Garden Journal Excerpts

My garden is in constant revision, as you may notice my web page is, also.
This will be a way to show some of the updates and revisions I make to the garden throughout the years from my garden journal entries. I have several books of written garden journals. In June of 2012 I began to keep sporadic notes of my time in the garden on my computer.

Monthly Excerpts from the Garden Journal of 2025

SYNOPSIS of the year

See the Plant List Page for the list pages for the Garden Rooms.
I have 19 of these pages listed, along with photo albums for most of them, and 4 new water garden pages. I expect this will be all of the garden room pages and water garden pages that will ever be made. Some of the Garden Rooms that surround the pond may need to have the plants listed in them changed to include any new plants and the old or lost ones noted. But that is like any garden, constantly changing. I have all of the garden rooms in the back garden finished except for the Woodland garden, the Larix Landscaping and the Restoration of the drystream, viewing platform and the path to the sitting area under the deck. In the front garden, I have the Entry way, the Boulevard garden and the Driveway strip garden rooms finished. The completion of any of these pages will be noted on the Progress page.

1. Since the end of December 2024 when the pond sprang a leak I have had to have Larix Landscaping rebuild the pond and the surrounding area. They finished sometime in March. Thereafter my gardening time was spent on Restoration of the pond plants, the pond surrounds and the drystream. The viewing platform became a path of cement steps down to the sitting area. I am finished these restorations. We had to have a handyman fix the steps going up to the deck. Now, at the beginning of January, 2026 I need to find the time to weed and clean up all the garden rooms.

2. Davey Tree did some work on removing some of the lower branches of the sweet gum tree. In the back garden they did a good job of pruning back the cedar hedge along the edge of the deck, adjoining the neighbors' property. I did not get the boxwood hedges trimmed back. The pink rose 'simplicity' that grows next to the neighbors garbage cans went all brown and dead. It will need to be replaced. None of the other plants were affected. Very strange. I have moved the west coast plant off the cement pot that I used as its base. It needs to be levelled up. The base is a cement pot with about a 2 foot diameter. I have moved it next to the new little rockery that is across the stepping stones from the original rockery. This new area of the little rockery at the front will need some work. The rest of the front garden will need to be weeded and to make any adjustments to the plantings. I will try to continue cutting back the black bamboo to a smaller clump.
The St. John's worte is growing like crazy in the Driveway strip. Getting this under control may be a major job, if I get it done at all.

January 2025

January 1, 2025
In the sounds folder I have 61 files. I have 55 of them used, so far. So. UNUSED ones as at the JE2025 of January 8, 2026 are Skylark, Sun, River, Summer of 69, Sleepwalk -- to make up 60 files. 2. If it works for anyone we can share a taxi. We haven't booked a room yet, thinking about the Matrix Hotel, 4 star, and has dining. Any thoughts? Bonnie has made her own arrangements, as "travelling with other people is too stressful for her."
It is 6 degrees and raining lightly at 11:00. Did banking. Napped after lunch for a few hours, as I was up last night with a leg cramp in my right (injured) leg. Did more work on the JE Entries page for 2024

Thursday, January 2, 2025
overcast, 6 degrees, raining lightly. Sent email to Joel at Larax about being away 10, 11, and back on 12th. We are registered at Berwick on Wednesday January 15 at 2:30. Missed the green bin today. New schedule has us on Thursdays, and blue bins on Fridays, not in the same week. Downloaded December photos. 3:00 still 6 degrees and raining lightly. Pat registered us at Matrix hotel for the 10, 11 and we fly home early on the 12th. More stuff done on the JE2024 page. I will be doing yet another new page for the Larix Landscaping waterfall, pond and pond surrounds, after the new pond is finished. Added a link to Larix Landscaping on the JE2024 page.

Friday, January 3, 2025
5 degrees and raining. Made chicken, vegetable, rice soup. Revised the plantlists page. Revised links page.

Saturday, January 4, 2025
7 degrees at 9:30. Overcast. Emptied 1 inch of rain out of the rain gauge. Did ironing with new iron. Much lighter and irons nicely. Be careful of steam. Did banking. Revised plants lists page, links page and the JE2023 page. Finished the spaghetti sauce at 2:00. It had started to rain about half an hour before, so I guess I won't get out to move rocks and plants around on the pond area today. I some how managed to delete half of the icons on my desktop. Had to try and retrieve them from the recycle bin and get them all put back the way they were. Then I could not find the Playlist in my web page folder. OMG. I later found it but do not seem to have it uploaded to my web page. I will reload it tomorrow maybe, along with all the other pages I have noted to upload. Supper was late because I spent so much time trying to sort all this stuff out and find the playlist.html file. OMG what a disaster.

Sunday, January 5, 2025
Uploaded the new water2020, gardening, plantlists, links, je2023, Playlist pages that include Larix pages and new links, new links and menu on gardening. They all work. Was out in the garden at about 1:30 to 2:30 moveing rocks off the pond surrounds. Did not get all of them, nor any of the plants. Will have to get up early tomorrow, as the Larix guys come to start the remake of the pond.

Monday, January 6, 2025
8 degrees at 10:00. No rain, some sun. Waiting for Larix guys to get here. Somehow I thought they would be here at 8:00..NOT. I have been up since 6:30. Pat tells me they need to get their work order ready, and load all the supplies, etc. So, I am doing laundry. 1:00 and still have not heard from Larix. Trudeau has decided to resign as leader of Liberals and PM. They will be finding a new leader over the next few weeks. I think parliament cannot be in session until sometime in March. Rogers is no longer letting our shawmail forward to our gmail accounts. We have to get trevor to set up our shawmail accounts on our phones. It seems I need a new password for my shaw.ca account, too. Bloody hell. Sent an email to the Larix gmail about the unable to telephone them. Later in the day I phoned the Larix phone number and since it was after work hours, I got to leave a message about when I might expect the Larix team to come to rebuild my pond. Very tired at 9:00 after a very nasty day with any number of things going wrong. and no naps.

Tuesday, January 7, 2025
no word back from Larix. Did a computer scan, nothing found. Went to Cardwise and changed my password as they requested. (it was NOT a scam..glory be!) apparently the passwords are changed. I have no idea how often or when the next one might happen. Our emails are working properly again. So, I wait for Larix to get sorted out. 7 degrees at 11:00.

Wednesday, January 8, 2025
email from Larix at 8:11 this morning, condolences and delay the project to Jan 13 due to illnesses etc. and my reply saying if we need to delay it again for any reason, we can put it off to later, as we have an inside job on the plumbing to do as soon as possible. 8 degrees and overcast at 11:00. Emptied .25 of an inch of rain out of the rain gauge. Have seen no humming birds for weeks, now. I have brought the feeder in and cleaned it for storage next summer.

Thursday, January 9, 2025
Re-did the shortcut for Facebook as I was getting some weird thing appearing on my sign in. Took the compost box out. The water is turned off out there, so must remember to get it turned on again when we get home. Have an email from Joel with most of the emails on it. Some of them I do not recall seeing. Joel actually went to the water page and watched the waterfall. At any rate they will be here on the 13th to do the project. Packed my bag and have a get up time of 6:00 tomorrow. Have to pack face masks in my big purse. It is a lovely day out with 9 degrees at 3:00. Had a long nap before lunch. We have the cab booked, so we are ready to go, in the am. Hopefully all will go well. Anti virus is updating itself, finished at 3:26.

Sunday, January 12, 2025
We had an early flight from the snow, ice, sleet in Edmonton. It was a good thing we had booked the taxi the day before with the taxi guy who had taken us to the funeral with a stop at the drug store. The Matrix hotel had not given us a wake up call as we had requested. It was just a good thing Pat woke up and we had a half hour to get ready to check out and go to the airport. So, got home about noon, to sunshine and about 3 degrees. Very tired, but good to be home. Hope everyone else got home safely. Repaired the patio door verticals. Got some banking done, cleaned up emails. Had a 3 hour, much needed nap. Got chinese 3 things for our supper. Am still tired, but going to see if I can stay awake for an old movie of Murder on the Orient express. Hope that wretched tv works properly.

Monday, January 13, 2025
Matt and his assistant, Rick, from Larix arrived about 9:00 with their equipment, including a cement mixer. Talked to Matt about the switches on the pump, and saving the plants. They will move the flat pavers under the deck and put them down as a slanting path to the back of the deck where the sitting area is going to be. I would like the cord from the pump to run under the dry stream but said I would do that myself. The pond plants can be saved, especially the water hawthorn. They will have to dig out the willows, hope they can save some of the wulfenie. Hope they save the flat field rocks. Left the side door open for them. Told them about the ramp, they might be able to use it. Matt and his parents live in the area. On marigold and on cherry. not sure of the last names, or addresses though. Froze lightly last night. 4 degrees at 10:00. Joel and Jay (?) manager, stopped by about 11:00. He meant to be here earlier but got too busy, so he talked to Matt and Rick about all the stuff, I guess. Said they were haveing a bit of trouble about something, but they would get it figured out. He asked where we had been, and I said we were in Edmonton in the snow and ice! He lived in Alberta for some years so he knew about that. Told him that we were in Sask, moved to Burnaby in 1980 and got to Wentwich in Colwood in 1984 and here in 1988. He will check back in the morning to see how they are getting along. uploaded revised plantlist page and it works. Have to send the etransfer in 2 days, as the daily limit is $3,000.00. Weekly: $10,000 Monthly: $20,000. So, I sent this one at 1:47.. send tomorrow's at 2:00. Finished 4 rows of 4 of the photos for the snopsis2024. The larix guys left about 4:30. It is starting to get dark at that time. They have taken the liner and the carpet stuff all out and have moved the waterfall over. It seems to have a waterfall steps to it. I don't know where the electrical cord to the pump is, but I sure hope it is from under all this nice even gravel stuff they have put down. There is stuff lying all over the place -- plants, old liner, pavers, stones.. I am sure they know what they are doing, though. locked the door downstairs.

Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Made the stew. Short nap. soup for lunch. Made 4 dozen and 11 cookies. Have a few photos of the work on the pond. Took them this morning before the guys started work. Paid the second half of the invoice 1084. The etransfer of December 11, 2024 is for $1075.60. More photos after the guys left, photos at 4:30 or so. They have taken out the old plum tree stump and have that all flattened out and I think they were hauling loads of stuff up the ramp and putting it all down and packing it with machine. They have this stuff covering all around the pond, and into both entry ways. My field stones are piled on the grass by the apple tree. The pond looks like it is going to be pretty deep. The ledges to hold plants do not look wide enough. Guess will have to wait and see, once they get the spillway done and the new liner in all over the pond and the plants back in place. The paving blocks are under the deck, I think. The pump seems to be lying on the dry stream. All their equipment is on the back patio area. The Lebanon cedar is still in place and the clipped mound cedar is still in place. There are plants piled near the little Japanese cedar and it is taking quite a beating. More stones on the corner of the cutting garden. More pavers and bricks on the cutting garden. I dragged the green bin to the front, so I can add some leaves etc. tomorrow, as thursday is green bin and garbage day.

Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Wasted half the night worrying over the etransfer amount shown on their email for the 1075.60 tranfer of Dec. 11, 2024, which is something to do with this wretched gst fiasco, I guess. Just realized this after I sent the email to Josie of this morning. CRAPS!!!! Freaking gimmicky Trudea. So, I have recorded what the final amount to be paid upon completion as being exactly the amount I have paid so far. Sent Josie an apology for my mistake. The guys got here about 9:00. I haven't opened the side door, yet. It froze last night. There is ice on the water table. 4 degrees at 10:00. I cannot seem to get warm, so will have a coffee and see if that helps. Raked leaves and filled the green bin from 11:00 to 12:10. Lunch. 8 degrees at 1:30. Home from Berwick after the classical piano and clarinet, at 3:30. The Larix guys finished about 4:30. They seem to have the liner in the pond and a lot of rocks around where the waterfall is to be. I don't see many shelves for the shallow water plants, but must wait to see the end product, I guess. Watching this really boring arctic alpines talk on you tube.

Thursday, January 16, 2025
Watered the house plants. Did some banking, cleaned up email, put plastic down in the suite that goes to the bathroom, just in case they might need it. Josie sent a note that the guys would be here in the afternoon, as the cement needed some time to set. Pictures before they got here. Shopping after lunch and their van was parked in the driveway where Pat had to drive in. Matt moved it. They also have a big truck parked the other side of the LTV. So, they must have got here some time after 1:30. Back from shopping groceries and getting gas at 3:30. 8 degrees at 3:30 and a bit of sun. The guys left about 4:30, I think. Took their tools, it seems. Looks like the waterfall is going to be the main feature of this water garden. I don't know how they are going to get ledges to plant the shall water plants. The pond looks really deep. Windows updated.

Friday, January 17, 2025
email from Joel. Said Matt would be over midday. Their Mason is behind schedule and might be over to see my stuff sometime next week. They don't work week ends. 6 degrees at 4:00. we are on a hydro saver thing from 4 to 8 today. So, I have the lights on the light garden turned off. Earlier we were to Lee Valley to get a new little flashlight, 4 button thermometers that can go in the oven, Shrub Flex Rake to replace the one I had stepped on and broke the handle, and a deep soil sieve. Pat fixed my old broken handled rake. It is going to be perfect. The handle is now longer. And I have a spare rake now. Could not get the knives I wanted so will have to try somewhere else. This morning Pat gave me the water levels as 95.6%. Said he found a CRD place to see them. Matt was here about 3:30 when we got back from Lee Valley. I told him about bringing the electrically plug in out from under the cement stuff they have it under, so that I could make it accessible to change. He finally understood what I wanted and said he would do it later. After he digs it open I want the mason guy to cover it with some loose rocks so I can get it out if the pump fails. Then when the mason guy is finished I will dig out the dry stream, put down the electrical cord in its protecting stuff, and cover it with the new dry stream or maybe make it just beside the dry stream and cover it with moss stuff, so that I don't have to redo the whole drystream every time the pump needs to be changed. The mason will be here sometime next week. I emailed Joel about this electrical connection to run under the drystream and he emailed back that they would make a conduit for me where ever I wanted it. Matt did the opening for the conduit, crossing the cement to go just behind the round cedar. This should work very well to make the conduit run next to where the edges of the drystream will begin. The drystream will start right by the round cedar and go on down under the deck. The conduit path will exit this left side of the drystream and go down across under the deck on an angle towards the plug in. I think I will still need it plugged into the blue electrical cord. It might be a slightly shorter path, but more of the cord will be taken up by the depth of the pond. I might have to remove some of the old stump to get the conduit past the placement of the lantern.

Saturday, January 18, 2025
We had freezing temperatures of -4 last night. It is good thing Pat had turned off the water last evening. We woke up to the heat pump doing a defrost stage. Pat let know what was happening, about why we were not getting any heat. Later I turned the heat up on the room thermostat to get some heat in the bathroom before I got up. I guess that will use up any saving of electricity we might have saved last night by going out for fish and chips, and turning the plant lights off, etc. for our power saver thing. Hope we made the 20% decrease to get the $3.00. :). It is +4 at 12:00. Did a shortcut for the CRD reservoir weekly report that Pat gave me. It works great. Started the 2025 garden purchases coding on the plant lists page. Did the banking. Am happy to be down to 139.5! :). Finished tweaking the photos for the synopsis image. Emailed Joel and told him I would be out some time next week to dig the trench where I wanted the conduit to go, he emailed back and he said they were going to be here Monday to complete the final tweaks on the Water Feature and commence the Flagstone shortly after. So, I should get out tomorrow and dig that trench.

Sunday, January 19, 2025
Was -4 degrees earlier this morning. Now at 10:00 it is finally up to 0. Sunny, bright day. Adobe photoshop updater failed to work. Did not make our 20% decrease for the Hydro power saver. I think they failed to include January 14 in their calculations but to hell with it, not worth the $3. bother. Finished making the 2024Synopsis.jpeg. Was out from 2:00 to 4:00 and made up the conduit trench. It still needs some work. Started to make the pavers path under the deck. The viewing platform is now a few steps to make it lower where we go under the deck. No room for a chair on it now. Moved rocks off the garden and rescued the marsh marigold. It is just in a gallon pot. There were 4 blue pots in the pond. I hope they can put some of the irises on a couple of the pots as there is no ledges on the waterfall side. I hope the water hawthorn survived. The synopsis photo was too wide. Reduced it to 1080 width just barely fits in the table!

Monday, January 20, 2025
Froze last night. Was -4 on the thermometer when I got up about 7:30. There was was a Larix guy here about 8:00. Pat was out to turn on the water. The guy left a bit later. I did all the laundry, except drying the towels. While these laundry loads were running I cleaned up the stairs wiping up the drip spots and taking the dust out of the back of each stair. It is 6 degrees at 2:00. A Larix guy came at about 1:00. I think he is the Mason guy. Have most of the laundry put away and have to go down for a nap after my cookie break. Looks like I might have to revise my expectations for planting any of the plants around the pond. This guy today does not seem to have any concept of the conduit, either. He has cemented over the trench that Matt made for the conduit. He seems to have dragged the water hose from the front around to the back and replaced it in a big heap back on the front entry way. I need the blue pots replaced in the pond so I can add shallow water plants on top of them. There is no water in the pond, and the pump sits in pieces under the Lebanon Cedar. The little red Japanese tree is trashed. There are huge pieces of flat rock cemented in over the black epdm along the edges. It looks damn ugly to me so far. That waterfall does not look like it is going to work, to me, either. Trump taking over the USA president sign in all over the news today. Him and his 25% tariffs to be delayed for sometime in February. Cease fire in Israel and Palistine and exchange of prisoners today. Trump trying to take credit for it, when he was not yet signed in as President.

Tuesday, January 21, 2025
-1 degrees at 10:00. It froze quite heavily last night. The Larix guy just got here at 10:00. Rain Tek truck and trailer here. More equipment and electrical wires and stuff piled around under the deck and on the moss garden. I wonder if this is in regard to making the conduit. 5 degrees at 11:15. Finished the laundry. Forgot to turn the towels on to dry last night. made meat loaf, red cabbage, mashed potatoes for supper. 7 degrees at 2:oo. There is a ladder in the pond, more concrete around the top of the pond over the liner. I see where the water line attachment to the waterfall is, it is cemented and when the water hose goes in it will need to be sealed off. All kinds of tools laying around and the truck is still here. I don't see the guy. The water is down in the pond, guess they must have pumped it out to be able to do this concrete on the liner under mason guys stones. Looks like Matt is doing this concrete stuff just now at 3:00. I think he was gone before 5:00. The ladder is out of the pond, but there are still a lot of tools and stuff laying around. I went to wash off the hose at the front, but it had been washed and rolled up.

Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Turned the drier on at about 7:00 to finish drying the towels. It was -2 degrees. Larix guys arrived about 8:00. At about 9:45 the doorbell rang. I was in the tub. Cut my time in tub short and went down to the door and found that a card from Vision Landscaping had been left in the mail drop. The wretches!! Now at 10:00 it is 4 degrees and some sun. There is still ice on the water table. About 11:00 Pat decided to check that the water was turned on out back. Well, guess what, boys and girls, it was not turned on. So that is why the Larix guy had to drag the front water hose around the back to use it. I could not connect the hoses to the back tap and will leave that to the Larix guy to sort out. At 12:45 spoke to Pat about getting the back step fixed because it was definitely not being held up and would fall down when anyone stepped on it. He completely ignored me about getting that Wade guy to come in to fix it. Also he says the light socket for one of the lights above the stove is broken and so we cannot get a bulb to work. Have to make do with one light bulb there. When we sell the place, we will have to remove all these old appliances, including the dishwasher that has been connected to the draining pipe is causing some sort of blockage in that pipe. Will have to see what the guys who come to fix the plastic plumbing can do about that. I am not using the dishwasher now as I am afraid there will be another flood to deal with, until we get it all fixed, when the Larix guys are finished. Can't use the back steps until I get them fixed either. 4:00 oclock finished the ironing and it is 5 degrees. Ice melted off the water table. Sooke and Goldstream reservoir total as at January 19, 2025: 95.4%. Made the turnip and apple for supper. Cleaned up the microwave. We are going to need a new one when we go to Berwick. :). I have at least 2 years to save up for all the new stuff at Berwick. Plus the Windows 11 in October 2025. 5 degrees at 5:00. I think the Larix guy (Matt?) left about 4:45. He has been putting more cement under the big flat stones that leaves no spaces for plants, though. There are ladders and stuff all over the area. I do like how the flat stones meet the area that was the viewing platform, but really no room for any plants. Guess I might be able to move the willows into one of the rockeries.. maybe or next to the dry stream edges. Hope they put the blue tubs back in the pond to give me more room for the irises and the marsh marigold. The water hawthorn is a deep water plant. 10 cm (4 in) to 90 cm (35 in)! oh good! it will be put in one of the bottom blue pots. It is a bulb kind of thing. I like it, as it seems to be constantly in bloom. A few more photos just about sunset.

Thursday, January 23, 2025
It was a sunny, some cloud, with a high of 6 degrees. A lot happened today so I am writing this up on the 24. I signed up the addition and installation to the Larix Landscaping agreement of the Aquascape ultra pump of 1500 gallons per hour. The plumbers are going to be here on January 28, 29, and 30 to redo the plastic plumbing pipes. This involves cutting holes in the walls where they need to get at these pipes to install the new ones. Oh happy day, no more floods when they get finished. We did a lot of very efficient shopping in about an hour. Had supper of bagette and frozen mussels in shells from Mussel King. Very good.

Friday, January 24, 2025
It froze last night. Is 6 degrees at 11:00, and sunny. Still ice on the water table. Larix guys have been here since about 8:30, which is the time the plumbers will be here next week 28, 29, and 30 so we have to be up, showered, breakfast, etc. before then. Pat just gave me a water level for the reservoirs as a total of 95.4%. That might be the last one I recorded from the 19th, which is a weekly report. January is suppose to be a dry month, but I think we are doing fairly well so far. I notified Joel of the time the plumbers are to be here and we could continue with my pond renovation after the 30th, as the water will be turned off. I hope they put the front water hose back in the front. We should probably turn the taps at the back off, of course. Joel emailed to say Matt was filling the pond today and what to do about the plants. While I was replying to what to do about the plants Matt came to the door to ask what to do about the plants. I sent the length reply to Joel. Matt also asked for the use of a pliers. I asked Pat if he had a pliers that Matt could borrow, Pat got the right kind of pliers and thrust it at Matt, with out saying a word. What a bitch. Nothing is good unless he is in charge. Made Pat's lunch and went out to see about the plants. I find I have 3 big blue pots that I asked Matt to put back in the pond. and asked him to move them around to create the shelf space I need instead creating these shelf things that I had told Joel about. I hope the water hawthorn is growing out of one of the pots. I said I would clean up the irises and water hawthorn and put them on the big pots that would do as 'shelves'. He is leaving a bit of space next to the Lebanon cedar as garden space with some new soil in it. At about 2:30 Matt came to the door to return the pliers and asked me to come and see what I thought of the plants. He has put the 3 big pots in the pond with irises on top of them. There is a nice pot that is growing bog beans. I will put the marsh marigold in that pot and get rid of that bog bean. There seems to still be bog beans. The waterfall is fantastic! Love it. He moved the mermaid onto its own special place on the waterfall. I can move rocks around to make the water flow in different ways. I can't wait to see where the water hawthorn grows. I may not have to clean up the irises right away. He has raised the blue pots up a bit and set irises on all of them, I think. They are perfectly shelf height. There is exta soil put around the edges of the masonary where I can grow foxgloves, etc. They will be finished today. I did not look at where the conduit went. Oh well. He said the stuff is all pretty new and to wait a while to let it all set.They left about 3:00. Put the front hose in place and the back hose connected. The pond is about half full with waterfall running. I suppose I unplug the pump to stop it, as usual. I can see where the water hose goes around the edge of the water fall. The electrical connection does not reach the plugin so it is sitting top of the little pink table where it is plugged into the extension hose. They left the new pump empty box by the back door. I did not fill the pond, as things need to set all around, I think. I will need to get a long plastic to put around the electric cord before I bury it. Was out at 4:00 to get a few pictures.

Saturday, January 25, 2025
Froze last night. Still ice on the water table at 1:00. 7 degrees and sunny. Earlier this morning we took the recyclables to the depot. Upon looking out at the pond in the light of morning, I see that I have lots of room for the plants along the edge of the masonary. I can get 20 ft. of plastic 1.5 in. tubing for about $55. at Rona. Was out to the garden at 2:00 and back in at 4:45. Dragged a huge pot off the big blue pot that I hope the water hawthorn is growing in. Put one of the trays along the edging by the Lebanon cedar. Shored up some of the flat masonary edges with bits of small stones and more soil. Covered the other side of the Lebanon Cedar with long stones that were built up with small stones of make them level with the edges and covering the black lining. Also adding bits of stone and more soil to build up the edges of the flat stones. Am using the black soil that they left along by what used to be the Japanese area. The little red maple is going to need some good pruning. I transplanted one of the willows, next to where the dry stream is going to be, and it will need pruning also because it is just across from the red maple. All the plants along this side of the masonary will need pruning. Transplanted the other silver willow closer to the corner of this bed that meets the Japanese area by the corner of this bed, shoring up the edges with little rocks and soil, packed in under the edges. Dumped a pot of ugly bog beans out of a nice pot for shallow water plants, and added the marsh marigold to the pot with some of the old soil with little rocks and moss on top. The moss is under water so it probably won't live, unless I raise this pot up a bit. Right now the pond is only about half full. Moved the round mossy rock and the flat mossy rock to where the moss garden needs to be re-established, next to where the conduit is going to go, crossing under the dry stream, maybe. Might plant the brown grass near the flat that is acting as a covering over the side of the pond masonary.

Sunday, January 26, 2025
Froze last night. Was up to 6 degrees today. Did bedding laundry. Lost the wretched white piece of the thing in the laundry drier. Spent far too much time trying to retrieve it. Very noisy. Emptied lots of dryer stuff out of the drier. Were to London drugs to get a new microwave and Pat set it up. We will take the old one to recycle, I guess. Cleaned out under the big bathroom to allow the Plumbers access. The bathroom in the suite is cleaned up. So, the bathroom upstairs suite needs to be cleaned up under the top. Cleaned up the door on the entry way. Cleaned up the bench in the entry way. Set up events on the calender last night. The tasks are just too complicated and they do not stay on the calendar. So adding them as events and changing the color is much easier. And they remain on the calendar for reference. Did a Donation to the Go Fund me in the Smith clan for Bill of 50.00 copied the receipt via paypal. The beets did not get done in time for supper, so tomorrow, I guess. I have some beets left to do borscht. Getting accustomed to the new microwave.

Monday, January 27, 2025
Mucked about with the drier trying to get the piece of dust buster out of the lint bin. I had turned it on earlier to dry towels and it was working but noisey. After Pat tipped the drier forwards a couple of times, something clunned inside, but we still could not see the miserable thing. I turned it on again, with no clothes in it, and it was working very quietly. So, we will leave it for now. I have taken the things out from under all of the sinks now, for the plumbers access. They will be here tomorrow, but turn the water on for us for over night. Josie emailed about a time for them to come do a walk around to see if everything was done. I told her that the plumbers would be here the rest of the week. But if Larix did not need the water on to do the walk about we could set up our time for tomorrow at 2:00 (28th). Told her that I needed about 20 feet of 1.5 inches of black flexible plastic to wrap the electrical cord in before I buried it in its trench, and start making the drystream. No reply yet at 6:00. I was out in the back trying to gather debris and bog bean stuff for the green bin which happens on Thursday, have to have the bins out Wednesday. Dragged a mossy log and launched it next to the lantern for the sides of the drystream up to that point. I see that the water hawthorn is growing out of one of the blue pots with some iris on top of it. Since it is a bulb sort of thing, I will be able to move it to the big blue tub under the Lebanon cedar. OR, get a water lily to plant in that big blue pot. Hauled a few pots full of debris to the green bin at the front. The bin is about half full. Then I discovered that the back taps are squirting water out of the connections to the Y thing. This really sucks and has to be fixed so that the connection to the ordinary sprinkler hose or the hose to add water to the pond works. Spoke to Pat about the blockage on the kitchen sinks and that too sucks and has to be fixed. Pat said the plumbers might have to be paid extra for it. I told them when they were here to do their estimate, about the blockage, so they knew then about it. Due date on next credit card is Feb 17 so that has time before it needs to be paid. Otherwise, I can always transfer more into the account and still have some to spare for the guys who will be patching and painting after the plumbers are done. I must remember to tell the plumbers not to use the back steps as that too needs to be fixed. The whole place is falling apart. Good thing Pat's Picks are doing great at the moment. Trudeau will step down as PM, and the Liberals will be holding a vote or whatever to replace him. Mark Carney or the previous deputy PM what's her name will be the main contenders for the position. I do hope Carney wins. Meanwhile Trump is blithering all about charging Tariffs of whatever amount and on whatever goods to Mexico and to Canada. The guy is absolutely insane. Also going to send certain immigrants back to where they came from. You can be sure the ones he employs won't be deported.

Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Gordie the plumber guy and a couple of guys who's names I have immediately forgotten arrived about 8:30 and Pat met them told them they could use the side door if they liked, and to keep his side open so he can get his car in and out. They will fix the plugged up sink, and take the hoses off the back tap so they can get thawed out. I said to Gordie that they charge us whatever extra this might cost. It was -4 on the thermometer at 8:00 this morning. Pat has gone off to coffee. The water should be turned back on for the night, when they are finished for the day and then the same start time next morning. -1 and sunny at 9:30. Email from Josie at Larix, she will try to get Joel and Craig around this afternoon to see about the things I mentioned: plastic pipe for the 'conduit' electrical cord, the masonary to cover the edge of the lining under the lebanon cedar. Joel left a message on the answering machine that he had been around to have a look and that he had to find out if he had the materials that I wanted on hand and would call back about it. No call back from him by 4:30, so I called back to their phone and left the message: The plumbers would be finished tomorrow. And that we would not be in a big rush to get this finished now. The hoses are unplugged and our brass splitter is sitting on the chair. I must go out and attach it. The plastic yellow control ones are gone. OR attach it only when I need to fill the pond, maybe? OR attach it and turn the sprinkler hose shut at its other end when I need to fill the pond. Then detach the splitter when finished filling the pond. Might be the best work around. Have to keep this splitter in the locked garage in a special place. Detaching the splitter makes only one hose like the one for the sprinklers working. Attaching the splitter and shutting off the end of the sprinkler hose makes the water run into the pond filling hose or I suppose I could have a sprinkler and the pond filler run at the same time? NOT a good idea. Told Pat about the phone number I was suppose to call some number for them to get some information they needed for identity purposes. He insisted this was a scam, and got really upset with him about it. Went up stairs and logged back on to the credit union and well I'll be dammed, the notice had disappeared. This is really scary! Pat said you have fallen for these things before and would not come and look at it. I think the number was 1.888.517.7000 maybe? Now actually, does this even looks like a real number... but that might not be the number cause I thought it was an 800 number. Anyway it is gone now

Wednesday, January 29, 2025
2 degrees at 10:00. Froze last night. Sooke reservoir levels as at January 26 was 94.9%. Plumber guys got here at 8:30. We were up and breakfasted etc. Pat went off to coffee. Got banking done. It works just as it did before. That was a real number to call, but that notice disappeared. They must have had too many people going in and raging about this website crap. Our raging happened at home. sigh! email from Joel. The conduit is not included. Said I would look after it. and yes I do a lot of work under the deck, asked what he thought of the way I covered the pond liner under the Lebanon cedar, as he had not mentioned it in his email. Told him where the lifting stone was, etc.. see the emails. Going to just use one hose to fill the pond or use the sprinklers. Will save the brass splitter in a visible place in the garage. Actually, I will keep both hoses, one that feeds into the pond and the other that is used regularly. Instead of dragging it around to fill the pond, I will just replace the hose I am using on the twist on/off outlet at the tap. The Ballam Plumbing (Gordie Ward and Phil Ward - Adam and several others) guys finished about 4:30. They will be back in the morning to clean up. Same get up time.

Thursday, January 30, 2025
3 degrees at 8:00. Up at 6:30. When the plumbers are finished, we need to find people to do the dry walling and cover up all that lovely pipe. :) The toilets really need the replacement of the works inside there, and it would be nice to have new toilet seat covers. Emailed Joel or Josie with regard to getting on my digital banking now and able to pay by etransfer - because of the icey roads to be expected soon. 7 degrees at 10:30. Was out for about an hour, moving rocks around on the waterfall, etc. I replaced a big piece of the paving that was on top of the waterfall with the blue slate and a couple of smaller rocks. Filling in around the water line that goes from out of the pond, around the side of the waterfall; with some loose stones, to where it goes behind the waterfall. Hopefully the cedars and foxgloves will cover the rest of the line. We can use the liberated piece of their paving to cover about half of the exposed pond liner by the Lebanon cedar. We can take the slightly loosen masonary from the entry way to the strawberry patch, out and make it cover the other half of the exposed liner under the Labanon cedar. We can fill the space left by the loose piece with some of the flat field stones I have. They do not have to be cemented in. I think the blue slate on the watefall looks better than that masonary piece on the waterfall. Did another reply to Joel's email about this. Pictures of the new version of the waterfall, and a nuthatch hopping around on it. email back from Joel about the corners, and when would be a good time to see him. I said tomorrow anytime after 10:00. Set up events for Berwick on Feb. 12 before 7:00 and for the bins and the blue box days. Downloaded January photos. Made a note about turning on the water and taps out back and downstairs under the sink. It is in gardening under WATER. Started running the dishwasher at 7:05. Its half empty but sounds like it is going through its sanitize cycle ok. No floods yet. Started to rain at about 7:00.

