A man with a BIG heart!

Let me tell you about a man with a great big tender heart...

You know we've been cleaning out? Well, just this morning we managed to put together another load to carry to the dumpsters, so off Poppy went.

Wasn't long before the phone rang. It was Poppy. "I'm coming down the path", he said, "walk outside, I'm bringing you something". Of course, all kinds of stuff went through my mind. What in the world could it be. The last time Poppy brought home something from the dumpsters...it was kitty cat. 

No kitty cat this time...

Poppy said when he turned off the main road onto our dirt path and stopped at the mail box, a car went passed causing something in the road to move and flutter a bit. Poppy thought maybe it was a butterfly, hit by a car.

He walked into the road to check and found this tiny pitiful baby bird, with ants crawling on it's little legs. 

How in the world did a baby bird this young get in out of its nest and in the middle of a highway? 

What could we feed it?? I got an empty yogurt container and put in a little cornmeal, a few wild blueberries, a little bread, the insides of a cherry tomato...and mixed it all with a bit of water...then Poppy added some earth worms from the compost bin...:(

with the tweezers we managed to get a couple of bites in his tiny mouth. He swallowed like he was starving. 

Trying to think like a mama bird, I've been going on the back porch every ten or fifteen minutes, or about as long as it would take a bird to locate and bring home a squashed bug, and feeding the little fellow.

The change has been amazing. Already the little bird perks up and opens his mouth when we touch container he is in.

So, that's our excitement for today. Oh, the wild Yarrow was beginning to look a bit ragged so I mowed it down, but not before breaking off a vase full...

Poppy really does have a big tender heart...especially toward little animals.

Love,

Henny

Cleaning out!!

Some days you just can't get it all done! I get busy as soon as my feet hit the floor at 5:30 every morning...and before I can turn around, it's bed time again!

Eli stopped to rest in the cool grass...well, it's not really grass, but mowed weeds...

that's okay, weeds make a good resting spot too.

Whoever said, "A man may work from sun to sun, but a woman's work is never done", hit the nail on the head!

We have done some big time cleaning out and hauling away lately. Why, I've carried three car loads...packed to gills...to donate. First load to Goodwill, and the other two went to Safe Space.

Busy in the kitchen late yesterday, Poppy said, Mel, you've got to see this! It's perfect for your blog! A little squirrel balancing on top of the clothesline prop, eating a peach he stole off the tree, (not a very good picture, taken through the kitchen window), but he was so cute.

Oh yes! I was washing supper dishes at eight o'clock last night and still had to put the clean sheets and bedspread on the bed. 

Yuk! Don't you hate it when you're dead tired and remember that you took the sheets off the bed and washed them, and now the bed has to be made.

See, some folks got a break, before the sheets were back on the bed. :) My hands were still in the hot dishwater. 

So, by the time I can sit down for a few minutes, it's bedtime! and there go my big plans for sewing...to make a bonnet, finish an apron.

Speaking of aprons, I have at least three new ones finished to put in the teeny tiny shop...Here's one...

This fabric is "Little House on the Prairie", and cute as can be.

found it on line and ordered the last two yards available.

Okay, Poppy just woke up from a little nap and Eli is telling us it's time for a walk...so my time at the computer is up. 

I'm very proud to have a new follower...Thank you Willie!

Love,
Henny

Here it is!!

The teeny tiny garden, such as it is....

A little square of corn, pole beans, cucumbers. The zucchini next to the pole beans volunteered and came up.

Probably need to wear my reading glasses up at the garden. The bean vines were simply hanging in beans that I hadn't noticed until this morning.

and here's the rest of this morning's little gathering.

Last night we had bacon, lettuce, tomato sandwiches made with the first Cherokee Purple tomato from the garden. It was really good. 

and our little square of corn which actually looks like might give us a few ears of corn. That would be a first!

I stopped trying to grow corn back in the early 90's when our garden spot was nothing but red clay. I nearly had a heat stroke, out trying to stand up the corn stalks that had blown over during a thunderstorm. Crawling around on my hands and knees packing clumps of red mud against the corn stalks.

