Wishing for spring

I was looking at  pictures from last spring when the flowers were beginning to bloom and the trees beginning to leaf out.  These look warm and sunny on this cold and rainy day!!

 I had no idea water iris were so invasive when I planted "one" near the pond!

Love the ferns, too.

"Knockout" Roses are the only roses I have any luck with.

Had to add a chicken or two...

Love,  Henny Penny

Shopping, chickens, and old memories

My youngest daughter and I spent yesterday shopping.  Actually, we did more looking, talking, and laughing than we did shopping, but it was a lot of fun. She lives three hours away; has a husband, a daughter in ninth grade, and a job, so we don't get many days together like that. 

It was getting late in the day so we picked up something for supper, and some ice cream, and started home.  We were not far from home when "Poppy" called, asking, "where are you"??  It was getting dark outside and he couldn't get the rooster to go in the lot.  He said, "the chickens all scatter when I go out.  You'd think I was going out to kill them"!!  Funny how the chickens know who takes care of them!  Anyway, we got home, grabbed a load of stuff out of the car and carried it inside, and I went back out and called the rooster.  He had been pacing back and forth so when I opened the gate he hurried right in cackling and carrying on like he was late flying up on the roost!   Oh, that just brought back a memory of my daddy.

Years ago when I was a little girl, daddy used to say at bedtime,  "I'm fixing to fly up on the roost"!  Sometimes he would say "I'm fixing to hit the hay"!  He always made me laugh.  Oh my, "enjoy and appreciate your parents while you have them. " I miss my mom and my dad every day, and the older I get, the more I remember things that they did and things that they said to me.  How I would love to go back and have a day with them again!

This picture is of mama, daddy, and me at Natural Bridge, Virginia in the mid 1940's!  I remember being so afraid that daddy would let me fall over that wall..

I didn't mean to go from shopping, to chickens, to old memories...Thank you, if you stayed long enough to read this.

Henny Penny

BONNETS FOR SALE

I sell these old fashioned sun bonnets for $15.00 each:

I am working on more "chicken print" bonnets and aprons.

 

Thank you for looking. 

I am not doing such a great job at "blogging" yet.  In fact, what I write bores even me!! So, again, thanks for looking. Maybe I'll get better!!

 

Henny Penny

POPPY

Meet "Poppy", who runs things around here!!!

 Looks like this chicken was going with him, one way or another!

Poppy snapped these funny pictures:

Now I know why the seeds in this pot never sprouted....

or why the little Wren didn't build her nest here.

This is a Blue Bird box, but was this unusual looking nest built by a Blue Bird?  Does anyone know?

Poppy and I both love animals, all wildlife, and being outside. 

Thank you for visiting my blog.

The Ducks

These are our Muscovy ducks.  The pair in the background are over 10 years old.  The duck in front is a young female.

Muscovy ducks are not aggressive.  In fact, ours waddle right up to us wagging their tails like a dog.  Old Roy dog food is a favorite food of theirs.  The ducks will eat it out of our hands.

This duck has a chicken for a mama!  That's right...it happened at Shelby's farm!  A mother hen sat on two eggs and hatched a chick and a duckling!  The two grew up together and became inseparable.  The duck seemed happy being there with the chickens. Seems the chickens did not like this odd pair and bullied them.  That's when Shelby, being the tender hearted person that she is, moved the duck and the chick to a separate pen.  Here is where the story gets sad.  A hawk went in through a small opening in the top of the pen and killed the young chicken, leaving the duck in shock. Thankfully, Shelby and Jimmy found them in time to save the duck!

The duck now lives with Poppy and me.  It took some time for her to figure out that she is more like our ducks than our chickens.  We kept her in a pen for a few weeks then Poppy took her out on the pier and sat her on the pond.  That is when she really learned to be a duck!

She still wanders up occasionally and watches the chickens like she is looking for her companion, which makes me sad.  That bird house she is standing on overlooks the chicken lot.

I suppose all is well that ends well.  Still feel sorry for the little chicken though!

Love,
Henny Penny

BONNETS, APRONS, AND DOLLS

Hope you don't mind seeing a few clothespin dolls.  The larger dolls below are made from a maple limb cut into longer pieces. 

Thank you for stopping by...

Clothespin Dolls

Larger Dolls

Sewing Room

 

A NOTE AND THEN A FEW CHICKENS

I am so excited about my blog...I have to keep checking in to make sure it's still there, where I left it!  Seriously, if it wasn't for my sweet, sweet daughter Lynn, I would not be here having this fun.  It's good to have something new to think about all night as I toss and turn!!  Knowing that I wanted to post about the chickens this morning, (after all, this is Henny Penny Lane), I must have counted my hens at least a dozen times in my head during the night!

We have about 21 large chickens, different breeds, and 2 are roosters. We wanted only 1 rooster; a farm is not a farm without a rooster crowing at the crack of dawn.  Things can change in a hurry though.  Our only rooster Clyde, (he has only one leg), was living with the hens in the chicken lot.  Back in October someone quietly pulled into our driveway after dark and dropped a big orange rooster into our goat lot and sped away!  At first my husband was angry but this big rooster was so beautiful and such a nice boy, we kept him.  I started calling him "Big Boy" and he actually comes to me when I call.  I am careful not to let him near Clyde. Clyde would not stand a chance if a fight broke out over the hens! I make sure Big Boy can't get out of the goat lot when I let the others out to free range.  There's always a couple of hens that fly over to visit Big Boy so he's happy! 

This is my sweet Annie

Oops! Sorry for the dirty hen house, lots of rain lately!

MEET THE GOATS

Both are female. We don't have enough room to be raising babies, even though that's what I would love! Their names are Shae (grey) and Asa (black). They both answer to "baby goat", since I've called them that for 2 years!

The goat barn is small but serves the purpose. I love it after just adding fresh hay and the sun shines in. There is just something about the smell and feel of clean hay in the warm sunshine. No wonder "Little Boy Blue" was found under the haystack fast asleep!

HEREIN I BEGIN MY BLOG

I have wanted a blog for a long time but never believed that I would actually have one. For sure, I am not a writer. However, living on a hobby farm in a log cabin and caring for chickens, ducks, guineas, bantams, dogs, cats, and a couple of funny goats, I am bound to have a few good pictures and stories.