Gromnir

am embarrassed to admit that we know the original twinkie were banana. 1930? original twinkie were filled with banana pudding instead o' that horrible white ooze that is utilized these days. unfortunately, there were some kinda south american banana shortage that led to a change being required by the makers o' twinkies. nowadays the banana twinkie is having the sponge cake flavored with banana, yes? the original sounds a bit more tasty to Gromnir. real sponge cake with banana pudding. bet it would taste even better deep fried. made mexican chorizo yesterday. always let our chorizo have a day in the fridge to fully absorb spices. gonna have chorizo breakfast burritos for dinner. gonna smell chorizo in our home for the next three days. as an aside, if anybody gots a good chorizo recipe they can recommend, we would be appreciative. the current recipe we is using is fine. just fine. we like "just fine " chorizo as we really do enjoy chorizo, but am always on the lookout for a better alternative. dunno. we do genuine labor with a mortar and pestle as we turn cumin, coriander and clove into powder. use good pork and spices. nevertheless, our chorizo is just fine. HA! Good Fun!

selective amnesia. our dialogue began after your critique o' poe leveling. you used wasteland 2 as a comparison in your critique. you see some special qualitative difference in your critique v. stated preferences preference, with examples and comparisons to existing games? ... okie dokie the boss at the foot o' the endless paths is representing a rather substantial increase in difficulty compared to your previous endless path encounters. boss has a couple attacks that do overwhelming damage. don't feel bad if you need/want to level and gear a bit before finishing her off. eat your food and use your potions... and scrolls. without getting into specifics, we will note that the attendant mobs possesses serious debilitating abilities. petrify and nasty aoes and all kinda badness. ideally, if you can get the mobs to attack the dragon, you is possible killing two birds with one stone. regardless, don't just ignore mobs thinking that your own aoes will neutralize 'em. ... HA! Good Fun!

then it makes your response and critique o' individual game mechanics a rather dubious proposition as you immediate retreat to a touchy-feely gestalt approach when questioned. am not sure how to progress. HA! Good Fun!

not a great vocalist, but hornsby is a virtuoso musician. is possible that the branford marsalis and bruce hornsby star spangled banner is still our favorite rendition, though is tough to find a good live recording. HA! Good Fun!

looks all bright and sunny. we got friends in jackson, wy. told us that they had t-storms this eve and are expecting more tomorrow. stay safe and dry. HA! Good Fun!

brexit does provide an ideal opportunity to consider becoming the 51st US... state. well, possibly 52nd as we suspect puerto rico would have a thing or two to say on the matter. would be a serious and instant boost for the brit economy. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/britain-would-be-poorer-than-any-us-state-except-mississippi-if-it-joined-america-9693240.html would finally get genuine free trade with an economy on par with the entire eu. far less less regulation than brussels. heck, less regulation than britain. your celebrities would not need feel embarrassment in getting caught in panama papers nonsense as you can get better tax shelter benefits in nevada and delaware. oh sure, you would likely need deal with more homeless and the socialist gravy train would come to an abrupt halt. soccer hooligans armed with ubiquitous american handguns could make for brutal television. otherwise, am not seeing much o' a downside from the brit end o' things. ... 'course the royals would no longer be royal. sorry, is a Constitutional quirk we got. am guessing that no royalty would kill any possibility o' #brit51orbust. be like michael caine, yes? “I decided not to become a tax exile, so I stayed in Britain, but they kept putting the tax up, so I’d do any old thing every now and then to pay the tax, that was my tax exile money. I realized that’s not a socialist country, it’s a communist country without a dictator, so I left and I was never going to come back.” and just observe how impressive he looks wielding a handgun. something to think 'bout. HA! Good Fun!

