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.

[300winmag]

If you want black walnuts (to plant or eat) I can send you bags of them.

Sorry, I have no use for more black walnut, except as gunstocks. Or furniture, and it's density and dark color (if it's a high grade of lumber) is great for that. I've also noticed that, on hot days, the air temperature is 10 degrees cooler underneath the trees, plus there's that faint aroma of chocolate from the leaves.

Walnut was once so common, it was considered only one step above trash wood. Because of its high tannic acid content, walnut resists rot and insects better, and it was used for fence posts and barn timber. Plus gunstocks by the millions.

A few years back, I was working on one of Marl's dressage shows, held at the Ionia County fairgrounds. The "office" was in one of the pole barns on the grounds. At one end was a "four holer" SOLID WALNUT bank counter taken from an extinct 1870s bank that had been recently torn down. It had the metal bars and frosted glass panels, and even some old rubber stamps in the drawers. But it was only a small hicktown bank, because the counter top was walnut, rather than marble.

It wasn't restored at all, in fact they had cut it down the middle to get it out of the old building. But I was amazed that this massive piece of walnut woodwork was considered "no big deal" in its day. It was a distinct pleasure to work behind the counter, protected from "dressage show moms" by the bars. I spent a lot of time figuring out how I could swipe the thing without anybody noticing, but no inspiration hit me. If I ever find the pictures I took of it, I'll post them here.

[RMDupree]

Morning everyone!

Corin - good luck at the troll meeting this morning. You have my...er...bag of rocks? *grin*

On to breakfast...

[RMDupree]

In case you can't tell, the last pic is sausage-stuffed mushrooms! YUM!

[Overtaxed]

Well...if you ever want to start a black walnut grove, I've got the nuts.

We have pecan trees that the squirrels clear out pretty quick before they start on the walnuts. I was thinking that if g'nad wanted any, I can bring a boxload to Entmoot.

I don't really think I'll be moving.

[HairOfTheDog]

"I dunno, Could be meat, could be cake! - Maybe it's MEATCAKE!"

Good morning Ruthy!

[RMDupree]

HA! Good breakfast pics are hard to find!

[RosieCotton]

it was used for fence posts and barn timber. Plus gunstocks by the millions.

Also works just dandy for musical instruments, especially guitars. Guitars with walnut sides / back tend to have a sound I really like, and they're purty, too!

[300winmag]

We have pecan trees that the squirrels clear out pretty quick before they start on the walnuts.

I hate tree rats. I have two English walnut trees in the back yard, and in a good year, they'll have hundreds of nuts each. Except the damn squirrels come from miles around to carry off the nuts about a month before they're fully ripe. If they'd leave them alone until they fell to the ground, I'd leave half for them. But noooo, they're so greedy and stupid, nobody gets any benefit.

This is the suburbs, so I can't openly shoot them, even with a pellet gun. So instead, I have a camouflaged live trap in among the flowers near the bird feeder where they hang out. Squirrels are amazingly easy to trap when you use peanut butter as bait.

Last year, a late killing frost hit, and almost all the blooms froze. The squirrels never bothered the trees after initial scouting showed nothing there. But ten walnuts survived, and had enough walnuts to put in a batch of brownies. My biggest harvest in years. :)

[HairOfTheDog]

Hair the softy feeds squirrels too... ;~D

[RosieCotton]

This is the suburbs, so I can't openly shoot them, even with a pellet gun. So instead, I have a camouflaged live trap in among the flowers near the bird feeder where they hang out. Squirrels are amazingly easy to trap when you use peanut butter as bait.Of course, one can't help but wonder...what do you do with them AFTER you've live trapped 'em? Drive for miles and miles and drop them off? Take 'em in the basement and plug them a bit less "openly"? ;-)

[Overtaxed]

I hate tree rats. I have two English walnut trees in the back yard, and in a good year, they'll have hundreds of nuts each. Except the damn squirrels come from miles around to carry off the nuts about a month before they're fully ripe. If they'd leave them alone until they fell to the ground, I'd leave half for them. But noooo, they're so greedy and stupid, nobody gets any benefit.

LOL A voice from the past! You sound like my dad. One day before we got annexed by the town, he got 14 out of 15 with the shotgun...a cat got the 15th.

[Overtaxed]

This is the suburbs, so I can't openly shoot them, even with a pellet gun. So instead, I have a camouflaged live trap in among the flowers near the bird feeder where they hang out. Squirrels are amazingly easy to trap when you use peanut butter as bait.

Of course, one can't help but wonder...what do you do with them AFTER you've live trapped 'em? Drive for miles and miles and drop them off?

We tried that for a while but it didn't seem to make a dent. We'd drop 'em off over the county line. Figured that there was some feller from the next county dropping his squirrels on our side so the net squirrel flow = 0.

[proud_2_B_texasgal]

STUFFED MUSHROOM CAPS!! Yummmmmmmy!~

[ecurbh]

sausage-stuffed mushrooms! YUM!

Mmmmm! You wouldn't happen to have that recipe, would you?

[RMDupree]

For you...

Taglinus FreeRepublicus

[HairOfTheDog]

You are sweet! - And I have been tagline-less lately! I have been an empty suit with no apparent message at all!

[RMDupree]

Here you are!

[RMDupree]

It just doesn't seem right that I got recognized for a tagline that was more or less derived from your original idea!

[RMDupree]

Stuffed mushrooms SPAM!

[RMDupree]

Stuffed mushrooms SPAM!