If I hurry...

I just might get this, and one more post done before Christmas! I'll tell you what!  I've had "The Night Before Christmas" going through my head since the day after Thanksgiving!

Like outside trying to rake up a few leaves and going over and over in my head, "as dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, when they meet with an obstacle mount to the sky",

and, seeing the moon early mornings while out with Ellie lately, "the moon on the breast of the new fallen snow, gave a lustre of midday to objects below".  One of my favorite poems for sure! 

Moving on to more important things :) My scissors...

and this isn't all of them! There are scissors in the greenhouse and in the shop, in the kitchen, and laundry room, in my car, and a teeny tiny pair in my pocketbook! These 5 are in my sewing room. Opening the new pack of 2 yesterday (the smaller ones on the far end), made me think of my aunt Berlie...

That's her, 3rd from the left in the back row. My dear Aunt Berlie! I loved spending nights with her. She lived alone in a big old house that had an attic. I loved cutting out of an old catalog...we would go up in the attic and find an old Sears Roebuck catalog, bring it back down to the sitting room, where the heater was toasty warm, and Aunt Berlie would start looking through drawers for a pair of scissors. "I know there's a little old pair of scissors here somewhere", she would say. 

Scissors! we have so much of everything now, don't we?

Anyhow, Shelby and I, well now it's Shelby, Karen, and I were vendors at the Christmas Bazaar last month. Karen makes the most beautiful doll clothes...

Karen was bound and determined to have 50 outfits made before doing craft events. Her set-up was so pretty! Her husband Norm built the clothes rack...

and you know Shelby with all her baked goods and jams and jellies..

Customers always flock around her table. And a little glimpse of my stuff, such as it is, as mama would say...

So, a craft event really gets me going! I've been sewing just about every day since...making a few new things too!

Not much going on outside these days except trying to rake up acres of giant oak leaves! It's raining and cold today, still in the 30s as I write this. My little greenhouse, full of plants I hope to keep alive through the winter...

Need to end this but I did promise Smokey to show you this picture. You see, I forgot it last time and he especially wanted Precious to see it. You know Precious has her own blog. :) 

Thank you, Dear friends.  I appreciate you all so much. I always mean to reply to each of your comments. Where do the days go! Oh, my new Santa poster arrived this week and is hanging on the front porch. Anxious to get out all the Christmas decorations. :)

Love, Henny

A bed in the greenhouse??

First, thank you all for the nice comments on my last post. I feel bad for not replying to each one, but especially to those of you without blogs. Those with blogs, it's easy to visit and say thank you. Anyhow, I sure appreciate you all!

In my last post I told you that Eli is going on 11 years old. I was wrong. He will be 12 in January! We were in the vet's office with him yesterday and the chart on the door says that Mr. Eli, in human years, would be 92. 

Something about this picture I really like. The early morning sunrise cast such pretty colors on the old dirt road. Eli had stopped to rest, and I was asking him if he was ok. Sort of looks like an old painting, doesn't it?

The teeny tiny garden and all the potted plants are keeping me pretty busy. Poppy says I need to put myself a bed up in the greenhouse. Humm, now that's a thought...

But look, are these pictures neat...

and this one...

This is an ice plant. My friend Karen brought me a pot full last summer and I started more pots.  Oh, and while we're up at the garden, remember the old washing machine tub I use for potting soil...

and the trash can lid Poppy found lying beside the road?? Well, the lid doesn't fit tight and when it rains the soil gets wet. 

Walmart had a display of plastic tablecloths for $4.38. I bought one of the large size ones, folded it in half and cut out a circle. Sewed some binding along the edge and...

Dry soil! Also found these clips at Walmart...

Oops! Wrong picture! These clips...

Making and clipping little pleats along the bottom keeps the cover on nice and tight.

and here's a little idea...

I cut several pieces of old green clothesline wire and bent them into "S" hooks. Makes hanging things easy, like my little garden basket. 

So, that's about it for this time. I will leave you with a picture of little miss Violet. She turned one year old on May 25th! 

She is such a sweet baby and smiles all the time!!

Thank you, dear friends!

Love, Henny

Sometimes I ...

 just feel like going back in time so I pulled out my old homemade pantaloons and muslin apron...

the feeling was wonderful except when I turned to hook the gate Poppy had followed me with the camera. "Oh, good grief", I said but continued on to enjoy the day, in my little old-fashioned way. :)

The teeny tiny garden looks pretty good and has grown since these pictures were taken last week...