... you realize that what you said makes zero sense. *shrug* as for not having thought enough to discuss general principles without using an indie fallout clone with a handful o' sales as your only example, you were making general statements on the subject in any number o' earlier posts. is a smidgen amusing, no? is particular guffaw inducing as this all started 'cause you were utilizing wasteland 2 as your example o' level progression done right... a game which at release only had % skill increases at level-up, and as such no possibility o' such game-changers anyways. am suspecting if we respond further, PETA is gonna be giving us a call for our savage inhumanity directed at equine dead. HA! Good Fun!

you seem to be trying to talk 'bout a specific game rather than a general principle. but if you wanna backtrack a bit regarding game-changers, who is Gromnir to argue with you. *shrug* keep in mind that we recognize that any rpg with mathematics based combat will have game-changers. particularly when developers is producing large numbers o' customization options or has many levels, there is gonna be unforeseen player behaviors. an otherwise innocuous seeming level 9 ability, when coupled with a couple feats, a specific equipment load-out, and careful timed support spell casting and or consumable usage, will sudden become a game-changer. nevertheless, such is never a goal in good design. game-changers is inherently bad for reasons we already discussed, and they most often show in good games 'cause o' developer mistake. am also realizing just how difficult is the developer job regarding level progression. the player should feel as if he is becoming more powerful. simultaneous, the developer is attempting to prevent earlier acquired powhaz and abilities from being marginalized while also keeping challenges faced by the player from becoming too easy or too hard. is a near impossible balance to be striking, particularly as player skill is gonna vary. regardless, game-changers is a mistake. they happen, but is not a goal, save for stoopid developers. HA! Good Fun! ps you has identified a different but equal noteworthy developer mistake: if a battle is unwinnable w/o a specific ability/spell/feat, then developers is doing a poor job.

is hard to imagine that an aretha franklin album would be panned by critics even a "bad" aretha album is gonna have a few great tracks. HA! Good Fun!

so? *shrug* if an ability would otherwise become useless due to leveling, then one would expect that a non lazy developer would make such necessary improvement to be an integral quality o' the original ability. create a feat or ability just to keep a previous acquired ability from becoming useless is lazy design. bloats feats and ability lists unnecessarily. also, if such stuff is mere allowing an ability to keep pace with leveling challenges, then it hardly qualifies as a game changer, yes? is a return to previous status quo. HA! Good Fun!

am thinking that bg spell caster progression problems is something poe were trying to avoid. bg leveling is not a great example o' what is right, but rather o' what is wrong. with a couple notable exceptions, low level spells (and abilities) too often become useless in old d&d. magic missile is a nice spell, and is one o' the noteworthy level one spells that gets use as an arcane spell caster levels, but even magic missile requires sequencers to generate genuine impact late in the game. there is a reason why so many veteran bg sorcerers, in spite o' the enormous spell catalog available, has largely identical spell choices. most low level spells in d&d (especial the earlier editions o' d&d) become progressive less useful. bad. is the kinda badness poe attempted to avoid with some success. abilities available at low levels should not see efficacy diminish precipitous as levels increase. would be terrible as a poe monk or fighter if low level abilities became useless by mid levels. shouldn't be any different for spell casters. those low level abilities were paid for via considerable gaming hours. is dumb to make 'em diminish and dwindle... which is necessarily what happens when later-level game-changers become available. is no way to talk around this one. game-changer is an inherent relative measure. relative to what? is game changing compared to your current abilities. is game-changing compared to foe abilities. new abilities should never overwhelm past abilities and new abilities should never change the challenge o' the game. should never be a game-changer. such stuff is dumb. HA! Good Fun!