Never again!! That's when I knew we had to change the color of the soil if we were ever going to have a decent garden. Fencing in the garden spot was the second best thing we ever did.

Bean vines that were picked this morning.

These three cucumber vines want to grow out instead up the tee pee.

little row of sunflowers and cosmos...

and a little row of zinnias from which only one has bloomed.

So I'm closing the gate to the teeny tiny garden now and going back inside to snap the beans and put them on to cook for supper.

Shelby and Jimmy, my sister and brother-in-law grow a garden big enough to feed Durham County (I exaggerate a tiny bit), therefore our garden is the "teeny tiny garden".  But it's all we need. 

Love,

Henny

Oh, thank you Silver Willow for following my blog. I do love my blogging friends!

Lilies and Poppies

Thank you dear friends for your friendship and your kindness.  Don't know why I've had such a hard time blogging lately. We've sure missed having Bickett underfoot and in charge here. 

Could these big red lilies have bloomed just for Bickett? I think so.

After all, I was expecting Stargazer lilies. Seriously, didn't I post about looking forward to the Stargazer lilies blooming this summer?

Anyhow, we've got these tall lanky red lilies swaying in the breeze above the birdbath, looking a little odd and out of balance,

not exactly what I had in mind here. 

 large and in charge

good grief, here's a poppy and a lily.

Speaking of Poppy, Friday morning we had to quickly clear another little spot in the woods not far from the greenhouse and garden...

 and not too far from the playhouse...

when Lowes called and said there had been a cancellation and the builder could be here in one hour to put up the building.  

Did we ever do some scampering around. Two trees needed to be cut down and moved, and the spot leveled a bit, then raked clean. We finished up just before the truck backed into the driveway.

We got the building painted over the weekend and now all that's needed is the ramp built. This building will hold Poppy's new four-wheeler and the riding lawn mower. I know, wouldn't this have made the cutest playhouse! painted pink, maybe. :)

found this pretty yellow lily in bloom up at the garden.

Oh well! Guess this is it for now. Hope to be back soon...and I've simply got to show you how the teeny tiny garden has grown. 

Love,
Henny

Saying good-bye to Bickett

Bickett passed away some time during the night last night after being sick since April 17th. 

You may remember my post recently about Bickett getting a rabies shot and how the vet felt it necessary to sedate him before examining, and giving him the vaccine. Well, Bickett never recovered. My heart is broken.

I have loved this kitty since that October morning in 2005 when I stopped my car in the middle of an intersection in downtown Louisburg and picked him up out of the street. 

Just a tiny baby he was, and way too young to be on his own.

Bringing this kitty home made me very happy. Bickett grew into a big beautiful cat and daily kept us entertained with his antics.

Bickett enjoyed being underfoot, and honestly, I believe he deliberately would plop down right in Poppy's way.   Many times Poppy has said, Bickett, can't you find somewhere else to lay"? 

I'm going to miss my buddy at night in the sewing room. Bickett seemed to like my Bluegrass music. We listened together while I sewed.

Guess we will never know what happened or what caused Bickett to not recover from his visit to the vet. I carried a big healthy cat to get a rabies shot, and three days later he is dying...wasting away to nothing. Poppy and I both are very disappointed in these folks at the animal hospital who supposedly cared for our Bickett.

Bickett was buried this morning in our little pet cemetery in a shady spot near the goat lot. 


Love,
Henny

One hell of a logger!

Now about my tree cutting, and about my being "one hell of a logger". I really am, you know. :) I am kidding, of course, but my daddy always told us, "you can do any thing you set your mind to", and I wanted some trees cut! 

Would you just take a look at the nice wide clear space here along side the goat lot? All this area was enclosed with bushy trees. In fact, the big tree in the center is the hickory tree the snake was on.

I really did cut more than twenty trees and without the use of a chain saw. These are the tools I used...

