Scary Halloween and digging in the dark rich soil...

Gosh, I wanted a scary Halloween story to tell this Halloween morning but can't think of one. Better be careful what I wish for...Huh?

Living in the woods as we do can be pretty scary in the middle of the night anyways. Last Halloween I posted the story of Poppy and my scariest Halloween ever!!

There was one other dark Halloween night that Poppy tried to scare me death. It was always dark by the time I made the long drive home from work and really dark out here in the country...no lights anywhere except for the car's headlights. 

Back then I drove a small pick-up truck. I was almost home from work that dark Halloween night and as I slowed down at the row of mailboxes to turn off the paved road onto the dirt path leading to our cabin, a man jumped from behind some trees and into the back of my truck. I drove on and pulled into our driveway. What else could I do? As the truck stopped, the man jumped out, ran up and looked into the driver's side window at me...it was Poppy! It's a wonder that I didn't have a heart attack back then! He had walked up to the highway and waited for me to get home.

On Halloween, Mama would call and say, Dan, please don't try to scare her tonight. Mama did not like Halloween and was afraid of folks in awful looking masks. Poppy used to enjoy scaring Mama too.

Okay, enough about Halloween, except, hope you have a happy one!

Not a very pretty picture, but look! I did get the fig tree moved from the garden down to the south side of the house. Shelby says that is where a fig tree grows best, the south side. I'm planning on fig preserves next year. :)

and, with the help of Jewel and her baby chicks I also got the peach tree moved from the garden.

Hard to believe how fast these chicks have grown. I've been letting them out of their pen every day and they were all under my feet eating grubs while I was digging. I then dug the third hole and moved the overgrown potted blueberry plant from the teeny tiny garden. Can't tell you how proud I am of getting this done.

I simply must get out of here and get busy. I still have the cherry tree and an apple tree to move. That means two more big holes to dig...if my back holds up. Thank you  for listening again.

Love,
Henny

Weather, animal, and neighbor update

Some days there is simply not a minute to spend at the computer. Yesterday was such a day. I enjoy and appreciate your comments so much and wanted to reply to each one! It's like a little visit with you.

It was looking a lot like fall as I backed the car out of the driveway on Wednesday.

Also looking raggedy around the yard with leaves falling and pots of dead flowers sitting around, and with the old hoot owl missing from the apple tree stump on the left. Poppy borrowed the owl to sit on a stump near his hunting spot, supposedly to keep the squirrels and crows away from his corn feeder. 

Yesterday the sunshine came back so I emptied flower pots and put away some junk from around the yard. Isn't it funny how something that looks pretty amongst the flowers of summer, will look like junk in the dead of winter, so I cleaned up a bit.

The teeny tiny garden and greenhouse are pretty much cleaned and ready for a long winter's nap. 

At the very top of my "to do" list...move that cherry tree, fig tree, and blueberry from inside the garden. Look how big these have grown, still in their pots, with their roots deep into the ground. Work that I created for myself! Three big holes need be dug, now!

There is a new pet in the neighborhood creating quite a stir. Neighbors from about a mile down the dirt path, Robert and Kristine, have adopted this sweetest white pony and named her Josey. These are the same neighbors with the wandering pig who used to come visit. You may remember my post about the visiting pig.

Here she is. Once this miss piggy began traveling and visiting the neighbors a little too much, Robert fenced her in. Talk about stirring things up in the neighborhood! We don't see much of her anymore. She was cute. Made everybody laugh.

Look who is out of her cage and playing with BunBun. It's Punkin!

I've never seen such running and jumping and kicking up their heels! 

I do love BunBun's big feet.

His other half is mighty cute too.

One last thing...Shae wants you to know that she is feeling better.

Shae being sick has caused me to learn a bit about goats...like, a good quality hay should be a goat's main diet, with the pellets being more of a treat. I thought the opposite was true.  

So Poppy is back at work today. I should end this and get to my work. The day is flying. Thank you dear friends.

Love,
Henny

A quiet rainy day...

with a bunch of sleepyheads...

Yesterday felt more like a Sunday than a Tuesday.

Poppy was off work. It rained all day. The house was quiet. Everybody got naps except me, of course.

All this laziness would make anybody sleepy. Poppy was napping on the couch so I sat down in his chair, leaned my head back, and dozed off. Friends, immediately the phone began to ring! My feet hit the floor and that was the end of my nap.

