Category: Uncategorized

Just a thought here….

  Now, first understand that I don’t need donations to start up my Little Free Library.  I’ve got plenty to stock it.   However,  if you love the idea too… and are an avid reader and  book collector as I am… you can help me stock the library by sending a book you have already read and don’t mind never seeing again.  It can be a childrens book or a gardening how to book or a romance or mystery, best seller or new author, whatever!   I think it would be really fun to see the diversity of what we can throw together.  If this is something that you’d like to join in on, I also recommend writing your blog address on the inside cover  indicating to new readers that  you donated the book.   Send me an e-mail if you want to donate, and I’ll give you my mailing address.   karenthisoldhouse@hotmail.com

Below are a few more…
 cute window box! 

This one is located in Ghana….

And this one is in Memphis!…

alittle imagination goes a long way!

Little Free Library

    I saw this on FB the other day, and I loved the idea so much I asked if this could be my b-day present. The Mr. said yes. Soooo… I’ve ordered one, and it will soon be out in front of This Old House, next to the vegetable cart we are apparently resurrecting this summer.  If you’re a local and you know where I live, feel free to borrow, keep or donate a book any time. I’ve been such an avid reader over the years, I have hundreds of books.  What a great way to share!… and even though there is a library here in town, encouraging the practice of reading, unplugging from our gadgets,…. it can’t be a bad thing.   My Little Free Library will be located  on the road at the second driveway  (brown barn entrance). Help yourself!

“Little Free Library was started in 2009 by Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin, who decided that giving away books from his private collection would serve as a fitting tribute to his mother, a teacher. With the help of a community outreach expert, Bol was able to spread the concept. Now there are almost 18,000 library stewards as Bol calls them, who have registered their own Little Free Libraries in 45 states and dozens of countries. Each owner pays a $25 to the nonprofit organization to get a sign and a number, and to be on the locator map at    http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/

It’s a beautiful thing

Southern Comfort

 I think my southern blog friends Andy and Mandy  have taken pity on us northerners with all the snow that’s been dumped on us lately.  Yesterday, much to my surprise, the mail lady came trudging up to the side gate with a package in hand…they really do deliver in sleet and snow!

 It was a much welcomed  package full of southern comfort – 
 My birthday is around the corner,  so they added this note…
It all started with Andy’s rave about these B & G handmade pies..
I went looking, and discovered they are only found in the South.
He thought that was a travesty and decided to send some my way.
Let me tell ya, the lemon pies are a bite full of southern sunshine.
Gone in 60 seconds.
But they didn’t stop with the pies.
Nooo.. we’ve got corn muffin and biscuit mixes…
Biscuit cut ham… now that’s something I have never seen around here….
….and Apple Butter from the Dutch Kettle.
I happen to love apple butter.  
Andy and Mandy put the gold star on the term Southern Hospitality.
 A & M – Thanks so much for warming up this chilly New England house yesterday.
Andy blogs about home improvement projects and family,
hailing from North Carolina. He stumbled upon my blog when we
were in the midst of ressurecting This Old House and began following along. 
You can find his blog HERE.

Snow and Cheesy Corn muffins. It’s what’s for dinner.

We’ve got more snow and wind today.
lovely.
Do you see the drift in the left hand corner still hanging on for dear life?
It’s getting replenished as I type.
Thank you all for the lovely comments on yesterdays post.
My daughter sooo appreciated the lift.
This is one of the things I love about blogging, we all feel connected
at one time or another, we share similar experiences, worries, good fortune and bad. 
 More snow and rain in the forecast – It’s a good day for a hearty recipe….
I’m sharing Jane’s recipe below,
going to make them with turkey soup tonight for dinner.   
Cheese Centered Corn Muffins

1 1/2 c. cornmeal
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 T. baking powder
1 1/2 t. salt
2 T. sugar
2 t.. chopped rosemary or 1 t. dried
2 eggs
1 3/4 c. buttermilk
6 T.butter, melted
5 1/2 oz. cheese (I used cheddar) cut in 12 cubes

Preheat oven to 400. Spray muffin tin wells. In large bowl mix all dry ingredients. In another, mix the remaining ingredients except cheese. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add your egg mixture. Fold until blended and no lumps remain. Spoon about 2 T. of batter in muffin well, pop in a cube of cheese and add batter until well is 2/3 filled. Bake for 15 minutes or until edges of muffins are golden. Cool pan on rack. Serves 12.

You Go, Girl

Feels like I’m being a bit of a braggart here,
I hope it’s not coming across that way,
just want you to know it’s not my intention.
I’m particularly proud of my girl right here,
because she’s had some real hard knocks in life..
the kind that hit you broadside and change life as you knew it
 in an instant.  She works hard every day to overcome them.
So, forgive me the bragging, won’t you?
I am so proud of the dedication she shows to this horse she
took on, how she cares for him better than some folks care for their kids..
and how she works with her horse almost every day after putting in time at her day job
  to accomplish their goals.
I’m just giving her a shout out in this little space of mine,
because I want her to truly believe that she’s doing more than  OK. 
Can I brag just once more?
I told you about the cost of showing in a previous post,
and how some of the show clothes cost more than a downpayment on a car.
In outfitting K and Max for the show season, we’ve been trying to find deals
with used tack and even gently used show clothes.
This shirt was made for the designers daughter, but she wanted
something different. She and K are about the same size!
  Sooo… we got a great deal.
I love when that happens.

Hair Club for Horses

  Now this is a concept I used to think was just ridiculous.  Really silly.   I mean, no way in a frozen hell with three blue moons would I ever buy a fake tail for my horse.  Come on, are ya serious?

