Tag Archives: fish

winter-proof…

17 Saturday Oct 2020

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yesterday Hilda the Gardener came to winter-proof the garden…

she trimmed back ferns and hostas; emptied pots in front and back; brought all the dahlia pots onto the deck and cut them back; pulled weeds and trimmed the wild rose in the front flowerbed…

my job will be to remove the dahlia tubers, separate and pack them up for the winter… I’ve had to bring them in to thaw so that I can break up the soil, lol…

we are not raking up the leaves, but will have my grandson do one last mulch in the garden once the furniture is put away…

happy and sad that the garden is nearly prepared for winter…

still a few fish to catch and furniture to move…

fishnet…

04 Sunday Oct 2020

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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…

wet-vac…

16 Wednesday Sep 2020

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my grandson came by to get the fish tank ready for the goldfish to come into their condo…

the pump had stopped working in the spring and we hadn’t dealt with it over the summer… he ran it over to the fish store and they discovered the problem and it is fine now…

the tank had lots of dirty water in it and we tried various disgusting methods to empty it… after a number of ideas failed, we brought in the wet-vac and it worked great…

it is now empty and all of the bits and pieces have been scrubbed and are waiting to go back in… next week he will bring some new purple gravel and we will get it set up…

likely around Thanksgiving we will bring the fish in;-)…

skewer…

14 Monday Sep 2020

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spent a good portion of the afternoon in the garden… I was particularly watching the birds as I thought I’d spotted a rose-breasted grosbeak at the feeder from inside the house…

it was a lovely time… lots of bird and fish watching…

one of the things I’ve noticed is that the waterfall sounds different depending on how clear the line is…

when there is no debris in it it is quiet…

when there is algae and the odd stick in it, the sound is much louder…

I usually have a large skewer behind it that I use to clean the waterfall mechanism, but it appears to be gone… wondering if a crow came by and took it, lol… today I used a twig that had come down from the elm tree next door…

fudgicles…

28 Friday Aug 2020

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had an excellent visit with a good friend a few days ago…

she brought fresh veggies from her garden… we consulted on a project, talked about our lives, exercise, technology, and living on our own…

we ordered in some tasty Pho Hoang and had fudgicles for dessert…

after dinner, while we were sitting beside the pond, I spotted baby fish… this was very exciting…

after she left, I sat and spotted at least four, in three different sizes… looks like two about two inches long and at least one each of two smaller ones…

have not been able to get any photos as they move very quickly and look black in the water, lol… maybe they are nervous about some of those bigger ones..

a lovely time…

sanctuary…

23 Sunday Aug 2020

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spent the morning in the garden watching chickadees, monarchs, nuthatches, squirrels and fish…

the nuthatch was not interested in a photo op and even the chickadees were not particularly cooperative…

the monarch was happily guzzling nectar from the butterfly bush, so I was able to get a number of photos… I am very happy to finally have this plant in the garden and hope that I can get some seeds from it for next year or maybe even try to bring it into the house to see if it will overwinter…

it looks like there will be two more water lily flowers with a possible third one… very exciting…

I hadn’t been out in the garden for a few days and really enjoyed time with the members of my garden sanctuary;-)…

additions…

19 Wednesday Aug 2020

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got new additions to the pond…

two very large goldfish… a white one and an orange one…

they came from a family who plan to move to fancier fish… the grandma brought them over with the oldest grandson’s Nanny, who connected us…

they left them with me once they put the bags in the water… after the fish acclimatized for about half an hour I freed them so they could meet everyone else…

once they were safely in the pond, I took some pictures to send to the family, via Nanny, so that the grandkids could see they were in a good home…

the pond and fish bring me such peace… what a lovely gift;-)…

blossom…

14 Tuesday Jul 2020

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the water lilies are doing very well and I think the fish are enjoying the shade they provide…

I purchased two from RPGC and have been checking daily in the hope that there might be a bud coming…

on July 10 I spotted something that might prove to be one…

I’ve been checking everyday and was thrilled to discover I was right…

it takes a long time for one to emerge from the base of the pot and climb up through a couple of feet of water…

waited patiently… and on Sunday it popped to the surface…

yesterday, it opened a little bit and today it opened completely;-)…

stronger…

07 Tuesday Jul 2020

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another busy day…

up early, put out all the cushions and had my breakfast in the garden… lots of visits from the house finch couple and the chickadees…

went into the pond to clean the pump and filled half a pail with string algae… waterfall is looking better now and the flow is much stronger…

then a good friend came over for a garden visit and we had a lovely time… the garden is looking nice and there are still five or six caterpillars to search out on the milkweed…

she had just left when the lawn mowing service (the middle grandson) arrived… we had a visit before he started and just as he was done the chauffeur (oldest grandson) arrived with a new umbrella which will provide shade in the afternoon sun… we couldn’t put it up as we are waiting for the base to arrive…

then, before I knew it, they were all gone and I was back in the peace and quiet;-)…

lots of reading and nature watching for the rest of the day…