Tag Archives: pond

molt…

04 Saturday Jul 2020

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it was overcast when I got up yesterday morning, but I went out before 7:30 to see what flowers were blooming and what the caterpillars were up to…

there were a bunch of morning glories and two dahlias were almost completely open…

the caterpillars were going through some of their instars… during the caterpillar stage they molt five times…

I was very excited to spot the largest one with the molt left on the leaf… after a while I noticed that another much smaller one went through the process…

this was exciting as I’d never seen this piece of the lifecycle previously…

the remainder of the day was spent quietly as I was not feeling well, so I slept and read in the shade, although I did check out the caterpillars now and again;-)…

irises…

29 Monday Jun 2020

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a few days ago a great friend came by for a garden visit…

she brought me some gorgeous dark purple Japanese irises and a branch of lovely mock orange blossoms…

we had a nice time as we checked out everything growing in the garden and then watched the birds for ages… she knows lots about birds so I even learned a little, lol…

the house finch couple came by to visit and the house sparrows had a feeding frenzy as the parents and babies flew around and parents fed some babies and encouraged others to find their own seeds…

it was such fun to watch the way the youngsters fluttered their wings… and tried to land in various places… a few times I thought they were going to land right on us…

the sound was amazing as everyone was chatting and calling their family members, clearly wanting to be recognized, lol…

great fun to spend time with someone else who can happily listen to the water and bird watch for hours at a time;-)…

cushions…

24 Wednesday Jun 2020

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this morning I was up and about fairly early so that I could get the garden ready for a visit with a friend…

I’ve been quite lazy lately and have only put out a few chair cushions rather than all of them, but today I brought all of them out, including a few decorative ones that have been living on the couch, lol…

the garden looked great, freshly mowed and whipper snipped…

the veronica is blooming and the bees are all over it… the daisies are mostly open and the dahlias have buds on them… the lobelia is thinking of trailing and alyssum is growing nicely and starting to scent the air…

baskets are doing well and both ponds are flowing beautifully…

on warm days, visits need to happen before noon as there is little shade for the remainder of the afternoon…

the weather was perfect and finches and squirrels dropped by… we had a great time and enjoyed ourselves immensely;-)…

so nice to spend time with friends… going to organize some more of that;-)…

garden…

23 Tuesday Jun 2020

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after the busy day yesterday with the boys here, today I spent a fabulous time in the garden…

the grass is beautifully manicured and the sound is quite wonderful… the waterfall looks great and I am so happy to have it running at full capacity again thanks to my son-in-law… even the rocks have been placed perfectly to cover the new pump…

the pump in the bathtub pond looks and sounds lovely as well… it was a little cool but the wind wasn’t blowing so it felt calm…

to top things off, a house finch couple stopped by for lunch…

because I am not leaving the house, this time in the garden is even more special and I am enjoyed reading and listening to the sounds in the garden…

what a blessing retirement is proving to be…

three…

22 Monday Jun 2020

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three things caused problems on Saturday… the sink leaked, the internet stopped working, and my tv lost its signal…

made me rather grumpy, particularly as I was trying to help someone with something online…

today my son-in-law and grandsons came over for supper and for the middle one to mow my grass… he also moved and filled all the bird feeders…

while they were here my son-in-law fixed three things, which made me very happy…

he installed a new pump and got the waterfall running… he fixed the small pump in the garage pond and it is running beautifully… and he figured out the problem with my sink and got it working… what a treat…

I truly am blessed;-)…

ceramic…

17 Wednesday Jun 2020

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one of the pots around the pond was a black pail that I had put a dahlia in and then a butterfly bush as the dahlia didn’t grow… could be the problem was no drainage…

a few days ago, I pulled a ceramic pot out from under the deck and repotted the butterfly bush into it along with one of the pansies that had been in too much shade…

looks much better, I think.. hope the plants like this one better…

cats…

17 Wednesday Jun 2020

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there has been lots of activity in the garden recently…

these critters were photographed over the last few days…

today the forecast mentioned thunderstorms and rain but I decided to put out all of the cushions anyway… it ended up sunny and hot for most of the day…

looks very quiet, lol…

but this morning there were red and gray squirrels, the frog, chipping sparrows, a bunny that shot across the garden, dragonflies and two cats, one that I haven’t seen previously…

and during that entire period a robin, that I couldn’t see, sang…

I am enjoying every moment that I spend here…

toppled…

14 Sunday Jun 2020

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the wind has been blowing a lot in the last few days…

today, it was so strong that it toppled the elephant ear plant in the pond… I had thought it was secure, but all of a sudden it blew over… dug out my water shoes, found some very large rocks, and climbed in and stood it back up, circled it with the rocks as well as adding a few on top of it…

the rocks were so big, it raised the water level and a few of the lily pads went back under the water, lol…

I didn’t spot the frog, but a number of house sparrows and a few chipping sparrows stopped by to drink and have a bath…

the chickadees have returned and two of them were really looking around… I was wondering if they were searching for a spot to nest as I hadn’t seen this particular behaviour previously…

froggie…

12 Friday Jun 2020

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saw the frog a number of times yesterday while I was listening to a program on my iPhone…

it has hopped past me a few times over the last while but never when I have a camera in my hand…

yesterday froggie was out sunning on the rocks around the edge of the pond… when it jumps in it swims across in just a few seconds…

according to research it appears to be a common frog… interesting, as for the last few years we had leopard frogs…

got some nice pictures;-)…

and another exciting thing is that the water lily leaves are just starting to rise above the water… this first photo was from last night and only the top corner of one lily pad was peeking out of the water…

now four lily pads are above water on one plant and two on the second plant…

elephant…

08 Monday Jun 2020

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the fish have finally come out from the bridge… I think they are happy that the waterfall isn’t running…

and the water plants arrived… yay…

two white water lilies, elephant ears and parrot’s feather…

they turned up on Monday, but I left it until yesterday to put them into the pond…

the temperature was only 15° C but the sun was out so it was quite nice… I think they are all firmly settled in…

and the fish are happy as well… one little guy came out from under the bridge while I was in the pond and then couldn’t get past my legs to get back under the bridge… finally I moved both legs to one side and it returned to safety…