My neighbor Miss Ann stopped by a few days ago with a story she had written about her mother and a couple of snakes. She had also attached a picture of herself as a child sitting in the very yard where the snakes were killed, the very yard her mother swept clean every day.

I hated to post this story and picture because I feel like Ann would so enjoy having her own blog...how much she would enjoy writing and telling stories of her childhood...posting her poetry and her drawings, but she says no. So here you go. Enjoy!

Short woman:Tall gun

When I was a girl we lived on a dirt road. To get to our house you had to turn onto a long dirt path. We lived in a house we rented. It was not much but it was solid. Mama and I were in the front yard. She had a stick broom to sweep the yard with. Back then people sweep their yard so it would look nice.

     Now my mama was only five feet tall and a little on the stout side. That did not seem to make her scared of anything.

      She was born in 1908 and came up hard so not much phased her. While we were in the yard she turned to me and told me to get on the porch. She went to the house and came out with a tall gun. It was a double barrel shot gun, fully loaded. She went to the edge of the yard and I heard a loud Boom then another loud Boom. That big gun did not even knock her down.

     I was still on the porch. I ask mama why are you shooting. She calmly told me she saw two snakes in the tree at the edge of the yard, but she said not to worry, she shot them both.

     Well I never saw the snakes, but if she said she shot two black snakes with that big gun I was not going to say anything. She then went and got her stick broom and went to sweeping the front dirt yard. She may be only five feet tall but that never stopped her.


                                           Miss Ann

Do you agree that Ann would enjoy keeping a blog? She has lots of old pictures and great stories to tell. She also writes poetry and has brought some of her poems for me to put on my blog. 

Thank you!

Love,
Henny

Thank You! and a chicken tale

Thank you dear friends for the kind encouraging words and get well wishes.  I appreciate you all so much. Thank you.

It's a good thing I didn't know ahead of time and could not see all that had to be done during the two hours I sat in that dentist chair. Thankfully and hopefully, it's over with.

Do you remember the little red hen who showed up in our driveway a few years ago, 2008 I believe it was

she was hungry and looking for a place to stay...a stray hen, of all things! I fed her and she has been under my feet fussing and following me around ever since. I used to joke that Mama sent this little hen to look after me...that's why I named her Jewel, after Mama.

She was peculiar...not wanting to stay in the lot with the chickens or sleep on their roost, unless she could have the roost all to herself. Occasionally, she would fly in the goat lot and sleeps in the box with the rooster

 

Jewel was the little scoundrel who broke the antique green bowl that sat in the old cupboard. Why, to her it looked like the perfect place to lay an egg. What a mess that was. I heard a terrible crash then flapping and cackling...all kinds of stuff flashed through my mind as I tore out to the front porch. There she was, walking back and forth, fussing and carrying on like it was my fault for not gluing the bowl to the cupboard.

Jewel has raised baby chicks three different times since we took her in. All her babies quickly outgrow her, taking after their papa... 

Once she sets her mind to something, she gets it done. I think she would take on the devil if she had to.

This past May, Jewel hatched another baby

Here they are, "the three (chicken) musketeers", always together.

It was right at the edge of dark a little more than a week ago that I noticed little Jewel was missing. The rooster was in his box, the hens had all gone inside the coop, and there was Jewel's half grown baby in a panic running from place to place, not knowing where to go. It broke my heart. Jewell always got first choice at where she and her baby would sleep...the other hens simply moved out of her way. 

It took some time that evening but I finally caught the baby and carried her inside the now dark chicken coop and sat her on the roost between two old hens. Well, of all the squawking and carrying on, you'd think I had put a snake between them, but the chick hunkered down so I slipped out and closed the door and stood there listening until everything was quiet.

More than a week passed with no sign of little Jewel. I figured it was probably a hawk or maybe even a fox that got her. 

Yesterday, thinking I should probably wash the blankets from Weetie's little doghouse that sits on the front porch before cold weather gets here, I reached in and to my surprise...

there she was, minding her own business! No telling how many eggs she is sitting on?  I won't be washing that little fuzzy blanket any time soon. 


