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.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

BTW, were you here...did you know that I met 2J in person? First freeper I have met in person, and all because of chicken:)

Becky

[Corin Stormhands]

Mack says the ones here are about as disfunctional as the ones on NES, so not much difference:)

That's the cruelest thing you've ever said to us...

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Susie hasn't killed much of anything besides moles. I have to keep an eye on her when I have baby chicks. She lays outside their pen and stares at them for hours. Once they get big, she doesn't pay any attention to them.

Becky

[My back yard]

It's a Depression mentality

Exactly -- my grandmother, who partly raised me, raised 8 children during the depression. All of them educated in Catholic Schools too. She made their underwear, I was told, out of flour sacks. And when she died, they found bags of dryer lint neatly packed away, probably to make pillows with, or something.

But it is my great-grandmother who sits on my shoulder and compliments or complements my day. She had an apartment of her own built into my grandmother's home and I spent all of my time there. She was fascinating and I adored her. She was also my sponsor for my confirmation. But, she was even worse about that kind of waste than my grandmother.

I have been noticing too how much stuff I throw out, and it has bothered me a lot. Especially since I started work last Sept. I throw out a lot of stuff thinking..I just don't have the time to make order out of this stuff anymore.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I didn't say it Mack did. Kevin wanted to know what Mack thought, always a dangerous thing:)

Tell me whose is not disfunctional anyway.

He was teasing, no offence, we like disfunctional, more interesting.

Becky

[ksen]

BTW, were you here...did you know that I met 2J in person? First freeper I have met in person, and all because of chicken:)

You did? That's great! 2J, you MUST have taken pics. Did you post some anywhere?

When I left you had talked about getting together sometime, but hadn't done it yet. Did you guys watch THE FILM together too?

What did you think about meeting a real live FReeper? Does this mean you and Mack are coming to Florida in January? You can swing through Tampa and see JHavard on your way in or on your way out.

[Corin Stormhands]

oh good....it's raining...

[HairOfTheDog]

You know really, no matter what method you use to train the dog, the most important advice I ever got from the trainer I went to (remember the guy with the police dogs?) was:

"Only give a command once."

He did a set up demonstration with someone in the class where he had them try to get the dog to come to them loose in a yard. The lady called and called and called, and finally, she went and grabbed it.

He gave us two important lessons from that.

He said... "I counted, and what your dog just learned is that you will say "come" fifteen times before you enforce it. Do you want him to come the first time you call? - Or the 16th?"

HA!

It takes a brain correction to understand that he is right. What he said was, if your dog doesn't come when you call him and you aren't in a position to correct him don't call him. Never call them unless you can enforce it. You will only teach the dog that it is possible to ignore you; that ignoring you is a choice. Short of an training collar, he recommended having an untrained dog wander loose in the yard dragging a 30-foot long light line that they would not necessarily know is there (only have the line on while supervised of course). He used 100-pound test fishing line.

When you want the dog to come, step on that line before you ever call, and then give a tug - if necessary, pull him toward you. (he wore gloves to give the tug with a big shepherd, but you wouldn't hurt your hands with your little one Rosie) It wasn't about muscle, it is about surprising the dog that you can in fact reach them when they think you cant.

Anyhow, he said if the dog doesn't have the line on, don't call, ever, just go catch them. Never give a command you can't enforce, only commands that you can enforce. No more hollering and calling pointlessly, one "come", one "down". It is sage advice! From my trainer to you!

OH! - The second lesson, never call and call and call while you are chasing the dog and then punish him when you catch him. What he learns is "come" means "I am going to run you down and punish you as soon as I catch you". Instead, using the method above, he never has a chance to fail, and what he gets when he comes to you (even if you pull him in) is *big* praise and celebration. Always. Even if you have to go get him, the first contact with you is always positive when teaching "come". "Come" has to mean "hurry and get to master because master wants to praise me!"

[ksen]

[Corin Stormhands]

She made their underwear, I was told, out of flour sacks.

Those flower sacks came in handy. They were printed with a pattern because people would indeed use them. We have a table cloth made from a flour sack.

[HairOfTheDog]

We aren't nearly as disfunctional as that!

[ksen]

This one is for all of you Anime fans....

Weta's wizardry goes into orbit
5/28/03, 4:24 pm EST - Xoanon

Wellington's Oscar-winning visual effects wizard Weta Workshop is moving from Middle-Earth to outer space. The company, which has awards including Oscars for The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, is to create visual effects for a live action feature film based on a popular Japanese cartoon series. The film Neon Genesis Evangelion is a joint project with American film company ADV Films and Japanese games company Gainax. It tells of a reluctant young hero who pilots a giant robotic weapon in battle against alien invaders. [More]

[Corin Stormhands]

He was teasing, no offence...

If yer gonna hang with us Becky, yer gonna have to learn that there's a tongue in cheekiness to everything I post. (no offense taken)

But for the record, I've got scars from the religion wars. It's a whole different type of dysfunctional. The vast majority of those people don't think there is anything wrong.

Here in The Shire, we know we're all nuts...

[Lil'freeper]

We have a table cloth made from a flour sack.

Dropping in for lunch. I have some of my departed grandmother's depression-era quilts with feedsack fabrics in them. Wish more packaging were useful like that.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

It was a quick meeting at the feed store. No pictures. I mentioned I was going to the feed store and would ask the guy if he could order her 2 chickens. She did not know there was a feed store in Bixby, and met me there.

She is coming here Mon to watch chickens hatch, probably won't watch the movie, as I want to read the book first. I am currently reading the Hobbit at the recommendation of a few here.

While we were talking on the parking lot of the feed store, Mack came over on my radio phone and asked what a real live Freeper looked like:) He asked if she was all hairy or something, LOL, you know Mack. I'm not sure if 2J understood what he was saying. I put the phone in the car and shut the door:)

I doubt we will make it to Florida, other things planned this summer.

Becky

[Corin Stormhands]

That bike is sooooooo last week.

(but it's still cool)

[ksen]

That bike is sooooooo last week.

I was just going retro.....

[HairOfTheDog]

Florida is in January! - And we understand you thinking you don't have to come. But by January - You may change your mind!

[HairOfTheDog]

The cute veterinarian is coming to look at Bay today at 3:30! Eeeeeek!

How do I lose 30 pounds and look like a cutie pie by 3:30?

[Corin Stormhands]