Friday, January 31, 2025
Emptied .5 inches of rain out of the rain gauge. Sure looked like there should have been more rain. overcast, light rain, 7 degrees at 10:00. Email from Joel, can't work in the rain - didn't know he was expected today. Guess it was not a problem when the motorhome was not in the way. Replied to email saying the weather forcast was for 60% snow flurries, and can we wait for warmer weather in a week or two. And Pat would need notice to move the van, since I don't drive. Taps work and can be turned on when needed. Cleaned up under kitchen sink. Emailed the electrician david Motherwell about fixing the plugin for the water pump. The wall boarding guy, Issac is to be here on Monday. He is recommended, by the Ballam Plumbing guys. So things are progressing.

February 2025

Saturday, February 1, 2025
Froze last night. 3 degrees and is sleeting/snowing at 11:00. Changed my password and got my $5 voucher, then went off, could not sign in again, changed my password again and it would not let me on. There must be a delay in getting this changed in the system. I will keep the new pass word for now, and get back to them about this forgot your password change, on another day. Big snow flakes falling at 7:00.

Sunday, February 2, 2025
3 degrees at 10:00. Snow and ice everywhere. Groundhog day. The tradition holds that if a groundhog doesn’t see its shadow on Groundhog Day, springlike weather will soon arrive. But if a shadow appears, winter’s icy grip won’t let go for quite some time. Van Isle Violet, a Vancouver Island marmot residing at the Tony Barrett Mount Washington Marmot Recovery Centre, saw her shadow this morning and predicted six more weeks of winter via a unique ceremony tailored to the species’ needs, avoiding the traditional fanfare. It is indeed sunny out this morning and is very likely to cast a shadow of Violet. Pictures of snow and waterfall, pond. Charging battery. Finally got the Virags news letter downloaded to desktop as a pdf and read. They sure know how to make things complicated in that club. Got new password set on London Drugs. Put away groceries. The driveway is clear of snow, and the railing on the back deck is also.

Monday, February 3, 2025
10:00, -3 degrees. snowing. Did all the laundry. The dryer is working good. I will dry the towels later tonite. Still below freezing and snowing at 3:00. Email from Larix about them trying to use all Canadian Products. Acquascape is American.. How difficult can it be to reverse engineer these pond pumps and any pondliners, plastics of all kinds, etc. Isaac from the drywalling company was here about 2:00 and went over everything with Pat and will get back to him with an estimate or whatever it is called. They are Capital City Drywall. They also have a sub company that does the painting. They are recommended by Ballam the plumbing guys.

Tuesday, February 4, 2025
EXtremely odd. Got a text message on my phone while on chrome (black) incognito sending me a code to use to get into my credit union account and another one above it saying we would never contact you by email or whatever. Since I had never seen such a thing before from the credit union I clicked it off and continued to get my statements by signing in again on Chrome incognito (black) again and got logged on in the usual manner. So, got statements and then went to new incognito to get the credit card statement and worked fine. Went back to my phone and blocked the messages..went to my blocked messages and found some weird email address where I easily could have put in the security code, except for the warning on the phone text message. Bloody Hell, how did they get my phone number to send that text to? I will NOT do banking unless I am wide awake and no other distractions.
It has been freezing all day, but no more snow. -2 degrees at 3:00. Talked to Dan and Carol. Very cold there. Carol has just had her other knee operated on. Starts physio on the 10th. Our power bill is going to be way over the top with this cold weather we have been seeing lately. The dishwasher works with no more floods. The dryer works with no more loud rattles. Still about 4 inches of snow on the water table. Deleted all my facebook notifications up to today.

Wednesday, February 5, 2025
-3 degrees at 10:00. Ahmed called about 9:20, to talk to Pat. Gave me the computers on wheels phone number for Pat to call back. Told him Pat would be home after 11:00. He said he could call back then. Phoned Pat to tell him to be home by 11:00. This is driving me nuts! But I have trouble with just letting it be, and they will look after it. Started the dish washer at about 9:30. 0 degrees at 2:20. Ahmed gave Pat a new Thunderbird profile. He is to use the IMAP one. The old one was somehow corrupted he said. Forwards to his gmail which he only has one his phone. He could have had it on his computer too, but I guess this helps him keep them seperate rather than have them both on his computer. Apparently its not quite fixed yet. Made 8 pkgs of Borscht. Froze 7, one for supper. Ballum plumbing guy got here about 3:00 to fix the water feed into the upstairs main bathroom.

Thursday, February 6, 2025
+2 degree at 11:00. sent $5k to credit card..not showing on credit card, takes a few days. JE2024 works on web page. Grocery shopped. Brought home lots of vegetables and a hot chicken. Made up stove top stuffing, Parnips and Ginger, Goop. Have the chicken, parsnips, some of the goop keeping warm in the oven at 280, for 15 minutes. Made up the crackling, needs another minute in the microwave just before serving. 2 blue .5 pkgs frozen. 1 glass serving of gingered parsnips in fridge.

Friday, February 7, 2025
4 degrees at 11:30. CRD reservoir level at February 2, 2025 was 98.4%. Did banking. Only made 14% decrease on our Hyro Peak Saver, needed 20% decrease. 5 degrees at 1:00.

Saturday, February 8, 2025
5 degrees at 11:00. Was awake half the night worry about this plug in to the extension cord. So, I was out earlier and unplugged the extension cord. Measured diagonally across the corner of the Deck. It approximately came to 15 or 16 feet. Then I read the specs. on the box from the pump and found that it's cord is 25 feet. So, if we make the cord in its protective pvc pipe we might just make it directly to the outdoor plug in with no addition to the pump cord. (which I originally thought was 15 feet). Alas, checking the old pump, the cord on it was also 25 feet. So, it looks like we will need to add a few feet to the pond pump. I want Larix to raise the pump off the bottom onto the big blue pot that sits there. Perhaps setting the pump on a level paver. This is to the keep pump off the bottom, so that it is not disturbing the bottom soil and under water plants. It should then still have about 2 feet to a full pond. And perhaps another cage; like the pot that the marsh marigold is in now, over the pump, and fastened beneath the paver; to give the pump more protection against clogging up. And this might give us a foot or two more of electrical cord. We might even make it to the plug in without having to add anything to the pump cord. Sure hope so. When I went out to measure this, the top of the pond no longer had snow on it. I swept some of the snow off the place where pump cord comes up and exits near the clipped little cedar. This area is covered with the masonary. but can be dug up again if necessary. There were raccoon tracks going past the patio area over to the edge of the waterfall. Not sure where they exited. So, I suppose they are still a hazard to the fish. Finished the JE2024 and is ready to upload.

David Motherwell: Getting a weatherproof splice would be more expensive than just replacing the cord with a longer one. It would be feasible to insert the cord into a pvc conduit that is then left on the surface to give it mechanical protection, from digging and such, while negating the need to bury it 2 feet underground.

Sunday, February 9, 2025
4 degrees at 10:30. The pond is not frozen and there is more of the snow gone. 5 degrees at 2:00, and sunny. More snow melting. Took out compost, Swept the floor, did the ironing. This morning I looked up Rain Tek. Larix bought the company in 2021. The have their own company, and act as a branch of Larix Landscaping. I shall let Joel know about Motherwell electric. They want to lenghth the electrical 25 foot cord right on the pump. Then I would be free to encase it in pvc and plug it in. He says to put it on the surface, but I am sure to have it buried slightly next to the dry stream would be ok to do. I would like Joel or Matt to be here when he does this, so they can help unplug the pump from the waterfall. With a view to having fish and under water plants, I would like Matt to raise the pump off the bottom of the pond so the fish can over-winter (hibernate) at the deepest end of the pond. I wonder if he could move one of the pavers on top of the big blue pot that is under the Lebanon cedar and set the pump on it. Also wonder if he could further protect the pump from clogging up by adding a cage around the pump. I have in mind to use that water garden plant pot that the marsh marigold is now in. The marsh marigold needs to be in a taller, less porous pot, that will make it act as a bog. I also have to move the willows out of the way, again so that they do not get trampled. I must move my 2 mossy rocks also. They and the marsh marigold can all go onto the strawberry patch. After the pump cord is lengthened, Larix can finish the masonary over the exposed lining. I shall do an email to Joel about this, maybe tomorrow.

Monday, February 10, 2025
1 degree at 10:00. Laundry: doing the laundry basketfull all in one load, as well as the bedding and towels. Set dish washer to Normal. It was really hot last night on Sanitize. Hope this works on Normal now. More snow melted. The motion light came on last night, but don't see the animal tracks. The black and white feral cat was in the back yard this morning. It came up from the Pees back yard across the cutting garden. We got our $3 peak saver on Hydro last evening. Shopping to the London Drugs. There is a wickedly cold wind out there despite the sunshine and 4 degrees. Trevor to renew my domain for 2 years for $100.

Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Email to Joel about the pump cord, etc. 3 degrees at 1:00, and sunny with a wind chill factor keeping it really cold out there. warmer by 4:00 (no wind chill). Am making up 2 batches of red cabbage in the microwave. Mashed potatos with a bit of garlic, and ribs, for supper. It is taking a long time for a batch of red cabbage to get finished..about 30 minutes in 6.66 minute times to check its doneness. Have 2 pkgs of red cabbage frozen, and one in the fridge. Have 3 baked beets done to cut up for a vegetable.

Thursday, February 13, 2025
Yesterday was cooking, Berwick, email messed up and corrected. email to electrician, banking, pd plumbing 4 degrees at 10:30. got estimate from Issac - wow. Got more of my email sorted. Weird stuff Mozilla. Made cookies. Friday, February 14, 2025
Domain renewal for 2 years to 2027. Did banking, everything is very good. 4 degrees at 10:00. Was 7 degrees at 1:00. Was out to see about rescuing my willows but they are frozen in. The pond was frozen over.. must have had an inch of ice on it. Broke the ice up a bit and rescued the marsh marigold and its pot. The patio area is very icey. Tried to chop it up a bit to help it melt. Moved a few rocks around to shore up the area by the cedars a bit. So, I guess we shouldn't be in a big rush to get this finished. We don't need any accidents on the ice.

Saturday, February 15, 2025
6 degrees at 10:00. Emptied an inch of rain out of the gauge. Sooke reservoir water levels at Feb 9, 2025 were 94.4%. Finished checking over the JE2024 and it is ready to upload. Need to do all the changes to the Water2020 page to bring the Larix stuff up to date. What a horrible last 2 months we had in 2024. Thank heavens it is all finally getting sorted out. Uploaded the JE2024 and Progress all work.

Sunday, February 16, 2025
6 degrees at 1:30. Emptied .5 of an inch of rain out of the water gauge. Were to Canadian Tire and got the Keurig milk frother for apx $85. Made the sweet and sour sauce and pork bits and have them in the oven at 300. Recipe says 325 for 30 minutes. I think it will need longer and we have another peak saver tonite, so it is getting done ahead of time. It can just be turned off at 4:00 and just be heated up just before 6:00. Used Uncle Ben's rice. Was good. Watched curling. Tried to find some photos for the Fig tree listpage and the album. Found nothing new. Checked the plant lists page where the purchases are and have Larix listed for payments so far. Calculated what's owing. $3285.49. I hope they buy the 25 foot extension cord from acquascape and add it to the cost. But if they do not get it, I will try to get one of my own. Heard nothing back from Electrician. Lot of the ice is gone, most of it. Did not get out to move any plants, too rainy.

Monday, February 17, 2025
7 degrees at 10:30. I have decided to go with the acquascape extension cord. Best Buy has them. I will get it myself if Larix won't do it. I have found a leaf skimmer at Rona, and they also have the pvc 20 ft of 1.5 in flexible tube. So I will get that too and then I can start rebuilding the drystream and repairing the trampled plants along beside the masonary. Today is family day so I don't expect any action from Larix. Light laundry. I see the blue tubs at the deep end are set up on 3 pavers. So, I hope I can sink a fairly large piece of pvc with about a 4 inch diameter into the space to make the cave at the deep end. I won't need the cave on the other end where I was going to raise the pump. I don't much like those sharp edges on the pavers. I wonder if we could add some foam or something to the sharp edges to protect the fish and the pond liner. Perhaps add some spare pond liner pieces to those edges with foam. We could just add a flexible plastic over the whole stack of sharp edges and secure it under the paver edges. low-density polyethylene (LDPE) sheeting
I made cappiccino using the new milk frother. I need to make the coffee darker. Measure 2 green cups of water into the coffee maker and add enough coffee in the filter to make 6 cups. Heat the 3/4 full green cups of dark coffee in the microwave. Froth 4 oz of milk in the frother (use the 3 squiggly bars. Then divide the froth between the 2 heated cups, add cinnamon, stir them a bit. Be sure to wash out the frother when finished using it.

Tuesday, February 18, 2025
7 degrees at 4:00. Email to Joel about when he can come to have a look, after I asked him to come and finish the masonary, and we could do the rest of the stuff I mentioned, later, as I would not be getting fish or plants until it warmed up. Email to David about coming to add the heavy gauge cord and connecting it to the whatever outlet. And yes I could run it along the surface -- asked him to come to do the work he recommended. (So, I guess David needs to add this cord directly to the pump. I hope he can get back to me soon and to add about 25 feet to length of the electric cord. Now, I hope this gets done without further ado. To see Joel tomorrow (19th) at noon.

Wednesday, February 19, 2025
9 degrees at 10:00. Was up at the crack of dawn before 8:30 to answer Joel's email about can he bring anything. Suggested the 1.5 diameter tubing - 50 feet, that I will eventually need to encase the lengthened electrical cord, if not today, eventually. I suppose my willows are going to get trampled again and the moss ripped off my special rocks, but I do not feel like going out there to rescue them. Its windy, but the wind should die down by 12:00. Got Pat to turn on the water down there and move the LTV out of the way. I have had about enough of this camping stuff. Was out for about half an hour, moved the mossy rocks, the board from the steps, dug out the willow that was too close to the masonary and dry stream area, and put it back on the strawberry patch. I hope they can get this pump stuff done today and get on with finishing the masonary. I need to get the steps fixed and the down spout by the cedars properly fixed so that the rain water runs back over the cedars, instead of loosing it just down the sewer or where ever it goes. The wind has died down and there is no rain at 12:00. It has started to rain at 1:30. Joel was buy to see what he had to do. He is going to cover the edges of the pond under the Lebanon cedar with masonary that he is going to leave loose. He thought that maybe the Electrician could just make a safe plugin along the side of the deck and get the pump plugged directly into that plugin without having to lengthen the cord. He seemed to think that the fish would not need protection from the pointy pavers. David the electrician did not show up, and no email. I have a tendancy to go with the electrician on this and I can still bury the cord in its protective covering as I did before. Joel wants to add more pavers to bring the plants on the blue tubs higher, yeah I think so. I will need to add some pavers under the marsh marigold plant pot. Joel did not even want to hear about the dry stream, but wanted to build the steps down to under the deck out of wood. I think I can continue with the way I am doing it. Joel said he has more pieces of masonary that he can use and will set the loose piece in. Pat is going to put his LTV back and says he doesn't want to move it again. Yeah well what happens when the drywallers get here? Windy and rainy again at 3:00 and 8 degrees. The crocuses in the boulevard garden strip are up and open. The ones in the crocus field part of the boulevard garden are starting to show, but they are behind the ones rest of that garden room. Having read some more about the pump cord, I see where David's idea is the best idea. I really don't want another plug in GFC or whatever it is called along the deck, if it is even possible to do. For Joel to add a few more pavers under the blue pots is a yes and a couple under the pump also. I will need a couple under the marsh marigold also. I can always get more pavers if need them to build the steps down to under the deck. I don't want Joel to build this out of wood, as it will just rot away. So, I will ask him to add the pavers, fix the Loose paver and then lay the extra paver under the lebanon cedar and be done of it for now, and bill it out.

Thursday, February 20, 2025
8 degrees at 9:30, overcast, no wind. We made $3 on the last 3 peak savers, so we are at a total $21 for this season, so far. It has been a cold month so overall our hydro is up over last year. Deleted a bunch out of trash. Sorted some more fig tree garden photos. Reservoir level Feb.16 is 94.1%. Did the ironing. Few photos. 11 degrees at 1:30. Have heard nothing from Joel nor David.

Friday, February 21, 2025
7 degrees at 9:00. Lightly raining. Curling. Got the skimmer from Canadian Tire. $20.15.

Saturday, February 22, 2025
11 degrees at 10:00. Emptied an inch out of the rain gauge. Made cappiccino. Sorted some photos for the fig tree garden room photo album. Added Skimmer to plantlists (need to upload Plant lists.)

Sunday, February 23, 2025
Changed the list page CGvH and uploaded. Changed the list pages listBLVRD and listDPP and listDWS and listJM and listPS and Pond Plants, all uploaded. 7 of the list pages done. Sorting more photos for the Fig Tree Garden album. I see all the ones that are finished have been done with 5 photos across and 3 down which equals 4 pages and 60 photos.
10 degrees at 10:00. Curling at 10:00. Emptied .5 of an inch of rain out of the gauge. Curling at 4:00.

Monday, February 24, 2025
11 degrees at 11:00. Overcast. Laundry. Made cranberries. Emptied .5 of an inch of rain out of the gauge. Made up 3 meat loafs. Started to tweak photos for Fig Tree album.

Tuesday, February 25, 2025
9 degrees at 9:30. Some sun, some clouds. I was up around 1:00 to turn on the dishwasher and the dryer for the towels. It was very windy. Windows just updated. Printed credit card statement for 24 February 2025. The water level in the pond is getting quite a bit higher with all the rain we have had lately. I have one topping for the water irises ready to add, if I do not see any comeing up in the pond ones. I will want to make the 'viewing platform' at least 8 inches below the paving. It can be as low as possible to get below the deck board. Taller people than me can use the other entry or duck their head. When the pond is full I think the spill stone that Matt has made below the mermaid is going to be at water level or lower. I will need at least one more paver below each of the 3 blue bins, 2 more pavers for each would bring it to 6 or 12 pavers..not sure how many they need under each pot. Anyway, I can always get more pavers. 13 degrees at 1:00. Reservoir levels at Feb. 23: 98.0%. Finished tweaking 17 photos for the Fig Tree photo album.

Wednesday, February 26, 2025
11 degrees at 11:00. Pictures of the crocus field in the sunshine. Finished tweaking photos for page 2 of the Fig Tree photo album. Was out from 2:00 to 4:30. Was 11 degrees when I got back in. Cleaned leaves off the patio area. Sorted out the plants on the garden. Moved 6 pavers over to the pond side to raise the blue pots up a bit. Started digging out the 'viewing platform'. I have 4 square pavers set down. But have them too deep. I will raise them back up about 2 inches. This space will give me room to stand and watch the pond, hopefully. The next step down under the deck might just be deep enough for me to miss the deck. I have broken pavers to set in beside the pavers to hold back the soil. Was wearing 2 pairs of pants and plastic gloves inside my outer gardening gloves. My nails are amazingly clean. Came in and got the spam and beans ready to cook, and made a hot toddy with coffee. I have the marsh marigold in a taller pot. I don't see it growing though. I might have to get a new one. There are lots of roots in the irises. They will need repotting. They are in gallon pots. The roots spread over the edges of the pots and are covered in moss and so there are many of them coming up in each pot. Too many bog beans. I will need new oxygenating plants. My muscles should be ok to do more work tomorrow.

Thursday, February 27, 2025
Joel emailed me at 7:00 about Matt being over this morning. He got here at 8:30, did not need the LTV moved. He fixed the stones under the Lebanon Cedar, added the pavers I had left out under the plants. Ran the waterfall and tweaked it a bit. The spill rock by the mermaid is going to be underwater when the pond is full. There is water running down the other opening, also. Matt cemented down the loose stone. I should stay off it for a week. He was finished before 12:00. I can go in the other entry under the deck. 10 degrees at 1:30. Was out from 1:30 to 4:30. Matt left the waterfall running. I skimmed the pond, there are plants coming up in the iris pots. So maybe they will be good without repotting. There is nothing comeing up in the marsh marigold pot. I have the first level of the viewing platform done. Still have to duck to get to the second level of the stairs. Oh well. It is an amazing 14 degrees at 4:30. I think I almost got caught in a TD scam. Google wanted me to block that code number they gave me to use. Dammit! should have blocked it. But the TD did not let me in when I tried to use it, so I believe I am ok there. I have ok'd google's use of its AI chat bot, Gemini. It is already active, but I generally ignore it. It gives me lots of information from my searches. I have one more day, I think, until I finish the steps down to the sitting area. Shithead is throwing peanuts in the shell out again for the squirrel. At least there was one on the deck, but not burried in any pot, and no digging in the pots. I have brought a bit of sea soil up to top up the pots on the deck. The crocuses are in bloom on the deck. Hellebores blooming under the deck.

Friday, February 28, 2025
Emptied .5 of an inch of rain out of the rain gauge. Cleaned up the deck, weeding, added some new soil to top up the pots. Clippied back some of the cedars near the eaves trough, clipped the honeysuckle and the clematis a bit. Took about an hour to get the deck cleaned up. 19 degrees at 2:00. Sun. etransfer to Larix and have 2 more to do. Moved all the Larix stuff out of the inbox and into its folder. Over all paid $11,618.56 recorded on the Plantlists page, to be uploaded. Put the marsh marigold into a taller pot and put it on top of the blue bin (added pea gravel to the top); where I had removed a pot with Irises in it. Put the Irises pot onto the shelf by the Lebanon cider. Made one more step under the deck. It has 3 pavers down and 2 pavers across (the 8 x 16 pavers.) Dragged the hose out of the ground and will be using it under the deck to fill the pond, and water under the deck. Use the other hose to water the rest of the garden. Moved a primula next to the top of the first step of the 'viewing platform. Starting setting the stones for the dry stream. Photos of the crocus field. Curling at 6:30. Jack's for supper.

March 2025

Saturday, March 1, 2025
9 degrees at 11:00. Downloaded February photos. banking, email. Saved Virags pdf news letter. Made hash for supper. 13 degrees at 2:00. Was out by 2:15 and in at 5:15. 11 degrees at 5:00. I got the downspout feeding into a short straight pipe of about 4 feet past the house. It slants downward and should drain out towards under the deck. I duct taped the joins. Hope it holds. I got the hose for watering under the deck and to fill the pond sorted out and rolled up under the deck. I need an end thing for this hose. I rolled up the other hose nicely to sit by the heat pump. Moved a big rock down beside the lower steps. Moved the big mossy rock to sit by the little cedar. This rock needs to be lowered about 6 inches, Have started to put smaller rocks around it, and some of the bigger rocks along for the river edges. I might see what I have for jagged rocks for stream edging. The mossy logs go up to the big old stump. I might finish that side of the drystream with more logs up to the round little cedar. I feel like I made some good progress. Measured the pond depth. Seems like it might be 3 feet when full. I think I will put the willows in the woodland, perhaps next to the rubarb and across the path with the other one.

Sunday, March 2, 2025
11 degrees at 11:00. Made 2 cappiccinos. I am getting the frother to work - 2 oz of milk for them. It does not hurt to run the frother twice without cleaning between each one. Sent the last etransfer to Larix. Made parsnips with ginger root up for supper. 13 degrees at 2:00. Was out from 2:00 to 4:30. Started the dry stream. Moved the two willows over to the woodland at the end of the old sidewalk -- one on each side. Dug new holes for them and back filled. Watered them in a bit. Tried to fill the pond with a bit of water. The pump had stopped running. I did the reset button and of course it runs. Shithead must have been out there turning it off. I see no reason for that to happen, otherwise. I need a new hose end for the hose that goes out to the garden. It leaks, and has been duct taped, before. Maybe more duck tape. Maybe a new hose. Have dragged 2 more pavers under the deck. Got in about 4:30 and put my gardening clothes into the wash.

Monday, March 3, 2025
11 degrees at 10:30. Did all the laundry. 10 degrees at 5:00, raining lightly. Watched curling.

Tuesday, March 4, 2025
9 degrees at 3:30. Got statements for cr un, hydro. Spent all the day until 3:30 trying to figure out how to get $30 protection for Win 10 to in Oct. 2025 to take me to Oct 2026 when Win 12 should be out, and then go from Win 10 right to Win 12. Must ask Trevor -- It might be better to set up the computer on the last win 11 available in Aug - Sept 2026 and then switch directly to Win 12. Watered the house plants.

Wednesday, March 5, 2025
9 degrees at 11:00. Was out in the garden from about 11:00 to 12:15. Fixed the hose connection. Sorted out the hoses. Attached one and filled some of the pond. This pond hose has the nozzle taped to the end of it. The other hose has a leak at about 10 feet from the tap. So I want a new 50 foot rubber hose with a nozzle. Pat has to see the connections to the brass splitter and what he wants to do with it. Moved some pavers and rocks around to continue making the steps down to the sitting area, and finishing the dry stream.

Friday, March 7, 2025
Yesterday at noon the wall board guy from Capital City Drywall Ltd. arrived, sat and was having his lunch while we waited to go get our lunch. Pat went out to get him started, and showed him around what he had to do. We left for our lunch at about 1:00 at the new place (?) we have found. We had a big lunches, and I brought half of my chicken burger with salad home. We had this for our supper. Pat had the left over side of the burger with all its vegetables with a beef burger for his supper and I had the piece of chicken on its half of the burger bun along with all about half of the big yummy salad that was left. We went to Lee Valley and got the Dri Box to contain the hose connection to the extension cord for the water pump, and a new nozzle for the hose that goes out to the back garden, etc. $76.61. Gas for the car at the Co-op gas. The dry wall guy left at 4:45. We watched curling.
Today: 7 degrees at 9:44. Drywall guy arrived at 8:30, after saying he would be here at 8:00. Pat thought we had to be up and 8:00 and so we were. Trump has gone off his rocker, but that's a whole different story, nothing to do with gardening. Added the Lee Valley purchases to the Playlist page. Drywall guy finished at 5:00.

Saturday, March 8, 2025
9 degrees at 10:00. raining. Made cappuccino. Emptied .5 inch of rain out of the rain gauge. Squirrel has dug holes in the lettuce pot on the deck and there is soil on the deck beside the pot. The magnolia tree is getting big buds. The crocus field looks terrific. Might need a few more in the area in front of the bridal veil spirea shrub. Finished tweaking photos for the Fig Tree garden room photo album. Did ironing.

Sunday, March 9, 2025
Raining a bit. Did laundry. Made tuna surprise casserole. Watched curling at 11:00 (Semi Final) and 5:00 Final. Dunestone vs. Horachs (sp?). Cloudy, 9 degrees at 4:00. Squirrel has been on the tub on the deck trying to rip off the wire cover. Finished tweaking photos for fig tree garden room photo album.

Monday, March 10, 2025
Froze last night. 3 degrees at 10:00. Microsoft seems to have messed something up in my hotmail.. to hell with it. Trying to get to see posts and half of the friends folder don't let me see all of their posts at once.. or whatever. Microsoft sent my Fig created album to some odd page. I went to it and copied the album to desktop. Dammit Microsoft. The mudder guy got started today and will be here later in the day tomorrow. Oh well. Things eventually get sorted. Added Kelly to my phone contacts. They are driving out and should get to their b&b on the 21st. Using that facebook messenger thing is a pain. Wonder why he cannot use the other messenger. London Drugs gave us an extra $20.00 voucher which Pat took and the real $5. voucher is gone too. The $20 was marked as being on another phone number. What a weird day.

Tuesday, March 11, 2025
8 degrees at 10:00. Water reservoir level for March 9, 2025: 100%. Old man Pee passed a few days ago. Finished step 1 and 2 of the Index pages of the Fig Tree Garden photo album. Spent hours looking for the renovation of the stepping stones around this garden area. Finnaly found them in April, 2008 Folder. Will make a blog post so as to get them into the photo album. Made up a blog post to use on Page 1 description about the addition of stepping stones to create the path, in April of 2008. Finished the Index pages of the Fig Tree Garden album. Watched a Zoom from VIRAGS. Had to update the zoom. Will see if it works tomorrow night when I have another zoom meet with the Alpine garden club of BC (the group that meets at Van Dusen in Vancouver.) The mudder guy was here for half a day again. He is almost finished. Apparantly he does several layers of this stuff, to get a smooth surface for the painters.

Wednesday, March 12, 2025
9 degrees at 12:00. Overcast. Took the compost bin out to the curb and added some of the debris from along the driveway. Cleaned up on my dresser top. Filled the pond to almost full, turned on the waterfall. Moved a few more rocks around to make the dry stream and the steps down under the deck. The crocus field looks bedraggled after the rain. People from the Pees funeral were driving on my boulevard. Wonder if I could get a tall curb added to keep them off. The zoom last night was sort of interesting. Hope we get a link to see it again. Pat has his appointment with the eye doctor this morning. Finished step 1 of the photo .html pages. The water garden is loosing water, somewhere. I think the problem might be the water fall. I filled the pond almost full this morning, and turned on the water fall. At supper time, the level had fallen to below the stone by the mermaid. I shall fill the pond again tomorrow, without turning on the water fall, and see if the waterfall is the problem.. Sure would be easier to rebuild the waterfall than find a leak in the pond and have to fix it or patch it.. whatever. The zoom meeting was a total disaster, tonite. Giggley girl visisting botantical gardens all over Europe. photography and presentation was unimpressive to say the least. And so goes what started out as an excellent day, sadly descending into a horrible day. The mudder guy will be back on Friday.. have no idea what he did today, but I am sure he knows what he is doing.. his name is Stewart.

Thursday, March 13, 2025
8 degrees at 11:15. Emptied .5 inch of rain out of the rain gauge. At 9:15 I went out and filled the pond almost to the top..pictures. It took to 10:15 to fill the pond. Moved the hoses around so that the the one with the duct tape on the nozzle is the one to use around the back garden. The other one with the small hole in it is the one that was slightly buried under the moss garden and directly into the pond for filling the pond. That's now under the deck for filling the pond. It could use a some duct tape on the small hole. Its very slippery under the deck in the clay, so had to be very careful in moving that hose to the fill up the pond position. Finished step 2 of the photo html pages.

Friday, March 14, 2025
8 degrees at 11:00. The water level in the pond remains the same. So I guess as I filled the water levels previously the water had to fill out all the liner. So much for my latest panic. Listened to and watched Mark Carney being signed on as Prime Minister. Justin Trudeau resigned yesterday and is not going to run in the next election. Watched almost all of the cabinet being signed in. There are about 22 of them, which is a lower number than the 37 that Trudeau had. Freeland is in the cabinet again, and a few others are repeat cabinet ministers. Carney almost immediately goes to Britian (I think) with a meeting with might be? NATO country leaders.(?) Made up the stew for our supper. Was out in the garden from 12:30 to 3:30. Added a bit more water to the pond. Ran the waterfall for a little while. Had to do the reset, probably because I ran the water into the pond on top of the pump. Started the clean up of the moss garden. Removing dried leaves, etc. Rebuilt the field stone stepping stones that go under the deck, adding a few more black flat stones, and filled in with stones and clay to level them. 9 degrees at 4:00. Finished the captions of the first row of photos (No.5) in the fig tree garden room photo album.

Saturday, March 15, 2025
Laundry, 6 degrees at 11:00. Raining this morning. Water level in the pond is the same, but I have not been running the waterfall. Emptied a little over .5 of an inch out of the rain gauge at 11:00 a.m. Finished the laundry and making the chicken cordon bleu casserole, did the dishes, filled the flour jar and the butter dish at 1:15. Still raining. Windows update. Finished captions up to No.10 of the photo album for the Fig Tree Garden room.

Sunday, March 16, 2025
7 degrees at 10:00. Watered the house plants. Stitched up the blanket edge. Banking. Made lunch and lemonade. Finished page 1 coding of the fig tree photo album. Was out in the garden from 1:30 to 3:30. Got the water hose that fills the pond moved over to the other side of stairs, as it was before. Its not going to be dug in this time, though. Moved another big piece of wood under the deck to make up that side of the dry stream. Planted some plants along the edge of the masonary. I was hoping these were the wulfenie, but I think they really are the marsh marigolds and I Shall have to put them into the large pot with the little pot on to of it. I think I will just take out the little pot and fill it with these pieces of the real marsh marigold and put it back on top of the big pot. I will have to cut the bottom half of the little pot off, so that the marsh marigold can spread out over the edges of the small pot and into the big pot. I don't think it is too deep for the marsh marigold. I don't know what has become of the wulfenie or that other arabis thing I had growing over the edge of the pond. When I filled the pond to overflowing the water was running down what is getting to be the drystream, so that is kinda cool, I think. I was not watching the waterfall while doing this, and when I was ready to come in at 3:30 and went to turn off the waterfall the pond had lost 2 or 3 inches of water. OMG. now what? On the way in I scratched the duct tape off the nozzle that they had on the hose that is going to be the one to use on the sprinklers in the garden. We have a new nozzle for it, and this old one can go onto the hose that fills the pond. Hope Pat can get his new nozzle onto that hose end that he will need for his work on the LTV. It is 9 degrees and sunny now at 4:30, but it had rained when I was out planting my marsh marigold beside the masonary, and I got a bit damp. The dry stream is slowly coming along, as are the steps that go down to the sitting place under the deck. The field stone steps that go under the deck by the stairs are finished and work pretty good. Was having a good day, until I found that waterfall was a disaster. I had filled the pond up to where it had been staying at before I ran the water fall, after I had turned the waterfall off. Now at 4:50 I just went out and had a look ... OMG the water level is again down that 2 or 3 inches. NOW WHAT??? 5:40 the water level has gone even more. It is back to the original water level, which is where it was before I ever filled it to the top. Finished the ft. 25 being the second row of page 2 of the fig tree garden photo album.

