# Peek Inside My Life, Photos



## katlupe (Apr 29, 2021)

I am not especially gifted as a photographer, but I wanted to share a bit of my life with all my new friends here. These are in no order. Hope you like them. 

My puppy, Nikita Blackwolf Lupole, 1998. She was my only dog.


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## katlupe (Apr 29, 2021)

Nutmeg & Cinders 1998


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## katlupe (Apr 29, 2021)

I cooked on this stove all year round. I loved it!


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## MarciKS (Apr 29, 2021)

is that stove outside?


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## katlupe (Apr 29, 2021)

MarciKS said:


> is that stove outside?


No, it was in my kitchen. I had two stoves, one was a propane stove and this one.


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## MarciKS (Apr 29, 2021)

I would think that would've made the house terrible warm in the summer.


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## katlupe (Apr 29, 2021)

MarciKS said:


> I would think that would've made the house terrible warm in the summer.


Not really. I would start a fire, cook on it and then let it go out.


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## katlupe (Apr 29, 2021)

This is called The Jewel Cookstove made by The Detroit Stove Company in the late 1800's. I bought it in a antique store when I was getting ready to move to my off the grid house. In the picture, it looks dusty, because it is. I used it constantly till it fell apart.


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## katlupe (Apr 29, 2021)

This was my backyard and half of my garden. Honestly, I do miss my garden and harvesting my crops. It held me back from leaving there for a number of years, until I finally had no choice.


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## Aunt Marg (Apr 29, 2021)

katlupe said:


> This is called The Jewel Cookstove made by The Detroit Stove Company in the late 1800's. I bought it in a antique store when I was getting ready to move to my off the grid house. In the picture, it looks dusty, because it is. I used it constantly till it fell apart.
> 
> View attachment 162468


Love all of the pictures, Kat, but the wood cook-stove really brings back memories for me.

One of my grandmothers had one just like it. The memories I have of waking early with her to start a fire in the largest open burner, rubbing our hands over the warming cast element and feeling the chill slowly get chased away with the roar of a fire inside.

A piping hot cup of hot cocoa, we'd sit at the table under the gentle cast of light from a small coal oil lamp, still bundled up in our pj's and housecoats.


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## Aunt Marg (Apr 29, 2021)

katlupe said:


> This was my backyard and half of my garden. Honestly, I do miss my garden and harvesting my crops. It held me back from leaving there for a number of years, until I finally had no choice.
> 
> View attachment 162470


I see a clothesline in this wonderful picture!


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## katlupe (Apr 29, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> Love all of the pictures, Kat, but the wood cook-stove really brings back memories for me.
> 
> One of my grandmothers had one just like it. The memories I have of waking early with her to start a fire in the largest open burner, rubbing our hands over the warming cast element and feeling the chill slowly get chased away with the roar of a fire inside.
> 
> A piping hot cup of hot cocoa, we'd sit at the table under the gentle cast of light from a small coal oil lamp, still bundled up in our pj's and housecoats.


Thank you, Aunt Marg. There is something magical about them that I can't explain.


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## katlupe (Apr 29, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> I see a clothesline in this wonderful picture!


Thank you!
Yes, I hung my laundry and it was a struggle in cold weather.


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## Aunt Marg (Apr 29, 2021)

katlupe said:


> Thank you, Aunt Marg. There is something magical about them that I can't explain.


I couldn't have said it better, Kat, there truly is something magical and homey about them.

They had a way of making the room so inviting and comfy.


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## Aunt Marg (Apr 29, 2021)

katlupe said:


> Thank you!
> Yes, I hung my laundry and it was a struggle in cold weather.


I just love the rock-bordered garden areas!

I have always had a weakness for such.


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## Pappy (Apr 29, 2021)

My grandma cooked on a wood stove. She would prepare a whole meal and it would come out ready all together.
My job was to keep the fire wood box full.


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## Pappy (Apr 29, 2021)

katlupe said:


> This was my backyard and half of my garden. Honestly, I do miss my garden and harvesting my crops. It held me back from leaving there for a number of years, until I finally had no choice.
> 
> View attachment 162470


I like the wash tubs garden. Great idea.


