Cleaning the back porch!

Got the back porch washed and clean again and I do hope we've seen the last of the pollen. 

Washed out all these pots and pans too, getting ready to sit out here and snap green beans from the garden. :)  All I need is the garden planted! 

The worst part of cleaning the porch is unwinding that heavy hose and dragging it around the side of the house and up the steps...then back again!

Spraying and watching the pollen disappear was the fun part. Afraid the little table and chairs are getting pretty worn. 

The new (to me) green flowered comforter came from a thrift store. Darn it, it's not hanging straight...I'll fix that!

Eli says it feels nice and clean.

And now my picture of the day...

Where I found Dumperoo. Kitty cat fabric. Thank you for visiting.

Love,
Henny

Out amongst the weeds, and other things

The other little "Popeye" looking bunny house got finished...

Bun Bun and Fiona now each have a small house inside the pen with a fence between them. I could spend the day with these bunnies!

Took a few close up shots of the Iris, so you can't see all the weeds that are taking over the flower beds. I'm still afraid to do a lot of bending over and pulling weeds.

Tuesday, the doctor said, "you need to be careful gardening this summer". He told me to look on line for a new, lightweight, long handled, small end hoe. He says it works good and is easy on the back.

 Are Iris beautiful or what?

Not only did I find the perfect lightweight hoe on line, but the perfect Fiskar's weed puller. I need one of those kneeling rolling things too. So I can garden kneeling down instead of bending from the waist. Sure going to take some getting used to!

The yellow water Iris are beginning to bloom around the pond...

and Bickett came running to catch up...

and last but certainly not least...

Eli! all clean and smelling good with a nice new hair cut for summer.

Guess that's about it! Maybe I can get Poppy on the computer now and show him all these new gardening tools I need...

Love, 
Henny

Memories of school

Thinking about old times this morning and that's probably because a classmate from the 1960's called me last night. Hilda, her name is Hilda. Actually, there were three Hilda's in my graduating class. That's kind of unusual as we were a class of only thirty five...I'm thinking that's correct. After we had talked and then said our goodbyes, I remembered that somewhere in an old box was a really good picture of Hilda. Hey, she must have liked me to have given me a picture.

It was an honor to have Hilda call me and so good to talk with her again. You see, my last three grades in school, I felt like a nobody and very inferior. Good grief! and do I not still deal with those same feelings on a daily basis!

Third grade through ninth grade, my family lived in the booming little town of Robbins, where my heart remains even today. Shelby, Jackie, and I went to school there. However, in 1956 Daddy bought the farm. I completed ninth grade in Robbins then had to change schools and ride the school bus to West End School every day. It was not changing schools that damaged my poor brain as much as it was our family life so totally changing and falling apart. The 50's were happy times...the 60's brought sadness. Teenage years are hard enough, but throw in watching your loving, caring, perfect parent's marriage falling apart. Oh wow!

Hilda called to tell me about our upcoming class reunion set for June 4th. Hopefully I can talk Poppy into going with me.  We did go to the first class reunion held in 2008.

Here we are and that's me in the pink, trying to hide, (the story of my life), behind Mrs. Thompson, our English teacher, on the far left. 

Dear friends, here you go! An example of my high school days, or daze!  In English class one day, Mrs. Thompson called me to the front to read, or recite, a poem. Panic swept over my entire body. I somehow walked that long mile to the front, turned around, and faced the class. With my heart in my throat I spoke maybe two words of that poem, looked up and saw two cute boys sitting in the back of the class with their heads together, whispering. In the class picture, see the one with a yellow shirt and the guy beside him with a touch of blue shirt showing? Those guys. It was those two! Probably neither one of those boys even knew that I was standing up there like an idiot, but my thinking then was that they were whispering about me. Not another word did I speak, not one! Looking down at the floor, I walked that long mile right back to my desk and sat down. The heck with that poem! The heck with school! The sad part is that I love poetry and had memorized that poem...but felt only anguish and pain standing there in front of the class. And by the way, the guy in the yellow shirt had been my boy friend. :)

That's me and my brother Jackie in our front yard at our happy home in Robbins. We were ready for school and waiting for Daddy to drive us. I was probably in seventh grade there.

Good gosh! I've simply got to get busy. Poppy gets off work at 12:00 today.