Monday, March 17, 2025
Froze last night. Its 10 degrees at 12:00. Made cookies. The mudder, Stewart, got here about 10:00. Told Pat he would be finished on Wednesday. Then the Painters come in. Shopped and had a bit of hail on our way out to Tillicum mall. Finished page 2 of the photo album captions of the Fig Tree Garden Room. Pat phoned Dan after supper, they talked a lot of insurance stuff. Carol is having some sort of trouble with her second knee operation, I didn't hear it as I was in the kitchen. Tara is having a lot of trouble with Freja's health condition, missing a lot of school over it, etc. She talks to Carol nearly everyday and Dan doesn't hear a lot about it either.

Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Froze last night. 4 degrees at 9:30. Sunny. banking. Made chicken, rice veggie soup for lunch, made up the turnips with apple and the baked potato for supper .. just needs a bit of microwave and baking to the potato. Was out from about 1:00 to 2:00. Moved a lot of the marshmarigolds into a black gallon pot to put them into the tall black pot on the waterfall side. Took these plants from where I had put them in front of the red maple. Filled the pond to about the middle of the little rock just under the mermaid and next to that opening under the mermaid, and with a bit of water over the spill rock under the mermaid. Pictures. Washed the dirt off the masonary with the pond filling hose. The water level is going down at 2:30. Email to Joel about the leak in the pond. Water level down to where it was before I filled it.. pond is about half full. Finished the second row of page 3 of the captions to the photo album for the Fig Tree Garden room.

Wednesday, March 19, 2025
9 degrees at 2:00 and breezy. Oak leaves flying off the tree.. they seem to hang on for a long time. I will have to be cleaning them off the pond again. I have arranged to see Joel some time in the second week of April about fixing the leak in the pond. I won't believe him until I see it done, although there are lots mentions on line about how to do this. Reservoir level at March 16: 100%. Finished the photo captions for page 3 of the Fig Tree Garden photo album.

Friday, March 21, 2025
I forget what I did yesterday. I think I spent time catching up on my sleep, and maybe there was curling.
Today I did 3 loads of laundry. Emptied .75 of an inch of rain out of the gauge this morning. Its 9 degrees at 4:30 and raining lightly off and on today. We went to lunch at the cafe out by the airport and had seafood wonton soup, shopped at the co-op looking for the special kale salad they had. There was none. We got a few other things and were home by 2:oo. Brought in the blue box. Put away the laundry, had a cookie and a nap. Now I find I will have to change all the dates on the calendar for the garbage and green bins. Great, messy up my calendar for the whole year.

Saturday, March 22, 2025
9 degrees at 11:00. It froze last night as there is ice on the water table. have only 1 row of captions to do in the fig tree garden album. I got sidetracked in looking up plants. Dan the plumber guy was here about 10:00, fixed the shower in the big bathroom. A few photos. Made up double batch of sweet and sour sauce over pork bits browned and simmered in the pineapple juice. Made up Italian spice mix. Did up all the dishes, finished at 4:00 and the sweet and sour pork is cooking some more. The pork is fairly tender after 45 minutes, but it can use some more time. Cleaned up facebook notifications, have to sign on with my google account and use the PIN. Cleaned up the hotmail by deleting all the crap.

Sunday, March 23, 2025
10 degrees at 10:30, raining. Emptied .5 of an inch out of the rain gauge earlier this morning. Laundry done. Finished the photo album of the fig tree garden. Now I have to check it over and upload it. Had to find the right Fig folder to use. Got it and uploaded and it all works. Uploaded plantlist and progress and they work also. Call from Kelly, will get together when we can. Tyler's ship gets in tomorrow, and he works in the mornings. They drove out and are staying at some place in Equimalt. Have started the list page for the fig tree garden room.

Monday, March 24, 2025
Up at 6:30, emptied the dishwasher, etc. The painter, Tawna, arrived at 8:30. Took samples of everything she needed. Making salmon salad sandwiches for lunch. Issac came over and was talking to Tawna so he must be her 'boss' she referred to. Pat took the hacksaw back to coffee with him and gave it to Phil. Tawna was telling Isaac that "none of these walls have ever been painted" so it must just be the basic under coat paint on the walls down there. We really should get it painted.
Emptied 2 inches of rain out of the gauge at 9:00. It is 11 degrees at 10:00 and raining. The pond seems to be filling up a bit from the rain.

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
12 degrees at 9:00, overcast. Emptied .5 of an inch of rain out of the gauge. Brought in new daffodils. Was up at 6:00 to be sure I was out of the bath before Tohna came to do more painting. She was a bit late and got here at 9:00. Kel and family to got here about 11:00 we visited until about 12:30 and out to lunch at the uptown bistro and more visiting until about 2:30. They go off to do their afternoon stuff. We go shop for shower curtain, etc at Tillicum. Get home about 3:00, I have my large glass of water and go down for a nap. Awake at 5:00, Pat has put the shower curtain up, I sweep up the bathroom floor and put all the stuff back. The painter finished about 4:30 with the boards along the edges of the lino yet to be attached and some towel bars to be attached. Pat hung the curtain in the big bathroom, too. It looks nice the way he has it.

Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Scrubbed down some of the tub. On his way to coffee this morning Pat dumped his motorcycle at the street. A passerby helped him up and righted the bike. Pat got into the house somehow, and called me. He thinks he has broken his right shoulder. Is in some pain. He called a cab to take him to the hospital and arrived there at 9:44 (according to the bill). He messaged Gary and said he would not be at coffee. He had phoned Ron C. to come over and move the bike inside. Ron and I pushed it up to the garage and he set it up. Later, I filled the bins and took them to the curb. Cleaned up a bit more of the downstairs area. At 12:30 it is 13 degrees, a bit of light rain. As at March 23 the Sooke Reservoir water level is at 100%. I am tired from pushing the bike and all the stairs, etc. Made up the avocado lime jello salad. Pat got home at about 5:00, broken shoulder only in a sling, no taping up. Water, food, put ointment and bandage on his big scrape on his hand. Ron phoned him later after he got settled downstairs. 2 tylenol every 4 hours. At 7:00 I thought there were big winds, the trees are not moving. It is thunder!

Thursday, March 27, 2025
13 degrees at 11:00. Emptied a little over .5 of an inch out of the rain gauge. I was amazed to see the water level in the pond covering the spill rock below the mermaid. This makes a liar out of me, claiming that the pond has a leak. Very odd. Will leave it for now, as I have no time to look at this. Will wait until after 3 of April, or so. See how well Pat is doing. He is doing amazingly well so far. Re-coded the Pond Plants (list page for plants in the pond) and uploaded it, banking.

Friday, March 28, 2025
11 degrees at 11:00. Overcast. Water in the pond is just over the spill rock beneath the mermaid. 13 degrees at 1:30.

Saturday, March 29, 2025
10 degrees at 11:30. Shopping for groceries. Taxi over and back. It went fairly well. Just tiny spits of rain.

Sunday, March 30, 2025
13 degrees at 2:00. did laundry. watered house plants. I seem to be bringing big black ants up from downstairs on my slippers. Actually, I think the ants are coming in the patio door when I wear my slippers out there, or leave the door open. Swept the floor. The water level in the pond seems to be the same as it has been since the rains - - just a bit on top of the mermaid spill rock.

Monday, March 31, 2025
14 degrees at 11:00. Did the ironing. Found some mactack to put down in the big bathroom under the sink. Have to clean it up and dry it then add the mactack. Did a bit on the list page for the FTB. Pat showered this morning! without hurting himself! YaY! He called the Rogers or shaw cable about the problem with the TV, in the early afternoon. She went over everything. (Was hard to understand) Asked me to unplug the router or whatever...She made up sign up for some PINs..one each, on the cover of the file folder. I didn't unplug the Amplifi and plug it back in..until she had gone and we had set up an appointment for someone to come and look at the problem on Wednesday between 11:00 and 1:00. So, when I unplugged and plugged back in the Amplifi we were able to get the last 2 ends of the Canada vs. Scotland curling on TSN. YaY. Amplifi is a router and much more. So I suppose the speed we get is over wifi and nothing to do with the cable, except that it seems its uncompatible with shitty shaw/rogers. Another curling game at 6:00. Last night while surfing around the net, I found that Godaddy had been hacked, starting in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. I deleted my files sometime in about August of 2020 and signed on with Trevor perhaps in November of 2020.

April 1, 2025

Tuesday, April 1, 2025
The Bank of Canada aims to maintain inflation at 2% annually. To achieve this, it adjusts the overnight rate, which is the interest rate banks charge each other for overnight lending. As of March 12, 2025, the Bank of Canada's target overnight lending rate is 2.75%, following a 25-basis point cut from 3%. The interest rate on your TD Bank savings account likely decreased because the Bank of Canada lowered its overnight rate, which in turn affects TD's prime rate and subsequently, the interest rates on savings accounts. This is NOT an April Fool's Joke.
12 degrees at 11:00. Took 3 hours to make the Crepes St. Jocques. Curling.

Wednesday, April 2, 2025
10 degrees at 10:30. The Magnolia tree is blooming. The marsh marigolds are starting to bloom in the pond and along beside the moss/Japanese garden just above the dry stream. I should move them lower down by the big mossy rock when I get the dry stream finished, as this seems to be the where the pond flows when it over flows. I must be sure this area of the electrical cord stays as dry as possible and not flow down into the dri box connection on the extension cord. The Rogers lady was in to fix the problem we were having with the tv. She gave us a new little box on top of the tv, checked for something outside, asked if there was anyone else on the account -- no one downstairs. Despite Pat's notions, I got to tell her about the amplifi. The whole thing runs on wif-fi.. no more cables. She put our wireless number into the set up. Then she came upstairs and added some new cable in under there..I think it was to the Amplifi.. She told us how to save stuff. Reboot means you unplug the little back wire out the thing on top of the tv and plug it back in again. She is very fast and efficient. Showed us how to save stuff, but of course Pat had the remote. There is no where that I can look up how to do this.. Pat figures he can figure it out. Go to the guide, find whatever you want to record, (seems you say ok several times, and there are little red dots showing that it is recorded. You can delete stuff by this same procedure. I suppose you go to the same place when you want to play and recorded stuff. Did up a cheque for Capital City Drywall and Pat is going to put in the mail box today. Gary picked him up to go to coffee today.. his tap on his card did not work he had to add the pin code thing to swipe it. Bloody hell. I want him to call Issac or email him or whatever to get someone in to move all the things back in place, maybe Stewart? and we would of course pay them. So tomorrow I will go with him to the doctors appointment and he is going to coffee again with Gary tomorrow morning. He wears his sling when going to coffee. We will need to go to the hospital at about 1:30. Tried to get to see my telus mobility account. Have to set up the telus app.. use the password for my telus, set up the app and navigate to mobility within the app.. to hell not going there. Get Trevor to set it up or whoever he thinks can manage this. OR don't bother. The app wants a thousand new things to connect it to wifi. Guess I won't get the big bathroom under the sink cleaned up today. Took out the blue boxes -- its a bit early but I won't want to do it tomorrow. Have the paper ones covered with the blue bag. Magnolia in bloom, hyacinths, aubretia under the magnolia blooms also blooming. I can only see 2 trilliums coming up. Downloaded March photos

Friday, April 4, 2025
16 degrees at 4:30. Grocery shopped before lunch. Added a few plants to the Fig Tree Garden room list page. It is a lovely day, I should be out moving plants out of the pond and saving the blue slate rocks but am too tired. Can't find my telus mobility account for the phone, but I have it on auto pay don't know how to change the card connected to that account if I cannot find the login for it. Nikko does not seem to be at Trevor's place anymore. Should have got his number. I did manage to find the home phone account. Its all very difficult. I have a TELUS account for the home phone, but do not want my mobile on the same account, as Pat is managing his iphone somehow by himself. I have to get Trevor or someone to do this. I do not know how Nikkon did it.

Saturday, April 5, 2025
16 degrees at 12:00. a bit of work on the Fig Tree Garden list. Curling. Magnolia in bloom and the aubretia below it. Microsoft updated. Anti virus did some kind of a scan.

Sunday, April 6, 2025
12 degrees at 11:30, raining. Laundry. Curling. Canada gets Bronze - they lost to Scotland yesterday. Their win this morning puts into the bronze. Today is VIRAGS show and sale..not going..was not going to go before as I do not need any more plants right now. Zoom link for Tuesday about growing things in pots.

Monday, April 7, 2025
It has been raining most of the day and last night. 13 degrees at 4:00. Sent an email to Joel saying we have to wait to May to look at this problem, as Pat broke his shoulder blade. I am taking the day off, as I have made this decision and feel much more relaxed about it. The plants in the pond are growing and blooming. Pat seems to be having more problems with his shoulder. Its a couple of weeks until he sees the doctor again on the 22nd. From the picture of the xray it looks like the surgery of adding a pin might be the best treatment, but I am not a doctor. No use worrying about getting stuff done. Worry does nothing to improve the situation.

Tuesday, April 8, 2025
Emptied .5 of an inch of rain out of the gauge. 13 degrees at 2:00. Never reset to original settings on the sx60 camera cause you then have to find the way to set it to RAW and Jpeg again, and that setting is down along the left side. I think I have it back now and have the time set right with continuous numbering.. hope so anyway. Took several photos and have a bunch picked out to do a blog post for the Fig Tree list page. Windows updated.

Wednesday, April 9, 2025
13 degrees at 12:00. Made the stew. Took out compost. Sorted the recycle stuff, a bit. Water level in the pond is about the same as yesterday. More of the water hawthorn is showing growing out of the blue pot that is at the corner across the masonary from the round cedar by the yews.

Friday, April 11, 2025
Not sure what I did yesterday... made the stew in the morning. Wasted a lot of time trying to figure out how to get on Telus mobile.
Today, grocery shopped in the morning, put away all the stuff. Left over stew for lunch. Had a short nap. Ironed the shirt. Cleaned up more downstairs, doing dusting. Cleaned out under the sink in the big bathroom, added the mactack and put all the stuff back in under there. Made the hot chicken for supper. It has been nice and sunny all day.

Sunday, April 13, 2025
Yesterday was a nice sunny day. Read ebook. Wasted more time on Telus mobility. Will have to get Trevor or whoever to help me with that. made up the dressing for the little lettuces.
Today: 14 degrees at 12:00. Did banking, email, etc. Freeze: 2 jars of apple sauce, and 1 in fridge; 1 jar of gingered parsnips and 1 in fridge, 1 jar of baked beets in fridge. Took me 3 hours to make up the vegetables. Turned the temperature down on the heat pump, but will turn it back up again after supper time. The magnolia is spectacular. Water level in pond is the same. The water hawthorn is growing out of 2 of the blue pots. I must make sure Larix does not destroy them or any of the plants growing in the pots. I must save the blue slate off the top of the waterfall before they get at it, and save the rocks beside the waterfall to put them back if they get this problem fixed.

Monday, April 14, 2025
17 degrees at 2:00, bright and sunny day. Dusted more in the laundry room. Did laundry. Pat set up appointments for Covid Shots on good friday 18. Watered house and deck plants. Saw a humming bird, around the deck.

Tuesday, April 15, 2025
15 degrees at 10:00. email, house chores, banking, etc. Up to 7 images tweaked for the blog post for list page of Fig Tree garden room. Shopping.

Wednesday, April 16, 2025
14 degrees at 10:00. email, etc. Charged keyboard and mouse and phone. Looking up Linux stuff for the switch.

Thursday, April 17, 2025
16 degrees at 11:30. Have decided to go with Windows 11, instead of Linux. Lovely, sunny day. We pay 5% of amount owing per month to CRA for the first month of late filing. So, if we file by the end of May, we should be able to manage it. Did email (Sorting and moving to folders), banking, house chores, etc. Double baked potato for lunch. Found the way to change payment on the phone. It won't take my debit card. The Cathy girl from Berwick visited us and left the easter bunny basket. We are to go to Berwick on 25th (I think) where they will give us lots of info on going there. She knew about Pat's broken shoulder. Hung the big picture of the Night Watch in the entry way. Had a big nap today at cookie time.. and no cookie.

Friday, April 18, 2025
Good Friday, 15 degrees at 10:00.Took out the blue bin. Finished the photos for the blog post. There will be more, as the water hawthorn is growing and blooming and the water level is staying the same. I will skim the pond before I photo them again.

Saturday, April 19, 2025
14 degrees at 12:00. Did up the blog post for the pond area on April 7, 2025. I will need to increase the font size from normal, next time. Love that old blogger!. When I go to it from my page it is https protected. Was out to the garden for a few minutes and straightened up the pot of irises in the water garden. I will need to peg them into the pot after we see about the problem with the water level, perhaps in May. We do not seem to be loosing any water since I am not running the pump. Made up the Fig Tree Garden .list image. Finished listing the plants and making corrections. Made some appies and the rest of the dinner to just turn on at 4:30. Was out in the garden from 2:30 to 4:00. Put sticks in the iris pot that is falling over. I hope this keeps it upright now. Skimmed off the pond. Moved the stones and the blue slate off the waterfall, in preparation to seeing if it holds water. Cleaned up the patio area. Did a bit of work on the dry stream and moved the pavers off the viewing platform.

Monday, April 21, 2025
I think I have Easter sunday and the day before that in the previous post. O Well. On Monday, I ironed the shirt, made up the spaghetti sauce for supper. Started sorting things out for the Photo Album and list page for the Back Rock Garden. It has been a lovely day. Sunny 14 degrees at 5:00. The irises that I staked up yesterday are standing in their pot. The water level seems to be the same -- no rain, so not losing much to evaporation.

Tuesday, April 22, 2025
12 degrees at 10:30. Water Watch for April 20, 2025: 99.7%. To the hospital with Pat. Plan B for supper.

Wednesday, April 23, 2025
15 degrees at 11:00. Beautiful, sunny day. Laundry. Sorted a few more photos.

Thursday, April 24, 2025
Windows updated. 17 degrees at 12:00. Wasted far too much time trying to get the finance app to work to give updates. Filled humming bird feeder. Watered house and deck plants. Was out in the garden from 1:00 to 4:00. Weeded half of the back rock garden. Made the hew entry way into the strawberry patch. Adding a big cement paver over all the old stuff, with clay under it. Getting little pails full of clay from under the deck. Got extra bricks to finish the 'yellow brick road' between the strawberries and the little back rock garden. The big veronica is in bloom in front of the big daphne. This all looks pretty good. I added sedum from the old trays along the side of the entry way under the bay laurel. The boxwood, bay laurel and the round cedar along the edge of the pond will need to be trimmed. The marsh marigold is looking good in the pond. The water hawthorn is growing out of 2 of the blue pots and is blooming. The lilac is full of buds. Lots of tulips are up in the cutting garden. Have weeded a bit around the epimedium and planted a foxglove behind them. Pulled all the foxgloves out of the strawberry jar and will get a creeping phlox to put into it. The oxalis is blooming along by the old sidewalk. Have saved the pieces of slate in the garage. I think they were moved from under the chair and were sitting beside the white pot. 20 degrees at 6:00.

Friday, April 25, 2025
To Berwick at from 2:00 to about 4:00.

Saturday, April 26, 2025
Shopping from 11:00 to about 12:30, put away groceries, etc. and late lunch of chicken soup at about 1:30. Dragged the table out from behind the tv, set it up and dusted and wiped it all down. We got a start on the income tax, listing medicals and donations. In sorting the t4 and all the T things. I think I might be missing a T5 for the interest from the Credit Union. So, I have to go chase that from them, I think. Checked all the folders in email where it might be, not found. It should have come in the mail. Pat will check to see if it is in his stuff and if we had one last year. I got the 6 pack of lettuce from the grocery, no dill, and no heliotrope. Planted out the lettuce in their pot this evening. 20 degrees at 6:00 but cooling by 7:00.

Sunday, April 27, 2025
Sooke water level: 99.7% at April 20, 2025. 16 degrees at 11:00. Did income tax stuff. Making a bit of progress.

Monday, April 28, 2025
Walked over to school to vote before lunch. Pat finished his Tax have to copy etc. Made swedish meatballs for supper.

Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Deleted a lot of old emails. Compacted email. Emptied recycle bin. Banking stuff. Pat to eye doctor. 16 degrees at 12:00. Income tax. sorted some photos for the back rock garden photo album.

Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Sorted a few more photos. Finished and mailed Tax forms. Water reservoir levels: 99.9%. 18 degrees at 2:00. Was out to the garden from 2:30 to 4:30. Weeded the edge of the strawberry patch, and half of the back rock garden. Skimmed the pond and filled it up to just above the mermaid spill rock. Moved the globe flower to next to the drystream.. don't know if it is going to grow. Put down rocks for where the dry stream is going to go. I will want to put the protection around the electrical cord and bury it under the finished drystream. I want to finish the drystream by putting old pond liner under it, maybe put the old stuff through that seive thing to collect the pea gravel, then put down the protected hose, then the old pond liner, then the seived rocks on top, covering the electrical cord. The new nozzle does not work on the old hose end. It squirted water all over me, while I tried to water in the new entry to the strawberry patch, and around the drystream, etc. I will need to get a new hose ending for that hose, I think. Shall cut it off and take it to canadian tire and see if they can tell me what to do to make that new nozzle work with the hose. Dammit. Or ask Pat what I need, maybe. I will need some of that creeping phlox, propogate some wulfenie from the front garden, get some london pride arabis, and maybe some dutch (?) iris. Need to finish the steps to under the deck, finish the weeding and mow the grass. Sure hope I don't have to move the garden plants when they come to see why the pond is losing water. I shall run the water fall again, and see if it empties the pond or not.

May 2025

Thursday, May 1, 2025
17 degrees at 11:00. Antivirus updated. Read the VIRAGS news letter. They had a very good Show and Sale this year. Email, banking. Ironed the shirt. Was 20 degrees when I was out in the garden from 2:00 to 4:00. Cleaned up along the driveway, a bit. Then weeding and repairing the front side of the back garden rock garden. I have the bin 3/4 full. The pond is holding its water level just above the mermaid spill rock. I find that there are some of the little green plants that was on the water fall at the front. So, I should be able to get one of them to the back along the edge of the masonary or maybe along the dry stream when I get it finished. Can also get some of the Wulfenie from the front, I hope. Pat says he might have a fix for the hose that was spraying all over me yesterday. can't imagine what that might be.

Friday, May 2, 2025
22 degrees at 11:00. Out to garden. skimmed off pond. put sticks in to straighten up the other pot of irises that tipped over. Pat had a look at the garden hose that goes to the back, to the Last Lodge, etc. He has the stuff to fix the connection between the hose and the new nozzle. And he will do this when he can move his shoulder again. Ran the waterfall. Took pictures. I don't see much difference in the water level, but did not run the pump for very long. Will fill the pond again and run the waterfall for a longer period of time. It is windy now at 5:00 and the pond will need to be skimmed again. Did email for Pat to send to L. Had a much needed nap after lunch until 4:00. I have photos to use of the entry into the strawberry patch, for the back garden photo album. The mini yellow water lily in the tub on the deck is showing one little leaf. Used a few red leaves of lettuce in the salad, some garlic chives, bit of parsley.14 degrees, raining lightly at 7:00. The wind has died down.

Saturday, May 3, 2025
14 degrees at 11:00. Grocery shopped 9:30 to 10:30. Sorted more photos for the photo album. Watched the Kentucky Derby.

Sunday, May 4, 2025
14 degrees at 11:00. Sunny, some cloud. Finished numbering 2020 to 2022 photos. Still needs some weeding out photos. Makes 4 pages of 5 to a row, minus 4 where the 2023 ones will start at Number 13B for entryways.

Monday, May 5, 2025
Watered house and deck plants. Helped Pat plug the Bentley battery in to charge up for Ron to look at it tomorrow morning. Swept the kitchen floor. Laundry. Emptied the waste baskets. Added a bit more debris to the Green Bin and dragged it to the front. Pat to the dentist -- he drove the car. Filled the pond and straightened out the hoses.

Tuesday, May 6, 2025
20 degrees at 11:00. Fixed my email again. Had to go to some obscure place to 'fix' some sort of file. I now have all the folders back and the new message box showing. Ron is helping Pat fix the Bentley. Microsoft is going to block the Chrome browser on Windows 11. I think I will go for the option of keeping Windows 10 for 3 years and see what has become of Microsoft then. Would cost $427 over the 3 years plus Trevors fees. Will need a new printer. I cannot get the present one to scan things and the ink is way to expensive. Finished sorting numbered 20, 21, 22. Has 3 pages plus 1 photo; of 5 across and 3 down. = 46 photos. Started numbering and sorting the 23, 24, 25 photos. Cut back roses, and some stuff at the front. Have the green bin about 1/4 full. Took the nozzle off the pond filling hose. Came in at about 4:00 and could not make my computer boot up as it was turned on and would not let me click the little down arrow. So unplugged it manually and plugged back in. Cannot determine what the problem was. 24 degrees at 4:00.

Wednesday, May 7, 2025
18 degrees at 10:00. Trying to do bank stuff. Finally got the TD. Due to some problem they are not able to process my change statements to online. Bloody Hell. Printer was off line. That was because I had unplugged it yesterday. Made up 2 jars of cranberries.18 degrees and breezy at 3:00. Made up 3 jars 3/4 full of apple sauce from 10 little apples.

Thursday, May 8, 2025
Wasted the morning trying to get my yahoo finance transferred to desktop, with no success. The desktop one was deactivated because I was not using it. Since I wasn't using it I see no use in trying to set up another one or transfer from my phone. Yikes.. changed the monitor picture. Had to find my way to Display settings and Personalize. I'll never be able to ever find that again. Well I did have to find it again. More photos sorted for the back rock garden album.

Friday, May 9, 2025
17 degrees at 10:30. 2 humming birds at the feeder this morning. Finished moving photos into the numbering folder, and up to ba50 done. Was out in the garden from 1:30 to 5:00. Cleaned up around the back rock garden. It needs top dressing and more chicken grit. I was happy to see that I have a little geranium with very nice foliage growing in the entry to the top of the cutting garden, end. The daphne domini is blooming. Emptied a tray of the sedum, using the clay from in the bottom around the masonary edges. Found some moss to add to the edges of the masonary. It all needs watering. I have to get some globalaria cuttings started, and some wulfenie cuttings to put along the edges of the masonary. The rest of the time (2.5 hours) I was in the front garden trying to clean up the boulevard garden. The decision to let the grass grow in the beds was not a good idea. I will have to dig it out and get rid of all the dandilions. I put some of the grass down around the plum tree well. I have lots of dried leaves under the bench. Hope to get some of them added to the tree well. The rest of the boulevard garden needs weeding. I need to get the front cedar hedge trimmed to the same height at the top, and the sides cut back. 5 of the trilliums are up. The old one had 3 blossoms. There is a very nice bunch (5) of red/magenta tulips growing in the trillium area, next to the bamboo. I did a bit of weeding in the iberis along the driveway, mainly removing dandilions. I have the green bin about 4/5ths full. Was 18 degrees at 6:00.

Saturday, May 10, 2025
Tiny bit of rain overnight. 18 degrees at 2:00. Ron helping Pat with the Bentley again. They have it fixed. Pat shopped by himself this morning. Water levels for May 04, 2025: 97.9%. Washed gardening clothes. 11:30 Have the files all sorted to make up the back rock garden album.. 6 pages of 15 photos each: 5 across and 3 down...90 photos.

Sunday, May 11, 2025
14 degrees at 10:30. Have one row of photos downsized. Got the beets peeled and sliced up. Made the jellied avocado salad. Was out in the garden from 2:15 to 4:45. (2.5 hrs.) Mowed the front grass and put the clippings around the plum tree well and added some dried leaves on top of the grass. Cleaned up the thyme circle. It needs a lot of top dressing. It has scotch moss and other weeds. Digging dandilions out of the other beds, here and there. All the soil is very dry. Skimmed off the pond. The wisteria is blooming up in the cedars and the lilac is in bloom.

Monday, May 12, 2025
Laundry, trashed one photo album and its pictures. More to go. Decided to give the radio and stuff machine to the Habitat for Humanity, and bring the one from the guest room out to my room. 17 degrees at 11:30. Added the lost share to Pat's Picks. Must have accidentally deleted it. Added Recycle and Garbage bins to the calendar on my phone up to August. You never know when they are going to change it all again. Finished resizing No.10 of the photos for back rock garden album. Did banking.

Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Did ironing, totally deleted the old web page godaddy file. It had quite a number of GBs and took about 6 minutes to delete. Put more of the old folders into recycle bin. All Old folders from 2021. This should lighten the backup once I empty the Recycle bin. 18 degrees at 11:00. finished resize No.20 = 1 Page of photos plus 1 more row, for the album. Was out in the garden from 2:15 to 4:15. 18 degrees and a bit breezy at 5:00. Mowed the back grass. Put a few pails full of sea soil on the cleaned up back rock garden, over the plants and digging it into the clay around the plants. The top of that soil is clay with small stones, might be chicken grit. I added more soil to try to get it mixed with the clay. Topped up the strawberry jar with more soil. Must get a creeping phlox planted in there. I hope the little geranium with the nice leaves grows now, in its better soil. Turned the water on the back at 4:30 and off at 630. It is attached to the sprinkler, but is spraying a lot of the water out the nozzle connection. Hope this goes under the apple tree. We need to get that hose end fixed.

Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Water reservoir levels at May 11, 2025: 96.7%. Updated windows 10. 17 degrees at 10:45. made twice baked potato for Pat's lunch. Finished resize No.22 of the photo album.

Thursday, May 15, 2025
13 degrees at 10:00. Did banking. sign in with ebay code go to activities..considering selling stuff. Need photos of all bears. cleaned out some facebook, emails, nonweb page folders. Raining lightly at 1:30. Reset camera date and time. Charging camera battery. 10 pictures before I fixed time. (wrong date or time) emptied recycle bin of a few GBs. Have the blue box (paper) ready to put out for tomorrow morning. Took the other blue box out to the curb. 12 degrees at 7:00 and overcast, but has stopped raining, for the moment. Finished resize No.25 of the photo album.

Friday, May 16, 2025
Light rain in the morning. 13 degrees at 12:00 and overcast. took out and brought in the blue boxes. Watching alpine gardening videos and looking around a website that has some good photos of alpines, and a priceless rant on its blog about shipping to Canada. https://www.illaherareplants.com/shop Missed the zoom meeting and do not know if they will have a link to it for us. The other gardening club has a link to Dana Crombie talk about silver saxifragia -- watched it, informative. Wildwood garden's (Cannor) delivery truck has broken down recently so they do not know when they can do deliveries. Looked up the geranium reinardi might be hybrid 'Terre Franche'. Copies of its description in the folder Back Garden rockery. Will need to make a blog post about it. 3:30 out to get photos of it and others. Starting to rain again. Downloaded the May 16 photos. Finished sizing No. 30 (Page 2) of the photos for the back Garden rockery.

Saturday, May 17, 2025
14 degrees at 10:30. Light rain. Emptied over half an inch of water out of the rain gauge. Water level in pond is the same. Did email, banking. Have 2 videos to watch and the hcp news letter. The Preakness race runs today at 4:00. Messaged back to Wildwood about could they get someone with a car to deliver my dirt, since I would have to do this with my own car and I am 78 years old, etc.
HCP membership good until October 2025. Membership for VIRAGS paid up for 2025: You sent $20.00 CAD to Louise Potvin.Transaction date November 30, 2024. Louise will let Pat Gordon know. Going to stop NARGS. Alpine Garden club of BC membership is due Dec. 31 and is $30. So, I believe it is paid up. Have this noted in the Gardening folder. Caught a photo of a quail in the back garden. Finished sizing another row of photos for the back rock garden album. Up No. 35. At about 1:00 the sun came out and the temperatures went up to 18 degrees. I was out from 2:00 to 4:00. Ran the water fall for about an hour and a half and it was not losing water. Surprise, Surprise. I cut the end off the hose that goes out to the back garden and we are going to Canadian Tire tomorrow to get a brass replacement for the hose end and the hose clamps to hold it on. We can cover the hose clamps with duct tape to make it more comfortable to handle. Re-arranged the hose to fill the pond. It will remain on the surface and be curled up somewhere out of sight when not in use. (or it can sit on the surface. I feel I can proceed with the steps down to the seating area, and adding the protection for the electrical cord that will be under the dry stream. The drystream will have black plastic(or left over pond liner under the stones and pea gravel. Under the deck is now slowly going to proceed. I weeded a bit at the entry to the cutting garden by the waterfall, put some of stones back around the bottom of the waterfall to hide the hose that goes to the spillway. I need to put back the slate pieces and start getting the under water pond plants and fish. I cut back the fig tree's tall branches, and weeded a bit along the stepping stones. Dug out a piece of the phlox from by the step up to the old sidewalk and added it to the strawberry jar. Added sea soil on top of it, and some pea gravel over top of that. Watered it in. I have some top soil and other old soil and pea gravel mixed up for the top dressing to the thyme circle. Have the green bin full with weeds and clippings. Watched the Preakness at 4:00. Wish I had spent more time on the Preakness, but happy with what I got done in the garden. Maybe I can get more soil of some kind when we go to Canadian Tire tomorrow. I need to get the electrical hose protection from that place in Tillicum Mall..can also get a few gold fish from the pet store, maybe. Have to put the electrical cord connection into its dry box also. I should be able to use the new seive to get the old pea gravel seperated from the dirt in the old drystream.

