Explaining why!

Dear friends,

I'm feeling very sad this morning. Got to thinking about and missing the bunnies, especially...

 "Chief, Son of Bun". Never told you this Bonnie, but turns out "Chief" is a girl, so I called my little Indian girl "Poco", short for Pocahontas. The name "Chief, Son of Bun" always made me smile. All my bunnies were dearly loved but this one had really attached herself to my heart. 

Anyhow, you all probably wonder why I let my beloved bunnies go. Well, several reasons; there was lots of lifting and cleaning, and not only was I feeding bunnies, but mice too. Oh I recently lifted the top on one of the bunny huts and found a stash of feed and enough fur to make another bunny.  Also had the worry of my bad back, osteoporosis, and arthritis. 

and something else! It was discouraging to constantly hear, "those d... rabbits. We can't go anywhere because you have all these animals". 

and most of all, the heartbreak and sadness of animals getting sick or being injured or killed or wounded by a predator. Oh, the number of sick or hurt animals I have cared for over the years! Chickens, ducks, guineas, kittens (thrown out), birds, wild rabbits, squirrels, and even a baby opossum, once upon a time. After Weetie's horrible accident, well, sometimes I feel like my heart can't handle much more.  Even now I am caring for a sick hen, and our old duck was near death when Poppy pulled her from the pond a couple weeks ago, waterlogged and half paralyzed. 

We wondered if she was bitten by a snake. Guess we'll never know. After a few days care, we filled a big No.2 tub with water and put her in to make sure she could use her legs. She is back on the pond, back to normal, splashing and swimming like crazy??

One thing for sure; Mr. Murphy has the means to care for the bunnies. He loves animals, and he asked us for the bunnies. We didn't ask him to take them. I just wish I had kept Poco. But is she happier there with her family?

Okay, bet all of you signed off long ago...but if you're still here, thank you for listening. Blogging friends are extra special, aren't they?

Love,

Henny

Big Picture Post!

Through the tangle of trees and vines, I saw the early morning sun shining on the east facing side of the house...coming home from our walk with Eli and Weetie.

Dear friends,

Thank you for the nice comments on my last post. Sorry for not getting back to reply to each one. One of these days! 

Oh, the sun has been shining warm and bright, and temperatures reaching 70 degrees yesterday and today...

My camera was in my pocket, for a change, so I took pictures of our walk...

and guess who tagged along with us...

going 10 miles per hour...

Can't you go any faster, asked Weetie!

Nope, and if you rush me, I won't go at all.

Need to come on. Poppy and Eli are leaving us! So we walk to the end of this road then turn around and... 

coming back to the house, we turn and go down a little path here at the end of the goat lot and that leads to the pond...

after weeks and weeks of dreary rainy weather and dark days...the sun makes it all look beautiful.

and since we pass the bunny lot on the way to the pond...

these are the three bunny condos I built using cinder blocks and tin. The bunnies seem to love them. I filled each one with lots of soft hay. 

Seeing as how this is a big picture post...here's another kinda neat one...

from the living room I noticed a Cardinal looking in the window. The flag was blowing behind him.

Maybe this second picture is better. Couldn't decide. I love it! Our State bird, the American flag!

It's bed time...I hear feet coming this way...Eli's and Poppy's. Better go. 

Love,

Henny

Shoot, I had the most adorable pictures of our little Great Grandson Kendall. Will post later.

What now!

Oh dear! I've just deleted my last post and can't find a way to restore it. Don't know how I manage do these things!! 😕

Smokey keeps watch over the cut-over from the top of the car. I tried to tip-toe past....

but he heard me....

by the way, let me tell you about that cut-over...

Instead of the hundred acres of trees that once grew there we now have a hundred acres of weeds...

Tall fuzzy weeds! Strange weeds! Weeds higher than my head!

and for at least a month now we have watched what looks like snow blowing through the yard. It is unbelievable! Look at this little cedar tree...

simply covered in white fuzz! Looks cold and icy, doesn't it?  I have searched for the name of this weed and can't find it.  Willie, would you have any idea? Here's a close-up...

These fuzzy things are everywhere! There's a layer floating on the pond, and it's stuck in all the spiderwebs, it's in Eli's hair, and in my hair. Have even had it in my eyes.

Okay, you know what I hate most about the new blogger? The size of the print changes, all by itself! Drives me crazy! 

I spent three days last week cleaning the goat barn, the chicken house, and the bunny lot.

So the two white bunnies now have nice clean pens with wire on the bottom...no more digging. I added dirt, then soft clean hay...

Monday morning I discovered the bunny on the right had dug a huge tunnel and was in the  pen with the bunny on the left. That would have been fine except these two rabbits fight. 

Strange, they don't like each other. Before they came here, they were kept in a very small cage with hardly room to turn around. Now, with their own space, they hardly speak to each other. :) 

Oh, I've been meaning to show you...

this is a full view of the bunny pen. They have plenty of protection from the rain. This was back in 2016 when Bun Bun was my only bunny. The pen is now sectioned off into four lots and that huge dog house is out of there. I love my bunny rabbits!

Okay, I've got to show you this spider...