Sweetest Dumperoo slept on the bed in the sewing room.

More rain and it rained all through the night as the temperature climbed. It was in the high 50's all day yesterday and at bedtime last night, then 67 degrees when we got up at 4:30 this morning.

All the cozy spots to nap were taken.

Good gosh! Some folks have it made!

My running shoes are sitting by the front door. I am not a runner and don't plan on running, unless it thunders. We could have thunderstorms today around noon with a slight chance of a tornado. Oh my! Let's hope not. We just happened to be in need of a few groceries so if I get busy and time things just right... Why, I can be inside the grocery store amongst others when the storms come through.

Okay, I'm getting busy now. Hope to be back with a bright yellow sunny post tomorrow.

Love,
Henny

Pretty leaves and Baby Goat update

Finally! Fall colors!

First I want to tell you that Shae (Baby Goat) is back home and seems to be getting better. On Saturday, the vet did an x-ray, gave her fluids with B vitamins, and an antibiotic injection that lasts four days. He also did blood work and another fecal exam. Today I am waiting to hear the results.

The Vet thinks her sickness may have been caused by something in the grasses and weeds the goats ate. He says wild onions can make them sick. The old saying that a goat can eat anything is a myth. The Vet also says it could be her age, she is seven, not a baby anymore.

I was seriously beginning to think the fall colors had passed us by. We have had mostly brown dead leaves falling. 

But all of a sudden it's looking like fall.

There is just something about the sun shinning through the gold and red leaves, with all the orange and pink shades, that warms my heart...I simply love it! Looks like we've got lots of red berries this year too, the Holly trees and the Dogwoods.

Need to sew tonight. Just wanted to post a little update on my sweet little goat. Thank you all for the nice comments and well wishes for Shae.

Love,
Henny

Dog and Bear, Sick Goat, and Lazy Cats!

What a day!

Actually I posted those words two days ago and I'm still saying, What a day!!

What ever would we do without Eli and his bear and the smiles he brings us! When Poppy pulls in the driveway after working all day, Eli jumps off the porch and tear out across the front yard to meet him. One dare not get in his way! Yesterday when Eli jumped off the porch, he stopped abruptly, turned around, bounded back up the steps, grabbed his bear and still made it to the truck before Poppy got out!

Not smiling much this morning as we have a sick goat, my sweetie pie "Shae" aka "Baby Goat".

These two goats, Shae and Asa,  have been with us since 2009 and have been healthy and happy. Now, all of a sudden, Shae is sick. It started with diarrhea.

With the much appreciated help of a neighbor, a vet tech for ten years, we are carrying Shae to a vet this morning at 9:00. I've been up since 3:00 am! After two days of medications, doing a fecal check, taking her temperature, running here and there, buying over the counter medications...nothing is helping. Sure hoping this vet can make her well again. 

The cause of the diarrhea is uncertain. A few days ago I had given the goats a good size bunch of grass and weeds, mowed down around the garden. Being used to eating only hay and the pellet feed, I'm thinking this may have caused it. Shae is the fattest of the two and tries to eat everything. Lots of times I have to stand guard to make sure Asa, the smaller black goat, gets her share of the feed. 

Meanwhile, back in the neglected dusty house...

Not a care in the world!

Must be nice!

Thank you for listening...again! For sure, I will keep you posted.

Love,
Henny

Happenings around here

Things have been mighty dull in the teeny tiny sewing room lately. Mighty dull! There is a little craft show coming up November 6th and 7th. My name is now on the list of vendors.

This will be no big event. There will be only five or six vendors set up in a small beauty shop down town. Maybe, just maybe, this will be the encouragement I need to get back in the sewing room at night.

I have several dolls that need finishing, and a couple of bonnets too. A few weeks ago I managed to finish another apron...

There is a bonnet that matches this apron, half finished, like a bunch of other stuff, piled on the sewing table.

Look what I pulled out and dusted off yesterday...

Ye olde bread machine! Another gift from cousin Pat. Hey, if you are not a bread maker, like me, this is the next best thing!

The recipe for whole wheat bread in "The Bread Machine Cookbook" was the one I used and it turned out really good!

Again, not being a bread maker, I don't know if this loaf would be considered pretty or not. The taste was perfect! Warm with butter! Poppy said, "it's good"! This is from someone who never gives a compliment.

