Dusting off the porches

Mowing the back yard was my plan today but seeing as how I need to stay close to the phone, I decided to spiff up the porches a bit...give things a fall look. By the way, I'm ready for fall. Are you?

The old cupboard needed polishing first. Living on a dirt road, especially in this dry weather, keeps everything dusty. I can't talk about the old cupboard without thanking cousin Pat again and again for giving me this very special gift. Thank you Pat.

Wish there was a big bunch of Goldenrods to put on the table. After my phone call comes through, (from the dentist) if it does, I'll walk up the path and pick some.

 I moved this tablecloth to the front porch table,

and put this orange on the back porch table. Actually, I am plundering around, pulling out things to decorate with and don't really have what I need.

This comforter doesn't go with the orange flowered tablecloth. I need to shop for some fall things like pumpkins, gourds, baskets, tablecloths, pillows...and if I don't do it soon it will be time to put out red and green for Christmas! That's me...never prepared. Every year I make do with what I have and plan to do better the following year.

My, how things change over the years...

This was our little front porch back in the early 1990's. The dog is our beloved sweet Nikki.  We still miss Nikki.

and this was a view of the back of our cabin in 1996 shortly after the pond was built. 

Matching or not, that little cot with the red comforter just happens to be the best place around to catch a quick nap. Goodness, some of these colors have got to go!

Better get busy. Hope you all are having a good weekend. As for me, I'm looking forward to next weekend...and being done with this upcoming dentist appointment and hopefully done with the pain too.

Love,
Henny 

Dentist, Dumperoo, and an Apricot

Dear Friends,

Forgive me please for going away and staying for so long without even a goodbye or I'll be back. 

Having had an unusual tooth ache lately, more like hurting in between my teeth, I went to the dentist. Looking at the first X-ray the technician asked, have you been having headaches? The dentist, passing by, looks in at the X-ray and says hmmm, lets get an X-ray of the front teeth. The dentist comes back in, stands and stares at the X-rays and asked, did you have some surgery done back many years ago...I did, back in the 70's. All this dark showing up on the X-rays, says the dentist, is infection. I am prescribing an antibiotic and sending you to a specialist. Scary stuff.  All this infection is in my head, my sinuses! No wonder I have been waking up with hurting behind my eyes and no wonder I haven't been able to think straight lately, of course not thinking straight has been going on for quite some time :-)! Actually friends, I have been worried sick.

Okay, a picture needed here and since there is not one available of my teeth, how about...

Poppy and Dumperoo discussing what to watch on TV.

Thank you for listening to my dental woes and worries. Yesterday was my first visit to the dentist who's title includes, "Microsurgery & Root canal Therapy Specialist". I really like this dentist. He patted my arm and said that he is 99.999 percent sure that I won't die from this infection and that he can take care of this problem. My next appointment is Wednesday.

Okay, on to something else. Another first...I ate an apricot this week, and even more surprising, an apricot picked from my own little tree. Here's the story.

Some time back before mama died, she went with Shelby and Jimmy to a nursery to buy fruit trees to plant on their farm. While at the nursery, mama bought two trees, both Banana Apple trees. One each for Shelby and me.  Mama used to remember and talk about the Banana Apple tree on the farm where she grew up and how delicious the apples were.  

When Mama and Shelby decided to bring me my little apple tree, Shelby realized that Jimmy had planted both banana apple trees on their property...so Shelby brought me instead, an Apricot tree.

I planted the little Apricot sprout without going to a lot of trouble...I couldn't grow apricots. The struggling little tree decided to bloom this spring and low and behold ten little apricots appeared. This morning I ate an apricot. It was sweet and good...not even a blemish. There are five more ripening in the kitchen window and four more on the little tree.

All of a sudden I've got several things to post and talk about but for now I have gone on way too long. Why, you're probably not even still here.  Now to catch up reading the posts from all my favorite bloggers. 

Love,
Henny

One room cleaned, three to go

Good thing I don't mind living day in and day out in a house that looks and feels like a hunting lodge.

Could this be part my 'not sleeping' good at night? Always under the watchful eye of a big buck. Actually, the bigger bucks are on the living room wall. 

Spick and span! Almost anyway. I'm sure there is a spot or two missed here and there. I've spent half the day scrubbing and cleaning this room. Cleaning house is a job, but add in rough log walls and animal fur to collect dirt and dust and it's an even bigger job! 

Sometimes I would love to make everything more feminine with ruffles and lace and flowers. Thank goodness for my little sewing room and the teeny tiny dining area, where I can see a lace tablecloth.

While the curtains were in the washing machine, I washed the windows and screens. Wonder why windows look hazy and blue in pictures and not clear and clean.

I am bound and determined to get every room in this teeny tiny house cleaned. Oh, things look tidy most of the time, but it's the dirt, dust, lint balls, and cobwebs hiding behind all this stuff that is driving me crazy!

The question is...will things stay clean until I can get to the rest of the house? Weetie was right back in the rocking chair on that clean pillow. Well, that's her spot.

Poppy had a meeting in Raleigh today and won't be home before 7:30. Guess I need to start thinking about something quick and easy for supper. :(

Hope to be back soon.

