04 Tuesday Nov 2025
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, fishtank, moments, nature, pail, pond, survives, water, water lily, widow
the water lily has been sitting inside the backdoor in a pail of water for over a week and the water is rather smelly, lol…
finally took it out of the pail and trimmed all the dead leaves… there was even a bud as it was trying to bloom again…
then it went into the biggest tank…
looks good, but we will see if it survives the winter as the fish may eat the whole thing🤪…
10 Friday Oct 2025
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
well, it took lots more time, and water, to get the houseplants watered Wednesday morning, lol…
seems there are a great many of them;-)…
I’ve had to rearrange some of the ones that are now in the window so that I still have a good view of the bird feeders…
especially these days as the birds prepare for migration and are very busy getting their meals…
03 Friday Oct 2025
Posted in business, family, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, black netting, blessed, clogging, falling leaves, moments, nature, pond, Technology, tight, water, waterfall, widow
climbed into the pond twice on Wednesday…
the leaves have been falling and clogging up the pump every few days…
this is getting to be a pain so I spent the first time cleaning out the filter and pulling up leaves from the bottom…
the second time I cut back all the reeds to be sure the sun could get to the new bud, hoping that the weather cooperates so it can open… I also hoped it would help make the netting easier to cover the pond…
last year we put down green netting over the pond to try to catch the leaves, but it looked terrible and I took it off…
this year we have a new plan… we got black netting and pulled it tight over the pond covering everything from the waterfall to the furthest edges of the pond…
it is really hard to see the netting except around the edges where it is doubled up and it was already catching the never-ending falling leaves….
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…
11 Thursday Sep 2025
Posted in life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, contaminants, fish, fish tanks, goldfish, koi, moments, pond, project, pumps, water, weather, widow
finally got around to filling the fish tanks yesterday…
the process took over an hour, as each tank had to be filled and then the pump was cleaned, plugged in and turned on…
I was pleased as after each pump was cleaned, it started up without any issues…
now the pumps will run for three or four weeks before any fish come inside, to be sure that the water has no chlorine or other contaminants in it…
happy this piece of work is done and I don’t have to think about the fish coming inside until much later;-)… woohoo…
09 Tuesday Sep 2025
Posted in food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, buds, falling, fish, food, friend, friends, garden, happy, hibiscus, leaves, lunch, moments, nature, pond, soaking, wasps, water, weather, widow
another delightful day in the garden, especially after the last number of cool and overcast days…
spotted a hibiscus blossom, so that was a treat…
next, I went into the pond to clean out the pump… the leaves have been falling like crazy and there were a ton in the water… once the pump has been cleaned out, the waterfall always flows beautifully…
all the cushions went out and a dear friend arrived with lunch… we ate inside as the wasps are very busy in the garden…
we moved outside and had a lovely time by the pond catching up on life…
after she left, I read in the garden for the remainder of the day;-)…
soaking up every minute possible in this sanctuary…
08 Monday Sep 2025
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
barely, big girl pants, blessed, buds, friends, garden, moments, pond, summer, time, water, water lily, weather, widow
lovely afternoon in the garden…
spotted a new bud coming up on the water lily, even though the first flower barely opened due to the cold weather, sigh…
and then spent a great time with my buddies as we enjoyed the beautiful summer day;-)…
28 Thursday Aug 2025
Posted in business, garden, health, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, garden, moments, nature, plants, terrace, The Leaf, walk, water, water feature, widow
this warm sunny morning, as I was walking up to the Leaf, I took a quick walk through the new water terrace which is located just outside the front area, between the Leaf and the Gardens at the Leaf…
I am looking forward to a longer visit next time I am there…
there are no fish, but the frogs have already made it their home;-)…
and look at the size of these pumpkins in the Kitchen Garden;-)…
27 Wednesday Aug 2025
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cleaning, garden, gunk, moments, nature, pond, pump, refreshing, water, waterfall, weather, widow
yesterday I climbed into the pond and cleaned the pump…
it always makes a huge difference to the flow of the waterfall when all the gunk is pulled out;-)…
I can hear the change in the power of the water as I am cleaning…
then I sat for a few minutes with my legs in the water… it was refreshing…
13 Wednesday Aug 2025
Posted in family, garden, life, loss, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
attempts, big girl pants, blessed, blocks, friends, garden, grandson, leaking, meltdown, moments, new liner, pond, rocks, Technology, time, water, waterfall, widow
the work on the pond waterfall area started in early June… when the first two fixes didn’t work we moved on to more serious attempts…
the water in the upper pond was removed, and all the gunk was vacuumed out…
a group of three attempted to lift out the waterfall rock… unfortunately, it broke in the process… one of us might have had a meltdown;-(…
next the remaining blocks were removed and a new liner was installed… then the blocks were put back in… a bit of a puzzle to remember where each one went, lol… possibly they should have been numbered;-)…
the next step involved filling cracks with foam and gluing down some of the rocks…
with help from a friend the main piece of the waterfall rock was carefully lowered back into its spot…
it took three of us, but the three pieces of the waterfall rock were joined together with special rock cement and we waited a week for it to cure…
then the flat rock portion was glued down and left to cure…
next the hose was put down inside the liner and the waterfall spillway was placed back into the waterfall rock… there were a lot of crossed fingers at that point…
finally, on Sunday night, August 10th the waterfall was turned on…
it was too late for a good picture, so this one was taken the next morning…
there is no leaking 🤪…
a great job by my housemate and various friends throughout the process as issues arose and heat and rain caused stoppages…
what a treat to hear the water running and not have to worry about adding water all the time;-)…
herbiggirlpants 