Today looks to be warmer and simply beautiful and I'm looking forward to being outside. I just can't decide what I want to do first. 

Thank you, friends!

Love,
Henny

At the fair, but wait...

Friends, I could not sleep last night because of my posting yesterday about being a Virgo and feeling like everything was undone and out of order because of spending the day at the fair.

Shelby said, on the phone last night, you probably won't have time come back over, since going to the fair put you so far behind with your work. I was joking!!

Sorry if I came across as sounding like the busiest, hardest working woman in the world, always with too much to do. I'm a Virgo with OCD-like tendencies!!  That in itself keeps me busy! Why, it's a full time job keeping magazines stacked evenly and towels hung straight and colored plastic hangers sorted by color and size. I can spot a crooked picture on a wall a mile away! So that's what keeps me so far behind with my work. :)

My blogging friends, you are some of the hardest working people I know, and I appreciate you all so much!

Now about my sorry picture taking at the fair.

We did see the world's heaviest watermelon

 and the sweetest baby donkey

and the baby donkey's mama.

Wonder what struck me to take this picture out of all the busy midway eating places and rides there were to pick from?

It was a wonderful trip to the fair and the day went by waaaay too fast! Oh my gosh! The food we ate...starting with roasted corn on the cob dipped in butter. Then fried dough covered in powdered sugar, and a big crispy fried blooming onion, a muscadine grape slushy, chocolate covered North Carolina peanuts, a large cup of NC State ice cream...butter almond, and free samples of all the foods in the "Got to be NC Agriculture" building. But wait, all is good! Shelby was wearing her "Fitbit" and informed me that we had walked a total of five miles while at the fair.

Okay, after all this explaining, I need to get busy. :) I have big plans for our day at the state fair next year...riding the hobby horses and taking great pictures!

Love,
Henny

My Sister's Kitchen!!

Tell me I will catch up again, please! And, I'm not talking about just housework here, I'm talking about blogging and visiting blogs and leaving comments and writing a post and getting everything done in the house and in the yard and garden, and driving to Henderson to pick up prescriptions, and tending to the animals waiting out there for my attention. 

Here's the problem. Shelby and I spent Friday at the North Carolina State Fair! I'm a Virgo! Things got out of order! I'm overwhelmed!

Early Friday morning before leaving for the State Fair!

Shelby said, "Oh good grief, I haven't had time to clean up, don't take pictures of all this mess"! But it's beautiful! This is a warm, working, cozy farm kitchen, always with the smell of cakes baking in the oven. 

I mean, seriously!

Shelby had to do most of her baking for Saturday's market on Thursday so we could spend Friday at the fair. 

We look forward to the State Fair all year...being there when the gates open is a must! That's our goal, however, it was mighty tempting to skip the fair and hang around with Jimmy in the kitchen all day!

Is this a working kitchen or what? Shelby never slows down!

Every corner is filled with some kind of food or cooking utensils.

It makes you want to get a cup of coffee and pull a chair up to the table. Inviting, warm and cozy, that's just how it feels. Oh, and the smell outside the house...

They heat with wood and the smell simply warms my soul. I just might have to build a fire in our fireplace today. It is, after all, 32 degrees this morning. Freezing! Our first freeze this fall!

This post was supposed to be about the State Fair, but Shelby's kitchen was on my mind. Our day at the fair was wonderful and went by way too fast. 

Dear blogging friends I will be around to catch up...hopefully I can catch up with everything today! Good grief!!

Love,
Henny

"I've got mail"!

Actually my package arrived late Tuesday from Texan over at texan.blogspot.com. 

This lady is a fantastic gardener. I think she must grow some of everything!! Her gardens are amazing!! So, having way too many seeds, she had a give-away and my name was in the pot.

She and her husband have a Great White Pyrenees named Keeper. It was Keeper who drew my name. How special is that? Thank you Keeper!

Would you just look at the seeds! Here...

and here! Why, I've never owned such an assortment of seeds in my entire life!

I am so excited. It's going to be a long wait until next spring! The seeds are in such pretty packs. I love them! Thank you so much Texan!

And speaking of plants, the Camellias are in full bloom. I love the colors.

Could that be a yellow jacket? 

Simply must get busy now. Hopefully, I can finish painting the back side of the shop. This job is beginning to get old!

Hope to be back soon!

Love,
Henny