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.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

I liked AoE 2 better than AoE, but both are good. They really are independent games, so you can start with either one. Not sure if AoE is still for sale anywhere, other than used or on eBay. Just remember when you play to build lots of walls. ;)

[ksen]

...build lots of walls. ;)

Yes, walls are good. Walls are your friend. ;^)

[Wordsmith]

Hi KS! Yes, they take after momma. As the primary homeschooler, they're also picking up her personality quirks, which is weird sometimes. They have all these inside jokes that go right over my head.

I thought about Starcraft. Looks like it might be a fun intro to the whole strategy game genre, and less gory than Warcraft. How's AOE on the gore level?

One of the things I like about the D&D themed games we've played is that you can actually dial down the "gore" setting.

My wife and I have talked through the whole gaming thing, and we're trying to be quite careful. A couple of games we let the kids play, a couple of games we only let them watch me play. We've found it easier to discuss the "ethics" of the D&D style games than the straight strategy games, because they are RPG's and thus personalized. Instead of sacrificing soldiers or whatever pawns you have as cannon fodder, your characters are individualized and we can talk about personal choices, when violence may be an option and when it shouldn't be, good and evil as individual rather than collective realities, and so on.

The teen years are definitely going to be wild, though.

I've spent a lot of time reading up on chivalry, Christian just war theory, and so on. Turns out the parish we now attend has a very active Christian pacifist contingent. We've had some pretty heated exchanges on our parish email forum. I've found myself drawing on Tolkien and CS quite frequently.

Cheers!

[Wordsmith]

Cool, we'll probably look at AOE2. Now I realize you don't have to start at the beginning. One of the things that kept me away from the whole PC game market for years was the numbering scheme. Cool Game 3, Ultra Great VII, and so on. I was thinking of it like fantasy novels, where it's foolish to start in the middle of the series, instead of like mystery novels, where you can pick up anywhere you want.

[Corin Stormhands]

Later folks. I have to meet my s-i-l tonite and pick up Luke. He spent the week at her house in NC.

May not be back on until tomorrow, and I have a bored meeting tomorrow a.m.

[Overtaxed]

Okay....I've got Blood of Amber,Sign of Chaos, Knight of Shadows, Trumps of Doom, Prince of Chaos, and The Chronicles of Amber volumes I and II.

[HairOfTheDog]

...kinda like moving a body.

!?!?

A friend will help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.

Heh.... ecurbh gets it!

Back from Seattle.... And not in as bad a shape as I feared... I still need a new job, but I will not really starve until maybe November, so I have time. More time than I thought. Whew!

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome back Wordsmith! - Hope you can kick your shoes off and relax awhile.

[JenB]

Hey DT, glad you're enjoying Harry Potter. I don't know if I wish I'd known who was dying or not. If I had, I'd have been ready for it. But it would have colored my reading of the book. It was such a good book, other than that one little thing.

Actually there were a lot of things I'm less than satisfied about, and a lot of things I'm thrilled with. I just wish... anyway...

I'm sick today. My stomach has been upset and getting worse all day. This morning I could eat, with difficulty. By lunch the smell of food was making me queasy. Wish I knew whether I am ill because I'm depressed, or depressed because I'm ill.

Can't even trust my sovereign anti-Dementor remedy (as perscribed by Professor Lupin), chocolate.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

You've got them all then... the five individual books are the second series of five, and the Chronicles contain the first series of five.

[HairOfTheDog]

Yeah - the Impressive era did change the look of several generations of Quarter horses. Being more involved with either Arabs or dressage, I have only had a surface understanding of HYPP. Thanks for that background.

Are you going to have the mare tested?

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Not right now. I think we are just going to try the "process of elimination" thing for now. As I said the test is not 100% reliable. We're real tight with money:) Hate to spend it if we don't have too.

Becky

[Overtaxed]

Maybe I should re-read them and get aggravated all over again. :)

[2Jedismom]

Did you get my email?

Yikes, I have to straighten the house before you come.

Would 12:30pm be ok? That would give me time to pick up the boys from VBS and get home.

[HairOfTheDog]

Understood about the money! So if the horse is positive, is there anything that is done about the symptoms of it?

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Yeah, there are some thing to do. We changed her feed. Need to keep her potassium level down. She needs to stay off pasture. We can give her dieretics (sp), so she passes excess potassium off fast. Exercise helps keep potassium down.

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Yeah, I got your e-mail, and will see you tomorrow at 12:30. Please don't go to alot of trouble. I am just looking forward to seeing your chicks and tractor:)

Becky

[Wneighbor]

I hope you don't mind, but I'll put your Grama on our Parish Prayer line for a happy death.

I think that's wonderful. One of the reasons I know this is really her time is that she is so peaceful and free of pain. She is truly going out comfortable. She has had some real miracle healings but she was fighting and struggling to get better. She is now just peacefully leaving. And she's happy.

[Wneighbor]

Okay, the official word was given to me by my Grama on Saturday night. The age for not being young anymore is 85. So we gotta quit our moaning ya'll.

[JenB]

Oh, WN, I'll be praying for you... I'm glad to know your Grama is peaceful, though. Don't know what to say.