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.

[Mamzelle]

A prayer coming your way, and your family's.

[Pippin]

I'll be keeping you and your mom and cousin in my prayers!

[osagebowman]

Hair; thanks for the news on the TTT-extended, those were some cool pics on the dog, we rarely see collies any more, I guess they were more popular when Lassie was getting Timmy out of the well.

2JM, saturday started out nice, was 56 at noon and 28 by five. hmmm, what happened, 12 this am, Samantha got a shorter walk, good work on the garden.

OT, sure sounded like a full day of chores, we'll being doing garden stuff in a month or so.

RDM, Glad to hear your niece is safe, but you need to keep yourself safe, checking abandoned buildings is risky to say the least, we don't want you turning up missing. Be careful.

Yesterday headed to range in the morning, first time shooting a rifle there in over a year. Shot a .32 half stock Ohio style rifle. It's a caplock lock my others are flintlock. Its a nice little rifle and seems capable of shooting better groups as learn its nuances.

[Overtaxed]

Okay....grill (check!), charcoal (check!), lighter fluid (check!), hickory chips (check!), steak (check!), race (check!).....looks like I'm ready for a Sunday!

[HairOfTheDog]

What a horrible feeling to be searching abandoned buildings yesterday. I am so glad she is OK! - Now throttle her! Was she with one of the friends that was 'helping'?

[HairOfTheDog]

Hullo! - Good morning!

[HairOfTheDog]

I am sorry Corin! - You are a great guy! Almost as great as ecurbh!

He did such a beautiful job fixing the pictures for my friend! She will be so pleased when she sees them today!

[HairOfTheDog]

Prayers please for my Mom who is there to help them through the details, for my Aunt Frances who will have to make a life change (she can't afford their house on the Bay) and for my cousin David, who has just lost his Mom and needs prayer for a lot of reasons.

Certainly Corin. Gosh.... sorry. This has sure been a year of losses for you and your family! I am warmed that you find comfort here. Now if I just knew better what to say. Love ya man! Here, have my Bud Light!

[Mamzelle]

also seen on one ring... PJ's home in progress . Not very art nouveau...(Rivendell style), more Victorian.

[HairOfTheDog]

If I had a "wish", it'd be a scene of rescue of Gandalf post-Balrog as he's in the snow on the Mountain and looks very cold. Gwaihir should fly in and carry him to Lothlorien where Galadriel has his cool new white duds waiting. (I believe that's what happened in the book.)

Yes, that is what happened. I would like to see that too. "Once again I thank you, my friend" or something like that. Would be good. Gwaihir has one more favor yet to do for our Fellowship.

If I had a wish, it would be more development with Faramir and Frodo, too. (I also found it hasty). Faramir telling Frodo how knew Boromir was dead, explaining his predicament better. And that may be there. It would only take a minute or two to cover what was missing there. (Or, much of Faramir's development is yet to come in RoTK).

[HairOfTheDog]

we rarely see collies any more, I guess they were more popular when Lassie was getting Timmy out of the well.

Good morning! Yes, perhaps now with most folk living on city water systems, and wells not being open holes in the ground, people think they no longer need collies. Maybe they are still popular where people have pools.

[HairOfTheDog]

Wow! What a house!

‘Middle Earth’ house near completion

The Wairarapa country house understood to be owned by filmmaker Peter Jackson which is almost unrecognisable from it’s former shape as a rural homestead .- Pictures by PETE NIKOLAISON

AN old Wairarapa homestead, west of Masterton, has been given an apparent Middle Earth makeover.

The colonial era house is believed to be owned by acclaimed Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson as his home in the country.

Wairarapa tradesmen and building supply companies are benefiting from the renovation of the homestead, with a convoy of up to 20 vans, utes and station wagons heading to the site on some days. Dozens of Wairarapa tradespeople have been working on the building, which appears to be nearing completion on external additions. But confidentiality clauses in trade contracts means no one is talking.

Times-Age inquiries have found the circa-1900 house has kitchens on two of its three floors, a lift, a swimming pool, and a formal dining room as well as numerous bedrooms, all with ensuite and spa. The swimming pool has a large spa room attached with a starry night ceiling effect. And what cinephile’s home would be complete without a cinema? Thought to be around the size of the Regent Theatre cinemas two and three it occupies a basement beneath the house.

The old two-storey homestead is now buried beneath extensive renovations and appears to have been raised to add another floor underneath. It boasts two towers, one with a cedar shingle- clad spire, which gives the house a fantasy appearance. Although landscaping has not started, a lake may also be added to the grounds.

Set back from the road, the homestead, around 100 years old, nestles among a large stand of mature native and European trees. The surrounding countryside was one of the earliest European settled areas in Wairarapa and the land is rolling and green, reminiscent of the Hobbit country of the Shire in Jackson’s film.

Jackson purchased a Masterton villa in March this year which he moved on to land near the site to function as a caretaker’s residence. The villa and its garden, which was also moved, acts as a gatehouse near the entrance of the long driveway to the homestead.

See Mamzelle's post above for the source link!

[HairOfTheDog]

For a giggle:

TheForce.net - Top Forty-Six Reasons Star Wars beats Lord of the Rings

(They can't be serious!)

[HairOfTheDog]

Oh good! - They aren't serious! Keep reading down on that link for the counterpoint, "Top Forty-Six Reasons Lord of the Rings beats Star Wars"

[HairOfTheDog]

Oh for Pete's sake! - I post alone. I funkle.

Fine. Everyone just go away. I will just talk to myself!

[osagebowman]

OT; sounds like a plan to me, I couldn't help but notice that "strike-anywhere" matches were missing from your list or are you a traditionalist, using flint, steel and tinder?

[SuziQ]

The housing industry could use a few rocket scientists.

There are folks out there who are making big buck doing just that; retro-wiring folks for LANs or Cable set ups, etc.

Sir SuziQ will be moving over to his new job in May; not leaving his desk, mind you, but changing companies again. This is the fourth company while he's been in this office. That's all right, as long as he's still employed! Anyway, next year, when this company moves him to a different building, oddly, the one he worked in when we moved here 15 yrs. ago, we're going to move closer to that building. It's about 30 mins. from where we are now, but we're going to take the opportunity to either buy something to remodel or build new. If we build new, we're going to start with a small structure, and live in it while we 'add-on' the rest of the place. We plan to do as much of it ourselves as we can, and one thing we'll definitely do is the wiring! SSQ wants to wire the place for sound, internet, cable, everything! He won't let anyone else do it, cause he doesn't trust anyone else to get it right!

[SuziQ]

Oh Ruthy, that is such wonderful news! I'll keep her on our Prayer Line for her and her family to resolve the problems they're having. Sounds like they could use some Divine Intervention!

[SuziQ]

I'm praying for God's Blessings on the Stormhands household, and for your cousin, her mom and her son. Y'all have been through a lot this year!

[SuziQ]

Take lots of snapshots of the walls before insulation and finishing, and put them in a secure place.

GREAT idea! We're going to do all the wiring and insulation ourselves, just so we won't have folks breathing down our necks to get the next thing done. SSQ COULD do the drywall, but we're not going to; WAY too much trouble. We might even spring for a plasterer to do a skim coat instead of the typical drywall taping and floating out. Our friends had this done in their addition and SSQ was just gawking at the walls because they're so lovely!

The photos are also a good idea if you ever sell the place, you can pass on that info to the new owners; it will help them if they ever need to have work done on it.