It is finally beginning to look a little like fall around here. I was beginning to wonder if we were going to see any pretty leaves. This one is a Hickory nut tree...
All five baby guineas are still with us. They seem to be healthy and doing fine. It is raining here today with a mild 70 degree temperature...which is a good thing. This will give the babies another day to eat and grow stronger before the next cold front comes through. They are in a safe place and the pen has a cover for protection, and to keep the rain out. So far the mother is keeping them warm. I hate taking her babies from her. She spent all those long days and nights in the edge of the woods, risking her life to hatch 5 babies.
Not much of a post, I know. Tomorrow is the craft fair. I still have a few things to finish up and pack in the car.
Thank you. Hope to be back soon.
Love,
Henny Penny
My plan was to be at "Town and Country Supply" when they opened this morning. Those baby guineas need medicated "Start n Grow" chick feed...asap!
Before leaving, I checked on the babies, and oh, there lay one on the ground, cold and dead. At least it looked dead. It had somehow gotten out from under the mother during the night. I picked it up and felt the faintest movement. It was cold. I put it under my shirt over my heart and came in the house.
I put a soft cloths in the microwave to warm so that I could keep a warm one around the baby. With one hand I mixed a little sugar in warm water and using a Q-tip, put drops to it's tiny beak. I kept doing this and the baby began to move. Then I noticed it's throat moved, like it swallowed.
Having no place warm to leave this baby (in the excitement over the guineas yesterday, I dropped the heat lamp and it broke), I started the car, turned the heat wide open, put the broken heat lamp in, got myself and the baby (still wrapped in warm cloths) in and drove to "Town and Country". Holding the baby close to me with one hand, I carried the broken lamp, (cord dangling), and my purse and went in.
I must have had that "I need help" look because the store owner and a lady buying horse feed asked if they could help. I briefly told them the story. The lady said let me hold the baby while you get what you need...the store owner took the lamp, replaced the broken bulb, got me 5 pounds of chick feed, and put it in the car for me. I paid, thanked them several times, and took the baby and left.
The store owner said to me, "we have some of the nicest customers you'll ever meet...because they are animal lovers"! He is so right about that!
Driving home, the heat in the car was so hot I thought I would roast! It was all I could do to drive and hold on to that now, lively baby guinea!!! It is fine! I can't tell it from the others!
Thank you for listening! Happy Halloween!!
Love,
Henny Penny
Oh my! If you have ever tried to catch a guinea, then you can imagine how hard it would be to catch a mother guinea with five babies. I did just that! In fact, I even coaxed the papa guinea into the pen...
Just this past Monday, Poppy said, "there is a guinea setting on eggs in a brush pile near the edge of the woods...the best thing we can do is break up the nest. It is too late in the season for baby guineas". They have a hard enough time surviving in warm weather. Winter is just around the corner and guineas make terrible mothers...they lose their babies by roaming so far from home. They lose their babies in tall grass and to predators. Well, we didn't get around to breaking up the nest, thankfully! Anyway, I happened to look out the kitchen window and there was the mama guinea with five babies!! I ran outside just as Weetie, our dog, picked up one of the tiny babies. I yelled, and she dropped it! I ran to the shed, got a cage, put hay in the bottom, and believe it or not, caught the five babies without being attacked by the parents! This is rare! I have been attacked by a guinea before! Thinking, if I could get the babies to the pen, the mother would follow me. However, when I turned to pick up the cage, every baby had escaped through the holes in the wire cage. Once again I caught all five and carried them to the pen in my hands...with mama and papa close behind!
I am still not believing all this happened the way it did. Guineas are strange characters!! Maybe that's why I love them so!
Thank you looking at my blog!
Love,
Henny Penny
I am so excited to have a new follower. "Far Side of Fifty, a beautiful blog that I enjoy and look forward to reading every day! Thank you so much!
That hard freeze a few nights ago finished off the summer garden. I was out today pulling the dead plants and spotted the sweetest little violet hiding behind the dead okra stalks...blooming...here in late October...
I just couldn't throw it out...
There were also several yellow butterflies out today on the pineapple sage...I didn't get a very good picture. Every time I got the camera set the butterfly moved! One last hoorah I suppose before winter sets in.
Are you coming in here with that bucket?
