24 Friday Jul 2026
Posted in business, health, life, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, bloodwork, bruise, Dynacare, efficient, moments, Technology, widow
I have a doctor’s appointment next week which meant that this week I had to have bloodwork done…
Dynacare come to the house and the process takes about ten minutes…
this technician is one of my favourites…
he is quick, efficient and rarely leaves me with a bruise…
last time was quite different, lol…
19 Sunday Jul 2026
Posted in business, garden, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, F1, garden, humming, moments, nature, power, quiet, Technology, widow
I was up at 6:30 to watch the F1 pre-race show, and then the race, when the power went out…
I reported it and then went outside to read, happy that the race would be recorded on the PVR…
it is always so quiet when this happens, and, as it was very early, there were few people or cars up and about…
enjoyed a delightful couple of hours in the cool weather, with my book, and the fish, who actually made noise as they were eating and searching for food in the pond…
usually you never hear them…
all of a sudden water came spurting out of the waterfall and the sound of air conditioners humming ended the quiet…
then it was time to make tea and breakfast and get back to the schedule…
11 Saturday Jul 2026
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
air conditioner, big girl pants, garden, hot, humidity, moments, nature, outside, Technology, weather, widow
it was hot and humid out there today…
I didn’t spend much time in the garden, although when I first got up and ran the irrigation system, I did put out the cushions, but didn’t sit out for too long…
even at 7 when it is usually quite pleasant, with the humidity, it felt like 42°C, sigh…
may have to leave the air conditioner on all night…
07 Tuesday Jul 2026
Posted in family, garden, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, family, forget, garden, hoses, label maker, moments, reminder, soaker, Technology, weather, widow
my housemate recently demonstrated how to change the label maker cartridge and then I got to work…
each of the four hoses connected to the water supply outside now have labels noting what they are for, lol…
I often forget which one is the soaker hose, so this should help me remember 🤪…
18 Thursday Jun 2026
Posted in life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, flowers, Hart Trail, moments, nature, Technology, walk, widow, wildflowers
had a lovely walk on the Hart Trail this morning with my adventure buddy, and enjoyed checking out all the wildflowers…
a lovely and relaxing walk…
what a treat;-)…
17 Wednesday Jun 2026
Posted in business, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, flats, moments, ordered, shoes, Technology, Vessi, widow
I ordered a new pair of shoes from Vessi as I have really enjoyed the ones I ordered previously and wore all winter… and, they only took ten days to arrive;-)…
these ones are flats, and, of course, waterproof…
they fit a tiny bit snug, but I think they will stretch… my plan is to wear them in the house and garden for a while to break them in…
I think they will look good with my new outfits;-)…
14 Sunday Jun 2026
Posted in family, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, family, grandson, moments, monstera, moss, nature, plants, repotted, Technology, widow
the monstera has been struggling and leaning forward…
we picked up hardware cloth and made a tube for moss which apparently the monstera will cling to and grow up higher…
then we wedged in a few 2x4s to keep the moss tube centered in the pot…
the plant was divided into two pots and fastened to the pole… rocks, soil, and coconut husks were added and the two new plants moved into the living room…
we will see how they do;-)…
08 Monday Jun 2026
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
air conditioner, big girl pants, blessed, family, fixed, garden, happy, moments, old, repaired, splits, Technology, virginia creeper, weather, widow
great anticipation and excitement on Saturday…
we’ve been looking into air conditioner splits, as well as a new air conditioner for a while now…
the current air conditioner hasn’t worked for at least three years, and maybe even five… I can’t remember…
when I had someone in to look at it, they said it was leaking freon and couldn’t be repaired… it has sometimes been very hot upstairs but I managed with a tower fan…
last year I’d been quoted around $5,000 to replace it and that just seemed too much, particularly as the cold air never really made it upstairs, lol…
we had an HVAC person in the other day and the splits just weren’t going to work here… before moving forward with a new air conditioner, they suggested trying to get the old one working… they came back on Saturday to see if they could get the old one going…
they were here for a couple of hours and got it working😁😆😄…
the problem was the virginia creeper which had wound its way around the motor… I guess the other company was just wanting me to purchase a new air conditioner…
it is recording 13 something and the optimum is 20, so that sounds quite wonderful to me…
my housemate is going to be exceedingly happy…
21 Thursday May 2026
Posted in life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, fish, leak, lower, moments, pump, Technology, water, widow
once I got up on Tuesday, I decided to feed the fish…
usually they get fed around 10:30, but it was just before nine when I got out the food and discovered that the water in one tank was way lower than the others…
it had been leaking out from the very top of the pump:-(… very unusual spot for a leak… I don’t think it had been spewing water for very long and set out to sort out the situation…
turned the pump off, used towels to mop up as much of the water as possible and then took out the filters and cleaned them… oddly, algae had blocked the bottom of the filter pack…
after cleaning the filters, they went back into the pump and everything seemed fine although it took a few hours to soak up all the spilled water…
whenever there is a leak, I am nervous for the next few days and constantly checking to make sure everything is fine, lol…
so far, so good 😊…
12 Tuesday May 2026
Posted in life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, family, grandson, housemate, moments, noisy, repaired, Technology, threshold, video call, widow
for many, many, months the threshold on the front door has been loose…
this week my housemate removed the metal and the old wood…
there was a bit of laughter regarding the tiny size and rustiness of the screws that were taken out…
a new piece of wood was positioned, which sits on the top step of the stairs and should provide more strength in the future… stronger screws and the metal strip reinstalled…
looks great and there is no longer any movement when it is stepped on…
woohoo;-)…
of course, this all took place while I was on a video call with my kids in Ottawa… there was hardly any noise, except for drilling and hammering 🤪…
herbiggirlpants 