UPS AND DOWNS

Hey dearest blogging friends,

Here we are once again in desperate need of a little sunshine...

Rain, rain, and more rain! Lately around here it's like looking at old black and white pictures. Yesterday, four doves sat waiting for their morning cup of birdseed.

Today, skies are even more gray with wind and blowing rain. Glad I noticed my old Crocs were full of rain water before slipping my feet into them. Nothing worse than cold wet socks. 

On a brighter note...last Friday the 22nd. was Poppy's birthday. I was in Walmart and happened upon a big box of unusual masks. Couldn't resist this one...

Why, I've always said, Poppy and Eli kinda favor each other, see what I mean...

It's the profile! :)  Hopefully, Poppy won't mind my posting his picture in the Eli mask. He had just come home from work and was looking a little tired. 

and on a sad note...

my precious little Heidi goat is not doing well. Heidi came to live with us in April of 2018. We have an appointment with the vet tomorrow at 2:00. Will let you know what we find out.

Oh, Poppy and I got our Covid vaccine last Thursday. We sure did! Around 8:30 am we turned off Hwy 401 South onto the Franklin County Airport Road and immediately found ourselves behind a good mile of cars; folks in line, waiting their turn...bumper to bumper we inched along...

at 10:30 am we pulled our car up between to two waiting nurses, each wielding a syringe fitted with a needle; one on Poppy's side, one on my side :(  It was over in an instant and we were then instructed to pull the car into the block of cars to wait our 15 minute safety period...to see if there would be any adverse reaction to the shot. 

precisely at the 15 minute mark we were directed back onto the airport road; but in the opposite direction from whence we had come and given directions to get back to Hwy 401 going North.  However!!! Hwy 401 was backed up for miles and miles; traffic heading north from Raleigh, mixed with traffic from the airport.  We were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for 3 hours! A traffic jam that made the local evening news. A total of 5 hours we sat in the car!

Here it is Wednesday morning...another wet, foggy morning. I was deep into my story about the vaccine last night when Poppy announced that he was ready for bed...that, "we have to get up at 4:00 tomorrow morning". So, I shut everything down. :) 

Thank you for visiting...if you're still here. 

I'll leave you with Weetie in her little hiding place...

where she eats her treats.

Love,

Henny

FIVE MINUTE BLIZZARD

Okay, you're going to laugh at my picture, and the tale of the blizzard that hit Henny Penny Lane on Saturday...

but let me explain. It was the weirdest thing! Most of you know how afraid I am of thunderstorms. 

Well, weatherwise, Saturday was very strange..we had rain, we had a little sun, we had wind and we had rolling dark clouds...supposedly it was fairing up and turning cold.

Around 3:30, Poppy looked out across the cutover and said, "Mel, if you're going to feed the bunnies and give the goats hay, you'd better go. The clouds look terrible".

I looked out the front door and said, "nah, those are fairing up clouds. That's what mama always called them".

Anyhow, I got my coat and boots, and bucket of feed. Gave each of the goats hay, pushed the wheelbarrow under the edge of the porch, drew a bucket of water and headed to the bunny lot.

The 10' x 10' bunny lot has a heavy duty canvas roof and also three sides covered with tarps that can be rolled up or let down, depending on the weather. All tarps were down, so the rabbits and I were pretty well enclosed, and unaware of how dark the sky had become...

when suddenly there was a BOOM of THUNDER followed immediately by BLOWING SLEET mixed with snow...my hands trembling, (that was lightning and thunder, mind you!) I grabbed both buckets, somehow managed to close and lock the gate, then tried to run for the house...thinking "DAN, WHERE ARE YOU!!!  SUDDENLY, THERE WAS DAN!! I absolutely could not run! Dan grabbed one of the buckets and my hand, and we ran, him pulling me along, uphill, facing the wind with what felt like shivers of glass hitting us in the face!

I know, this is North Carolina and I've never been through a blizzard in my whole life...but this was really freaky. It lasted about five minutes...long enough for me to grab the camera...

That's the rabbit lot way down past the little red shed. See the canvas top? So now, you all have my permission to laugh. We both laughed when it was over. Poppy saw the streak of lightning just before I heard the boom of thunder...He knew I would be scared to death, so came to rescue me. :) Bless his heart!

Better get going. Andee will be here soon. Nothing makes me any happier than to have a daughter come visit.  

Is that Smokey at the door?

Why yes! My sweetest boy!

Love,

Henny

Eli, and a few other things

Good thing I didn't boldly announce "MY NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION IS TO POST SOMETHING ON MY BLOG EVERY SINGLE DAY!"  That was actually a thought, you know. :)

Let me begin with old sweetie pie. Can you tell he is asking, "MAMA, HOW LONG BEFORE SUPPER'S DONE"?

We talk to each other that way; it's those eyes! Wednesday was Eli's birthday. He turned seven years old. Seems like just yesterday we brought that sweet little ball of fur home...

His first visit to the vet, Dr. Davis said to me, "YOU WON'T BE CARRYING HIM AROUND IN YOUR ARMS VERY LONG", and he was right. Eli grew really big, really fast!

and claimed Poppy's foot stool...

and has carried the same old Teddy Bear around for seven years...

and kept Teddy with him while on the job. Just kidding. Eli never worked a day in his life. He does like being with the goats but is probably saying, "YOU GOATS BETTER LEAVE MY TEDDY BEAR ALONE!"  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELI!