Love,
Henny

Ten stitches and feeling better!

Dear friends,

My dreaded dentist visit is over and done with! I survived...so far anyway! 

What a surprise when the dentist called me at 10:15 am yesterday to check on me.  He was concerned about the infection and pain going on in my head and sinuses and asked if Thursday was the only time I could come in this week...oh no, that's just the appointment your receptionist gave me. I will be there whenever you can see me. This is short notice he said, but could you be here at 11:30. I walked in his office at 11:15. 

It was 1:15 when I walked out of his office with a hand full of prescriptions and after surgery instructions. All this infection came from surgery done in the 70's to remove a tiny cyst. Weird, I know. This is absolutely the best dentist...I feel sure he worked me in during what is normally their lunch time. I have ten stitches under my top lip and some swelling, but feel pretty darn good. 

Look who was worried.

Not really, Eli and I got wet in the shower of rain we had early yesterday morning. Drying him off turns into a game of tug of war with the towels.

It has been dry here so we needed this rain, especially that little row of green beans I planted a few weeks ago. 

Lots going on today, of course I am supposed to take it easy...I'm too excited to take it easy. :)

Love,
Henny

Dusting off the porches

Mowing the back yard was my plan today but seeing as how I need to stay close to the phone, I decided to spiff up the porches a bit...give things a fall look. By the way, I'm ready for fall. Are you?

The old cupboard needed polishing first. Living on a dirt road, especially in this dry weather, keeps everything dusty. I can't talk about the old cupboard without thanking cousin Pat again and again for giving me this very special gift. Thank you Pat.

Wish there was a big bunch of Goldenrods to put on the table. After my phone call comes through, (from the dentist) if it does, I'll walk up the path and pick some.

 I moved this tablecloth to the front porch table,

and put this orange on the back porch table. Actually, I am plundering around, pulling out things to decorate with and don't really have what I need.

This comforter doesn't go with the orange flowered tablecloth. I need to shop for some fall things like pumpkins, gourds, baskets, tablecloths, pillows...and if I don't do it soon it will be time to put out red and green for Christmas! That's me...never prepared. Every year I make do with what I have and plan to do better the following year.

My, how things change over the years...

This was our little front porch back in the early 1990's. The dog is our beloved sweet Nikki.  We still miss Nikki.

and this was a view of the back of our cabin in 1996 shortly after the pond was built. 

Matching or not, that little cot with the red comforter just happens to be the best place around to catch a quick nap. Goodness, some of these colors have got to go!

Better get busy. Hope you all are having a good weekend. As for me, I'm looking forward to next weekend...and being done with this upcoming dentist appointment and hopefully done with the pain too.

Love,
Henny 

Dentist, Dumperoo, and an Apricot

Dear Friends,

Forgive me please for going away and staying for so long without even a goodbye or I'll be back. 

Having had an unusual tooth ache lately, more like hurting in between my teeth, I went to the dentist. Looking at the first X-ray the technician asked, have you been having headaches? The dentist, passing by, looks in at the X-ray and says hmmm, lets get an X-ray of the front teeth. The dentist comes back in, stands and stares at the X-rays and asked, did you have some surgery done back many years ago...I did, back in the 70's. All this dark showing up on the X-rays, says the dentist, is infection. I am prescribing an antibiotic and sending you to a specialist. Scary stuff.  All this infection is in my head, my sinuses! No wonder I have been waking up with hurting behind my eyes and no wonder I haven't been able to think straight lately, of course not thinking straight has been going on for quite some time :-)! Actually friends, I have been worried sick.

Okay, a picture needed here and since there is not one available of my teeth, how about...

Poppy and Dumperoo discussing what to watch on TV.

Thank you for listening to my dental woes and worries. Yesterday was my first visit to the dentist who's title includes, "Microsurgery & Root canal Therapy Specialist". I really like this dentist. He patted my arm and said that he is 99.999 percent sure that I won't die from this infection and that he can take care of this problem. My next appointment is Wednesday.