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## Keesha (Apr 29, 2021)

katlupe said:


> I cooked on this stove all year round. I loved it!
> 
> View attachment 162427


Oh you lucky woman. These things are the best for cooking on. Very nice. I’m jealous.


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## katlupe (Apr 29, 2021)

Keesha said:


> Oh you lucky woman. These things are the best for cooking on. Very nice. I’m jealous.


Well thank you, but I don't have it anymore.


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## Keesha (Apr 29, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> Love all of the pictures, Kat, but the wood cook-stove really brings back memories for me.
> 
> One of my grandmothers had one just like it. The memories I have of waking early with her to start a fire in the largest open burner, rubbing our hands over the warming cast element and feeling the chill slowly get chased away with the roar of a fire inside.
> 
> A piping hot cup of hot cocoa, we'd sit at the table under the gentle cast of light from a small coal oil lamp, still bundled up in our pj's and housecoats.





katlupe said:


> Well thank you, but I don't have it anymore.


That’s too bad but at least you got the experience of cooking on it whereas many don’t. Like Marg and yourself, I feel fairly lucky myself that I got to cook with one. I worked as a chef for two opera singers. They lived in a big old Victorian home with one of these stoves and it was awesome.

Beautiful picture kalupe, thanks for sharing with us.


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## katlupe (Apr 29, 2021)

Keesha said:


> That’s too bad but at least you got the experience of cooking on it whereas many don’t. Like Marg and yourself, I feel fairly lucky myself that I got to cook with one. I worked as a chef for two opera singers. They lived in a big old Victorian home with one of these stoves and it was awesome.
> 
> Beautiful picture kalupe, thanks for sharing with us.


Wow, what an awesome job that must have been!


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## Keesha (Apr 29, 2021)

katlupe said:


> Wow, what an awesome job that must have been!


It was. It was the first job I got when I moved from the city to the country. I knew I had to create my own jobs of I wanted to live in the country and I did. I was honoured to make a cake for ‘Phantom of the Opera.’


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## Irwin (Apr 29, 2021)

katlupe said:


> This was my backyard and half of my garden. Honestly, I do miss my garden and harvesting my crops. It held me back from leaving there for a number of years, until I finally had no choice.
> 
> View attachment 162470


That looks like a cool way to live. Why did you have to leave?


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## SeaBreeze (Apr 29, 2021)

@katlupe, very sweet photos of your furbabies, thanks for sharing.


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## Aunt Marg (Apr 29, 2021)

katlupe said:


> I am not especially gifted as a photographer, but I wanted to share a bit of my life with all my new friends here. These are in no order. Hope you like them.
> 
> My puppy, Nikita Blackwolf Lupole, 1998. She was my only dog.
> 
> View attachment 162424


It breaks my heart to know that this sweet little baby is gone now, and she wasn't even mine, that's why I'll never be able to own a pet. It would kill me to lose one.


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## Jules (Apr 29, 2021)

Pappy said:


> I like the wash tubs garden. Great idea.


I spotted those too.


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## Sliverfox (Apr 29, 2021)

@ Katlupe,,,Thanks  for sharing  your photos.


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## katlupe (Apr 30, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> It breaks my heart to know that this sweet little baby is gone now, and she wasn't even mine, that's why I'll never be able to own a pet. It would kill me to lose one.


She lived to be 15 years old and was the smartest dog I ever knew, but the only one I ever had. I kept telling her when she dies I am out of here. I still have dreams of her coming to the side of my bed and nudging my hand to pet her.


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## katlupe (Apr 30, 2021)

Irwin said:


> That looks like a cool way to live. Why did you have to leave?


Well, I was having more health issues and one of them was mobility issues and I kept thinking I was diabetic (I am not). I also needed to go to a dentist. My husband spent all his money (he was on SSD and a pension) on debt payments never paying them down. I could not work and when he got a new truck it was too big for me and I would not drive it. So I was basically at home unless he took me somewhere. Half the time the only food we had was what I grew and canned or dried. He also had a horrible temper and even though he did not take it out on me, he was a miserable, negative human being to live with.

The house has no running water, a sawdust toilet and we had to heat water on the big wood stove for taking a bath (the drains worked). It was a dusty house due to wood stoves and muddy feet and I grew to hate being there. I knew I was going to die there. He was stingy on feeding our three horses and blamed them for all our money troubles even though we had them before he started using credit. I felt to save their lives (and mine) I had to leave. So I did.


