Cats in the sewing room

One good thing about this time change is having more time at night...being able to cook supper and get the dishes washed, and closing the chicken house door earlier too, which means more time to sew at night.

So here I was, in the teeny tiny sewing room last night by 7:30...me and the cats, of course.

I've signed up to do a holiday craft bazaar December 2nd and 3rd at a church just up to road. 

So, thinking I needed to finish up a few dolls, I turned my back for just a minute to pull a basket off the shelf in the closet, then turned back around to find this...

Poppy is always saying, "Mel, you sit things too close to the edge. Just this morning I moved your coffee cup back. It was just balanced on the edge of the table".

Got all the  fabric pieces squared up and put back in the box, turned around to pick up my basket and....

Dumperoo had made a bed there. Needless to say, I didn't get a lot done last night. I did get four sets of tiny clothes cut out to sew onto the dolls...tonight maybe.

After all my talk about not having any pretty colored fall leaves...here's looking out the back door...

Not spectacular, but still pretty. The maple tree in the center was damaged back in 1996 when Hurricane Fran came through. We should have cut it down, but I love a maple and had hopes for it.

Now I'm excited because there is a Pileated woodpecker living there. See the two holes near the top? With the binoculars I can see him going in and coming out.

Okay, I'm getting back to work now. Thank you for looking at my blog.

Love,
Henny

Persimmons!!

Thank you Mari. Thank you Kimberly. New followers to my blog...I appreciate you all so much.

Gathered another little handful of colored leaves, as mama would say, "such as they are", for the table on the porch. 

Thank you for looking at my blog and for the sweet comments. I wanted to reply to each one, but...I've got to be at Shelby's this morning at 9:00.

We're going to drive through the country, stop at a thrift store or two, then head on to the cemetery where mama is buried and put new flowers on her grave. Our sweet niece Vicki is meeting us there. 

This is Vicki! Wow, look at the persimmons! She has been gathering persimmons that fall from this huge tree in their grandma's yard, removing the seeds, freezing and selling the persimmon pulp for 5.00 a bag. That's a lot of work for 5.00 but she has made over $200.00!

Vicki has saved some bags for Shelby and me. Can't wait to make a persimmon pudding. I've got mama's old recipe and have tried making the pudding once...which turned out awful. Persimmon pudding is delicious...if it turns out right and has the right texture. All the country folks up that way know how to make it, and Vicki makes a perfect pudding! Miss Vicki blogs over at "get fit by 50 and other things".

Okay, better get busy...here it is almost 6:30!

Love,
Henny

Sweet Daughters

Can you believe it? Can you believe how time flies?

Those fun days with Lynn and Andee have come and gone and here another week has begun...

What a special couple of days we had together...

and Eli thought this visit was planned just for him.

Weetie says, "Andee belongs to me Eli, you stay over there with Lynn"!

Oh my, we ordered pizza for Friday night and then stayed up until after midnight talking and laughing. 

Friday, when we finally got out of the house, we stopped by Goodwill first. I then suggested we run by another little local thrift store, "Safe Space" and as luck would have it, they were having a five dollar bag sale!! We all filled a bag. One of us filled three bags!! (it was Lynn)

We made it back home in time to walk Eli and play with the the goats. Did I mention that Weetie loves Andee?

Rosie was a trip! She really put on a show, acting like she was some big mountain goat...butting those horn and standing on her hind feet. I snapped picture after picture but never got a good one.

I sure hated to tell my girls goodbye

There is a hint of color in the trees. Guess this is as good as it's going to get this fall...

Thank you for visiting. I'll be around to catch up, once again. I'm missing my blog list! Suppose the only thing left to do would be add each one of you back, one at a time...

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...

Cupboards and shelves

 I know, here we go again! Talking about the old cupboard that sits on our little front porch. I love this old cupboard, (thank you Pat), but want something different to display on the shelves. Something old fashioned. Any suggestions? I suppose it held dishes many many years ago but since it's on our little country porch, well, what do you think?

I've put another coat of Tung oil on the cupboard. If you promise to overlook the dust, you can have a peek inside at the bottom shelves...

 Canning jars. Lots of canning jars. Dust settles quickly on things when you live on a dirt road, especially in dry weather. Why, you can imagine how much space these canning jars were taking up in my teeny tiny kitchen. 