Thank you if you have somehow managed to stick around this long. :)

Love,
Henny 

Outside early this morning

One thing for sure, I've simply got to get back to blogging, or give up! Lately my thinking has been that maybe somebody has put a curse on Poppy and me and our place out here in the country. Do you reckon that's possible? Do you believe there are people with the power to do that...put a curse on someone? Like maybe a neighbor with a voodoo doll?  :) I suppose I'm kidding. 

This was like 6:15 a.m. this morning out feeding the animals. The sun just coming up, shining through the tree tops and deer watching me from the hill above the pond.

The deer grew in number as they made their way around the pond.

This is the wild azalea I dug from the woods in 1990 and have waited every year for it to bloom. It has two blooms.

I love it!

It's mighty quiet here. Eli is away for the day getting a much needed bath and hair cut. He was such a mess, and his hair long and dry and knotted. He loves playing in the goat lot, but comes inside with hay and pine needles tangled in his fur. Can't wait to see him all clean and smelling good! 

Guess what's new here on the teeny tiny farm...

I found her on Craigslist. Her name is Fiona. She is sweet and gentle.

Oh, and Bun Bun is just beside himself.  We have sectioned off the bunny play pen and added another "Popeye" looking house (I will take pictures). They both can run and play and get to know each other through the fence.

You may wonder what happened to the little orange bunny named Punkin. She went back to live with all the other bunnies on the little farm where she was born. For some unknown reason, she would bite. Even when reaching in to feed her, she would bite. Being part angora like Bun Bun, I knew there was no way I could handle another bunny with matted fur that could not be groomed. 

If Bun Bun and Fiona have babies, what do you think they will look like? Bunnies are adorable, don't you think?

Thank you for the comments on my last post. I will get ahead again one of these days. I love your comments and enjoy replying to each one. 

Love,
Henny

Fuchsia! Not my favorite color!

Fuchsia is not my favorite color but there's lots of it around these days...

We got rain yesterday and into the night. The big fuchsia pink azalea, Formosa, I think these are called, survived the cold snap we had a few weeks ago.

and has grown absolutely huge over the years. Good grief, pardon the brown and red shop in the background, and the weeds around. Can you imagine painting three sides of that shop and then half of the end, and stopping! I sorta do things that way. Poppy says he will finish the job...as soon as turkey season ends.

Chenille bedspreads are my favorite. The blue chenille had been on the bed since before my back problems, so I decided change to the burgundy, or deep fuchsia. Of course, Bickett could not wait to claim his spot on the clean bedspread. Bless his heart, he looks cross-eyed here, but really, he is not.

Yesterday morning early was my first physical therapy session. Had no idea what to expect but it was wonderful! Simply wonderful! Most of the first visit was paperwork and talking with the physical therapist. She told me new ways of doing things to keep my back straight. 

Friends, most of my life has been spent bending from the waist pulling weeds, picking up animals, scrubbing water buckets, picking out every tiny bit of lint from the carpet, and on and on and on. All this has got to change! But what about knees that no longer bend??

My physical therapy, fuchsia pink outfit. :)

So, not being a stretchy knit type person and having never owned a pair of knit pants in my life, I went to Walmart. I figured a tiered skirt simply would not do for physical therapy. Came home happy with a pair of black Danskins.

The fuchsia pink jersey top however did not come from Walmart. Folks, this top is expensive stuff...from Goodwill! :) It's by "JJill". Wish I could afford to buy all my clothes from JJill.

Poppy should be coming in the door soon. Thank you friends! Hope to be back soon...and I will be catching up. 

Love,
Henny

A Little Catching Up...

Dear Friends,

Can't wait to tell you that the injection in my aching back is done...and done! It was scary, but then what doesn't scare me!  The procedure really didn't take that long and thankfully, my pain is gone.  I have to take it easy for a couple of days. But like Karen over at Wyndson Farm said, I am chomping at the bit! Ready to get going, in the garden, and mowing this weedy yard too!

Mlle Cecile Brunner "Buttonhole Rose"

Bickett enjoying the pond early this morning. The rose bush has simply gotten out of hand. I don't want to cut it back...the tiny pink roses are much too pretty and it will be in bloom soon. Need to find some way to lift it up higher over the little foot bridge and high enough over Poppy's head so there wont be a fuss every time he and Eli cross the bridge. Another project waiting on my list.

Loving the pond too, the duckies.

and down the path to Bun Bun's play pen...

Have you ever seen such a "Popeye" looking little house. Walking Bun Bun from his hutch up in the goat lot to his play pen down near the pond every morning, then bringing him back every night was work, and tiring. Before my back problem started I had set up this house inside the pen so Bun Bun would be safe from predators and could stay overnight.

