It's me again

What a happy surprise to see the sun come out yesterday afternoon! Thank goodness Hurricane Florence is moving on! 

I'm sorry for posting about the storm, then deleting the post. The storm has been devastating for NC. My post sounded silly and foolish.

Even this morning on the news we are hearing there is still no way in or out of Wilmington due to flooding. Isn't that a scary thought for those in Wilmington? We saw too, a crew from New York who are here to help, putting a rescue boat on Interstate 40, going to Wilmington. Hard to picture a boat traveling down I-40. 

Hope to get back to normal today...I want clean up the yard a little; it is littered with sticks, tree limbs, and leaves which, believe me, is nothing to complain about! I've got to put up deer fencing too, around the row of Rose of Sharon plants. We noticed the deer have eaten them down to nubs again! :(  

So, I should get busy and start by getting all the animals around here fed. Speaking of animals...

here's a few who've had it made through all the rain and wind.

Poppy bought two big fluffy camouflage (of course) comforters for the dogs to sleep on this winter.

somebody got a new toy...

where did it go!

and last but certainly not least, our Smokey who got all kinds of treats from Poppy yesterday for surprising us with a dead mouse just outside the front door.

Thank you for your friendship. 

Love,

Henny

The storm

Today friends, you can call me "Chicken Little" instead of Henny Penny. There is an awful storm coming our way. Those of you who have read my blog for any length of time, know that I am terribly afraid of storms. 

This Hurricane Florence has kept on the same path, growing and gaining in strength, and seems bound and determined to hit the North Carolina coast.

Poppy and I are absolutely surrounded by tall trees...too many trees, as a matter of fact. If we can just get through this Hurricane Florence without a tree falling on either of us, or the house, or an animal, we will be so thankful. 

and these trees seem to lean in every direction. If the ground is saturated and we get 60 plus, mph winds, well, it's going to be scary for sure.

Today on the noon news and weather, Governor Cooper called this storm "a monster", and like nothing we've ever seen.

Poppy had to work today, so tomorrow we will do what we can to keep things outside from blowing away. I did put together another wooden bench inside the cozy part of the goat barn. Goats, at least these two, can't stand the rain...

and since the front of the barn is wide open, they now have more protection.

I'll cover two sides of the bunny lot with tarps, to protect them from the wind and rain.

And the guineas! Please keep your fingers crossed that I will be able to coax them into their old lot behind the little chicken house. It's a cozy spot where they will be safe. I can't stand the thought of them roosting high up in that old cedar in the rain and wind. All eight of them might get blown away. Sometimes they will listen and follow me...but sometimes not.   

I hope and pray everyone in the path of this storm will stay safe. If possible, I will try to post updates of what's happening right here during the storm. 


Thank you...

Love,
Henny

Simply a green post

Thank you friends for helping me with the ugly little flower garden, or as Pablo put it, "flowerless garden". You left lots of helpful suggestions and ideas.

So, by next spring all those rabbit and goat droppings and old hay should be well rotted, and then if I add lots of good rich soil on top, well, the bed should be ready to grow most anything. Plus, the suggestions of finding the right perennials for this area. Thank you! 

and that mystery vine growing in the garden...

look how the little melon has grown since my post three days ago. My first thought was a citron melon, but it has been two years since the last citron melons were grown here. So maybe a watermelon?? 

here's another fuzzy little melon. If these are watermelons, I'm afraid it's too late in the season for them to grow big and ripen.

All this green! But look what I found hiding in the garden this morning. Another big bell pepper.  We planted only one pepper plant this year and have had plenty for us and some to give away. If only perennials would grow here like the peppers do.

and speaking of "green", do any of you have those long skinny cute green snakes in your part of the country? (picture borrowed off the internet)...

Had I been smart and not waited too long, I would have my own picture.  

Anyhow, here's the green snake story. But wait, let me go waaaay back to the beginning...to when Poppy bought the new camouflage four-wheeler, which required a new camouflage shotgun to carry on the four-wheeler, and all of that led to needing a little building, a "he shed", as Poppy calls it, to house the four-wheeler.

Then, how could he haul a nice new four-wheeler and shotgun on a scuffed up, paint peeling, rusty tongued old trailer with two bad tires, and one damaged hubcap...so with lots of elbow grease and the use of steel brushes, sand paper, can after can of the best black spray paint, new tires, and big shiny hubcaps, that old trailer looks brand new!

