10 Tuesday Jun 2025
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
01 Sunday Jun 2025
Posted in business, family, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, deck, family, garden, grandson, leak, moments, muscle, pond, problem, puddling, repair, shopping, water, weather, widow
the pond has continued to leak but we thought we had the problem figured out…
water seemed to be puddling under a UV clarifier which was installed in the pond at the beginning, but which never accomplished its job and has been unplugged for a number of years…
we picked up a piece to connect the two hoses together and with a lot of cutting and muscle, were able to disconnect it entirely… so happy, thinking the problem had been solved…
turned the pump back on and watched water still coming out where the hose goes under blocks and the deck…
so, the issue appears to be that the six or seven feet of hose from the pump to the waterfall needs to be replaced… we are considering ways to accomplish this, which may involve removing a good sized piece of the deck to get at it, sigh…
and so it goes…
26 Monday May 2025
Posted in business, family, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, bridge, condo, family, garden, goldfish, happy, moments, nature, pond, vanished, weather, widow
recently we purchased some feeder fish and popped them into the pond… they vanished under the bridge and weren’t seen again, lol…
a few days ago, the fish were caught and brought out to the pond from their indoor condo … my housemate has very little trouble catching them in the tanks…
once the pail was outside, he waited patiently for me to get out there to take the before, during, and after photos, lol…
they, too, went right under the bridge, but by the next afternoon, they were swimming all around the pond and enjoying a snack…
so happy to have them outdoors again;-)…
12 Monday May 2025
Posted in business, family, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, big job, blessed, garden, housemate, moments, nature, picked, pond, pumps, rocks, water, weather, wetvac, widow
started working on the pond on May 3rd… it is a big job…
brought out the pond pump and removed as much water as possible… aimed the hose towards the cedars to give them a good soaking…
the waterfall area has to be done separately, after I removed the two floating planters…
then I left it so that the leaves and twigs could dry out a bit before removing them…
the next day, the wetvac came out and it removed quite a few leaves, and a few rocks, lol…
next I got into the pond and picked out the majority of the last leaves in the dry areas… that evening, my housemate finished draining the waterfall area and cleaned up debris from the bottom of the pond…
on the 9th, we obtained the foam to fill the spaces between the rocks so the fish won’t be able to hide when we are trying to catch them in the fall, lol…
rearranging and foaming the rocks took two days of concentrated work and it was hot out…
Sunday, May 11, the pumps were in, the necessary rocks have been foamed, a few flower pots have been added for fish to hide in and now we wait for the foam to cure so the water can go in…
this afternoon the pond was filled, woohoo… excited to watch the first of the water enter, using a dedicated hose which goes right into it… took an hour and a half to fill the bottom portion and just under thirty minutes to fill the waterfall area… that had to be done with the regular hose, as it isn’t connected to the lower area unless the waterfall is running…
it will be a few weeks of it running before the fish make their way from the winter condo;-)…
unfortunately, the plugs on the post near the pond are not working, so for now I am using an extension cord to provide electricity to the two pond pumps… always something, lol…
so happy to hear it running;-)…
09 Friday May 2025
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, chair, favourite, feeders, garden, moments, nature, pond, spot, view, weather, widow
I think I have found a new favourite spot in the garden;-)…
from here I can see the flower beds and both bird feeders…
not sure if it will continue because soon the hanging chair will come out and that may affect the view, but I am enjoying it for now…
04 Sunday May 2025
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, bird feeders, blessed, change, deck, furniture, garden, moments, plants, pond, weather, widow
trying to decide how to change up the garden this year…
so far nothing much is happening, as we haven’t brought out the last bits and pieces of furniture…
washed down a few of the chairs and am trying one of them between the gate and garage door so I can have a good view of the pond and the bird feeders… not sure if this will work as the chair is quite wide;-)…
once the furniture and umbrellas are in place, there will need to be decisions made about where plants and pots will go…
and then new plants will arrive to be planted;-)…
02 Friday May 2025
Posted in life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, door cam, goldfish, moments, nature, pond, raccoons, rings, spotted, Technology, widow
caught this activity on the door cam this morning… quite lucky because it only saves things for three hours…
not very clear, but the rings on the tail tell the story…
it was just a few days ago that I had a conversation with someone and we were discussing the good news that the raccoons hadn’t been around, sigh…
rather happy that the fish haven’t made it outside yet;-)…
01 Thursday May 2025
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, bunnies, camera, croaking, driveway, frogs, garden, moments, movement, nature, pond, Technology, weather, widow
often, now as I lay in bed at night, I listen to the frogs at the creek croaking their little hearts out…
it is quite lovely to hear and reminded me that I needed to move the camera – which was facing the driveway for the winter – back to its spot on the deck, facing the pond…
made the move today, after I charged the battery…
it will be interesting to see if it catches those bunnies that have been tearing around the garden at night, lol…
13 Sunday Apr 2025
Posted in business, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, butterflies, flora, flowers, koi, Mediterranean, moments, nature, plants, pond, solo, The Leaf, trees, tropical, weather, widow
had another solo visit to The Leaf on Friday as I’d read that the flowering trees in the current display area were nearly finished blooming due to the heat…
I was surprised at how many people were there as I expected everyone to be outside enjoying the 17° C gorgeous weather…
as I entered the Tropical Biome I had to stop and wait a minute for the fog to clear from my glasses, lol…
happy to see the tiny flowers on two of the three cacao trees…
everything looked lush amidst the cooling mist that seems to be keeping the flora happy… quite surprised at how much the plants have grown… just last week it was easy to see all the way to the waterfall and now it is blocked again…
fun to watch one of the zoo keepers feeding the koi as I don’t often get to see that;-)…
the Mediterranean Biome had many flowers and the Babs Asper Display area held lots of plants, flowers, small trees, topiaries, and a truck filled with tulips…
the Butterfly Garden was busy with butterflies flitting about happily as they enjoyed the sunlight… the misting machines were also busy adding to the humidity and it felt very warm, lol…
so lucky to have this amazing place to visit;-)…
17 Sunday Nov 2024
early Saturday morning I went out to cover the garden furniture with a tarpaulin before the rain started…
it took a while, but eventually I got it all covered and also moved all the rocks that had come out of the pond…
now the garden is ready for winter…
herbiggirlpants 