Not feeling so good.

Nothing much accomplished around here yesterday, in fact, jobs were added to my 'to do' list and nothing crossed off.

Most days Eli knows when it's time for Poppy to get home from work. He waits at the gate on the front porch. As soon as the truck stops in the driveway I open the gate and Eli jumps from the top step and bolts outs. Wild horses couldn't hold him back. Monday was different. Eli didn't bother to get up when Poppy got home.  Tuesday morning I called the Vet.

Dr. Davis examined Eli from head to toe and did blood work. Eli tested positive for Ehrlichiosis. Not a surprise here. Ticks are awful this year. Eli will be taking Doxycycline for three weeks.

So, what to do first this morning...start mowing? (after the rain the grass is ankle deep again), stain the new well? tear down the old dog lot? dust the garden? (those tiny black bugs are eating holes in the eggplants), clean up the chicken lot? (it has turned into a mud hole), build a lean-to shelter on the chicken house? Need to get to the house work first and then decide which job to tackle.

Hanging around waiting for Miss Jewel to bring her new baby out.

Only one teeny tiny egg hatched.

Maybe by July this muddy pond will clear up. This Cecile Brunner (Boutonnier) Rose is kind of scrawny looking but kind of pretty too.

I simply must get up from here and get busy. Hope you all have a good day! See you again soon, hopefully! :)

Love,
Henny

Yikes! A snake!

Spending Saturday afternoon with Andee was just perfect. But good grief the hours flew. Here it is now Sunday afternoon and Andee is back in Virginia. We did have fun. It was the perfect Mother's Day gift. Thank you Andee!

Speaking of perfect gifts! I LOVE this "Henny Penny Lane" sign. Andee's friend Dawn made it for Andee to bring to me for Mother's Day...a surprise for Andee and for me. 

Andee and Dawn enjoy going to estate sales, flea markets, and thrift shops. Dawn enjoys making signs from old barn wood, which just may turn into a little business. Recently while out driving on a country road she passed a construction site where a bulldozer had pushed over an old barn and outbuilding, crushing most of the contents. Dawn stopped and asked permission to pick up some of the old boards and was told to help herself to anything out there. Dawn called Andee. Dawn also picked up this old granite ware looking tub. I believe it's part of an antique washing machine. Anyhow, Dawn decided to send that to me also. I am loving these things right now and can't wait to hang my new sign on the well house. Thank you Dawn!

Knowing how I love the color red in the cabin, Andee also brought this big soft red comforter.

Okay, here's my scary snake story.

Just before dark Saturday evening I ran out to shut and latch the chicken house door. We leave the door wide open during the day. So, yesterday morning when I unlatched and opened the chicken house door for the day, lo and behold there lay a dead Copperhead. Somehow I had managed to close the door on his head, killing him. I remember pushing on the door to get the latch to close...sometimes an acorn or stick will get lodged, keeping the door from closing so with the toe of my Crocs, I rake out whatever is there. Thankfully, this time I didn't do that. Sorry for the gloomy looking picture. It was taken in the dead of winter.

Okay, I'm off to finish my work. Thank you for visiting. :)

Love,
Henny

Happy Mother's Day

In case I don't get back to my blog before Monday...Happy Mother's Day! 

My sweet Mother has been on my mind this morning. I've posted this picture probably too many times but it is my favorite. Mama holding me and Shelby standing by her side.

My Mother died on Thanksgiving Day in 2007. Her Mother, my Grandma, died on Mother's Day May 14, 1950. Mama's name was "Jewel" and she definitely was a jewel.

My sweet daughter Andee called this morning  to let me know...if it was okay with me...she was coming to see me for Mother's Day. Oh my gosh! If it's okay with me! I am absolutely tickled to death!

I love this old picture of Andee and little Madison.

Andee lives three hours away in Virginia. Madison, my sweet granddaughter, is away at a swim meet. Todd will stay home and look after the dogs and be there when Madison gets home. You know the sweetest thing? Todd asked Andee what she wanted for Mother's Day. Andee said, "I want to go see Mama". Thank you Todd and Madison for sending Andee this way for Mother's Day.

Andee and Bruno

Okay, I am still in my pajamas. Got to run over the floors with the vacuum, put sheets on the bed in the sewing room, wipe a little of the dust off things, and get myself looking halfway decent...we'll be going in some thrift stores for sure! Andee is on way as we speak!

Love,

Henny

I could call this a gold post

Why didn't I wait!

I was so excited with seeing the golden Iris blooming amongst all the lavender Iris yesterday that I ran and got the camera...too soon.

I should have waited. Today the blooms are fully opened and so much prettier!