Okay, on to something else. Another first...I ate an apricot this week, and even more surprising, an apricot picked from my own little tree. Here's the story.

Some time back before mama died, she went with Shelby and Jimmy to a nursery to buy fruit trees to plant on their farm. While at the nursery, mama bought two trees, both Banana Apple trees. One each for Shelby and me.  Mama used to remember and talk about the Banana Apple tree on the farm where she grew up and how delicious the apples were.  

When Mama and Shelby decided to bring me my little apple tree, Shelby realized that Jimmy had planted both banana apple trees on their property...so Shelby brought me instead, an Apricot tree.

I planted the little Apricot sprout without going to a lot of trouble...I couldn't grow apricots. The struggling little tree decided to bloom this spring and low and behold ten little apricots appeared. This morning I ate an apricot. It was sweet and good...not even a blemish. There are five more ripening in the kitchen window and four more on the little tree.

All of a sudden I've got several things to post and talk about but for now I have gone on way too long. Why, you're probably not even still here.  Now to catch up reading the posts from all my favorite bloggers. 

Love,
Henny

One room cleaned, three to go

Good thing I don't mind living day in and day out in a house that looks and feels like a hunting lodge.

Could this be part my 'not sleeping' good at night? Always under the watchful eye of a big buck. Actually, the bigger bucks are on the living room wall. 

Spick and span! Almost anyway. I'm sure there is a spot or two missed here and there. I've spent half the day scrubbing and cleaning this room. Cleaning house is a job, but add in rough log walls and animal fur to collect dirt and dust and it's an even bigger job! 

Sometimes I would love to make everything more feminine with ruffles and lace and flowers. Thank goodness for my little sewing room and the teeny tiny dining area, where I can see a lace tablecloth.

While the curtains were in the washing machine, I washed the windows and screens. Wonder why windows look hazy and blue in pictures and not clear and clean.

I am bound and determined to get every room in this teeny tiny house cleaned. Oh, things look tidy most of the time, but it's the dirt, dust, lint balls, and cobwebs hiding behind all this stuff that is driving me crazy!

The question is...will things stay clean until I can get to the rest of the house? Weetie was right back in the rocking chair on that clean pillow. Well, that's her spot.

Poppy had a meeting in Raleigh today and won't be home before 7:30. Guess I need to start thinking about something quick and easy for supper. :(

Hope to be back soon.

Love,
Henny

Surprising late season blooms

I am terrible, simply terrible about leaving plants in pots too long...like this white rose. This is one determined rose...putting forth two more big pretty blooms here late in the season.

Some of you may remember the picture from this past spring. 

This rose deserves a special place in the yard. Right now the ground is dry and too hard to dig but it won't always be this way. When the rainy days come again and the weather cools off a bit, this sweet rose is getting out of it's root bound pot.

And speaking of too long in a pot, I really need your help with this one.

For two or three years out working in the yard I would see this sprout growing out the side of a clay bank. Finally one day, feeling sorry for the struggling little plant, I pulled it up and put it in a small pot and kept it watered...it began to grow and soon needed a bigger pot, then an even bigger pot. So here we are. This pretty dogwood tree is healthy and happy and will have red berries this winter. But it's roots have grown through the pot and into the ground. It won't budge.

I've heard that dogwood trees die easily if their roots are damaged. What in the world am I going to do?  Most of you out there have a green thumb and a beautiful yard. I would appreciate any suggestions? After saving the struggling little tree, I sure hate to now kill it.

Joe Pye weed grows wild here, but a few years back I had ordered some through the mail. Never could find the right spot to plant them. Joe Pye weed likes moist soil. Tired of worrying about them, I carefully dumped all the sprouts I had started into the wet weather creek that runs across the back yard, and forgot about them. Yesterday, I was surprised at all the fuzzy pink blooms and happy butterflies...

Turned out to be a good dumping place.

The Rose of Sharon is thriving and all the tiny babies I dug from the hard dry ground...

For somebody who has run out of anything to post, I've really taken up your time and over done it here! :)

Thank you for your nice encouraging comments. Hope to be back soon. 

Love,
Henny