Thought I would take five minutes...

and start a new blog post. This was at 7:30 a.m. It is now after 8:00. I got wrapped up reading other blogs. 

Anyhow, remember my little, "Old Motor Grader Road", museum? Well, even though the dirt path has been fixed and gravel spread...we still occasionally find old rusty farm pieces.

It's kind of like looking for arrowheads after a big rain. Bits and pieces keep coming to the surface. 

Know what this is? Hope someone does...

Look how rusty! It has a loop on one end and is sharp on the other. Poppy spotted this sticking out of the dirt along the ditch. 

You know what's funny about this new piece is that one evening on the Western, "Gunsmoke", Poppy saw a piece just like it hanging in an old barn. Mostly what I find are old rusty nails. :(

Oh and look at this...

It's barb wire. Very old, barb wire!

Here's a better look...

I can't even imagine how this must have looked at one time. Poppy says the wire must have been put up using a cedar tree as a post. The tree grew over the years, covering the wire, bringing it into the tree. Eventually the tree died and rotted away leaving just pieces like this. Can you imagine how many years that would have taken. 

We both laughed and laughed...Poppy said, "when was barb wire invented"? "Have no idea", I said, "Google it and find out". Poppy asked, how do you spell bob wire anyway? Is it just like it sounds?  b.o.b. w.i.r.e. ?  Hey, I was at least 50 before someone corrected me. :)

Got the neatest gift from Andee and Todd for Mother's Day...

a cast iron pie pan! There are lots of wild blackberries growing along Henny Penny Lane this year. Can't you just picture it? :)

Caught Poppy loading trash on the truck...

and as he went out, told Smokey he needed to go outside for a while...

That's okay Mokey, I'm coming to let you back in. :)

Guess I had better get busy. Need to feed the bunnies. We have storms predicted for late afternoon. yuk! Be back soon.

Love, Henny

  

Five Little Bonnets lined up in a Row...

 Sounds like there should be a nursery rhyme in there somewhere, doesn't it? 

Somehow all this reminded me of mama and how she loved the old nursery rhymes. A few years before she passed away, we found a pretty Mother Goose book in a thrift store. Mama bought it. We sure enjoyed looking at the pictures and reading the nursery rhymes. 

My silly blog, as a matter fact, was kinda fashioned after the old nursery rhymes. (some of us never get past the age of 10, you know).  :)

I remember when my daughter Lynn was setting up my blog she called and asked, "mama, what do you want on your blog...how do you want it to look?" "Well", I said, "a few nursery rhymes, some hens and baby chicks, and maybe a rooster". "What name do you want to go by", Lynn asked. "Ummm, how about Henny Penny".  So now you know. :)

My blog really needs updating but I can't seem to get anything to work and Lynn is way too busy to bother with trivial things such as this. 

I still haven't taken a picture of the garden, except this from our early morning walk...Poppy is in there somewhere. We were walking Eli and Ellie.

Well, I started this post a week ago then got busy with the garden and cleaning up the yard. 

I carried all the bonnets and aprons to the farmer's market again last Saturday...and guess what! Sold four more bonnets. What a surprise. I mean who would have thought that old fashioned bonnets would sell? Maybe more folks, like me, are longing for the simpler times, the good old days.

Poppy and I leave early tomorrow morning for West Virginia. Our granddaughter Madison is getting married on Saturday. Hang on, let's see if I can find a picture...

well, here they are...this picture was taken just a few months ago...her handsome fiance' is seven feet tall and just graduated from dental school. Madison is into her first year of teaching physics and chemistry...

Gosh, Poppy and I never, never, go anywhere. Do you reckon we will even know how to act?

Guess I had better get busy. Still got all the animals to worry about. Plan to leave them all with plenty of food and water for the weekend, plus a neighbor will stop in morning and night. Eli and Ellie will be boarding at a nice new kennel about a 15 minute drive from here. They tell us that Great Pyrenees are well cared for there. We will sure miss them.

Will leave you with a little humming bird picture...Poppy thinks is really neat. It's the shadow...

Thank you friends for stopping by. I loved your comments on my last post. Can't believe, even another follower. Sure appreciate you all. 

Love, Henny

A little decorating, A little painting

Seems like the harder I try to be a good blogger, the worse I do, and getting worser and worser. Is worser a word? Shakespeare said, "I cannot hate thee worser than I do",  (just learned this from Merriam-Webster). 😊 Also learned from the Collins English Dictionary that the word 'worser' is found only in some regional dialects, and is considered non-standard. Sounds like me! 

Anyhow, been doing a little decorating, 'little' for sure...

I did bring in lots of cedar (from limbs hanging over the dam that needed to be cut anyway).

and the mantle...nothing special, just set up parts of the little Christmas village without taking down the Indian pictures...

Seems like everyone, well, except me, is going all out with decorations this Christmas. Oh, but I am excited about Christmas. I love Christmas!