Well, here it is the middle of January and we still have half an acre of fall leaves to rake, but not to worry, Poppy stopped by Ace Hardware...

and brought me a brand new metal rake and new wheelbarrow. I have just about worked the wheels off my pretty pink wheelbarrow, no kidding, so it will be used for light duty now. Plus, I just didn't like that new wide plastic rake, purchased a few weeks ago. I am not a plastic person...give me heavy duty metal, any time! :)

Back in 1987 when we moved in our little log cabin, I vowed to do away with all plastic. We bought every piece of granite ware we could find. I still love, and use my old granite ware...

well, not so much those old slop jars on the top shelf. Sorry about the pitifully stocked pantry shelves. Had to spread things out to look like I spent lots of time canning last summer. :) 

I've used the small blue roasting pan many many times. It is perfect for cooking turkey breast and there's a large one on the pantry shelf that's good for ham or whole turkey. Both are old granite ware found at flea markets. How did I get off on all this anyway?

Guess I'll get back to work. Poppy worked at Food Lion this morning, giving me a break to get a little housework done....He gets off at 1:00! Better go!

Love,

Henny

I'll be around to visit and catch up. Absolutely can't believe I have a few new followers. Thank you so much! Hey, you just can't beat blogging friends. 

Sunshine and Chickens, Yay!

One of these days, when Lynn has time, I'm going to update the look of my blog. It's about time isn't it. Been this way since February 2013, but it still works. :)

We actually had a little sunshine yesterday and I was like a chicken with it's head cut off running around trying to decide what to do first. Then I noticed the rake leaning against a tree. :( Three tarp loads and three wheelbarrow loads later I dragged myself up the front steps and in the door, mighty proud of how that part of the yards looks now.

I wasn't the only one tickled to see the sun. Our soon to be neighbor Steve, was out working on the path. I waved from the chicken lot but he didn't see me...

Chickens excited over a little sunshine, gathered in a sunny corner...

 Notice how the new red hens have grown...

These sweet hens stay under my feet. Sure have to watch where I step. Don't think I've told you, but we lost one of our new hens which broke my heart. Have no idea what was wrong with her. She just got sick and died. She was eating and drinking right up to the end, but when I picked her up, was shocked at how little she weighed. 

Glad the hens are getting along now. Bringing in new chickens while the old chickens were moulting was stressful. That was an ill bunch of old hens the new hens had to adjust to.

We have had way too much rain lately and even the days without rain, were cloudy. Anyhow, late one evening the first of the week, the sun came out just before dark and made the most unusual colors on the trees...

almost looks like fall instead of winter...

Now we have rain again today with a chance of snow flurries tonight. We'll see.

Eli thought the trees were strange looking too. 

I'll never understand about Blogger and why it won't let use the large print. Lynn says she will help me with that too, when she has time. Lynn just started work at Michaels...her dream job! Guess it would be, for anyone into crafting, like Lynn is.  She is still making journals...big time!

Thank you for visiting. :)

Love,

Henny

Done with Deer Season!

Don't know about you, but we could sure use a day of sunshine around here. In fact, we could use an entire month with no rain.   

The weatherman said sun today, with a few clouds...I wonder what state he was talking about? It's been dark and cloudy here and misting rain.

Oh, but I am happy about the beginning of a brand new year...and happy too that deer hunting season has ended! Maybe the sun will shine again soon and things will calm down a bit...

Eli and Weetie have have worked full time keeping up with the yapping and barking of hunting dogs running in the area.  I must have opened the front and back doors a thousand times...letting them out and in, as they tore from front porch to back porch; gnarling and barking and carrying on. 

I'm tired of hearing about it all too. Every year, it's a battle between the still hunters and the dog hunters. Poppy and a couple others out here still hunt...sitting in a tree for hours, hoping a monster buck will walk past. 

While down below on the paved road the dog hunters abound; the sides of the roads lined with mud splattered pick-up trucks, each sporting a dog box on the back. The dogs are released, then the hunters gather around each other's trucks to admire the red mud and wait for the dogs to roust up a deer. 

and like Poppy says, once a pack of deer dogs run under your tree stand, you might as well come down and go home. WHY am I even talking about this! Well, I do have one more "hunting" story...

Just about every day that Poppy hunted, he came home complaining that something was stinging or biting his arm.  I must have washed his thermals a dozen times hoping to wash out whatever it was. Finally, we decided to take a closer look and there...

deeply embedded in the fabric was a straight pin, with a pearl head! I laughed! Of course, it had to be my fault, but I have no idea how that pin got there. 

A crow stopped in for a snack...

Oh, I've been meaning to show you what a good job our new, little red hens are doing...

Had no idea these hens would start laying in December. Big pretty eggs, and these are the sweetest hens.

Guess that's it for now. Anyhow, it's about time to dip ice cream. Poppy has been eating Turkey Hill's Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream...and I've just finished a carton of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.

Hope to be back real soon.

Love,

Henny