A spring post, and warning to turkeys in the area

Dearest friends,

I have been trying to post a little something for days now and my mind won't be still long enough...

...there are so many spring doings tugging at my heart and pulling me outside. Oh, there are flowers everywhere and butterflies...

...there's a garden to be planted and grass to mow. The tiny hummingbirds are back at my kitchen window looking for the sweet sugar water they have come to depend on every summer...

...so, be warned. The camera has been in my pocket...

I simply love this wild tree which was growing near the dirt path when we bought this little piece of property back in 1989. It has bloomed faithfully every year since.

and another one except this tree has a wild Carolina Jasmine vine growing through the branches. Isn't it pretty!

and another beauty is this wild azalea.

and little Weetie always by my side.

I've got to go feed the animals right now, but will be right back. 

The animals are full and happy. You may want to leave now...the camera was still in my pocket...

and looking up from under the snowball bush again this spring...

see, the grass does need mowing.

and the pink dogwood again...

and again!

and the peonies have buds, and are guarded by Weetie. Talk about the grass!

Well, enough is enough. In other news, it's turkey season and Poppy leaves out early every morning in full camouflage  so the turkeys can't see him...

Hope you all know that I'm pulling for the turkeys.

Eli says, no turkey yet??

but are you sure??

Better get busy. Thank you for looking in and putting up with all the pictures, if you've managed to stay this long. :)

Love,
Henny

and now, it really does both look and feel like spring...

and even the weeds are pretty. I suppose that's why we are overrun with them. After a long hard winter, if it's green, it stays. There are a few flowers amongst all these weeds...

the cool dark green of spring reminds me of childhood days when Shelby, Jackie, and I would beg mama to let us take our shoes off and go barefoot for the first time. We would beg until she would say, "oh, go ahead, and if you get pneumonia, don't come crying to me". Mama used to say too, about the dark green grass in early spring, "that looks to me like a good place to hide Easter eggs".

the pink dogwood will soon be in full bloom 

Do you plan to dye a basket full of Easter eggs? I do. It's fun, even if there are no small children here, I will enjoy them.

and a funny thing about these tulips...tulips haven't bloomed here in years!

and now we need more tulips!

Sure hope you all haven't deleted me and this silly blog just yet. I promised, after my last post to visit and catch up but...

it started last Friday...that raw feeling in my throat, almost like having swallowed coffee that was too hot. Come Saturday morning I had it all...fever, chills, sore throat, aches and pains. The flu test at urgent care was negative. A virus, the doctor said and prescribed a syrupy liquid that she said would help me feel better.  

Here it is almost Friday again and I am not completely over this mess which now feels like the worst cold I've had in years.

looking up through the trees that are covered in teeny tiny leaf buds...but oh that pollen. It is unbelievably bad this year! 

Thank you friends, for visiting.

Love,
Henny

A sunny day last week

Little Weetie Pie standing guard...

All together there were seven bundles of tree limbs and small saplings, Poppy and I cleared from the pond's edge...

Is that a fist or a wave??

So, all this can be added to the natural fence. Poppy recently made the comment, "you must want a fence awfully bad".  Well, I do. 

Do you see Poppy way over there. He was chopping away with a machete.

Anyhow, back at the house, calling for Eli to bring his teddy bear and come in...

come on sweetie, it's lunch time

slow poke!

no, not you, Eli!

Mama said "come on"

hurry, hurry, hurry

GOOD BOY!!

Sorry about the muddy pond water. Hopefully it will clear up soon. Have I mentioned how happy I am that it is SPRING?? Finally, warmer weather! 

But you know what? Yesterday was cold and rainy and windy, all day long. The temperature never got above 39 degrees! and by this morning there was frost on everything, including the peonies, the tulips, the iris...all about to bloom. Makes me sick, but that's nature...and that's North Carolina. 

Oh, thank you for the comments on my last post. Sorry I didn't get back to reply, but to answer one question...

Pilar, how neat that your mother is a Virgo and your sister an Aries, March 27th. Only difference, Lynn is my oldest daughter. She was born in 1963. Andee, my youngest is a Virgo, Sept. 8th and she was born in 1965. 

Love,
Henny

I will be around to visit and once again, catch up!

A Birthday Meeting

That is  my Daughter Lynn on the left and daughter Andee on the right...

and that's me taking their picture on Wednesday the 27th, Lynn's birthday.

Andee called me earlier in the week and said, mom, let's get Lynn to meet us, maybe in Raleigh, and we will do something for her birthday.

Well, how about meeting in Wake Forest at Cici's Pizza, I asked, thinking of myself and my chance to eat all the pizza I want. 

Had I known early on that I was marrying a man who didn't like pizza, well that might have changed things. (don't tell Poppy I said that) :)

So we did meet in Wake Forest and darn it, I meant to get a picture of the three of us and all those plates of pizza. 

and of all things, there was a Dollar Tree store just around the corner. 