 Bun Bun's pen is sturdy and safe.

Bun Bun's big feet. Had to post this one again. His feet so darn cute!

While we're at it, the baby chicks are growing.

We moved them to a safer pen. We have raised lots of baby chicks here, but have never raised a chick in the lot behind the chicken house. I really think there is big snake living under something, maybe even the chicken house, and now that the weather has warmed up, well snakes will be coming out. These tiny babies would hardly be a mouthful!

So going back up the path...I enjoy walking under the snowball bush...so glad it survived the cold!

and here comes Smokey to meet us.

Better get back inside. I'm supposed to be taking it easy.  Thank you for visiting today. This is a good day!

Love,
Henny

A little of everything covered here...

I should have carried the camera with me to feed the chickens this morning...yes, I am CAREFULLY doing more in the last few days since my back is hurting less. The doctor asked, how heavy is the feed bucket you carry...when I asked if carrying feed to the chickens would hurt my back. Carry light loads, he said. 

Even got this old worn out lace tablecloth washed and put back on the table this morning. Added the fruit bowl too.

For someone who is scared of needles and shots...I am looking forward to getting that injection this coming Tuesday. Folks are saying it works like a miracle for immediately taking away pain. Shelby (my sister) WARNED me in an email that I cannot make up a month's yard work in one day...if the injection works a miracle on my back. She knows me!

and speaking of Shelby, Jimmy, and Andee, here's a picture (taken a few years ago) of them, including Todd, Andee's husband. left to right is Jimmy, Todd, Andee, and Shelby

Shelby and Jimmy are in Seattle on a little vacation. Shelby won't be here on Tuesday, so Andee (my daughter) is driving down from Virginia to go with me. I absolutely could go alone, but they insist you must have someone drive you home after the injection. Having Andee come home makes any occasion special! My plan is to go in the Goodwill store, after we're done, as there is one right across the highway from Orthopedic Specialists. Won't that be something...and Andee will be with me!

Something else bothering me. Last Sunday, April 10th was my sweet sweet Granddaughter Madison's birthday. She turned eighteen and will be going away to college next fall. Madison is Andee and Todd's daughter. I had planned to post about her on Sunday but got off on something else...who knows what! So again, happy birthday Maddie!

Senior pictures have changed a lot since I was in school. I looked like a total idiot in my senior picture. The night before we were to have our pictures taken, I decided to cut myself bangs...and cut them way too short. Then I decided to squint my eyes because, well, people whose eyes smile when they smile are pretty. It didn't work on me. Kids are much smarter these days too. :)

Seems like just yesterday that Madison was this age and always making me laugh. They were stationed at Seymour Johnson AFB at the time and had lots going on. I looked forward to driving to Goldsboro to bring Madison home with me for the weekend. We sang and talked and laughed all the way home. Of course, Grandpa always looked forward to having Madison for the weekend.

Good gracious, is there anything left to talk about here! You all probably signed off a while back. If not, thank you. Hope to be right back here soon.

Love,
Henny

Almost like a zoo here!

It is always a good surprise to see a new follower on my blog. I appreciate you so much!  Thank you!

Poppy didn't get a turkey yet, but he did catch an old sweet kitty cat hiding under the dining room table.

Speaking of kitty cats...

Here's Bickett, our inside cat. He has always been an inside cat. Lately though, anytime the front door is opened he shoots out and heads for the dirt path. He wallows in the dirt and dust and then wants to come back in and curl up on the bed in the sewing room.

Just look! and this is a black cat! I've been wondering about that big reddish looking, dirty, dusty, spot on that blue chenille bedspread.

Yesterday was my appointment with the orthopedic specialist to find out what the MRI showed. One thing was curvature of the spine, which the doctor said I've probably had all my life and did not know it...also three herniated discs which bulge out on the left. That's why my pain is in my lower back and left leg. Tuesday I'm going back for the injection and will probably start physical therapy next week. 

Never a dull moment in the living room here with Poppy and Eli...

                                            you wanna play?

                                         let's fight!

I'm ready to haul that chair and foot stool to the landfill! Oh, and throw in that old coffee table and carry it off too.  The wear and tear is awful! Just awful! After wrestling there on the chair and footstool, Eli takes off running around and around the coffee table.

Better get a few things done. Poppy is turkey hunting again and will be in soon for lunch. Hope to be back soon.

Love,
Henny