Lots of skipping around here...

Just as I was beginning to catch up with the fun blogging stuff, I go and start building a chicken pen. 

I know, my back! But moving slowly and carefully, using the little gardening bench, and crawling around on my hands and knees to cut the wire, well, here it is. 

Not perfect or pretty, but it will keep out snakes, rats, skunks, and hopefully, any other predator sneaking around looking for an easy meal. 

The rabbit wire fence is four feet high, buried about three inches all around, and has wire on the top. I've just "had it" with predators!! 

Not much in the yard to brag about. This spot maybe looks okay. This heat and humidity is awful. The camera lens fog up the minute I walk outside. Maybe we're keeping the house too cold.

Eli heard a booger early this morning!

Did you ever play the game, "ain't no boogers out tonight"? 

Oh gosh, I especially remember once when Shelby, Jackie, and I were young and at our cousin's house. All of us kids were out after dark playing "ain't no boogers out tonight". Such screaming and hollering and running. It was Sunday evening and we knew that at any minute mama would yell that it was time to go. She would call us two or three times and we kept right on playing, but when daddy yelled that it was time to go, we got in the car. The game wasn't any fun until after dark, and once it got dark we knew we would be going home soon, so we had to play hard and fast!

Better stop right here! I have another darn appointment with the back doctor. I probably won't mention anything about building a chicken pen in the last two days in 97 degree heat. :(

The kitty cat picture for today is this...

Smokey looking "ve-ww-wy, ve-ww-wy scary early yesterday morning.

Love,
Henny

wondering, building, hoping

Thought I would eat my bowl of shredded wheat here at the computer this morning and at least check in. Why, I've been away three days!

Sometimes I wonder, is there really "that much" work to be done?  But where do my days go? Sometimes being a Virgo kicks in and that weird thinking; if you can't do it all, and do it perfect, then don't do anything! 

At the edge of dark...

A couple of evenings ago, we had another of those strange pink and blue sunsets. The entire sky...all around was pink and blue

Going inside for the camera, I said to Poppy, you need to walk outside, the sky is a beautiful pink and blue...yeah, I can tell from here he said. There was a little opening in the curtain.

It's good to share things these things. :)

Now yesterday was busy. Love Mondays!! I built a door...

 far from perfect, but it opens and closes and serves the purpose.

Rosie thinks it is a fine job and will feel mighty safe closed in there at night.

Rosie pretty much runs things in the teeny tiny goat lot now...

Looks like they are fussing over those green pine needles I gave Asa.

This, not so great, picture was taken from the kitchen window. Just happened to look out and Rosie was climbing on Eli's back.

Better get busy. I need to go buy another bale of hay...and I need a new hoe! The last time I picked up the hoe, the first chop broke the handle off. That old hoe was worn down to a nub anyhow.

Also need to pick up some dormant oil spray for fruit trees. I am determined to grow fruit on these few little fruit trees of ours!! I have been reading and writing down everything that fruit trees need, beginning in the month of February. So for this month, it is pruning and spraying with dormant oil. 

Who knows? I might be selling fruit along the side of the road one of these days. 

Love,
Henny

A Poppy Post

Our teeny tiny farm

Sometimes I read back over a post and realize that my wording has made Poppy sound like a lazy bum. He is not that at all. You see, Poppy still works a full-time job.

Poppy loves hunting so he takes two of his hard earned vacation weeks and does just that. One week in November he deer hunts.

and a week in April he turkey hunts. 

Thanks to Poppy the little red hen and her friends have their own house complete with a fenced-in yard.

The goats enjoy their own teeny tiny barn, all fenced in and what a sweet little gate I open and close throughout the day.

and it was Poppy who measured off  24 x 48' and built my teeny tiny garden with a gate. There is something magical about opening and walking through a garden gate. My very own garden gate...just like my Aunt Berlie's.

I suppose it is because of Aunt Berlie that gates are so special to me.

The gate to the chicken lot.

This gate to the goat lot.

It was on a Saturday morning that Poppy said, let's ride to Raleigh and buy you that greenhouse. Then he worked for two weekends putting it up.

