The last gathering...

from the teeny tiny garden, that is! Gosh, that sounded scary!

Guess maybe I will try making Citron preserves again. It was a miracle how the citron preserves turned out two years ago.  A miracle!

One thing I'm not is a pickle, preserves, jelly making person.  Sure hope that good recipe is still folded up in the cookbook.

Do you remember when I counted the seeds from the citron melon? There were four hundred and eighty nine. Doesn't look like that many, does it?

Any mention of seeds reminds me of the silliest of riddles. I've posted this silly thing before!!

If it takes a hen and a half a day and a half to lay an egg and a half, how long would it take a grasshopper to kick all the seeds out of a cucumber?

This riddle was in a greeting card that had a big grasshopper and a cucumber on the front. Many years ago, Mama and I were in a little card shop in Southern Pines. When mama read this card she started laughing. She laughed until she cried, then I read it and laughed til I cried. It was embarrassing. People were beginning to stare. The two of us, doubled over, laughing and crying. Mama pulled herself together long enough to buy the card. Of course, there was no answer to the riddle.

Just wanted to say "happy Tuesday". I have an appointment at 2:30 with the osteoporosis doctor to hear the results of my last bone density scan. 

Hope to be back soon.

Love,
Henny

Not a princess, not even a shop

Could a princess live here? Not a chance! Maybe the furthest thing from a princess. When I went to hang this dress on the clothesline yesterday, Poppy said, "you are not hanging that thing on the line, are you? Why don't you sell that dress on eBay"?

Sell this dress! I can't sell this dress! Andee bought this dress to hang in my little shop. The little shop that never happened! 

Actually, I was giving the sewing room a good cleaning yesterday. This dress had been hanging on the closet door for years! Years! It was dusty and needed airing out, with a bunch of other things.

Several years back when I was into making bonnets, aprons, and dolls big time, the idea of having a little shop popped into my head. As luck would have it, just two miles up the road, on the main highway, sat the perfect little building...it had been empty and unused for years. I checked around and found out who owned the building and gave him a call, asking if he would rent the building to me. He said, look, if you want to make some repairs and fix up the building, you are welcome to use it, free of charge. Well, I was ecstatic! When I told Poppy my good news, he said, "Mel, we can't afford to fix up that building. The first thing it needs is a new roof. Do you know how much it costs to put a new roof on a building"?   My idea got shot down pretty quick, which was probably a blessing in disguise.  Not to be outdone, I went to work in our only extra little bedroom, turning it into the teeny tiny sewing room and my little shop. 

It has really been fun! Once word got around, especially to the churches in the area, that I make and sell old fashioned bonnets and aprons, well, there were plenty of customers. The churches around celebrate old fashioned day. They have dinner on the grounds and all the ladies dress old fashioned. 

You folks probably know by now how I can be...remember my craziness over getting our property fenced in and then buying two donkeys? By cracky, our five acre property would be fenced in, if it meant doing it all by myself! Yep, with every spare dollar, I bought a metal t-post and put it in the ground. But good gosh, no way could I fence in this five acres alone, up and down hills and through woods and water! So, this idea, like many others went by the wayside. But I still want two donkeys.

Don't you love clean windows and washed curtains! I didn't get around to washing all the windows and screens early last spring because of my back. 

waiting for the curtains to dry

now a little wildlife from Poppy...

worms on a stick. Looks like some new food that might be offered at the state fair this year.  These worms were in the wild blueberry bush yesterday.

here's how the worms look today. ??

and, Poppy was standing in my spot at the kitchen window and caught this butterfly at the hummingbird feeder.

and a little hummer hovering at the feeder.

Guess that will about do it for today. Thank you for stopping by.

Love,
Henny

By the way, I am still working on adding a page, hopefully to be Henny's Bonnet Shop. It has at least  sparked my interest in sewing again. 

Waiting for Poppy...

