Another little visit

Am I getting slack? Sure hope not! I love blogging and love all you blogging friends, very much!

our very cluttered little living room with way too many patterns and textures and stuff :(

Between raking leaves and trying to Christmas shop, there has hardly been time for anything else. 

I am not a good shopper of gifts, matter of fact is, I'm awful. Why if all those hours spent humming and hawing and looking in the stores had been spent raking leaves, the yard would be leafless!

This was Lynn, last Saturday in a Durham parking lot. She was waiting for me to arrive. We planned to Christmas shop, all day! I came home with one gift, but that's okay. The best part was spending the day with Lynn, and visiting with Jason. 

But, today is another shopping day, and I have simply got to come home with some gifts! 

Before leaving...friends, I have mastered the leaf blower!!  Don't have a picture, but will get one and show you later. I, and all those leaves, must have looked like a whirlwind!! 

Hope to be back real soon.

Love,
Henny

PS. Don't know why but every time I add a caption to a picture, the next paragraph gets caught up in the picture??? :) 

A quick visit

Friends, it has been a week since my last post!! Why, we've had all sorts of weather since then!

Who was it that said, "how can you go backward when you're moving as fast as you can?"  

Well, here's one way...last Tuesday I raked leaves for five hours straight, hauling them off by the sheet load...working so hard that I could hardly drag myself back to the house.

So,  Wednesday, a cold front blew in and I do mean "blew in", with winds up to 25 mph! 

"Mama, you're not going to be happy when you see all these leaves!!"

It was disheartening, I tell you. But that's okay. I'm thankful to be able to still get out and work hard, and plan to rake leaves again today

The little bit of snow we got last week sure was pretty to watch. It didn't amount to much, but was pretty.

Better get busy! I will be around to visit and catch up! 

and, "thank you" to a new follower, Linda Eller. 

Love,
Henny

News

First, a few things I need to say...

"Thank you", new followers. I appreciate you so much.

and thank you all for the comments on my last post. By the way, my perm turned out just fine...thank you very much, Poppy!

Several of you suggested a leaf blower for all these leaves. Well, I'm ashamed to admit it but we have three. Poppy has a big old red gas powered leaf blower and I have two electric leaf blowers...or leaf vacs.

and since you've never seen inside our little junky red shed...

Several years ago, Poppy used the gas blower a lot! The last time he used it, after walking just a few feet he had such a bank of leaves stretched across the yard that we had to stop and haul them into the woods by the sheet load.

Once I took it upon myself to rake the leaves, he hung the big red blower on a nail and has not used it since.

The third and newest leaf blower.

Poppy has promised, that he will crank up that old blower and help with the leaves...he just didn't say what year!


Lets switch to a much sweeter subject...

This adorable Christmas card came to Poppy and me from Deb at justcats-deb.blogspot.com  with the sweetest gift...

three little kittens for our tree, and...

Chocolates! The beautiful card looks like Deb's yard in winter. Even the two little chipmunks look like her little Simon who lives under their old pump, with his little girlfriend. Deb keeps the birds and squirrels fed through the winter, along with the deer and bunnies, and any other hungry little animal that comes visiting. It is worth visiting Deb's blog just to meet her two cats...funny Audrey, and sweet Annie. Deb, thank you so much for the gift and for your friendship.

Hope to be back soon. We could see snow by the weekend!!! Imagine that!!!

Love,
Henny

P.S.  a note for Diane in Northern Wisconsin... I gave you the wrong email address for Shelby, well, wrong because I left out the 7...her email address is mckenziejam7@aol.com  Also, you can find their farm, Shelly Mac Farm on Facebook. Seems like she said there was something special you had to do to find them on Facebook?? Oops, I'll ask.

Shelby has figured out how to ship the jams and jellies in a way that costs less. She buys a flat-rate box from the post office that will hold six jars and ships for $13.00. There was a lady who wanted to order two jars of jam that cost $5.00 each, but the shipping cost was $5.90 for each jar. Anyhow, thought I would just mention this.

Gosh! What a post! Are you still here?? 😌




  

Leaves, Leaves, Leaves

Then and now...

The back yard in June! That's the button bush on the left.

The back yard today!

in June

Today! Can you find Weetie?

The button bush, loaded with oak leaves. That should take a good part of a day.

I can handle leaves here even though the stepping stones have disappeared.

and here behind the chicken lot.

Thought a little leaf post would be fun, yeah right!  and get it off my chest! What a difference a few months can make. 

Whew! I'm feeling better now. I may be crying later though...I'm going at 3:30 for a perm....and guess what Poppy's comment to me was, at lunch today! "I don't know why you want to go get a perm. You will come home with your hair looking worse than it does now". 

Love,
Henny

Village on the mantle

Poppy left this morning at 5:30 going to work at the deer processing plant. No way could I cut up a deer first thing in the morning...well no way could I cut up a deer, period!