We did move the little tree from in front of the windows to the wall space under the deer...

and picked out just a few ornaments, but then noticed the green cord is showing and half the lights are burned out...sigh. Well, half my lights are burned out too. 

and again...I have pulled out my old 'Country Living' magazines from the late 1980's and early 1990's. These were the most beautiful Christmas magazines, and usually featured log homes. 

Candy canes on the coffee table. Have you tried the 'hot chocolate' flavored ones? 

Here's a bit of news.  Lowes Home Improvements installed our new front door this week. Yay!!

The glass in the old door had become cloudy. After 31 years, the seal had broken and no amount of cleaning made it better. It was awful and depressing to look at? I dearly love clean windows so having to look through this cloudy glass for the last few years was driving me crazy.

The new door! I LOVE it, but it's white and needs painting. The white is beautiful, isn't it?

but just doesn't go with these dark cedar walls. Here's the outside...

Tomorrow I will start the tedious job of painting. The color we picked for the door is 'sweet tea,' and the trim will be dark, like the board over the door. I will post 'after' pictures. 

This new blogger!!! I like big print and Blogger is determined to pick the print size for me...and not only that...mix all print sizes together!!!  and move my words around! I hate how it all looks! 

Better say goodnight. It's Poppy's bedtime. He will be in here to check the emails one last time. 

This is a terrible post, but I'll publish it anyway. Thank you friends for putting up with me.  Maybe a picture of Smokey will make things better...

Love,

Henny

 

A bunch of stuff

You know, I really did do a pitiful job of posting about the Vintage Market Days in Raleigh. Simply pitiful. Why, the only sweet part of the whole post was Andee and Santa. So next time, if I can't do a better job, I won't post at all. Whew! Glad that's off my chest! 

So, I will bombard you today with a bunch of stuff...like a slew of Santas...

Don't know why I ever stopped making these little Santa dolls. They sell really well at craft fairs. Shelby asked me about them, So I buckled down and made ten of them. Five little couples, to take to the "Santa Christmas Bazaar" this coming Saturday.

and let me show you a really beautiful, really special gift that came in the mail to me from Texas...

from a very special blogging friend, Barbara. Barbara doesn't have a blog, as far as I know, but we met through my blog, and now we visit by email.

She said her Mother and her Grandmother both did the handwork on this little apron. I love the lace. It goes all around and it so dainty and beautiful.
Barbara said she is doing some cleaning out and thought I would appreciate this old apron...and she was exactly right. I love it! Thank you Barbara! 

now, down the chicken path...

it's easy to see who rules. Do you think he could have found a higher perch to speak from?

Hard to tell if this is father or son. The one baby chick raised here this summer turned out to be a rooster, the spitting image of his dad. So far, they seem to be buddies. So far, no fighting.

So, while we are down this way...

the sun actually came out yesterday morning. Now, these scrubby oak trees are nowhere near as pretty as, oh my gosh, some of the trees I've seen on other blogs.  But seeing the sun  shining through, warmed my heart so beautifully!! I mean, we haven't seen the sun in over a week. 

 I love the shadows too.

Winter came way too soon

and my last picture...

At the edge of dark Poppy comes in from hunting, and what a big welcome he gets. That tail moves so fast it's nothing but a blur, and not to worry, Little Weetie gets a belly rub too. Poppy calls her Fatty Watty. 

Guess that's about it. I'll be in the sewing tonight, folding and packing for the craft bazaar. 

Thank you for your comments on that last sorry post of mine. 

Love,
Henny 

Let me clear this up, right now! :)

Poppy was reading my most recent post today and when he got to the part about him and the computer, he said, "Mel, your blogging friends are going to think that I stay on the computer". "You know good and well there are times when you are outside doing something that doesn't have to be done, that you could be on the computer working on your blog". 

Poppy does sell on ebay and checks often to see if an item has sold...but it's my fault if I don't get to the computer...I'm such a mouse!

and seeing as I'm here anyway...

It is still too cold to hang around up at the playhouse, but wanted to show you a thing or two. Way back last summer, Linda at lindaletters.blogspot.com ( one of my favorite blogs) suggested hanging an old mirror on a wall at the playhouse. Well, I loved the idea and have looked for one every time I've been in a thrift store.

Recently in The Salvation Army store a clerk put out this yellow sun mirror. It's not old, but I kinda like it. Thank you Linda for the idea.

and the pretty hearts, I bought in Virginia when I visited my daughter Andee...and had to drive across that scary bridge and go through that underwater tunnel. 

Anyhow, that's it for tonight. Poppy got four more big sweetgum logs split today and we stacked the wood on the porch to be used next winter.

Thank you friends! Hope to be back soon.

Love,
Henny

 

Explaining again

Oh my goodness, "THANK YOU" to my new followers.

Why, I could just squeeze Lynn for ever saying, "Mom, I think you would enjoy having a blog". 

Never, ever, dreamed that anyone would find me and my blog, or come back, if they did find me! So, thank you. I appreciate your friendship so much! I needed a friend, and just look what I've gotten.