Anyhow, pardon the leaves that have fallen, but see the white spots on the newly painted fender? Yep, a bird decided to roost on a tree limb right over Poppy's hard work. "At the edge of dark tonight", said Poppy, "I'll take the spotlight out and see what kind of bird that is and scare him away". Well, he never saw a bird, but spotted a green snake on another limb nearby, at night! 

Next morning the green snake was still there and again that night. "Why would that snake stay there in one spot in a rough old cedar tree, of all places", I asked Poppy. "Must be, he is sick or dead maybe", I said.  

Well, the following morning...

there was nothing left but an empty snake skin. Who knew, little green snakes shed their skin, and especially this time of the year!

As soon as Poppy unlocks the "man cave", I'll get a picture of all the camo to show you. 

and more green...

Pilar asked, how are the Rose of Sharon doing...well one little bush actually has a bloom. These trees would be twice this size if the deer would stop eating them. We bought deer repellent spray and that is helping some. Thank you for asking.

Oh, let me throw in a little orange with all this green. 

You've probably shut your computer down, maybe for good, after all this, but here's the "man cave"...

Thank you for putting up with me.

Love,
Henny

The ugliest flower garden

Heat index 100, and Eli basking in the hot sun. It was his decision. We didn't stay there long. 

Remember back in early spring, my post about digging up a new flower bed...and that I mentioned showing you a picture later??? Well, it never amounted to anything worth showing. 

It was a neat little spot up by the teeny tiny greenhouse. I sectioned it off with some old landscape timbers, loosened the soil, then added lots of stuff from the goat lot and bunny cages. It should have been wonderful, but look...

Behind the lattice wall is the teeny tiny playhouse, and growing on the lattice is all that came up from two packets of morning glory seeds. I've always wanted to grow morning glories. Always!

close-up of the one bloom

See the one pitiful bloom with the yellowed leaves? That's cock's comb. The only one in the whole bed, struggling to live. Why, that weed is the only healthy plant there! One of our egg customers brought a medicine bottle filled with tiny cock's comb seeds which were sowed over the entire bed.

Also along the side of the greenhouse I planted a row of gladiolas which came up only to flop over dead, never blooming. 

Such a mystery. You know, I put pictures on this blog of beautiful flowers...the azaleas, the snowball bush, the peonies; but I simply cannot grow perennials. So, what do you think, all you who have those beautiful flower beds? Any help will be appreciated.

Moving to the other side of the greenhouse and into the garden, and on a happier note...

is this lovely vine growing and spreading all over the garden...

I spotted this tiny plant in July growing near the compost bin. It was wilted and dry and had only three leaves, so scooped it up and planted it in the garden. It has lots of yellow blooms that keep disappearing, and no fruit...until this...

still have no idea what it is.  The vine looks kinda like a watermelon??

dirty boots and pretty pink zinnias.

Guess that's my gardening post for today. Sure looks like I need some lessons in growing flowers. That ugly flower bed does get the hot evening sun. Maybe a couple big bags of good potting soil would help, and adding mulch until planting time next spring. 

Thank you, if you're still here.

Early morning play!

Love,
Henny 

Oh, and about that big spider living on our back screen door.

It is an Argiope aurantia, yellow garden spider, sometimes called the writing spider. The weaving in it's web sometimes looks like a letter of the alphabet.  :)

Here on Henny Penny Lane

 Saturday while I cleaned up the teeny tiny garden a bit, Poppy mowed...

and mowed...

and mowed...

There's okra on them thar spindly looking plants.

We had three beautiful sunny cool days last week; Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I mean cool like waking up to 57 degrees. Unbelievable in August in North Carolina. But, the heat has come back, and with a vengeance! 96 hot humid degrees today!!!

Anyhow, back to the garden. It was time to pull up the buggy bean vines, the squash, and the cucumber vines, and dig a spot for stir-fry broccoli and a few collard plants.

and that's exactly what we did; set out twelve broccoli and six collard plants.  If they do any good it will shock me. I've never been able to grow any kind of fall crop. This should give my sister and brother-in-law a hardy laugh. Seems like it was 254 collard plants they set out last fall. :( But that's okay.  I did say this is a teeny tiny garden.

and thank you!  I feel so much better about this plant...

For those of you who said this probably is not autumn joy sedum, thank you! Now I can enjoy the plant without feeling like it is struggling to live and stand tall. Poor thing. It has been threatened several times and dragged from place to place.

