Posted on 03/14/2002 5:07:26 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
This is a continuation of the infamous thread New Zealander Builds Hobbit Hole originally posted on January 26, 2001 by John Farson, who at the time undoubtedly thought he had found a rather obscure article that would elicit a few replies and die out. Without knowing it, he became the founder of the Hobbit Hole. For reasons incomprehensible to some, the thread grew to over 4100 replies. It became the place for hobbits and friends of hobbits to chit chat and share LoTR news and views, hang out, and talk amongst ourselves in the comfort of familiar surroundings.
In keeping with the new posting guidelines, the thread idea is continuing here, as will the Green Dragon Inn, our more structured spin-off thread, as soon as we figure out how to move all the good discussion that has been had there. As for the Hobbit Hole, we will just start fresh, bringing only a few mathoms such as the picture above with us to make it feel like home, and perhaps a walk down memory lane:
Our discussion has been light:
It very well may be that a thread named "New Zealander builds Hobbit hole" will end up being the longest Tolkien thread of them all, with some of the best heartfelt content... Sorry John, but I would have rather it had been one with a more distinguished title!… post 252 - HairOfTheDog
However, I can still celebrate, with quiet dignity, the fact that what started as a laugh about some wacko in New Zealand has mutated and grown into a multifaceted discussion of the art, literature, and philosophy that is Tolkien. And now that I've managed to write the most pompous sentence of my entire life, I agree, Rosie… post 506 - JenB
Hah! I was number 1000!! (Elvish victory dance... wait, no; that would be too flitty) … post 1001 - BibChr
Real men don't have to be afraid of being flitty! Go for it. – post 1011 – HairOfTheDog
Seventeen years to research one mystical object seems a bit excessive… post 1007 - JenB
Okay...who's the wise guy who didn't renew Gandalf's research grant?… post 1024 – Overtaxed
To the very philosophical:
…Judas Iscariot obviously was a good man, or he wouldn't have been chosen to be one of the Apostles. He loved Jesus, like all of the Apostles, but he betrayed him. Yet without his betrayal, the Passion and Crucifixion would never have occurred, and mankind would not have been redeemed. So without his self-destruction infinite good would not have been accomplished. I certainly do not mean this to be irreverant but it seems to me that this describes the character of Gollum, in the scenes so movingly portrayed above… Lucius Cornelius Sulla
To fun but heartfelt debates about the integrity and worth of some of the characters…
…Anyone else notice how Boromir treats the hobbits? He's very fond of them but he seems to think of them as children - ruffling Frodo's hair, calls them all 'little ones'. He likes them, but I don't think he really respects them… post 1536 - JenB
Yes... Tolkien told us not to trust Boromir right off the bat when he began to laugh at Bilbo, until he realized that the Council obviously held this hobbit in high esteem. What a pompous dolt… post 1538 - HairOfTheDog
…I think almost every fault of his can be traced directly back to his blindness to anything spiritual or unseen. He considers the halflings as children, because that is what they look like. He considers the only hope of the ring to be in taking it and using it for a victory in the physical realm. He cannot see what the hobbits are truly made of, he cannot see the unseen hope of what the destruction of the ring might mean--the destruction of Sauron himself, and he cannot see the unseen danger that lies in the use of the ring itself… I just feel sorry for Boromir--he is like a blind but honorable man, trying to take the right path on the road but missing the right path entirely because he simply cannot see it… post 1548 - Penny1
Boromir isn't a jerk, he's a jock… post 2401 – Overtaxed
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Oh, I think by the time Frodo reaches the Cracks, he's not even himself anymore! I think he's not only on the brink of a dangerous place physically, he's on the brink of losing himself completely during the exchange with Gollum. But for some reason, the take-over isn't complete till he actually has to throw the Ring in. The person speaking to Gollum is not Frodo, but the "Wheel of Fire" that Sam sees. After the Ring is destroyed, Frodo not only comes back to himself, but comes back with the unbearable (to him) knowledge of what it's like to be completely without compassion. I think that's why it's so important to him to be compassionate in the Shire… post 2506 - 2Jedismom
…Regarding Frodo's compassion... it's a little too much at the end. Even Merry tells him that he's going to have to quit being so darn nice. But you're right. He's learned a lesson about evil that very few ever learn since it wasn't an external lesson but an internal one. (Those kinds of lessons have the greatest impact) Not only did he totally succumb to it, but he was rather ruthless to my little Smeagol… post 2516 - carton253
Well that Frodo was a big mean bully! (to Smeagol)… post 2519 – Overtaxed
So as you can see, everything JRR Tolkien (and Peter Jackson) is welcome here in our New Row, our soon-to-be familiar New Hobbit Hole…; philosophy, opinion, good talk and frequent silliness.
My neighbor had a cat that was very old. One day I was sitting in my livingroom and I hear this shrieking like bloody murder! I ran out and met my neighbor running to my house hysterical. Apparenty the old kitty had died a natural death and my neighbor found her when she got in from work. I went in and looked while my neighbor waited in the drive and I fixed the cat up so it didn't look so bad (shut it's eyes and mouth) and brought my neighbor back in and encouraged her to basically say goodbye. She really composed herself after that and we took the kitty and buried it near our bench out in our garden. We planted calladiums all around it.
Years later, after we moved, my neighbor told me that the landlord came in and bulldozed our garden flat. But every year, the calladiums came back.
I still have to get the apples for that pie! Well, maybe I'll wait til tomorrow for that. We can ALL go to the orchard, then come home and the kids can prepare the apples with our corer/slicer/peeler!
Between the threat from the Middle East and the run-of-the-mill wackjobs, it truly is a dangerous business walking out your front door these days.
AOL is grief. You can find the number on the site, but you've got to dig for it.
Good luck!
That is so sweet. I love stuff like that.
Realistically, if Logan dies here at home, I will need help. He weighs 90 pounds, and even though I can lift him (I lift him up and down out of the truck now) I don't know that I could under those circumstances. I hope my Dad and brother are prepared to come down here!
But when Bay's time comes, even they will not be able to help me. I don't know whether I will want to be here if/when he is put to sleep or not, because I can't yet foresee the circumstances, but I know that I don't want to see his body handled. None of the ways of moving a 1200 pound dead horse allow for much dignity, whether one is burying him or just having the rendering truck pick him up.
I was present when a friend's old horse was put down. Emotionally, he couldn't be there. I gave him another option months before it was time, that someone who cared about Bo should be there, but it didn't have to be him - that I would come down and be there instead. So he called, and said it was time, and then left for the day, and I went down an hour before the vet was to come and fed him a whole bag of carrots! (who cares about tummy aches, anyway?) The act was pleasant enough, he got sleepy and laid down. But I am glad my friend was gone when the rendering truck came. I will have to make that decision someday, and I hope I have someone (either my friend or someone else) who will oversee at least that part for me, like I did for my friend.
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