Bantams moving in...

Dear friends,

I totally lost all track of time yesterday. It was a little before 10:00 a.m. when I went out to finish putting wire on the new lot.  At 4:30 Poppy pulled into the driveway and I was still at it!!!  It must be the Virgo in me, but I cannot leave anything undone once I've started it!!! I drive myself crazy!!!

Here's a picture.  We had to build using the back and side of the chicken house, and fence posts, as the base. Nothing is square.  We made it work though...

This is a side view.  I don't really like using this dog house..plastic..yuk!!  There was no way to get the heavy wooden house in here. I need to figure some way to build a small wooden house. I dare not mention that right now!!!
Maybe use materials from tearing down the other lot???!!

Going to town this morning.  When I get home I will bring the bantams to their new, spacious home..Can't wait. Now I can get more bantams!

See you soon!
Love,  Henny Penny

 Happy Birthday to my special Lynn.  Lets see, how old are you today!!! :0

Those Darn Cats!!!!

Dear Friends,

I ran in to town yesterday to pick up a roll of poultry netting.  When I got home the cats were in their usual places, Dumper on the bed asleep and Bickett looking out the front door. But, this is what I found when I walked into the sewing room!!!

And who do you blame??? Both cats looked so innocent!!! 

Cousin Pat, are you seeing this???  :)

Love,
Henny Penny

Help with the New Lot

Dear Friends,

Guess who came out, with level in hand, to check out the new lot???  That's right.  Dear, sweet Poppy!!

I did get a brief lecture about being sure this is where I want the lot!!! "Mel, you need to put some thought into these things...look at the time and work we put into building that other lot...now it's got to be torn down!!"  I said, "I know, and I promise not to do this again if you'll just help me get going here with these heavy boards!!!"  We got this much done!!

Not fancy, but it will work!

The next step is putting up new chicken wire.  Then Poppy said he would help me with the tin roof.

This dead tree was standing in our way.  We finally got it to fall...The chickens had a feast while we worked!!

Spring is right around the corner.  This Spirea (button bush), (a sprout from my sister's yard), is almost in full bloom!!  The temperature is supposed to drop into the low 20's tonight though, with another full week of cold weather predicted!!!

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

A Spider in my Cap

A few days ago I posted about the days when Poppy and I first bought our 5 acres of land.  Lynn read the post and said,  "you need to tell about the spider in your hat".

It was one of those weekends Poppy and I were camping.  We unloaded the truck, set up the tent, and got a fire going.  We cleaned up dead trees, cut down a few trees, and cut them into firewood.   I pulled away brush and limbs to throw onto the fire.  We worked and laughed and had fun.

Late afternoon we cooked supper over an open fire, and sat by the fire to eat.  This particular Saturday I had worn a ball cap all day.  Before crawling into the tent that night to sleep, I hung my cap on a tree limb.  The next morning I twisted my hair up and put the cap on again.  Again, we spent the day on the land, but it was Sunday so we had to pack up and go home early.  Ready for a hot relaxing bath I took off my cap and folks, there in my cap was a  Black Widow Spider!!  A black widow!!  I had worn this thing on my head all day!  She had made her home there, web and all, right there in the top of my cap!!  I cringe to think what would have happened, had I disturbed her!  And when did she go into my cap, while it was on my head??  While it was hanging on the tree??  Black Widows like dark, damp places.  I suppose my dark hair, my head sweating, covered with a nice dome roof!!!   It took a while to get over feeling like there was a spider in my hair!!!

Love,  Henny Penny

Another Sunny Day??

Poppy was off work Monday, the sun was shinning, and we were outside most of the day!!!  I keep a running list of things to do and actually got to check off something on that list.  I'm bad to get  distracted and spend a day working on things not even on my list!!  

We set out blackberry plants along the garden fence.  These were sprouts that came up from our one Apache Blackberry.

See the mulch on the right...there is something living inside that pile!!  There's a large, smooth, round hole in top front with an exit hole in back.  It looks like a groundhog hole, but would a groundhog live in mulch??

Need to get busy.  The weatherman says sunny but colder today with possibly a brief, passing shower...yeah right..watch it cloud up and rain all day!  Just kidding!  I appreciate the rain.

Love, Henny Penny

My Black Hen

Last October, Lynn (from amothersjournal.com) posted a story about a baby chick.  This poor chick survived a cold, rainy night alone after an animal killed it's mother. 

 This could be the real Henny Penny who thought the sky was falling that dreadful night!

Let me show you her now...

Recognize "Annie fatso Beagle"?  We had company this weekend.  She heard the rooster crowing!

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

A little Sunshine

Yesterday was sunny, Imagine that!! I didn't know what to do first outside, so I found myself in the driveway, standing and staring!  I am, after all, a member of the "standing and staring" club, right Lynn??  Does outside count too, Lynn?

I did get a few things done.  I  covered the hay rack in dog wire, so the goats will (hopefully) stop wasting the hay by pulling it all out at once.  I also cleaned the little goat barn.  Then I put fresh hay on the chicken house floor and in their nests.  Our chicken house has a dirt floor so I keep it covered with several inches of hay and add new hay as needed through the winter to keep it clean and warm.  In spring, after planting the garden, I rake all that used hay from the chicken house and put it between the rows.  That means no weeds and lots of earthworms!!

The garden is 24'x48'.  This was last spring and most of the plants were still small.  

This is how the tomatoes grew.  I planted them too close .  I learn every year!! 

I am so looking forward to gardening this year.  Guess what!  It has rained all day today and supposed to rain again tomorrow!  I'm not complaining.  I am very thankful for so many things.

Love,  Henny Penny
 

New Fabric

The "chicken print" fabrics I ordered came in the mail yesterday.  These pieces are so cute!  I'm excited about making "Henny Penny" bonnets!

I finished this red one last night.

While I'm in the sewing room, let me show you this antique pin cushion a friend gave me.  The drawer under the seat holds bobbins.

"Dumper roo" likes to get right in the middle of my sewing and then gets his feelings hurt when I put him out of the sewing room. I get my pattern pinned to the fabric and start to cut and he lands in the middle of everything!!

By the way, his real name is "Dumpster".  He was just a kitten when Poppy found him wandering around at the trash dump.  Like all the other animals we've taken in around here, he is a sweetie pie!!

Love,  Henny Penny