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Post by Stormrider on Jul 2, 2011 6:57:52 GMT -6
Well, if you were a trail guide with a huge party of dwarves who have not ridden much, you would lead them more slowly, too!
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Post by Vanye on Jul 2, 2011 22:32:40 GMT -6
One summer I worked as a horse wrangler at a children's dude ranch camp & part of my job was leading the dudes on trail rides-we did indeed lead them slowly. We rode about 9 hrs a day. That is the one & only time I got paid to ride horses. The pay was not great of course $40 a month w/room & board-cowboy wages! but it is still my favorite job! 8^)
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Post by Stormrider on Jul 3, 2011 9:11:59 GMT -6
I never did the trail ride guide myself but my son and oldest daughter did. They enjoyed it but agree it didn't pay that much although they were allowed to accept tips from the riders. My son and daughter also worked at harness racing barns and worked with getting the horses (Standardbreds) harnessed and drove them on the practice track. They said it was interesting work, hard at times, and they came home very smelly from the sweat of the horses.
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Post by Vanye on Jul 3, 2011 21:12:33 GMT -6
We had to groom & tack up the horses in the morning & untack & groom them again at nite & on Sun the horses were not stalled but turned out to pasture. One Sun nite @ about 3 AM we were sleeping peacefully in the bunk house when we heard the sound of the entire remuda going thundering past our window. We hit the decks running & had to go out get them all back in the field & repair the fence before we could go back to bed. All of this was in our job description; there were 3 of us gals (the wranglers) & young man who did the feeding of the 25 horses. We earned out money for sure! 8^)
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Post by Stormrider on Jul 3, 2011 22:41:33 GMT -6
Oh brother! The last thing you want to worry about is a broken fence and loose horses.....groan!
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Post by Andorinha on Jul 4, 2011 10:28:17 GMT -6
Vanye, that would be a kool job -- wrangler! Even with all the hard, repetitive labour, and the occasional stampedes as the horses make a break for greener pastures -- I think that would still be a fun experience!
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July 4, no special day in Britain, no special day -- that I can think of -- for Middle-earth either, but, if we follow the Fonstad formula, the Dwarves, plus Bilbo are on the lower flanks of the Misty Mountains, making about four miles per day as they move up the long ridge that will take them to The Pass, and their next "hot" adventures -- the encounter with the Stone Giants, and the disaster of the Goblins' Gate.
I don't think Tolkien drew his own maps in sufficient detail so that we could determine whether the course of travel went eastward along a ridgeline, or climbed up a long valley to the pass, but Fonstad (p. 100, lower map) has chosen to put the cavalcade on the high ground between two valleys. Hmmm, wonder why?
As Vanye mentioned above, Bilbo is occupied at this time with vague longings for his old, settled life, comparing the events of the Shire (blackberrying and haymaking) with the severe contrasts of his journey through the "bitter cold" of the mountains. However high they've gotten by this time, the snows of the last winter are still with them, and their "nights were comfortless and chill, and they did not dare to sing or talk too loud, for the echoes were uncanny, and the silence seemed to dislike being broken..." (The Hobbit, p. 64, pap bk ver)
I think Tolkien re-uses some of the same feelings when Frodo and his gang cross the bleak, stony wilds leading them to Eregion -- they pass through a land that almost forces them to remain quiet:
Aragorn to Merry -- "But I miss something. I have been in the country of Hollin in many seasons. No folk dwell here now, but many other creatures live here at all times, especially birds. Yet now all things but you are silent. I can feel it. There is no sound for miles about us, and your voices seem to make the ground echo. I do not understand it." (LOTR, "The Ring Goes South," p. 300 single vol ed)
Tolkien almost gives the very land its own personality here, in both The Hobbit, and LOTR, nature is alive, wary, and somewhat threatening as the companies pass through the ominously silent topography. I guess JRRT is, in both tales, using the eerie, forboding nature of the landscape to foreshadow the doom-laden events that follow next: the Stone Giants/ Goblin Town for Bilbo, and the warg attack/ Moria for Frodo...
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Post by Vanye on Jul 4, 2011 15:02:16 GMT -6
Well probably why Fonstad shows their route on the ridges would be that the sun would have melted the snow from the south facing slopes while it may not have yet cleared the deep valleys. They have been underway for over 2 mos. now & for Bilbo that must be like forever! So, they've still a long way to go & a lot of adventures yet to have before they arrive back @ Rivendell almost a year from now 'with beards all a-wagging'! Bilbo has no idea at this point just how uncomfortable adventures can be, indeed! 8^)
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Post by Andorinha on Jul 8, 2011 10:02:12 GMT -6
RE Vanye's: "Bilbo has no idea at this point just how uncomfortable adventures can be, indeed!"