He built the pier in 1996 right before Hurricane Fran hit and overnight filled our newly dug pond with rain water.

and the little red tool shed we ordered from Sears in 1989. Poppy put it together, building a floor inside and adding shingles to the roof and after all these years it still looks good.

then the little foot bridges in the back yard Poppy built so we would not have to jump across the wet weather creek that runs through the property.

Oh, and you may remember my bright idea of adding a Bantam lot onto the back of the chicken house. This project I intended to do this all by myself.

how tickled I was to see Poppy coming to my rescue with his nail apron tied on and bringing a level and his saw and hammer.

Poppy has worn out three chain saws over the years.  There is no telling how many trees he has cut down and cut into firewood. 

It was Poppy who put a cover over our front deck turning it into my favorite little country front porch. Then a couple of years ago he added a tin roof.

However...through all this, all these many years, I have been by his side every step of the way, through every building project...picking up nails and screws, running back and forth to the shop for tools and drop cords. Bringing glasses of tea and lemonade, and a few band-aids along the way. I've made sandwiches and jars of ice water, and packed lunches so we could stay outside. 


The difference in the two of us now is that Poppy wants to maintain...I want to keep building and adding and changing, making the place prettier and prettier. Whew! Wasn't that a load to get off my chest! I'm wondering if any of you are still reading. : )  Thank you!

Love,
Henny 

Update...Fencing in the back 40!

This little sweetie pie follows me around in the yard now, climbing trees and jumping out from behind things to scare me. He attacks large Guinea feathers and brings them up on front porch. 

Why in the world can't I get as much done these days! I'm busy all the time! 

I did finish one big job that has been on my list for for a while. Cleaning out the hen house. There were dusty cobwebs the size of a jump rope hanging on the rough walls and ceiling. I used my old "Webster" duster with the extendable handle to reach in and clean out. Remember the "Webster"? I raked everything off the dirt floor and added fresh wood shavings. Hope the hens appreciate all this when they fly up on the roost tonight.

Here it is Wednesday morning. Started this post late yesterday.

So, I mentioned hoping the hens would appreciate my work...well I went out at the edge of dark to close up the chicken lot for the night and there stood all the hens with their necks stretched out, trying to figure out what was different inside their house. They were afraid to go in. One by one the hens had  to be shooed inside. :)

Also, the plan for fencing has been downsized considerably! Funny how if you keep looking and dreaming, something will work out. Check out this spot. Facing our house, this is the left side of our property. Down near the pond, walk in here, turn left...

and see the chicken house and lot up ahead...

walking closer...

and closer, then join on to the chicken lot. Would this not be the perfect size for two donkeys, and very doable. 

With the much smaller lot, I can use the metal T-posts and wire fencing. Plundering through our stash of stuff we keep, in case we should ever need it, were eleven T-posts.  I can buy a few at the time and put them in the ground. Then the fencing.

Poppy came home from hunting Monday evening just before dark...I heard him park the four-wheeler under the shelter, which is on the left in the above picture, second from bottom...with the ladder hanging near the top. The new fence will run along the back and be attached to the shelter. Anyhow, peeping out the window, I saw him with his hands on his hips looking at the T-posts that have been driven into the ground. He didn't question why the posts were there. Then yesterday, Poppy caught me standing with my hands on my hips dreaming about the new fence so I explained it all. He approves! Could be he is just thankful that I've given up on fencing in the whole back 40! 

I sure appreciated all the helpful comments that were left on my post about fencing in the back. Some of you suggested that a smaller area would work fine for donkeys. 

Bun Bun has grown into a big furry unusual looking rabbit. He's munching on apple peelings...

Bun Bun is a sweetie pie too.

Thank you for visiting. Hope to be back soon!

Love,
Henny

Building Bun Bun a Home

Poppy's shop...

Dear Friends,

What I need to do here is a post on how "NOT" to build a rabbit hutch! Seriously! Why didn't I take "shop" instead of "home economics" in high school? Probably because you did not have that choice back then!

Funny how you don't know what you really enjoy doing in life until it is too late. Most of my time as a teenager was spent laying on my back on mama's cedar chest, daydreaming about being a movie star or an opera singer. A movie star...me...too bashful to buy a ticket at a movie theater let alone act in a movie.  And an opera singer...yeah right! I can't carry a tune well enough to help sing the hymns in church.