game-changing abilities is stoopid. developers should be lauded for not having individual abilities that is game-changers. sadly there were a couple poe class abilities that were altering the gameplay dynamic once your character acquired. such developer miscalculations is a flaw to be avoided. just saying. HA! Good Fun! Why do you say that? Don't those kind of abilities give you a real sense of progression? ridiculous. is one o' the common mistakes in bad crpgs that you don't get meaningful abilities 'til some point deep into the game. you don't feel powerful until level X? wth? why even have all those hours grinding to levels previous to X? this problem is exacerbated with game-changers. *chuckle* d&d 3.5 were a fantastic example o' this problem. classes would have game-changing sooper abilities at level 2, 5, 8 or whatever. so sure enough we would get ridiculous multi-class combos where players never takes more than 2, 5, or 8 levels o' a class, 'cause is not the class that is compelling to play but rather is the game-changer that folks is pursuing. terrible. awful. antiquated. what an utter waste o' class progression. make class progression meaningful. give players useful choices at level-up (as 'posed to nothing save a % skill increase that becomes pointless past X% anyways.) make challenges match player power so that there is no freaking game-changers. level X should never result in a fundamental change in the class gameplay dynamic. is one reason why so many star wars games fail. become jedi = win. well screw that. got a bunch o' unique and intriguing classes that is largely made pointless when Jedi becomes available? why? yeah, if becoming a jedi is part o' the story and all playable characters necessarily becomes jedi, then we get why a developer would go such a route, but is still a waste o' resources. instead o' attempting to makes, for example, three base classes and three jedi prestige classes, it makes far more sense, and is offering the player far more choice, if you instead have six equal viable and fun classes that is equal fun all the way through a game. game-changers is dumb... is causing many balance issues (duh) and is largely antithetical to the presumed goal o' maximizing choice in a crpg. of course you choose the game-changer. is no actual choice if choice is a forgone conclusion. HA! Good Fun! ps sooper-dooper weapons available at some point deep in game is likewise terrible. poe did a good job with customization options and upgrades so that weapons found early in the game would be equal (and often superior) to weapons found late in the game. durance's staff were, for Gromnir, an endgame weapon. crushing/burn quality made one o' the earliest available magic weapons in the game useful from start to finish. find out 2/3 into the game that as a priest we were stoopid not to focus on weapon class X or Y? bad design. just as bad to have game-changing weapons.

craters o' the moon and snake river plain leading to yellowstone make Gromnir shiver. is beautiful country. heck, we got a christmas tree farm in the area that we is likely gonna retire to in the not too distant future. even so, that yellowstone caldera is scary when you think 'bout it, particularly when you look at craters o' the moon and realize that it were more than 10 million years ago that the yellowstone hotspot were in south-central idaho, yes? and the hotspot is already overdue. yellowstone is one o' the more amazing places on earth, so enjoy the visit. HA! Good Fun! ps if you ever get the chance, visit yellowstone in late october/november before the roads close for winter. is breathtakingly beautiful in a whole different way than is summer.

is current 41 C and will be another 1.5 hours 'til we see 4pm and the likely high temp o' the day. highpoint o' the day is the moment we escape from blistering concrete sidewalk reflected heat and walk into a climate controlled building. we did roofing supply and roofing for a few summers when we were younger. am pretty confident that on a day such as today, the current Gromnir would last 'bout 20 minutes on tar paper and bats before keeling over with heatstroke. #@%* dry heat. HA! Good Fun!

While I did enjoy PoE, I must agree that it is not that fun without grasping the mechanics, which are all too obscure and arcane for most players (including me, who had to resort to the forums to understand things) to learn on their own without boring trial and error. Truth to be told, it kinda stabbed itself in the back when it came to character building, as it offered an ocean of flexibility... and dropped you on a lonely island with all the materials to build a whole fleet of boats but an incomplete manual. as we noted earlier, we believe that the great poe flaw, if it is a flaw, is the fundamental design philosophy to try and be hardcore, but not too hardcoe. doomed. poe is too dense for many casual players. the mechanics is indeed lacking transparency, but more problematic is simple the complexity. four or five different abilities, spells, conditions and lord only knows what else might affect any given accuracy v. defense resolution. 'course spell accuracy is generated different than weapon accuracy. trap accuracy uses different math and the math has changed multiple times since release. hazards? many players don't even know what is hazards or how to calculate hazard accuracy. priest seals were original traps for purposes o' math, but now they is hazards, and even Gromnir is baffled by actual in-game priest seal spell accuracy when all buffs, debuffs and other conditions is to be considered. can be more than a bit overwhelming. poe is dense. is too dense for casual. is too hardcore for casual. what makes worse is that hardcore crpg fans is tending towards limited notions o' proper crpg development. is no way to please even most hardcore crpg fans if hardcore is your goal. poe is too dense and hardcore for casual and is wrong hardcore or not enough hardcore for many/most o' the crpg snobs. doomed. Gromnir weren't discouraged by poe density and we did not find obsidian mechanic choices to be too casual or heretical. is too bad more folks ain't more like us. ... that were a joke. nobody wants more Gromnir. HA! Good Fun!

game-changing abilities is stoopid. developers should be lauded for not having individual abilities that is game-changers. sadly there were a couple poe class abilities that were altering the gameplay dynamic once your character acquired. such developer miscalculations is a flaw to be avoided. just saying. HA! Good Fun!