Instead of the usual wattle fence I love to build, Poppy ordered garden stakes for me. I am weaving twine in and out...that's fun too. Will have to take new pictures. 

Anyhow, see the little row of corn back against the fence? It seems to be doing well. Let me explain. Last summer a blogging friend to many of us, Rose, at Pics & Pieces, asked if I had ever tried growing old timey Hickory Cane Corn. She said when she was young that's what they grew, and they also planted cornfield beans along with the corn. 

So, searching online I found Hickory Cane Corn and Cornfield Bean seeds for sale and ordered both...

I just ran up to the garden. Whew! Here's a close-up...

and here's the little row of corn today...

and, while I'm at it, might as well bore you with one more of the woven bean fence...

Oh, my goodness! We've waited all winter for this! So, keeping with my old-fashioned feeling, I went behind the house and pulled our two old rusty lawn chairs to the front...

I like them here, do you? Why I remember chairs just like these sitting under a big shade tree at Aunt Ruby's house. Poppy and I found these chairs at the landfill a few years back and I just had to have them. :)

Have also been busy dividing and repotting root-bound plants and potting up cutting. "When are you going to start selling some of these", Poppy asks. Well, I've thought about putting a little note on "Nextdoor"... Eggs, Plants, Bonnets, & Aprons for sale here. Sounds fun, doesn't it? 

But we'll see. You know, because of the deer, I have given up on growing roses in the yard. Given up!! All the roses are now in pots inside the garden gate with no more worries...

Well friends, thank you if you are still here. I sure can go on and on about things. I will leave you with a picture of Eli and Ellie. You know, Eli is going on 11 years old now and his age is really showing. We can no longer take our long walks to the highway and back. His back legs just won't hold up. He is still our sweetie pie though, our special Eli. 

Love, Henny

The little Parsley plant

Last March when I started a few seeds in the teeny tiny greenhouse, I put a parsley seed in a bit of potting soil. It sprouted and grew to about the size of a toothpick.

After the garden was planted, not wanting to leave the tiny little parsley plant to die, I dug a hole at the end of a row and planted it there, then forgot about it. 

Cleaning up the garden lately this big green healthy plant growing under the edge of a  bunch of zinias caught my eye. Could that be Parsley! Is that the tiny spindly litte sprout I stuck in the garden and forgot.  

It's Parsley alright. So big and pretty! The weatherman was calling for a hard freeze Friday night. With a shovel I scooped up the whole plant, roots and all and put it in a big bucket, watered it good and put it in the greenhouse. 

The little greenhouse is not heated except for a heat lamp, the kind used for baby chicks, with a red 250w bulb. Anyhow, it worked. That was two days ago and the parsley is still pretty. I've dried five trays of parsley in the dehydrator...enough to fill one spice jar. Yay!

Oh my gosh! The leaves, the leaves, the leaves...here they had just begun to fall...

Hard to tell where the driveway ends and the path begins...it's that time of the year!!

and there have been some really pretty colors around the pond this fall...

I love the gold in this big old hickory nut tree that grows just outside Rosie's lot...Sorry I have no picture of Rosie. She is so fat! Rosie tries to eat every leaf that falls in her pasture,  and so far has done a pretty good job of keeping up.  :)

I apologize for all the pictures. I've taken so many and just need to share them with folks I love. Thank you for looking. :) Oh, and I have a few "hello" pictures from the animals, plus a little Randall Rabbit video...

another one of the pond with miss ducky...

Isn't it hard to believe that our Eli is ten years old!  He loves being out in the sun these cool days. Sunshine makes his sweet face even sweeter...

and of course our baby Ellie. Ellie is doing well on her medications. She goes in once a month for bloodwork...so far,  so good...

and now here's Randall Rabbit. What a big sweet bunny this boy has become...

Have I mentioned that I want another bunny?? Well, I do. Not just for me, but for Randall. There are some for sell in Wake Forest for only $20.00...not as big as Randall but are considered large rabbits. The problem is finding a way to get her spayed. My gosh! Why is it so expensive!

I've heard there are places that will help with the expense of spaying and neutering pets, so I am checking around. I have a Christmas craft show coming up November 18th. Hopefully, it will be a good one. Haven't mentioned all this to Poppy yet. So don't tell anybody. :)

and now the Randall Rabbit video... (especially for you Rian) Hope I remember how to load one...

