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.

[Lil'freeper]

Anyway, the red and blue zones are different countries- socialist turned anarchist and capitalist respectively

Err, belay that last. The red zone is capitalist, the blue zone is socialist. Suppose I should get that straight, huh.

[Lil'freeper]

You threadkiller you. Here ya go talking to yourself again even.

[Sam Cree]

I was wondering how the Red Zone went socialist. But then I have always wondered how anarchists can think they are socialists. They must not have figured out that the owning no property means that all property is actually owned and directed by the State.

However, IMO, not that you asked, my apologies, the story will be somewhat improved if the sister starts secretly making black market trades through the Mission with the brother who is running a gang of maquis type rebels on motorcycles in the Blue Zone.

Does the Lil stand for Lillian?

[osagebowman]

g'nad, nice looking rocks there, I'd use 'em too, if I had 'em all ready to go like that. Can't really tell about the slope though from the pictures.

But if you get a string line, tie one end off (or have one your helpers hold it) at ground level at the high end of the slope, have another helper hold the low end, and check for level. You can do it by using regular level held near the string line. Distance from ground to helper two is your drop, (Susan says I tend to over complicate things). If the slope is somewhat uniform, you probably only have to dig in half the stone and use the dug out dirt, small rocks or whatever as your fill under the other half. If is more variable, adjust to fit, some acting more like 1/4 steps and some more like a walk.

Just keep enough pitch on the stones to shed the water (they do get slick) and it should be overall low enough to mow over - with out throwing too many sparks :-)

Sue mentioned some plants called "stepables" used in low traffic walk areas to dress up the walk-way. www.stepables.com is their web site.
Hope this helps. You got some good ideas from the other posts as well.

[Lil'freeper]

Teehehee. Naw, I have a "k" name and no, the sister doesn't have the gumption to do something like that.

I really dislike the election map for coloring the Bush counties red and the Gore counties blue, it should be the reverse 'cuz most of us associate red with communism. But the premise for the collapse into anarchy is thus: During the sucession period the commies and wackos gathered into the cities to form their little utopias. They thought they could be self-sufficient and be able to produce enough goods/services to trade with the red (capitalist) zones. They were wrong. They simply couldn't compete, the red zone made everything they needed and cheaper. They held their ground and wouldn't trade with the socialists. Well, the socialists (blue zone) have a bad case of the gimmies and grew dissatisfied with their leadership. They rioted over having to work and not getting enough handouts and killed off the elitists. The blackmarket mafia filled the power void and voila! turf warfare. By the time my story takes place, the red zone as completely severed ties and the blue zone is living off rats and killing each other. It's a nice backdrop for a depressing story.

[Sam Cree]

But why do you want to write a depressing story? Will it be inspiring at all?

[Lil'freeper]

Naw, this whole house thing had me in one seriously foul mood so I channeled it into a dark story. Don't know if I'll ever finish the story because they've started pouring the foundation and my mood has improved. ;) The best anyone could hope for in this story is a heavy dose of irony.

[Lil'freeper]

Nite all! See ya manana.

[JenB]

Writing dark and depressing stories generally helps the writer feel better. It's really funny, but true. If I can write out a bad mood, it usually goes away. I've taken to dealing with a lot of things on paper... usually the stories don't directly address whatever I'm upset about. They just make poor innocent characters suffer.

However I'm just not brutal enough to my characters. That's one reason why I love Harry Potter, the author won't pull any punches. There are a lot of really miserable people running around, but we don't notice them much because they're not the main character; however, they add enormous depth to a story. Nothing like piecing together the clues to discover why a minor character has such a miserable and depressing life. My characters just have minorly bad things happen to them. And I'm a sucker for a happy ending.

This story may end at a happy-ish spot, but the character does not have a happy ending...

[Sam Cree]

I like the ending to be happy, too, or at least inspiring if it is unhappy. I'm probably not going to read a book that just is depressing. I can see how writing a book in which idiots get what's coming to them can help the author work out some aggression, though I think it could be better to go jogging or something, but I just don't feel like reading a book so I can get depressed.

I'm waiting on my wife to finish the new HP book before I start it. My daughter took her copy to CA yesterday.

IMO, the death of that character gives HP the opportunity to assume even greater character. Kind of like if Gollum had turned good and helped, it would have detracted from Frodo's heroism.

[Corin Stormhands]

[Sam Cree]

Hi, Corin.

[JenB]

Yes about HP growing, but... you know who died, then? It's such a depressing end to his life. Which was pretty depressing anyway. And now certain other characters are even more alone than they were.

I don't read books to depress me, but even the best stories have those dark, dark passages in and sometimes they don't seem to end up well... I read a book by Connie Willis, "Passage" that in the middle takes an amazingly depressing turn, and then just as it ends becomes a story of hope and redemption. But you have to get through it all, first. Stories like HP, you have to view the whole series as one. This book isn't the end, it's the low point so the end will seem better.

Oh, and I like books where idiots get what's coming to them, since so often in rl they seem to just keep prospering.

[HairOfTheDog]

Wassup Corin?

[Sam Cree]

Doomsday was more depressing than not, yet it was strangely inspiring, so it was fine.

Also, the look into medieval life was fascinating. I hate feminism, but the look into how things were to medieval women was also fascinating.

[HairOfTheDog]

BURMA SHAVE (Remember?) ^

[g'nad]

checked the stepables site... the Irish Moss looks great... OT, the other pic looked like the moss was bushy...

it's a slightly convex slope... it would need 1/4 steps for a few for about the first 15 feet or so, or you'd run into the problem of too steep a pitch near the vehicles...

btw... lost our whole grape crop to black spot fungus... I'll be cuttin' back the vines to practically nuthin'... I'll be a'makin' me a fire tomorrow...

[SuziQ]

Is that your OPUS? ;o)

[HairOfTheDog]

Oh leave the grapes for the birds and treat it for the fungus in the spring!

[Sam Cree]

I don't think I remember those signs, we always took the train. I suppose they were still around in the 50's and early 60's. I like them, though.