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## katlupe (Apr 30, 2021)

Nikita was such a good little girl! She chewed on firewood instead of our stuff.


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## katlupe (May 3, 2021)

My house was on a small 1 acre property, which was a hunting camp before we bought it. Surrounded by the state forest on 3 sides.


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## katlupe (May 3, 2021)

The road along the front of the horses' paddock and my house.


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## katlupe (May 3, 2021)

Another view of it closer to the house. I named it Peaceful Forest Homestead.


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## Dana (May 3, 2021)

katlupe said:


> This was my backyard and half of my garden. Honestly, I do miss my garden and harvesting my crops. It held me back from leaving there for a number of years, until I finally had no choice.
> 
> View attachment 162470



All your pics are lovely Katlupe...but this is my favourite


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## katlupe (May 3, 2021)

Dana said:


> All your pics are lovely Katlupe...but this is my favourite


Thank you, Dana!


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## hollydolly (May 3, 2021)

katlupe said:


> Another view of it closer to the house. I named it Peaceful Forest Homestead.
> View attachment 163138


Very similar to here...


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## katlupe (May 5, 2021)

This is my cat, Patches, She was such a special little girl.


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## Gardenlover (May 5, 2021)

Thanks for letting us peek into your life. Very nice place.


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## katlupe (May 5, 2021)

I cooked sometimes in a Sun Oven. It worked!


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## Aunt Bea (May 5, 2021)

katlupe said:


> Another view of it closer to the house. I named it Peaceful Forest Homestead.
> View attachment 163138


kat,

Beautiful border of lilies!

Did you ever cook the day lily buds?

In the 70s we used to cook the buds in salted water until tender and serve them with S&P, butter, etc...  They were similar to green beans.

I’ve also read that the blossoms can be used in an Asian style clear soup made with chicken broth.


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## katlupe (May 8, 2021)

Aunt Bea said:


> kat,
> 
> Beautiful border of lilies!
> 
> ...


I did not cook them like that I used the blossoms in various things.


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## katlupe (May 8, 2021)

This is the church in Harpursville, NY, that I used to go to Brownies in. It is still standing and still a pretty church.


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## katlupe (May 8, 2021)

High Bridge which goes across Ludlow Creek just before my house.


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## katlupe (May 8, 2021)

This is the original bin built into my root cellar. It has no legs which I think is in case the cellar ever got flooded (which it never did when I lived here). This house was actually on a farm and I found in the census that they grew many different crops here. It also had many heirloom apple trees through the forest (which was part of the farm before it was donated to the state.).


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## old medic (May 9, 2021)

katlupe said:


> This is called The Jewel Cookstove made by The Detroit Stove Company in the late 1800's. I bought it in a antique store when I was getting ready to move to my off the grid house. In the picture, it looks dusty, because it is. I used it constantly till it fell apart.
> 
> View attachment 162468


We are looking for one to put in the garage...


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## katlupe (May 9, 2021)

old medic said:


> We are looking for one to put in the garage...


I think you will love it. Nothing compares to cooking on it. I had a new gas (propane) stove too but used the cook stove more.


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## katlupe (May 9, 2021)

The Finger Lakes Trail ran around my house. Many hikers passed through here.


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## katlupe (May 9, 2021)

The Finger Lakes Trail


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## katlupe (May 9, 2021)

The FLT lean-to that was built for hikers to spend the night or get out of the rain. It is 3 sided. I wish I could visit it at least one more time but don't know if my walker could do the trail.


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## katlupe (May 9, 2021)

The open side looks out over Ludlow Creek and is very beautiful and peaceful.


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## katlupe (May 12, 2021)

Peaceful Forest got a lot more snow than the surrounding area for some reason. It was a lot of work cleaning it up.


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## katlupe (May 13, 2021)

If you look close, you can see my cat, Hobo, walking across the frame work on top of the barn.


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## hollydolly (May 13, 2021)

I can see her, black & white...


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## katlupe (May 13, 2021)

This is a video on YouTube that my someday-to-be x-husband made for his YouTube channel. The music is his own. I think it was done in February of 2018. My horses are in this one.


