a delightful day in the garden… the weather was perfect… sunny, but not too hot…
I moved around the garden, following the shade and reading my book;-)…
although, there were constant interruptions as sparrows, squirrels, and bunnies kept me looking up from my reading…
the sparrows have dug holes in the spaces between the stepping stones along the edge of the pond… two or three of them are at least an inch or so deep… the birds really enjoy dust baths…
one squirrel spent ages trying to figure out how to get to the seeds in the squirrel-proof feeder…
happily it never figured it out…
not sure if there were one or two bunnies, lol… one spent quite some time under the bird feeder amongst the iris leaves scoffing down any fallen seeds…
and maybe the same one, or another, having a nap in the grass…
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…
recently a friend messaged me asking if I might take some of their fish… they were looking for homes for three goldfish and a koi as they are going to focus on guppies and tetras…
I thought about it and agreed to take the goldfish, but not the koi… they have different requirements and also grow very large…
they started to look for a place that would take the koi and eventually were able to find a home for it and the largest goldfish at a city college which has a number of ponds…
they brought the two remaining goldfish over on Friday…
they have now joined the fish in the large tank and seem quite happy…
I think they will enjoy the pond when they get to move out there;-)…
around 5:30 vehicles began to arrive with boxes and furniture, as my grandson moved into the basement for the next while… of course, by that time it was snowing and blowing…
the empty space was all of a sudden filled up with stuff again, in a very messy way… yikes…
after all the stuff was brought in, we had pizza and wings to thank the helpers and celebrate the move being completed…
I was happy because I got a heart-shaped one, ate half of it, and saved the rest for lunch the next day…
finally took the time to move the table behind the sofa in the den…
it sounds simple, but involved moving the table into the hall, pushing the sofa (and carpet) to the side of the room, getting the table past the edge of the sofa, and then putting everything back, lol…
got it all done, found a quilt to put on the table and sat down to recuperate from all that exercise;-)…
my grandson moved on the weekend… he went from one apartment to another…
it reminded me of our move from our only apartment to our house… moving into the apartment had been an easier time as we were both coming from our parents’ homes and all of the furniture was delivered directly from the stores..
when we left the apartment, we didn’t have that much stuff and had friends to help us with the big things…
we arrived at the house eagerly around 9 am and discovered the elderly couple having tea at the kitchen table… they didn’t appear to be packed and may have forgotten they were leaving that day… yikes, it made for a stressful morning as we waited at the basically empty apartment, hoping they were going to be out in time for us to get in…
we had to be out of the apartment at the end of the day, so it did feel as though the clock was ticking…
when we turned up again at 3 pm they were gone and the house was empty…what a relief…
I have not moved since then… now there is a lot of stuff, lol…
recently brought in two of my plants which had been on the deck for the last while…
the hibiscus spent the entire summer on the deck and when it came in it sat just inside the door as it acclimatized to the temperature and hopefully dropped any bugs… it took up a fair bit of room, lol… it was moved yesterday to the corner of the dining room and today has a bloom;-)…
the mandevilla had lived right in the garden and only recently started blooming… it was covered with a plastic bag and sat in the bathtub to suffocate any non-invited guests before moving into the dining room this morning…
it will stay there for a little while, but this may not be its final resting place…
herbiggirlpants 