This guy had a web that went from a low growing bush, all the way up into a tall tree...

kinda makes me shiver...

and see the fuzzy seed pod in his web?

might as well show you this too...speaking of making me shiver...

My first time ever, seeing one of these. It's an Eastern hog-nose, or spreading adder snake. It was short and fat with such a weird shaped head. Thankfully, this was not in our yard. We were with friends at their home about ten miles from here. 

Guess I've driven you all away with this, so I will end here. Hope you will come back...love to have you visit any time! :)

Love,

Henny

 

A thing or two...or maybe twelve or thirteen?

Ah, have you wondered about the baby Dove I rescued? Well, he has really grown. In fact, my plan was to release him this morning. 

you see, yesterday he refused to eat anything but bird seed. (Looks like enough seed to feed a flock). Twice, I mixed the usual wheat germ, cornmeal, and baby cereal with warm water and carried it to him. He has been eating from a large syringe, covered on one end with a finger cut from a rubber glove...

but he wanted nothing to do with me or the food. His home has been the screened-in back porch, where he has learned to fly from one end to the other. I brought in a dead tree limb...

that reaches from the cage he sleeps in to the porch railing. Anyhow, when I walked out on the porch this morning, he greeted me by lighting on top of my head. Glad I had his cereal mixed and warm...he ate like he was starving. So I'm thinking maybe he should stay with us another day or two. (the porch is needing a good scrubbing)!

I've surely neglected the teeny tiny garden lately. It's the heat and humidity! Gosh! It's so hot! This was yesterday's picking...

mostly Okra in the bottom. When it cools off a little I'm going in with a machete. :)

and there's rabbit news too...

Four hours I worked, cleaning two of the bunny condos. Oh, these digging rabbits! I pulled out everything and covered the ground with rabbit wire, then hauled dirt in from across the road. 

Got these two pet carriers from a lady on Craigslist. She was asking $25.00 for each, but said "yes" to $40.00 for both. So Poppy went with me to Wake Forest to pick them up.

Two more sections of the lot to clean and put down rabbit wire. Remember the two snow white rabbits...

Well, this is Lily, and you can barely see Ivy on the right. Can you believe how big they are now! When I finish their lots I will post an 'after' picture. 

and...

my two oldest bunbuns...Bun Bun and Fiona. These two never dig but I plan to re-do their lot too. Rabbit wire on the ground keeps little mice from visiting during the night.

You know, working on the "mushroom post" I thought, "now who would want to look at a bunch of mushrooms"? But goodness! Thank you for not only looking, but for leaving the nice comments. 

So thinking I'm done with the mushrooms, Poppy hollers , "Mel, where's your camera"? There's a mushroom down near the stepping stones the size of pie pan". So, here we go again, but I promise, just a few....

this is the one Poppy was yelling about. It was huge!

mention stepping stones and you see who is first out the door...

anyhow, you've got to see this really gross mushroom growing down by the bunny lot...

I mean, this thing looks like something that came up from the ocean floor.

and how about this nice suede one...

would make a nice table in our living room.

and Poppy thinks this one is cute...

and a scattering of teeny tiny baby orange ones...

and speaking of orange, this one toppled over but isn't it pretty...

okay, enough mushrooms!

Don't know if I should publish this or not :(  Well, here goes. Hope to be back soon.

Love,
Henny

Poppy goes to the dump, and A SPECIAL NOTE

Been a while since I've posted pictures of big sweet Eli...

Sometimes we wonder what life was like before Eli arrived. He certainly fills up every inch of space in our teeny tiny house, and in our hearts too, but not to worry...

so does little Weetie. Weetie just doesn't take up as much space...

Anyhow, it is so blame hot these days, I try to get things done in the teeny tiny garden as early as possible...

This is such a meager amount of produce, but I thought it looked kinda pretty in the basket.

Actually, all of sudden the kitchen counter is covered in tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash,

and the bean vines are hanging full of  yard long beans. I'll be the first to admit, "cooking is not my cup of tea" but...

I've been cutting these long green beans into short pieces and stir frying them in olive oil, red pepper flakes,

garlic, and a little onion, and it makes a really good dish!

Funny how it seems to take that first tomato forever to ripen on the vine, then all of a sudden you're bringing in more than you can use.

and look, the zinnias have started blooming...

Zinnias and Sunflowers! Don't you just love them? They add so much to a teeny tiny garden.

I ran out to get a picture of Poppy before he pulled out of the driveway, carrying our old microwave oven to it's final resting place...

We brought this microwave oven with us when we moved into the cabin in 1989. It's been a good one.

Well, I will end this with a wabbit or two...

"Chief, Son of Bun" enjoying an afternoon treat, and "Pinky Lee", next door, too. The two white rescue rabbits seem very happy, and are both getting fat. 

We had to squeeze two more condos into the 10' x 10'  rabbit lot, but that's okay. We have happy rabbits. :)

Oh, and a special note to Crystal.

I was looking at my "comments awaiting moderation" and there was a very nice comment from Crystal, dated June 15th that was never published. Crystal found my blog two years ago from Granny Marigold's blog, and that was her first comment to me. Please forgive me Crystal. Hope you will visit my blog again. Thank you very much for the information on harvesting and using horseradish. I don't understand why some comments are't published??

Love,
Henny