Yesterday was Poppy's birthday. This is his birthday cake. He wanted to eat at the Remington Grill in town, so we did. He had a grilled rib eye steak sandwich and I had a hamburger. Then we came home and had a big piece of the cake. 

He said, "you're not serious", when I handed him the cake...referring to the size. "Well, I've cut myself a piece the same size", I told him. Neither of us left so much as a crumb for the chickens.

speaking of chickens...

The hens have decided to lay again, and it's about time. They have been eating us out of house and home for the last three months and not laying. Seems good to have four dozen eggs in the refrigerator again.

The snow has melted, and this morning brought rain and high winds.

and this afternoon, would you just look at the sunshine! The cats must have found their way to the back porch as I left the door opened. It is an unbelievable 69 warm degrees. 

Thank you for the comments too. I'm still trying to reply, especially, to those who visit but don't have a blog. I figure, those who do blog, I can visit you there. Hummm, did I say all that right?

Thank you!

Love, 

Henny  

A bit of news

First, have you ever seen a prettier pair of socks in your whole life? I haven't!

These socks were hand-knitted by Pam and came to me all the way from Wales. Wales! Seriously! Thank you Pam. I LOVE these socks! Pam blogs at "A new life in Wales".

These are the softest, most comfortable socks I've ever put on my feet! Now I shuffle around the house in my sock feet all the time, and wear holes in the heels of my socks. These socks are too nice for that and I probably should wear then only when my feet are going to be propped up on the coffee table...to be admired. I simply cannot wear holes in these socks!

by the way, which is correct, "hand-knit by Pam" or "hand-knitted by Pam"? I looked this up on the internet, but still don't know so went with what sounded right to me. 

and my second bit of news...two new followers, Donna Richards and Lady Jane. Thank you so much! Wow!

The plants in the teeny tiny greenhouse needed watering. Look what was blooming inside. Several pots of vinca and a couple of flowering quince. 

Last summer, the quince had limbs growing too long and reaching into the path, so I clipped them off and stuck a few pieces in pots. Had no idea these would take root and bloom this soon.

The little greenhouse looks terribly dirty and ugly right now and I don't know how to make it pretty again. Red dirt and dust, from the dirt road, has settled in the grooves in the panels and no amount of washing will make it clean again. 

Poppy says we might as well buy a new greenhouse and to try and replace the panels. 

and speaking of flowers...

the pink flowered apron is finished. The picture does not show the true pink color.

This would be my favorite apron, so far. I love the softness of the flowers and the soft pink and even the fabric is a soft cotton. My favorite!

and while we're in the sewing room...Poppy popped his head in the door and asked, what size table could you use in there? Look, he ordered the perfect 2' x 4' , easy to fold and slide under the bed. That huge 8' x 4' table was taking up the whole room! Why, I had to use mama's old picker-upper stick to reach over the bed to open and close the curtains. Men do come in handy, at times.

from soft pink to bright yellow...

I got smart and made this lemon meringue pie yesterday...

I always manage to take the pie out of the oven before it gets brown enough...but it was good.

Guess I should get busy. Poppy works on Mondays and Tuesdays, 6:00 am to 1:00 pm. That gives me time to mop the kitchen and vacuum real good, as mama used to say, oh, and time to blog a little!

Speaking of mama...she used to get so mad and ill as a hornet, trying to clean with my step-dad, Bill, in the house. They were older at the time and my step-dad spent most of the day sitting in his spot at the kitchen table. Mama, had her mop water and was bent over mopping the kitchen as hard as she could go when Bill asked, "you want me to move"?  "No! Mama snapped. If there is any dirt on the floor under your chair, I'm sure you will keep it covered up all day"!   It was best to stay out of mama's way when she was in cleaning mode.

Like mama, I'm fixing to get busy!

Love,
Henny

Thinking about you all!

Been thinking all morning, as I cleaned around sleeping animals...

how I simply had to post a little something on my blog.

Poppy left at 5:00 this morning, going down home to deer hunt with his nephew. So, I have been cleaning. I'm excited. My daughters, Lynn and Andee, are coming to visit. Rarely, do we get a chance to be together, just the three of us. It will be fun having them here for the night. Anyhow, Lynn calls us the three musketeers. For sure, we will find time to go in a few thrift stores.

How can such a big dog curl up in such a small space?

Well friends, guess what I've screwed up now on my blog . Somehow, I've managed to delete you all, my "blog list". Lynn says maybe she can figure it out, and put you all back. :(

and good gosh! By any chance have you looked at the "Labels" on my blog? There must be five thousand of them...why, I've got stuff labelled, for instance...cupboard, old cupboard, antique cupboard, front porch cupboard, cleaning the old cupboard...that kind of thing. I'm in the process of straightening that mess out myself. Oh well, it takes all kinds. 

Thank you, friends. Hope to be back soon! 

Love,

Henny

Oops! and here's the rest of old sweet Smokey...