 I bet you didn’t know ( unless you are already a horse show person) that many of the horses you see going ’round and ’round the arena are sporting a fake tail.   A WEIGHTED fake tail, even.   All the better to present the horse, you see.

These horses have tail extensions.
(I did take these from the internet, no offense intended to the actual horse owners)
This horse is having a really bad tail day…
 This is K with Beemer last summer…  tail or no tail?… you be the judge.
This is what tails look like unattached to a horse…
These are a feathered cut, and there are also blunt cuts
This is what Max looks like without a tail extension.
 –K will be mad about this posted pic  “Mom!! Weird face!!-
This is what came in the mail all the way from Florida the other day…
Just hush.

Romaine Tenney

    I visited the site of my sister’s soon-to-be homestead recently… a lovely six acre plot where she and her husband will build a house and barn for her horses and I’m guessing, his chickens and a cow or two if he can get away with it.  It’s a farmstead they’ve both dreamed of for some time now, located in a lovely town full of big old homes from the 1800’s and farm land that stretches across the landscape very comfortably, as it has for hundreds of years. Scattered here and there  are  dilapidated old dairy barns no longer in use, which  always saddens me.  It’s clear that a rich agricultural way of life has all but vanished in this beautiful place.  Development is imminent.  The lot my sister will build on is in fact part of a development that divides up an old dairy farm .. the barn still standing, although empty.

   Inevitable?  I suppose.   Progress! … after all.  And Hey… my husband is a home builder…we are able to own this farm because he builds houses for a living.  What a hypocrite!    But is it always  truly progress? Are we losing more than we’re gaining in some of these instances?  I, for one, believe this to be true.

  I read a piece the other night that will not leave me, the man and his story I will never forget.  Writer Howard Mansfield wrote a heart wrenching article in Yankee Magazine about Romaine Tenney.  If you’ve got the time, I urge you to read this article,  click HERE.    I wish I knew the man.  I wish I could have helped.  This should not have been allowed to happen.   And yet it’s happening again, all these years later in a project called  Northern Pass …. you can read more about that HERE or in the current Yankee Magazine.

Picture taken just a week before the end of Romaine’s story.. 

 In the telling of the story of old man Tenney, there is always present that ominous word… Eminent Domain.  What gives any one for any reason the right to take away the life and livelihood, the roots, the history… the love of THEIR land, land their family has worked and cherished and lived on and by…   all in the name of progress?   When we treat people in this way, we regress substantially. 
I’ve traveled I-91 into Vermont.   Several times we’ve tread just inches over the ghost of Romaine Tenney and his farm… unknowing.  Next time, I will stop the car and step off the highway at Exit 8 and pay silent tribute to the man who loved that land… and tell him how very sorry I was to hear of his demise …. how much  his life mattered, how his way of life is not forgotten, and how maybe, just maybe someone important will read his story and finally HEAR him…. and  LEARN from it. 

How does she sleep at night?

   I’ve been a fan of true crime authors, true crime documentaries and movies since I was a young teen.  Between that and Vampires, you’d think I might be a pretty dark personality, but I hope you already know that not to be true.     My husband often questions my choice of reading material.  “How can you read that crap? It’s  morbid! THAT is why you’re a nervous wreck“.  The reason is simple.. the process of solving these crimes is fascinating, as is the psychotic mentality of the people who commit them.  I’m not alone in this, it’s why the nation was riveted when OJ or whoever killed Nicole and Ron.  You know who I’m talking about, don’t ya.

 Right now we’re bombarded with the Jodi Ar*as trial.  If you’ve been living under a rock you might not be familiar with the case of the on again off again girlfriend of Travis Al*xander, who not only shot him in the head,  she slashed his throat, almost decapitating him, and stabbed him another 27 or so times.  Her story has changed atleast twice.  (1. I wasn’t there!   2.  There were masked intruders!   3. I did it out of self defense!)       Self defense? … he was naked in the shower and she was taking nude pictures of him, minutes, maybe even seconds  before she killed him.     Jodi tries to throw everyone around her under the bus during the trial… Travis was a pedophile, he was abusive…. there is no evidence in his entire life or computer history to hold this up.  There is much hard evidence to prove otherwise between the defendant and her victim.  Texts, e-mails, photos, accounts by others in their presence. There were never indications of abuse. There WERE indications of her obsession with him.        My parents abused me since I was 7 years old… my mother kept a wooden spoon in her purse!    Good Lord, girl, are you serious??…   There is also no evidence to support those accusations, but getting hit with a wooden spoon would not compel most people to murder in such a violent way.      She blames the Prosecutor in this case for her memory loss issues when it pertains to crucial moments of the killing.  She remembers shooting Travis, but nothing about the stabbing.         It’s because  you  keep badgering me (speaking to the prosecutor when he asked her if she knew when her memory lapses were going to occur) , thats when I have  memory issues… when men badger me, like you and Travis.       Ok then.

Watching her on the stand is nauseating… there is a smugness, there is a feigned helplessness, a -poor me- performance that I have a hard time witnessing.  There are too many  “I don’t remember’s…

What I hope… what I truly hope is this…. this will not be another Casey Anthony story.  Please, no.

Who’s the real Jodi?  We’ll never know for sure…clearly, she’s not telling.

   

The Modern Dog

 After giving Frasier another of my home-spun haircuts,  (read – not groomer quality but good enough!)  I realized his leather collar was not softening the way it should and felt rough around his neck.  So I stopped at The Modern Dog on  Boston Post Road in Madison, CT to see if they had something easier on the skin.  

For pet lovers who like to pamper their pooch and want to find items
that are more unique than what you find in a Petco, this  is your place…

frasier’s new collar…