LOL, yep, I think this is a theme JRRT uses throughout The Hobbit, Bilbo giving a second (and third, and fourth, etc) wistful appraisal of his present "adventuring problems" compared to the peace and comfort of his home. Might be fun to list the times this literary device (or is it a "trope?" ) is used...
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Post by Vanye on Jul 17, 2011 0:09:46 GMT -6
Hold the presses! Our heroes are captured by the Goblins in the night! Things have just gotten even more uncomfortable for poor Bilbo! Vanye 8^)
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Post by Stormrider on Jul 19, 2011 6:21:42 GMT -6
Fili and Kili found the cave. Gandalf asked them if they had thoroughly explored the cave because they had come back pretty quickly. Being very wise, Gandalf knew caves in the mountains were rarely unoccupied.
Fili and Kili answered, "Yes, yes! It isn't all that big, and it does not go far back." They said it was small but all the Dwarves, Bilbo, Gandalf, and the ponies could fit inside. They must have been crammed in like sardines! That is quite a large troupe of people and animals if you ask me!
Since the cave was not far away and seemed small enough to check it out quickly and the weather was atrocious, they decided to stay there for the night.
Inside it did seem like a nice dry cave and a decent size for their group. It did not seem too mysterious either. However, Gandalf would not let them light a fire and they had to spread their wet clothing out to dry instead.
Poor Bilbo having trouble getting to sleep when everyone else dropped off easily. Lucky for the nasty dreams he had when he finally did drop off to sleep! It kept Bilbo alert enough to yell out loud enough when the walls of the cave just seemed to open up (like Bilbo's dream)--a crack in the wall at the back of the cave got bigger and became a wide passage!
Yikes! 6 goblins to each dwarf and Bilbo, too!Thank goodness Gandalf was warned by Bilbo's yell so that he could give a nice lightening flash and get away!
The crack in the cave wall closed with a snap and Bilbo's group were on the wrong side of the wall!
Spring loaded cave cracks! How innovative for goblins!
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Post by Stormrider on Jul 20, 2011 5:25:00 GMT -6
Yesterday July 19th (a Thursday according to Fonstad's Map Book), Gandalf and the Dwarves escaped from the goblins and Bilbo finds the Ring and meets Gollum and then escapes himself. Luckily, he is on the other side of the mountains but isn't sure where anyone else is. He wonders if now that he is invisible with the Ring that he should go back inside to rescue the Dwarves. Luckily he hears voices and realizes it is the Dwarves talking. Ring on, Bilbo quietly sneaks past Balin doing lookout for the Dwarves camp. Balin is very surprised that Bilbo was able to get past him. Balin considers himself an excellent guard!
Well, we missed Gandalf and the Dwarves encounter with the Goblin King, their escape, and Bilbo's encounter with Gollum! Real Life gets in the way, doesn't it?
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Post by Vanye on Jul 20, 2011 17:09:31 GMT -6
So Bilbo woke up on the eagles eyrie & later he & the company were flown to the Carrock by the eagles & they set off to Beorn's house. Since a lot has happened in just the past few days-Bilbo's head must be spinning by now! 8^)
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Post by Vanye on Jul 22, 2011 12:38:29 GMT -6
Today our heroes are off on the ponies loaned to them by Beorn. They are of course shadowed by Beorn who has allowed them the use of the ponies only as far as the edges of Mirkwood. Gandalf is w/them riding a horse also borrowed from Beorn. It will be 3 more days before the reach the forest path that will take them through Mirkwood. 8^)
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Post by Vanye on Jul 27, 2011 22:50:20 GMT -6
Our intrepid adventurers are now riding "Shank's Mare" along the pathway though Mirkwood Forest-having relinquished the ponies Beorn had lent them at the eaves of the forest. Gandalf is off on an errand so Bilbo & the dwarves are on their own & things are just about to get even 'hairier'! They have now been under way for 3 months (91 days). 8^)
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Post by Stormrider on Jul 30, 2011 16:46:22 GMT -6
I picture the dwarves and Bilbo all huddled together trying to fall asleep with the very mirky darness all about them and all the creapy eyes winking and blinking all around them. That creaps me out.
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