My nature post, and a kitty cat

Before getting into my "nature" post, I've got to show you this...

The camera happened to be close by so I snapped this picture of Dumperoo. Have no idea what that is over him, unless there is a little angel hovering there?? :)

Do you know what this is??

"You need to bring your camera and get a picture of this", said Poppy. 

"It is the biggest wasp nest I've ever seen". 

Oh my goodness!! This thing is as big around as a dinner plate, and has what looks like a thousand wasps.  This nest hangs over the edge of the pond so it was hard to get a good shot from underneath where all the wasps are. 

Still no fall-like weather, but the big fall spiders have arrived...

this one, up near the garden, had a huge web and was still busy weaving as I walked underneath.

and another one. This spider saw me...

and hid on the back side of this oak leaf.


Have been meaning to tell you...remember the writing spider on the back screen door?

well, she disappeared, but left this...

My daughter Lynn, who loves spiders, said, "mom, you may want to move that some place else. I don't think you want that many baby spiders on your screen door".  

We woke up to a foggy morning yesterday.

in fact, all the pictures taken yesterday would be good for a scary Halloween post. Maybe I will save the others and recall another horror story of how Poppy used to scare me on Halloween night. Of course, I have already posted about the two scariest times.

Not a very exciting post here, so thank you for stopping by.

Love,
Henny

A little silliness

What's in the old cupboard today...

Friends, I simply cannot believe that we are through with August and September, and into October! and all this without one bit of fall-like weather! Not one bit! It is hot and humid here!

Unbelievable, but in ten days, Monday October 15th, good Lord willing, Shelby and I will be on our way to the North Carolina State Fair once again. The day we both so look forward to. We joke about "not" going to the Fair on a Tuesday. Tuesday is senior citizens day. :)

hanging around the hobby horses three years ago. well, I'm taking the picture and that's Shelby in the green shirt. wish I COULD say that's me in the pink shoes

and I'm here to tell you, "we are riding those hobby horses".  Oh wait! Didn't I say that last year, and the year before? Well, you won't catch me dragging back this year all shame-faced, and whining that I lost my nerve. maybe you will check back after the 15th. 

back to the old cupboard...There is a funny story about this stuff. The first of the week, Poppy carried the trash to the nearest convenience center. He called me from there and said, "Mel, somebody left a box here with lots of little baskets and artificial flowers, candles, and even a little shelf. Do you want them?" I'm thinking to myself, this sounds just like a box of stuff I donated to Goodwill a few weeks ago. "Oh, bring it on", I said. So, it was fun going through the stuff and I did keep those colored leaves and the one little basket.

Betcha not many husbands bring their wives gifts from the dumpster. :)

"Yes, and it has been told that Poppy brought home a tiny kitten once, from that very same dumpster. Is that true"? Is is true, Smokey! That would be Dumperoo, and that is why his real name is Dumpster Kimball, but we call him Dumperoo, or woo woo, and sometimes Poppy even call him Rumperdo.

and this is he!

Enough silliness for today. I just used our last package of frozen persimmons and made this persimmon pudding. My niece Vicki has the biggest persimmon tree ever! She gathers the persimmons in the fall, mashes the pulp out then sells the pulp, two cups to a package...just right for making a pudding. Looks like Shelby and I need to take another trip to see Vicki.

Thank you friends! 

Love,
Henny 

Oh, thank you to my new followers.  And, a note to "Far Side". A scarecrow is exactly what we need for the fall display. Thank you!

Special note from me, Henny

Hey friends! Just wondering, do you ever look back at something you've posted and think, "oh no"!  Well, recently, I noticed a comment that I did not reply to, right there in the middle of other comments that I did reply to. I completely skipped over someone, which makes me feel awful. If I have ever slighted any one of you, it was not intentional. I love and appreciate your friendship so much.

Maybe now I will have the heart to move on. 

and I promise, not a garden post, well, not exactly.

but it is about those two rows of corn in the teeny tiny garden that grew pretty but had tasteless, sticky ears of corn...

turns out, it was all worth the trouble.

After picking the ears of corn and throwing them into the chicken lot, I pulled the corn stalks and spread them under the shed to dry, then yesterday bundled the stalks together with a bow and...

a little Fall display...such as it is. The whole thing is a little skimpy looking around the bottom but when Poppy gets off work at the deer processing plant this morning, (yes, that dreaded deer season is here again!) he will go by Mr. Murphy's hay farm to buy hay and pick up a bale of wheat straw.  Don't tell Poppy, but I may need another big pumpkin and a couple more pots of Mums too. 

and speaking of Murphy's farm, remember the shy, 3000 lb. bull? What a cutie pie he was...

anyhow...

the early morning sun made pretty shadows on the house this morning, and how neat that the moon was still visible way up there in the sky. That homemade flag pole has predator lights at the top to frighten away owls, a guinea's worst nightmare.

The guineas roost in the top of a tall cedar tree. Owls usually attack just before daylight or right after dark. Last night when I was out closing the chickens up for the night, there was a screech owl close by. What an eerie sound it makes.

oh wait!!

is that Poppy's truck we hear??

it was Poppy, and he brought the hay and the wheat straw. The little spot still needs something. Maybe Walmart has that something. We'll see.

Okay, I'm ending here. :)

Love,
Henny 

A lively little garden, and a little Poppy story

Usually by late September or early October I've grown tired of the weeds and grass in the teeny tiny garden and cleared everything out. 

This year is different. Come peep through the fence...

the mystery vine keeps growing and seems determined to reach every corner before the first frost...

there are at least four mystery melons that look like watermelons. Poppy says these are citron melons?? Remember all the pretty citron melon seeds, and the preserves, a few years ago???

and the zinnias keep blooming and here late in the season one gomphrena plant has volunteered and come up, probably from a tiny seed left in the soil last year. You can see it there in the center back with the little purple blooms.

