The New Hobbit Hole

[Sam Cree]

"we are the land of the Douglas fir and cedar."

I like cedars. My family always used one as a Christmas tree when I was a kid growing up. You can even use them to predict weather, if they have alot of berries, you're supposed to have a bad winter. I'm wondering if the berries are related to the ones used to flavor gin, since the latin name is very similar.

The things are everywhere in central Virginia, but are beautiful and smell lovely. Once a big one got struck by lightning and split open...you'd have thought the terrorists had bombed a perfume factory, the scent from the shattered tree was unbelievably overpowering.

[Sam Cree]

I will pray for her, 2J.

[2Jedismom]

Thanks Sam...

[2Jedismom]

[Overtaxed]

you'd have thought the terrorists had bombed a perfume factory, the scent from the shattered tree was unbelievably overpowering.

We had to take a cedar out one time (neighbor felled a tree on it, but that's another story.) For weeks after that the cat was always perfumed when she came in.

[Sam Cree]

Didn't know you were from Chicago, RM. The 2 times I was there, I liked it alot. I think people usually do, I've heard it has the excitement of a big city, but the friendliness and charm of the midwest.

[HairOfTheDog]

If they ever dry out, I just chop up my leaves with the lawnmower. I don't rake!

I am with your wife... I love the shade of the trees... and since moving here and getting horses, I am no longer particularly concerned about my lawn. I used to obsess on the lawn in a prior life... I block off and re-seed the frequent dog-paths that become mud in winter, but I don't care if it is weeds or grass that come in, as long as it is green and covers the dirt. I only fear and loathe my trees during our infrequent severe winds or occasional Ice storms where I fear they will break. There are limbs on some of the surrounding firs that are big enough to go through my roof. But I would not give them up in summer when they keep me cool!

My dad and I would joke about you... A marriage of the "tree hater" and the "tree lover". ;~D Our neighbor where we grew up was a tree hater. He systematically cut down every tree on his property, and then started trying to get us to cut down the ones on our property that were too close to him. We refused. He had attorneys write us letters. We chuckled. He cut every limb from our trees that crossed his property line. We gasped at how ugly the trees were from his side after that, and how pretty they were from our side.

When we put that house up for sale, we carefully screened the buyers in the hope that whoever bought the property would continue our fight. The buyer that bought it loved the big cedar tree and vowed to never let it fall in his lifetime! ;~D

[John Farson]

I mostly avoid them for the simple reason that most movies kind of suck

Most movie theater audiences suck too. Aside from the opening night enthusiasm, the crowds can really be distracting.

On the bright side ksen, you may avoid the annoying crowds after the 1st of the year -- when noisy children are back in school. :-)

[RMDupree]

You would think that it would be a bouncy ride!!

I definitely want my daughters to learn to ride. I was never given that opportunity, and have longed for it always.

It's pretty costly though. Maybe for their 10th birthday(s). By then they will have reached the "I love horses" stage. I must have read Black Beauty at least a dozen times, not to mention, all of the Misty books, etc.

[RMDupree]

Prayers for Debbie!

[SuziQ]

Is that your place in MO? The house is WONDERFUL! I love the open look. It makes for a much more comfortable set-up for visiting. So when do you plan to move to this bit of paradise? Are you going to use it as a vacation home until retirement?

We lived in IN for almost a year while Sir SuziQ was teaching at Purdue. The house we rented had a huge great room; must have been 30 x 30. I told my Daddy that they could put up basketball goals at either end and play! I wasn't sure I liked it then, but I love that concept now. If we do the remodel that we really want to do, we're taking the wall out between the kitchen and den to make it one large room. I like it that way because you can visit with your guests without everyone trying to crowd into the kitchen which is where they invariably end up!

[SuziQ]

about a third cup chili powder, and a couple tblspns fresh ground cumin...

Yikes! I hope you plan to have LOTS of very cold beer available!!!

[SuziQ]

my Galdriel is 5' 7", 117 lbs

Or she WILL be there again, next summer, right? LOL!

[RMDupree]

Chi-town USA. My dad lives there now. He moved back after all of these years in Florida. He just sent a letter to my eldest with different colored leaves taped to it. You should have seen the look on Becky's face! LOL!!

My family moved down here when I was 6, but the yearly visits there really gave me a feel for the place. It's frighteningly cold in the winter though. They don't called it the "Windy City" for nothing! The gusts off the lake will freeze the marrow in your bones.

It's a big city, but they have block parties and in most neighborhoods, the neighbors know everybody else. It's a very close knit group in that aspect.

Not like my neighborhood, where neighbors could live next to each other for years and never speak. I know my neighbors simply because my family took the initiative.

[2Jedismom]

It had been 14 years since the last time I went to see a movie and the time I first went to see FOTR. I could not believe how degraded people's behavior had become! They would literally talk on cell phones just like they were in their own livingroom, not even bothering to lower their voices. Or visit with each other and talk in a normal tone of voice. It was astounding. And does anyone shut their mouths when they chew anymore?

I don't like laws. I think people ought to have enough judgement to not need too many of them. I'm hopeful that my boys will have that judgement, it's how I'm raising them. But after going to the cinema and seeing the bad behavior displayed by adults and children alike, I don't know what to think.

[HairOfTheDog]

if they have alot of berries, you're supposed to have a bad winter.

?????????????! Try to find a picture! - The cedars here (Western Red Cedar) have no berries, unless you are talking about the very small seeds that I would say are more like small pine cones than berries.

Click the pic for close up.

Cedars are a bit of a pain, because they shed alot, and turn the surrounding soil to such an offensive PH that nothing will grow under them. Not sure now if it is too acid or too alkiline... I think it is the latter.

[SuziQ]

I don't own a gas grill now... been leary about gettin' one...

Oh I love ours! Light it up, and you're ready to cook in 5 minutes! In the winter, I just put on my boots, scrape the snow off the lid and I'm good to go! Nothing like red meat off the bone, or chicken, salmon, or country ribs for that matter, hot from the grill on a cold winters day!

[Sam Cree]

Yes, I think you're right about the audiences, I try to go when I think kids are in school, like right after lunch on a weekday.

But the theatres sure do have a better sound system than my TV has.

[John Farson]

The first time I saw FOTR, people talked over Galadriel's whispering. They didn't start to get quiet until the Lord of the Rings title card.

One kid sitting next to me kept checking his cell phone for SMS messages -- it had a blindingly bright back light in the dark theater.

It makes one appreciate DVD.

[HairOfTheDog]

I found myself among "talkers" only a few times at the theater... and I would either silence them with a PFFFFT! (you should hear my "PFFFFT!" It can silence all but the worst of them!) OR I would get up and move, casting a disgusted glare on my way out.

My main complaint about the movies is food that is apparently packaged in only the most loudly crackling of cellophanes. Cellophane-packaged food should be outlawed in theaters! Call your city councilman today! (joke)