Oh, and did I tell you about the friendly spider who followed me home? 

This is his web on the back screen door. On one of those cool days last week I "finally" got the weeds pulled from the Iris bed at the bottom of the back steps.

This was the weedy mess in spring of 2017!

Anyhow, busy busy pulling weeds, I reached down and almost grabbed the spider and it's web which was spread between two or three Iris leaves. Carefully, I finished the weeding, leaving the web and the spider untouched. Well, the next morning, the spider and it's web had moved up the back steps, all seven of them, and up the screen door. I'm wondering if he tried to get inside but found the door locked.  Last summer we had two of these big spiders in the garden.

Thank you friends! Hope to be back soon.

Love,
Henny

Swinging again

Looks like we're in business again. The swing is up and running, or up and swinging...

a strong nylon rope this time...

Yes, a brand new swing and it's a high swinger too!

except I'm a little nervous and feel like I can't hold on tight enough. A fall will do that to you, you know! and give you big ugly bruises too.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have no fear again, like when you were about eight years old? Of course, there were no worries back then of breaking a hip.

I remember the swings at Aberdeen Lake back in the 1950's. Mama would pack a picnic basket and we would spend the day.

Those swings were perfect. Oh, you could swing so high it would take your breath away. 

hey, that's us at the lake; Mama, my brother Jackie, and me. My sister Shelby was there too, some where?

it was quite a job getting the other half of that old rope down and even harder getting the new rope up and over that high limb. Poppy did good. 

and while we're outside let me show you a pot of flowers

Perennials grow kinda weird here, I suppose because of all the shade...

This is Sedum, Autumn Joy, and is supposed to be a tall variety with straight stems and large pinkish red flowers. 

It has been moved from place to place over the years and never would grow tall and straight. I put it in a pot and this is how it grew.

and the hummingbirds! we had to buy another feeder and hang it in Dumperoo's favorite window... 

and Dumperoo couldn't be happier, well, unless we opened the window.

Appreciate your visiting. Hope to be back soon.

Love,
Henny

A week's worth

How can it be! a week since my last post! Guess the days are going faster and I'm going slower.

We've had rain rain rain lately. Oh the sun comes out, but just long enough to make things really hot and humid, or trigger a thunderstorm. I can hardly wait for that first cool fall day when you can pull a sweater out from the back of the closet.

Aren't kitty cats funny?

 this is Smokey aka Mokey, Mokey Mae, and Moke Moke . He answers to them all.

and this is where he sits, just outside the front steps, looking real pitiful, like he can't jump over the rocks and monkey grass...

and all the while, I am calling to him. But then let me cross over to help him and he jumps.

Just before dark when I close the chickens up for the night and start back to the house, Smokey meets me and runs, weaving in and out of my steps all the way back to the house.  I've told him again and again that he is going to make me fall. Then I pick him up and we go inside together. He is such a sweetie.

 silly kitty

 Oh friends, the knobs and pulls arrived and we couldn't wait...

It is a good change from the white knobs, so I am content with the old honey oak stained cabinets for a while longer.

and the little red corner. Vic, if you're seeing this, I am still loving the red canisters!

and speaking of red...

We've been without an umbrella all summer. Poppy called me from work one day last week and asked, "do you still want an umbrella for the yard, Food Lion has reduced their's to $26.00...they have red, dark green, and white". How about the red one, I asked. 

Okay, I've hobbled back inside to finish this post. Remember my swing? Oh, I posted about it several times way back in 2013.

It was still pretty new here...

this was early last spring and the jute rope was beginning to show wear. Jute will rot over time.

Poppy swinging last summer.

Anyhow, after walking Eli, I sat down in the swing and said to Poppy, "you really don't think the rope will break if I swing". I do love a swing. No, it will not break, he said. So, I sat down in the swing, walked myself backwards, lifted my feet, and swung forward, feeling the cooling wind hit my face...but on the way back down, the rope on the left side broke, dumping me on the ground. Oh, it must have been a funny sight.

See the row of bricks there at Poppy's feet? That's where I landed. There will be bruises for sure, but I'm okay, nothing broken. :) Poppy has already been on line ordering thirty feet of nylon rope. 

Good grief, what a post! Seems like about one post a week is all I can manage, so there is much to talk about. Thank you for listening. Hope to be back real soon.

Love,
Henny

Thank you Sandra, for following my blog. I appreciate that so much!