Category: Uncategorized

130 Steps

 

 That’s how many steps it takes to get from my side door to the tack room at the barn.  I’m cracking up and I am truly touched by my fellow bloggers concern over the distance I must travel to get from house to barn and back again.  I was compelled to go out and count tonight,  just so ya know.

    This is how I see it….  If I can’t walk 130 steps to and from the barn to feed, muck, water, what-have-you… then I have no business building a barn again, now, do I?   I need the exercise!!… You see…  I’m gonna brag here for a minute, and I really never brag because it just isn’t me – I’m nothing special and I’m not even gonna try to fool you.  But… I have always been in decent shape due to the amount of barn work I’ve done over the years. All you horse people out there know what I’m talking about.   (Ofcourse, I can also thank these chores for my awesome back and neck aches and pains too – yeah, there’s that ).  I’m sure I’ve paid my  chiropractor’s boat payments because of my barn chore history.

    Anyway… for the past two years I have become a slug, a SLUG I tell you.. because I have NOT had to walk to the barn and do those chores.  Nooo… someone ELSE has been doing that for me on another farm! Oh, I enjoyed the reprieve, but I also missed my horses in the backyard and muscle tone has started to head South.   So it’s time to kick this behind back into shape, and those 130 steps are gonna help.

  Now if we have another winter like the one we had this past year… 
well let’s not go there. 
I have a question for the barn buddies among us… 
How many steps is YOUR barn from the house?  

John Travolta Doesn’t Live Here

  To all you locals who read my blog… just letting ya know…

John Travolta did NOT buy our house, and no landing strip for airplanes is going in the fields.  For those of you who don’t  live around here, the John Travolta rumor has been floating around our little town for 20 years or so. Although I  surely wish it were true, it just ain’t so.  It’s hilarious that town folk are now applying that rumor to the sale of our previous house. 

I do love the man, he is my favorite actor and I’ve loved every roll he has taken. 
 I was madly in love with Vinny Barbarino and then Danny in Grease.
I still know every word to every song,
and the Welcome back Cotter theme song brings back
fond memories of a beanpole adolescent with a wicked crush.
His roles ever since have been admirable and diverse.
I love that he is a genuine family man too.

Dear John, ( or John’s People!)
If you ever come across this post,  please dispel the myth
for this tiny New England town…
 leave a comment telling us that you really don’t live here.
Or maybe shine a ray of hope for us all  ðŸ™‚
You have many fans here, apparently!


P.S.  You can build a landing strip in our hay fields any time!

Love, Karen

 The new owner has decided to put up a security gate at the entrance to the driveway… which will fuel the John Travolta rumors even more, I’m sure.  

 Sorry if I’ve burst any bubbles here….   🙂

Unwind

  To say we’ve had a stressful month on a few fronts here at This Old House is a bit of an understatement.  The great news is things are looking up.  The best of the day is… our previous house has finally sold.  Today. Did we take a beating in the purchase price?… H*ll yes.  But it’s no longer our burden.  As in that monstrous second mortgage is now paid off and this one is more “do-able”.  

  Amen and Hallelujah. 

My Other Kids….

  When I met my husband and we decided in quick order that we might be cohabitating in the near future… I warned him that I came with critters.  I told him I’d always have a horse, a dog, and I had no idea what else, but a menagerie was pretty much a given.  

Now I KNEW that he did not grow up with animals… the one dog the family had did not work out very well, and they keep beautiful, immaculate homes.  He was used to a very neat and tidy order of things and I had a feeling this might be a HUGE adjustment for both of us.  

And it has been.  However in his defense, he has risen to the occasion many times and has even gone above and beyond, much to his own chagrin!  I do keep an acceptably clean home, but  I have two signs in our house, just to keep it light, you see….