Sunday, May 18, 2025
Shopped before lunch. Got the parts to fix the hose end. Pat was out later and fixed the hose. No more leaks, the new nozzle works good. It can be set the run steadily, without having the pull and hold the handle. I had to nap after lunch. Have sore muscles from yesterday's gardening. Filled the bins and took them out to the curb. Pat drove to Naughty Nellies for a nice fish and halibut dinner.

Monday, May 19, 2025
Bins not picked up. Its Victoria Day holiday. The parade was not that great. We had rain at our house. It rained real good last night. There is about 1/4 inch of rain in the gauge. 14 degrees at 4:00. Did laundry. Cleaned up the Light garden. Need to feed the plants tomorrow. Finished No. 41 of the photo album for the back rock garden.

Tuesday, May 20, 2025
14 degrees at 11:00. Copied pages for doing up the photo albums without having to draw all the lines I have been doing up where I list the numbers and check off the processes completed. The little leaves of the little water lily that were showing on top have been cut off.. guess that SOB, Bill Parmar was up on the deck last night. So, no use getting fish for in that tub. Must see about getting security cameras set up. Motion detectors and video records how ever that works. I hope the commissionaires can do it for me. I really wish Pat would pay some attention to this problem and see about getting a surveyors certificate. We will have to get this done when we sell the place, anyway. Watered and fed the house plants. Grocery shopped. Got a big pot of basil and another 6 pkg of little lettuces. Wasted a couple of hours trying to get the Water pages sorted out. Should have gone out to the garden, but we were suppose to get rain, which did not happen.

Wednesday, May 21, 2025
16 degrees at 10:30. Emptied 1/4 in. of rain out of gauge. Watered a bit on the new plants on the deck. Sent several emails from cra-arc.gc.ca to the Junk folder. Pat says he has got several of them also and to ignore them. Got the water2020 page and the plantlists page updated with new pages to make, of course.17 degrees at &:30. Was a lovely day and I should have been out gardening. Had to unplug my computer to get to restart it, after trying to get into shaw. mail. Totally black screen and would not manually shup down..so unplugged it and plugged back in again and restarted it.

Thursday, May 22, 2025
It seems that 'no internet' yesterday was due to the service providers across Canada - Bell, Telus, Rogers etc. Very strange. Spent the morning doing web page stuff. 18 degrees at 1:00. Finished tweaking photos for page 3 (No.45) for the back rock garden photo album. Added a new No.90 for the new entry (May 2 2025) into the strawberry patch. Replaced ba71 with the may 2025 Geranium.Was out in the garden from 2:00 to 5:00. Ran the waterfall all that time. It is NOT losing water! Was lovely to watch it run. Have put the slate and stones back on top of the spillway and built up the edges abit to cover the sides of the spillway. Carried rocks from under the chair to over by the clematis. Have started to build up that side of the waterfall with rocks. I will put some clay and soil in these rocks and plant some red sedeums (or whatever they are) in the rocks/soil so they hang down the rocks as the side of the waterfall mountain. I put the top dressing on the thyme circle, weeded it and cut off some of the bamboo roots. Planted to 2 new thyme in the empty space after cutting out some of the bamboo roots and digging in the top dressing. Cleaned up a bit of the front garden rockery. Dug out the unknown plant out of the west coast planter and will plant it some where on the edge of the masonary, probably near the dry stream. I have some smaller ones to pot up and pot into the waterfall mountain when they hopefully grow roots. Also have quite a few globalaria to pot up until they grow roots and can be planted into the back rock garden where they grew before. I have these cuttings on the deck to do up tomorrow. As well as repotting the basil, and finding places for the little lettuces. Turned the sprinkler off the thyme circle at 7:00. It watered all around the inner garden, the trilliums, and some of the front rock garden. The thyme circle looks nice. I think I will move 2 red bricks to the back rock garden. Maybe replace them with in the front with grey bricks. I still have to get some of the wulfenie dug out and added to the water garden surround after it has grown some good roots on the deck.

Friday, May 23, 2025
17 degrees at 1:00, overcast. Turned the waterfall on at 10:00. It is a bit breezy. Moved the big unknown plant to the edge of the masonary near the Pieris japonica. Moved some rocks around on top of the waterfall. Moved more rocks from under the chair to beside the waterfall. Watered in the unknown plant and the marsh marigold along that edge of masonary down to the start of the drystream. Some water for phlox in the strawberry jar and the hepatica on the rock garden. Finished tweaking photo No.50 for the back garden rockery. Was out to the deck at 2:00 and in by 4:00, it took another half hour to water in all the pots. Put the basil in its own pot. Added 4 of the lettuces to the lettuce pot and the other 2 into other pots. Weeded the big white pot. It grows this wretched grass in it. I have globalarias in a pot to grow roots, and some smaller ones of the unknown plant, also to get rooted. I have a campanula that grows everywhere potted up to grow roots. Ran the waterfall from 10:00 to 4:00. Added water, but the pond level has gone down from where it filled up by adding water. I don't know where the over flow is, but it seems to be at a lower level than when the pump was running. But that cannot be right. Will see where it is tomorrow. I need some dill plants and cannot seem to find garlic chives. There is a trough next to the rhubarb full of parsley. The strawberry plants look healthy. The old rhubarb leaves have gone all brown. I shall have to dig it out. I read about hackers getting on our computers through security cameras or smart fridges. Seems there has been a huge botnet attack all over the internet through the service provider companies.. bell, rogers, etc. I have had my computer turned of most of the day. Shut the power off my phone last night, too. When I do that I always get a notice to phone this number.. did not write it down, just deleted the notice. Like I can power off my phone if I want to. So, at 7:00 the water level is down by about a foot. This is very disappointing as when I had run the waterfall last time it did not lose any water. I will take the stones away from the edge, fill the pond again and run the waterfall again and see if the water level goes down or not. Filled the pond again up to its usual level, finished at 7:43. It had gone down a lot more while I was in after doing the deck stuff and having supper. Seems like there might be a hole under one of those cement blocks. I will see if it totally empties out this time..over night.

Saturday, May 24, 2025
15 degrees at 9:30. The water level is about half way down from its former level. So the top of the plant pots are about a foot out of the water. To Donna Humphries open garden, little addition of rock garden built by Ty Danylchuk. Rusty bits, little veggie patch, lots of small shrubs. Various little individual spots, some rusy bits used as stepping stones. Wonderful, charming garden! Another open garden of Peter and Angie (?) Pinfold, waterfront also built by Ty Danylchuk. Home by 11:30, with a stop for lottery tickets. Have to look up, silene acaulis, and scleranthus (which I think I have.) Finished resizing No. 55 of the back rock garden photo album. 21 degrees and sunny at 5:00. Was out from 2:00 to 4:30. Filled the pond. Moved the stones off the waterfall and away from the edge of the waterfall. It seems to be keeping its water level up to cover the plant pots. Weeded about 2 feet of the moss garden side of the round stepping stones. To quality foods for our chinese dinner.

Sunday, May 25, 2025
Finished resizing No. 60 (Page 4) of the back rock garden photo album. Some of the date stamps are wrong. The month should be May (5) in stead of (10) October, in 2024. 18 degrees at 11:00. Seems like I need to get the battery charged or new battery for the lawn mower, or whole new lawn mower. Looks like I need to get the battery charged for the hedge trimmer, or get a whole new hedge trimmer. I don't even want to think about it. Washed and filled the humming bird feeder. It needs a new bottom part. I don't want to think about that either. Cleaning up email a bit.Found a place that would be able to do the batteries and service to the mower and the hedge trimmer. https://aralrentals.com/pages/Contact .Was out weeding in the back garden. Out from 2:00 to 5:00. Digging out the weeds along the sides of the round steppings. Am finished up to the epimediums. Have 2 round stones to finish around and then will be up to the path across from the old sidewalk to the entry to the water garden. Have been adding some pea gravel under the green rock garden looking plant, with cleaned soil and moss over top of the stones. Hopefully it will provide some drainage for that plant, whatever it is. There is lots of clover to dig out, and violets.

Monday, May 26, 2025
Laundry, banking, 21 degrees at 2:30. Breezy and overcast. Rained just bit last night. Water level in pond is at its usual level about 1 inch above the black rock under the mermaid. Changed ink in printer (2 black and grey). Pat back from Doctor, x-ray shows a bit of mending. He can start going without his sling (he has been) but do NOT lift anything. Finished resize No.75 (page 5) of the back garden rockery photo album.

Tuesday, May 27, 2025
18 degrees at 10:30. Listened to King Charles lll speach from the throne. Was very good and lasted about an hour. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/king-charles-live-may27/article_0e8779fa-fe75-4a71-aa8e-cd2d85fe0817.html .Shopping after lunch. Finished resize No.80 of the back garden rockery photo album. 10 more to go.

Wednesday, May 28, 2025
24 degrees at 11:00. Probably have a record breaking hot day today. Did a few changes to my web page stuff, with a view to making up the new page for the new create2 as the daily water garden page. Was out in the garden from 2:00 to 4:00. Duct taped the nozzle on the hose that fills the pond. Duct taped the warning smiley things to the deck just above the new viewing platform. Ran the water fall from 3 to 4 -- the pond level stayed the same. Turned the water fall off for a few minutes and the pond water level seemed to stay the same. Turned the waterfall back on at 4:00 -- the water level in the pond is staying the same. Moved the newly fixed hose and nozzle for the back garden in view to having Joel over to fix that waterfall problem. Dug out some more weeds along the round stepping stones. Was way too hot out. 28 degrees. My phone shut down due to being too hot! Watered a bit of the stuff along the moss garden edges and where I had weeded along the stepping stones. I sure hope the waterfall does not drain the pond when I turn it off after another couple of hours. Pat took the trimmer to all batteries and Chris can rebuild the battery for $75.00. It will run longer on a charge than a new battery at $100. Great! It should be ready in a couple of days. Ran the waterfall from 4:00 to 7:00. This time after I turned it off the water level in the pond stayed at its usual level. Checked the water level at 8:00! Well, what ever was causeing that loss of the water level after running the waterfall and shutting it off did not happen this time. 23 degrees at 8:00. Pat had turned the heat pump on cool at supper time. I shall turn it off over night.

Thursday, May 29, 2025
Rained a bit over night. Less than 1/4 inch in the rain gauge. 18 degrees at 11:00, some sun and clouds, breezy. Finished resize No.90. Ready to make the album. of the back garden rockery photo album. Took out the blue boxs. Did the ironing. made up the potatoes and steak ready to cook at supper time. 18 degrees at 2:00. Was gardening from 2:00 to 4:00. Put the stones back on the waterfall and the side ones to cover the hose. It looks pretty good. Cleaned the stones and lots of moss off the patio area, put the new hose and nozzle back out on the cleaned up moss. The hose to the pond is attached to the spout. Dumped several flats of small stones and moss under the rhodo, and pulled out some of the chameleon plant. Am slowly getting that stuff under control as well as the arum thing that went to seed. Weeded a bit more along the round stepping stones and have finished the round stones and started weeding the field stones. Sprayed a bit around the dry stream area with the pond hose. The fire spinner is in bloom. It reacts nicely to the feeding and watering. I must water back there again with the sprinkler.

Friday, May 30, 2025
Banking, email to Joel. 21 degrees at 12:00. Was out to Rona and brought home some Gravel Base Navvy Jack - 20Kg (it weighed a ton), Watering Can, a Maidenhair Spleenwort (it a lovely little fern) 2 25-litre bags of Enriched 3-in-1 soil from the nursery. They had no garlic chives or dill. Could not find the perennials. And 1 - 1 1/2 in. - 20ft of flexible plastic hose to use to cover the electrical extension cord. Used the little jack thing to move the soil into the garage, watering can under the cottoneaster, plastic tubing in the garage also. Brought in the blue boxes. Have sore muscles from lifting the navvy jack gravel stuff. The pet store at Tillicum has closed. See Petsmart for finding goldfish in the Gold fish searches folder with copy in Gardening. Next time I save a note pad try to make it go to desktop or documents. this last one went to Gardening-garden room ROCK GARDEN FRONT - crazy damn thing. I seem to have notepad set to go to desktop.. I hope. It is 9:30 at nite I have to get off this computer.

Saturday, May 31, 2025
15 degrees at 10:30. Raining. banking, email. Water levels in reservoir as at May 25 = 94.5%. Good thing it is raining today. Water schedule is effective May to Sept. 30. Avoid peak demand hours - 4 - 6 am. Even addresses: Wed. and Sat. 4 - 10 am or 7 - 10 pm (LAWNS). Trees, Shrubs and Gardens, hand watering Any Day, Any Time. By Sprinklers: Any day, 4 -10 am and 7 -10 pm. Charging mouse battery. Reset LD pass on their insistance. Added the new purchases to the plantlists page, must upload it. Revised the FishPond pages and the Water2020 uploaded them.

June 2025

Sunday, June 1, 2025
about .25 of an inch of rain in the gauge. Watered the house plants and bit around the deck. Set the create2 page up to use Summertime blues as its tune. Must upload it to the sounds folder on the web page. Grocery shopped at Michell Farms and went to their nursery in search of water plants. They don't have water plants this year. But I did get the dill and the garlic chives, and 4 perennials. Then shopped Mr. Grocer for the rest of the groceries. Went to Cannor for the oxygenating plants. They did not have them. no bags either. Used my own plastic bag to get 2 water hycinths - one for the tub and one in the pond. The guy at Mitchell's nursery said Buckerfields might have water plants. My elbow muscle injury is healing. There are some little plants that look like they might be dill growing in the pots on the deck. Added the new purchases to the purchases part of the plantlists page. I did not find a variegated London Pride plant. It is a saxifragia, actually. Got another archillea for the cutting garden, an oxalis (silver shamrock), for the back rockery, a purple aubretia and the pink phlox might go along the edge of the masonary. Did not look for the lawn substitute thing (scleranthus) but I have one at both ends of the back rockery, but the one by the newly revised entry has been killed by the Larix guys. I could replace it with globalaries, since the masonary has taken over a bit of that end of the rockery. The ice plant is in bloom and seems happy with the addition of the soil to the top dressing and the watering it got. The oxalis by the grape is blooming but the ones I moved to the front rockery are not showing up. Rhodos are blooming and look great! The oriental poppies are looking really good, too. There are little green plums on the plum tree. I need to get the plum tree watered. The patio area looks good cleaned up, as does the thyme circle. Chris might have the battery for the trimmer back soon, and the box wood hedges desperately need its attention. The bamboo keeps shooting up in the boulevard garden. I need to reduce its size some more. I think that unkown plant that I moved out of the west coast planter might be green bells of Ireland. I really like it and might add one to the front rockery. There are small ones coming up at the front of that rockery along with the campanula that is quite invasive, but I let both of them grow anyway. I have some of the Wulfenie in the front rockery and I can take some of it to add to the back pond surrounds area. https://www.perennials.com/plants/wulfenia-carinthiaca.html Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii (Subspecies) I believe this is mine: Says care level is challenging.

Monday, June 2, 2025
17 degrees at 9:30. Sunny. banking, email, laundry. Snipped Pat's hair a bit. Paid property taxes. Searching some plant stuff - wulfenie and perenial plants website, seems to be whole sale. I have some wulfenie on the front rockery that I can divide.

Tuesday, June 3, 2025
18 degrees at 10:30. Watered the new plants on the water table and all the little lettuces, and basil. Took the green bin to the curb. It was only 1/4 full. Updated Chrome. There is a note in computer stuff called whats new where I can read all about what I can do with this new version of Chrome. Did banking, email stuff. 21 degrees at 1:30. Made up the album for the back garden rockery. Have to do coding next, of course. Sooke reservoir water level: June 1: 93.2%. Pat got his splitters bought and set up. He helped me get the protecting pvc stuff put around the electrical cable from the pump by stuffing a bamboo pole through the pvc stuff with the electrical cord attached to the bamboo, and then pulling the bamboo out and then attaching the plug in of the electrical cord to the dribox. Duct taped the cord where it goes into the dribox to hold it in place and keep it dry. I got it plugged in using the dribox. The waterfall works. So, I can start getting the electrical cord buried under the landscaping across the drystream to the dribox. And rebuild the dry stream.

Wednesday, June 4, 2025
22 degrees at 3:00. Did banking, email. Watered the plum tree in 2 different spots for an hour each. The water has run down to the edge of the water well but not onto the crocus field area of the boulevard garden. Did clipping of the wild tree, bamboo and other weeds. Dead headed the roses, pruned back the little shrub that is in front of the roses. Did a bit more clipping and weeding around the inner garden. Have a roses bouquet in the living room. The david austin roses are lovely and fragrant. Pat gave me a lesson in turning on the taps at the back. I think I can manage it. The nozzle has a simplle litte switch that lets you make it spray constantly, I think. Did not try it. Turned the waterfall on about 10:00. Turned the sprinkler on the inner garden at the front for about an hour. Moved the nozzle to water under the lupines, etc. part of the boulevard garden. Cut the aspirins in half. 20 degrees at 5:30. The water hose that I had running under the cedars to the lupines ran down the street before I got to shut it off at about 4:00. Potted the dill into its own pot. Watered all the deck plants. Watered around the back by hand under the rhodos, the pots on the patio, along the round stepping stones, under the fig tree and along both sides of the old sidewalk. Then attached the hose to the sprinkler and started watering around the cutting garden, etc. at about 5:00. Added some of the lettuce from on the deck to the little letture salad, and a snip of garlic cloves for each one. Pat had brought us iced capiccinos so, I had that instead of a revel. I have the deck door open to keep it cool in my room and the kitchen. The waterfall still runs. The pond is not losing any water. We have not heard back from Chris about the trimmer battery, yet. Shut the waterfall down at 7:00.

Thursday, June 5, 2025
21 degrees at 11:00. banking, email, plantlists page. working on the create2 page for daily additions of equipment to pond, new fish and plants. Was out in the garden from 2:30 to 4:45. I am amazed at how much I got done. I have the dry stream ready to add the small stones. I have a liner of the stream made out of old pond liner from the big rock back to the logs covered with moss. I have the electrical cord burnied from the top to under the mossy logs of the dry stream. I dug out the top layer of the drystream before I put down the the old pond liner. I put the top layer of stones through the seive and have some fine gritty soil in the bottom of the white basin. I have put this gritty soil beside the dry stream to help cover the electrical cord in its protecting pvc thing. I think it should be about 14 feet. On the path I have it running the cord reaches the dri-box. I had it running yesterday before I buried the cable today. I need to get the small stones from the seive washed as I do not want any soil in the dry stream. The lining should keep the plants from growing in the stream. I am trying to get moss started to grow over the big rocks that line the edges of the dry stream. I will put down the small washed stones and then add pea gravel to finish it off. It was 24 degrees when I got into the house at 5:00. I was in the shade so it did not seem to be that hot. Pat says we are in for a few days of this 10 to 12 higher than usual temperatures. Finishing the steps to the sitting area under the deck will be in the shade also.

Saturday, June 7, 2025
Took the day off yesterday. To Chris' All Batteries place and picked up the rebuilt battery for the trimmer. It is charged even tho the light is red. I am to run it until the battery is empty then plug it in overnight to recharge it. The light will probably still still be red. To supper at the bistro. Was a very warm day and the traffic was horrible with everything under conconstruction. They are slowly getting the overpass bridge repaired.
Today it is 22 degrees at 11:00. The Belmont horse race is at 4:00. Football game at 7:00. Did email, banking, the usual house chores. noted items for pond rebuild on Create2 and the Larix listpage and photo album. So, I should be ready to continue making the Create 2 page, leaving all water pages as they are now, with all their links etc. from before, and all of it to continue to the new Larix rebuild and drystream etc rebuild and the final page of Create 2 for daily additions. Was out in the garden from 1:45 to 3:45 (2 hrs.) Washed the dirt off all the stones I had scraped off the old dry stream. Watered around the back a very little bit. The water from washing the stones went mostly on the apple tree. Finished setting stones over the pvc protected electrical cord up to where it crossed the dry stream, under a mossy log and over to the other side of the dry stream from under another mossy log. Putting clay around the outsides of the round edging stones to hold them in place and to grow the moss over them to make the sides of the dry stream mossy. Put the old, washed stones into the bottom of the dry stream up to about the Japanese lantern. Added about 1/4 pail of pea gravel over the stones. I have another bag of pea gravel to finish off the top of the dry stream. Came in just in time to watch the running of the Belmont stakes. 8 horses running. Was good to watch. Ceasar salad, steak and baked potato for Pat and the left over chicken and chips from my last night's dinner, for me. The steps down to the seating area, should go down one more step and the rest will be on the level, or slightly slanted. I can use the pavers for the back of the last step down, and they can be staked like the one before it. The other entry way to under the deck is all over grown and will need a bit of cleaning up. It is all finally beginning to take shape. Was 26 degrees at 5:00. I see the little yellow water lily in the tub is shooting up 2 new little leaves!

Sunday, June 8, 2025
Was out in the garden from 12:30 to 2:00. 29 degrees at 3:30. I used up about half of the bag of navvy Jack on the dry stream from about the Lantern over to the other entry way to under the deck. Put down a bit more old pond liner. Scrapped up the stones onto the liner. Put about a half a pail full of the pea gravel over the top part of the dry stream covering the scrapped up stones and placing a few big ones in the stream and arranging the bigger round rocks for the sides of the stream. Finished arranging rocks over the edge of the drystream on the platform side of it. I need to add more clay along the big rocks to get moss growing over them. Rearranged the hose into the pond. Cut bamboo stakes down in the iris pot by the waterfall. Those irises are coming into bloom. Sure hope they are the purple ones. Weeded a bit along the Japanese/moss garden side of the dry stream. Shaped the bay laurel tree a bit. Cut back the long branches on the grape. The grape vine has little green grapes on it. I will be making the rest of the stepping stones going down to the sitting area just on a slanting path, with out steps. I should be able to find enough clay to line the sides of the dry stream's big stones. I seem to be using up all the left over stones from the make over of the waterfall. I should be able to get comet goldfish at Petsmart at 3501 Blanshard street, Unit 10, at .50 each. They say to buy in multiples of 10, so, 10 small gold fish should be $5.00 - not a big expense. They have a water wisteria, but I don't think that is the one I had in the pond. Also have a red and white Sarasa for $6.99 each and Shubunkins at $5.49 each. So, maybe just goldfish until I see if they survive.

Monday, June 9, 2025
23 degrees at 10:00. Laundry. 27 Degrees at 4:00. It is really hot out there. Watered a bit on the deck. The honeysuckle and the globe flower are in bloom and the little lily has its 2 leaves growing. 0.93 of a km done on my steps. Should probably get up to 1 km by the day's end. Did a bit more coding on Creat 2. Ran the front garden sprinkler from 7:00 to 8:30.

Tuesday, June 10, 2025
My phone should update to version 15 today. 21 degrees at 10:00. 23 degrees at 4:00. It was higher and is now going down with some cloud. Shopped for groceries this morning and put everything away. Got the hot chicken and vegetables ready to cook before supper time. Finished drying the towels and put them away. Pat helped search for a pipe for the fish cave. I think the one he found was too small. I have figured out how to put the pots together and will have enough to make 2 caves. I put 3 pots together and put extra pieces between the pots to make them tightly fit together. I think this will work. I see that one of the under water oxygenating plants is beginning to grow and spread in the bottom of the pond. I need to add some sand and perhaps small rocks from Rona to the bottom of the pond. Cleaned up the humming bird feeder. Cleaned up the rose boquet. Getting more coding done on the Creat2 page. Watered over the fig tree and water garden with the sprinkler from 7:15 to 9:00. Had to sort out the settings to make this sprinkler run. Can position the sprinkler to get the cutting garden done or the water garden. Both of these settings need the edges watered by hand.

Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Sooke reservoir water levels as at June 8, 2025: 91.6%, not bad for the hot, dry weather we have had recently. My capicinno did not fluff this morning, so I had a latte with honey and cinnamon. did the usual email, banking. 19 degrees and overcast at 11:00. Made the tuna surprise for supper and a salad with lettuce and herbs from the deck and the left over piece of salmon. Did the ironing, had an hour nap. 22 degrees at 5:00. Windows shows this rather neat bar of information over the screen saver green picture. Rather neat. I suppose this will be part of Windows 11. I will have a cumulative update for Windows 10 version 22H2 for X64 based Systems (KB5060533) pending restart, so it says. Shutting down the computer at 6:15 and will get the restart later.

Thursday, June 12, 2025
14 degrees at 11:00. Windows did an update. To Berwick and to Lakes for dinner. Did some work on the Create 2 page. Swept rose petals off deck.

Friday, June 13, 2025
18 degrees at 10:30, overcast. Did banking, etc. Made up 2 jars of cranberries. Had to clean up the microwave cause they boiled over. Took the blue box out, but was too late as they had already been around. First time I ever left it too later to take the bin out and its the first time they have ever come by so early. That's a Friday the 13th for you! Took out the garbage and green bin stuff. Was out in the garden from 3:00 to 5:00. Cut back all the bamboo shoots at the front. Have saved a long one over. Washed out the pots that I am going to use to make the fish caves. Washed out the pink pot, filled it with the sea soil, and brought it back up to the deck to transplant the garlic chives into it. Watered by hand all around the back a bit. Saw a morning cloak butterfly and a swallow tail. Both of them were in the mud puddles, created by watering around. Added water to the pond and to the black pot in the woodland that has water plants in it. Watered the white pot and the other ones by the rhubarb and the 2 at the front of the garage. All of this with the water hose with the new nozzle. There are a couple of strawberries on the plants. Missed a phone call at 4:00. I had left my phone in the house as I was out gardening. It was Ahmad about the outstanding account of Feb. of $157.50 about Pat's email. . Bloody hell! He left me a voice mail, asking me to send an etransfer for the invoice. Sent a message to Ahmad and did an etransfer quoting the msg about Pats email not working and could Trevor please call Pat.

Saturday, June 14, 2025
17 degrees at 10:00. Dug out some sort of weed out of the small white pot on the deck. Found a couple of peanuts in the pot. Pulled grass out of the big white pot. Banking, email, etc. Finished coding the Create2 page and it is ready to upload. Was out from 3:00 to 5:00. Cleaned up the pots on the deck, transplanted the garlic chives into the pink pot. Watered every thing. The little lily now has 4 little leaves. The water hyacinth broke and now I have 2 of them in the pond and one in the tub. The purple iris is in bloom across the pond in front of the yews. Has 2 blossoms. The one by the waterfall has buds and might be the white one. The other one on the shelf does not have buds yet Transplanted the oxalis, the aubretia, and the pink creeping phlox along the edge of the masonary. The green bells of Ireland survive and so does a piece of the marsh marigold. Transplanted some of the Verbena Bonariensis by the waterfall by the entry to the cutting garden. Put the new little Maidenhair Spleenwort, by the mossy rock next to the viewing platform. It is across the dry stream from the other maidenhair fern. Did a bit of digging out weeds from the round stepping stones, and cutting back of the fig tree sprouts. Watered these transplants with the hose to the pond and got my clothes wet. Filled the pond. 21 degrees at 5:00. As I sat on the deck eating my revel a blue heron flew over.. no fish in the pond yet And a squirrel jumped off the roof and scurried off the deck when it saw me. Wretched critters!

Sunday, June 15, 2025
18 degrees at 11:00. Banking, email, the usual house chores. Attempted to make grape jelly with my grapes. In trying to get the water to evaporate I microwaved it too long and burnt it. It still tastes semi-ok. Next time add less water -- used 2/3 cup of sugar, and way too much water. Probably start with 1 cup of water, add more if needed. Boiled eggs for potato salad and made the salad. Baked beets. Uploaded the newest water garden page (Create2) and it works. Made the avocado jelly salad. 21 degrees at 2:00. Was out in the garden from 2:30 to 4:30. Cut down 3 more bamboo. Have the bin about 3/4 full. Ran the water at the front for about an hour as the quail had been seen chirping on the bicycle path and eating stones I imagine. Don't know if they moved to the garden, as I was out in the back. Used up all the navvy jack on completing the dry stream. Clipped back ferns, the little variegated shrub. It has some really good color. Some leaves are all light gold. Added another stone to the entry to under the deck from by the rhodos, clipping back plants that hung over the dry stream that has made a curve and is going back towards the dri-box, and hopefully will be joining the seating area, when I get that finished. It is looking better all the time under the deck. Have the waterfall running. The butterflies were around but could not find any puddles. One of them was drinking from rocks on the waterfall. The little lily in the deck tub now has 4 leaves.

Monday, June 16, 2025
20 degrees at 11:00. Some cloud. Pat moved the calendar with the bins marked on it. So, I had to redo the bins days from June onward. House chores, banking, email. 5 loads of laundry. Left a kleenex in the pocket of my brown cords and got bits of white all over the brown sweater. I guess that sweater will be a house chores sweater. I can get a new sweater to go with the pants. Then I added the detergent to the softener of the next load. Good greif! The day of disasters. I did make 2 really good cappaccinos! Got home from Shopping and iced cappaccinos, put away groceries and finally got on my phone and found that Trevor had left a message at 3:13. Messaged him back, Pat said he would be here tomorrow morning at 11:00. Gave Trevor Pat's cell number. Talk about the day of disasters. Finally got on my shaw and the rogers stuff. It is my shaw mail and the last password circled on my notes. This was after some phishing call on the land line that I was sure would be Trevor, not realizing that he had messaged me, earlier. 4X bloody hell!

Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Got very little sleep last night. Messaged computers on wheels thinking I had not hit the send button for the message I typed out at 4:36 telling them that Pat wanted to talk to Trevor. Gave them his cell. Pat would be here at 11:00. Ahmad messaged back saying he could talk to Pat at 10:30. Told him that Pat wanted to talk to Trevor. Trevor called back at 10:30 when Pat was on his way home. He called Trevor back. Trev is at home with a cold. Anyway, he got some help with his email. Other personal stuff. Mean time, I tried to delete the message I had started to type to Ahmad and messed up my messenger. Mucked about with it for most of the morning. It is finally working, but is different. To hell with it. I messenged Pat to see if I could make it work, and it did work. The messages to and from Ahmad were gone... don't know where I can see them again. Tried to get an app to see the deleted stuff and find it was in beta and it would cost money. Finally got rid of it .. uninstalled. Made up the strawberry and rhubarb pie. Finished at 5:15. 21 degrees at 5:30. We are having Jack's Plan B and soup delivered for supper. I had my breakfast for a late lunch. And a revel when the pie finished. Am very tired. Pat also got his water calcification stuff working today too!

Wednesday, June 18, 2025
21 degrees at 4:30. It rained a very little bit last night. The usual chores in the morning. Got the pork tenderloin ready for schnitzel this morning. Pat went to the eye Doctor. After lunch we took the recyle stuff to the depot. $21.10. I fried the schnitzel from about 3:00 to 4:00. So, I have been busy all day. Watched the really good gardening utube - lots of stuff about soil mixes, propogation and green house info.

Thursday, June 19, 2025
Phone update last night. 12:30 to 1:42. Restart at 2:00. Android 16. Spent a lot of time looking at changes. Have added RCS or whatever. Google like all of them is pushing AI. 17 degrees at 10:30. Did up the Menu at the bottom on all the index pages of the photo album. Was out in the garden from 3:30 to 5:30. Got more steps done on the path to the sitting area under the deck. Carried 3 more pavers over to the viewing platform and a grey brick. Broke up 2 of the dried plants from the old water garden. Put the roots etc. into the old compost bin and left the lid open, as it is suppose to rain over night. There is a purple water iris open in the pot next to the water fall.

Friday, June 20, 2025
20 degrees at 11:00. Rained a bit over night. Water reservoir as at June 15: 89.9%. Updated the Progress page. It has to be loaded to website.

Saturday, June 21, 2025
17 degrees at 5:00. Have 3/4 of an inch of rain in the gauge. Finished the page descriptions of the back rock garden photo album. Mower is showing a green light.