This little garden has taken on a life of it's own and I love it!

Even the collards are living...that's shocking!

and the stir-fry broccoli plants and marigolds look healthy...

We're not getting lots of vegetables, just peppers and okra, but that's okay. I like the pretty part..

okay, I'm sure you've seen and heard enough about the garden. 

So, here's something cute to share with you! 

Poppy was looking for one of his old yearbooks. He wanted to show me a cute little girl that used to flirt with him in seventh grade. Well, here's what he found...

A card he made for his mom on Mother's Day. Poppy says he remembers his mom laughing because of his spelling, "pitcher". How could any mom have kept from laughing. It's so funny!

I've sure she told Poppy how much she appreciated the card. She loved all her children, very much! Poppy seems to have turned out pretty normal to me. :)

old report cards. He made good grades too!

Better get busy. I just may go pick up a couple of fish plates for supper. Anything to get out of cooking once in a while!! :)

Love,
Henny

It's that teeny tiny sewing room again!

Oh, friends, do you remember the first time I went crazy? It was a year or so ago, and I spent an entire day trying to make the teeny tiny sewing room look like a page from one of those sweet little Brambly Hedge books?

(the second time I went crazy, you may remember, was this past August after seeing the kitchen of my dreams in that new fall magazine, and how I sped off to the Wake Forest thrift stores).

But that first crazy time was a wonderful dreamy day of decorating. Why, I felt just like a little mouse, scurrying about, building shelves and filling every inch of space.

After hours of listening to what must have sounded like a herd of mice, Poppy looked in the sewing room and asked, "what are you trying to do in here anyway"? "Build a mouse house", I replied!

So, yesterday, on my way to the grocery store, my car automatically turned in and stopped in front of the Goodwill store. "Surely there is time for a quick look. I won't spend much time, or money."  :) 

something told me to go straight to the big table in household goods...and there it was, this big puffy, pink, gathered comforter. Why, surely you will agree, it was meant for me to find this. It needs something though...ruffly pillows maybe?? Couldn't wait to get is washed and dried and on the bed.

Poppy's response? "eeew! pink and purple"? he asked. Nothing to do but pull out one of the little Brambly Hedge books and explain about my decorating. 

now, I really really want a pretty little dressing room chair...something dainty and sweet and upholstered in pink and white with flowers and a ruffle around the bottom.

I suppose it's too late in the day to strike off to the Re-store!! What I really really need to do next though is get rid of that green afghan and the box of fabric scraps, and that black shopping bag, and the rocking chair! 

Okay, I've gone on long enough about all this. Thank you for listening.

Love,
Henny

and to think, I didn't know about Brambly Hedge until some of you posted those sweetest pictures from the books...Pom Pom, Jo,   thank you!  

It's me again

What a happy surprise to see the sun come out yesterday afternoon! Thank goodness Hurricane Florence is moving on! 

I'm sorry for posting about the storm, then deleting the post. The storm has been devastating for NC. My post sounded silly and foolish.

Even this morning on the news we are hearing there is still no way in or out of Wilmington due to flooding. Isn't that a scary thought for those in Wilmington? We saw too, a crew from New York who are here to help, putting a rescue boat on Interstate 40, going to Wilmington. Hard to picture a boat traveling down I-40. 

Hope to get back to normal today...I want clean up the yard a little; it is littered with sticks, tree limbs, and leaves which, believe me, is nothing to complain about! I've got to put up deer fencing too, around the row of Rose of Sharon plants. We noticed the deer have eaten them down to nubs again! :(  

So, I should get busy and start by getting all the animals around here fed. Speaking of animals...

here's a few who've had it made through all the rain and wind.

Poppy bought two big fluffy camouflage (of course) comforters for the dogs to sleep on this winter.

somebody got a new toy...

where did it go!

and last but certainly not least, our Smokey who got all kinds of treats from Poppy yesterday for surprising us with a dead mouse just outside the front door.

Thank you for your friendship. 

Love,

Henny

The storm

Today friends, you can call me "Chicken Little" instead of Henny Penny. There is an awful storm coming our way. Those of you who have read my blog for any length of time, know that I am terribly afraid of storms. 

This Hurricane Florence has kept on the same path, growing and gaining in strength, and seems bound and determined to hit the North Carolina coast.

Poppy and I are absolutely surrounded by tall trees...too many trees, as a matter of fact. If we can just get through this Hurricane Florence without a tree falling on either of us, or the house, or an animal, we will be so thankful. 

and these trees seem to lean in every direction. If the ground is saturated and we get 60 plus, mph winds, well, it's going to be scary for sure.

Today on the noon news and weather, Governor Cooper called this storm "a monster", and like nothing we've ever seen.

Poppy had to work today, so tomorrow we will do what we can to keep things outside from blowing away. I did put together another wooden bench inside the cozy part of the goat barn. Goats, at least these two, can't stand the rain...

and since the front of the barn is wide open, they now have more protection.

I'll cover two sides of the bunny lot with tarps, to protect them from the wind and rain.

And the guineas! Please keep your fingers crossed that I will be able to coax them into their old lot behind the little chicken house. It's a cozy spot where they will be safe. I can't stand the thought of them roosting high up in that old cedar in the rain and wind. All eight of them might get blown away. Sometimes they will listen and follow me...but sometimes not.   

I hope and pray everyone in the path of this storm will stay safe. If possible, I will try to post updates of what's happening right here during the storm. 


Thank you...

Love,
Henny