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.

[ksen]

We have visitation at our church on Tuesday nights. Right now we only go out and visit people who have visited our church and filled out a visitor's card (hey, why'd they think we were asking for the info?).

When we get to people's houses we knock on the door and when the person opens the first thing out of our mouth is, "Hello, I'm Kevin with my friend 'So-and-so' and we are from Faith Baptist Church." You should see the looks of relief we get when people hear that we are Baptists. It's like, "Whew! you're a normal person!"

One time we got out of the car and the lady, probably in her late 50's, was kneeling in the front yard trimming some grass around one of her trees. When she saw us she got up and kept the shears in between us and her with the shears pointed at us. We told her who we were and she put the shears down and brought us around back to sit by the pool with her husband and have a Coke. ;^)

Another lady, this one probably in her 70's, stayed inside her screen door and was saying, "I know who you are! You can go away!."

The guy I was with, who was leading at that time, said to her, "I don't think you do know who we are Ma'am."

"Oh yes I do." the lady said again.

So Tom says, "I'm tom and this is Kevin, and we are from Faith Baptist Church, just down the street here."

Well, the lady came out and said, "Oh! I didn't know who you were." She told us she was Catholic but we still had a nice visit. ;^)

[2Jedismom]

I want something pretty powerful...I don't want to ever have to shoot at someone coming in my house uninvited...but if I do have to, I'd just soon do it right...I don't even want the wall of the house to be standing behind them.

But I can't afford a good gun, and I don't know how to shoot one anyway...

[Lil'freeper]

HAHAHAHAHAAA! I love that movie!

Me too- classic!

[Overtaxed]

Heheh....My grandmother came down (from out of state) to stay after my mother had surgery. Someone came from the church to minister. Well my grandmother didn't know this and the person didn't identify herself so my mom gets up when she hears them arguing at the door. LOL!

[2Jedismom]

(hey, why'd they think we were asking for the info?)

I know it!! LOL S. Baptists do it too. But I'm too savvy now to let them surprise me. I don't give any info until I'm ready to actually visit, then I give them the info and find out when they visit. They usually arrive to freshly baked cake and a fresh pot of coffee, and a nicely set picnic table out in the back.

[ksen]

Maybe you can convince this store to sell you this gun....

[HairOfTheDog]

If I had a gun that meant business, I sure wouldn't mind answering the door...no, not near so much.

LOL! - But all joking aside... The minute you have a gun and the intent to use it, a change will come over you, but not that one. One that realizes that the game is now deadly serious, and I would guess you would be even less likely to open the door.

At least that is how I reacted to it. When I am armed, I have a quiet calm, but it leads me to more awareness of assessing and avoiding situations that are risky than any new bravado to walk into risk.

I haven't articulated it very well, but that is the resolve that comes over me. And I am armed almost all the time. I make myself smaller but more steadfast, rather than bigger and braver. Does that make sense?

[ksen]

Does that make sense?

Yes.....

[2Jedismom]

Yes, it absolutely does make sense and I figure I'd be the same. I'm thinking more along the lines of those guys banging and trying to open our door in the middle of the night. Many times (prior to this) we would sit in the living room, with the front door open, just the glass door closed...not even locked or anything. Had Steve fallen asleep with our house like that, those guys literally could have walked right in. I remember seeing Steve's hand reaching for that door knob and it was like slo-mo for me...and I wished I had a gun sooo bad. I would have felt not quite so helpless, I think...just standing there staring at the door knob being rattled.

I hate to say it, but that little episode, even though I know it's probably never going to happen again and those guys just had the wrong house...it scared the ever-lovin' out of me. The minute the sun goes down, I secure the house...and if Steve isn't home, the house stays secured all the time.

[HairOfTheDog]

I understand...

When I lived at the duplex I had some weirdos come to the door in an old van saying they were selling carpet cleaning or something.... I went and talked to them at the window. They wanted me to open the door to give me a "free gift" that was a bottle of generic brand (not even a brand name) antibacterial hand soap, if I let them in to do a bid. The dogs were barking their heads off, and I didn't quiet them. I said I didn't need any hand-soap. It was really weird. It just wasn't right. I called the cops.... and they agreed it was strange about the hand soap, and while on the phone, they looked up and did not find a carpet cleaning company that matched the name they gave me. I saw a deputy drive by several times that afternoon, but I don't know if they found the vehicle still nearby or not.

[Wneighbor]

When I am armed, I have a quiet calm, but it leads me to more awareness of assessing and avoiding situations that are risky than any new bravado to walk into risk.

Yeah. And I find myself more careful even in thought about how I handle situations. I'm probably more responsible in my verbal reactions to people and situations because of being armed than when I am not armed. Without arms I am more prone to shoot off my mouth and provoke heated arguments etc.

[HairOfTheDog]

Yeah... There is a definate drive to avoid and by all means not escalate situations. And it is something that people don't get until they do it. If everyone in a bar were armed there would be no bar-fights. I believe that! I have an anti-gun co-worker that likes to argue with me, and he laughs about me running around brandishing my weapon. He just doesn't get it.

[My back yard]

James Cagney is my favorite of all the oldies. Many, many times while sleeping, if I would have a bad dream he would pop into it and save the day. I had a crush on him when I was very young. My favorite all-time Cagney is 'The Strawberry Blonde'. It was a favorite of mine when I was a girl, and I'm sure it had some of a formative effect on my nature as a woman. I'm very much the Amy type, much more-so than a Virginia.

Biff Grimes would waltz
With the strawberry blonde
And the band played on.
He'd glide 'cross the floor
With the girl he'd adore
And the band played on.
But his brain was so loaded
It nearly exploded
The poor girl
Would shake with alarm
He'd ne'er leave the girl
With the strawberry curl
And the band played on.

I think he is very romantic.

[RosieCotton]

I LOVE that movie! I NEED that movie...must buy it on DVD one of these days...

I also like Angels With Dirty Faces. Some of the acting (by the street kids, mainly) is kinda overdone, but it's still great. I was a sucker for a story like that when I was little...bad guy with a heart of gold. One of my favorite movies from when I was a kid.

[Overtaxed]

You mean you don't like White Heat?

[ksen]

Pics from one of Rush's callers.....

[RosieCotton]

I think he is very romantic.

And...as I said before, a cutie...

I have "Great Guy", but don't own any of his other films...yet.

[RosieCotton]

You mean you don't like White Heat?

Actually, I do!

Watch out for those nasty headaches...

[HairOfTheDog]

Yeah - I like those!

Did you see the rocket women? - I have to wonder if they didn't just dress up weird to make a mockery of the whole thing.

[Overtaxed]

It seems like there are a lot of people making fun of these protestors...but then I don't watch alphabet news stations. :)