contacted a supplier and my son-in-law went and picked up the new one so that the repair person could return the next morning to hook it up…
sadly, that didn’t happen… I made numerous calls to the store and was advised that they would pass along the message, but no one came… finally I called and asked for an actual appointment so that someone would turn up…
two fellows turned up the next morning and set about installing the new pump… they also fixed the loose jets (with silicone) so they don’t keep shooting the water out of the tub when the water level goes down a bit…
they advised the silicone needed twenty-four hours to cure and that the tub should work fine after that….
cleaned it out and partially filled it to just below the jets and waited for the point where I could finish filling it and turn it on to heat up…
after I filled it up and turned it back on, the pump made noise but the water did not move… I called again and a few hours later the guys came back and fixed an airlock in the pump… then it started to heat up…
I have the nicest neighbours… they are basically all new(ish)… when we first moved here we became good friends with a number of neighbours, but they are all gone…
since then there have been a few inhabitants of various houses who we didn’t chat with very much…
today, the neighbour across the street came over and fixed a piece of siding at the peak of the house that had come loose during the big wind storm a while back… we had a lovely chat as he tried to get it hooked back in… he had volunteered to fix it for me, via his wife, who I had chatted with the other day when the fire trucks raced down the street… he helped me last winter when Indi got stuck at the bottom of the driveway and I couldn’t get her up the slope…
the tomatoes I’ve been eating came from the next door neighbours on my right… they have been in the house for a few years now and remind me of our friends who used to live there… he spends a lot of time tinkering in the yard and garage, lol… they spend time at the lake and moved here to help with their grandchildren and have them over on a regular basis… they got a dog a few months ago… not sure what type he is, but he is small and learning not to bark when he sees me in my garden…
the neighbours behind have been there for ten or so years so knew my beloved and they would chat over the fence all the time and share tools… the other day he offered to help with the garage cleanup…
the neighbours on the left are the newest addition… they are a young couple who also have a new puppy, which is going to be fairly large… they have both offered to pick up anything I might need when they are out and about…
I think back to the gatherings we used to have on the deck… weekend breakfasts, dinners and visits… those days are long gone…
and of course, nowadays the only visiting we do is at a distance…
still, it is lovely to know that if I need urgent help I could call on any of them…
in preparation for the colder weather I’ve now brought in the three plants that live in the house…
last week the Japanese maple came in and settled back in beside the living room window… the leaf colours had already started to change…
a few days back, the mandevilla came in… I added fresh earth and sprayed it with insecticide to remove any creepy crawlers that might have wanted to take a trip…
it had been hanging outside and really wanted to lean forward… eventually three elastics helped make it stand up straight… hope it doesn’t decide to fall over in the dining room…
yesterday I brought the hibiscusinside…. excited to see it has buds on it;-)…
might also bring in a couple of others to see if they can survive the winter in the house…
and tonight I’ve covered the dahlias… the temperature is likely going to -4 Celsius… four of them have buds and I’m hoping they get to open… for two of them, it will be the first time they bloom and I am interested to see how they look…
herbiggirlpants 