Sunday, June 22, 2025
17 overcast. Emptied the rain gauge (3/4 of an inch). Finished the index pages. Did up list of photo titles. There are more purple water irises open. Was out in the garden from 1:30 to 4:00. The mower worked just fine. Got the front and back grass mowed. Started taking out the St. John's wort, but there are a lot of bees on it. Maybe I won't take it all out. There are lots of black berries and roses to take out. Have the bin 3/4 full. Watered all around the back. Have the waterfall running. Filled the deck tub, cause I hope to get some gold fish tomorrow. Petsmart at 3501 Blanshard at .50 a gold fish (small) must buy at multiples of 10. I will start with 10 fish. I saw little critters that I think are mosquito larvae in the pond today. So, I hope the fish will be hungry. Monday, June 23, 2025
Laundry, some work done on the photo album for the back rock garden, don't know where I recorded this day, so am doing a catch up post on 24th. Got 10 large comets from Petsmart at 2401 Millstream Road - 250, 391 9212 - $11.00 plus tax. Put them in the pond and 2 in the tub at 3:30. 22 degrees. Some of these comets are still black. The Petsmart at 3501 Blanshard St. 250 381 2829 (in the old stinky fish place and their sign says 700 Bay st. She had no comets. Says one of the suppliers shut down their company and so the comets and pond fish are in short supply. They are in the midst of cleaning up the stinky fish place. Shall see if she has any plants, some time later, or can check cannor, again or phone them. The girl at Millstream said she had no shubunkins, and no sarasas, and pointed me to where the plants were, and I could not make sense of them. They all seemed to be acquarium plants, and fish caves for acquariums as well. I got some more of the blocks set in the steps down to the sitting place under the deck, but it still needs a bit of work. One of the fish in the tub seemed interested in eating. Maybe I will feed it after supper. Have the waterfall running. Shut the waterfall down at about 9:00.

Tuesday, June 24, 2025
water level in the reservoir at June 22, 2025: 88.3%. It has rained some since then. Rained a tiny bit last night. On June 23, 2025 I got 10 comets (large size) from Petsmart at 2401 Millstream Road, Phone: 250 - 391 9212 for $11.09. These fish seem to range in size and color from tiny, small, medium to large. There are all gold ones (mostly the tiny ones) partial gold and black (seem to be the medium size) and all black ones (seem to be large size). I have 2 of them in the tub - a tiny gold and a partial gold and black. When I put them in the pond they seemed to be quite active. Ran the water fall until about 9:00 at night on the 23rd. In the morning when I tried to feed them there were no fish to be seen in the pond or the tub. Turned the waterfall on at about 9:00 a.m. and saw a tiny gold one on top of the pond. Not sure about the black ones. Took the duct tape and the nozzle off the water hose that goes to fill the pond I will try to add a washer to this hose end and use the old nozzle again. If I make a new hose end for that pond hose, I will have to cover the hose clamp with lots of tape so that it does not puncture the pond lining. But I think I can reach those edges with the other garden hose for the back garden, etc. so won't worry about the pond hose having a nozzle. 24 degrees at 1:00. Overcast. Cut back a bit of the hedge along the deck. turned off the waterfall about 9:00 p.m.

Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Turned on the waterfall about 9:00. Fed the fish. 19 degrees at 11:00, overcast. Chickadee having its bath in the waterfall. Hiding behind a tall rock just above the mermaid. The light had come on last night about midnight. There was no damage to the pond or deck tub. Finished step one of photo html up to No. 31. Was out in the garden from 2:00 to 4:30. Added clay to the 'banks' of the drystream. Weeded along the'banks'. Trying to add moss in the clay. There will need to be some soil added to the moss/Japanese garden where there are some dips in the level of the moss. Weeded a bit at the entry to the fig tree bed by the old sidewalk. This garden area also will need some top dressing and leveling of the round stepping stones with sand. Got the path made down to the sitting area under the deck. This path will need some adjustment also. I have 2 more pavers to add to the bottom of the path. And the sides need more big rocks set strategically along the sides with more soil/clay filling in around the big rocks along the path edges. Have been adding more soil around the roots of the Japanese aralia. I am digging this clay/soil out from the area where the compost was, and from the top of the soil that is between the ridges of where the rain fell through the deck. I hope it survives. It looks really good behind the Japanese lantern. Everything under the deck will need watering so the moss and ferns grow again.

Thursday, June 26, 2025
Turned on the waterfall at 9:00. Fed the fish. Do not see any of the fish. 16 degrees at 10:00. Overcast. Did the banking, email, and morning chores. Brought the front garden hose on to the entry way and attached the nozzle. Wash down the hose and then washed off the deck. Watered around the front a bit. The roses need dead heading. Went out to the back garden at 11:00 and got in at 1:30. Finished making the path to the seating area under the deck. Used up all the pavers that were left over from Larix's pond and waterfall rebuild. Used a few grey bricks. Used some of the bigger rocks placed strategically along the sides of the path. Am using clay from under the deck to level the pavers and stones to help get the pavers leveled and pinned into place. I have 4 plastic squares for the seating area. It looks pretty good. I need to fill in the side rocks a bit more. But have used up almost all of the rocks left over from the pond and water fall construction. Also have the dry stream finished with clay along the big stones on the edges. I hope to get moss growing along these clay lined 'banks' of the dry stream. I have yet to add the pea gravel to the dry stream. I hope to get moss growing on the path and all around under the deck when the ferns and other plants get growing again. Emptied 2 flats of stuff into the green bin. Mrs. Pee was out washing out under her deck room (painted cement floor) with soapy water. She poured this water onto the cedar hedge. I am going to have the cleanest hedge in town. When I went out to look at the waterfall and fish again at 2:00, I found that the little gold fish was dead, floating on the top. The other big one was in the pond and scurried to the bottom when I went to feed them again. The squirrel has been digging holes in the dirt of the pots. I wonder if it had something to do with the death of the little gold fish. I saw 4 little gold ones in the pond, after feeding them. They do not come to the surface, I think they eat the food as it falls to the bottom. There are still mosquitoes in the water, but nowhere near as many as there were before. It is 3:50 and it is lightly raining. Have recorded the fish and the finish of the drystream on the Create2 page. Turned the waterfall off at 8:30.

Friday, June 27, 2025
17 degrees at 11:30. Turned on the waterfall at 9:30. Fed the fish in the pond and in the tub. Have seen none of the fish. I see that there is a whole branch of the cedars has fallen over onto the Pees deck. I called Davey tree at 9:52 and they were to call me back. No call back by 11:30. I have moved the tub and the honeysuckle vine away from the edge of the deck railing. Am standing on a chair and have the hedge by the eaves cut back along the top and straightened the hedge above the railing by clipping it back a bit. I hope this will get it to bush out a bit more along my side. I will take my long pole pruner to cut off the cedar branch that has fallen on the Pees deck. Did the house chores, and all the usual stuff. Pat got the groceries. Told me there is a branch by the motor home that will need to be cut back also. We have very little water in the gauge. Its overcast. We were suppose to have 40% chance of rain. Not happening yet. After Pat got home with the groceries we went out with the pole pruner. There were more cedar branches sticking out and the one on their deck was pushed off. So, guess what, boys and girls. It was not windy and all those branches start poking out of the hedge and the high level. We got most of them cut back. Pat took the big branches out to the green bin and I swept off the debris with one of the branches. While he was leaving with the pole pruner he fell on his back. Bleeding from his ear area, glasses a bit wonky. He got up and went in. His shoulder is ok. Thank heavens. No more gardening stuff for him! He is not allowed. Ironed the shirts. More clipping with the hand pruner. Out to the garage to get long handled pruner thing. Cut up the cedar boughs and binned them. Cut back the mountain ash. cut off a lot of st. johns wort from around the irises. Got in at 3:45. Turned the waterfall off at 8:30

Saturday, June 28, 2025
Grocery shopped in the morning. Turned the waterfall on at 8:30. 23 degrees at 2:00. sunny. Finished No. 45 of the photos for the back garden rockery. Was out from about 2:00 to 4:00. Clipping down the top of the cedar hedge by the deck. Am about 3/4 finished. I am hoping this will make the hedge grow out evenly. There are some pretty big gaps where there are holes in the hedge on this side, but the stuff on the Pees side has green on it. I have to get it finished as far as I can reach on the pond end. I have the end by the honeysuckle vine nicely cleaned up. I will have to keep it clipped under the eaves like it is now. Watched the BC and Sask. football game. BC lost as the substitute quarter back was a disaster. They put Rourke in for a few minutes at the end of the game and they did a 97 yard push for a touch down and the 2 points. Oh well. unplugged the waterfall at 7:30 and must get to bed and rest all my aching parts.

Sunday, June 29, 2025
20 degrees at 10:30, sunny. Turned on the waterfal at 8:30. Fed the fish. Watered the honeysuckle vine. Water Reservoir level on June 22, 2025: 88.3%. Finished Step 1 of Page 4 of photos (no.60) for back rock garden album. washed and filled the hummingbird feeder. There was 1 little gold fish on top of the water. Fed the fish again, but did not see any more fish. The water is getting clearer. There are hoards of little ants coming in the by the kitchen window and around the plug in. ewww. charging the keyboard battery again. Might need a new battery. Sprayed the ants with lysol. Had a nap till 3:30. Was out in the garden from 4:00 to 5:30. Picked up the debris off the stairs and cleaned up all the patio area. Clipped back most of the blue rhodo, watered lightly over the deck and the hedge and under the deck, along the rhodos and the moss garden. Have the sprinkler running over the rockery and the cut garden -- started the sprinkler at 5:45. There are 2 purple irises blooming in the black tub at the back. Pat was to Canadian tire and got some stuff and another hose hose end to fix to hose to the water garden. Was out at 7:20 and found there was a kink in the hose. So, am going to leave it on until I go out to turn off the water fall. It is now watering right to the back of the cutting garden. it is 24 degrees in the shade at 7:30. The fish in the deck tub is dead, floating on the surface. Have no idea what is killing the fish in the tub.

Monday, June 30, 2025
Turned on waterfall at 9:00, fed fish. Don't see any fish, though. Can't get on to Rogers to get my account. Changed my password and it says I have the wrong password. When I have the email saying I have changed it and should be able to get there through my rogers (Shaw) whatever... the payment has come out of my account today. Laundry done. Took the last flat of stuff out to green bin. Black bin should be ok. Did a bit of clipping on the hedge. Davey Tree called back (spoke to Harrison who is the manager of the place I call) Travis will be here between 12:00 and 2:00 on wednesday 2nd. Going to move all the Larix stuff from Documents into the Gardening LARIX folder. Will call it Larix Documents when I get them all put into that Folder. Pat got the hose end for the pond hose fixed. I am still getting leaks around the nozzle when I add it. The hole in the hose is shooting water out too. I might try adding more duct tape to both places and another washer on the nozzle end. I threw the extra hyacinth into the pond. Saw only one little goldfish today. They are not hidding at the marsh marigold end of the pond as I cannot scare any of them out, and there are no dead ones floating on top ... this is more and more weird. I will try adding more fish, again. Maybe next week. None in the tub for now. There are little damsel flys around, and the swallow tail butterfly and the other black one. Cleaned up in the suite a bit. Added pea gravel to the drystream so I guess that is finished and so is the pavers path to the seating area under the deck. It needs a chair. The hedge will need some taller rhodos (maybe) to cover the bare spots. Will see after Davey Tree guy gets finished. Ben has gone to Calgary, so he is no longer available to do my extra stuff.

July 2025

Tuesday, July 1, 2025
Was up to 27 degrees today. Finally got the Shaw Rogers thing to work and copied out the bill. Did the banking and house chores in the morning. Pat went down to coffee. Had the Waterfall on from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. At 1:30 we went to Berwick and saw the guys (forget the name - back beat?) doing 1960s music. Beatles, Beach Boys, and many others. The staff and a few brave people from Berwick from the front row were up dancing. Was all very enjoyable and good fun. Pat dropped me off at Berwick and went back and parked the car by the church, and walked back to Berwick. After the show I managed to walk back to the car. Pat is still sore from his fall. Has a very nasty cut where a piece of his glasses just missed his eye, and he tore his jeans, and badly bruised and cut his knee. Has sore ribs. He is trying to take it easy. Spent sometime in the mall walking and shopping yesterday. Slowly mending again. O Canada day. I think this was a nice distraction for him today. Got back about 3:30. I made up some mashed potatoes for salad with the cold chicken and coleslaw for supper. After supper I had a long nap to 9:00. I have to reset the back water hose out to the sprinkler as it is not running at full spray. Had a look at the hedge on the Pees side. We actually did not do too bad of a job of cutting it back. Travis from Davey Tree will be here tomorrow sometime between 12:00 and 2:00. I have been trying to cut that hedge down from about a foot below the eaves. So, I will want him to take it all down, maybe a bit lower than I have it now, right across the entire hedge. I will have to tell him about the broken deck stairs and not to use them. If he has to do anything on my side, he will have to come up inside the house and go out onto the deck that way. Also I will want to see if he can start taking the bottom branches off the sweet gum tree in the front and maybe take the yew trees down to about a 4 foot high hedge. Actually, we should leave that for now and just do the hedge and some of the lower branches all around the sweet gum. I have to get those stairs fixed, so that will be enough expense. After I turned the waterfall off I saw 3 or 4 of the gold colored fish zipping around. Probably were some black ones too, but can't see them.

Wednesday, July 2, 2025
Turned on the waterfall at 8:00, fed the fish. No fish to be seen. Reset the water hose to the back garden to run to the farthest spray with the sprinkler. Moved the honeysuckle, the deck tub and other things away from the edge of deck railing in case the Davey Tree guy needs to work on the hedge off my side off the deck. House stuff as usual done. 20 degrees at 10:00. email, etc. done. Finished step 1 on page 5 of the back rock garden photo album. 24 degrees at 4:00. Travis got here at about 12:00. We came upstairs to see what I mean about the deck. (Told him that we cannot use the back stairs, so if they want to work off the deck they need to come through the house. Showed him what I wanted done on the sweet gum tree. He told me that he did the work on this tree. We are going to take the 4 lowest branches off at the trunk. This should get rid of the long branches that are blowing towards the house. We will do more branches, over time. I feel the tree needs to recover from the pruning, and it is quite hot out now. While he was doing up the estimate I started to prune back the white rose. So, the estimate for hedge and the sweet gum tree comes to $1436 before tax. The hedge is most of it, as taking 4 lower branches off on the sweet gum is only $250. There is a $60. fee for ecological or whatever stuff. So, 250 plus that fee is about 310, making the hedge and chopping up debris and hauling it all away is about 1200. I thought it was reasonable. When I told him about the steps he said he can usually do these kinds of jobs, but he has 5 children and I guess they are getting out of school now, so he is going to be busy with them. Told him about Pat's broken shoulder blade and then he had another fall while helping me with the pruning the hedge with the long handle pruner. So, after signing up the estimate and saying they would be back some time next week, I continued with pruning the roses. Finished the white one, and the 2 David Austin roses, pruned back the magnolia tree off the driveway. Cut off some low hanging branches of the sweet gum. Found a couple more bamboo to cut off. Have the green bin about 1/2 full, and still some debris from the drive way lieing on the grass. There is a bit more clippings of lupines, the iberis, etc. The pink rose is totally dried out and dead, yet the other plants in that spot (little cedars, clematis, etc.) are all green and doing fine. Weird neighbours. Watered under the plum tree from 4:20 to 5:10 moved the sprinkler over a bit to start more watering. Turned on the oven to do the caserole. Pulled off lupine seeds and a weeded a bit more while this watering was happening. Lots of aphids, one butterfly, lady bugs. Turned the sprinkler on at 5:45. Its a bit breezy.

Thursday, July 3, 2025
Turned waterfall on at 10:00. Fed the fish. Did email, bank statement copied, vitamins, finished Page 6 of step 1 of the photo album of the back rock garden, got the playlist made up and loaded, and finally it works. Moved the plants and chairs around a bit on the deck.

Friday, July 4, 2025
Turned on Waterfall at 8:30. Fed the fish. See no fish yet today. Did the house work, the email etc., changed a couple of passwords. Took the globalaries and some empty pots down stairs to plant globalaries in back rock garden, duct tape the pond garden hose. 22 degrees at 11:00. According to accu weather we are to get rain on 13, 14, and 15 of July. Water reservoir level at June 29: 86.8%.

Saturday, July 5, 2025
Turned on the waterfall at 9:00. Fed the fish. Didn't see any fish. 21 degrees at 10:00, sunny. The usual house and computer chores. Finished step 2 up to No.18 of back rock garden photo album. 24 degrees at 1:30. Finished making the Gazapacho soup and dishes at 1:30, so 2.5 hours to do it and do the dishes. Saw 2 little gold fish and a black one in the pond. Yippee, they are in there!.

Sunday, July 6, 2025
22 degrees at 10:30. sunny. Turned on the waterfall at 9:30. Fed the fish. No fish to be seen this morning. Watered the house plants. house chores, computer chores. Finished step 2 of back rock garden photo album up to page 5 No. 61. Was out from 1:30 to 3:30, 24 degrees. Duct taped the pond hose end, added extr pvc pipe over the hose where I thought the hole in the hose was. Seems there is more than one hole, but depending on the position of the pvc on the hose, it still sprays out. But it is not as bad as it was and so I filled the pond and watered around the sides where the spray goes. Seems to work pretty good to get the pond filled and the surrounds watered plus some watering under the deck. Transplanted the globalarias in the the rock garden by the entry to the strawberry patch. Cleaned up the rock garden and most of the strawberry patch. Transplanted the red achillea next to the Lebanon cedar. Took the green bin from the deck out to the bin and a flat of debris from weeding the strawberry patch. Watering the fig tree, apple tree and the strawberry patch from 3:30 to 4:30. Also waters the pond surrounds but not the lilac. I will move it for a half hour or so. I saw a little gold fish after I filled the pond, so I guess they will survive. I could not see any fish when I was down beside the pond. I have no idea where they hide. Turned the waterfall off at 9:00. Saw 3 gold fish. It is quite humid out there.

Monday, July 7, 2025
Turned the waterfall on at 9:00. Saw no fish. The pond is almost to its usual fill mark. 4 loads of laundry finished at 3:00. 27 degrees at 3:00. Fed the fish. Saw one little gold fish. It did not seem interested in the food. Leaving the waterfall on now 24/7. Have seen a few fish in the pond today. Am looking for a natural good bacteria for the pond. Could put gravel in the pond bottom.. maybe get some aquarium gravel? Nah, makes the pond impossible to clean.

Tuesday, July 8, 2025
Left the waterfall run all night. Fed the fish about 9:00. Didn't see any of them in the pond. Grocery shopped, lots of vegetables. 27 degrees at 2:00. Had a nap and a late lunch, with the heat pump running on cool. Windows wants an update. Today is my backup day so will run the update later. Finished step 2 of back rock garden photo album up to page 6 No. 90. Was out on the deck from 2:30 to 3:30. Dug the feverfew and violas out of the small white pot. dug out some of the soil and put the dill from its black pot into the white pot. One less pot in the collection. All the pots will need a top dressing. clipped some plants back and watered everything. The wind blew the tall white pot with the tellis over. So, I moved it over to the other side and if it blows over again it won't hit anything. When the Davey Tree guys get finished, I will put it back in its corner and tie the trellis to the railing and put some shims into the soil to steady up the trellis a bit. Saw 2 of the gold fish. It is overcast and very humid. The wind seems to have gone down. 24 degrees at 5:15. The windows update took about 5 minutes. 2025-07 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5062554).

Wednesday, July 9, 2025
18 degrees at 11:00. Overcast, no rain despite the forecast of 90% over night and this morning. The water in the pond is clearing up with the waterfall running 24/7. Fed the fish at 8:00 and at 11:00. Saw 4 of the gold ones along the bottom at 11:00. Pat to the Dr. He is doing ok and does not have to go back to the doc. Made up the sausage, rice, tomatoe, casserole for supper. Did ironing. Left message for Brian Wade about fixing the steps up to the deck at 2:20. Put Travist's card into my cards place. His is from Davey Tree -- assistant manager. Brian Wade phoned back. He is no longer doing carpentary. Just doing cleaning as he is too busy. Reservoir levels as at July 6: 85.0%.

Thursday, July 10, 2025
20 degrees at 10:00. Fed the fish at about 9:00. Finished ba7 of the photo captions. Had lunch. Went to Berwick at 2:00 to 4:30 with a bit of grocery shopping. Was a very interesting, Part 2 of the Machu Pechu talk. Got Travis' message on the phone. The Davey's crew will be here tomorrow afternoon to do the hedge and the front tree branches. Called him back to acknowledge his call. Wrote a note to the Parmars about Davey Tree guys to be here and to keep their cars and people out of harms way. Baby Pee answered the door. I did not really recognize him. He asked if I knew his Dad had passed away in March. I kinda just nodded. He said we are just the 3 of us now.. being his mom and his wife. Both of their sons live in Vancouver in their own homes with wife and one of them has a girl child. Both of them are cpa but work for different firms. Good for them. Not a big chance they are going to come over here and take care of Baby Pee when he gets old and demented. So rolled up the front garden hose and watered the roses a tiny bit. Brought the burgundy David Austin rose into the house. Moved the stuff in my room over a bit and moved the deck stuff further over to give the Davey guys to do my side of the hedge. Made supper and finished at 6:45. It is 22 degrees at 7:00. I am a beat bunny.

Friday, July 11, 2025
22 degrees at 10:00. Fed the fish at 9:00. Saw a fish at 10:00. There is an all black cat in the garden again. Humming birds are around. Changed the name of the screlaria (sp) to herniaria. should make a note of this plant as the lawn substitue. Changed the upload date to July 20, 2025 all on the index pages. and No. 18 of photo pages. Restarted to update the anti virus. 4 Davey Tree crew were here from 1:30 to 2:30. Took down the hedge from my side of the deck and did a fine job on the Pees side. They removed the 4 branches from the front tree and a little bit off the lower branches of another big branch. This opens up the area and takes the long branches off from blowing against the house. I skimmed the pond a bit and turned the waterfall back on. 25 degrees at 3:00. Put the deck stuff back in place. Put my room stuff back in place.

Saturday, July 12, 2025
24 degrees at 10:00. Fed the fish at 9:00, the water looks a bit murky, did not see any fish. Did a bit of clipping plants on the deck. Started watering the plum tree at 9:45. Moved the sprinkler to thyme circle at 11:45. 26 degrees at 12:00. Watered under plum tree for 2.25 hours. The murky water has cleared up, saw a fish. Moved sprinkler to thyme circle at 11:45 and closer to the tree at 12:15. Watered by hand along the front hedges and the roses, etc. until 1:30. There has been no weeding. The front garden looks ok but needs lots of weeding. There is lots of June drop of the plums in July. Finished all the changes to July photo menus. Finished Photo album captions to No. 9.

Sunday, July 13, 2025
Shopping till 3:00 to the co-op. Was out from 3:30 to 5:00. Watered by hand for half an hour over the newly pruned hedge, then all around the edges at the back, with another half an hour trying to fill the pond. 28 degrees at 5:45. Was a football game. I made the supper (dr.Utker's pizza). I had mine while watching what was left of the game. Excellent game. BC won. Was asleep by 10:00.

Monday, July 14, 2025
Was up at 5:45. Banking etc. Had to change the 3 inks in the printer. Not sure what I have left for inks. Laundry (2 loads). Fed the fish at 8:00. Saw 2 or 3 fish. The pond is almost full, and some water left on the water table from yesterday's watering. It is 22 degrees at 9:00, so it is going to be hot! Looking at the weather forecast on accu weather. It shows no rain for all of July, but mid August we start to get some serious rain through to the end of August and into September. None of these 28 degrees show there, but they are on my canada weather for this week. The reservoir water level as at July 6 is 85.0%. So, that is not too bad considering the rains will be starting again in August! Was out in the front garden from 9:45 to 11:45. Have the bin full and have a pile of montebretias for the next time. I am taking them out. The hummingbirds and the bees do not seem interested in them. They flop all over everything. Also cutting back the lupines. They have gone to seed and are crowding out other plants. The achillia looks good. Lots of pink ones. Brought up a 25 litre bag of potting mix from Rona up to the deck. Going to top up the deck pots. Its 24 degrees, at 1:45, but does not really feel that hot. Siesta time. email from Niko at 1:31 re Anti virus update, reply at 5:05 by me about antivirus license and all about maybe getting windows 11, etc. blithering on.

Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Taped up the piece of the curtain on the patio. Fed the fish. It is 2:30 and 30 degrees. Not a cloud in the sky. Watered the deck plants. Saw a fish under the waterfall. Made salmon salad and dressing for lunch. Have made up the potato salad for supper. Did house chores, computer chores. Have the heat pump running on cool at 18 degrees. Cannot seem to change that temperature on it, but it is comfortable. So don't fix it if it aint broke. 5:30 submitted a form to Handyman Connectiuon about repair to deck stairs, got an immediate email from Alex Campbell thanks for connecting. :)) Told him I had just submitted my form etc and could he let me know when someone would be available and what the cost would be. They are BBB and have been around a long time. They have a confusing chat bot on the site.

Wednesday, July 16, 2025
30 degrees at 2:00. Did banking, email, computer chores. Did house chores. Grocery shopped. Fed fish at 10:00. The water is clear, but did not see fish at that time. Sarah from Handyman phoned. Nicholas will be here 2:00 on the Tuesday 22, to look at re-attaching the stairs to the deck at the back. And then they will give me the estimate. So far so good with that problem. I will need to move the plant pots away from that side of the deck. Its too hot to go out there now to water or anything. Have the heat pump on and its good inside. Moved the pots off the steps side of the deck. Made up 2 batches of apple sauce and have two 2-cup jars, and two 1-cup jars frozen. Have the chicken, crackling, dolmades, carrotts, cranberries ready for supper at 5:00. It is still 30 degrees.

Thursday, July 17, 2025
Water level in reservoir as at July 13, 2025: 83.1%. 24 degrees at 10:00. Something tipped over the iris pot on the yew hedge side of pond. The irises are leaning against the side of the pond. Fed the fish at 9:00, but did not see any of the fish and the water is a bit murky, the pond needs filling. Did house chores, computer chores. From about 10:00 to 1100 watered around the back. Filled the pond, set the iris pot up, clipped the irises. Clipped some of the grape and fig tree back and put the clippings in the bin at the front. The newly planted globalarias seem to have disappeared. Watered the hedge. Found the lost cat guard thing in the hedge. Guess the Davey Tree guys found it, so its back on the deck ledge now. I did not see any fish. The water is clearing up. Butterflies are back looking for mud puddles. Got my socks and pants wet. Will take no time to dry. So, its easy to water the hedge, and fill the pond. The guy should be able to get in under the deck to reattach the steps without too many things in the way. 12:30 shaking some debris off the hedge. Clipped back the irises. Saw a medium sized gold fish in the pond. Pond is full, and waterfall running good, water is clearing. Finished photo captions up to No.19. Finished page 1 at No. 15. 28 degrees at 7:00. Saw a couple of fish. Fed them again. They look like medium sized ones. Have the heat pump running.

Friday, July 18, 2025
18 degrees at 10:00. overcast, very humid. Fed the fish, saw 2 medium sized but no tiny ones. Perhaps the 2 tiny ones have grown bigger. Did house chores. computer chores. Had to make some changes on Pats Picks on my phone this morning. Alternate email is this one. So, should be on my computer if need be to get the code. Watered the plum tree from 11:45 to 12:45, meanwhile pulling out the montebretias and binning them. Have a few left to do. The humming birds and bees do not seem interested in them anymore. The bees like the clover blooms in the lawn area. 23 degrees at 1:00. Fed the fish again. Have seen 4 medium sized gold fish and perhaps one of the small ones. So, 5 and maybe 3 black ones that I never see. Should be the 8 total. They seem to eat the food that falls to the bottom. I would like to go back to the pets smart where the old stinky fish place was and maybe get a bit of acquarium gravel and an under water pond plant. Am thinking about getting a big water lily for the pond. Finished the photo album captions No. 25. Was out at the front from 2:00 to 3:00 pulling out montebretias and other plants and picking up debris around the front rockery. Have most of the debris loaded to the bin. Brought 2 red bricks to the back and now that red brick road only needs 6 more red bricks. The new rockery at the front is going to need a total make over. Perhaps put the pavers down flat next to the cedars and get more if I need them to go over to the boxwood hedge. Get some stones from that Trillicum mall place to build up the sides a bit to contain the big plants I have. These plants do not look good in a crevice garden kind of rockery. Along with this Davey Tree will be taking more branches off the lower part of the front tree over the years. And then I will want them to do the front hedge along the sides and bring the top down down a bit and evenly across the front, with the Pees side cedars to match the front. We might be getting rain in October. Have started the sprinkler on the front tree at 3:00 and should turn it off now, at 4:30. The sun has come out and it is 25 degrees. No rain. Finished page 2 of photo captions at No. 30.

Saturday, July 19, 2025
Fed the fish at 9:00, did not see the fish. House chores, computer chores, Phone updated to 16 last night. 19 degrees at 11:30. Saw 2 of the medium gold fish and some odd silver flashing thing. Must be one of the black ones, it was quite big compared to the medium gold fish. Finished photo caption No. 36 of the back rock garden. Watered house and deck plants.

Sunday, July 20, 2025
Fed the goldfish at about 9:00. Finished photo caption No. 45 (Page 3) of the back rock garden. Did house chores, computer chores. 20 degrees at 1:00. Fed the fish again. Saw the medium gold ones and there might have been a black one or two. The water is quite clear. There is terbidity by the mermaid rock. Most of the green algae seems to be gone from the waterfall. 21 degrees at 4:00. Was out from 2:00 to 3:30. Watered the hedge for about 30 minutes of that time. Filled the pond, watered around the cutting garden, rock garden, the apple tree, the fig tree, lightly all around the back garden, filled the black pot to about 1/4 full. Am seeing 4 gold fish. They are near the bottom. They should be ok with the chlorine water. The water is a bit murky again. If the black ones are in there, I haven't been able to see them.

Monday, July 21, 2025
Fed the fish at 9:00. Didn't see any fish. 25 degrees at 2:45. The water is quite clear. Fed the fish again. They seem to be in the shade. Only saw one little one. Did shopping. Finished 5 loads of laundry. Made the avocado jello salad. Finished No.52 of the captions of the back garden rockery of Page 4. So, I am little over half finished the captions. Ahmad phoned back with regard to the email to Niko. Let him update the anti virus, then he wanted to check out what monitor, etc I might need for the new computer. I asked him, again, to talk to Trevor and Niko about getting this new computer as they are familiar with my machine. Told him that today, I thought I would be going with Windows 11. He said he would let Trevor and Niko know what I had said and that Trevor knows what kind of a machine, monitor etc that I have now. He said he would save Trevor some time by snooping around my machine. He said Niko was sick today. WTF?? Ahmad will send me a bill for the update of the anti virus. He sent the bill to Pat. Got the bill and paid by etransfer with a note on it to Ahmad to send invoices for work done on my computer to margaret at my thunderbird address. Copies of all the stuff saved in documents and in hard copy folder. While shopping I got a little heliotrope from country grocer with my lottery win money.

Tuesday, July 22, 2025
Been worrying about this Ahmad crap. After today I will send e mail to trevor and niko, about the update of my computer. Changed the tube from the bottom shelf of the light garden to the top. 18 degrees at 10:30. Breezy, sunny. Fed the fish. no fish to be seen. Water is quite clear. Did the ironing. The handyman, nicholas came and had a look at the stairs, and did an amount of work that I required. Sent the pictures and his estimate back to the office and they would not accept it. He said to try and find a local person to do it. They could not warrantee the kind of work I wanted done. Guess they just wanted to try and get us to redo the whole damn deck. Pat said no, and that if I were to look back at the records this is the company that redid the deck last time. Not sure what year that was. So, whoever did it was the person who put those shabby shims in there to rot. Sent email to Trevor and Nikon with copy of the email from Nikon and my reply to him attached. Cannot find a private phone or email for Nikon. Nikon called back after I called computers on wheels. He said he has the original emails now. By remote he had a look around my computer. Said I have such a lot of data. Yeah.. pack rat me. So, he looked at the programs I use and what I might need. New monitor, new photo copier, pdf thing, if windows doesn't like my old photoshop we can always use gimp. I don't care how fast my manual ssds are. I don't do gaming and what not. and I can get rid of some data. My shaw.ca and google mail should be good, and I expect my outlook mail as well. Pat's picks should still work. They prefer Firefox, but Chrome is ok, if that is what I want to use. I don't think windows is allowing the google apps. Forget what the O/S is that just updated on my phone. Niko said its going to be expensive, and I said don't care, can't take it with you. Said he would run this by Trevor and they will have a look and maybe get me a estimate. Fed the fish again at 7:00. Pat gave me 3 places to look for some handyman to fix the deck. Re did the listBGR and it is saved as html and uploaded with the File Zilla. It looks like all the other list pages. Any day now it will show up. It did not over write anything.

Wednesday, July 23, 2025
23 degrees at 11:00. Reservoir level on July 20 is 81.3%. Fed the fish at 10:00, water is quite clear, did not see fish. House chores, computer chores. Transplanted the heliotrope to pot on deck. Watered all the deck plants. Helped Pat get the screen on the dryer cleaned up. 25 degrees at 3:00. Saw a couple of the fish. Made potato salad for lunch. Made ceasar salad for supper. Had to fix my email, paniced email to Niko and then got it fixed, cancelled the panic attack. Niko replied and said he would have an estimate for me soon. Tried to delete some pictures to get rid of data. I have lots of free space on the ssds. Finished photo caption No. 60 (Page 4) of the back rock garden. Filled the hummingbird feeder.

Thursday, July 24, 2025
24 degrees at 11:00. Cleaned up some desk top stuff. Fed the fish at 9:00. Didn't see any fish.