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## katlupe (May 13, 2021)

This is another one he did about cleaning the solar panels, but in the beginning part (and that is the only reason I am sharing it here) there is a tiny clip of Rabbit up close.


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## Aunt Marg (May 13, 2021)

katlupe said:


> This is another one he did about cleaning the solar panels, but in the beginning part (and that is the only reason I am sharing it here) there is a tiny clip of Rabbit up close.


I love the wheeled shovel!

Never seen anything like that before!


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## hollydolly (May 13, 2021)

Liked the videos Kat..your soon to be X..is a looker... and talented.

However I have to admit to FF the first video a bit and I must have missed the horses...but I did see the bunny in the second...


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## katlupe (May 13, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> I love the wheeled shovel!
> 
> Never seen anything like that before!


It is called the snow wolf and it made the job of shoveling snow so much easier.


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## katlupe (May 13, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> Liked the videos Kat..your soon to be X..is a looker... and talented.
> 
> However I have to admit to FF the first video a bit and I must have missed the horses...but I did see the bunny in the second...


The main reason I posted it was to show Rabbit. I have a video of him on my phone but don't know who to share it here. Only on FB.


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## hollydolly (May 13, 2021)

katlupe said:


> The main reason I posted it was to show Rabbit. I have a video of him on my phone but don't know who to share it here. Only on FB.


you could upload your photos to your pictures on your computer then post it from there onto here


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## katlupe (May 18, 2021)

Fox grapes or wild grapes grew all over the forest around me. I used to pick these every year and can them. Later I could make them into jam, jelly or use as juice. Some years I didn't get any due to the birds and bees getting them first. They cheated. They did not wait for them to ripen!


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## katlupe (May 18, 2021)

Squash Casserole


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## katlupe (May 18, 2021)

I called this path, Forest Path. It was the entrance from the backyard into the forest. The elderberries and black berries were plentiful at this time. Growing all around me.


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## katlupe (Jun 6, 2021)

This is the garden beds on the side of the house. I loved to sit out here and work in my garden. Often I drank my morning coffee out in the garden before it got hot out.


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## katlupe (Jun 6, 2021)

Here is a view of it while I was still planting it.


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## katlupe (Jun 6, 2021)

I definitely miss my time in the garden. It was peaceful with just hearing the birds. My cats followed me and stayed out there with me. When I had my pet chicken she was there too. This is the bed, I call the "Jurassic" bed. My friend named it that because our plants grew huge in it.


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## RadishRose (Jun 6, 2021)

Such lovely photos, Kat!


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## MarciKS (Jun 6, 2021)

I agree


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## Ruth n Jersey (Jun 6, 2021)

Such a wonderful peak into your life with all those photos. Thank you for sharing. 
Did you have trouble adjusting to living in a more built up area, assuming you did?  How peaceably quiet it must have been.
With all those gardens did you have trouble with wild life stealing your crops? The deer here would have had a feast.
I am really in awe of all that you did.


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## drifter (Jun 6, 2021)

That dutch oven on coals from an outside fire? Like your photos.


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## JonDouglas (Jun 6, 2021)

Thanks for sharing this with us!


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## katlupe (Jun 7, 2021)

drifter said:


> That dutch oven on coals from an outside fire? Like your photos.


Thank you! I am glad you liked them. 

Yes, I liked keeping an outdoor fire going for a few days and I would put something on to cook. I especially liked cooking breakfast in the early morning outside.


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## katlupe (Jun 7, 2021)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> Such a wonderful peak into your life with all those photos. Thank you for sharing.
> Did you have trouble adjusting to living in a more built up area, assuming you did?  How peaceably quiet it must have been.
> With all those gardens did you have trouble with wild life stealing your crops? The deer here would have had a feast.
> I am really in awe of all that you did.


Thank you for liking them! 

I thought I would have trouble moving to a city after living there for twenty years, but not really. I miss certain things, especially my horses and the garden. It was peaceful, in fact, I named it "Peaceful Forest" when I first moved there. 

Surprisingly, I did not have any trouble with any wild critters. The forest around me was full of deer and a popular deer hunting area but they did not bother my garden. I always thought it may have been due to my 3 horses who were nearby and very spirited. I think they may have scared off anyone coming onto our property. Even the coyotes did not come on our property but went around it.