Love,
Henny

Surprising late season blooms

I am terrible, simply terrible about leaving plants in pots too long...like this white rose. This is one determined rose...putting forth two more big pretty blooms here late in the season.

Some of you may remember the picture from this past spring. 

This rose deserves a special place in the yard. Right now the ground is dry and too hard to dig but it won't always be this way. When the rainy days come again and the weather cools off a bit, this sweet rose is getting out of it's root bound pot.

And speaking of too long in a pot, I really need your help with this one.

For two or three years out working in the yard I would see this sprout growing out the side of a clay bank. Finally one day, feeling sorry for the struggling little plant, I pulled it up and put it in a small pot and kept it watered...it began to grow and soon needed a bigger pot, then an even bigger pot. So here we are. This pretty dogwood tree is healthy and happy and will have red berries this winter. But it's roots have grown through the pot and into the ground. It won't budge.

I've heard that dogwood trees die easily if their roots are damaged. What in the world am I going to do?  Most of you out there have a green thumb and a beautiful yard. I would appreciate any suggestions? After saving the struggling little tree, I sure hate to now kill it.

Joe Pye weed grows wild here, but a few years back I had ordered some through the mail. Never could find the right spot to plant them. Joe Pye weed likes moist soil. Tired of worrying about them, I carefully dumped all the sprouts I had started into the wet weather creek that runs across the back yard, and forgot about them. Yesterday, I was surprised at all the fuzzy pink blooms and happy butterflies...

Turned out to be a good dumping place.

The Rose of Sharon is thriving and all the tiny babies I dug from the hard dry ground...

For somebody who has run out of anything to post, I've really taken up your time and over done it here! :)

Thank you for your nice encouraging comments. Hope to be back soon. 

Love,
Henny

Down around the pond

After supper, we go out to walk Eli, gather the eggs, feed corn to the ducks, and pick up BunBun....That's my feed bucket sitting way back there.

Hey! How did you all get past all this water?

Bickett is a house cat. Bickett has always been a house cat. Lately he has been venturing outside with us and he loves it.  Simply loves it! That's him standing on the pier meowing.

Wait, I'm coming!

Tuesday afternoon the sky got dark and the wind began to blow. I thought for sure there was a bad storm coming. But then the storm missed us and we got only a shower of rain, which was fine with me.

And, while we are down by the pond...

The duckies swimming away and...time to pick up BunBun for his ride back to the hutch inside the goat lot...for a safe night's sleep. We will go back to play again tomorrow.

Friends, I have been totally out of anything to post. There is just so much in a teeny tiny house or a teeny tiny garden on a teeny tiny farm that one can talk about. So, thank you if you are still here.

Love,
Henny

Another sleepless night

I've really outdone myself this time!! Yep, I was drinking coffee and reading at 3:30 this morning. 

Actually, I woke up at 2:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. Then at 3:30 Eli was standing by the bed looking at me with those big old eyes, I thought, what the heck, just get up and get the day started. 

Poppy and Eli on the bed in the sewing room. The thunderstorm last Thursday that brought us the much needed rain, also brought some serious lightening. Lightening hit something in the back yard and knocked out our Direct TV service. So any TV watching has to be in the little sewing room. The Direct TV people can't get here until tomorrow to fix the mess. Almost five days we have had to wait!  

Dumperoo says since Poppy and Eli took over the sewing room, he'll just get Poppy's chair. If you've notice the unmatched pattern in the fabric on this chair, it is because I upholstered the chair myself, without one iota of knowledge on how it's done. I found the fabric in a thrift store for five dollars. I really want to haul the whole mess to a thrift store, which I plan to do soon! 

Not much news here. I did work in the teeny tiny garden this morning. The new row of green beans is looking good, the pepper plants too and even the pitiful looking eggplants are coming out. Might harvest an eggplant yet.  Thank you for stopping in. Hope to be back soon.

Love,
Henny  

Out with the animals after a nice rain

After sweeping the little goat barn clean this morning, Eli settled in to watch me finish feeding the chickens and carry BunBun to play in the old dog lot.

BunBun scares me jumping from his hutch into the small cage I use for carrying him to the lot down by the pond. When we first started this daily routine, it was a job getting him in the cage...now he wants to jump as soon as the hutch door is opened.  BunBun loves his play pen. He needs a bunny friend but I'm afraid to even mention it around here. Should I get a male or a female? If I get a female bunny...we will have baby bunnies...lots of baby bunnies. That sounds fun to me but, well, any suggestions?

These two can't stand a drop of rain and really make a mess in the little barn when it does rain.

And, speaking of rain...we had rain!!! Close to an inch and a half and we needed it! Some of the trees around looked like they were beginning to die.

This fellow makes himself at home where ever we happen to be. "Look at me, Eli"!

Poppy gets off work early today and will be home for lunch...so, have a good weekend. Thank you for coming by. Any ideas about a playmate for BunBun will be appreciated.

Love,
Henny

Little Wrens and the devil's tramping ground

I reached in the greenhouse for the hoe this morning and look what I found...

A little Wren's nest in a small watering can. 

