29 Monday Sep 2025
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, cat, garden, moments, nature, pond, Raven, squirrels, tell, water, waterfall, widow
Raven the cat stopped by for a visit to supervise as we were working on the pond waterfall……
the only problem is that the squirrels yell for most of the time, lol…
happily, the waterfall is running again…
08 Friday Aug 2025
Posted in business, garden, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, bird feeder, blessed, garden, glass, metal, moments, nature, sliding, squirrel-proof, squirrels, widow
the red squirrels have been able to fit inside the frame that is supposed to protect the squirrels from getting to the seeds…
I wasn’t particularly worried about them sliding into the feeder until I looked at the feeder today, sigh…
they have eaten through the plastic and pretty much destroyed the feeder…
so, the next feeder needs to be only made of metal and glass, because plastic cannot win against squirrel…
01 Friday Aug 2025
Posted in family, health, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
55th, anniversary, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, garden, giggles, leaking, love, memories, moments, morning glories, nature, pond, remembering, squirrels, time, widow
today I’ve been giggling over a couple of things as I remember 42 years together, on what should have been our 55th wedding anniversary…
first thing I wandered the garden and took pictures of the morning glories…
some, where they were planted, and some that have just found a spot they like, lol…
I remember my beloved bringing me pictures of the ones blooming in the garden each day when he came to visit me in hospital around our fortieth anniversary…
he was just getting used to the camera on his phone, so it was a big deal for him to take the time to take pictures of flowers…
the second thing is the pond…
it has been leaking for ages, but only when the waterfall is running…
we had the leaking problem for a year or so before he died and it was driving him crazy, trying to figure out the problem…
finally, as I was reading on the back deck, two red squirrels were having a battle over one of the feeders… he and squirrels never got on, so it was funny to have them yelling at each other today…
19 Saturday Jul 2025
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
activity, big girl pants, bird feeders, blessed, bunnies, dust baths, garden, interruptions, moments, moving, nature, sparrows, squirrels, weather, widow
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…
lovely to have so much activity in the space…
19 Thursday Jun 2025
Posted in food, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, birds, blessed, discourage, food, fresh, garden, happy, moments, nature, plants, snack, squirrels, strawberry, strawberry plant, treat, weather, widow
excited this morning to spot the strawberry that was ripe enough to eat… and pleased that the birds and/or squirrels hadn’t beaten me to it…
I did paint those rocks red and put them around the plant to discourage thieves, lol… maybe they worked…
the strawberry was delicious;-)…
this plant was purchased two years ago and lives in a pot over the summer…in the fall it is transplanted back into the bathtub garden to overwinter;-)…
16 Friday May 2025
Posted in food, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, fabrics, garden, hanging chair, moments, nature, shed, snack, squirrels, Technology, weather, widow
we spent a bit of time in the fall attempting to make the shed squirrel and bunny proof…
unfortunately that meant the squirrel or squirrels moved into the garage for the winter…
and, apparently, they really liked the fabrics on the hanging chair, sigh…
I guess I’m going to be looking for a new chair, and will make sure it goes into the basement for the winter;-(…
24 Thursday Oct 2024
Posted in food, garden, health, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, bird feeders, blessed, fight, grey squirrels, moments, nature, squirrels, weather, widow
have had some fun the last few days as I’ve been watching a couple of grey squirrels snacking under the bird feeders…
sometimes they are friendly and other times they fight over the best sunflower seeds, lol…
26 Monday Aug 2024
Posted in food, garden, health, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, bites, blessed, bruises, compost, food, garden, moments, nature, plants, ripe, squirrels, tomatoes, widow
it’s been fun watching the tomatoes grow over the season…
last week they started to turn orange and then red…
a few, closer to the bottom of the planter, were taken off the plant, had a few bites out of them, and I found them on the ground…
I decided to leave them there and a few days later discovered they were completely gone… just an outline left on the stepping stone, lol…
today I went out to pick the ripe ones only to discover that they all had large bruises on them…
decided to compost them, sigh…
20 Saturday Jul 2024
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, birds, blessed, cottage, fun, garden, hawk, moments, nattering, nature, remembering, song, sounds, squirrels, widow
had a bit of a giggle as I was sitting on the deck eating breakfast and listening for bird songs…
when we were at the cottage we would hear a huge variety within just a few minutes…
of course that was also at migration time so I’m not sure how many you might hear now…
here, I can hear house sparrows, chickadees, the odd crow, squirrels yelling, and recycling/garbage trucks going up and down the lane, lol…
it has also been quieter lately because there is a Cooper’s Hawk hanging around, which makes for some very quiet times when all the birds and squirrels go into hiding…
you know it has left the area when all of a sudden large numbers of sparrows start getting drinks and gathering seed from the feeders, nattering the whole time…
19 Friday Jul 2024
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, birds, blessed, bunnies, garden, miffed, moments, nature, sanctuary, squirrels, sun, weather, widow
this morning as I was sitting in the garden quietly reading my book, birds, squirrels and bunnies wandered through…
they are used to me sitting out there and don’t really mind me particularly as they pretty much know that I have no plans to hurt them…
although this morning I was a little miffed with the squirrels because they have figured out a way to get onto the two bird feeders that I thought were safe from them, sigh…
but all in all, a wonderful garden sanctuary;-)…
herbiggirlpants 