But you see, most all the trees were slender, but very tall, so when each tree fell, I tugged, and tugged, and pulled it from the tangle of other tall trees then used the pruner to clip off all the limbs, 

making it easy to throw the whole thing down the steep bank. Hard to imagine how deep this gully is, now that it is filled with limbs and trees.

Some of the trees were more than just saplings.

this is where I stopped and shows a little of the undergrowth and brush.

Many little stumps left. Why, this was a thicket and impossible to walk through, or see through. There are probably twenty more small trees to be cut in this one spot...but I'm making progress. Letting in more light and air!

Okay, I'm done talking about tree cutting and my logging skills. I appreciate the comments so much, and Red's comment made me smile, and got me to thinking I should explain more. 

Oh, and believe it or not, I have new followers. Thank you so much! At least, I hope you are still here after another boring tree post.

Love,
Henny

Good gracious, how time flies. This is the first time in two days I've been on the computer.

Oh friends, that cold front came through Sunday night, just like our weatherman said it would, and we woke up Monday morning to lower humidity, lower temperature, and with the sun shining.

At 8:30 am I pushed aside my 50 item "to-do" list, got the tree trimmer, the saw, and the pruners, and went to work behind the chicken lot and goat lot cutting tree limbs and sawing down trees.  

Over the years hundreds of little trees have come up in the edge of the woods surrounding our property, all competing for sun and space, and without our noticing have grown and grown, enclosing our little 5 acres. It is beginning to feel like living in the rain forest.

Oh, backing up a bit, can you find the snake in the first picture? It's in there! Here's another...

this was a big snake...and brave. It was getting on up in the day, 2:30 maybe when I turned to see this big snake coming toward me. Too tired to run; by this time I had cut down probably 20 trees, seriously, I watched as he slithered up into one of the last two trees to be cut.

Hanging upside down he watched me work

Here's a not so great little video to show you the length of this snake...watch as his tail (on the right) unfolds...

When I had finished cutting down the tree next to him, he moved over to the big Hickory tree...

hung there for a while, then moved to a cedar tree inside the goat lot. That's when I put the camera down and got the yard rake. I figured he was making his way to the chicken house to gather the eggs. He fell from the cedar tree and landed with a plop on the ground, then crawled across the lot and down the hill into the woods...probably tired of being watched.

I did cut down the tree the snake was in then dragged myself to the house.

This morning at 8:30 I was getting my hair permed, again! Oh my, you should see the curls! Poppy said, "and you paid sixty-five dollars for that!" He laughs every time he looks at me.  He enjoys picking at me! That's okay! He who laughs last laughs best! :)

Love,

Henny

Oops! Here it is Wednesday morning!

Termite feast!

Good gosh, is it ever hot and humid today! Not complaining! The sun is shining!! I've just come in to cool off, eat a popsicle, and load the termite pictures. :) Sound like an exciting life, doesn't it?

Guineas drying off yesterday after yet another shower of rain. Anyhow...

I had cut back a big overgrown button bush, which, by the way, almost beat me to death, and was dragging the limbs down the path to the woods when I spotted a cloud of what looked to be billions of small winged insects taking flight!

There were supposed to be flying insects in this picture.

it was so silvery and pretty, all the tiny little fluttering wings in the air. So, I ran to the house for my camera, then ran back to the woods, but the silvery cloud was gone... then I saw this...

  
Termites! Hatching out of an old pine log and flying away. Where the heck are the guineas, and where are all those frogs and lizards when you need them. "Here guinea, guinea, guinea", I called...

and they came running! Surprised me too!

I left them to enjoy their feast!

Well, I didn't get any scaffolding built for the chickens but I did find a big fallen tree limb...  

and dragged it into the lot. Most of the hens flew up on the limb, but, of course, by the time I got the camera out all had jumped down...

except for one.

The weather forecast for next week sounds absolutely wonderful. Lower humidity, lower temperatures, and sunshine!!! Things should dry out, even the poor chicken's feet. 

That's about it for now. I'm going back into the heat, this time, up to the garden to finish the little wattle fence. Such as it is! :)

Thank you friends.

Love,
Henny