another delightful day in the garden, especially after the last number of cool and overcast days…
spotted a hibiscus blossom, so that was a treat…
next, I went into the pond to clean out the pump… the leaves have been falling like crazy and there were a ton in the water… once the pump has been cleaned out, the waterfall always flows beautifully…
all the cushions went out and a dear friend arrived with lunch… we ate inside as the wasps are very busy in the garden…
we moved outside and had a lovely time by the pond catching up on life…
after she left, I read in the garden for the remainder of the day;-)…
soaking up every minute possible in this sanctuary…
a big project over the last week was fixing the three dresser drawers along the inside wall so that they would open…
a while ago, a pump was leaking from one of the tanks and the water ran down the front of the drawers… the other problem was the weight of the tanks on the dresser…
we started by emptying the water in two tanks and then removing them… after that the three drawers were yanked out, lol…
a 2×6 went under the corner of the dresser to raise it up a bit, and then the edges of the three drawers were cut down a little which means they will open easily in the future…
while the drawers were out, I went through them one-by-one (as well as the three next to them) and made piles for saving, giving away, and garbage… then each of the six drawers was reorganized… that was like a whole different project, lol…
then we got help to pick up a piece of plywood to go on the top of the dressers, it was cut, after which the pieces were painted and put on top of the dressers…
after all that work, the fishtanks were cleaned, and then put back (another project, lol)… in the next few days, they will be filled with water and the pumps started to clean the water before the fish come in…
at last the living and dining room have been returned to normal;-)…
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;-)…
started the morning with Hilda the Gardener, who arrived to do some maintenance in the garden… I’ve been thinking of the change that she has made to the space over the years;-)…
it always feels so fresh and tidy after her time here…
while she was working away, I picked beans and peas, and spotted some cucumbers starting, yay…
then a friend stopped by with a bag of books for me and I had a bag for her as well;-)…
we hadn’t seen one another for ages and had a great catch-up…
after they both left, I read and relaxed in this lovely space…
the lawn didn’t get mowed last Sunday because the grass hadn’t grown much, and this Sunday because it rained most of the day…
my friends were coming over yesterday afternoon so I decided to mow and whipper snip the garden… I waited until just before noon to give it more time to dry out…
moved a chair and some tables and then figured out how to get the mower going (been a while since I used it)… there are many things in the garden so it takes a bit of effort to get around them, even though it is a small space…
once that was done I pulled down the whipper snipper, found the battery, attached it, and went around all the edges… apparently, at some point I should have tapped it on the ground to extend the line that does the cutting…
I was rather pleased with the result, and then put the furniture back…
just before I brought out the cushions, it started to rain😣…
herbiggirlpants 