My nature post, and a kitty cat

Before getting into my "nature" post, I've got to show you this...

The camera happened to be close by so I snapped this picture of Dumperoo. Have no idea what that is over him, unless there is a little angel hovering there?? :)

Do you know what this is??

"You need to bring your camera and get a picture of this", said Poppy. 

"It is the biggest wasp nest I've ever seen". 

Oh my goodness!! This thing is as big around as a dinner plate, and has what looks like a thousand wasps.  This nest hangs over the edge of the pond so it was hard to get a good shot from underneath where all the wasps are. 

Still no fall-like weather, but the big fall spiders have arrived...

this one, up near the garden, had a huge web and was still busy weaving as I walked underneath.

and another one. This spider saw me...

and hid on the back side of this oak leaf.


Have been meaning to tell you...remember the writing spider on the back screen door?

well, she disappeared, but left this...

My daughter Lynn, who loves spiders, said, "mom, you may want to move that some place else. I don't think you want that many baby spiders on your screen door".  

We woke up to a foggy morning yesterday.

in fact, all the pictures taken yesterday would be good for a scary Halloween post. Maybe I will save the others and recall another horror story of how Poppy used to scare me on Halloween night. Of course, I have already posted about the two scariest times.

Not a very exciting post here, so thank you for stopping by.

Love,
Henny

Another flower, and a bug

Our neighbor Ann pulled into the driveway yesterday and tooted the horn. No, she was not carrying a shoe box with a baby bunny this time, she had a flower cutting...

prettiest thing I've ever seen! This picture does not do it justice. Heavy clusters of dark red berries, and white blooms, both!! "I don't remember where I bought it or what it's called", she said. 

So, I've been on line looking and it looks like, "Cardinal Candy Viburnum". I've simply got to have one. Wonder if it is the wrong time of year to root a cutting??

Anyhow, I woke up this morning with puffy eyes...

from working inside the chicken house. What a mess. Cobwebs strung from one side to the other, full of feathers and dust. I went in with the broom and rake and fresh straw. 

The guineas watched from the grapevine posts, but chickens...

they are curious and nosy, and in the middle of everything. They scattered the clean hay as soon as it hit the floor.

Did you notice little Weetie standing guard just outside the fence? She will not leave my side, and I honestly think she would tackle a bear, trying to protect me.

Oh, and speaking of chickens...I had the big idea of turning them out. Out to eat grass and roam around the pond, and down the dirt path. But friends, these 20 chickens, within 30 minutes, tore up a year's worth of my hard work. They wandered nowhere! but scratched all the mulch and pine straw from under and around every shrub and flower bed in the yard. They left no stone unturned!  Poppy said, "told you so". "I knew you were making a mistake".

I was thinking, with the leaves falling and the grass dying from the dry weather, what harm could the hens do. Well, here they were just getting started.

Noticed none of the chickens ate this stinging worm from off the chicken house door...

a strange looking creature. Googled it and found out, this is a Banded Tussock moth, Halysidota tessellaris. 

Oh, have I mentioned that the NC State Fair opened last Thursday? Shelby and I are planning to be there when the gates open on Tuesday morning!! 

We so look forward to this day. It's been a whole year! You may remember how much I wanted to ride the hobby horses last year, but didn't. Well this year, Shelby and I are seriously going to ride...first thing, or right after we eat our first ear of corn dipped in butter. There will be pictures, if I can get up on one of the horses...and back down, without breaking something. 

Love,
Henny

There's always flowers and bugs

Dear friends,

I haven't written a post fit to read in a while now. Oh, there's plenty of stuff going on, in fact, the days simply fly, but I sit down at the computer and draw a blank.

If mama was still here, her advice to me would be, "oh,  just write anything. What difference does it make"?  She was sweet, that's for sure.

Anyhow, Eli, Weetie, and I just went for a walk, without Poppy. He has to work until 5:00 today. 

we walked to the garden...

not much left there but a few flowers and some bugs.  A Katydid. Don't you wonder how the Katydid got it's name?

and a bee

the spider on this zinnia hid behind a petal

this one looks like it was torn from a child's coloring book

the okra is still blooming though most the leaves are gone from the stems

and inside, a big black ant

Just googled, "how did the katydid get it's name" and learned it is because of how it's song sounds...like "katy did, katy didn't". 

I've heard those sounds at night all my life and did not know it was the song of the Katydid. You can hear it on youtube katydid sounds.

Well, it's time to light things up in the sewing room. If I hurry, I can sew for an hour anyway.

Thank you for putting up with me.

Love
Henny

Thinking of Fall

Guess what??  The rope for the tree swing has been ordered from Amazon and should be here any day!  I am so excited and will keep you posted.  Won't be long now!  I may soon be swinging out over the goat lot!

Don't you just love these crisp cool mornings!  Fall is such a pretty time of the year.  The leaves are not turning so much around here yet, but lots of leaves are falling, probably because of the long dry spell we've had.  I could actually start raking leaves now.  Just remembered this picture from last year...

The squirrels are busier than usual...fussing in the trees and scurrying about burying acorns and pieces of corn found in the yard.  Wonder if they are telling us we are in for a rough winter? Never have I seen them eat as many new pine cones...pieces are scattered up and down our rock path!

A few years back Poppy and I were working outside one spring day...we had raised beds back then.  Suddenly a small, young squirrel came running up to us and hopped up on the side of one of the beds.  Well, I ran for the front door thinking something was wrong with this squirrel and it would attack us.  Poppy reached down and picked it up, saying "Mel, come back, this squirrel won't hurt you".  To this day we have no idea where this squirrel came from, or who raised it, but we became the best of friends.  At night he slept in a little nest in a cage and early each morning I let him out.  He lived in the yard just like all the other squirrels, but he loved to play hide and seek with me and would actually frighten me when he would jump onto the tree I was hiding behind.  When I clapped, he would jump into my hands.  This went on for months then one day I stopped at the tree he was playing on, we played for a while, I held him, and saying to him that I needed to get busy, I put him back on the tree.  I never saw him again after that day, which broke my heart.  Remembering this makes me sad.  I get so attached to, and love these animals so much.
 

I suppose one of the most, "not so enjoyable" things that comes with fall...those stinking little green stink bugs.  How do so many find their way in?

Yuk!  Have you ever vacuumed up one of these bugs?  I have and the smell if awful!  It lingers!!   Nothing to do but change the vacuum bag!  I've heard that these green stink bugs like darker houses like a log cabin, and lady bugs move into white houses.  That reminds me of mama.  Lady bugs loved mama's house!!!  I don't know which caused mama more stress...lady bugs or squirrels!!! :)

Another sign of fall that I enjoy...those cute, "teddy bear" looking wooly worms.   Wooly worms amaze me crawling so fast.  I'm always seeing them crossing the highway.  I swerved the other day to avoid hitting one on my way to town, but may have hit it...I didn't look back to see....These cuties are probably more accurate at predicting the weather than most weathermen!!!  ;)  just kidding

After a bit of reading I found out that the wooly worm is the larval stage of the Isabella tiger moth.   As far as the wooly worm predicting the weather...when the brown bands on a wooly worm are narrow, it means a harsh winter.  The wider the brown band the milder the winter will be.  Lets try to remember that!!! :)

Didn't mean to ramble on so...thank you for stopping by.

Love,
Henny Penny