21 Friday Nov 2025
Posted in food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
checked out a friend’s condo recently… it was lovely and nicely decorated…
we had a great visit over tea and raisin scones (she makes the best)… and I was given some to bring home;-)…
thinking how blessed I am to have so many wonderful people in my life…
26 Monday May 2025
Posted in business, family, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, bridge, condo, family, garden, goldfish, happy, moments, nature, pond, vanished, weather, widow
recently we purchased some feeder fish and popped them into the pond… they vanished under the bridge and weren’t seen again, lol…
a few days ago, the fish were caught and brought out to the pond from their indoor condo … my housemate has very little trouble catching them in the tanks…
once the pail was outside, he waited patiently for me to get out there to take the before, during, and after photos, lol…
they, too, went right under the bridge, but by the next afternoon, they were swimming all around the pond and enjoying a snack…
so happy to have them outdoors again;-)…
30 Wednesday Oct 2024
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, catch, condo, drawbridge, garden, goldfish, grandson, housemate, luck, moments, nature, pond, weather, widow
we’ve been collecting fish from the pond over the last few days as the temperature is getting lower every day and we don’t want to be dealing with ice…
we started with the three that were in the bathtub pond… they have been in the house for about ten days…
right now we have twenty-four…
they have been collected in dribs and drabs… the first collection was about ten, and then a few at a time, as once they see my housemate walk towards the pond they rush under the bridge… unfortunately, it isn’t a drawbridge, lol…
we are still missing five…
wish us luck;-)…
19 Saturday Oct 2024
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
bathtub, big girl pants, blessed, condo, garden, goldfish, inhabitants, moments, move, nature, pond, rock, school, water, weather, widow
today the three fish in the bathtub pond moved into their winter condo… one of the rocks that had been in that pond was also brought in to provide a tunnel for the fish…
the tanks have been filled and running since September 30th, although the biggest one has a lot of algae in it so these fish will be testing whether it is ready for inhabitants…
we will likely wait another week or so before moving the rest of the school…
so far, they appear happy;-)…
03 Monday Jun 2024
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
bathtub pond, big girl pants, blessed, catch, condo, garden, goldfish, moments, nature, pail, pond, poured, rock, weather, widow
the bathtub pond has been running for enough days that it was time for the last goldfish to come out from their small condo in the house…
put a large rock in the pond so they could hide under it, added water from the pond to a bucket, and went into the house to catch them…
lucky for me, it didn’t take too long to collect the four of them…
brought them outside and left them in the pail to acclimatize for about twenty minutes and then poured them in;-)…
they went straight for the hiding place, lol…
28 Tuesday May 2024
Posted in life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, collected, condo, family, fish, garden, goldfish, moments, nature, pail, pond, weather, widow
had some fun on Sunday when the fish moved from their condo, to the pond…
I caught the first few and then my housemate collected the rest from the first tank…
I used water from the pond and left them sitting by the pond for awhile to acclimatize before they went in…
took a bit to catch the rest from the second tank, but eventually they were all in the big pail…
they have barely shown themselves since making it into the pond… amazing how twenty-four fish can fit under the bridge, lol…
23 Monday Oct 2023
Posted in life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
acclimatized, big girl pants, blessed, condo, family, fish, goldfish, house, leaves, moments, nature, neighbours, pond, tank, test, tree, water, weather, widow
when we were in the garden on Sunday, we removed a ton of leaves from the pond… always makes me think of the lovely neighbours we have had over the years, being as how the tree that sheds those leaves is located in their yard, lol…
there were still numerous ones left, but we were able to dig down past them and catch three fish to bring into the house…
I wanted to do a bit of a test in the biggest tank to be sure that the water was safe for them…
after they acclimatized to the house temperature they made it into their condo…
so far they seem happy and healthy;-)…
27 Wednesday Sep 2023
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cleaning, condo, crowded, fish, fish tank, garden, moments, nature, pond, pump, ready, tank, water, wetvac, widow
for the last few weeks I’ve been working on getting the condos (fish tanks), ready for the move from garden to house…
when the fish moved outdoors in the spring, I didn’t clean up the tanks, sigh…
so, it started with cleaning the tank that held the plants last winter… I’ve decided to use it for fish, as the fish were getting a bit crowded in the two tanks…
got it cleaned and then a few days went by before I faced the two big tanks…
had to use the wetvac to remove all the water from the big tanks and dump it down the toilet in small batches… that took quite a bit of time and effort…
next I had to scrub them both down… then I brought in the hose and filled all three tanks up… another slow process…
I had to purchase a pump for the newest tank… as I hooked them up, the biggest pump would not work…
finally, after numerous attempts, it started working and now all three tanks are running and cleaning the water…
it will be weeks before the fish move in, but the tanks will be ready for them…
the funniest thing is realizing how much noise they make, after being silent all summer…
whew;-)…
14 Sunday May 2023
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, clean-up, condo, cushions, garden, goldfish, happy, Hilda the Gardener, moments, nature, pond, water lilies, widow, working
Friday was a great day in the garden…
first time this year I took the time to put out all the cushions… and then Hilda the Gardener arrived and began cleaning up the space… yay…
while she was working away, I climbed into the pond to reset the second pump and cover the cords…
next I brought out the water lilies from the tanks in the house and set them in the pond…
finally I caught and put three goldfish into the pond to see how they fared… maybe next week the rest will move out of the condo…
all in all a great day…
04 Thursday Nov 2021
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
babies, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, condo, family, fish, garden, goldfish, memories, moments, nature, pond, preparation, tank, weather, widow
I have been working on the fish condo for weeks now… spent a good portion of a day cleaning the fish tank… lots of scrubbing and emptying…
I researched a second tank and we went out and got the tank and two pumps so that they were on the ends as opposed to the back of the tanks…
after numerous measurements, we set the new tank up on the counter along the North wall of the dining room… then the bottom was filled with rocks and water and the new pump set up… this tank will be for the baby fish as the other tank won’t be able to hold all of the fish…
I worked with my grandson and we were able to move the big tank to the spot beside the small tank… it looks good there and it almost appears like one single very long tank…
after putting river rocks in it, I ran the hose from the outside tap through the house and was able to fill it up in nine minutes… it probably took me that long to fill the small one as I used a pail and walked back and forth to the kitchen sink for that one, lol…
had a bit of an issue with the pump as there wasn’t quite enough room in the large tank for it on the edge, but we were able to remove a piece of plastic and now it fits perfectly…
once the water was in and circulating for a few days we began catching the fish… we have been at it for quite a while… we started on October 22nd and today I think we caught the last one… I had to break ice for the last few collections, lol…
it was quite a process because since about the middle of October the water has been brown as leaves have fallen into it so it has made spotting fish difficult…
we also brought in some of the water lilies, which hopefully will survive until next spring when they can go back into the pond…
the tanks look great and I am pleased with all of our work…
we have 12 large fish and 14 babies;-)…
herbiggirlpants 