So back to the rabbit hutch. How much wood does it take to build rabbit hutch anyhow? I've used eight 2x4's, and sawed the brackets off one good saw horse which gave me 5 more shorter 2x4's which are now part of the hutch. In town yesterday, I bought 12' of wire mesh but still need a couple of short 2'x4' pieces added so the wire will fit flush. The more I build the more wood I need and the hutch is not getting any bigger. There is one more 2x4 that Poppy said I could use. All it needs is the "no trespassing" sign sawed off the end.

As Hank Hill says, "I tell you wot", taking apart an old pallet is near bout impossible. The nails will not pull out! That's what hurt my back in the first place! I need the wood in that pallet to build a door! 

Andee was telling me just yesterday that some community colleges will let seniors sit in on classes for free...like "shop"! Would this knowledge be too late for me with this Osteoporosis in my back? My back! I hammered and pulled out nails, and sawed 2x4's while bending over for too many hours yesterday. Disgusted, with one foot I raked all the bent and crooked nails into a pile on the floor of Poppy's shop and dragged myself into the coolness of the house. Perhaps I need to label that one jar of used nails, "L" shaped nails...

Poppy preached to me all morning about all these things I am trying to do.  Is hurting your back really worth building a rabbit cage, he said. Just keep it up and one day you won't be able to do anything.  So, I suppose I will try to cool it a little and just finish painting the trim on the back porch today. All that's left to do there is the trim on each end and the boards up near the top, which require climbing to the top of the ladder...something I put off doing when I painted last Tuesday. I can't wait to show you before and after pictures, which means I need to end this break and get busy.  

When Bun Bun's new home is finished, I will proudly show you that too! :)  Thank you so much for stopping by. We simply need more hours in the day!!! And a good back brace! :)

Love,
Henny Penny

A New Place for the Bantams

Dear friends,

Looks like there will be a new lot for the Bantams!!!  I've had a bee in my bonnet about this long enough!  I think I've found the perfect spot.   

 Here, behind the chicken house.  Turn right at the at the far end of the house and it looks like this:

This is looking out of the (soon to be) Bantam lot into the chicken lot.  I've started on the door frame.  The new lot will be L-shaped, behind the chicken house, and I will be able to walk inside!  I'm so excited!!!

I have been saving string from chicken feed bags ever since we bought our first bag of feed.  Yesterday I opened a bag of laying mash and added another string to my collection.  I've GOT to show you this....

I kinda like my ball of string.  Like mama said one time, "you never know when you might need a piece of string"

Love,  Henny Penny

Playing House (or Farm)

Poppy and I bought 5 acres of land in the country in the mid 1980's, but couldn't afford to build a home until we got the land paid for.  We had one payment left when we found a bank willing to finance a small log home for us.  We moved into this little house in November of 1989.   We both worked full time jobs in the city, which meant 8 hours working and 3 hours driving, (or sitting in traffic), 5 days a week.  We spent weekends cutting and clearing trees and Honeysuckle vines to make a yard and garden spot.  I dreamed all week about what I wanted to build or work on when the weekend finally got here.  I love being home now, but Poppy still works full time. 

I guess my point in telling you this is, if you want something bad enough, don't give up.  It takes a lot of patience and hard work.  We know what it is to struggle and to have to wait for things.   Poppy and I used to camp out in a tent set up in the woods where we wanted our house built.  I'm probably the only person that ever landscaped their yard using firewood.  (Not split wood, but the big limbs that were cut into pieces.  The curved pieces worked really good!!!).   That's how I outlined flower beds, paths, etc.!!

Living in a log home in the country has been a dream come true.  We have been through some tough times though, and some sad times.  I dream of owning a REAL farm but look, I catch flies and let them out of the house because I can't kill ANYTHING!!  Could I be a farmer???  I best keep playing here on my pretend farm!!

I'm headed outside.  The sun is shinning today!!!  Got lots to do, and I have a sick chicken to care for. 

Love,

Henny Penny