Troll sat alone on his seat of stone,

And munched and mumbled a bare old bone;

For many a year he had gnawed it near,

For meat was hard to come by.

Done by! Gum by!

In a cave in the hills he dwelt alone,

And meat was hard to come by.

Up came Tom with his big boots on.

Said he to troll: 'Pray, what is yon?

For it looks like the shin o' my nuncle Tim,

As should be a-lyin in graveyard.

Caveyard! Paveyard!

This many a year has Tim been gone,

And I thought he were lyin' in a graveyard.'

'My lad,' said Troll,' this bone I stole.

But what be bones that lie in a hole?

Thy nuncle was dead as a lump o' lead,

Afore I found his shinbone.

Tinbone! Thinbone!

He can spare a share for a poor old troll,

For he don't need his shinbone.'

Said Tom: 'I don't see why the likes o' thee

Without axin' leave should go makin' free

With the shank or the shin o' my father's kin; 

So hand the old bone over!

Rover! Trover!

Though dead he be, it belongs to he;

So hand the old bone over!'

'For a couple o' pins,' says Troll, and grins,

'I'll eat thee too, and gnaw thy shins.

A bit o' fresh meat will go down sweet!

I'll try my teeth on thee now. 

Hee now! See now!

I'm tired o' gnawing old bones and skins;

I've a mind to dine on thee now.'

But just as he thought his dinner was caught,

He found his hands had hold of naught.

Before he could mind, Tom slipped behind

And gave him the boot to larn him.

Warn him! Darn him!

A bump o' the boot on the seat, Tom thought,

Would be the way to larn him.

But harder than stone is the flesh and bone

Of a troll that sits in the hills alone.

As well set your boot to the mountain's root,

For the seat of a troll don't feel it.

Peel it! Heel it!

Old Troll laughed, when he heard Tom groan,

And he knew his toes could feel it.

Tom's leg is game, since home he came,

And his bootless foot is lasting lame;

But Troll don't care, and he's still there

With the bone he boned from its owner.

Doner! Boner!

Troll's old seat is still the same,

And the bone he boned from its owner!

Sam, recites this poem in The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

If there is anything disagreeable going on,

men are always sure to get out of it.

-Persuasion

          

Food and Books

When I eat food, I eat it in a certain order. First I start with the vegetables because although they're not yucky, they aren't exactly my favorite thing on my plate (and you don't want to finish a meal with a bad taste in your mouth). Then I eat my mashed potatoes and meatloaf, usually a couple bites of one and then a few of another. After that comes the dessert. The dessert is sweet and tasty, and I savor it as I eat it. And I leave the table feeling full and satisfied and content.
That is also how I read books. The first few chapters in a book are the vegetables, because they are (in a sense) the pilot episode, they set you up and get you ready for the story while also letting you decide whether you want to continue reading or not. Then I finish those chapters and move on to the meat of the book, which is wholesome and fulfilling. After that comes the dessert, the ending of the book. The ending can be the best part, or it can be the worst. It's either a wonderfully tasting buttermilk pudding or a sour buttermilk pudding, because the buttermilk wasn't used before the expiration date. And then the book is done and I sigh. If I disliked the book, it's an exasperated sigh, an I can't believe I wasted my time reading that sigh, and I hurriedly reach for another book to get the bad taste out of my mouth. But if I liked the book, it's a contented sigh, and over the next few days I think about the wonderfulness of the book as I go about my daily routine.

Playing with a Baby

We were taking care of our neighbor's baby for a couple hours and had a lot of fun playing with her. She seemed a little overwhelmed by all the attention though. :D

Snow and Ice

Ever since December, we've had snow. Just as the snow was about to melt, and I'd think I could almost see the ground, it would snows again. This is not typical for Indiana. So I was even more surprised when we got an ice storm. The actual storm wasn't too bad. It was the after affects. After two days of rain, ice, and snow continuously falling, I found that I was living in a land of ice. All that snow we've had since December? It's ice now. Several inches. Walking outside isn't possible. You skate. Because the ice is so thick, it's hard to scrape it off the roads. We got two days of school and work canceled (YAY!). Because there's so much ice, it's going to take a long while for it all to melt. So I'm thinking about having a skating party (in my backyard :D). Would you like to come?