Friday, July 25, 2025
28 degrees at 2:00. Fed the fish at 10:00. Did not see fish. Water is a bit brown. email to Niko re Win 11 stuff. Cleaned out old folders for computer stuff and everything from Megashot. Still have the windows 10 stuff. Have a new folder for the Win 11 stuff. Amazing how much the old stuff cost in 2005. Probably more than this estimate for Niko, so far. Have a stack of paper in the photocopier with old stuff on it. Hope it doesn't jam the copier. Was out in the garden from 2:15 to 3:45. Watered the plum tree from 2:30 to 3:30, started the sprinkler at 4:00 on the center garden stuff. Turned the sprinkler off at 6:00. Clipped back more lupines, bamboo, etc off the boulevard garden by our driveway. Have the pile of stuff chopped up and the bin is almost full. Have another email from Niko to answer my questions. They will add the DVD to my estimate. A charge for his checking my phone. There will be a charge for getting the stuff recycled, but they can have it done. They will have a look at my photo album generator to see if it works with Win.11, if not, they will be happy to find something for me that does work. Hope it is not just some embed thing. and etc. I should do some looking at curved monitors on best buy. Sure hope I can fit my computer desk in the kitchen area, I think Pat will claim the den. o well that's at the least 2 years away. Arthur and Rosemary don't have cell phones, Arthur is on Win 11. Had a tour of the garden. It is stuffed with trees, and all kinds of perennials, a raised bed with some very healthy vegetables in it. All of their plants look very good. Many friends have given them things and so she keeps finding space for them. Didn't ask about the watering system. They have to haul all the garden debris to the City composting place. She makes jelly from her grapes and the quince. Picks up the June drop from the apple tree to use. Replied to Niko's revised estimate and all. Told him I would go with the flat, no touch screen, and appreciate their checking out the photo album generator or if it does not work, finding me one to replace it. So, they are going to get the stuff and get started. I better get this desk area cleaned up. Got rid of a few hard copy files and a few things have gone to my recycle bin. I emptied it so that I would not be trying to rescue them.

Saturday, July 26, 2025
Fed the goldfish at 9:00. Did not see any fish. House chores, computer chores, shopped for London Drugs stuff, remade the index descriptions for the photo album of the back rock garden and have added descriptions to the photos up to No. 65 (on page 5). 23 degrees at 2:30. Took the compost out to the green bin. Watered the hedge and under the deck from about 3:00 to 3:30, watered around the back and have the pond almost filled. Came in and got cleaned up at about 4:45. The water in the pond is a bit murky. Saw 3 gold fish near the top mostly around the waterfall. The fish are definitely growing. I really wish I could see any black ones, but they must be in there. They were larger than any of the gold fish. Still 23 degrees at 4:45.

Sunday, July 27, 2025
Fed the goldfish at 9:00. Did not see any fish. The water is a bit brown, the algae seems to be gone from the waterfall. Did a bit of deleting emails. have added descriptions to the photos up to No. 70 (on page 5) of the back rock garden photo album. 23 degrees at 1:30, sunny. Cleaned up the computer desk and vaccumed my room. Football game.

Monday, July 28, 2025
Fed the fish at 9:00. Water is brownish. The fish are definitely growing. Laundry. Cleaned up a bit in the photography cupboard, moving some photography books to the computer desk, to the books to take to Berwick. I see I have a bunch of magazines to be put into the blue box -- next week. 20 degrees at 10:30. Pat has arranged for a handy man to come fix the deck stairs. Mohamad 'mo' will be here at 3:30 to have a look. I unplugged the waterfall at 11:51. Mo was here about 3:30 (Pat having a nose bleed) Took him out to the back and he had a look, Pat came out and they decided that he could redo the whole stairs or do a re-inforcing job. Would give Pat his estimate for both, and will be here Saturday, August 2nd to do which ever one..guess which one Pat wants? I noticed the hydro has gone way up for the last few days of July, compared to last year, and I think it must be that heat pump. Although all of the same things have been running, as last year.. light garden, waterfall, heat pump. Must be hydro's billing rates have gone up. To hell. Finished Page 5 (no. 75) of the back garden photo album.

Tuesday, July 29, 2025
23 degrees at 10:00. Reservoir level at July 27, 2025: 79.3%. Fed the fish. The water is still brown. The handyman Mo is to come to fix the stairs on Saturday, the 9th. Moved the Habitat for Humanity stuff out of the way to the computer for Niko. Vaccumed the rest the living room, dining room, the bedroom and both bathrooms. Had a terrible time getting the filter out to empty it. Finally finished at 12:30. After lunch we got groceries and home by 2:30, and put them away by 3:00. Had a nap from about 3:30 to 4:30 and made supper. It is 28 degrees at 6:00. Have had the heat pump running till just before supper at 6:00, so it is quite nice for suppertime.

Wednesday, July 30, 2025
Fed the fish at 8:30, house chores. Moved the two plants from the living room out to the deck. They will be compost after the stairs are fixed. Deleted a few more photos. Out to take a few photos to find the mystery lewsia. It is still there near the soapwort, but appears to be much smaller. More photos. Turned the sprinkler on to the apple tree and the area over part of the rhodos etc. I will turn it onto to other side of that back area later. 27 degrees at 12:00. Have the front verticals closed. 1:30 moved the sprinkler over to cover the cutting garden. Emptied the trash cans into the bin on the deck to be taken down to the black bin. Finished all the photos captions of the back rock garden photo album. Turned off the sprinkler in the back garden at 3:30. It is 27 degrees with heat pump running. Mo will be here at 10:00 tomorrow morning. Uploaded BAlpines, and had to delete it, correct Page 3 and reloaded, works, uploaded Progress page. Moved the working folders to NOT webpage.

Thursday, July 31, 2025
27 degrees at 1:00. Mo arrived at 10:00 to repair the back steps. I was up much of last night with bathroom gassy problems, so will go down for a nap asp. Did a bit of work on starting the list page for the back rock garden. Downloaded July photos. Muhammad 'Mo' was here at 10:00 and was finished about 2:00. Braced the stairs, looks awful. Trampled the plants. Niko phoned about 4:00. He will be here Tuesday the 5th at 10:45. Will pick up the tower and take whatever he needs back to the office and load the new pc. Going to do this at their office cause all my data will take too long. Only makes sense. I turned the waterfall back on when Mo was gone. The water is still murky brown. I am looking at getting some pea gravel stuff for the pond and some blocks for the front garden rockery. and maybe some kind of water cleaning stuff. There are some of the fuzzy looking under water plants growing out of one of the white pots.

August 2025

Friday, August 1, 2025
28 degrees at 4:00. Moved all the deck pots around. Moved the 2 house plants down to be put in the old compost bin, and will add the soil by the jasmine. I don't think I will miss those 2 house plants and having to water them. I cannot find my prospectors rocks from Bryan. Have no clue where I put them. Have to remove the willow that I put into the woodland. It is mostly dead and ratty looking. Had a look under the deck and started collecting dead stuff to go to the compost bin (I think this can go to the old bin also.). took a few of the rhodo finished blooms off. Grocery shopped. Did a bit of work on sorting the list page photos for the back rock garden, and am ready to make up the top photo. Made up the turnip and apple mix. Have the heat pump running.

Saturday, August 2, 2025
24 degrees at 12:00. Did more work on the list page for the Back Rock Garden Room. Removed the section about Perennial Pruning. I won't bother adding it to any more of the list pages I do up. any more Got the description of the Back Rock Garden Room made up. Fed the fish at 9:30 when it was only 23 degrees. Looked up more information about cleaning tanins out of the murky water. They don't hurt the fish, neither does the string algae, so I will stop worry about it.

Sunday, August 3, 2025
21 degrees at 12:00. Fed the fish at 10:00. Water still murky. Saw a couple of fish, dimly. Did some updating on the plant lists and notes for the Creat2 page or on the Larix pages, some of the list page for Back Rock Garden Room. Since I don't think I will be making any more new pages I should be able to put the new list pages on all of the list pages I have actually finished and reload them. I have corrected the Back Garden Room. Not going to add predators to the plantlists page. Getting the Plants in the Back Rock garden list page done up. Cleaned out a drawer in the guest room. Cleaned up some scraps of stuff in the closet at the end of the hall, cleaned up the purses in that purse drawer in the guest room. Cleaned out and washed the left overs drawer in the fridge. Dumped all the black bin stuff into the bag and put it in the black bin. Moved the house plants out to the end of the old side walk. Moved some other debris to the green bin out front. That green bin is about 3/4 full. I see that Pat took down the virginia creeper off the pole. He must have taken the rake and brought it down like I suggested. SOO must make a list of the finished list pages and change them all to the list page stuff from the Back Garden list page. And then upload the new ones.

Monday, August 4, 2025
Fed the fish at 10:00. The pump filter is blocked up, as the water flow out of the spillway is slowed down to about half the amount of water going over the waterfall. Water is quite murky. I have a plan to fix this. I am going to make an outside filter over the pump taking it out and cleaning it up. I have a white plastic shelf from the deep freeze or somewhere. I will line this shelf thing with the piece of fine fire mesh that I have left from covering the deck tub. I will protect the cut ends of the piece of wire with strips of the old filter stuff, tie this new big white filter upside down over the pump. Maybe with a piece of old liner tied to what is now the top and perhaps another piece to the bottom to help protect the fish and the pond liner from some of the sharp edges. It should also contain the pump inside this new white filter. The electrical cord to the pump should be able to come out of what is now the bottom of the filter. The cleaned off pump should be sitting on the bottom, hopefully on a paver. I could lower a paver in for the pump to sit on, provided the filter legs will fit beside the paver. Lower the new big filter over top of the pump (the white legs of the white filter will be at the bottom. Put a black plant tray over the top of this white filter. Put a rock and/or a pot with a new water hawthorn or a water lily in it, on top of the filter. Should keep the pump from getting plugged up and help clear the water once the dust has settled. Finished the laundry at 2:00. 24 degrees and sunny at 2:00. The white shelf thing is 15" x 8". should fit over a 6" x 12" paver.

Tuesday, August 5, 2025
18 degrees at 9:30, overcast. I have found that I can get a milk cart (black) and 2 laundry bags probably white, to use for the cage over the pump. Put extra old filter stuff into the milk cart, put in the cleaned up pump, put the laundry bag around the milk cart with filters and the pump, put it all back into the pond. I want the pump raised up with a paver or 2. Then put the black plant tray on top of the cart, laundry bag, and pump, with a rock and maybe a plant in a pot on top of it all. Might have to tie the tray to the cart (Holes in landry bag for the ties). Make holes in the laundry bag for the electrical cord. Can get the cart and laundry bags at Canadia Tire. Might want to find a solar fountain thing there too. Niko is coming for the computer at 10:45.

Wednesday, August 7, 2025
Put out blue boxes. Niko here from 1:00 to 4:00. Set up new computer, new monitor. Fixed the printer so it scans from computer now. Checked email and all the stuff. Went over all the stuff. Checked my phone. Gave all icons. Paid by etransfer. He took the old monitor for them to use. Later in the day I started to arrange stuff and had a quick look at Gimp. collected photos to make the front entry and put them in a folder. Also did a folder for predators. I will need to downsize them all etc. in Gimp before I try out the album maker. I think it will work, but we will see. Have note pad set up, taken off the formatting and increased font and font size. Just go to settings in notepad to fix it. I still have Word and there is hoards of stuff in there, that I used once upon a time.. different size letter templates, etc.

Friday, August 8, 2025
Pump plugged, turned it off. Fed fish at 10:00. Charging up the keyboard. Computer has to be turned on to charge the mouse and keyboard. Niko had a look at its batteries. It is a pack of them. He thought that they were not replaceable, would probably need a whole new mouse and keyboard if they wear out. 23 degrees at 11:30. More arranging icons etc. Tried File Zilla. Must have made a mistake, cannot see my web page stuff on the left side to upload from. Can see the right side under html place where they upload. Sent email to Niko, to fix it. No rush. Shopping at Canadian Tire for pond stuff, drugstore, etc. Did up a change to the plantlists page adding cost of pond stuff, but could not load it to File Zilla.

Saturday, August 9 2025
Fed the fish at 9:00. The pond is murky but the fish don't seem to care. They are in there and growing. Waterfall not turned on as I have not found the time to clean it out and put the cage over it. Tried the pump box in the little cage and it and the filters fit in it. Hope the pump with its connections fit, or I will have to go to canadian tire for the milk cart thing which is much bigger. I can use this little one to add a plant or maybe some pea gravel for the fish to play in. I might have to use a paver or 2 to lift the pump off the bottom. I managed to change the font and its size on notepad. But I have somehow lost my nice monitor picture and just have the solid blue. I can live with that or get Niko to fix it when he does the fix to File Zilla. 23 degrees at 10:30. I have to find out how to make these files save so I can put in what kind of file ending they need, unless that happens automatically, also. Figured out how to download photos from camera and save them. Download the usual way. Move the DCIM to that folder and delete RAW files name it and copy it to My pictures 25 folder. (don't use Niko photo anywhere ever) we used this photo to test the loader -- it worked for the test is all. Notepad: open new tab for new note or click on anything to continue to continue on old ones. I like to save things in all files or whatever it is called. It automatically saves to text. Must see what a html thing saves to, later. Found and made the desktop for the whole libreOffice, and added it to the bar at the bottom. Time to go gardening, have to get the green bin filled for Tuesday morning. Was out from 3:30 to 5:00. Cleaned up a bit in the boulevard, cleaned the thyme circle, picked up clippings from at the back. Have the bin very nearly full. Watered the Plum tree from 4:00 to 5:00, had the sprinkler on the center garden from 5:00 to 7:00. Temperatures at 26 degrees. Was very hot in the sun.

Sunday, August 10 2025
28 degrees at 5:30. Fed the fish at 10:00, saw 3 or 4 of them at 5:30. Waterfall not turned on. Pond still murky. The pond needs to be filled. Did a bit of computer stuff in the morning. Went about with Pat shopping, etc. Slept the afternoon away. 7:00 turned the sprinkler on at the back to water over some of the pond. Emptied the house plants into the bin at the back and the soil along by the jasmine where I am going to dig out the dead willow. Turned the waterfall on. It is running, as though the pump is not plugged up. Ironed Pat's shirt. At 8:45 the waterfall looks like its plugged up again. Turned it off. Turned the water off. It is 21 degrees at 8:45.

Monday, August 11 2025
29 degrees at 3:00. Fed the fish at 9:00. Water stil murky, have not seen the fish today. Did the laundry. Sorted ebooks a bit. Sorted hard copy books a bit as well. Have the Carney book, the 1st Macdonald book , and history of B.C or some such thing to take to Berwick on Thursday. I can have more stuff for them, maybe. Have to find out what they might like to take. More stuff on my table to go to recycle, not much left. Pone has to be cleaned and there is an old mouse that could probably be refurbished, copy of Windows 7. More stuff in another box that I won't deal with now. Am thinking of taking gardening books to the HCP... have to see if they take stuff and what they might like to have.. probably should be clean books. Don't know what Habitat for Humanity takes either. Broke my little Anchor measuring glass. Have to find a new one. Niko will be here tomorrow at 12:30 fix the File Zilla and maybe get my old win 10 screen picture back. Can't get my weather app from Canada on the task bar. Freakin' Microsoft.

Tuesday, August 12, 2025
Fed the fish at 9:00. There are water hyacinth thrown out of the pond on the masonary next to the iris. Threw them back in. Turned the water fall on, it is running good. will turn it off again if it gets plugged up. Saw a fish. 26 degrees at 10:00. Have done up a few pages of the optimize stuff -- there are 54 to do.. have 25 done. 31 degrees at 12:00, waterfall still running good. Niko fixed my desktop and the File Zilla. I somehow moved my web page from documents to desktop. Niko moved it back to Documents and it took a while to copy it to Documents.. He said it mirrored it! I have no clue. I will not move any icons around or make any new ones, again. After he finished I had some lunch and we went to Canadian Tire and got the milk crate and the measuring glass. Did up the plant lists page for the purchases. It seems I have moved Pictures also, but he did not put them back. He asked about using the web album generator. I said my gardening and all has got ahead of me and I that I would have to learn Gimp before I could make an album, so it might be a while. Did house chores, banking, email. Got all the Optimized pages done (53) and they will be up loaded someday, maybe.

Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Reservoir at Aug. 10, 2025: 75.8%. Fed the fish at 9:00, turned on waterfall. The fish are in there but the water is so murky they are hard to see. They are really growing though. House chores, email, etc. Did some web page stuff. https://www.mmmee.com/listBGR and listBA will NOT upload. not working. Uploaded some of the optimized stuff, they work. Back from shopping about 3:30 and got stuff put away. Turned the waterfall on again. It is a bit windy. The water is really murky like something fell in the water and stirred things up. The fish can barely be seen. Computer needs to restart to do an update. Made a shortcut for desk top and put it on the desk top. 2025-08 Cumulative Update for Windows 11 Version 24H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5063878) (26100.4946) restarted at 5:36. Didn't take much time.

Thursday, August 14, 2025
We were to Berwick yesterday to hear the Machu Pechu guy. Was interesting I took books. I was doing computer stuff.. Don't remember what else I did.

Friday, August 15, 2025
18 degrees at 2:00. Light rain. Have almost an inch in the rain gauge. Brought the flats of mushroom soup and tomato soup up to the pantry. Sorted a bit of the stuff for the Van. Fed the fish at 10:00. The water is very murky, but the fish do not seem to care. Saw some of them later in the day. They really do seem to be growing. Made chicken, veggie, rice soup from the left over hot chicken. Have saved 2 half full blue boxes and froze them. They are quite thick so adding water is not out of the question. Made up 2 jars of cranberries. House chores, banking, email, etc. Computer doing backup starting at 12:00 noon. Pat got some good groceries and I put them away. Watered the house plants. Pat signed us up to go to Chemainus on the 28, for the theatre. Finished the optimized stuff. Now this freaking microsoft thinks I should arrange my tabs in groups ... NO THANKS.. can you even get more confusing? who are these people who do these make work projects for themselves.

Saturday, August 16 2025
Was up at 5:00 to empty the dishwasher and decided to try and get the back rock garden list page loaded. I copied out the Cut Garden list page and then copied all the back garden stuff onto it and deleted all the cut garden stuff, saved this notepad version, then changed its name. It is an htm file, YIPPEE! Dragged it into the web page folder. deleted the old ones (they are saved into a folder in the notes stuff). went to file zilla and uploaded this new listBRG htm file and it is immediately visible! at 7:00! amazing! Fed the fish at 10:30, the water seems to be getting less murky. Didn't see any fish though. Emptied 1 inch of water out of the rain gauge at 10:30. copied out the garlic shrimp linguine recipe, saved to desktop and printed greyscale.

Sunday, August 17 2025
Wasted far too much time trying to find youtube of the woodbine race of the kings plate. Fed the fish at 10:00, turned on the waterfall, later saw the fish, but the water is very murky. Did house chores and some computer chores until I got caught up in trying to get on rogers.. they finally said that they were doing maintenance. 22 degrees at 3:30, overcast. We did not get any of the forecasted rain, though. Turned off the waterfall at 3:30 as it is plugged up again. Saw the fish. 20 degrees at 7:00, overcast. Saw the fish in the murky water. Really feel like I got nothing done today. Read my book. Started the info page for the Entryway photo album = 2 pages of 30 photos each = 60 photos.

Monday, August 18, 2025
Fed the fish at 9:00, turned on the waterfall. Water is very murky, saw some fish, had to turn the waterfall off as it got plugged up again about 2:30. Did the laundry. Filled the humming bird feeder. It needs new feeder bottom part. Did a bit of stuff around the pond (transplanted the feverfew in place of the green bells of Ireland thing that died) picked out a few leaves. Learned some Gimp stuff, set up a sharpening filter and hope it is made permanent. The other daily computer stuff. Cleaned a few things to go into the van. Got on shaw see the MyShaw note. copied the August account. The humming birds have come to feed at the cleaned up feeder.

Tuesday, August 19, 2025
Reservoir water level at August 17 = 74.5%. 19 degrees at 11:00. Overcast. Fed the fish at 10:00. Water is murky but the fish are in there and growing. Wasted the day on Gimp trying to figure out how to do stuff. Had to rearrange the desk top icons. Guess the update on Friday will show this stuff.

Wednesday, August 20, 2025
20 degrees at 12:00. Fed the fish at 10:30, turned on the waterfall, water is murky, saw the fish. Seems like they are visibly bigger everytime I see them. But only saw 4 gold ones and that seems to be the most I ever see. No idea what happened to the other 4 that should be in there, but I have never seen any dead fish in the pond. Threw the water hyacinths back in the pond and picked out a bit of dead leaves. Tried to make grape jelly and burnt the stuff on and had to soak and scrape out the microwave dish. Did email, etc. Managed to get a copy of david in Gimp as a jpeg. copied it into extras, made a copy of the copy and renamed it. Opened the new name in that photos thing, where you can edit stuff. hmmmmm. maybe I don't need to struggle with gimp.

Thursday, August 21, 2025
21 degrees at 10:45. Fed fish at 9:00. Murky water, saw the fish. Computer chores done. Was out in the garden from 11:30 to 2:30. Picked up a lot of the debris at the end of the driveway -- mostly St. John's Wort. Moved the bin to the back and have started to add clippings and dried plants. Cleaned up under the deck and rerouted the dry stream around the new post that holds the steps up. It needs a little more work. Took my parts to try to build a cage around the pump. The laundry bag is not big enough to go over the milk cart. Put the pump and all my extra filters into the smaller thing, cut the laundry bag to get it around this stuff, and tied the laundry bag over the top of it all. Put the milk cart over this laundry bag, containing pump and filers, lowered it into the pond. Put the milk cart over the top of this stuff. It covers up most of the white laundry bag. Filled the pond. If I wanted to take it in for the winter, I would have to pull the cord out of its protective pvc, so that is not going to happen. I could not figure out how to clean the filter, while I had the pump up out of the pond, so just put it back with its filters, etc. Put a rock over the milk cart. Perhaps I can have a few more rocks on it. This pond is not really a very professional job. So, plugged the pump back in and the water fall runs ok. Saw the gold fish, and actually saw a black one -- could see it over top of the gold ones. It looks huge. The waterfall ran from 2:30 to 7:30 when I turned it off cause I am going to bed. We were out to dinner at Naughty Nellies. It was so busy, had another couple join us at our 4 people table. Was good to do. I had been up half the night with trips to the bathroom last night, so I am tired and going to have an early night. Finished my Stone Henge book. Was a fun read. I find it helps me to ignore Trump and all the wars going on. So, I have bought a couple more Cornwell books to read.

Friday, August 22, 2025
28 degrees at 4:00. Made rice salad this morning. Had lunch and went out to try and make the cage around the pump at 12:30. Wasted the time until 2:30 - 2 hours. Could not get it to work. So cleaned the filter and put it back in the pond, skimmed off the pond,. Got a lot of food, twigs etc, out. When I put the skimmer deeper in the pond I got out a lot of string algae. Am going to keep the skimmer up on the deck. Watered a bit around the pond when I was filling the pond. Came in and put the groceries away. Got changed, did computer chores. The water in the pond is murky, of course, after all that stirring about. The critters had been throwing the hyacinths out of the pond, and they had tipped the pump over and I lost the rock. When I tried to put the cage back on, I could not get it to work. I cut the bottom out of the laundry bag to try to make it fit, and ruined the bag. Must try and figure it out on another day. I had it working before with the milk crate over the smaller crate and extra filters in it. Now I will have to sow the torn laundry bag around the outside of the pump in the small container. Put the crate over them and bungy cord the crate to the pump container. I might have to cut holes in the sides of the crate to allow the the electrical cord and the water hose to let the pump sit on the bottom. ... can't figure it out now!

Saturday, August 23, 2025
23 degrees at 10:00. Fed the fish and turned on the waterfall at 9:00. There are no plants dragged out of the pond today. Emptied the little green box into the green bin. The little box was surprisingly clean. Got some Gimp stuff done and files sorted. Have 3 of them finished. Went out to the deck and cleaned up the pots, added some soil. Watered around the deck lightly on the hedge. Watered in all the deck plants. It was 31 degrees at 4:00. The waterfall is still running nicely.

Sunday, August 24, 2025
It got up to 31 today. Turned on the waterfall at 9:00 and fed the fish later in the day. We went for lunch at R & R, then got gas and lottery tickets, Pat went to London Drugs, and I went to Dollar store to try and get some small laundry bags. They did not have any so I got these other things that I spent the afternoon trying to sew them into something I could use for the filter layer in the spillway of the waterfall. I don't think they will work. Going to use the old laundry bag to wrap the layer below the filters, wrap the filters in the old stuff, and wrap the top layer of pea gravel in the same stuff. I will probably have to clean out the spillway. Right now -- 8:00 -- the waterfall is running great, but the water is still murky. Dave Dube messaged me on the facebook message thing. Just messaged him back about how busy I am, etc.

Monday, August 25, 2025
wasted the whole moring with the wretched facebook messenger. Have uninstalled it I hope. Have a new password for facebook, I think... god knows... I am totally confused. 29 degrees at 4:00. Did laundry. Turned the waterfall on at 9:00. Fed the fish. Saw 3 of them very near the surface, when I fed them and before I turned on the waterfall. My outlook email seems to have me signed in and can click on the notifications but go to the right side to actually see them on facebook... Have Meta1 or whatever added itself to my friends list. I also seem to be permanently signed on to facebook. Managed to get the layers docked on gimp.

Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Fed the fish at 10:00. Waterfall is running really good, but water is still murky. The fish are coming almost to the top. Saw 4 gold ones last evening and several this morning. Can't see any black ones but I am sure they are in there. 25 degrees at 11:00. Was out to the van to see what I might need to take out. Cut my finger while trying to arrange some of the stuff under the sink. I don't see where I need a lot of stuff. Make sure we have lots of apple juice in fridge, cyder, beer, barks, coke, 7up. Maybe a bag of ice cubes in the freezer. Then all the daily stuff and vitamins and stuff on my little table. All the phone plugging in stuff. My clothes for the theatre and wear the traveling clothes. Had a short nap from 3:00 to 4:00 and charged my phone. Have prepared the brussel sprouts and Pat is getting the corn ready. Have to cook the sausages. Was out watering on and under the deck, all around the pond surrounds. Hosed down the cedar hedge. Watered each of the deck pots. Was 28 degrees when I got in at 5:00. The keyboard is charged. The waterfall has been running very well all day. Have been seeing the fish now and then. Was getting dark at 8:30 - waterfall was still running great when I turned it off.

Wednesday, August 27, 2025
23 degrees at 10:30. Fed the fish and turned on the waterfall at 9:30. Waterfall running good, no plants thrown out of pond. Saw a few fish through the murky water. Got a begging call from someone named..____ Witlof. He had my Margaret name. Said I might remember him. Told him I was busy and don't call here anymore and hung up. Earlier I had a message on my phone messenger that said ' go for lunch' with the number that looked like a real phone number, saying add this to your contact list. I deleted the message. Curious. Didn't keep the number, though. I don't have the Facebook messenger any more. 27 degrees at 4:30. Have all the stuff packed except the clothes I am wearing to travel, and my phone with its charger. Waterfall still running good. I have figured out how to do the filters in the spillway with layer of pea gravel in bottom, the layer of filters and layer of pea gravel on top. Found the shadows and highlights under colors. Did up ew5 Photos and Gimp. Canvas size worked in Gimp. Sharpen works in Gimp. Can find flatten layers once in a while, export in jpeg works once in a while. :) Guess I am finding my way around. Downsized works in Gimp. The pea gravel can be in plastic bags with holes in them that the cherries come in. Nothing on the filter layer as the pea gravel should hold them down and they get washed out when dirty. Hope this works to take the brown color out of the water. The fish don't seem to mind it. I muddled through another photo on gimp... cropped it (without layer) make the layer after the crop as I have not figured out how to make the crop apply to the layer. Maybe I should just empty the spillway before I try this. There is probably a bunch of good looking soil in the spillway now.

Thursday, August 28, 2025
18 degrees at 10:30. Rained a bit last night. Overcast now. Fed the fish at 9:00. Copied statement of credit card and hydro. Have all the my stuff ready to go to Chemainus and to the theatre today. To the dinner and the theatre to see Cut Loose. Very energetic, and just a bit loud. When we got back to the van the Fridge had stopped running on propane. Needs to be fixed.

Saturday, August 30, 2025
To the Bonnie Martin cafe for breakfast at 9:00, Got home from Chemainus on the 29 and stuff put away by about 12:00. Turned on the waterfall. Fed the fish. They were on top of the water. Nap. Had supper of hambergers.
30th: Fed the fish at 9:00. Turned on the waterfall. Did the computer chores. Watered house plants. Took the white roses back from the door and have some in the house. Took down the pink rose by the Pees corner down, as it seems to have dried out. The two little cedars are nice and green and growing. Cut back a few more plants along the driveway. Went to water the plum tree and found that the lower ones were all picked off, but there are more higher up. Pat picked one off and it was still a bit green. I brought 5 from off the ground in and we will see if they are ripe. Watered the white rose and washed off the steps and entry way. We went for groceries and also picked up the Greek food for supper. It is 3:40, it is overcast and 21 degrees. Waterfall still running nicely. I finished the Costain Stonehenge book and have started his A crowning mercy.

Sunday, August 31, 2025
Fed the fish at 9:00 and plugged in the waterfall. 4 fish near the surface. I believe they may have learned to come to the top to eat. Waterfall is running fine, water still murky. Copied out the green soup recipe and hope to get it made sometime soon as it is getting to be the soup season. 21 degrees at 11:00. Wasted far too much time trying to get the regina vs winnipeg CFL game on youtube or where ever it may appear. Rogers needs a subscription to the channel they broadcast it on -- that TSN 3, or whatever it is called.

September 2025

Monday, September 1, 2025
Fed the fish, turned on the waterfall at 9:50. Saw 3 fish just zipping around after I turned on the waterfall. 17 degrees and overcast. I have decided that the plastic bags I was going to use in the spillway would be beat to bits of plastic and be a disaster for the pond. So I am back to cleaning out the spillway and maybe add the layer of stones wrapped in the old laundry bag, with the layer of filters, also wrapped in the laundry bag, and then another layer of stones or maybe a piece of plastic tray over the filters with more stones wrapped in laundry bag over that. But first I will just try it with the spillway just cleaned out.

Wednesday, September 3, 2025
Wasn't on the computer at all yesterday. Made 5 pkgs of green soup and froze them, of course.
Today: Started the day with unloading the dishwasher and other house chores. Cleaned up the roses. Fed the fish at 9:00 and started the waterfall. The water is still murky. There are 4 goldfish swimming around near the top. I think they might be learning to come to the top to eat. There have been more water hyaciths dragged out of the pond and chewed on. I don't think squirrels are vegetarians. The brown bunny has been around the back garden, but near the pond. Cleaned up the hyacinths and threw out some other debris. Tried to get on the internet and had a very stressful hour or so, trying to connect the router being that wi-fi thing (it no longer shows the name of it - Amlif8i). I finally got it working, just about the time Pat got home. My hair was on fire! Pat told me that the Rogers guys were working in the area. So I have no doubt at all that they caused the problem. I think I have a new ip address. Well am now back on the internet. Read the VIRAGS news letter and did the other internet chores. Noted the things to do on the calendar and the fridge in hard copy. VIRAGS have revised the website. Spent an hour quickly having a look at it. Is looking really good. Doesn't say who it is used to build it. Was out in the garden from 2:30 to 4:45. Put the blue filter and the black one into the spillway with pea gravel below and above them. All this is wrapped in the old laundry bag stuff. The water is running very well through these filters. It looks really clean. But the water is still murky. I clipped back the dead stuff off of the iris by the waterfall. Then clipped back the Lebanon cedar, and added a bit of soil beneath it. It still needs more soil. Swept up most of the clippings and put them in the green bin. Skimmed off the pond. Fed the fish again. There are 4 gold ones zipping around just below the surface. If the black ones are in there, I cannot see them. It is 25 degrees at 4:45.

Thursday, September 4, 2025
Reservoir water levels at August 31, 2025 is 71.2%. 24 degrees at 12:00. Fed the fish at 10:00. Saw the 4 gold ones and I thought I saw a black one jumping at the top of the water. Turned on the waterfall. Water is very murky. Can see the white laundry bag stuff. I might have to put flat black rocks over it to cover it. Just moved the top blue slate further to the front. Seems to work. No plants ripped out of the pond. Did house chores and computer chores. was out gardening from 3:30 to 5:00. clipped back the fig tree and the grape vine. Brought one ripe fig in to the house. There is another just about ready. Something has been eating the grapes right off the vine. Dug out the willow from by the jasmine, cut most of its roots off and have a ball of fiberous roots left to cut up. Have the green bin about 3/4 full. Some stealer bastards have been picking the plums off the bottom branches, tearing off leaves. Pat needs to get up the ladder and pick some of the plums. There are lots left higher up. Made mashed potatoes and parsnips with ginger for supper with the hot chicken. Is 23 degrees at 5:00 and overcast. I thought I had lost my kneeling pad and searched all over .. well its up on the deck.

