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.

[ecurbh]

Well, I'm going to watch an episode of The Simpsons and hit the hay. Good night, all!

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Good night!

[Corin Stormhands]

I'm fading here too. See y'all sometime over the weekend.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Good night! Have a good weekend!

[HairOfTheDog]

GREAT TIP! - Thanks!

[HairOfTheDog]

we have a game we play....We count interracial couples.

Sorta like when I bought my sea-foam green Honda car. I had never seen one that color, but once I had one (was keyed in on them) I saw them *everywhere*. :~D

[HairOfTheDog]

Good night! - I can't go to bed for 20 more degrees.

[Wneighbor]

But, when you're counting interracial couples are you only counting black/white? Or do you include Asian, Hispanic etc?

I would think if you included others than black/white you'd have more numbers. But, in Austin, just nobody ever notices!!! I like that. I had a tough time adjusting to the extreme tone of bigotry in my home county.

It's not as bad up here but it's still here. When my grandkids visited last summer a loudmouthed guy started degrading Mexicans right in front of Abby. She was only 4 but she ain't stupid. She knows her other Granny, Tom's mom, is Mexican and that that dumba$$ was talking right in front of Abby. I just had to leave. There was no argueing with the guy. I tried. But, it's like Corin's religion wars. Or like - you saw the fight over the mom's taking kids to daycare the other day. Some people are just stupid and don't make sense.

My parents were extremely upset when Jill married Tom. And my dad refused to come to the wedding over that.

[Wneighbor]

What's with everybody going to bed?

Bear, you have freepmail..... it's the instructions.

After I got it mostly typed out it dawned on me that I could have done it in a better format on your regular email. But, I was almost done.

[Wneighbor]

So, is it still in the 90's there? I have actually closed all my windows except one. Partially to stop smoke from blowing in - but it's comfortable.

[HairOfTheDog]

Partially to stop smoke from blowing in -

Are you calmly sitting in the middle of a big forest fire or what?

[HairOfTheDog]

It is dropping quick after sunset.... about 80 now.... I need another 15 degrees down to be comfortable to sleep! ;~D

[Wneighbor]

It's 76 here. I checked the thermometer by the back door.

Smoke. From the neighbor's burning herb.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Bear, you have freepmail..... it's the instructions.

Thank you! I can see where the messiness comes from... and don't worry about it being a FReepmail, I've already copied and pasted it into a text file. :)

[300winmag]

Is this some sort of record for chattiness today? It took me almost six hours to get caught up. Lots of good and bad news today. I guess life is full of adventures.

I've read that baking yeast packets and raisins are big hits with the troops in certain countries. The trick is to get the stuff past sharp-eyed customs weenies, and hope the GIs can make the stuff properly, without getting poisoned or courtmartialled.

Oh, MRE heaters generate heat from the action of water on some iron-bearing chemical. No flame, and not a lot of heat, but apparently some hydrogen as a byproduct.

According to the Ranger Rick handbook, two MRE heaters can be crumbled up and put inside an empty half-liter water bottle. Fill halfway with water, shake, and then throw. It's supposed to make a nice field-expedient grenade simulator. Don't try this at home, or with any officers around.

WN, if you're sending cards to your son-in-law, I'd like to donate one of those "Iraqi most wanted" decks, which are now quite common stateside. Considering the "real" ones were just PDF documents printed on card stock, these genuine playing cards are better than the original.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

I notice odd license plates too... vanity plates and the like. I'll stop in the middle of a conversation while driving to point out an interesting license plate.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

No, we count any kind of mix. We take special notice of the very unusual ones though... and we count biracial children as 1/2.

As for family upset... my brother and sisters were very supportive; my Mother wasn't happy with it, but she learned quick not to say anything; as for cousins, uncles, aunts, etc., well, let's just say that I'm happy living 1500 miles away from them. Our last visit there was 3 1/2 years ago, and I haven't felt any great urgency to go back. Although, we probably should make a trip there sometime this year.

[Wneighbor]

Okay, so it doesn't sound like there would be sufficient heat to heat Jiffy Pop huh?

They said there was electricity in the palace. They might pop corn there. Reckon there's a kitchen in that palace? Or would that be an outbuilding? LOL

Okay, I'm slow, explain the thing about the raisins and yeast. I don't get it.

[Wneighbor]

Well, my dad came to the wedding at the last minute. He grumped, huffed and puffed and expressed his disdain in non-verbal ways such that I wished he would have just not shown up. My dad's parent's also just barely put in an appearance. Far as I'm concerned they drew a really good picture of their own integrity right there. I've said enough about my s-i-l for ya'll to know that he's at least a decent guy.

He rates respect just because of his career choice in my book even before someone gets to know him and finds out his real character.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

have you thought about starting your own consulting business

Yeah, I have thought about self-employment as I've been able to get that one bit of "piece-work" and another possibility for that may come up...certainly as long as nothing else comes along I am going to pursue those things. But of course for a true business, I'll need a concept...not just disparate pieces of work here and there. But we'll see what develops out of the possibilities that are cropping up.