*chuckle* in poe when you level you alternate access 'tween new abilities and feats. with a handful o' outliers, the feats is all having substantial impact on combat efficacy. the abilities, particularly for spell casters, is also far more diverse and vital than a couple % points in skill X or Y. am sorry, but you is sounding ludicrous when you compare wasteland 2 level advancement rewards to poe. is fewer levels in poe. is that the real issue? as to loot... *shrug* that must be subjective. personally we found a great deal o' poe gear. is more slots in the poe paperdoll, so perhaps is misleading to wrath. not as many weapons, but more stuff such as rings, belts, amulets, etc. poe has, we suspect, far more total equippable 1007 than wasteland 2, but we can't say for certain. still, if finding more 1007 is a major need for you and you felt as if wasteland 2 simple had more, then who is we to argue, eh? on the other hand, while you find mods in wasteland 2, the range o' weapons and armour enhancements in poe is rather dizzying. am suspecting you didn't make much use o' such if you is comparing poe to wasteland 2 and finding paucity for poe. dunno. wasteland 2 just don't seem like a good contrast. "I prefer guns to magic/melee." am suspecting the above explains our confusion. HA! Good Fun!

hmmm. reminds us o' the following: HA! Good Fun!

wrath observations might have more impact if not for fact that he uses wasteland 2 as the contrast to poe. perks and feats were only added to director's cut and they were not done particularly well. is clear winner and loser perks and feats. bad. previous to dc, wasteland 2 were all 'bout skills and attributes... and the skills and attributes were woeful unbalanced and lending themselves to ideal builds. should be obvious that clear limits on viable and best builds reduces customization. given how relative few actual customization options is actual available in wasteland 2, there is little room for bad skills and bad attributes. nevertheless, wasteland 2 has far too many barters and mechanical repairs and shotguns skills, and is startling how little variation one sees in recommended attribute spreads for wasteland 2 characters. oh, and wasteland 2 combats were highly repetitive. the game were even more a squad-based tactical combat game than were poe, so is no surprise that combat were accentuated. fine. that being the case, poe combats were not only more varied, but more complex compared to wasteland 2. smg available at end of game did more damage than those found at start, but they were essential the same weapons. poe had far more status effects with which to contend and a greater variety o' the rock v. paper v. scissors concerns. weapons could do corrosive damage and stun, or any number o' different combinations. in addition, the vast catalog o' spells and abilities available to friends and foes necessarily made poe combats more complex. sure, complex is not necessarily better. chess has a limited number o' pieces with limited move qualities that can only interact on a smallish game field. even so, wasteland 2 ain't anywhere near as elegant as chess. is difficult to claim with a straight face that tactical challenges offered in wasteland 2 were superior to those o' poe. find shortcomings in poe leveling rewards and combat redundancy is gonna be valid with appropriate support. to use wasteland 2 as a superior example o' level reward and combat variation is a dubious proposition at best. HA! Good Fun! ps am not saying that wasteland 2 were a horrible game. rather we specific not that when considering leveling rewards and combat design, wasteland 2 does not compare well with poe. sure, some folks loathe rtwp so much that they cannot enjoy poe. even so, is no question that poe combat is more varied and sophisticated than wasteland 2.