I was counting on having plenty of half runner green beans to can this summer but the beans just didn't do good. After all that rain we had...we then had a long dry spell! I am down to about four quarts of canned beans...maybe next year!
All those peppers I brought in before the first freeze did make a few jars of hot pickled peppers.
Had to run into town to pick up a prescription for Poppy this evening. The setting sun and clouds were beautiful...
Not much of a post. Thank you if you managed to stay this long! :)
Love,
Henny Penny
First, before telling you about the swing...I am so excited and want to say "thank you" and "welcome" to my new follower, "The Dancing Donkey". "The Dancing Donkey" is a great blog that I thoroughly enjoy and look forward to reading every day!
Poppy surprised me Thursday morning by coming home with a board to build a seat for that darn swing I've dreamed about, talked about, posted about, seemingly forever! It is now finished and ready for swinging!
So what's the first thing I do...almost kill my foolish self by falling out of the swing!!! Seriously!!! Now we know why it is better to drill two holes in each side of the seat for the rope. Like this image from "Wikipedia"...
This way the seat will not tilt backward or forward. Foolishly, holding onto the phone instead of the two ropes, I sat down in the swing and it tilted backward dumping me out onto the ground with a thud! Flat on my back! I lay there looking up into that tree wondering, am I seriously injured? Finally, getting my breath back and trying to stand up, Poppy comes running outside asking, "what happened to you"? "I fell out of my new swing"! What a sight this must have been! Thinking about it now makes me laugh and laughing hurts with this sore back!!
Tonight we get our first hard freeze. Not much left in the summer garden but peppers, so I picked everything...
Poppy left early yesterday morning going down home to see his nephews, Josh and Joey. It is hard to believe that a month has passed since his brother Joe passed away. Anyway, I am home alone for a couple of nights.
Where does the time go??? I simply must get busy! :) Thank you for looking at my blog!
Love,
Henny Penny
Sadly, our day at the North Carolina State Fair has come and gone for another year. Does every state have a fair? Do you folks get excited about going to your state fair?
As Shelby and I left the fair grounds Wednesday and started on our long walk to the car, we both felt sad that the day was almost over. Actually, we did not walk to the car this time. We rode in a Cycle rickshaw. That's right, a rickshaw! Several were waiting just outside the exit gate, offering tired Fair goers a ride to their vehicles. Shelby and I looked at each other and said nah, we'll walk, thank you. Obviously, one of the rickshaw driver noticed our questioning look. He followed us a few steps and talked us into riding! It was FUN...and we were TIRED!
Our reason for choosing Wednesday at the Fair, The Military Bands...
A few stops along the way. The sweet donkeys...
Now I want a cow too...
No doubt, I weigh about a pound or two more today than I did Wednesday, before the fair! Have you tried the bucket of batter dipped, deep fat fried vegetables? Shelby and I had planned to add this to our list of foods to eat at the Fair every year...that is until we got to the grease in the bottom of the bucket! It took a lot of walking before we could enjoy the fried dough and NC State Ice Cream!!
There was so much more to see and enjoy than what is shown in these few pictures. We somehow missed seeing the cloggers and a few other things. Hopefully, we will have next year.
Better get busy. Supposed to be a hard freeze tonight and there are lots of peppers in the garden to pick. Thank you for looking at my blog.
Love,
Henny Penny
We had wonderful sunshine yesterday but temperatures low enough for wearing my old soft, patched flannel shirt. I've got to buy a new flannel shirt but can't find one I like. Speaking of patches, that reminds me of the gift the ladies gave me when I retired in 1999. Everyone in the office knew how excited I was to be staying home to garden and care for animals, hence the overalls...
Each patch has the name of a designer in the department. I was their secretary. The top patch, John, was our boss. My complete outfit...flannel shirt with rips, frayed cuffs, and patches...
Anyway, the sun felt so good yesterday I carried the bantams with me to the garden to pick greens, and let them have free range. How much harm can two tiny bantams do?? Actually, they did nothing but lounge in the sun, as cute as can be...
A little shade...
Then, of course, "Big Boy", being the show-off that he is, strutted around crowing...
and ruffling his feathers...
Remember the oil painting of "Big Boy", done by the Artist, Pam? It sits beautifully in this bookcase in the living room. Love this painting...
Okay, again, as mama would say, I've simply got to get busy! Hope to be back real soon!
Love,
Henny Penny
