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.

[Wneighbor]

Hey, I saw Hair's new kitten just now. Cute baby. But, I was pretty taken with the dalmation myself. I miss mine.

One thing about it. Sitting in a hospital room is as good a place as any to watch continuous news coverage. I pretty much had the TV on 24/7 from Wednesday on.

So, this may be a funkle but did anybody here see that Fox news reporter interviewing some demoncrat about the missles being fired the first day. The democrat said something about the missle and the reporter said (with a smirk) something about that not being possible if Saddam didn't have those kind of missles and asked the demo to explain how that could happen.

[SuziQ]

But, Grama is still needing lots of prayer if a couple of you don't mind sending up some.

She's got em, Wneighbor.

BTW, HAPPY BIRTHDAY on Sat, and may you have many more! You got several Birthday greetings in the Hole over the weekend!

[Wneighbor]

Rule of thumb around my garden. If its a bulb or a rhizome start THINKING about digging and dividing every 3 years. Uh. Some of my things get divided less. If one year they suddenly aren't as thick as they were last year (and you see no severe weather reason for this) then that year you need to thin. Do that thinning in the fall/winter. Here in Texas I usually shoot for October or February for this. I don't know about ya'lls seasonal things. OT will know more about your area for that.

[Wneighbor]

Thanks all ya'll for the welcome backs and the Happy Birthday's. I was thinking of ya'll on my birthday. It brightened an otherwise bad day.

[Sam Cree]

Hi Wneighbor, Happy Birthday!

Prayers to Grama.

[Wneighbor]

Oh, and more than anything thanks for all those prayers for Grama.

Growing up in questionable circumstances my grama has been my "safe" person to be around my whole life. She's been much like we all try to be as parents, except for me it was Grama. It's tougher to see her suffer the way she is now than most any of the abusive things she tried to keep me safe from.

[Corin Stormhands]

This gardening/yard work thing is turning into work...

[Wneighbor]

I thought you were just getting it started and were going to pass this on to your M-I-L. So you could put her to work when she gets there so-to-speak.

[Corin Stormhands]

No, actually I want to learn how to do it. My m-i-l can help, but with her arthritis she can't do a lot of the work.

[Corin Stormhands]

Crap!

Our afternoon talk radio jock just said that (Sniper) John Allen Muhammed threw a grenade into his fellow soldiers tent during the 1991 Gulf War. But it doesn't show in his official record...

[HairOfTheDog]

I have some kinda bulbs that keep coming up each year since I have been here. No idea what they are, because the horses eat them before they bloom. My lawn-mowers are indescriminant.

[HairOfTheDog]

Say again?

[Corin Stormhands]

You know the story about the guy throwing the grenade into the tent, right?

Apparently John Allen Muhammed, the elder of the two snipers that terrorized DC, MC and VA did the same freakin' thing in the 91 Gulf War...

[Wneighbor]

Things to keep in mind.

When gardening doesn't work and plants die, we have no required emotional expressions. Just throw it on the compost pile (or let it rot where it is.)

Plants require much less maintenance than Jr. They will get along without near as much supervision but if the supervision is too little see item 1.

1 good homegrown tomato is worth 10 store bought tomatoes. We don't try to grow them in small quantities for economics. Some things are just plain good. It's quality of life. If the plant dies see item 1.

On days when you just can't deal with Jr. anymore, remember plants don't talk back, act up, become surly or bring home detestible dates (remember my kids are 17 and 27.) It's acceptable to violently smash your spade into the ground all around plants to take out frustrations. If you take out your agression on the plant and it dies remember, see item 1.

Last but not least, even a single flower, nicely timed, is bound to win brownie points occasionally with Mrs. Stormhands. :-)

Think any of that will take some of the work out of it?

[Wneighbor]

Our afternoon talk radio jock just said that (Sniper) John Allen Muhammed threw a grenade into his fellow soldiers tent during the 1991 Gulf War. But it doesn't show in his official record...

You know, I heard the end of that report I guess when I left to pick up Myranda from school. I thought I must have not gotten the whole story and misunderstood something. But, that was exactly what I THOUGHT the reporter said.

[Wneighbor]

No idea what they are, because the horses eat them before they bloom. My lawn-mowers are indescriminant.

I used to have some goats living around me that were kind to me like that. They kept my rose bushes trimmed so nicely that it looked like I'd paid someone to come trim to the exact height that those critters could reach.

[Corin Stormhands]

Think any of that will take some of the work out of it?

That helps muchly! And don't worry, I've thrown away lots of dead plants. Mrs. Stormhands can kill plastic houseplants. That will be a big bonus for having my m-i-l here. She can grow anything.

My comment about the work was a bit tongue in cheek, 'cause I'm actually enjoying working in the yard this year. In part, since we got the siding on the house last year, thinking about the yard is a respectable thing to do.

But I also think that the diet and exercise program I've been on (for the most part) has a lot to do with my attitude.

I simply feel better. I'm consuming very little salt, sugar and white flour (I splurge sometimes on the weekends). My arthritis has hardly bothered me at all since January.

That's been a big plus (along with the weight loss) in helping me to stick with it this time.

[Corin Stormhands]

Gotta run. See y'all later tonite.

[Wneighbor]

Chuckling at this.

I typically get people accusing me of going all health-food-fanaticky on them when I talk about yard work. But, you just pretty much cited a lot of my reasons for yard work. Unfortunately, I love to cook and then that messes up my weight/appearance/self esteem all that garbage.

I found out years ago that if I can cut out potatoes, white flour and excess dairy products that I have little trouble with joint pain and stiffness. Additionally, my doc says that I ought to get out and walk etc to minimize the arthritic stuff. But, I won't walk just for the heck of it. However, I'll get out in the yard and move around and dig and carry stuff and generally get a lot of exercise without meaning to. So, that fills in for my walking recommendation. And I eat heathier if I grow fresh stuff. So, gardening helps me to eat better as well as makes me more disciplined about exercise and fresh air.

My side benefit is that when I work outside all day is that even if I weren't eating healthier foods I'd be better off because I don't spend the time in the kitchen cooking and then eating and packing away 3 times the quantity of food.

And, after all these years, I really do enjoy gardening a lot. But, when I first started out I didn't know anything. No one in my family or background gardened so I had NO experience and no one to call and ask for help. It was largely hit and miss on that learning curve. Hence Item 1 on the list.

[HairOfTheDog]

Yeah - That is stunning that the other guy did the same freakin' thing. I this something that happens from time to time when folk get disgruntled? - Or was Muhammed's incident known to the new guy and he wanted to copy it?