The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads!

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!

Journey to the Cross-roads
The Two Towers Edition

Come on! Come in! -if you would like to have some seedcakes and a pint and relax a while. (If it is a special occasion, we still have a few bottles of the old wineyards left!)

Our first thread ( New Zealander builds Hobbit hole ) reached 4,100 posts, and we thought that was big. Our second thread (The New Hobbit Hole ) held us for over 48,000 posts, and we loved it dearly. We talked about moving to a new thread for the last 38,000 posts, but we are really slow to muster! Finally, the time has come. Tomorrow (at 12:01 am, to be precise!) The Two Towers comes out, and we start a new chapter.

[rightwingreligiousfanatic]

Excuse me, maam, we understand you have a 1995 Packard Bell, 17 whistles, and a gas grill. Could you come with us please? We want to ask you a few more questions.....

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, since we can all breath a collective sigh of relief, I am gonna go clean up animal poo.

[Overtaxed]

Wait 'til they find the sneakers.

[Argh]

I hate to interrupt your fun, Miss Hair, but yesterday on the Bravo channel up here in Canaduh I saw a show called "Legacy of The Lord of the Rings". I don't know if you've seen this, but toward the end I missed an apparent quote by Tolkien, made in about 1968 or 1969, apparently not exactly complimemtary to his fans or readers. (I got the impression it wasn't the "despicable cultus" line). Anyway, have you or anyone seen this show, or does anyone happen to know which line of Tolkien's they may have quoted?

Thank you all.

[Lil'freeper]

Ummm, went and fixed some lunch. Did some online shopping- which has been interesting as our internet service has been spotty.

Snow appears to be done for now, window sill ruler is still at 9". I am thankful it has been a powdery-dry snow and isn't accumulating in the trees. Haven't had any major power failures around here. Thank heavens!

[2Jedismom]

I am very cautious about people coming to the door. I feel it's rude for people to just knock on a complete stranger's door and expect them to answer. What are these men thinking, coming to the door during the day when mostly other men are at work and it's likely the most they'll get is a stay-at-home mom or a gullible elderly couple? Men shouldn't be going around house to house during the daytime, imo.

I know, you'll probably disagree with me, think I'm over-reacting...but I just think they have a lot of nerve waltzing onto my property like that, uninvited. I rank it right up there with email spam.

So if anyone plans on coming to my door unannounced, they can blow it out their collective shorts. I'm not answering. If they want to give me a bunch of money, they need to contact me by mail first. Nobody is surprising me.

[Overtaxed]

We've had about an inch or two of sleet and freezing rain. Sleet mostly or I probably wouldn't have power and would be buying another electrical box. Anyway...the roads are ice and the Hwy Patrol is recommending that everyone stay off the roads....works for me! I'm getting ready to fix lunch right now.

[Argh]

I know it's spelled "complimentary". I type like an orc or a balrog. Or maybe an Ent.

[SuziQ]

not sick enough to blow school off again (we did Friday).

SSQ has the kids doing Math today, but I'm giving them the day off from everything else. My heart flibbertygibbits started again yesterday morning, and have continued today, so I'm taking it easy also. I'm no longer on the Warfarin, and am now taking one full uncoated aspirin each day instead. I'm still on the Digoxin, though, but STILL get these episodes every couple of months.

[2Jedismom]

Why uncoated? Mind your stomach!

I'm still taking an 81mg coated aspirin a day, plus he put me back on the iron last week. sigh

My episodes have almost gone completely away. I can't figure it. They went away before TTT came out, so I can't blame it on excitement.

Maybe it really was the chamomile!

[HairOfTheDog]

Hmmm.... I am not sure which show you may have seen! - And I am not seeing it coming up still on Bravo, so we may have missed the chance....

Anyone else know what show Argh is talking about?

[SuziQ]

how does one start a fire with very wet firewood?

Is it soaked through, or is it just wet on the outside? We had a batch of wet stuff a couple of yrs. ago, and SSQ turned a small fan on to blow across it. Stack it so there's room for the air to move in between the pieces.