Oh my gosh! I've got to take care of this one and remember to cut the stalk off after the bloom is gone. Thank you Jo!

I'm thinking now that I will order more of the different colors.

The apple mint has come back this year. Several years ago Lynn was visiting some kin folk up in the North Carolina mountains and brought me a cutting of their apple mint. It is beautiful. It grows pretty tall, like two feet, and has fuzzy feeling leaves.

Okay, I need to get up from here and get back to work! Thank you for stopping in. :)

Love,
Henny

A wad of plastic bags

Some days you just can't get a darn thing done. I had to buy a few groceries this morning. Well, a few groceries that were $93.00...from Walmart.

You can imagine how many plastic bags were used to hold those groceries. Let me tell you, every single handle broke on every single Walmart bag as I reached to take off that round rack. Every one! The cashier looked at me like maybe it was my fault but it was not me. It was a sorry lot of bags. She said, be careful loading these into your car. It was a job, and it was an even bigger job bringing those plastic bags with no handles in the house once I got home. And that's not all. The ten pound bag of russet potatoes riding on that rack under the buggy, decided to fall off as I was going through the parking lot to the car. The bag fell off and I ran over it. It lodged under the buggy. I managed to lift the front of the buggy enough to pull the potatoes out but the stress on the bag made it pop open and out rolled three big potatoes.

Friends, I made it home, unloaded and put everything away and threw that wad of Walmart bags in the trash. I need to start carrying my own reusable grocery bags. We need to do away with those plastic bags anyway and keep them out of the landfills, off the sides of the road, and out of tree branches.

On a brighter note, look what opened up right in the middle of all the same colored Iris...

This great big gold Iris. It caught my eye earlier when Eli and I were outside. My first thought was, it's one of those wild orange lilies.

A few dark purple Iris have opened in the front yard.

There were things on my list that I wanted to get done today but didn't. Now it's time for Poppy. Where do the days go! Thank you for visiting! Hopefully there will be tomorrow.  :)

Love,
Henny

Poppy and the old GRAVEYARD

Got the "to do list" rewritten neat and orderly. It's 7:30 a.m. Poppy is at work. I've made the bed, put the dishes away, cleaned two litter boxes, swept the kitchen and laundry room and, as only a Virgo would understand, made sure the corners and edges are even on every folded and stacked item, visible in the house! It's a morning ritual! No uneven towels hanging on racks around here! There may dust on the cabinets but all my ducks are in a row!

Let's see, 'Dancing with the Stars' was on last night. Action that keeps these two entertained.

Poppy carried the camera with him turkey hunting last Saturday . 

Maybe half a mile from our house, deep in the woods, there is an old graveyard with tombstones dating from the 1700's. 

Hard to read now, but looks like 1886 and 1900 on this one. One of the stones here says the Reverend Amos Jones.

Poppy passes this old graveyard going to an open field to hunt.

Ivy covers most of the graves and stones.

If you walked far enough through these woods, you would come out at the back of a little white church called Jones' Chapel. I've always figured the Jones' buried here are some of the same set. It is sad to think of the people buried in these old graves in these woods.

Back to reality and my 'to do list'...next is cranking up the mower and mowing from the back of the house down to the pond and behind the old dog lots...then do a little gardening. That should pretty much do me in!

Thank you for visiting. Hope to be back soon.

Love,
Henny

Killing time while it rains!

Here it is noon on the first day of May and what is it like here? Cold and rainy! We have 56 degrees and it has rained since we got out of bed this morning. It's quiet. Eli and Smokey are sound asleep on the front porch. Good sleeping weather. 

Poppy in his camo is sitting in front of the TV waiting for the rain to stop. He is off work this weekend off to turkey hunt again. Me, I'm waiting for the rain to stop so the turkey hunter can get out of the house for a while.

Guinea Winnie was scurrying up the path to tell Henny Penny that the sky was falling. The sky is not falling said Mr.Rooster. It's raining!

The Iris are opening. All the same color. Years ago I ordered Iris bulbs in mixed colors from a nursery catalog. That first year there were some unusual colors but now all the Iris look the same. Weird.

The teeny tiny garden is pathetic! It has simply been too cold for vegetables to grow. Even the squash and cucumbers seeds have not sprouted. The yard long beans are through the ground but then who ever heard of a bean not coming up. Next week should be just what the garden needs...sun and temperatures in the low 80's for the whole week! That should make a big difference.

Yesterday I raked a little shortcut path through the woods to the teeny tiny garden and greenhouse.

The rain has slacked off and Poppy has finally gone hunting. I had planned to vacuum, but hunting and searching through the cabinets for something to snack on sounds better. I'm on a roll, you know. This rainy day is about shot anyway! : )

Love,
Henny