we don't know anything 'bout preacher comics. also, we only saw first episode o' the tv show. that being said, the way we saw first episode were that some kinda entity were looking for a compatible host. first prospective vessel were a christian minister in africa. explode. second were a satanist in eastern-europe or russia or some such. explode. tom cruise were indeed mentioned via a tv news broadcast. explode. the titular character, as far as we could tell, were like baby bear from the goldilocks fable. unlikes papa bear or mama bear, baby bear were an ideal fit for goldilocks. the preacher's inner conflict is what seeming made him sympatico with the moaning space miasma. he is a bad man trying to do good? dunno. only one episode. perhaps am reading all wrong. the friendly irish vampire attacked by the religious fanatics (nothing says crazy like a defaced bible filled with jack torrance inspired doggerel) whilst he were bartending (?) on a charter jet, will no doubt play a greater role in the future, but he is clear a protagonist. two things we got from pilot: 1) camp meter will be set extreme high, and 2) the not-so-subtle theme o' Religion Sucks will be a constant. looks kinda fun. am kinda a binge watcher these days, so will likely wait 'til the season is finished and then watch all X episodes over a couple weekends. HA! Good Fun!

due to a stacking bug with rogue reckless assault that took many months to fix, the first character with which we finished the game were a quarterstaff wielding priest o' wael. deceptive & clever. the han solo options? ... is strange that the ONLY priest o' wael specific dialogues available in the game were accessible only if the character had a high enough "honest" disposition. quick point o' clarification. use mere existence o' ie game features and mechanics to legitimize same/similar use in poe is stoopid and foolish. the ie games did many things terrible. the fact that the ie games had so much filler combats is a bad reason to be adopting so many combats in poe. the thing is, we know that the obsidians did consider those aspects o' the ie games that were essential in poe. classes. rtwp. elves & dwarves & humans. etc. am personal agreeing with bartimaeus that poe woulda' benefited from fewer combat encounters as such did become tedious. even so, we suspect that somebody at obsidian calculated the combat encounter density o' the ie games and then used that as a guide for poe. *sigh* obsidian attempted to make individual poe combats more compelling than the ie counterparts. am thinking that for too many players, obsidian failed in their goal. for the purists, poe combat were borked by numerous cain & sawyer (and other developers too numerous to mention) mechanics choices... though cain inexplicable avoids mention and blame when folks rage 'gainst the indignities that poe level'd 'pon the TRUE crpg fan. for the casual fan, attempts to make combats intense and visceral resulted in tedious and interminable. for a considerable number o' people, poe woulda' been better with less combat, but somehow the developers hit on the notion that ie combat encounter density were an essential quality. we will also observe that in spite o' the fact that a noteworthy number o' poe combats were avoidable, crpgs (and the ie games in particular) has ingrained in too many players the notion that killing everything on a map is essential for Teh Win. don't kill that group o' kobolds on level X o' the Dungeon o' Fractious Forbidding is cheating self out o' essential loot and xp, yes? heck, we found our self doing similar at times in poe. first time we did skaen cultists under-temple, we slaughtered everybody. well, truth-to-tell, we spent a considerable 'mount o' time getting slaughtered. took a long time to total eliminate the skaen presence from a rather substantial map. after first clearing, Gromnir forevermore took shortcuts. coulda' scouted and done shortcuts our firstest time, but we got our crpg training that teaches us that developers likes to put important items and quest triggers in remote map locations. stoopid. regardless, poe has fewer essential combats than many would suggest, but am betting that many o' us nevertheless slaughtered every "enemy" in raedric's hold. tough slog indeed. more fool is Gromnir, eh? HA! Good Fun!