Friday, September 5, 2025
Fed the fish at 9:30. and turned on the waterfall. There were 4 gold fish just sitting still near the top. After I turned on the waterfall they started zipping around and I saw a couple of splashes from a big black one. 17 degrees at 9:30. Registered for the Peninsula streams: Peninsula Streams Society Community BBQ & Raffle Finale Where: Centennial Park – Shelter 2 Address: 7526 Wallace Drive, Saanichton When: Sunday, September 28th | 11:30 AM – 2:00 PM. Sent them a donation and have the receipt hard copy in the Income Tax file. Then sent CWF a donation for the calendar. They don't get to be a Taxable donation. Paypal works just fine. Finished my email stuff, at last. Made potatoe salad for lunch for Pat. Saved the rest. Was out in the garden from 2:30 to 4:30 when I came in, got cleaned up, put the groceries away. Was 25 degrees. Cleaned up under the deck where I clipped the little variegated shrub, aligned the dry stream to the entry and past the post to where it goes over to the sitting area. Clipped back the cottoneaster by the plug in. Clipped the first rhodo. Started cleaning along the old sidewalk. That bed needs more soil in it. So does the fig tree bed. Have the bin about 4/5 full. Fed the fish again at 5:00. Waterfall is running good. Water is still murky. The fish seem to hang around near the top. Pat brought in about 18 - 20 plums today. They need a bit of ripening. Watched 4th quarter of the Football game. BC and the RedBlacks (hamilton?). Turned the waterfall off at 8:00.

Saturday, September 6, 2025
Fed the fish and started the waterfall at 9:00. The 4 gold fish were near the top as usual and went zipping around when the waterfall started. one of them was sitting right under the water where it fell into the pond. 17 degrees and overcast at 9:00. Kings bday 90th. Big lunch at the helicopter room by daugher, Jennifer. Football game. Big salad for supper. Turned waterfall off at 8:30.

Sunday, September 7, 2025
Fed fish and turned on waterfall at 9:00. Water still murky. Fish did their usual zipping around and Haida (?) is hiding under the waterfall to catch the oxygen, I guess. Could see where the black one had jumped or popped to the surface. It seems to be really big compared to the gold ones. very light rain last night and this morning. Did vitamins etc. email and computer stuff. 21 degrees at 12:30. House chores. Did the ironing (this probably affects the hydro for this day). Finished ew8 and have sorted the photos for the next 4 to do up. And then reduced the number of photos to 24, so will have 2 pages of 12 photos each, 4 across and 3 down. Pat brought in and ate his last big fig and some more plums, and green apples to make applesauce. Nap for about an hour before supper. Turned the waterfall off at 9:30.

Monday, September 8, 2025
Turned on the waterfall and fed the fish at 9:00. Laundry. house chores, computer chores. Did a bit of Gimp tutorial reading. Made up about 3 cups of green apple sauce. Made the meat loaf, carrots, mashed potatoes for supper. took the bin out to the front, brought back 7 ripe plums from off the ground. 19 degrees at 7:30. Turned the waterfall off at 9:30.

Tuesday, September 9, 2025
Fed the fish and turned the waterfall on at 9:30. 19 degrees at 9:30. House chores, computer chores. Made 3 cups of green apple sauce. Spent a lot of time sorting entryway files to use.

Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Left the computer on overnight. Fed the fish and turned the waterfall on at 9:00. Three goldfish at the top. Took out 1 dead gold fish that was caught on top of the irises. It was the female one that was being chased by one of the other ones in the pond, as they normally do when ready to spawn. Took out more string algae and more brown leaves off the marsh marigold. The virags meeting last night was crowded, no microphone at the front. Plant sale was impossible to get anywhere near it. Some new members. One of the new members is working on the website, and seems to be doing a good job. Revised the Create2 page and uploaded it. Made the Chicken cordon bleu casserol. Made 3 small blue pkgs of chicken vegetable soup. Finished this stuff at 2:30. It is 23 degrees and sunny. Was out from 4:50 to 5:50 - watered the hedge, washed off around the pond, have the pond almost filled (still needs a bit) watered around the deck edges, filled the deck pots, watered under the deck and along the deck edges a bit. It is 18 degrees at 5:45. Shut the waterfall off at 8:00.

Thursday, September 11, 2025
Fed the fish. Turned on the waterfall at 10:00. Water is murky. Saw the 3 goldfish and splashes from a black one or 2. Cannot see the black ones. Picked up about a dozen plums off the ground. Reservoir water level as at Sept. 7, 2025 is 69.7%. 19 degrees and sunny at 10:30. Made up 2 cups full of Asian plum sauce. To Berwick 2:00 - 4:00, Jack's for supper.

Friday, September 12, 2025
I should have 7 fish left in the pond and none in the deck tub. Fed the fish and turned the waterfall on at 10:00. Saw the 3 gold ones and one black one, although I cannot tell if I am seeing more than one black one. The black one is really big. Water is still murky. I should have 7 fish left. Must get to the fish place and get more gold fish and maybe some shubunkins and sarassas, and new fish food. See the create2 page for new fish, etc. Did house chores, computer chores. 20 degrees and sunny at 11:00. Out gardening from 1:30 to 5:00. Cleaned up the patio. Duct taped the yellow smiley on the entry to the sitting area under the deck. Cleaned up 3 stepping stones by the rhodos. Clipped the 2 rhodos, so have only one left to do. Found 2 more figs near the bottom of the tree. So that makes 4 big lucious figs this year. Was severely cut back last year. There will be lots next year. Shut the waterfall down at 8:30.

Saturday, September 13, 2025
Fed the fish and turned on the waterfall at 9:00. Saw the usual 3 gold and maybe a black. Waterfall is running really good, but water is still murky. 16 degrees at 11:00, overcast. House chores, computer chores. 11:00 to 1:40. Lunch, filled the hummingbird feeder: Have weeded around the stones and the primulas and some of the fig tree bed. 21 degrees at 2:30. 2:45 to 5:00. Almost finished under the deck. And tried to chop down the old stump and realign the stones. Tried to water a bit and to fill the pond, but I don't see where I got very much into the pond. Found another ripe ready to eat fig and Pat went out to get it. Football game but I will need to make the supper... fish and chips. We ate all the coleslaw so will have green salad.

Sunday, September 14, 2025
16 degrees at 11:00. Fed the fish and turned on the waterfall at 10:00. Rained a bit, not even 1/4 of an inch, though. There were hoards of plums on the ground after the rain and probably wind. After the Corn Roast we picked up several dozen of them. Lots left on ground that are too spoiled to use. I washed and pitted 3 large blue boxes with 2.5 cup of plums for making plum sauce. And 4 cups pitted washed sliced for a plum pie. Have a couple of dozen clean ones in the fridge, and the whole box of the ones Pat picked in the down strairs fridge still to be cleaned and stored somehow. We still have one pkg of last year's plum preserves to eat. Shut down the waterfall at 7:15. It looks like the pump or the waterfall filters need to be cleaned up.

Monday, September 15, 2025
Fed the fish and turned on the waterfall at 10:00. Picked some debris out of the pond. Waterfall is running good but water is still murky. Saw the 3 gold fish and splashes from the black one. 18 degrees at 11:00 and sunny. Made appointment with denturist for Sept. 22 at 1:00. Confirmed Peninsula streams thing for the 28 sept. Finished the laundry. Dragged the pump out of the pond. There was lots of stringy stuff on the outside and the inside was just around the filter. I washed the filter in the pond, but should have had a pail full of the water to wash it in. There is a big black filter attached to the outside of the pump and it too should have had a pail of water to wash it. The water fall works really good now but the water is really murky. Drat! Filled the pond with the hose with the holes in it and got my dirty sleeves wet trying to wash the dirt off. Tried to wash the muck off the suite window by spraying it... was not very successful. Will have to scrub that window off with a cloth. Pat cleaned up the box of plums he picked up. I have 3 small blue pkgs of washed, pitted and sliced plums frozen in the deep freeze, and there is some whole cleaned plums in the downstairs fridge from his box of plums.

Tuesday, September 16, 2025
18 degrees at 9:30, sunny. Turned the waterfall on at 9:30. Fed the fish. Saw the 3 gold ones. The water is murky, waterfall running with a full drop of water over the spillway. The stew is cooking at 11:00. Water reservoir at Sept. 14 was 68.0%. Did up ew9 photo. Did the ironing. Was out in the garden from 3:15 to 5:15. watered the deck plants. did a bit of work on the end of the dry stream. Took the chair off its platform. Will have to wash it before taking it under the deck. Clipped back the last of the rhodos. The lilac needs to be pruned back and the dry branches removed.

Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Turned waterfall on at 7:00. Fed the fish. Murky water as usual. Saw the 3 gold fish. Did computer chores. Did house chores. Lunch at the Garden Fork. Took books to HCP. Took recycle stuff to the depot. 26 degrees at 3:00. Watered the house plants.

Thursday, September 18, 2025
18 degrees at 9:30. Turned the waterfall on at 9:30, Fed the fish. Saw the 3 golden ones. Water is the usual murky. Did up ew10 photo. Turned off waterfall at 9:00

Friday, September 19, 2025
Turned on waterfall at 8:30. Fed the fish. 3 gold fish. Murky water. 18 degrees at 10:30. Did house chores, did email, etc. Deleted a bunch of old emails from sent. Sent wikimedia $100.00. Is not a tax donation. Picked up a few dozen plums and have them in the fridge downstairs until I can wash them. Shopping. Football game. Shut the waterfall down at 9:30

Saturday, September 20, 2025
Turned the waterfall on at 8:00. Fed the fish. The 3 goldfish were feeding and hopefully the black ones. Water is the usual murky. 12 degrees at 8:30. 23 degrees at 3:00. 2 pkgs of 2.5 cups of plums for Plum Sauce. Have 4 more pkgs of whole plums for eating fresh, in the fridge. Shut down the waterfall at 8:00.

Sunday, September 21, 2025
Half inch of rain last night. 14 degrees at 8:00. Turned the waterfall on at 7:00. Fed the fish. Picked debris out of the pond. Saw the usual 3 fish. Picked and washed a cup of grapes. They are quite sweet. There is one more fig getting ripe. Took the old chair under the deck. It needs to be levelled. Picked up a few sticks off the cutting garden. Put a bit of mud on the side of the waterfall to grow more moss. I have decided to get rid of the bamboo as it would be a discouragement to someone who would want to purchase our home. Finished resizing the first page of the entry page photos. Picked, cleaned, chopped 1 plum pie, 1 pkg of 2.5 chopped plums for Asian plum sauce, 3 pkgs of fresh plums for eating. shopping. Shut down the waterfall at 7:30. It will need the pump cleaned.

Monday, September 22, 2025
Turned on the waterfall and fed the fish at 9:00. The usual 3 goldfish and murky water. 18 degrees at 10:30. Resized no. 13 of entryway photo album. Turned off the waterfall at 7:15 as it has slowed down and will need cleaning out tomorrow. To see the Denturist.

Tuesday, September 23, 2025
Fed the fish. Turned the waterfall on at 9:00. picked leaves and debris out of the pond. Threw a water hyacinth back in the pond. 18 degrees at 10:00. Made 6 big blue pkgs of Borscht to freeze and a bowl full for each for lunch. Finished dishes, labels, at 2:00. 23 degrees and sunny. Cleaned the filter on pump, filled the pond. Did a bit of cleaning up along the masonary edge by the red maple. Waterfall is running really good. Transplanted the new lettuce. Was in by 5:00. Turned the waterfall off at 9:00.

Wednesday, September 24, 2025
Turned the waterfall on at 9:00. Water hyacinths thrown out of pond and chewed ones still in the pond. Cleaned up debris in the pond. There are little water hawthorn leaves growing out of the iris pots at both ends. Started moving moss off the patio area to around the dry stream. Saw the 3 gold fish but no black ones. Waterfall is running real good. 19 degrees at 11:00. Tried to get the deck door to slide. Finally Pat got his white grease and greased it. Was out side from 2:30 to 5:00. Weeded under the deck up to the dry stream and fixed the end of the dry stream. It needs more stones to get to the chair. Weeded along the drystream up to the mountain laural (?) and got one more round stepping stone along by the fig tree weeded. So I need to finish weeding from the round stone over to the drystream, tomorrow. Have finished No.13 of the entryway photo album.

Thursday, September 25, 2025
Left the waterfall on over night and it is running good, all day today. Fed the fish at 9:00. There seemed to be a very heavy dew on the water table this moring. There were no hyacinths out of the pond. Did sorting of the entry way photos and will now have 30 of them = 5 across 3 down for 2 pages. Renumbered them so have to be carefull of the new undone numbers. Was out in the garden from 3:30 to 5:00. Finished weeding almost all the way from the stepping stones to the drystream. Was up in the night with a terrible case of dry mouth, spent some time reading. Made a shrimp and avocado salad with chicken sandwiches for supper. Used my own lettuce and herbs. 15 degrees at 7:00.

Friday, September 26, 2025
Left the waterfall on over night and it is still running good in the morning. No hyacinths out of the pond. Fed the fish at 9:00. Water reservoir Sept. 21: 66.6%. 18 degrees at 11:00. Got a few of the photos for the entry way album done up. Will be doing 30 of them and so have 9 left to do up. Got shopping done. 20 degrees at 5:00. Was out in the garden from 3:30 to 4:30. Pulled weeds and dug out violets. Have finished along the dry stream, and behind the pine, the mountain laural and the Japanese cut leaf maple. The waterfall is still running good, and I see the 3 goldfish, and a big black one making splashes.

Saturday, September 27, 2025
Fed the fish at 8:30. Waterfall still running very well. Finished resizing ew23 of the entry photo album. Made appointment for Thursday Oct 2 at 1:50 p.m. check in to kiosk 10 minutes before appointment time. Football game.

Sunday, September 28, 2025
Fed the fish at 8:30. Waterfall is running very well. Water is murky. 19 degrees at 10:00. Overcast. Penninsula Stream finished and home by 2:00. Was very cold. Good salmon and salad for lunch.

Monday, September 29, 2025
Ran the waterfall all night. Fed the fish at 8:00. Waterfall still running good. Lots of leaves need to be skimmed out. Saw the 3 gold fish. Made chicken soup. 18 degrees at 11:00. There is 1/4 in of rain in the gauge. Still overcast. 1/2 inches of rain in the gauge at 7:00. Finished the laundry.

Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Fed the fish at 8:30. The 3 gold ones and a black one were at the top and eating. Waterfall is running good. Pond needs to be skimmed and masonary cleaned off. 13 degrees at 9:30. Shopping, reading. Shut the waterfall off at 8:26. Windy and lots of leaves blowing around.

October 2025

Wednesday, October 1, 2025
Fed the fish at 9:46. Saw the usual 3 gold ones. Pond needs to be skimmed. 15 degrees at 10:00. Emptied 1/2 an inch of rain out of the gauge. house chores. computer chores. Was out in the garden from 2:45 to 4:00. Skimmed off the pond and picked out leaves and debris. Scraped off the surrounding masonary. Cleaned the leaves off the patio and beside the house. Turned on the waterfall about 3:30. It's filter could use a cleaning. Dumped a flat of debris into the bin. Have finished resizing the entryway photos for the album. Shut down the waterfall at 8:30.

Thursday, October 2, 2025
Fed the fish at 10:00. Rained a bit last night. Doing health connect on phone. 12 degrees at 11:30. To get my ID cards renewed. Had the appointment moved to Dec. 9, 2025 due to the postal strike. The cards come from Ontario -- bloody hell! Looked up some stuff about the Denturists. Was out gardening from 2:30 to 4:30. Cleaned the filters of the pump.. not very dirty, cleaned the filters and stuff in the spillway. Now have the waterfall running to settle down all the dirt, hopefully. Filled the pond. 18 degrees at 5:00. Took the blue box out to the curb.

Friday, October 3, 2025
Fed the fish at 8:00. Had the waterfall running all night. Is still running good. Saw the usual 3 gold fish. House chores. Computer chores. Put away groceries. Noted new stuff on Chrome. Don't want stuff to sync on both devices. 17 degrees at 1:30. Made up the bacon fat with Pat's bacon/tomato sandwich. Filled the vitamin's tray. made up 2 jars of cranberries. Made up the turnip/apple for supper. Did the ironing. Football at 4:30.

Saturday, October 4, 2025
Fed the fish at 9:00. Waterfall still running very good. Brought in the blue box and 4 green apples to make apple sauce. 9:30 14 degrees and overcast. Computer chores. House chores. Gardening from 12:00 to 4:30. Weeded from the stepping stones and about half of the fig tree garden, over to the dry stream. I have cleaned up to the epimediums and the hepatica. I am re-aligning the stepping stones from the epimediums to the edge of the grass. I moved some rocks around on the waterfall. It is looking a bit more natural I think. It makes a better sound now as it falls down from the spillway. Football game started at 4:00. B.C. Lions won. Very good game, but I only saw about half of it. Then watched a documentary on the Gardens of old Spain, Morrocco, and Iran. Marvelous gardens, with water, and citrus trees as well as others, and many fragrant plants. The gardens are generally divided into 4 spaces, the fountains are generally round. Lots of colorful tiles.

Sunday, October 5, 2025
Fed the fish at 9:30. Saw the usual 3 gold fish. Waterfall is running really good. 13 degrees at 9:30. House chores, computer chores. Had to find the gardening label in gmail. I had made it hidden, so had searched in google search bar: label:gardening. Marked it as show and expanded it. Made up 1 jar of green apple sauce with 5 green apples. Tried to sharpen knives. Finished packaging the meatloaves - 3 of them, weigh apx 4 - 5 ounces each. Was out in the garden from 1:00 to 4:30. Have almost finished weeding the pond surrounds. Added another rock to the beside the field stone part of the path. I might find some kind of rock garden plant in the hole I have dug near this added rock. Have a half pail of dry soil to add back on to the fig tree garden where ever it is needed. Still have over half of the fig tree garden to weed. Watered around the pond surrounds garden (Japanese/Moss garden). The moss I added to the cleaned up stepping stones looks nice and green. Skimmed the pond. The water hawtorn is blooming at both ends of the pond, but the leaves are not very big yet. 17 degrees at 5:00. The waterfall ran all night and day and is still running good. It sounds good, too. Have the green bin about 3/4 full.

Monday, October 6, 2025
Fed the fish at 10:00. 17 Degrees. Computer chores. Laundry. Shopping. HCP membership, Cannor fish food, bulbs, Sausages at special butcher shop, Lunch at R&R.

Tuesday, October 7, 2025
Fed the fish at 9:30. Waterfall is running really good. Saw the usual 3 gold fish. 14 degrees at 10:00. CRD reservoir levels at Oct. 5, 2025: 64.3%. Fed the fish at 4:30. 18 Degrees. Dentist. Loaded the plantlist page at 4:44, it is not showing yet at 4:49. The htm files do not show as the htm, but need to be opened with Chrome to see them in the web page folder. This ever since I have the new notepad with Windows 11.

Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Changed the profile password of Zoom. 12 degrees at 10:00. Fed the fish. Saw the 2 big gold ones and a big black at the surface eating. Waterfall is running very well. Did computer chores. House chores. The changes to plantlist have been loaded to FileZilla but are not showing the changes yet. Picked some leaves out of the pond and saw all 3 of the gold ones. The water is getting more clear, waterfall still running good. Set up VIRAGS for e transfer and sent $20 and a follow up email about it. Read and filed the VIRGS news letter.

Thursday, October 9, 2025
Fed the fish at 9:30. 11 degrees at 9:30. Shopping. berwick.

Friday, October 10, 2025
Fed the fish at 10:00. Waterfall is running great. 13 degrees at 10:00. Saw the 3 gold fish. Pond needs skimming. House chores. Made the plum pie. Fed the fish again in the afternoon. Washed dolies. Trying to sort out VIRAGS talks but we do not get to keep them, they are no longer available after a certain time. Same with the other group that meet at Van Dusan ..AGC of BC.

Saturday, October 11, 2025
Paid $30 for 2026 Alpine Garden Club of British Columbia. They have a very good website, full of all kinds of information. https://www.agc-bc.ca/ I am undecided about the NARGS. Todd Boland of Newfoundland is the President or whatever it is called, now. Next years meeting for them is in the Kananaskis. I should probably get a membership just because of him. Fed the fish at 9:30. Started the new can of fish food. Is in the bottom of the closet door by the deck. Spent time trying to get the time and date set on the camera. Had taken a few photos in M mode. Charging the battery. Downloaded photos. Seems I have the date and time set up right. The date and time STAMP is off. Did house chores, computer chores. 13 degrees at 1:10. Have the washed dollies up to be ironed. They look nice and white. Only did 2 of them that I bought on our trips. Camera stuff. Downloaded some October photos. Made swedish meatballs for supper. Part of the Football game.

Sunday, October 12, 2025
10 degrees at 10:00. Fed the fish. Waterfall is running good. The water seems to be clearing a bit. Watered the house plants. I have sorted out the facebook messenger and have an icon on desktop and on my phone. House chores, computer chores. Made duck, yam, brussel sprouts, cranberries, crackling, plum pie (made 2 days ago) for Thanks giving dinner. made up 2 jars of duck stock from drippings in pan (minus the fat). Am reading Ayn Rand books - finished Atlas Shrugged, Fountainhead, Anthem and have started We the living.

Monday, October 13, 2025
Fed the fish at 10:00, waterfall is running good. 11 degrees and a bit breezy so more leaves are falling into the pond. swept off the front step, and the entry way. Tried to sharpen the knives without much success. Ground up some hazelnut coffee beans for the cappiccino mix. labeled the duck stock. Laundry. Finished at 1:00. 14 degrees. Banking, house chores, computer chores. Yippee got the plantlist page updated. $378 for one year of hosting. did ironing, pruned back the white rose.

Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Ice on the water table, so it froze last night. Half an inch of ice in the water gauge. Fed the fish at 10:00. Waterfall running good. 10 degrees at 10:00. Shopping. Out in the garden from 3:00 to 5:00. Skimmed off the pond. Planted the Irises along the stepping stones of the Japanese/moss garden and on the other side of these stepping stones. Have 7 of the stepping stones to clean up from the entry to the pond garden room, over to the old sidewalk. Planted the pink shamrock bulbs in the lower part of the little rock garden and across from the masonary to along the edge of the masonary. Cleaned up a bit under the lilac. My device needs to restart to do updates. Restart at 5:16 Finished update and restart at 5:24. Don't know what it was, but don't think it was the 25H2 or whatever is due on the 15th. Have noted the updates.

Wednesday, October 15 2025
Fed the fish at 9:00. Ice on the water table again. There is turbulence on the pond. Waterfall running good. 9 degrees at 9:00, sunny. Pat had the last fig yesterday, that must be about 8 or 10 of them. Lots of green ones as usual. computer chores. House chores. Water Reservoir at Oct. 12 is 63.2%. Dentist.

Thursday, October 16 2025
Fed the fish at 9:30. Waterfall is good. There is turbulence. Saw the 3 gold fish. 9 degrees at 10:00. house chores. computer chores. Wasted a couple of hours trying to get my outlook email and facebook sorted out. Made up the spaghetti sauce for supper.

Friday, October 17 2025
Downloaded and installed Windows 25H2. Computer chores. Fed Fish 10:00. Waterfall is good. I think it is getting less murky. But needs the usual skimming. Saw the usual fish. 12:00 degrees at 10:00. Rained a bit last night. Emptied .5 inch out of the rain gauge. Got my ehealth app set up on my phone with the most ugly photo and video. ewww. Football.

Saturday, October 18, 2025
Fed the fish at 10:00. The usual 3. Pond needs to be skimmed again. House chores, Computer chores. Brought in 10 apples to eat. Created the first step of the Entryway Photo album. Screwed something up on colspan of Entry pages.... Have to redo it. drag the wrong one into recipes and start over. at 2:30. Starting the coding for index pages.

Sunday, October 19, 2025
Fed the fish at 10:00. Emptied the full rain gauge. 2 inches of water. The pond seems to be up to its full mark. But as usual needs skimming. 11 degrees at 10:00. Computer chores. house chores. shopping at co-op. Out in the garden from 3:30 to 4:45. Skimmed off the pond and picked up more leaves and sticks. The wind has died down at bit. 14 degrees at 5:00. Finished coding index page 1.

Monday, October 20, 2025
Fed the fish at 9:00. Just a few leaves down. The squirrel was up in the oak tree getting acorns and added more debris to the pond. Laundry - 4 loads. Cleaned the bathrooms, swept the kitchen floor. Emptied the green stuff into the big green bin. 14 degrees at 12:00. Has rained very lightly. Turned the chicken on at 350 for half an hour. Took out a cup of the juice. Went out at 4:00 and picked up leaves and sticks to add to the green bin. Dragged it out to the curb. Skimmed off the pond. Made the rice and the green peas. Took more juice out of the chicken and turned the heat up to 425. Basting it while the rice and peas cook.

Tuesday, October 21, 2025
Fed the fish at 9:30. 11:00 degrees. Overcast. More laundry. House chores. 14 degrees at 1:00, sun and bit of clouds. Computer chores. Spent the afternoon looking up Berwick house stuff . Highest for 1 br. and den is 8250 + 800 for 2nd person + 90 parking or 65 outside + 900 for extras brings it up to 10,000 a month, as I have been using as my cost.

Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Fed the fish at 9:00. More leaves need to be skimmed off. Waterfall is running good. 10 degrees at 1:00. Raining lightly. House chores, computer chores. Made potato soup for lunch. Facebook stuff. Anti virus updated. Berwick.

Thursday, October 23 2025
Fed the fish at 9:30. Spent the morning getting new pass for Hydro and gmail, new desktop icon for gmail and added it to task bar. Hope everything works. Freakin Windows updates I am sure messed it all up. Made tuna surprize for supper. In the garden from 2:15 to 3:15. Skimmed the pond and cleaned up a bit in the little back rock garden. To the Dentist and have the new denture to get used to. 14 degrees at 5:00.

Friday, October 24 2025
13 degrees at 10:30. Raining - about .5 of an inch in the gauge. Lots of leaves in the pond. It will need skimming again. Computer chores. House chores. The weather alert for high winds we were to have at 11:00 today has been cancelled. Still raining at 11:30. Stopped raining at 3:00. Emptied .5 of an inch of rain out of the rain gauge. 12 degrees at 3:00. Finished coding the index pages.

Saturday, October 25 2025
Fed the fish at 10:00. Lots more leaves in the pond. Sun, breezy, 11 degrees at 10:30. Computer chores. Tried to sharpen the 2 knives. Watered the house plants. Ironed the shirt. Did step 1 of the coding for the photo album of the Entryway. Football, Blue Jays ball game.

Sunday, October 26, 2025
Fed the fish at 9:30. house chores, computer chores and a lot of extras re passwords, web album generator. These things were a waste of time. 10 degrees at 12:00. Been raining most of the afternoon. Finished the photo captions for the entryway photo album. Have the aspirin cut in half. Was out in the garden from 5:15 to 6:00. Skimmed the leaves off the pond. Brought in 3 apples from the ground. 8 degrees at 6:00. Emptied .5 of an inch of rain out of the gauge. It is getting dark at 6:30.

Monday, October 27, 2025
Spent the morning getting my B.C. services card registered. I think I have it done. Can't get my photo off the app. :). Fed the fish at 9:30. Just a very few leaves in pond. Have finished 4 loads of laundry. Made up a blue pkg of applesauce. Swept up the leaves off the deck. 12 degrees at 3:30. Emptied .25 inch of water out of the gauge. Have the stew on since 12:00. It is about half done at 4:00. The ball game went 18 innings was midnight by the time I got to bed.

Tuesday, October 28 2025
Fed the fish at 11:00. 8 degrees. The water fall is running a bit slow. Look in Documents, Not web page stuff, to find folders to add to Photography, such as manipulations, etc. I cannot find the original photos for the trip to Greece, was in 2001 and the folder is empty. So, I have the photos from the Travel to Greece copied to the Pictures 2001 folder. Oh well.

Wednesday, October 29 2025
Fed the fish at 9:30. 11 Degrees. a bit breezy. sun and clouds. The waterfall is a bit slower and there are more leaves to be skimmed. Emptied over .5 of an inch of rain out of the gauge. Reservoir levels for Oct. 26, 2025 (before the big rains) 61.5%. Got NARGS membership for 2026 - $65.66 use PayPal.

Thursday, October 30 2025
Fed the fish at 10:00. More leaves to skim off. Waterfall might need filter cleaned. Did house chores, computer chores. 10 degrees at 11:30. was out in the garden from 1:00 to 4:00. Skimmed off the pond, cleaned the filter. Picked up the leaves from around the pond and on the little rock garden. Brought in 6 more apples. It was 12 degrees at 4:30. Cooked up bacon to make bacon fat for cooking. We are having Jack's Plan B for supper. Prince Andrew is no longer a Prince and has been booted out of the fancy diggins, and Xwife Fergusson who was living with him is on her own now. The young girl and he settled out of court. She wrote a book, and committed suicide. This is because of the Epstein files where the ex-Prince's photos appear.

Friday, October 31 2025
Fed the fish at 9:30. 8 degrees. Blue Jays game.

February 2025

Saturday, November 1, 2025
Raining all morning. 10 degrees at 10:30. Finished the Entry photo album and got it upload to my web page and it finally works, except for one little glitch on going to page 1 from page 2. File zilla seems to be terribly screwed up. Created a new directory or something and finally got mywebpage on there and got Entry loaded. I think I will leave it alone while I am ahead. Feb the fish at 1:30. Emptied 2 inches out of the rain gauge. More leaves down and needs skimming, of course. Waterfall is running good. I think the pond is full. 12 degrees at 1:30. Have started creating the Front Entry list page. Coding from the Cutting garden list page. Lions won the football, Blue Jays lost by 1 run in the 11th inning.

Monday, November 3, 2025
Yesterday I watched the NARGS youtube - was excellent. Did shopping. Reading. Today, I did 4 loads of laundry. Figured out how to make the banner for the top of the Entryway list page. Have made note of it for the folder and for the Gimp folder. Swept the floor. Swept off the front entry. Fed the fish at 10:00. Waterfall is running ok. Saw the usual 3 gold fish. Was out in the garden from 2:00 to 4:00. Was 10 degrees when I got in and cleaned up. Skimmed the pond. Picked up a lot of leaves. Took the little green bin and emptied it in the big bin. Have the bin about 3/4 full. Brought in 36 apples. Making califlower, pork chops, mashed potatoes with dripping, apple sauce for supper.

Tuesday, November 4, 2025
Fed the fish at 10:00. The top of the waterfall might need cleaning. Saw the usual 3 fish. They were not too interested in coming to the top. There was ice on the water table so it froze last night. Did copy of estatement for the bank and other computer chores. Did the house chores. Am roasting big beets in the convection oven, for supper. It is taking a loonngg time. Will have the left over chicken, cranberries and more mashed potatoes with the beets for supper. Needs to be early so Pat can get to his car meeting. I have sorted out the problem with the banner for the Entryway list page, but it still does not show on the page. There was an extra period in the name of it. I renamed it and hope it works after I upload it. Only have the list of the plants to do on this page and its ready to up load. The water level in the reservoir is at 62.2% as at November 2, 2025. It is 10 degrees and overcast at 2:00. Finished the Entryway list page. Have to check it over before uploading it.

Wednesday, November 5, 2025
Fed the fish at 9:00. The pond is full of leaves. After my breakfast I went out at 10:30 to 11:30 and skimmed off the pond, picked up a few more leaves around the patio area. Waterfall is running fine and fed the fish again. It is 14 degrees and started to rain at 2:30. Did house chores, computer chores. Figured out how to get the 'banner' to show on the listEntry page, (had to use the file ending of .jpeg just as it is on the properties of the file). checked it over and it is now ready to upload. Had some trouble getting my web page showing on File Zilla. Copied the web page into Documents and it worked very quickly, with all the folders in order. I wonder if I will have to copy Web Page into Documents now every time I add a new thing. Will make up the progress page now and see if it goes into the File Zilla properly. Ok, copied the new progress into my web page in Documents, then uploaded it. So, it looks like I will need to do this manually to make it work in this wretched Windows 11.

Thursday, November 6, 2025
11 degrees at 10:30, overcast and rained a bit. Fed the fish at 10:00. Saw the usual 3 gold fish. They did not seem very interested in eating. Not very many leaves in the pond. Waterfall is running ok. Did computer chores, did house chores. Emptied .5 of an inch of rain out of the gauge. Searching for photos for the predators and property damage folders. Found the racoon by doing a search in mypictures. Found more squirrel photos and frog photos. About 3:00 the wind came up a bit. It is not as bad as the alert for a wind warning threatened. Also started raining quite heavily again. It is 12 degrees at 3:30. Watered the house plants.

Friday, November 7, 2025
Fed the fish at 10:00. The filter might need cleaning in the spillway and the pump. It will need skimming again after the storm. Saw the fish. The underwater plants are growing. I wonder if they get caught in the pump filter. Spent an hour or so trying to up date the plant lists on all the pages. I suppose the Entryway was the last one done and it should have all the plant lists stuff.. does not need the Create2 page as all that information is on the Fish pond page. I see I didn't add the new listBGR so I will upload again just to see if it works. OK got the list/BGR to load.. it was istBGR (without the 'l' - OH 'l' for sure!). shopping. Out to garden at 3:30. 11 degrees, overcast. Was in at 4:45, its getting dark. (hour and a quarter). Waterfall is running good. Skimmed the pond all off. Picked up some of the leaves and sticks and put them in the bin. Emptied over half an inch of rain out of the gauge. Brought in about 6 of the fallen apples and a couple of figs that might finish ripening in the house. Have the gingered parsnips made up for supper with the left over salmon, Ben's rice, cole slaw.

Saturday, November 8, 2025
Fed the fish at 11:00. They didn't seem very interested in eating. 11 degrees at 11:00, sunny. Web page. Football. Reading.

