I just watched the first episode of Downton Abbey, and I have a question: Lord Brantham says that he can't break the entail, because it would destroy the estate. What does that mean? I get that the title would pass to the cousin while Mary would inherit the property, but what's the problem that he sees with that?

Colder here than the west side. We've had a ton of hail and it's close to freezing now. Brrrrrrr...

My guess is that parts of the estate would go away and it would no longer be self-sustaining.

I don't watch Downton Abbey, but is he talking about a fee tail? That's where only the boys can inherit? That's so cool-finally some use from my crazy property class!

My water is naturally very soft.

I wonder if it's the primordial lake bed we're sitting on that causes the hard water. We have to drink bottled water--Hey, Culligan man!--because when Hubby was drinking tap water he had horrible kidney stones. The occurrence of stones dropped dratically when we switched.

Stephanie, yes. He has three daughters, but no sons. The heir had been his first cousin, who had a son who was planning to marry his oldest daughter. But the first cousin and his son died, and now they've determined that the next heir, according to the rules, is a third cousin once removed who none of them have ever met.

Lord Grantham is pretty old-school and hidebound, so I can see him feeling like it would destroy everything if the named head guy wasn't actually in charge.

Cool- I should start watching the show. Everyone loves it. But I'm already so far behind on the shows I do watch.

Speaking of lather--I managed to make it to 44 before buying Bronner's--does it normally lather weakly? I tried two small bottles to test scents, but I'm surprised that such a renowned soap seems to be performing...differently.

Wee baby horse.