 What’s a little dog hair among friends?
and
 Welcome to the Zoo!
oh, and this one too…because it applies…
The buck doesn’t even slow down here
So, yeah.. there’ve been adjustments.  *ahem*…
and cats and rabbits and fish and hamsters and chickens
 and  a rat (briefly.. I think for 24 hours… he drew the line.)
Right now, these are our other kids…
Bailey is below.. terrier mix extraordinare. Wonderful dog.
Rudy.. the pisspot.  He is called this because..
at every chance, if you aren’t looking, he will pee on something to mark it HIS.
He liked it better when he was briefly an only child.
This is his way of telling us he is not thrilled to have siblings.
When Bailey came to live with us Rudy wouldn’t eat.
For days.
I took him to the vet… and the vet said
“Anything new in the house?  He’s depressed”
Ofcourse the new thing was Bailey.
Then the vet said
“Let’s try antidepressants”
I said “Hell no, he’ll just have to SUCK IT UP, thank you”.
Don’t judge me.
Rudy has been a pain in the a** ever since, but we love him anyway.
Rudy is lucky my daughter, in particular, really loves him.
When she moves out some day, he goes with her.
My Big Boy Ben….
 It’s hot today and he’s slack’n.
Actually we all are.
Opie, my QH gelding

Coady & Lacey, my minis….

Now I have promised, since we are building a barn again…
that I will keep the numbers down.
You all will keep me to it, right?
Right.

Barn Building

Barn building continues….

  An old dead stand of cedar trees out back have been cut to use for fence posts.

 

   Two-three weeks and the equine members of our family will be home again 🙂
Happy Fathers Day
  to my guy – couldn’t have planned for a better father to our children
and also to all the wonderful Dads out there ~

Don’t worry, be happy

 I have issues.
 Worry issues.
 Way too much worry, all the time.
  There are invisible scars from a traumatic incident five years go,
where one of us four almost died. 
The  possibility of survival was in question for weeks
 and it was a long time before we were out of the woods.
I  came out of that experience a stronger person in some ways…
 and a damaged person in others. 
 
No longer do I float along the river of life oblivious to the perils, to our fragile existence. 
  There is a constant undertow of  heightened awareness to danger,
 and that’s a hell of a state to be in all the time.  
 So.. I am trying to quiet the voices, the fears,
 the anxieties that come with the experience of being a mother. 
 It ain’t easy.  
Just ask my kids. 

The Blue Oar

 My favorite summer time place to have lunch or dinner is The Blue Oar in Haddam, CT. 

 Sitting right on the Connecticut River with dock space for boaters who want to come in for a meal, it’s the perfect place to bring a picnic basket with a bottle of wine, a table cloth and a candle or two.  The tables are colorful and don’t really need adornment, but they welcome your “Input” and many people bring their own ambiance.   They don’t serve alcohol, but you are welcome to bring your own.  That’s just what the folks next to us did….

  Two Weimaraners that have it made….
Dog days of summer indeed.
I say we organize a blog convention here one of these days…. you in?

Fifi O’Neill at This Old House!

  If  you haven’t seen Fifi O’Neill’s fabulous style in either her books or her Florida home featured in Coastal Living Magazine, here’s just a taste….

Coastal Living Germany issue – Fifi’s home featured

  Found on Amazon –
Fifi O’Neill grew up in Paris, France. She lived in Manitoba, Canada, for 15 years where she first fell in love with the region’s vast and beautiful prairies. A move to the United States took her to the great plains where the song of the meadow lark echoes through pristine landscapes, little prairie dogs peek through lush tall grass, and where comfort, simplicity, and harmony with the earth became the foundation for her own style, Prairie Style.
As editor, writer and photo stylist, Fifi O’Neill has produced numerous features on home decorating, food, and gardening for American and European magazines such as Coastal Living, Country Living (USA), Casa Romantica and Casa Antichi (Italy)–and many more. Though her work has taken her from coast to coast and Europe, her heart belongs to the prairie with its enduring aura of romance and nostalgia, its enduring connection between people and places, and its gentle yet resilient spirit.

   I have had the honor of spending today with Fifi and professional  Photographer Mark Lohman while they photographed This Old House for future publication. Looking beyond their obvious talents, these are two very warm and charming people.  To spend a day in their presence was truly inspirational and so much fun.
Thank you, Fifi & Mark ~
and Thank you Kat of Low Tide High Style for making the connection 🙂 

 How cool is that?