unfortunately, other than ps:t, the ie games were squad-based tactical combat games with rpg elements. if you were making a game to be appealing to ie fans, am understanding why as a developer you would make combats frequent, 'cause +80% o' the ie gameplay in the bg and iwd games were combats. the thing is, particular for ie fans who created super characters and parties, folks who re-rolled for stats and took max hps (is amazing how many folks ignore just how significant were the max hp option insofar as game difficulty were concerned) most combats were little more than an mildly amusing exercise in 1007 and xp accumulations. poe combat and mechanics were different. were no rolling for stats. were no inflated hp/health option. were no You Win classes or kits or weapons. yeah, were still folks who complained o' poe combat ease, but such folks were likely having played the beta for +100 hours before ever playing the game itself. particular at release, there were ways to game the game. slicken were broken as were traps. is any number o' spells that needed retooling. ciphers alternated 'tween underpowered and overpowered with each build. etc. the thing is, a very small % o' poe players who would recognize the inevitable flaws in any number-based rpg combat mechanics. a novice bg player could save-scum for character and companion max hp and give 18s in all prime attributes to his/her pc and it would take actual effort to die save for at level 1-3. other than a handful o' encounters, use pause function in bg combat were choice rather than essential. bg2 combats did have a degree o' increased difficulty compared to bg. but the average bg2 player had likely played bg... and perhaps ps:t, totsc, and iwd as well. the average bg2 player already had dozens o' hours o' experience with ie combat before ever loading the game. obsidian made a game with 'bout the same frequency o' combat as the ie games. unfortunately, they made combat a bit too unforgiving for many players... and story mode were too little and too late for many who were initial discouraged. ... am not sure what to say 'bout lexx rtwp observation. is many folks who hate rtwp. nothing wrong with that. the thing is, the ie games, all o' them, were rtwp. obsidian were not hiding that poe would be rtwp. the games most often mentioned as the inspiration for poe were the ie games. we don't like artichoke hearts. we once got sick eating an artichoke heart dip. nowadays we can't even smell artichoke hearts w/o getting queasy. guess what? we don't order foods with artichoke hearts as a main ingredient. if we see "artichoke hearts" on a menu, we move on to the next option w/o a second glance. Gromnir's behavior is reasonable, yes? to order food with artichoke hearts as a main ingredient would be a bit silly, yes? order an artichoke frittata and then complain that the dish is ruined by artichokes would be making us seem more insane than most folks already believe us to be, no? *shrug* we prefer good turn-based to bad rtwp. we prefer good rtwp to bad turn-based. HA! Good Fun!

our housekeeper is an older portuguese woman who also cooks for us once a week. what frustrates us is that our housekeeper refuses to teach us how to cook portuguese cuisine. am curiously grateful and embittered whenever she brings us food. our housekeeper's cleaning skills, from our pov, is largely irrelevant. HA! Good Fun!

we got loads o' poe complaints. we had issues with the companions as the writers were far too willing to use the joinable npcs as sources o' exposition-heavy info drop for world lore. given that the companion quests often felt like a mini-game, we were frequent going through the same, tedious dialogues looking for a new option 'mongst all the old stuff, and the old stuff were not particular engaging. for a few o' the companions, we had to check the journal to be realizing that we had actual completed the joinable's quest as the resolutions were frequent forgettable. the barbarian class, used by josh as some kinda gleaming example o' how the poe attribute system allowed for unique builds such as the genius barbarian were ironic an example o' the exact opposite o' flexibility. the barbarian's carnage ability were/is so integral tied to intelligence that it is jackarse stoopid to play anything other than a genius barbarian. poe were not 'posed to have class defining abilities and it were s'posed to allow flexibility o' attribute spreads. the barbarian is actual the prime example o' the class that failed in those regards, in spite o' being an oft used example o' success. etc. is loads o' additional criticisms that we has posted elsewhere already. the thing is, when you get down to core problems with poe, am thinking the developers erred with basic vision. unlike bg, the combat in poe were more complex and less forgiving. for the more casual crpg fan, poe combat were a slog from one brutal combat encounter to the next. unfortunately, the hard core crpg fans has become increasingly polarized over the years. if you is gonna make a game with hardcore appeal, you gotta accept that your audience will be small. crpg grognards is having much difficulty coexisting, so obsidian's choice to aim for no-bad-builds were making it impossible for certain significant sects o' the crpg zealotry to embrace poe's heresies. and combat mechanics were only one example o' how the developers chose to go a bit too hardcore for the casual gamer, and fundamental wrong for the self appointed purists. is sad, but the obsidian's transparent attempts to embrace casual and hardcore expectations actual resulted in the game being more o' a niche title. we like poe, in spite o' many flaws. even so, we can recognize that poe is very much a niche title. poe were 'posed to appeal to fans o' the ie games. the failure to make such a game is only partial the fault o' obsidian. the ie fans has become increasing clannish in the intervening years since iwd2 were released. folks who liked the ie games back near the turn o' the century has had considerable time and innumerable games to further refine their crpg tastes. to make a game that would appeal to ie fans were much easier in 2000 than in 2015. failure to make all ie fans happy were inevitable. HA! Good Fun!