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## katlupe (Jun 8, 2021)

One day coming home from town, I could see something up ahead in the middle of the road. In front of our driveway. At first I thought it was one of my cats but it was all black. "Oh no, someone dropped off a black cat!" I said to my husband. As we got closer, this is what we saw and it was like he was waiting for us to get home. He ran to the truck door as I got out.


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## hollydolly (Jun 8, 2021)

katlupe said:


> One day coming home from town, I could see something up ahead in the middle of the road. In front of our driveway. At first I thought it was one of my cats but it was all black. "Oh no, someone dropped off a black cat!" I said to my husband. As we got closer, this is what we saw and it was like he was waiting for us to get home. He ran to the truck door as I got out.
> 
> View attachment 168317


Did you feed him ?  whenever wild animals come onto our property and seem to be tame.. we always feed or water them..


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## katlupe (Jun 8, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> Did you feed him ?  whenever wild animals come onto our property and seem to be tame.. we always feed or water them..


Yes, I certainly did! Plus ducks like to eat bugs and even ticks, they are really good for your yard. I would have adopted him in a minute but my soon-to-be x would not let me keep him. I was not happy with for a long time over that. Here he is sharing his supper with him.


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## katlupe (Jun 8, 2021)

Since my property was just an acre, I did not have a pasture for my horses. But I had a big yard that I was able to tie it off with baling twine. Just one line when I only had the two horses, but when I got Tawny, she would get out by going under it. So had to start putting two strands up. At that time I only had the wood garden beds at the side of the house. But after I got the rock ones, had to stop letting them out. These girls are too lively to be in my garden.


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## katlupe (Jun 22, 2021)

Not a good picture of me, but this is the office I worked in during the late seventies. Endicott-Johnson Corp, better knows as EJ's. This was the Maintenance office and I worked for 6 engineers who designed buildings and remodels of present buildings. I left in 1979 to get married. No computers there!


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## katlupe (Jun 22, 2021)

My kitten, Cricket, who was a Tortoiseshell Siamese as a baby and then a few months later her coloring started taking hold. Sadly, I lost her because someone left a door open when I was not home and she was never found though I looked and looked.


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## katlupe (Jun 30, 2021)

French Fry and Spud, the first time I met them at my boyfriend's house. 2018


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## katlupe (Jun 30, 2021)

Chichi is Sonny's (my boyfriend) dog but actually was his mother's dog. When she died she asked him to take her and her three parrots. He did and treats them like they were his. He loves his critters more than himself. I had to prove myself t win over Chichi but I did pretty quickly. She likes to get on my lap when I am there.


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## katlupe (Jun 30, 2021)

Peaches, was Sonny's mother's parrot. I had gotten really attached to her, but one day I came to his house and she was dead in the bottom of the cage. I was heartbroken! She was so pretty.


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## katlupe (Jun 30, 2021)

A hay field that was near my house. I loved the way it looked at different times of the year.


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## Jules (Jun 30, 2021)

Thank you for sharing all these memories.


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## katlupe (Jul 1, 2021)

This is a picture I took in 1999 when we had first moved to our homestead, Peaceful Forest. It was heavily wooded back then.


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## katlupe (Jul 1, 2021)

The area beyond that fence will become the horses' paddock. Nikita was still a puppy.


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## katlupe (Jul 17, 2021)

I lived for the first eight years with a Servel gas refrigerator hooked up to small gas grill propane tanks. If it ran out, the smell would wake me right up. Many times a puddle of water would be running from the refrigerator across the floor to right under my wood cook stove (RUST!!). Even at 3:00 AM, I'd have to go outside with a pipe wrench to unhook the empty tank to hook up a new one. I hated it.........especially in the cold winter and the hook up valve would be frozen!! UGH!  After my husband had insulated our kitchen, the propane odor was making me sick. Nobody else, Just me. (now I know I have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity) So we lived for 6 years after that with NO refrigeration and I do not recommend it for anybody!!!

