started off with an early breakfast and quick inspection of the house to make sure everything was tidy as the cleaners were coming at nine…
it was raining out when they arrived so I headed up to the computer room to get out of their way… while there I filed paperwork, put items in a pass-along box and tidied the desk… it always surprises me how that desk can get cluttered, all by itself, lol…
as they left, Hilda the Gardener arrived for a final cleanup of the garden… pots and planters were emptied in preparation for our next season, irises were planted around the garden, and the strawberry plant went back into the ground to overwinter…
while she was here, my grandson’s grandfather arrived to work a bit on the newly drywalled sections of the basement…
as they were working inside and outside, I began bringing in the plants that will live indoors during the next few seasons and setting them up in their winter locations…
this year I have set up a few grow lights in the spot where the small fish tank had been located… it will be an interesting experiment to see how they will do in this location…
so, the inside and outside of the house are both lovely, tidy, clean and organized…
following along with taking the netting off the pond and the fish being happier, I’ve been working on their winter condo…
rarely do I clean the tanks when they head out to the pond, lol…
so, I’ve been working on emptying tanks, cleaning them and getting them set up for the big move…
this year I decided to move the small tank from the living room to the dining room credenza with the other two tanks…
the plan is to have plants on the ledge where the tank was…
to do that I had to empty the two big tanks so that I could move them along so there would be room to fit the third one in… they also were scrubbed to get most of the algae off them…
and of course the one is the same depth, but about an inch and a half shorter than the others… we found some wood in the garage that brought it up to the perfect height…
we ordered a pump to use to empty them and after waiting for it to arrive, when I used it on Saturday, it worked for about five minutes and then quit, sigh… so I filled a jug and dumped it into the toilet over and over as well as watering some of the planters outside…
I quite like how they look all together…
after nearly completely emptying them and moving them, I filled them with the outside hose… I am so happy that it extends to a hundred feet so it can do things like this…
two of the three pumps started with no problem… unfortunately, the biggest one did not… it had been giving me a bit of trouble last year so I will be heading to Nestor’s to either replace the pump or the whole system… we have had that one for many years…
once it is running, it will likely be three or four weeks to be sure the water is clean and ready, before the fish come in…
on Friday I rearranged the lawn furniture so there was a bit more space on the back deck…
on Saturday, I took the netting off the pond… it was doing a good job of collecting the leaves although the weight of them had it sinking into the water…
the fish weren’t moving around as much as usual, the birds weren’t drinking or bathing and I didn’t like the look of it…
next year when it goes down, I will put some thin boards over the top so that it doesn’t slip into the fishes’ domain…
now, the fish, the birds, and I are much happier, lol…
it was hot but we had a crazy busy and productive day yesterday… the shed, which I haven’t been to the back of for over fifteen years, got emptied…
it had been jammed with all kinds of goodies over the years… let’s be honest, my beloved was a pack rat… and, I may have added a few items…
part way through the process it looked a bit better…
once all the “stuff” was removed, they had to shovel out twelve garbage bags filled with seeds, nuts, bits of cardboard, chewed up wood, and insulation…
finally got the net down to protect the pond from all the falling leaves…
we ordered netting online awhile ago and I had some landscape pins which we used to fasten it around the pond… I had to remove ones that were holding down a drip hose around the main deck because I have managed to misplace the box which has at least twenty-five more pins in it, sigh…
it was an interesting process as we figured out the best spots to attach it… my housemate did most of the work, but I did help…
so happy that we can still traverse the bridge without having to walk on the net…
it is the perfect length so that we didn’t have to go back and forth across the water to cover the whole thing… it doesn’t even look too bad…
and, of course, since then, hardly any leaves have fallen, lol…
as I’ve been sitting in the garden reading and enjoying the birds and bunnies around me, I’ve been hearing the Canada geese as they have begun to fly overhead…
I do love listening to their honking to one another as they head north or south, depending on the time of day…
of course, the sad part is that means fall is coming, sigh…
herbiggirlpants 