"Scouring of the Shire"

Remember "The Shire" in Oregon? That beautiful estate with thatched-roof cottages and courts and trees and hobbit-hole storage sheds - there were plenty of people oohing and aaahing over it some little time ago in LJ-land - a place I wouldn't mind living myself if I had a cool million to throw around - well, it's kind of over.

As Dave Langford puts it in "Ansible":

SCOURING OF THE SHIRE. The US subprime mortgage debacle led to
foreclosure proceedings against the Tolkien-themed 'Shire' housing estate
in Bend, Oregon (where round hobbit-hole doors mercifully open on garden
storage rather than being main entrances). The developers owe their bank
$3.4m. A December auction is expected; new owners may or may not want to
keep fantasy features like artificially thatched roofs, 'dragon-shaped
support beams', 'Ring Bearer's Court', etc. (Bend _Bulletin_, 31 July)

(full article here)

Once again, real life 1, dreams 0. Pity...

My babies are growing up...

The deer family just came by - or at least, momma and one of the twin fawns that have been hanging around here all summer. The fawn is... different today. No more bambi spots, except as fading streaks of white splotches on adult deer fur. And it's definitely a young buck - I can see two tiny but vary masculine-what-do-you-know bulges on his forehead.

They're all growed up. Sniff. The baby deer I baby-sat all through summer are all growed up now.