What is it with these girls and trying on Dollar Tree sun glasses, and didn't we do this same thing the last time we met in Wake Forest? I think so. 

Anyhow, it was fun and it has been ages since I've laughed so much.

  
The day passed way too fast. I didn't want to leave them and come home, but I did. 

Guess I had better get a move on. It's warm and sunny and beautiful outside today, and before I can get out there in is, I've got to go to Walmart.  :(

Thank you for stopping by. 

Love,
Henny

A little post with a big "thank you"

Thank goodness for daffodils that bloom while we are waiting for spring weather...

and thank goodness for blogging friends! 

Thank you so much for the comments on my chicken post. That was a pleasant surprise. So glad I didn't lose you all over that bunch of chickens.  Even came through it all with two new followers, Alison and Faith. Thank you!

The late afternoon sun shines through the little sewing room window...

it was just so bright and warm, I could not resist taking a picture...

and most days there is a kitty cat napping there. I do see signs of one having been there. 

and speaking of the sun...

it made the delicate blooms on this Ash tree look like ice. 

Guess I had better end this. It's about bedtime. We have to get up at 4:00 tomorrow morning. Poppy works at Food Lion. 

Love,
Henny

Keeping Chickens

Dear friends,

Thank you for your comments on my last post. You're just the best friends ever.  My intent was to reply to each comment, and then keep up, for goodness sake!...but I have failed again. I've been off in la la land and wondering if this new perm has affected my brain. I simply have not been able to post anything.  

However, Deb asked if I would talk a little about raising chickens...the pros and cons. Thank you Deb.

I'm simply terrible at doing something like this and won't be much help, but will tell you... 

We've had chickens around here for a long time. In fact, a little chicken house was the first thing Poppy and I built out here on our teeny tiny farm. I was so excited the day Poppy came home from work with three hens. These are Red Sex Links, he said. Good layers.

We've had many different breeds here since those days, and our favorites have been the Giant Brahmas, Speckled Sussex, Dominique and Plymouth Rock, the Buff Orpington, and these Araucana...

It's fun gathering the blue green eggs along with the regular eggs.  Araucana hens are sweet natured hens. 

Oh, and country fresh eggs are so much better than store bought eggs. That's a real plus!

This spring I hope to get few of the larger breed chicks to raise. Our flock has changed in the last few years and here's why.

You know how "Henny Penny Lane" seems to attract unwanted animals...well one day back in 2007 that little dark red game hen (in the above picture) showed up in our driveway, starving. We fed her, named her Jewel, and she stayed. Not only did she stay, she hatched dozens and dozens of baby chicks through the years, each chick carrying that "game" blood line. 

Little Jewel is no longer with us. She wandered too far one day, with her chicks, and a fox caught her. We have loved and cared for all these hens but want no more of that "game" blood line. Those game hens lay smaller eggs, like to fight, are ill natured, and good at flying over fences.

and here's a couple of pros... 

the joy and sweetness of baby chicks in the spring.

but there are times I've wished we didn't have chickens at all...

You see, I get attached to every animal that sets foot on this property, so there are sad times too. I've buried many a chicken here, and also cared for many sick or wounded chickens that, had I been a real old time farmer, would have put them down. But not me. For several years I cared for a one-legged rooster and that got to be "work".  

Keeping a chicken waterer clean can be a job. Algae makes the waterer look dirty. Seems like I am always cleaning them.  A little natural cider vinegar added to the water helps keep the algae away, and is also good for the hens. 

Keeping anything clean, in or around a chicken coop, is a job.  Chickens are messy! 

Then there's all that feed to buy and deal with. I keep buckets of feed in the pantry which keeps it dry, and also makes it easy to get together every morning. To me, this is fun. :)

Shiver...then there's rat snakes which had rather have eggs than rats. I vividly remember the day this picture was taken. I had walked in the chicken house to gather the eggs and met this fellow, then turned to leave, looked up and saw this one...

Two snakes! in the chicken house at the same time!

Our little chicken house has a dirt floor, (not a good thing), so I keep a thick layer of wheat straw or cheap hay covering the floor in the winter, then clean it out in summer months. Dust, cobwebs, and dirty roosts inside the house are pretty disgusting too.

But to me, the pros outweigh the cons. Makes me laugh to hear the chickens squawking and running toward the gate when they see me. Have you ever seen a chicken run? It's a funny sight. Have you ever heard a hen sing? Hope we always have chickens here on Henny Penny lane.

Oh, and just think of all the string you can save off those feed bags. :) 

I know, crazy, isn't it. But, I have saved every string off every bag of feed since day one. This is not a new picture. The ball of string is bigger now. I'll be back with a new picture.

Gosh, am I really going to publish this? Might as well. Deb, hope you aren't sorry you asked. 

Thank you friends!

Love,
Henny