May take several hours or longer, but you could get partly ready and let the rest continue to dry out.

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, I do think it is funny to never answer the door, but I would be hesitant to tell anyone to change their ways!

I don't know any non-JW who is actually a 'fan' of their methods.

But I have an electric fence and a gate across my driveway that is padlocked 24-7, so who am I to talk? That said, I go out to check out someone who comes to the gate. For all I know, they may be telling me that they just ran over my cat, or that my horses are out, or they may be Ed McMahon!

[SuziQ]

but toward the end I missed an apparent quote by Tolkien, made in about 1968 or 1969, apparently not exactly complimemtary to his fans or readers.

Well considering that it was the long-haired, dope-smoking hippie types who were the most public fans in the 60's I could understand why he'd be upset!

Of course, we've all grown up since then, and we've cleaned up quite nicely!

[HairOfTheDog]

And, I actually support and encourage not opening the door, I don't in any way think you should open it. When I was in a place where people could approach my door, I would go to the window if I didn't know who it was. Having to talk through the window gave me a little more control over the situation, and time to react if they weren't on the up-and-up.

So, sorry to give you a hard time. What I really thought was funny was that you thought it might be the "authorities" and you didn't go to the door. That cracks me up.

[Lil'freeper]

Hey, you know about "survival"...how does one start a fire with very wet firewood?

Ok, going back to my scouting/wild-college-adventure days.... with a hatchet, get at the heart wood of whatever piece of wood you have. It is in the center and is usually darker in color due to it's high sap/resin content. It is also usually drier. Then make it "hairy". Use a pocket knife and carve slivers along the sides but do not sever them from the wood. It is hard to describe but imagine whittling, but not cutting the whittled slivers off. Several of these are usually good to start with. Also see if you can find a pine knot there's so much sap in those things it's hard to keep them from burning.

[SuziQ]

Why uncoated? Mind your stomach!

I don't have a problem with aspirin, never have.

[SuziQ]

That said, I go out to check out someone who comes to the gate. For all I know, they may be telling me that they just ran over my cat, or that my horses are out,

We lived in IN for a year in a house w/3 acres about 5 miles west of town. We had dairy cattle all around us, and a huge bull grazed in the field behind us.

One night, about midnight, our door bell rang. We were on a county highway, and the house was about 100 feet off the road, but we were the only house near the street for about a mile. SSQ went to the door, but no one was there. We wondered if it were kids pulling pranks, so I went out the back door to listen in the back yard. I sould hear something moving, and when my eyes got accustomed to the dark, I could see large shapes moving across the yard and then heard "Moooo"! We think someone must have been driving by, saw the cows milling about and thought they might be ours so they rang the bell and woke us up. Don't know why they didn't stay. Maybe they thought we'd answer the door with a gun! LOL!

We knew the man across the street had cows, so we called him. He went out to check his cows, and they were all in, so he had me call the farmer down the road. It's now after midnight, so we woke this poor guy up and told him we had some cows in our yard. He mumbled some profanity and hung up the phone. A couple of minutes later, we saw him come out of his driveway and head our way.

SSQ had already pulled our van out onto the highway and put on the hazard blinkers just to slow down traffic on the highway because the cows had begin to come down onto the road from our place.

Turns out, they WERE that farmer's cows. He'd had them across the road from his house (on the same side as ours). They'd gotten out of their fence and just wandered down until they encountered another fence and rambled down to the road. He ended up herding them onto the farm of another man further down the road from us.

It was an exciting night!

[SuziQ]

Having to talk through the window gave me a little more control over the situation, and time to react if they weren't on the up-and-up.

We have a full view storm door and we always keep it locked. If I open the big front door, there is still a barrier between me and the person at the door.

[HairOfTheDog]

I bet it was! - Livestock on the loose is always exciting. The biggest fun I ever had was down at my friend Bob's, when his neighbor's emus were on the loose.

Just last week(?) those girls came to the gate to tell me that the neighbor horse was out, and would I help. I was happy to help get him back in.