It drives me crazy to know that I've posted something wrong...so here's the correction. In yesterday's post about my putting up the rabbit wire, I did not dig a three foot trench, it was a mere three inch trench. Good gosh, there would have only been a foot of wire left above ground if I had buried it three feet deep. So there. :)

The three of us waited on the porch for Poppy to get home...

 Wait, I hear something!

Yay! It is him!! Eli's favorite time of the day, well except for our late afternoon walk around the pond...

This stick is way too long...

The cooler weather and low humidity we had the first part of the week sure was nice, but the heat is back. High 90's today, high humidity. Hate to admit it, but now I'm looking forward to fall...maybe even winter, where it gets dark earlier. That means getting done with everything earlier; supper, the dishes, the animals. There will be time to sew again.

and the kitty cat picture...

Be back soon, hopefully!

Love,
Henny

Busy days!!

This week started with cooler temperatures and low humidity, so as soon as Poppy was out the door Monday morning, I found myself standing and staring in the front yard, wondering what to do first!

Bamboo grass! There was a good place to start, and so I did. No picture, but I pulled and hauled away two heaping wheelbarrow loads.

Tuesday at 7:30 am, after feeding the animals, I rolled out that heavy 50' roll of 4' high rabbit wire, bound and determined to put it around Bun Bun and Fiona's lot. This job has been on my 'to do' list since the middle of last year.

Why, just unrolling the heavy wire was a back-breaking job. Oops! Speaking of backs, my little gardening bench was with me every step of the way, helping me to kneel instead of bending from the waist to work.

The sticks and pine straw had to be raked away and then a three foot trench dug all the way around this 10' x 10' lot. I measured, cut the sections, buried each piece, then wired it to the chain link fence. When the last piece of wire was put up, I gathered the tools and my work basket and dragged myself to the house. What a shock! It was almost 2:00. Six and a half hours working on that fence!

Lets just see a raccoon try to reach a greedy little paw through this fence now, or a chicken snake try to slither through one of the half inch openings. I mention raccoon because back before we had rabbits, we had a young male Muscovy duck in this pen. The duck had been fighting with our old male Muscovy and we were afraid he would hurt the old duck. Anyway, after dark, a raccoon came up to the lot and somehow enticed the duck to come close to the fence. When the duck got close the raccoon grabbed it and killed it, through the fence. It was horrible and took me forever to get over letting this happen. Just remembering makes me cry.

Anyhow, Bun Bun and Feona are lots safer, and couldn't be more pleased. 

Today I've cleaned out the teeny tiny garden. What a mess! No longer could I look at brown dead tomato plants, dry withered bean vines, and bug eaten peppers. 

Nothing left but a large sweet basil plant and the row of okra, oh! and the Citron melon vines...

Are't these pretty? 

There are several hiding in the grass along the fence line.

Daddy always called Citron melons 'hog food', but they make really good preserves...

and before I go...every time our neighbor Ann stops by, the rooster wanders up and stands with us, sometimes crowing really loud. It's funny, like he talks too. This time Ann had some bread for the chickens... 

Well gosh! right here before our eyes, where the rooster stands, is an 'after' picture of where the bamboo grass was growing along the driveway.

and this is 'before'!

didn't mean this to be soooo long. Thank you, if you're still here.

Love,
Henny

Will there be a teeny tiny bonnet shop

Been in and out of the sewing room today, taking pictures of the few bonnets and aprons, finished and ready to put in a teeny tiny bonnet shop.

Driving myself crazy, or crazier, that's what I'm doing! How the heck do you post a little title and then add a page to your blog? It should be so simple...but not for me! Oh no! I've read and looked and hunted and searched and called Lynn.  Lynn said, "I will call you tomorrow morning, Mom".

So, meanwhile in the sewing room, isn't she lovely, this pretty doll from Germany? Sometimes I just feel like holding her. Andee sent this doll to me back when they were stationed in Germany. 

The little sewing room makes me happy. I've just got to get busy sewing again so there will be pretty items to add to my new page...if I ever get there.

 and this sweetest tiny little baby doll...

and this other pretty girl doll, all from Germany. These dolls are wonderful to hold. Have I told you how much I love dolls? 

