Happy February 1st

The weather feels like Spring! Wow it is 60 degrees and the girls are enjoying their time outside.
The rest of the snow should disappear today!

 So I felt like making an apple pie. What is it about sunshine and warmth that makes me so happy?

I have another question. I just bought a Cricut machine. I wanted to use it to make signs.....I did research and looked ALOT. Now that I have it, ahhhh it seems complicated and I am not sure I can do what I want. Does anyone else have experience with it? I have been watching tutorials and am a bit frustrated to say the least. HELP???

It's beginning to look a lot like....

CHRISTMAS!
Beginning with my Arnett's Santas. I love these Santa's so much. I always pull them out first and start there. I have so many things I have to put away before I can bring out my Christmas decorations. It take most of a day to put all my pumpkins and harvest decorations. That is not to mention all the dishes that were pulled out for Thanksgiving. They need to be stored.....

Now the weather was frightful this morning 22 degrees out. I worry about my poor babies, the girls! They have lots of hay in the hen house. I wanted something more this morning, so I brought out some warm water and a dish of oatmeal with raisins and cranberries. The funny thing is I seem more bothered by the cold then them.  They did gobble the oatmeal right down.

One of my favorite Santa's

I need to go out to get my wreaths and greens today. Now I was wondering, do you decorate a room at a time? If so which one? Do you do outside or inside first. All at once or a little at a time?

I always start with my window lights and my Santas and kind of go from there. Then I cut my greens and get my wreaths.

You know as we get ready for Christmas here I have noticed how much my chickens have changed our lives I get up,dressed and outside to let the girls out and feed them their breakfast.

I have added some new fashion pieces to my wardrobe......fleece lined hoodies, muck shoes, flannel shirts to name a few. Much easier to wash. I try to get home while it is still light out so I can let the girls out for some free range time. They run, spread their wings and look for bugs and greens. They just make me happy. I love to watch them run to me.

So I am going to get some Christmas pictures taken and posted, but do tell where do you start?

Hello November!

I do believe our October was colder than November has been so far. The sunny clear days that are hitting 70 degrees when normal is 50. It has been a delight! Love the extra time to clean up the gardens and the tons of leaves! The Morning Glories are all gone.

 The girls have a nice new roost. It took a couple of days, but the four older hens roost each night and the younger one are on the lower roost they had before. I was so happy to get the dog cage out of there. Hubby sanded everything nice and smooth and his idea for the wings so no draft from the vents would hit the girls. He filled the bin with sand. Boy is that easy to clean.

 The girls are enjoying their pumpkin treat. They gobbled it up right down to the skin.

 Just a peek. The yard glows red this time of year. It is so pretty and the air is perfect. As you can see the pool is all closed up for winter.

 This is a view of the garden I take pictures of all the time...all tucked in for winter too.

Just in case you forgot this is how it looked this summer....

So I have been working away, all Cannas plants removed and stored away, all Dahlias dug, cleaned and stored. Today I got all my Zinnia and Marigold seeds cleaned and put into labeled jars, ready for next Spring. I have been going out each day to cut back and clean up another bed. The yard was looking pretty darn good, but today it has started to rain leaves....all day long too. You can't find our driveway or lawn.

~ahhh Hello November~

Good Golly Miss Molly!

Meet Miss Molly~ She is my daredevil, the first to try things and the first out in the morning. She give nuzzles and makes sweet noises and when I go in the house she runs to the deck and peeks in at me! She leaves me a pretty pink egg each day.

When I put the herbs in the nesting boxes Molly is the first one to poke her head in there and take out her favorites.

 A couple of weeks ago we went to The Vintage Bazaar in Salisbury,MA It was a beautiful fall day, clear skies, sunshine, just perfect. Well I found these sweet fairy houses by Babacool Arts. I met Yvette Monstad who has just moved here. I wish I had taken pictures while there. She works in metal and clay. Oh I loved everything. I bought two pieces. This one is in my front garden. (she said I can leave them out all year round) Love the working door on it.

and this sweet piece. This door works too.

Ahh, the love of my life with as truck I would love to own. You know just for shopping for garden things or antiques...if only, giggles.

Fall is in the air

Summer has flown by..I think it was the chickens that made it go so fast. That and the simply beautiful weather we had. Lots of sunshine. I am so sad to see it go, but I do love fall. It is a favorite of mine in all ways except it means nasty old winter is coming. I hate the cold and the ice, the salt on the roads and snow. I love how pretty it is when it falls, but then you have to move it and with salt and sand it gets dirty. Anyway back to the glorious days of Fall.  The cool dry air, clear days and crisp nights. The smell of wood smoke will linger in the air. Pumpkin bread in the oven and apple cider simmering on the stove...ahh fall!

I notice how my gardens are passing by. The sedums are in full bloom and my grasses are getting their tassels. They look so pretty. I see a scattering of leaves on the lawn in the morning. We will need to close up the pool soon and I will miss the sound of the waterfall in the summer breeze.

Last weekend I got the cornstalks out and some mums planted. I got out some of my Harvest decorations. So come see what I have been up to. The mailbox is the first to get a little attention.

                           My old wheelbarrow got a bit of Fall color and a couple of pumpkins.

 Our project this summer was to add some large stones to the front yard. This one was placed so I could add some seasonal color around it.

 What do you think? It breaks up the large natural part of our front yard and gives me something to plant around.

 The garden I have shown you at different times this summer. The phlox are on the second bloom and notice the sedums. They are lush this year. This is my gardens last hurrah. I am sad to see them go by.

 The galvanized tub is passing by too.

 The cannas are looking good too. I love the red coloring.....

 The grass is showing her beautiful tassels and I love the green of my Annabelles.

 The babies are growing. Lucy and Pumpkin are 19 weeks old. They are the sweetest girls.

 The girls are giving us about 3 eggs a day. They have just started and the days are getting short so I just have to wait and see how that goes. My grandson makes himself eggs each morning. He just loves the fact they are so fresh.

So that is what has been going on at the country nest these days as summer ends and we welcome fall I continue to harvest my herbs for the girls and have been drying them for winter use.
Hope you come back to visit as our trees turn beautiful colors and those crisp days bring out sweaters and warm fires.....Can't you just smell it in the air?

Heavenly Blue

I planted some seeds in a pot with a trellis. There was a windy day and I lost my plants, so I stared again and it seems like forever, but we now have some blooms. No matter how many times I plant Morning Glories the flowers just amaze me. So beautiful, such a beautiful shade of blue. I will hate to see them go by. Do you have any favorites? I love the bright and vibrant zinnias in bloom right now too. They are like happy, sunny faces smiling up at me. The colors are like Fiesta dinnerware. They just make me smile.

 

 

The Morning Glories are climbing up the Hen House and the girls seem to like them too!

 

 

 

 

Away go the Summer dishes and out come my Fall plates. I know it is September, but man it is still hot here! I picked up  Pumpkin roll last week and that means Fall to me.

This week at the Country Nest

The weather here has been hot and humid. The chickens have been out free ranging to find some cool space under the trees. They love being out, but I usually supervise to be safe. They love stealing tomatoes from the garden and eat up lots of pesty bugs. The flowers are blooming nicely and it really is dog days of August.  Hope you all have nice weather where you are.

We have a project under way in the front yard, but I will save that until next time.