Tag Archives: nature

stripes…

23 Friday Oct 2020

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had fun going through my various bird books and apps because I saw a very interesting bird on the deck yesterday… it was a touch bigger than a sparrow but with stripes on its front with a black dot on its chest… couldn’t find it in any of the books…

there was a house finch there too and I haven’t seen any of them for quite a while…

at one point I saw three chickadees at a feeder in the front yard at the same time… rare to see more than one…

was going from the front to the back throughout the day checking on the guests…

didn’t get any pictures except this one when I headed to the front yard to fill the feeders…

brought the pail of seeds into the kitchen to make filling the feeders easier…

trying…

22 Thursday Oct 2020

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last night my grandson came over just after dark to bring me a few items and do some jobs around the garden… here he is arriving, thanks to my new camera…

and the goodies he brought… I’m excited to try the purple popcorn…

he took the pump out of the pond, moved the heavy furniture onto the back deck, and then we spent time trying to catch fish…

two cellphone flashlights lit up the pond as he searched for the fish… amazingly he caught one of the shubunkins… quite a feat as they look mainly black in the pond and by then it was very dark out, lol…

I’ve been masking up now whenever he is over because of where he works… last night I ended up taking off my glasses as they kept fogging up, so I was trying not to fall into the pond… which was a feat as there are a bunch of rocks that have been pulled out of the water and are all over the deck, lol…

because I knew he was coming I had made our favourite red curry lentils and packaged up some for him to take home, along with a couple of items for the others… he was sad to hear he had to share the lentils;-)…

had some of mine for breakfast…

feed…

21 Wednesday Oct 2020

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woke up to this…

we often get a bit of snow before Halloween, but it usually disappears… not sure that is going to happen this year…

I went out to the garden, dug the shovels out of the garage and shovelled off the top deck and by the hot tub… I set up a few spots for bird seed…

this winter I am going to keep the top deck clear so that I can feed the birds… last year the kids didn’t come by to shovel and my guy only does the bottom so the deck became impassible… still need to figure out how to attach a feeder to the deck…

with retirement, I can clean the deck whenever it works best for me, or a little at a time, lol…

pots…

20 Tuesday Oct 2020

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went outside this morning and moved as much of the furniture as I could…

a few pieces are very heavy so I left them to be dealt with by the boys…

I also moved all the planter pots under the deck…

here’s the view once I was done…

that was around 10 am… I took this photo at 5:30 pm…

;-(…

root…

19 Monday Oct 2020

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today I spent some time in the garage working on the dahlias…

I took out each of the pots which I brought in a few days ago to thaw, and removed as much soil as I could…

it took a long time, mainly because the plants were packed tight in the pots and were root bound…

now I’ve brought in one pot which all the tubers fit into…

after watching a few videos last week, the next job, in a week or so, will be to separate the tubers into ones that have eyes and package them up for the winter…

tripod…

18 Sunday Oct 2020

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yesterday a lot of time was spent at the front window with the camera on the tripod…

first up was this cute downy woodpecker… often hard to get a photo as they move fairly quickly, but caught this shot…

the gray squirrels have been busy at the base of the feeder… their tails are so pretty…

and finally, the red squirrels were around… they are very cute but not too friendly with the rest of the critters…

such fun to watch all of these visitors;-)…

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…

stuck…

15 Thursday Oct 2020

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after the boys left yesterday, I brought in the plants which they had removed from the pond…

took a while, but eventually I got them all into the tank in a way that made me happy, although the tank looks very full…

not sure if they will last the winter, but it is worth a try as they are expensive and the lilies produced a number of blooms which doesn’t always happen, lol…

once the two pails of fish were in the house, I waited for a number of hours so that they could acclimate to the water temperature in the house…

when I finally poured them into the tank most of them did fine… but one of the biggest ones got stuck between a plant and rock and didn’t seem to be able to get out from the spot… I was very worried and it took about half an hour before it moved out from the tight space…

today they seem happy, but maybe a little crowded;-)…

and I enjoyed having company to talk to throughout the day;-)…

panels…

13 Tuesday Oct 2020

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this afternoon I spent three hours outside with the hot tub technicians while they emptied, moved, opened all eight panels, filled, found two small leaks, repaired them, emptied, replaced the panels, moved back, refilled and turned the tub on… it was cold and windy…

now waiting for the two days it will take to heat the water and hoping that this has fixed the problem…

since then I’ve been trying to warm up… finally, about half an hour ago – after five hours – I don’t need any additional blankets and have taken off my sweater…

thankfulness…

11 Sunday Oct 2020

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our lives have changed so much in the last months… and I’ve spent time considering many of the things I am thankful for…

my retirement at the end of December has been a huge change… I had worried that if I retired I would turn into a hermit, lol… and so I did…

during these crazy covid times I have been able to find businesses that deliver groceries, books, technology, plants, meals…

I am in touch with friends through various applications, and have enjoyed many garden visits during nice weather…

I have found help with projects and my neighbours are available if I have issues…

my grandson has my car and picks up items on a regular basis when I can’t find them any other way… the younger ones have looked after maintaining the grass and helped with the pond…

time spent in the garden, following the shade, soaking up the peace and serenity has been amazing… watching flowers bud and open, birds and squirrels at the feeders, and fish, frogs, plants and blossoms in the pond have whiled away the spring, summer and now fall…

how blessed I am;-)…