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]

He weathered the trip okay? Hope he's not mad at me because he had to spend the weekend with UPS. :)

[Corin Stormhands]

Hope he's not mad at me because he had to spend the weekend with UPS.

He spent time with the elves, didn't he? After that, guys in shorts shouldn't bother him...

[SuziQ]

He doesn't look mad. ;o) Just took a picture of him under the branches of the tree in the front yard. Am going to have to learn about this photo posting stuff so I can share his adventures with y'all.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Rose has been on a historical romance kick lately... she's been trying to find some books by Roberta Gellis that she used to have but can't find now. We spent some time in San Antonio last Friday finding used book stores to crawl through.

[RMDupree]

There is one series that I cannot recommend enough!!

The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I have yet to find one that tops it and have the first book in hardcover autographed by the author. Fabulous story, characters and historical information on Scottish ancestry.

She will not be disappointed, I guarantee it! It is far from the bodice-ripping style of most romance authors, but has a story so compelling, she'll be hard pressed to put it down. Warning though, there are some events in the book that break your heart and sicken your stomach.

Gabaldon does not pull her punches and keeps the story true to life.

[Overtaxed]

He spent time with the elves, didn't he? After that, guys in shorts shouldn't bother him...

True.

[Wordsmith]

Hi KS! Only have a spare minute, but wanted to take you up on your offer to reappear in the good ole' Hole. This thread for me is like the Shire was for Sam during his journey - even though I don't visit, just knowing it exists means the world is a better place. Any world where humor, Middle Earth, and conservatism can mingle is not a lost cause.

Eldest boy, Lysander, just turned 11 (family pic from Christmas on profile page). Got his first "real" replica sword, to go with his collection of dragon statues. Took your advice, and let him push ahead with Fellowship after finishing The Hobbit. He's already reached Bombadil in a week, although he skipped the prologue.

Middle boy, Dmitri, went from Hardy Boys to Misty the Pony books. My wife's teaching him horsemanship. The most Lysander likes for animals is his pet rat.

Finally making progress on breaking out of the corporate world, thanks to freelancing. Currently doing freelance writing and editing. My main client right now is actually a Christian publishing company, Conciliar Press. Will be helping them with a redesign of their main magazine, Again. Hope to convince them to redo their website, along the lines of that of Touchstone Magazine (great mag, by the way - discovered it when they did an issue dedicated to Tolkien - "a journal of mere Christianity") - www.touchstonemag.com.

Finally got a DVD player, and the FOTR extended set. My eldest has developed a deep interest in fantasy CGI and modeling, is hoping to do it as a career (hey, he's 11, he can dream big!)

He and I have started getting interested in gaming, thanks to PC fantasy games. Evening story time morphed for a few months in to evening time playing a superhero game called "Freedom Force" (great anti-communist messages) and a D&D game called "Baldur's Gate".

We're looking at other games, like Warcraft and Age of Empires, and may buy one soon. Any recommendations? We're not interested in online games, since we're on dial-up, but robust, interesting single player role-playing and strategy games are great. He's also getting interested in Warhammer figures and hobby gaming. Fun activity for us to do together.

Will be getting Harry Potter sometime this week, and Beverle is going to read it aloud. She read the first 4 to us, so she has the voices down. Trying to decide whether or not to get TTT on DVD or wait for TTT-extended. Also trying to decide if "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" will be kid-appropriate (oldest saw X2 with me, but I wouldn't take the younger ones to it).

We're still in NH, in Claremont. The long winter got my lady dreaming of Arizona again, though. So we'll see how it all pans out. My best to you and yours!

[Sam Cree]

Morgan Llewellyn is a good author on that kind of stuff, based on real people and legends, Celtic, if you can stand the amount of tragedy. She has a good one called "The Druids."

[Sam Cree]

Nice to see you. Great that you are writing professionally.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

The funny/bad thing was, that even after they found the problem, alot of people kept breeding hoping the foal would be HYPP positive. HYPP is what gives those horses their big muscles, because one of the sypmtoms of HYPP is it keeps their muscles flexed all the time. The Impressive horses became almost exculsivily halter horses. In fact they could hardly be rode at all, because they were so big, but had tiny feet. Alot of them had lameness problems. People started paying tons for them, and the breeding of halter horses became a business of it's own practacily. Big big money. So when vets started saying things like HYPP horses need to be banned from the registry and not used for breeding there was a huge outcry.

That's when the Foundation QH Ass. came into being. They have rules that a horse has to compete in some riding class BEFORE it can be shown halter. I think the popularity of Impressive horses has dropped. But the damage is done, because there is so many of them. My mare is a very muscular horse, and at times has a stiff gait. My biggest worry now is Jennys filly. She has a 50-50 chance of having it. She is very muscular, but so is her daddy and he Has no Impressive, we have his pedigree all the way back to King.
I'm glad now we did not get that mare bred this year.

Becky

[Lil'freeper]

She has a good one called "The Druids."

I read that one. It was pretty good.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Hey, did you ever get that book "Watchers?" I really think you will like it:)

Becky

[ksen]

He spent time with the elves, didn't he?

Ohh, he'll need a bathroom then. After all Elves don't have "facilities" seein' as how they haven't needed them for the last few thousand years or so.

[RMDupree]

Ohh, he'll need a bathroom then.

And something to eat besides lembas!

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Well, hi! Thanks for checking in... I've been wondering lately why you had stopped posting here.

I can offer some PC game recommendations... enjoyed Baldur's Gate here, and its sequels. Also enjoy Icewind Dale (which uses the same game engine as Baldur's Gate, but it isn't a sequel). Neverwinter Nights and Dungeon Siege are fun, too. Rose also likes the Might & Magic series, although the last one (M&M IX) is supposedly a dud (she hasn't played that one.) I also enjoy Age of Empires (all versions), Empire Earth, and Civilization III.

Rose and I will be seeing "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" when it comes out... if you'd like a review after we see it, just let me know.

Good to hear from you, wish you and yours all the best. :)

[Overtaxed]

And something to eat besides lembas!

[RMDupree]

LOL!

[Wordsmith]

Thank you Sam!

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Are the eggs pipping yet? Has Lisa noticed any peeping yet? I could hear peeping coming out of the eggs a few days before they would hatch.

Tomorrow morning I will be going down to the Bixby Arena to ride awhile. I was wondering if when I get done I could come by and bring you the eggs you want to hatch, and some feed for Lisa's and your chicks when they hatch? Sorry I haven't gotten the feed to you sooner. I have been getting down to the arena around 10:00, I could come by before or after, it wouldn't matter.

Becky

[RMDupree]

mine?