Yearly Porch Cleaning...

and it's that time again! Sometimes here under all the trees, seems like the pollen will never end! What a green dusty mess the back porch was, so on a warm sunny day last week I went to work with a mop and bucket of warm soapy water...and of course the water hose.

far from perfect, but here's our clean porch...chairs fit to sit in again...

Oops! Just realized I took the picture before putting the clean tablecloth back on the table. The old porch floor needs another coat of paint...maybe one day.  

and, the other end of the porch...

Well, the porch doesn't look as pretty as I would like but most of the dirt and dust is gone.

So yesterday I went to work on our little front porch...dragging furniture around while mopping and scrubbing and rinsing away a year's worth of dirt...

and here's the other end of the teeny tiny porch...

My favorite thing about the little front porch is the old cupboard. You can barely see it over to the right in the first picture. I've told the story a hundred times, but the cupboard was a gift from my cousin Patty...

Anyhow, I've taken out all the fall dishes and stuff and added spring dishes...

I had to rake and scrape to gather the right dishes. My next trip to the thrift store I hope to find a pretty flowered pitcher and a few more things. 

Patty and I were texting about the new spring look and she suggested moving the candle to the side instead of in the center...so I did.  Poppy must have thought it looked off balance and centered it again. :(  

Anyhow, decorating the old cupboard added joy to the scrubbing of the front porch.

Better get busy. I'll be doing the farmer's market tomorrow. I have finished three aprons and 4 bonnets this week. Want to show you this cute one with the flowers and bees and butterflies...

and a couple of lavender bonnets...(pardon the messy bed)

Sewing is messy work.  :)   Thank you so much dear friends, and a new follower. Oh my. Thank you!

Love, Henny

I love reds and pinks, and little mice!

See the little red transferware pitcher there in the center? I love it!

Poppy and I returned home Friday to find a package on the front porch, addressed to me.

It was from the sweetest blogging friend, Dianna, up in West Virginia. Dianna's blog is "Forgiven".

Dianna said she remembered my mentioning that I like the red transferware. Dianna collects the blue, so when the little red pitcher turned up in a box from an auction she and her husband had been to, well, she thought of me, and I am so tickled that she did!! Thank you Dianna! You make me want to be a better person. 

While I'm on a roll with reds...and pinks...

this little pink checked apron has been half finished and taking up room at the sewing machine. Thinking it would get me motivated to start on other aprons, I buckled down and finished it. The pink checks look a little old fashioned, don't you think?

m'lady needs a new dress for modeling the aprons...

is this prettier?

Yesterday I started out the front door to take a picture of my new car (yes!!!) and dropped the camera. It hit on the brick pavement and cracked open just a tiny bit, the pictures are now a little fuzzy. :(  Guess Poppy will be on Amazon looking at cameras tonight.

Oh my gosh! Did you catch that,  "new car"?

a brand new Nissan Rogue!!!

I don't know how to act!! Seriously, I don't!! After driving mama's little 1998 Corolla for several years, and friends, you know what mama said about that Corolla..."it didn't come with anything but a set of seats".  This new car even has a clock! :-)

One more thing to tell you...Some of you may remember about a year ago, September 2016, when I rescued a little mouse that was caught in a piece of wire.  My post about it was called "mouse rescue". I thought, never again in my life time would I have to rescue a mouse, but it has happened again, except this time at the bunny's pen. 

Thank goodness for blogging friends, because I could never tell Poppy that I rescued another mouse. You can see how I had to clip the wire. Poor little mouse, just like before, this one tried to go through the half inch square wire and got stuck, only this mouse turned and tried to go back through another hole. He was stuck twice. My heart felt like it would break. 

image from Wikipedia

I ran to the house and got my work basket which held the wire cutters, scissors, and pliers. Carefully, I had to squeeze the tip of the wire cutters between the fat little body and the wire and then snip. Then with the needle nose pliers, I bent the tiny pieces of wire up and away, freeing the mouse. He scurried away under a board and I walked to the house with my nerves shot, but happy.

Thank you, if you've managed to read all this. :)

Love,
Henny

We were at Urgent Care early this morning. Poppy woke up feeling mighty bad, running a fever, coughing, sneezing and very hoarse. The doctor says he has an upper respiratory infection.  

Answering a couple of questions :)

I have a new follower! I know, I can't believe it either! :) Thank you, Mari.

Deb, at Just Cats, asked how Bickett got his name...

That's right, Bickett,  Deb was asking about you. 

