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.

[Overtaxed]

Hehe....my house does get nice and neat-looking....sometimes. The problem is that when I get these projects going (planting, flower bed making and other odd landscaping stuff, painting) tools and such have a tendency to be dropped any old convenient place...I'll be needing them soon. I pity the fool who breaks in in the dark of night: he's liable to trip on something and break his neck!

[Wneighbor]

You can come and stay in mine.... I don't have any storms that can kill you. errr... Unless the trees start coming down.

I am gonna come visit someday. someday. It doesn't look like it's going to be for a couple of years but just you wait..........

The storm just turned out to be a lot of lightening and thunder for us. I ended up closing the north windows just in case but I don't think I needed to.

There was a stray dog here last night. Sweetest thing. Large dog. Light colored. Myranda saw it when she took out the trash about 10. It had a collar and was dragging a heavy chain but no tags. :-( Very lovely personality. But, of course Smeagol hates all other 4 footed creatures - envy - so she freaked. But, I felt so bad for that poor dog. I went to the neighbor's house who is the biggest busybody to see if he knew who the dog belonged to but he wasn't home. He ate the part of Smeagol's food that was still there and then the cat's food too. I had to bring Smeagol in because she behaves so badly when other critters are about but I heard that dog dragging that chain out in my covered patio/carport area most of the night. He's still lounging in the workshop off my garage. A bit later I'll knock on neighbor's doors but I was really worried that someone was going to call animal control last night and I didn't want that to happen. Whew. At least glad he's still here for that.

[Wneighbor]

The problem is that when I get these projects going (planting, flower bed making and other odd landscaping stuff, painting) tools and such have a tendency to be dropped any old convenient place...

I do the same thing. So I look cluttered most of the time. It looks bad but is pretty organized actually. This is one reason it's very comfortable not to be married anymore. That always used to seem to drive them up the wall. And it drove me up the wall trying to keep all that stuff out of the floor and yet finding dirty clothes on my bedroom floor. LOL

[Wneighbor]

Oh, home made is far better!!! Do you use cilantro?

YES! I love cilantro. However, I also have to make it sometimes without cilantro because Myranda does NOT like cilantro! Don't you love those extra kinds of things we do as moms? LOL

I don't have a recipe for much of anything I do though. I use tomatoes, onion, peppers (hot and mild both), garlic, cilantro, cominos, basil, salt, pepper, cayenne, and a bit of vinegar.

[Overtaxed]

It looks bad but is pretty organized actually

LOL After I put everything up it'll drive me nuts trying to find them when I need them.

[Wneighbor]

Mind sharing the recipe? I have one that has green chiles and a dash of powdered ginger along with about 7 or 8 different beans.

Hmmm. See my last post about exact recipes for me. But ours sound somewhat alike. I don't put ginger in it though.

No recipe but here's the method. I use 2 handfuls of pinto beans, 2 handfuls of blackeyed peas, a handful and a little extra of lima beans, handful of navy beans, 2 handfuls of black beans, 2 handfuls of brown/wild rice, a handful of white rice. I rinse all that, put it in a large container and soak it in the fridge for at least 3 days.

It's one of those half a day cook things so give it time. I put all the stuff in my soup pot, cover with plenty of water - nothing else - and bring it to a boil pretty fast. Then turn the water off and drain all that water off. Rinse the stuff again in cool water and leave it draining in a colander or something. (My friend in Venezuela taught me to do this with anything using black beans)

Brown a pound of sausage in the soup pan with a whole chopped onion and garlic (we like lots of garlic.) Pour the beans and rice back over that and add water till it's just over the stuff. Then add a large can of tomatoes, a regular can of tomato sauce, as many chopped peppers as you think you like, salt, pepper, cayenne, cominos and basil. Cook that for a couple of hours till the beans and stuff are done. Then for the last 15 or 20 minutes add a bunch of chopped cilantro and if you like 'em a couple of chopped fresh tomatoes.

I have also used ham exactly the same way for the meat and it's great too. When I do that, I have to add oil for the browning. I probably forgot something that I'll think of in 15 posts but you get the idea.

[Wneighbor]

After I put everything up it'll drive me nuts trying to find them when I need them.

Yeah, me too. I realized yesterday after putting up my camping gear in a new place that I'd actually spread the stuff in 3 different rooms in the house. I showed Myranda and thought about how that's going to be a recipe for NOT finding stuff when I need it again.

[osagebowman]

Morning All; "it may rain a bit today; but we're not sure of when it will be here" Well, look out the Window, Joe (Channel 4). Sheesh.

