Garnet Took
· 8 April 2014
· Chapter 4: Early Morning Excursion
Pippin is really doing a good job of taking responsibility for the pup but it is obvious that something is going to have to be done about the dog. Yes, he sweet and fairly well behaved for his age, but he is still an excitable, growing pup and Pippin cannot risk reinsuring himself while restraning the exuberant pup. I hope they can find a good resolution to the problem. Maybe Bergel's family really could take the dog, permanently.
Author's reply
You're right about the danger to Pippin! His injuries are still healing... We almost adopted a 10 month old Great Dane at one time, but she was too powerful for me to control and so we had to pass her up for a smaller, more controllable dog (turned out to be a Blue Heeler, very intelligent and easy to train).
I think you'll like the dog's new home, when it becomes clear. :)
Thanks!
Linda Hoyland
· 28 March 2014
· Chapter 3: Driving a Bargain
This is most enjoyable.
Author's reply
Thank you!
Everlight
· 26 March 2014
· Chapter 3: Driving a Bargain
Oh Sam! Other cultures can be so confusing, what with so many different customs. That warning was a good idea, though I have the feeling Pip would try it just to see what he would get.
I laughed out loud at the last part. '...he’d have to warn the others not to begin a bargain with any bright-robed Southron. Especially Mr. Pippin. He shuddered again at the thought of the young one returning to the Shire with a tall, brightly robed Southron wife in tow.
Pip sure would have shaken the Shire up bringing home a Southron wife. 'But Da, she was a gift. How could I refuse? Besides she's really quite pretty.'
Author's reply
LOL, the thought is really amazing! ...but then Diamond would have to be a second wife. If, OTOH, Pippin brought home a Southron wife, that lady would probably not have any problems with being one of several.
Yikes. I could see Sam's hair turning grey just thinking about such things.
Dreamflower
· 26 March 2014
· Chapter 3: Driving a Bargain
Ah, Sam! Culture shock can be quite funny sometimes--and I can see it truly confusing Sam to see such a bargaining session. Yes, he probably *should* warn the others about that!
Author's reply
LOL! I remember my first bargaining session in a foreign country. Luckily for me, the bargainer was an apprentice, so I think I got a pretty good deal. His boss was scolding him after we walked away, anyhow -- though for all I know it was all part of a little drama for the purchaser's benefit.
shirebound
· 26 March 2014
· Chapter 3: Driving a Bargain
The Southron bargaining for the saddle tossed another silver coin onto the pile, but withdrew a smaller coin. It seemed enough to tip the balance, for there was a shout from the saddle-owner, and he rose from his crouch and attacked the other Man, taking him in a great wrestling hold and thumping his back most alarmingly.
Sam tensed, spilling his tea
I enjoyed this bargaining session very much! Poor Sam, what a shock it must have been.
Author's reply
I'm glad you enjoyed it! I think Sam's bodyguard did, too.
Thanks!
Garnet Took
· 26 March 2014
· Chapter 3: Driving a Bargain
Liked the bargaining scene. Very interesting.
Hope they can work something out for that pup. It really would be hard for hobbits to take care of one that big but, if anyone could, it would probably be Pippin.
Author's reply
Before the Ent draught he might even have been able to ride the pup home! (Well, it would have had to grow a bit first, I suppose...)
Hopefully the solution for the pup will make you smile.
Thanks!
Larner
· 26 March 2014
· Chapter 3: Driving a Bargain
That bargaining session sounds hilarious, and oh, so complicated a means of bargaining for just a saddle. And I agree--Pippin would not know how to handle such offers. The idea of it has had me chortling out loud!
As for Mittens...the amount needed to feed the pup could bankrupt a person! Heh!
Let me know the progress toward your new shnauzer!
Author's reply
Bargaining as entertainment.. I wonder if part of the skill is to think of totally outlandish, outrageous, yet part-way plausible things to say. (Couldn't very well throw in the sun, moon and stars unless you had some claim to them, after all.)
I am thinking of the food bills for our coming pup. The breeder prefers to feed dogs on fresh food such as raw meat, raw chicken, veggies... I need to find a source of raw chicken and raw bones (but preferably not the garbage they set aside for pets) that won't bankrupt us.
She's a little over a month old now. The girls think she might be named "Pandemonium" but as they haven't met her yet, they're not sure.
shirebound
· 16 March 2014
· Chapter 2: A Fruitless Search
What a delightful story, and so very hobbit-y. I love it when hobbits can instruct the Big Folk on their customs.
Author's reply
What fun! I wonder what other customs I can drag in... Will have to re-read Miss Dora's book, perhaps.
Thanks!
Dreamflower
· 16 March 2014
· Chapter 2: A Fruitless Search
LOL! *grin* Not so easy as Frodo thought it would be, is it?
I have a couple of thoughts, but perish forbid I put them in Frodo's head; it's so much fun to watch him flounder...
Author's reply
LOL! Now you have me curious, although this story is outlined and written in draft to the end. (It's already undergone one revision, though, when a totally unexpected twist popped up in response to a review...)
Thanks!
Larner
· 16 March 2014
· Chapter 2: A Fruitless Search
Beregond is such a wise individual, and obviously better than Merry at making certain he doesn't drink too much. Finding someone else to take the pup would be a perfect solution, I'd think.