Little Wrens build their nests in the most unusual places.  Many years ago I remember Aunt Berlie reaching for her clothespin bag that hung from a nail on the back porch. As she reached up, several tiny little mouths opened up from inside a nest in the clothespin bag. Baby Wrens! She let me peep inside the bag but then we left them alone. Aunt Berlie hung the wash on the line that day without using her clothespins.

This spot has become a gathering place for the guineas, ducks, chickens, birds, squirrels, and rabbits. I do rake away the pine straw and put out a little bird seeds, corn, and scratch.

I've just realized how much this spot looks like The Devil's Tramping ground. There really is such a place, you know. It's in the woods near Harper's Crossroads near Bennett, North Carolina. Supposedly the devil walks there at night, planning his evil and nothing will grow in the circle. It's said that people who spend the night there are never sane again. There are all sorts of tales about the devil's tramping ground. Lots of people go there...but not me. I know mama and daddy have been. Growing up, we always called it "the devil's stomping ground". Google it...it's scary!

This spot wasn't planned, it just sorta turned out this way. Late afternoon all the critters show up here. I'll have to remember my camera later today when we walk Eli and get a picture to show you.

Even Weetie eats a kernel or two of corn from here...no wonder she is getting pudgy.

Friends, yesterday's post has been worrying me. I should not be calling people idiots. Really, you can read my blog and see that I'm probably the biggest idiot. Thank you for not deleting me just yet. :)

I do appreciate you, my blogging friends, so very much.

Love,
Henny

I borrowed this picture from the May/June 2015 issue of Grit Magazine. Wish I had seen it when I posted about the rat snakes in the chicken house. Is it not perfect! "Repeat after me. I'm a rat snake, I'm a rat snake, I am a rat snake".

Poppy always says, show me a rat snake that will eat only rats and I will leave him alone.

What I forgot to tell you and my onion crop!

Actually I had something worth telling you in my post on Monday, but forgot.

Seeing as how I am definitely not a writer, the need for me to post more pictures and less words is necessary for a halfway decent post. And seeing as how what I wanted to tell you on Monday was about a dog, that gave me the opportunity to post my latest pictures of Eli and Weetie then lead into my dog story...except at that point  I forgot to add the dog story. :)

So here is old sleepy head again, showing off his pink skin and a disheveled living room.

Had to run to Walmart for a few things on Monday (that sentence speaks volumes, doesn't it?). It was near noon and blistering hot in the parking lot when I left to come back home and on my way to the car I walked past a red SUV with a black Lab shut up inside. The two front windows were down enough for the dog to get his nose and eyes out for a breath of air...while his master, the idiot, was shopping inside the air conditioned store.

I hurried and put my things in the car and started looking for my cell phone to call 911. My phone was at home. The police station is practically around the corner, so I stopped and ran inside. They immediately sent an officer to check on the dog. I went home feeling a little easier. 

A car parked in the sun gets unbearably hot. I can't stand to sit in one for even five minutes! Animals get just as hot as we do, or hotter!

Thank you for listening. Nothing gets me as riled up and mad as an idiot with a dog or any other kind of animal or pet.

Okay, I'm fixing to show you my onion crop. :)

This is it! It's okay to laugh. Actually, we've eaten several. I'm right proud of these few onions...after all, it is a teeny tiny garden.

I'll hush now and get busy. Eli is at the groomer's. I made the mistake of telling him early that we were going Bye Bye and he has constantly walked at my heels, and gone back and forth to the front door where his leash hangs. Using his nose, he swings his leash so it hits the refrigerator...telling me it's time to go. He could hardly wait so I dropped him off before eight o'oclock. When I left there he was playing with a crowd of little tiny dogs in the big fenced-in grassy area. Wish I had carried my camera!   

Love,
Henny

A sleepy bunch

Am the only one around here who can't sleep.

A good night's sleep to me is six hours in bed, waking up only once to worry about everything, then being able to go back to sleep. I dread those nights that we go to bed at 10:00, I wake up at 12:30 and lay there worrying and planning until 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning, knowing the clock will be alarming at 4:30 or 5:30. Yawn...

Bee hasn't slept here in months! Bee had a good roll in the dust yesterday. The dirt path has turned into a dust bowl and the animals are loving it. A big cloud of dust caught my eye yesterday...looking closer I saw that it was a guinea getting a dust bath.

Oops! Didn't mean to disturb you. Go back to sleep.

Poppy and Smokey after a hard day's work.

Smokey sleeping in Weetie's spot.

It's hard to catch Dumperoo. He sleeps on a suitcase stored under the bed in the sewing room. Occasionally I pull the suitcase out to vacuum off the cat hair. Good thing there is no danger of Poppy and me ever traveling anywhere again. Of course if we did, I could tell people it is a mohair suitcase.

Thank you for the nice comments. I ran out of time and didn't get to reply to each one.

We can't swim here but yes there are lots of fish in the pond. It was stocked back in 1996. There have been some really big channel catfish and Bream caught, and some good size Bass. Poppy's dream is to catch a ten pound Bass from the pond one day.. There are a few really big Carp in the pond too.

It's Monday! Better get busy again. 

Love,
Henny