Sunday, November 9, 2025
Fed the fish at 10:00. 8 degrees, sunny. Saw the 3 goldfish. Waterfall is running very well. Water is still a bit murky. Charged the keypad.

Monday, November 10, 2025
4 Loads of laundry. Kelly phoned about going out to brunch.. probably Wednesday. Pat should decide on a place, he has a morning Dr. appointment of sone kind. Kelly and group will not be availabe tomorrow. Picked apples, cleaned them and sorted them. Stored 50 or so, in the blue bin in the back bedroom. Have another bag full that I picked some time ago.. not sure how many. Have about 3 dozen on the counter downstairs that have marks on them and should be used to make apple sauce asp. It was 14 degrees out and overcast. House chores, computer chores.

Wednesday, November 12, 2025
K and A had cancelled the meeting due to A having a cold. Fed the fish at 9:00. Saw the usual. Waterfall is running ok. 8 degrees, sunny. House chores, computer chores. uploaded the updated list pages. Finished the pie and dishes by 3:30. While deleting all the double photos in Pictures 2024 I managed to change the background image. I found the one in downloads from Niko and managed to get it put back to the way it was. whew. Updated: November 12 update: 2025-11 Security Update (KB5068861) (26200.7171).

Thursday, November 13, 2025
House chores, computer chores. Fed the fish at 9:00. Raining lightly, the pond will need skimming. Have the predator photos sorted and need to resize them. 12 degrees at 10:00. Took out the blue box. Made up receipe for Marinara Sauce, and the Lasgne by Lois W.

Friday, November 14, 2025
Fed fish at 9:30. Waterfall is ok. Pond needs skimming, of course. The usual fish. They don't seem interested in eating. Must be too cold. 9 degrees at 11:00. Overcast. Reservoir level at November 9 is 64.2%. house chores, computer chores. Took the blue box papers out.

Saturday, November 15 2025
Fed the fish at 9:00. Waterfall running good. 8 degrees at 9:00. Saw only one fish. Created a new image for the Create2 Page in Gimp.. finally got the text to work, used the old mygardenblank and changed it to mygardenlast page. Did some revisions to the list page. Uploaded them and they work. Emptied 1 inch of rain out of the gauge. 10 degrees at 1:00. Was out in the garden from 2:30 to 4:00. 10 degrees at 4:00. overcast, misty. Skimmed off the pond. Saw the 3 gold fish. Picked up leaves around the apple tree, etc. Have the bin about 4/5 full. Emptied the little green bin. Pat brought in a bunch of apples.-- he said 40 lbs. So, estimate the total harvest to be 120 lbs. I washed the apples and sorted them. Brought up some slightly bruised ones to eat. 1 pie made so far.

Sunday, November 16 2025
Fed the fish at 9:30. Saw the 3 gold fish. Originally I bought 10 fish. 2 died in the tub, 1 died in the pond... That leaves 7 of which I am only regularly seeing 3. Once in a while I think I may see a big black one. There must be 3 or 4 more that I never see. The irises and marsh marigold need to be cut back. The water hawthorn is blooming at both ends of the pond. 10 degrees at 10:00, overcast, no wind. There are a lot more leaves down in the front. Made the coleslaw vegetables (Carrots and Cabbage) and the Creamy Coleslaw dressing. 13 degrees at 2:00, overcast and no wind. house chores, computer chores. Riders won the Grey Cup against Montreal Allouettes. "Alouette" translates to "lark" in English.

Monday, November 17 2025
Fed the fish at 9:00. Waterfall is running ok. 10 degrees at 9:30, overcast. Swept off the front step. Sorted some apples. Made the stew, house chores, computer chores. After lunch we went to the Berryman Brothers meat farm to get the sausages, and get lottery tickets at the co-op. Finished the laundry. It was 13 degrees out. Went out for a couple of hours and picked up leaves and stuffed them in the green bin. There is still half of the leaves up on the tree. Spent a lot of time sorting out the Zoom. I seem to have it figured out as well as changed my password on my google account. house work. computer work. Have a birthday $5 voucher in London Drugs.

Tuesday, November 18 2025
Did some work on the Zoom and other computer stuff. Fed the fish as usual. To the Belfry to see Burning Mom. Was very interesting. To the Fernwood Inn - bar style - for dinner. Terrible. They were very busy. Up till 12:30, turned on the dish washer.

Wednesday, November 19 2025
Fed fish at 10:00. 8 degrees, overcast. The usual fish and water fall. Water hawthorn in bloom. Water level as at November 16: 64.4%. house chores, computer chores. Ironing. Made up 2 blue pkgs of apple sauce, used about a dozen apples.

Thursday, November 20, 2025
Fed the Fish at 9:30. Saw the usual 3 gold ones. Waterfall is ok. House chores, computer chores, ordered and acquired NARGS ticket for November 22. Starts at 9:00 am for me.. like the middle to of night... on Zoom. I think I have my Zoom working ok. Did up a review for computers on wheels about the dreaded Windows 11. Was out from 2:00- to 2:30. was 13 degrees when I went out. Got the deck swept off, the pond skimmed off and one flat of leaves picked up. It had started to rain and I got a bit wet. Was 11 degrees when I got in and quite a bit darker.

Friday, November 21, 2025
10 degrees at 10:00. Fed the fish. There are more leaves in the pond, waterfall running ok. The waterhawthorn is blooming the rest of the plants need to be cleaned up. The under water plants are growing. The water is still brown. Overcast. Emptied .25 of an inch of water out of the gauge. Collecting Todd Boland videos. Shopping. Just got home and the power went off. Was off for about 10 minutes. Watered the house plants.

Saturday, November 22, 2025
Up at 6:30 to watch the NARGS videos - not untill 9:00. Fed the fish at about 8:30. 8 degrees. Watched the 4 NARGS videos until 1:00. It is 13 degrees. I didn't see anything that I could not do without. Was interesting to see the Silk road places, geography, and plants by Todd Bolan. The girl from ? Calgary I think, was in Newfoundland and I found it the most interesting. The videos will be on the NARGS website in a few days and we can go see them. My zoom worked good, but it is different from before, at least the way these people set it up. I cannot see the questions, but get to hear the answers. Cannot see who is attending. I don't think it is my settings that are doing that, it is how it is presented.

Sunday, November 23, 2025
Fed the fish at 9:30. 9 degrees. Waterfall sounds good. Water is the usual brown. Emptied .5 inch out of the rain gauge. Did the 7prd for the predators photo album. Was out in the garden from 11:30 to 4:00. (4.5 hours) 10 degrees when I went out and 7 degrees when I got in. Raked leaves and all off the grass around the apple tree. Cleaned off the little rock garden. It needs more top dressing and more plants and rocks. Have the green bin about 3/4 full. Took leaves off the little rockery at the front and any border plants and the plants under the brown tree, swept the leaves off the thyme circle. Put one bag of leaves in the old compost bin and 3 more bags under the woodland trees. I should be able to put some under the deck. Lots of leaves still out on the ground and quite a few still on the tree.

Monday, November 24, 2025
Fed the fish about 10:00. Waterfall running ok, water hawthorn blooming. Saw the 3 gold fish. It froze last night as there is ice on the water table. Did 4 loads of laundry. Have to turn the dryer and the dishwasher on after 11:00. Made 2 jars of cranberries. They overflowed in the mircowave and I had to clean that all up. Made chicken, veggie noodle soup for Pat for lunch. Have 2 pkgs left: one frozen and one in the leftovers drawer in the fridge. Had to lie down as I had twisted my back while throwing the towels downstairs. Some time on Facebook...Pam and Mike were in Mexico for her b. day.

Tuesday, November 25, 2025
Shopping. Took 3 hours in the afternoon to make the Lasgne. Was raining today. house chores, computer chores. Cannot order bulbs from Cannor. All sold out. Was too late getting to it.

Wednesday, November 26 2025
Fed the fish at about 10:30. Was 8 degrees. Waterfall running ok. Saw the 3 goldfish. House chores, computer chores. Tammy phoned re: Kim passed away yesterday. Pat will be in touch with Bruce about stuff. Emptied about 3/4 of an inch of rain out of the gauge. Cleaned up the humming bird feeder and have it in the house. Have not seen any humming birds for at least a month. Don't know if they died of the avian flu or went south. Took the little green bin to the big bin which is 3/4 full. Ron over to help with the Bentley. Don't feel like doing computer stuff... going to read my book, maybe have a nap. Water Level as at November 23: 64.6%

Thursday, November 27 2025
Fed the fish at about 10:30. Was 8 degrees. Waterfall running ok. Saw the 3 goldfish. House chores. Computer chores. Emptied .5 of an inch of water out of the rain gauge. Gathered up all the stuff for the black bin and took it out to the bin, adding a new bag. Made up gingered parsnips and baked beets to be peeled and sliced. Have potatoes made to cook and mash for supper with sausages. Brought the towels up from dryer and folded. Discussed the P and K problem. Seems B has more info and etc. Maybe she and maybe Pat can help guide T on what to do.. whatever. Tried to do the banking form again.. we might just leave it undone, Got the Pennisula streams membership and gave them another $50. donation, having forgot about the one from Sept. O Well! 3:30 I am done for now on the computer.

Friday, November 28 2025
Fed the fish at 11:00. Did not see the fish. Water hawthorn still blooming. 10 degrees and sunny. Waterfall might need to have its filters cleaned. Did house stuff. Computer stuff. peeled and sliced the beets. Computer backup started at 12:00. Was out from 1:30 to 4:30. Cleaned up the patio area. Raked the leaves at the front off of the thyme circle and the rockery, ect. Have the little green bin full and out in the front. Added a bag full of leaves to the old compost bin and it is full. Have the leaves stacked up along the grass. Most of the leaves are down. It was 8 degrees and getting dark when I came in. Mrs. Pee was out raking leaves off her driveway, etc. Have no idea what she intends to do with them. She has dumped some of the back ones behind the rosemary.

Saturday, November 29 2025
Fed the fish about 9:30. Waterfall running ok. Was 5 degrees. House chores, computer chores, sorting photos, looking for the humming bird washing in the waterfall... cannot find it. Ironed the shirt. Went out to the garden at 1:30. It is 8 degrees now. Took about 7 or 8 bags of leaves to the back. Raked some leaves out the eaves trough above the entry. Swept that all off. Moved the west coast planter off its base. Have it levelled but it is too low. Moved the base pot into the area by the gold rockery. It too needs to be levelled. I should be able to tip it up and add some clay and a cement paver levelled under it. Got in at 4:00 and had to lie down for half an hour. There is about 3 or 4 bags of leaves left to pick up. I have raked them all towards the Pees place and have the grass showing for most of that grass path.

Sunday, November 30 2025
Fed the fish about 10:00. 5 degrees at that time. Ice on the water table. 8 degrees at 12:00. House chores, computer chores. Was out raking leaves from 1:30 to 3:30. The west coast planter and its big cement pot are both going to need some leveling. Took about 3 bags full to the back, added some more to the old compost bin, and to the green bin. Had my leg wrapped in the bandage again. I am sure it helps.

December 2025

Monday, December 1, 2025
Laundry and some rain. wasted the day trying to get Facebook crap working. Out to dinner at the hotel (Lakes pub style).

Tuesday, December 2, 2025
Emptied .25 inch out of the rain gauge. Fed fish at 9:30. 5 degrees. Was 8 degrees at 2:00. Mostly sunny day. Wasted the morning again on this FaceBook crap. Finished the laundry. House chores, Computer chores. There will be a zoom of the Virags Christmas showing of the members photos on December 9. And their news letter for December is downloaded. Lindsay is leaving the Secratary position. January will be annual general meeting.. looking for members to serve on the positions. Watered house plants.

Wednesday, December 3, 2025
Fed fish at 10:30. saw the usual, waterfall running ok. Reservoir water level at Nov. 30 is 67.1%. Seems I will need some kind of adjustment to windows 11 systems to get the Facebook notifications to work. Bother. The messenger can be seen on my phone and on Facebook. 8 degrees and lightly raining at 10:30. Lunch at R & R with Murray and Carol... good visit. Phoned Dan and Carrol - Dan's bday.. another good long visit.

Thursday, December 4, 2025
Fed the fish about 10:30. Raining 8 degrees. Did not get the peak saver last night... only reduced by 16% instead of 20%. Made Arbys for supper, only had the heat pump on and the light above the stairs on after Pat left for his meeting at about 7:00. house chores, computer chores.

Friday, December 5, 2025
Fed the fish at 10:30. Waterfall running ok. DID NOT see any fish. This is worriesome, but will not worry about it. If the fish are gone, new ones will have to be purchased when the weather warms up. 10 degrees at 11:30. Raining lightly. house chores, computer chores. Have the Facebook comments appearing on the gmail now and have made up a Facebook folder for them. Have the facebook messenger appearing on the task bar but cannot get a copy to desktop. OK fine. I can quit looking at that stuff, then. To hell with outlook. Am moving the T and K stuff to Pat's stuff. Neither Pat nor I need to be involved.

Saturday, December 6 2025
10 degrees at 12:00. No Fish to be seen. It has been windy and almost all the leaves are off the sweet gum tree. They have blown off the driveway and seem to be piled up on the front garden pathes and garden beds. Also lots of them on the deck. Pond needs to be skimmed off. Looked at perennials for sale on the cannor email thing. Lots of irises of all kinds, astilbes, an interesting little pink geranium, up to page 17. I don't think I will order from them as they ship in 2.5 pots, nothing under $9. Updated the Create2 page.. have to upload it. House chores, computer chores. made up sweet and sour sauce, put over pork bits and a can of pineapple chunks. To bake and serve over rice for supper.

Sunday, December 7, 2025
Finished the second NARGS Video.. trip to Switzerland. Lots of scenery, buildings, etc. 10 degrees at 1:00. NO FISH. Waterfall is running ok. Hawthorn in bloom. House chores, computer chores. Have to go to the VCCC dinner .. its at 2:00. I had some awful acid reflux last night, throwing up. Still have a bit of a stomach. Bought 2 books last night .. and a double purchase of a nevil Shute one... these are not expensive books, so not too stressed about that mistake. Lots of leaves down. Not very many left on the gum tree.

Monday, December 8, 2025
Laundry Facebook stuff. 13 degrees. Emptied 1 inch of rain out of gauge

Tuesday, December 9, 2025
13 degrees. Waterfall is running ok. Emptied 1 inch of rain out of gauge. House chores, computer chores. Windows update. Got my Idenity Card and my Services Card updated and have an intermin paper to use until the cards arrive in the mail. Did some shopping. 3:00 saw a heron flying very low over the house... checked the pool and it had not landed, so I guess it can see that the fish are gone on its fly-by. Card from Leanne and Burk. Watched the virags zoom of the members photos. Many interesting photos of some of the places these people went on tours.

Wednesday, December 10, 2025
4:00 and 11 degrees. Has been raining heavily all day. Made the rum balls, house chores, computer chores. Spent time on Facebook garden groups. Rain gauge has been over-flowing. Empied over 2 inches. The pond is really full too. Too late to try for photos, but will try tomorrow. Water reservoir levels at December 7, 2025: 67.9%. I am sure it will be much higher at the next reading. Saanich guys seemed to be adding more gravel or something to the trail. The trail has lots of puddles and very little traffic, of course.

Thursday, December 11, 2025
9 degrees at 10:00. The peak saver from Hydro was cancelled. There has been flooding and roads in the Fraser River area.. Hope to Merritt, etc. We are okay on the Island, I think. Took the blue box out. Swept leaves off the front entry and some off the back deck. Finished the laundry. Made the liver, onions, mashed pototoes, bacon early to get around the 5 - 9 Hydro peak saver. Also made up coleslaw and the dressing. Broke a soup dish in trying to keep the liver warm in the little oven. O well. The Bill Mattick's Restuarant is booked up for tomorrow lunch, so we plan to go out to the flying club. It will probably be packed too.

Friday, December 12, 2025
10 degrees at 10:00. Overcast. Emptied .25 inch of rain out of the gauge. House chores, computer chores. Went to Mattick's Restuarant for seafood chowder lunch then for a walk to the nursery. Found a 5 pkg of Oxalis pink shamrock for half price. Shopping at Mr. Grocer. no bulbs at Mr. Grocer. Jack's plan B for supper.

Saturday, December 13, 2025
13 degrees at noon. House chores, computer chores. Paid up the credit card. Moved the little green bin down to the big bin adding leaves from off the stairs and the patio. Took a look at the cutting garden and moved a handfull of twigs and leaves to the bin. Waterfall is running good. Not much water in the rain gauge. Trying to read Mark Carney's book. I think I'll give it up. Signed up the annunity page and Pat mailed it. Lots of flooding etc in the Fraser valley. People are being evacuated. Made the big ham and scalloped potatoes for supper. One more christmas lunch to go to tomorrow and then I should be able to get out to pick up the leaves if its not raining on Monday.

Sunday, December 14, 2025
11 degrees at 10:00. House chores, computer chores. Rain at 10:00.

Monday, December 15, 2025
15 degrees at noon. Bit of wind, bit of rain, and overcast. Emptied 1.25 inches of rain out of the rain gauge. Finished the laundry... dry the towels at night. House chores. Computer chores. Found Harry Jans in the NARGS (I think) group. Excellent photos and supburb plants on a tour he led to ? Patagonia, Chilie? must check that. Was out from 2:00 to 4:00. Skimmed the hyacinths out of the pond. It was about 11 degrees when I went out and 9 degrees at 4:30. Have bagged the leaves off the rockeries, thyme circle, etc. There is still about another bag full of leaves to be picked up. Found 2 holes in the garden.. one by the little circle with the sun dial and the other one by near the west coast planter. I think the bunny has dug them. I should find a couple of rocks to fill the holes. Rinsed out the garden clothes and put them through the wash. I have moved a cutting of the nice blue -- I have been calling it a hebe (the one near the Japanese anemone, and a cutting from the plant that is in the rhodendron family and is in bloom now and grows in the little circle with the sundial. There was a heavy mist out there but it did not soak my clothes. I have the green bin full of leaves and the gardening clothes in the wash.

Tuesday, December 16, 2025
warm out. lots of rain. yesterday we had a record breaking temperature for this day of 17 degrees. Early in the morning I emptied the dishwasher and folded and put the towels away. Put the gardening clothes in the dryer. Frittered the rest of the day away on Facebook stuff. And finished reading the Mary Trump book - too much and never enough (2020). Am going to read her other one, next. The reckoning. (2021) Robert died in August 2020 at the age of 71. Maryanne died in November 2023, she was 86. On September 26, 1981, at the age of 42, "Freddy" Trump died from a heart attack caused by his alcohol us. Linda Lea Trump (who was married to Frederick Trump, died on February 25, 2001. WHO COULD EVER LOVE YOU (2024). and All in the Family (2024) by her older brother; Fred III.

Wednesday, December 17, 2025
Big winds and rain overnight. Lots of people without power. 7 degrees at 11:00. Raining off and on. Reservoir water levels at December 14, 2025 = 67.9%. Emptied 2 inches out of the rain gauge. It was probably over flowing. House chores, computer chores. Made the rumballs.

Thursday, December 18 2025
Emptied .5 inch of rain out of gauge. Spent the morning looking for a place to buy slate, in victoria. Waste of time. 8 degrees at 2:00. Been raining off and on. Overcast, bit of wind this morning. House chores, computer chores. Made the shortbread. More rain. DO NOT USE ORIGINAL for the album generating photo size. Finally got the Predators album made. now I need to do all the notepad stuff.

Friday, December 19 2025
Rain most of the day. Emptied .5 of an inch of rain out of the gauge. There were winds last night. People out of power again. We were ok. Spent the morning on house chores, computer chores, facebook. Shopped in the afternoon until about 3:00. Put away groceries, etc. made supper -- ham left over scalloped potatoes, turnip and apple.. all very good. Only got up to about 7 degrees today. Spent the evening looking at Trump and Ukrainia stuff, with bedtime of midnight.

Saturday, December 20, 2025
7 degrees at 11:00. Overcast, raining. Reservoir level at December 14, 2025 = 75.8%. House chores, computer chores. Spent way too much time trying to make posts on Facebook! Nothing I do seems to work the way it says it should. Emptied an inch of rain out of the rain gauge at 2:00. Still raining . 6 degrees. Made a bigger blue plastic pkg of apple sauce.

Sunday, December 21, 2025
7 degrees at 11:00, overcast, some sun. Emptied .5 inch of rain out of the gauge. House chores, computer chores. Ironed the shirt.

Monday, December 22, 2025
7 degrees 1:30. Swept and cleaned up in the suite. Laundry. House chores, computer chores. Pat is defrosting the heat pump. He has washed the outside of it by spraying water on it. There is still ice on the inside so he has a little heater on it. I have the living room/dining room heat turned on with the thermostat. 3:00 Pat has all the ice taken off the heat pump and it is running again. Too much time spent on Facebook, again.

Tuesday, December 23, 2025
7 degrees at 3:00. Some rain and overcast. Spent time this morning looking at friends on Facebook. Seems Rachel and Nick were married last July. Lots of other stuff I missed. Spent time looking at google about the Epstien files release... the usual schmozzle during this trump presidency. Took out the little green bin and placed the stuff in the big green bin. Picked up leaves from around and in the heat pump and green binned them. Pat says the heat pump is defrosting itself. But we will still have the guys to come and do a check up and give it anything it might need. I might turn the waterfall off, as there are no fish in there to be oxygenated. More facebook stuff.

Wednesday, December 24, 2025
Emptied .5 inch of rain from the gauge. Water level as at December 21, 2025 = 88.1%. House chores, computer chores. Read HCP news letter. The big readers digest book that I gave them is in the 'purchased' books list. Finished the Crepes St. Joaquas, dishes and put away groceries by 4:00. Used Edam cheese, as I had no swiss cheese for on top of the crepes.

Thursday, December 25, 2025
Christmas day... Phoned Dan and Carol back after supper of smoked duck breast, yams, broccoli, pudding. Youtube stuff about Trump and Russian vs Ukraine war. None of these fantastic youtube things are actuallly happening on the news channels, except the Ukraine kicking the crap out of strategic places inside Russia and hits in Moscow. Destroyed fuel depots near Crimea, and actual fighter airplanes, and etc.

Friday, December 26, 2025
5 degrees at 2:30. raining. Made 3 pkgs of seafood chowder to freeze and some for lunch. Pat phoned Jerry and Bev. They are into a condo, she has fallen and brock her hip, and has it fixed with some hardware inside. He has a small stroke and another similar thing with new meds. House chores, computer chores. Pat did more shopping and I put stuff away.

Saturday, December 27, 2025
4 degrees at 1:30. Froze last night. Computer chores. House chores. Our 56 aniversary. Wasted far too much time on trying to get rid of the stupid Windows pop up about facebook messenger on start up. cannot get rid of it!! The heat pump has gone to "zone". Have no idea what that means. It seems to be defrosting and putting out heat. We are to have someone to come and look at it in the new year... the 2nd I think. Have found an androsace sarmentosa on the Crevice Garaden group on facebook. Would be great if I could find one to put in the rock garden. :) Wasted far too much time looking for seed list or places that sell rock garden plants.

Sunday, December 28, 2025
6 degrees at 2:00. Overcast. Computer chores, house chores. Added the bins days to the 2026 calendar. Time on Flicker goes to outlook email. Following Tod Bolland on Flicker.

Monday, December 29, 2025
Laundry etc. Sunday,

Tuesday, December 30 2025
Ice on the water table. Looking at gardening seed list pages, house chores, computer chores. Finished Index page of Predators.

Wednesday, December 31 2025
6 degrees, sunny at 11:30. House chores. Computer chores. Waterfall running ok. New year's eve.

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See the Plant List page for annual Garden purchases

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Continue on to Journal Entries for 2024

Back to Journal Entries for 2022

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Welcome to the bottom of the page

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Albums:

January - we occasionally get snow
February - more rain, and some bulbs up
March - first spring bulbs blooming
April - rock plants blooming, grass needs mowing, fruit trees blooming
May - the garden is in full swing
June - lovely warm days of medium temperatures and roses in bloom
July - we need to water a lot in the summer as we do not often get rain.
August - the Fall perennials starting to bloom and fruit is ripening
September - harvest time in the vegetable garden and time to plant the winter garden
October - glorious fall colors and sunsets, fruit ripening and rains begin again
November - sometimes a lovely month with the Fall colors and warm rains
December - more rain, the garden is mostly greens and browns, very peaceful

Front Rock Garden - The front rock garden has two little rock gardens divided by stepping stones. It contains the West Coast planter.
Back Rock Garden - the Back Rock Garden borders the strawberry patch/Cutting Garden.
Alpines - I have a few small alpines in various little rock gardens around the garden
Animals in the garden The pond attracts wildlife to my garden. The deer do not seem to bother my plants as I have numerous herbs planted all around the garden.
Birds in the garden There is a small woods and a stream in the Park across the street from our garden. So, we have a good variety of birds in the garden.
Boquets - Creating flower arrangements for the house and for show is an added benefit for creatativity as well as visual satisfaction.
Boulevard garden I have planted a little garden in the propery next to the street that is owned by the city.
Bugs - butterflies, bugs
Cutting Garden - I am attempting to grow a cutting garden, but this space needs more sun
Driveway Strip garden room - a 5 foot wide strip between the neighbours driveway and ours with a cedar hedge.
Plants on the Deck - The plants on the deck are here. The plants under the deck are part of the moss/shade garden.
Plants around the Front Entry - The Entry Way include the boxwood hedges and the grass path.
The Fig Tree garden room includes the old sidewalk and the beds on both side of it; as well as the patio area plants. - The Fig Tree garden room is bordered by the stepping stone path that leads from the old sidewalk, around the fig tree bed where it meets the old sidewalk again; as well as includes the bed along the old sidewalk up to the holly tree and the entry from the old sidewalk/woodland.
Fruit and Vegetables - grapes, figs, apples, plums, and vegtables
The Inner Garden Room. - The Inner Garden Room in the front garden is bordered by boxwood and cedar hedges, the stone path and includes the Thyme Circle, the Sundial Circle, the roses, the Front Rock Garden, the Smoke Tree garden, pernnials, bamboo, etc. The description of this garden room ties the smaller garden rooms together to give the overview of the inner garden rooms in the front garden.
The Lite Garden - I have a three tier light garden where I grow orchids, African violets, etc.
Market - photos of produce or flowers bought at the market.
Magnolia Tree Garden - The Magnolia Tree Garden is across the grass path from the Entry door. It has the magnolia tree, the trilliums, the bamboo, some perennials, the cement david and a cement vase. It is the ugliest garden as it contains the water meter.
MISCELLANEOUS I have made this page into a list of some of the miscellaneous things in the garden. There is always room for expansion here. These items may not appear on all of the menus, but only on this page.
Moss Garden The moss garden room starts from the old sidewalk with the rhodos and primulas along the stepping stones, across from the Fig Tree garden. It curves around the plants, following the stepping stone path, past the entry to the Strawberry patch, and along the stone path to the dry stream area: with shade plants; rhodos, primulas, hepaticas, epimediums, ferns and others. I include the area under the deck as the moss/shade garden.
Mushrooms and lichensThere are several kinds of mosses and lichens that have introduced themselves to my garden.
Garden Paths and Garden Art I have converted most of the lawn to gardens and paths. The grass paths are bordered by hedges. The stone paths allow access to the rest of the garden rooms. There items of garden art as accents around the garden.
Gardening Clubs shows Rock and Alpine plants, orchids, are the primary gardening shows I attend. They have judged entries, with the winners, and an area to purchase plants, seeds, and a few other items.
Survivors This album will contain photos of flowers growing in some very difficult places. They are generally called weeds but I think they have a special beauty and appeal.
Vistas and Views in the garden
WATER AND JAPANESE GARDENING - I built my pond with its 8 - 9 foot diameter. It is surrounded by the moss garden with a Japanese garden design.
Water gardening page after 2019 - The original Water Gardening page has become too long for comfortable scrolling, so I will be starting a new one.
Water gardening list page for the Larix Landscaping pond - I had Larix Landscaping rebuild the pond and surrounds after the pond sprang a leak in November and December of 2024.
Water gardening Photo album for the Larix Landscaping pond - I had Larix Landscaping rebuild the waterfall, pond and surrounds after the pond sprang a leak in November and December of 2024.
WishList Someday there may be fences, gates and special plants in my garden.
Woodland garden - I am trying to establish a few indigenous plants in this area.

Outline of the garden changes - This is the first page of a series of three giving a tour of the my garden.
A description of the garden rooms - This is the second page of a series of three giving a tour of the my garden, and showing the creation of the garden rooms as well as some of the renovations over the years.
Annual Garden changes photo albums The third page of the series will be annual photo albums of the changes in the garden for the year, beginning in 2009.
Excerpts from Garden Journal In 2012 I began to keep a Garden Journal on my Computer. There will be monthly notes from each year after 2012. When I first started my garden I had note books for daily entries, diagrams of planting beds, lists of plants used in the garden and the purchase prices. My plant lists are constantly changing so I have not been keeping them current. The Journal Notes will mention renovations.
Lists of the Plants in each Garden Room I have started to make rather comprehensive lists of the plants in the garden rooms. When a plant becomes well established I will add it to the list. If a plant should die I will make a note of it to up date the list. It may be a while until I get this finished. Posted on January 15, 2021.
This page also contains the annual PURCHASES and the annual Garden rooms; although these annual garden rooms might not be completed for some time.

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Annual Garden Journal Notes

Annual Journal Notes 2013 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2013 from my garden journal . See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2014 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2014 from my garden journal . See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2015 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2015 from my garden journal . See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2016 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2016 from my garden journal . See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2017 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2017 from my garden journal . See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2018 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2018 from my garden journal . See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2019 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2019 from my garden journal . See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2020 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2020 from my garden journal . See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2021 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2021 from my garden journal . See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2022 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2022 from my garden journal . See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2023 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2023 from my garden journal. See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2024 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2024 from my garden journal. See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Annual Journal Notes 2025 - This is the page of the annual Journal Notes excerpts beginning in 2025 from my garden journal. See the bottom of this page to go to the Journal Notes for the next year.
Outline of the garden changes - This is the first page of a series of three giving a tour of the my garden.
A description of the garden rooms - This is the second page of a series of three giving a tour of the my garden, and showing the creation of the garden rooms as well as some of the renovations over the years.
Annual Garden changes photo albums The third page of the series will be annual photo albums of the changes in the garden for the year, beginning in 2009.

Annual Garden Photo Albums

• Garden 2028 - Put in 202 stuff here....Finished.


• Garden 2027 - Put in 2027 stuff here....Finished.


• Garden 2026 - Put in 2026 stuff here....Finished.


• Garden 2025 - Put in 2025 stuff here....Finished.


• Garden 2024 - Put in 2024 stuff here....Finished.


• Garden 2023 - Put in 2023 stuff here....Finished.


• Garden 2022 - Put in 2022 stuff here....Finished.


• Garden 2021 - Put in 2021 stuff here....Finished.


• Garden 2020 - Put in 2020 stuff here....Finished.


• Garden 2019 - Put in 2019 stuff here....Finished.


• Garden 2018 - Put in 2018 stuff here....Finished.


• Garden 2017 - Put in 2017 stuff here....Finished.


• Garden 2016 - Put in 2016 stuff here. magnolia bed reno.


• Garden 2015 - drought, pond edges renovations,


• Garden 2014 - Put in 2014 stuff here milkweed, pond reno....Finished.


• Garden 2013 - Put in 2013 stuff here....Finished.


• Garden 2012 - Put in 2012 stuff here....Finished.


• Garden 2011 - Put in 2011 stuff here....Finished.


• Garden 2010 - Put in 2010 stuff here....Finished.


• Garden 2009 - Put in 2009 stuff here....Finished.


• Garden 2008 - Put in 2008 stuff here....Finished.



• Garden 2007 - Put in 2007 stuff here.



• Garden 2006 - Put in 2006 stuff here.



• Garden 2005 - Put in 2005 stuff here.



• Garden 2004 - Put in 2004 stuff here.



• Garden 2003 - Put in 2003 stuff here.



• Garden 2002 - Put in 2002 stuff here.



• Garden 2001 - Put in 2001 stuff here.




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Links:

(VHS) Victoria Horticultural Society: http://vichortsociety.org/

(HCP) Horticultural Center of the Pacific: http://www.hcp.ca

(VIRAGS) - Vancouver Island Rock & Alpine: http://www.virags.ca/

Alpine Garden Club of British Columbia http://www.agc-bc.ca/home

Victoria Orchid Society: http://www.victoriaorchidsociety.ca

Native plants: - http://russellnursery.com/natives/

Harry Jans informative site about growing alpines. His travels, and smug mug photo albums. https://www.jansalpines.com/

David Badke collection of mosses, lichens, mushrooms https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidbadke/albums/72157673563005916
This is a fine reference source of information on the lichens, mosses, and mushrooms found in my location.

MOSSES CO2 and NITROGEN FIXING

Fawn Lilies(erythronium)

Swan Lake Sanctuary https://www.swanlake.bc.ca/">

Phlox http://www.butterflywebsite.com/articles/phlox-for-butterflies.cfm

CRD natural gardening https://www.crd.bc.ca/education/natural-gardening

Saanich Native Plants - https://satinflower.ca/

Growing Primroses https://www.barnhaven.com/primroses/

LARIX LANDSCAPING https://www.larixlandscape.com//

Plant photos by common name: - http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/browse_imgs/plant_com_1.html