It was on a Sunday morning in October of 2005. I slowed to stop for a red light at the intersection of Bickett Blvd. and a main highway in town and saw a tiny black and white kitten in the middle of the road. 

I stopped the car and jumped out, waving my arms to stop a van that was headed our way. I picked up this poor little dirty kitten and holding him close to my heart, got back in car and drove away.

These are not good baby pictures of Bickett, and the dirty tee shirt is on my grandson who had been fishing. But, you can see Bickett's little nose and eyes were dirty. The vet said right off that he had ringworm. This kitten needed me.

I shed some tears over this kitten. You see, Poppy did not want a cat! We had dog, lots of dogs, but no cats. It just happened that Mama was spending a few days with us, and she said to Poppy, why don't you tell her she can keep that kitten. I don't know why, but he said okay. Poppy always loved my mother anyway. 

And here's Bickett today, eleven years old and practically running things around here. I love this cat!  So, Bickett got his name from the boulevard where I found him. Thank you Deb for asking.

Mildred, at Mildred's Blog asked if I would use my pretty new teacup for drinking tea, or cider, or hot chocolate...well, you know what? I would really love to be a hot tea drinker. I try so hard to love it. It just seems so ladylike to have tea in a pretty teacup in the afternoon and you ladies who do drink that hot tea, well, it looks absolutely delicious. 

I've always wanted to have a tea party or go to a tea party, but gosh, I wouldn't know how to act.

Growing up, the only kind of tea we had was a pitcher of sweet tea. We did drink coffee. Even as a little girl, mama would fix me coffee, with a little coffee in the cup and lots of cream and sugar.

So, I do drink the occasional cup of hot tea. I like mine with honey. :)  Thanks for asking Mildred. 

Better get away from this computer and get all the animals situated for the night. 

Love,
Henny

Sunshine, a teacup, and "B" takes a walk

The sun came out this morning after several gloomy, rainy days and it has been simply glorious! My kind of day! It felt so go to work outside in the sunshine, cleaning up dirty pens and buckets and feeders...everything was splattered with dirt from the three inch heavy rain storm we had just yesterday.

Thursday morning was dark and rainy too, so Poppy and I drove to Henderson. We needed a few groceries and he had some prescriptions to pick up. Hey, we should go in the Salvation Army thrift store, seeing as how we are here anyway, I said...trying to make it sound fun. Poppy doesn't enjoy thrift stores like I do. So we did and...

Guess who finally found a teacup and saucer! "She, who never finds teacups at thrift stores"!

There is a tiny chip on the saucer, but that's okay, I found it and I'm keeping it. Anyhow, it was only .49 for each piece and the little birds are so pretty...Little Wrens maybe?

Bickett ambled out the front door this morning, meowing that he would be right back...

Wait, that's him coming down the road now...

Bee, you missed the driveway.

I did?

Wow, walking makes you tired!

Guess I need to start supper. Poppy will coming in from the woods soon...well around 7:00. That makes supper time late. Oh well, what difference does it make.

Thank you, if you're still here.

Love,
Henny

Pink dishes and a few animals

A quarter for this old towel at the thrift shop and I like it...

I was admiring this little towel while eating my oatmeal this morning, and thinking about mama. The little pitcher holding the tiny little glass spoons belonged to mama. Something we found at a thrift shop while out shopping together several years ago. Mama loved little pitchers and used to collect them. Andee gave me the glass measuring spoons.

This small pitcher came from a thrift shop and the larger one, another gift from Andee...

I'm wondering, are the old pink dishes called "pink willow" like the "Blue Willow" china...

Anyhow, all of these pink dishes are odds and ends found at thrift shops. I need dinner plates and cups to be able to use these dishes. 

When Andee and Todd were stationed in Germany, Andee shopped at a place called "the dead man's store" (I believe that's the right name). She bought so many beautiful things and lots of the pink willow dishes. 

I have a weakness for dishes and can't resist bringing home odd pieces. I also love old cupboards and wish there was room in the cabin for this antique cupboard cousin Pat gave me. I would love to fill it with old dishes.

Animal pictures for the day. Smokey in Poppy's chair again...

Always close to his big buddy.  Smokey is gaining weight. Can you tell?

Weetie on guard. Dozing. Always with one ear up and one ear down..

Poor baby. This is not prison. Just waiting for mama to let the chickens out. She will be right back...

Better get up from this computer and get busy. I need exercise today and hope to get it by raking leaves and moving some stuff out of the yard. Need to first finish the house work. yuk!.

Hope to be back soon and thank you for stopping by.

Love,
Henny