A most excellent day yesterday, significant progress made on the repair. Clapboards removed, backing boards removed, rot cut out, new cripples nailed in, backing boards cut. Got to admit the electric jig saw was easier than the key-hole saw and the electric drill driver was easier than nailing it-I may have to turn in my "I'm a Luddite" card. lol. When the rain stops we'll be back to cut the clapboards straight and put up the new ones.

In the 20's our house had an addition put on, the corner where the original house and the addition met was where the rot set in. hope this repair lasts for another 70 years. I'd settle for half that. lol.

Rain slowing, radar shows a clearer area so may be back at it soon. In the meantime another cup of coffee.

OT: doesn't everyone store vermiculite in the living room? Seems quite reasonable to me.

G'nad: seriously cool stuff. We know about the broken bones, but what about the washed out roads?

[Wneighbor]

In the 20's our house had an addition put on, the corner where the original house and the addition met was where the rot set in. hope this repair lasts for another 70 years. I'd settle for half that. lol.

My old house back by W was starting the rot thing in the same area. It was just an itty bitty 4 room farm house built in 1905. Hence, no indoor plumbing. But, an addition was added for a bathroom and another bedroom in the '50's. Right where that addition joined the original house the addition is deteriorating. The original house from 1905 is still sound as it can be though.

[Overtaxed]

OT: doesn't everyone store vermiculite in the living room? Seems quite reasonable to me.

....and then there's the bag of potting soil and newspaper spread all over the place from the last repotting session.

[Wneighbor]

....and then there's the bag of potting soil and newspaper spread all over the place from the last repotting session.

Last night I was fussing about my freezer going out. Now, that's where I keep my dog food, cat food, bird feed, potting soil and hand tools. And I pot everything on top of the old freezer. It makes a great huge surface. Except Myranda's always having to move my stuff from the top to get to the pet food.

Who in the Hobbit Hole is a baseball fan? You?

[Wneighbor]

Are any of these names significant?

Roger Clemens, Dwight Gooden, Barry Bonds, Ryne Sandberg, Jose Canseco, Will Clark, Ken Griffey Jr., Rickey Henderson

I've got these 8 x 10 baseball card looking things all sealed in plastic and never opened of those people with a date of 1991 on the back. Are they worth anything or trash?

[Overtaxed]

Who in the Hobbit Hole is a baseball fan? You?

Yes, although not as big a fan as I once was. I got disgusted with a bunch of greedy over-priced prima donnas and their whining so racing trumps baseball nowadays. I'm a Cubs fan....they had a cute infield back in the 80's. :)

[Wneighbor]

Okay, I'm sitting here with these comic books. Are any worth anything? There's this Superman Collector's Set in a white plastic wrapper that's never been opened that I can tell. It's from 1993.

There's this Bloodshot says copywrite 1992, it's in a hard plastic show thingy.

There is a 30th annversary Spiderman with a hologram thingy on the front that's also sealed. I can't tell a year on it. It says AUG is all.

Then there's Warlock Chronicles copywrite 1993 it's not packages but doesn't even have a creased cover like it's not been opened to read. And then there's a Justice Leage America - out of packaging looks used.

[Overtaxed]

I don't trade baseball cards but they're big names. I'd keep 'em and see what they're worth.

[Wneighbor]

I'm a Cubs fan....they had a cute infield back in the 80's. :)

I'm completely baseball ignorrant. But, I've got all this baseball paraphenalia from my last husband. I'm trying to get something for it because I know he thought it was worth something.

The only baseball I am a fan of is my little brother who has now moved to the old man's league (over 40) in his town. I go watch him play because it tickles him to have me there.

[Wneighbor]

Well, I was thinking I'd put 'em on ebay. And see what happens. I am finally going through some of this stuff and thought I'd try to get rid of the larger items first. These 8 x 10's, the comic books and a couple of magazines still in plastic and one in a freaking frame I'm thinkin' need to get out of my den. They were fine masculine decor for him, but he moved on.

[JenB]

Have you made any decisions about Grad School?

Not exactly. I'm going to apply to several places... I'd love to get Stanford, but I don't think that will happen. U of Michigan has some nice programs, and there are two schools in Colorado and two in Illinois (Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern) that look nice.

[HairOfTheDog]

Good morning! The pooch sounds lost indeed... Glad you are trying to find out where he came from.

If you are not going to contain him until you find his home (or take him to a shelter), take his chain off. He could wander off somewhere, get the chain fouled on something where no one could find him.

[Overtaxed]

The ebay plan sounds good.

I went through all the junk mail. I can see the dining room table now.