(And you had to have Sam mistake Frodo that way? Heh!)
Author's reply
I do love Beregond -- he's the whole reason I first started writing fanfic. I would love to see more of him, written in the spirit of his portrayal in the original, but I haven't seen much.
Good Sam, he can be rather literal. I would love to be able to wrap up each chapter with a joke or pun (rather after the fashion of "Going, Going, Gone") but don't know if the Muse will be so obliging. The jokes in that story, after all, originated as teases, one at the end of each review of a chapter of a JoDancingTree story, and only after all those "teases" had been written, after her story was done being posted, did they grow into the "Going, Going, Gone" story...
Sadly, I do not have a ready supply of one-liners just waiting for a story, at the present time. I will have to just see if inspiration strikes while transitioning from draft to final copy. At the moment I'm exhausted, so it doesn't seem likely.
But this story will have a bit more of Beregond, and that makes me happy.
Tari
· 11 March 2014
· Chapter 1: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
How sweet. I hope Pip gets to keep the puppy. That would open the door to many fun filled adventures which Pip would love.
Author's reply
Oh, my, puppies and adventure!
I know this pup is already a little bit "larger than life" but such an idea is so very tempting...
Thanks!
elliska
· 11 March 2014
· Chapter 1: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
I have to admit I clicked on this with some hesitance, because I hate sad stories about animals, but I can't resist animal stories, just the same. I'm so glad I read this. It is absolutely adorable, all the way through. I don't read too many Hobbit stories. but I loved all your Hobbits here to pieces. They were all so wonderfully portrayed and individual and so obviously close friends with their delightful banter. I'm looking forward to the second part!
Author's reply
Well, I'm glad to tell you this is not a sad story, it's a "comfort" story written by a sad author. Getting better. Only sad at intervals now, rather than constantly. Time does soften loss, and we have picked out a puppy to help us find joy once more, that will be old enough to leave her mother in a couple of months.
Glad you love the hobbits; I do too!
Thanks for taking time to leave a good word.
Larner
· 9 March 2014
· Chapter 1: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
Fun to read this again. I appreciate how Pippin feels, having been subject to Zoe's attentions myself and having seen how Brendi and Panda have responded to her sometimes overpowering personality and physicality, but admire Frodo his determination to see Mittens returned to his former owner. One thing--he never determined the source of this mixed gift! Heh! I bet that Zoe is having fun playing with the angels now!
Author's reply
Yes, she could be quite overwhelming for visitors. Just when I'd think she had settled down, she'd be in your face once more. Even at nearly 100 lbs, she seemed to imagine she was a lapdog. Not sure where she got that impression, but she certainly got on well with miniature dogs (at least in terms of goodwill on her part), so maybe she thought that she was one.
She was a good mama, too, to her stuffed toys, so maybe she was mothering those little miniature dogs she ran across. We buried her favourite stuffy with her (Whiskers the baby seal), though I would have liked to have kept it to remember her. I find myself on occasion holding the little Schnauzer you gave her -- it still bears her smell, and if I close my eyes it's a little bit like she's not gone.
Pathetic, I know. *sigh* I'm just not ready to let her go. I still catch glimpses of her out of the corner of my eye. A friend swore she heard Zoe barking a greeting the other day as she pulled up to the house. Maybe she hasn't quite let us go, either. She fought so hard to stay with us, gallant heart.
Raksha The Demon
· 7 March 2014
· Chapter 1: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
Puppies and Pippin were made for each other. Hope he ends up keeping the pony-sized one. Sounds like your Zoe was a lovely dog.
Author's reply
She was. I vowed I would never let myself love another dog, after I lost the Writing Partner. But Zoe had other ideas. She was impossible not to love. We all called her "the best dog we've ever had" -- and we've had a number of wonderful dogs.
Thanks for stopping by.
Dreamflower
· 6 March 2014
· Chapter 1: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
Oh my dear! How wonderful to see this again! I'm looking forward to Frodo's solution--I am sure it will be clever and funny.
(Puts me in mind of someone's old Marigold challenge tales in which Pippin actually does find a stray baby oliphaunt in Gondor. I wish I could recall who wrote that.)
Author's reply
Oh, what fun! Pip and a stray baby oliphaunt! (Did he say, "He followed me home... can I keep him?" by chance?) I would love to read that story.
Actually, Frodo's going to have a bit of a problem coming up with a solution, but have no fear, there will be one.
Thanks!
shirebound
· 6 March 2014
· Chapter 1: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
‘But you’re taking cold, cousin,’ Pippin said, struggling a little against the weight that pinned him to the floor. ‘You ought to cuddle up with Mittens, here.’
Oh, how delightful! This story already makes me so happy.
Author's reply
I'm so glad. We had a large dog in my childhood, that came to us as a puppy with enormous feet. Someone in the family wanted to name him "Mittens" because he was so cute, and he was black with four white paws, but someone wiser pointed out that he was going to outgrow the name fairly quickly (as he did, growing to a size of over 100 pounds), and so he found the name "Shadow" instead.
One of my sneaky northern Rangers is named for him, as a matter of fact. Very good at sneaking up on people without being seen...