Anyhow, I hardly had the front door closed and locked before the phone started ringing. It was Poppy. Mel, he said...you should get in the car and drive up to the highway to see the moon. The super moon! It is unbelievable! Should have, but didn't. Just something about going out before daylight, in the quiet cold morning, in my pajamas and driving up this dark path, alone.

and besides all that, I can't get a decent picture of the star over the mantle...and sure can't get a good one of the moon. Don't know if it's me or my little el cheapo camera?

The mood finally hit me to bring in boxes from the shop. Here's the little Christmas village on the mantle.

It was about finished when Poppy said, you know what would look good? A star in the center above the mantle. So, it was off to town! 

Stopping at the dollar stores and drug stores along the way, looking for a simple lighted star. Most of the stars were gaudy. Of course, it seems that "gaudy" is in style around here.

The little village is far from perfect, and my pictures are too dark. Things show up in the pictures; wires and light bulbs and figures out of proportion, but I like it! Wouldn't it be fun to live in a little Christmas village.

Our Christmas tree needs more work...and so does the yard! Every year there are more and more leaves. It is overwhelming, and here, the oak leaves fall through February. Yesterday, I raked leaves for three hours and hardly made a dent. Poppy suggested not raking at all. Decisions, decisions. Hope to be back soon with pictures of the knee deep, well, ankle deep, leaves. 

Love,
Henny

Maybe tomorrow

I've been wanting to decorate for Christmas for a while now and thought about bringing in the tree as soon as the dishes were washed on Thanksgiving day, but...

easily distracted, I got the tree as far as the front porch and it's been there ever since.

why even yesterday, after dropping Poppy off at his hunting spot down the power line...I came back and walked straight to the shop to bring in boxes of Christmas decorations, but...

leaning there against a big willow oak tree was the rake, handle deep in leaves, and I could not resist the temptation, so raked leaves for over an hour.  Still no decorating done.

Early yesterday I had both dentist and doctor appointments. After that, went on to Walmart for a few things. Since the day was about shot anyway, I stopped by the Safe Space thrift store and oh wow! how could one little thrift store be so packed. It was like a little Christmas village.Wish I had pictures to show you! I bought two little pieces...

the carolers!

and this little red outhouse, for setting up a Christmas village on the mantle. 

Do any of you have a toy train that you set up around the Christmas tree? I really really want one...and don't know why we've never bought one over the years. Trains are so neat!

Maybe I will talk to Poppy tomorrow about a train. Right now he is asleep in front of the TV. 

Better get things turned off in the sewing room. I've been sewing, finishing two bonnets and almost finished another Henny Penny apron. Hope to see you tomorrow.

Love,
Henny

Dinner, and a little critter update

Here's our little Thanksgiving meal...

it was just the two of us, so I  cooked small and didn't do any fancy table setting. Goodness, I could have at least sliced the turkey breast and put it on a platter before taking the picture. Not a very pretty Thanksgiving table, but it did taste good.

and here's Poppy heading back into the woods across the road, to sit in a tree. I offered to go sit in the tree for him if he would wash the dishes and walk Eli, but he said "no thanks".

Granny Marigold recently asked about all the critters, so here's a little critter update...

I am totally shocked at how fast a baby rabbit grows...

isn't she (or he) adorable? She still doesn't have a name. I call her little sweetie pie, but we've got a dozen little sweetie pies already. We need something special, and I just can't come up with one that fits.

Here's big old Bun Bun, little sweetie pie's papa. She doesn't favor him at all, does she?

then there's Fiona. Fiona does her own thing. In fact, she has been hard at work digging a tunnel. See her dirty little feet and nose? She has built a nice little storm shelter under her cage. 

Miss duck duck paddles along the bank with us when we walk. She seems lonely since her best friend Mrs. Muscovy is sitting on a few eggs on the other side of the pond. Crazy, I know.

Eli found a broken duck egg 

the babies decided to leave the heat lamp and sleep upstairs.

cozy little bunch.

and since going through molting, these hens have stopped laying. Not one egg have we found in the chicken house in two months. I've bought two dozen eggs lately. Probably the first store bought eggs we've used since moving here in 1989. 

and that sweet little Rosie. Why she has tried her best to eat every leaf that falls. See her there in the picture with the chickens...eating leaves! We had to close her up in the goat barn until I could rake the lot...

I will have to get a newer picture to show you just how fat she has gotten. She is obsessed with eating. Seriously! Wonder who she got that from? :)

We haven't seen Wilder lately. I do worry about him and hope he is safe in his own little rabbit hole somewhere. Weetie did go tearing off  after something a few nights ago when I went out to close the chicken house door.  It could have been him. Weetie like to chase rabbits and squirrels, but could never catch one.

Maybe I will sew a little tonight. Thank you for stopping by.

Love,
Henny