Not the best post I've ever done. Thank you friends for stopping by. Our computer is dying...of course, it's about time for a new one. The screen is jumping up and down as I try to type. It's like trying to type while riding on a four-wheeler! :)

Love, Henny

Comminity Rock Pile

 Who would've guessed Tropical Storm Ophelia was headed straight for North Carolina! "Not I, said the Little Red Hen".

Winds were terrible Friday night and all day Saturday. No damage here but man, the yard and porches were simply littered in dead tree limbs and green leaves.

Guess I'll wear out another wheelbarrow cleaning up the mess...

This was the first of many loads...Poppy carried the bigger pieces away by hand...The joy of living in the woods. :)

Anyhow, about that community rock pile...

Actually, my friend Carla's husband drives a dump truck. Occasionally he brings a load of not so perfect gravel to be spread on the dirt road. Turns out this load had too many big chunks of cement...

so the rock pile, once much bigger, keeps disappearing. Folks slipping in and carting off enough to repair holes in their driveways and such...

so I'm thinking to myself, why not slip over and cart off my own few loads of gravel...maybe build something pretty...

Not even one car passed by and caught me loading up my little pink wheelbarrow.   :) But I have an advantage...see the grey showing under that center board, right side, on the gate? That's the rock pile...just a stone's throw away. 

I built a little patio, joining the greenhouse and playhouse even extending  into a little entrance way...

I kinda like it, do you? Is there anything any more fun than building something pretty?

Remember the old green tub, part of an old fashioned wringer washing machine? Holds the potting soil...

well, it was sitting atop an old rotten pallet about to fall in...what to do? plus I needed it to be a little higher...so off to my stash of wood pieces, bricks, and cinderblocks. 

Perfect! There leaning against an old saw horse...a big, brand new, wooden pallet my neighbot Windy had given me about a year ago. Headed back up to the garden for a saw and the wheelbarrow.

Whew! quite a haul from down near pond! Anyhow, stacked there is the pallet sawed in half...and...

my new, sturdier, taller, easier to reach table! Actually, to me it doesn't look as pretty as the old dark pallet but in time this too will weather and age. And now I see part of the problem...I forgot to spread out the runners on the chocolate vine. That would sorta cover the new boards...

Boy I can sure go on and on, can't I. Bet you've all ssigned off. Anyhow, if not, thank you for visiting. Sure appreciate you all.

Love, Henny

Didn't quite make it to five years...

That's right. It was February 2018 when the girls at the goat farm gave me little Heidi. I went to buy another goat, but the girls said, you can "have" Heidi, just give her a good home.

My little Heidi passed away last Monday. The vet knew right off that Heidi was very sick

She had deformed jaw bones and deformed horns and probably, the vet said, some internal deformities. He said, you've done good if you have cared for her for five years. 

Heidi was a sweetie pie and I am sure missing her. Monday was a sad day.

Isn't it unbelievable how the days fly? It seems like I get nothing done any more. I've cleaned up a little around the garden and moved some plants inside...

We've had record low temperatures lately. Normally, by early November the front yard leaves are raked up and spread over the teeny tiny garden...a warm blanket for the winter, but not this November. 

Most of the leaves are off the trees now and I can't resist picking up pretty ones here and there, and aren't these huge Popular leaves neat. I kinda like this picture...

Anyhow, you know the old saying, "if you can't lick 'em, join 'em", well, that's exactly what I am doing with the leaves. 

In fact, I had raked one small spot in the front yard just before we had a big wind storm.   Then the guineas decided to wallow holes in the one little raked spot...it looked awful! 

Earlier today, I carried my rake and wheelbarrow down to the dam and raked up four loads of pine straw mixed with leaves. I then marched myself back up to the front yard and spread them all! "There you go", I proudly announced. Felt good too. :)

I'm thinking maybe Randall Rabbit and I are best friends now....

Would you look at the size of those back feet...

He's a big lovable sweetie pie rabbit...

and loves old cardboard boxes to push around...

Well friends, I mostly wanted to finish a little post today to wish you all a safe and happy Thanksgiving. Guess it will be just Poppy and me  here...He will hunt while I cook us a little Thanksgiving meal. 

Will leave you with a couple of  pictures taken from across the pond that I like.

      

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Love, Henny