Oh my goodness. Growing up in the 1950's, one of the most exciting times of the year was when the Sears Roebuck Christmas catalog would arrive. It took some serious looking and studying to decide on which doll I would ask for. That was almost as exciting as finding that very doll under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning.

One rarely caught me without a doll in my arms...and this went on until I was about sixteen years old. Dolls were much more fun than thinking about boys. We were living in Summerville SC, not far from Charleston, when this picture was taken.

Wherever we lived, Mama gave me a closet in the house to use for a dollhouse and I was always busy taking care of the dolls and keeping house. 

Better get busy! You know how Mondays are, and Eli has an appointment with the groomer for a bath and a good brushing...and Poppy gets off work at noon...good gosh, and Lynn is supposed to call! Hope to be back soon.

Love,
Henny

By the way, I never heard a word about the bunny cage. Guess it must have been sold. 

More about the scarecrow and other stuff

Don't know if the scarecrow scared away any owls last night, but it did scare me early this morning. When I walked out the back door carrying the compost and caught a glimpse of a man on the steps, well, I almost dropped my bucket. Seeing him from the back especially, wearing that black hood, he looked real!

Think we could have gotten any closer? I'm no good at taking selfies. Looks like I need longer arms.

We haven't lost another guinea. It could be the scarecrow is working, or that the owls have found our neighbor's guineas. They  live down in the bottom near the creek and have, or had, twenty guineas. I hope not. Poor guineas.

Here's Bun Bun's cage with the bedroom attached, the one I hauled all by myself from the goat lot down to the old dog lot. Kind of ragged looking but Bun Bun sure likes it better than the small wire cage he was sleeping in.

and this was moving day for Bun Bun's cage and all the attachments...an actual wagon train moving along.

Now, I'm looking for a better cage for Fiona, and speaking of Fiona, she has shown no sign of having baby bunnies. I'm probably the only person on earth with a female bunny that can't get pregnant. Crazy, isn't it! 

This is the cutest rabbit hutch for sale on Craigslist...

They are asking $100.00 or best offer. I'm hoping it is still available and will consider the best offer I can make which will be $75.00. I've emailed them but have not heard back. 

Okay, I go on and on about nothing and create a very boring post. I sure appreciate your not giving up on me and my blog. We just live a pretty dull life. Thank goodness for the sweet animals who live here!  :)

Love,
Henny

The scarecrow...or scareowl

Want to know why I made this big silly looking scarecrow this late in the season?

 It is supposed to scare away owls. We've lost twelve grown guineas since the beginning of spring. Only three left of the fifteen best guineas we've ever owned. These were the guineas that were hatched late in the season last year and I cared for them all through the cold winter months.

I read on line that a scarecrow would frighten away owls, but you need to move the scarecrow from place to place occasionally.

Her head is way too big, but yesterday was Monday, Poppy went back to work, and I was busy busy! Too busy to re-do her head. She borrowed my cutest overalls, which look much better on her than on me anyway.

Before dark last night, Poppy secured her to back steps not far from the cedar tree where the three guineas roost, then hooked up a light to shine on her. 

Don't usually hang clothes in the front yard but it was so darn hot yesterday, and this line, still up from the yard sale, was close to the front door...so why not! I did hang the sheets on the clothesline in the back. A neighbor stopped by and said, you need to take a picture of the quilts on the clothesline. 

Been meaning to tell you that after adding lime to the pond, the algae went away. We are so glad! It looks much better and especially so after Poppy mowed.  Eli likes it too!

Better get busy. Got more things to do and Poppy will be home at noon. Don't the days just fly! 

Speaking of being busy....in Walmart, I spoke to an elderly lady, bout like myself, I've known since 2003. She has worked at Walmart what seems like forever! I said to her, I thought you would have retired by now. She said, "now why would I retire and sit home looking at four walls"?  I just can't imagine! There has always been SO MUCH to do at home! Everybody is different!

Love,
Henny