We saved our money to buy this. The solar refrigerator made by Sundanzer. It did not need an inverter. It is 12 volt and was an excellent choice. No freezer but at that point, I did not care. Cold food! So excited when I got this. It is in the pantry so the wood stove heat would not affect it. In winter, it never ran,,,,,,,,not even once. Ran a lot in summer but we had plenty of sun with the solar panels putting out more electric than we used.



Here it is opened.


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## katlupe (Jul 17, 2021)

After having to shop in grocery stores for three years now, I can only dream of my beautiful garden. My plants gave me so much good food. I canned it and we lived on it all winter. I just didn't have it in me to keep doing it. All organic and even though the so called "professionals/experts" will tell you that certain foods cannot be canned........like squash and zucchini......I canned them every year and they were NEVER soft and mushy. You just have to know how to do it.


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## katlupe (Jul 17, 2021)

My little horse, Tawny, was a thoroughbred Shetland cross and the most affectionate horse. That is unless you were a small animal. She tried to kill my cat, my red hen and our dog. They learned to avoid her.



She was not usually this energetic. Just winter time got her playful.


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## horseless carriage (Jul 17, 2021)

Just before the pandemic broke, my wife and I were at a vintage festival, she came across an original pair of roundel spectacles, wonderful. My optician made my prescription lenses and fitted them into the frames, a phone call later, I went to collect them.

My mode of dress is something that provokes the odd comment or two, so when my optician said Major Toht, when I posed in my new glasses, it didn't surprise me. But I was impressed that the character, Major Toht, as portrayed by the late Ronald Lacey, was known to my optician. Toht is the sinister Gestapo Nazi in the, Indiana Jones, "Raiders of the Lost Ark," movie.


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## hollydolly (Jul 18, 2021)

katlupe said:


> My little horse, Tawny, was a thoroughbred Shetland cross and the most affectionate horse. That is unless you were a small animal. She tried to kill my cat, my red hen and our dog. They learned to avoid her.
> 
> View attachment 174236
> 
> ...


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## katlupe (Jul 21, 2021)

This is a picture I came across in my chore of saving photos from one external hard drive to another. 2015. A few months after Rabbit became my "house rabbit" and he adapted easily. From the looks of his legs, it looks like the one that got stepped on by my horse had completely healed. To this day, he had never favored it.


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## flowerchild (Jul 21, 2021)

Katalupe, Loved looking at all your nice photos and memories. Thanks for sharing them.


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## katlupe (Jul 21, 2021)

flowerchild said:


> Katalupe, Loved looking at all your nice photos and memories. Thanks for sharing them.


Thank you so much for looking at them!


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## katlupe (Jul 21, 2021)

When we first moved here, my husband cleared this piece of land because HE BADLY wanted horses. He had grown up with them and that was our plan. So he was clearing an area for them while trying to build a barn at the same time. This is why fixing up the house was not a priority for him. My brother always has had a horse but I was not that experienced around them. I always loved them though. This is a picture taken of what it was looking like as he cleared it. I didn't take a lot of pictures because back then I did not have digital camera.


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## katlupe (Jul 25, 2021)

The area for the horses looked like this before he removed the stumps and finished the barn. At that time we brought two horses, Georgie Girl and Dark Shadow home. May 13, 1999. I remember the date because it is my Daddy's birthday.


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## katlupe (Jul 25, 2021)

On May 19, 1999, we were outside in the yard putting up a clothesline. All of a sudden a breeze came up and it started to sprinkle. So we went in the house and I made us some lunch. Before I was done, a terrific wind came up and it started pouring a bit of hail too. It was horrible to watch because our horses were out there in it and trees (BIG ones) were falling over like matchsticks! I was sure our girls were dead or badly hurt with a tree on them.

As soon as it was over this is what we saw...................


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## katlupe (Jul 25, 2021)




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## katlupe (Jul 25, 2021)

One good thing that I can say about it is that we had plenty of firewood for a number of years!


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## katlupe (Jul 25, 2021)

The next morning, the Forest ranger came out to see what happened. He said it was an "in line tornado". I never heard of that before and I am glad I didn't know it was coming. We could not have done anything other than what we did. Which was nothing.


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## feywon (Jul 25, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> It breaks my heart to know that this sweet little baby is gone now, and she wasn't even mine, that's why I'll never be able to own a pet. It would kill me to lose one.