I like cabinets and shelves. This one you've seen before too. Poppy and I found it at a flea market in 1989, the year we moved into the cabin.

Now I see what I don't like about that sugar bowl and cream pitcher on the bottom shelf...that creamy color.

This cabinet was built to display dishes, but we needed a bookcase. Over half these old books need to be pulled out and carried to the thrift store. Do you recognize the rooster in the painting?

That would be Big Boy. Pam, a dear sweet friend who reads my blog, painted the picture and sent it to me. I love it. Thank you Pam.

and my little thrift store desk in the sewing room. Later, I found the hutch at another thrift store and added it. Funny how you notice things in a picture like those purple colored books on the left. Those have got to go! 

Well that's my post for today. It's about dark here and only 4:50. I stay confused for a week or so after the time changes. Of course, I stay confused most of the time anyway.

Thank you visiting. Please do come back.

Love,
Henny

Eli keeps us smiling

Well friends, those two rose bushes are in the ground. Planted! Done and done! I could hardly wait to get inside and cross those off my 'to do' lists. All these plants may die from the sheer shock of being out of the pot and into the ground.

So now, along with the other fruits that don't produce, we've added two blackberry plants, a persimmon tree, and two more rose bushes.

Early morning, Eli looks forward to going with me to feed the goats. This morning, nothing would do but he had to carry his biggest teddy bear.

Rosie wondered if this was some strange animal he had killed.

Could there be more of these lurking around?

Silly goats, don't be frightened. I'm not frightened.

I love my teddy bear, he won't hurt you.

We are still waiting for that beautiful fall look here. We are beginning to think the fall colors have passed us by.

and these are the two pitiful looking blackberry plants. 

Better get busy. Eli is letting me know it's time to go out. We are getting a sprinkle of rain this morning. Much needed rain too. It's too dry to rake leaves even. Stirs up a dust. 

I've simply got to add more items to the bonnet shop. I've made some bag holders and a couple more girl's aprons...Oh, and a very special Thank You, to Pam, for your apron order. 

Speaking of aprons, here's a switch. Poppy mentioned needing a cloth apron to cover his old plastic apron that he wears at the deer processing plant. So I raked and scraped and put together a camouflage work apron.

He liked it and so did another worker, so I've made two.

Thank you, well, if you're still here. :)

Love,
Henny

Bunny update and a few other things

Bonnie, thank you for following my blog. It makes me happy to have another friend. Best friends I've ever had are my blogging friends.

and speaking of friends, (in reply to a comment), Sharon, sure wish I could take credit for painting this welcome sign, but actually, a friend found it in a Goodwill store and bought it for me, thinking it would fit in well out here with us and the chickens.

Gosh, I can't paint anything, hardly even a wall. I've simply got to get our bathroom and hallway painted before the holidays, and will probably make a mess of that! 

Looks like I have a hard time even getting a good picture using a camera! 

Anyhow, look how Penny has grown. She needed to get out of her cage and hop around like BunBun and Fiona...

and the first place she hopped was right into the water bowl. Each of the bunnies have a water bottle but I keep a pan filled too, just in case. Poppy says I overdo everything...making things harder than need be. I'm a worrier, for sure.

This is Penny's little bedroom. Her steps are made of cinder blocks...not as pretty, but she tickles me going in and out of the holes. 

There are now three sections to the 10 x 10 lot. When Penny gets a little older, all three can play together.

Miss Fiona has a three story flat. Poppy passed by the other day and said, I can't believe you have turned this dog lot into a home for rabbits.

I do enjoy the bunnies..and the guineas...

this one watched me open the chicken house door early this morning.

while Eli checked out things in the goat's lot

and I did spot a tiny bit of color in the trees.

see what I mean about all the brown leaves? Could it be this dry weather?

Better get busy. I started this post yesterday but left the computer to walk outside. That walk led to...

. clearing and digging a bed near an old fence section in the back yard and setting out two blackberry plants.

. digging a hole and planting a persimmon tree.

These two things have been on my "to-do" list forever! It felt good to cross them off. 

Today, I plan to set out two rose bushes that desperately need to be in the ground. This too is on the old list.

Last night I was reading on line about persimmon trees and found out that it takes seven to ten years for a persimmon tree to produce fruit. Poppy said, well, we will never live to get a persimmon off that tree. Good gosh! I'm planning to eat a persimmon off that tree!

Love,
Henny