june 26, 2016 will henceforth be known in the Gromnir household as Bloody Sunday. took the dogs for a walk at 6am. gotta go early as the afternoon highs is gonna be 'bout 103F today, and by tuesday we could see 108F. am current walking five freaking dogs. when our sister died, we took her two little dogs. neither is more than 12 pounds, but they is noisy and excitable. a few years ago we took in a friend's border collie. our friend had a stroke and we already had one border collie, so... anyways, we got four dogs o' our own. then, 'bout a year ago, we noticed that we were no longer noticing one o' our neighbors. typical we would see our neighbor doing yard work once or twice a week. we weren't close friends or anything, but we were aware that only a few months previous, his old dog, max, had died, and he had replaced with a new pup by the name o' hamish. neighbor were nowhere to be seen, but we heard hamish barking whenever we passed his home. our neighbor were in his late 50s, so we figured he had taken ill or been injured or somesuch. gave his residence a telephone call with the intent o' offering aid and to walk his dog 'til he recovered. our neighbor were dead. had died a few months previous to our phone call. his wife/widow, whom we had never spoken with previous, were going in for hip surgery. *sigh* we offered to take hamish for walks 'til ______ got back on her feet. literal. she were gonna need stay off her feet for a few weeks and she were actual a bit frantic as to what she were gonna do 'bout hamish during that time. hamish has now been part o' the Gromnir pack for over a year. we did end up purchasing a 97 chrysler minivan that serves no purpose save as a dog walking vehicle. one o' the better $1500 purchases we has made. anyways, today we were walking all five dogs when things went horribly wrong. those ground dwelling birds that is ubiquitous in our neck o' the woods has recently multiplied. is the yearly and temporary multiplication that occurs after eggs hatch and chicks appear. typical turkey hen seems to have 'bout five poults and quail got similar numbers o' chicks. no doubt the local cat and hawk populations is collective (and metaphorical) salivating. am pretty sure hawks don't salivate. anywho, Gromnir were blissful enjoying nature, while keeping an eye out for coyotes and snakes, and largely ignoring the threat o' mountain lions as we were knowing we could do little 'bout a puma attack in the event such occurred. tragedy struck. our sister's little black mutt likes birds. is not a cookie monster and big bird friendship kinda 'like' neither. the little black dog has, in the past, attacked any number o' small birds. killdeer and sandpipers is typical targeted when we gets near lakes. rare does the dog have much success in his hunts as the birds, y'know, can fly. also, Gromnir is aware o' the dog's bird ocd, so we typical put him on a leash when kildeer is nesting and chicks is present. there ain't never been an issue with quail or turkey in the past, which is kinda odd as the black dog will chase geese, ducks, swans pelicans, egrets and all matter o' waterfowl regardless o' prohibitive size disparity. ... can no longer state that quail is off the menu. ... ok, is all Gromnir's fault, and we do feel terrible. of all the dogs we walks, we only had hamish on a leash this AM 'cause we walk where is absolute nobody else walking dogs. as we mentioned earlier, our actual concerns is snakes, coyote and mountain lions... though our vet friend tells us that the actual danger we should be more wary o' is disease carrying voles and mice. regardless, dogs were off leashes when the black dog went after a bevy o' quail. we shouted, but that were pointless. black dog caught a chick and promptly tore it to shreds. okay. that were bad, but then everything went to hell rather quick. the other unleashed dogs unexpectedly joined the black dog in a bloody bacchanalia. am not gonna share details other than to note that hamish got away from us while we were attempting to put one o' the border collies on a leash and so we ended up with all five dogs contributing to the impromptu display o' savagery. before today, the only dog we walk that has ever shown interest in chasing birds is the little black dog... and one o' the border collies will chase geese and egrets. can't say that anymore. am glad the dogs didn't go after turkeys as male turkeys, with their spurs, can do serious damage to a dog, but that is the only silver lining we can see. were all a bit horrifying and ridiculous. we did experience a moment o' quasi hysteria on the drive home. a prince song, you know the one, played on the radio and we couldn't help but laugh like an idiot at the perversity o' the universe. HA! not Fun!