As someone who has had animals in my home most of my life i want to tell you---yes you feel the loss, but they enrich our lives so much it is well worth it to me at least.  And i don't think of our dogs and cats as 'pets' they are family members to us. While i am a person who treasures my solitude i can't imagine not forming bonds with any being human, furred or feathered being that i felt a kinship with just because 'losing' them would hurt.  But then i was a country kid my first decade of life and no stranger to the 'circle of life', i saw puppies and kittens born, eggs hatch and i saw them die sometimes too.


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## feywon (Jul 25, 2021)

Pappy said:


> My grandma cooked on a wood stove. She would prepare a whole meal and it would come out ready all together.
> My job was to keep the fire wood box full.


My Irish Grandma, Nell, had a huge coal burning cast iron stove, with the pie ovens above and a special thing that heated water to do dishes and take baths.  She'd was making huge holiday meals on it as late as the early 60's. In Belleville NJ.


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## katlupe (Aug 26, 2021)

The harvest from my garden, 2015.


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## Aunt Bea (Aug 26, 2021)

katlupe said:


> The harvest from my garden, 2015.
> View attachment 180561


I’m ready for fall!

Is that a Blue Hubbard squash in your photo?

They remind me of my grandmother trying to crack them open with an old dull axe.  We used them to make our ‘pumpkin’ pies.


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## katlupe (Aug 26, 2021)

My canning cupboard in the kitchen. The other jars were in big Rubbermaid totes stored upstairs and I would replenish this cupboard as needed.


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## katlupe (Aug 26, 2021)

Aunt Bea said:


> I’m ready for fall!
> 
> Is that a Blue Hubbard squash in your photo?
> 
> They remind me of my grandmother trying to crack them open with an old dull axe.  We used them to make our ‘pumpkin’ pies.


It was a Hopi Pale Grey squash. I grew them every year.


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## RadishRose (Aug 26, 2021)

katlupe said:


> My canning cupboard in the kitchen. The other jars were in big Rubbermaid totes stored upstairs and I would replenish this cupboard as needed.
> View attachment 180568


You sure did a lot of work!


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## RadishRose (Aug 26, 2021)

my favorite winter squash to bake





A growing favorite in the US, Organic Green Kabocha Squash is a Japanese squash variety that has a rich, nutty flavor and a fine texture that's firm and almost creamy when cooked.


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## katlupe (Aug 29, 2021)

Butternut squash freshly picked from my garden. I always planted different varieties of winter squash making sure to plant them as far apart as I could. Otherwise they might cross. I stored buckets of these in the pantry and root cellar but also canned some too. If I had too much canning it will preserve it for many years though mine did not make it that long as we ate it. The so called professionals tell you not to can it, but I did it all the time and it tasted as if it was freshly picked. This was in 2010 but I harvested buckets like this every year up until 2018.


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## katlupe (Oct 28, 2021)

High Bridge was built in the 1800's and was the road to my house.


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## katlupe (Oct 28, 2021)

And in the winter........


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## Jackie23 (Oct 28, 2021)

katlupe, this is a most enjoyable and interesting thread.....thank you for sharing
You should write a book.


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## katlupe (Oct 28, 2021)

Jackie23 said:


> katlupe, this is a most enjoyable and interesting thread.....thank you for sharing
> You should write a book.


Thank you, Jackie! I appreciate you taking the time to view it. Well, as for a book, I have written 2 cookbooks and I currently write a blog.


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## katlupe (Oct 28, 2021)

Nikita loved the snow! She'd go outside and would roll and roll in it.


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## katlupe (Oct 28, 2021)

Part of our off-the-grid system came from the Wind Max 400. It looks small and my house was surrounded by big trees so everything looks like it won't work. It did. The best thing is when the solar panels were not getting any sun, this guy was spinning anyway!


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## katlupe (Feb 13, 2022)

Winter 2011, Greene, NY
A barn in a couple towns over from where I live.


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## katlupe (Feb 13, 2022)

Winter 2011
My horses loved the winter and the snow on a sunny day.


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## katlupe (May 7, 2022)

A picture of my block that I took today. There is two driveways between the end of the church and my apartment building but you can't see it from this angle.


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## katlupe (May 7, 2022)




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