Gooood moooorning it is Sunday 19, Oct. , 2008 & we had out first frost of the season last night , the trees are a beauitiful gold & red & the sky is BLUE the grass is still Green & it is just a Wonderful time here in da Burgh , I am not a big fan of the fall season But it is so pleasing to the eye, I know the winter ice is not far behind & I hate winter, I hate the gas bills & the electrict bills in the winter, I hate the fact that i need to start my car 10 minutes before I need to go to work, (thank GOD for the remote starter) , maybe I should just build a garage hahaha
well I dont think that is going to happen any time soon. ............. Well I had a great time this week , worked at the shop all weeksmoked a LOT of fine cigars, I worked the alphabet this week started with Alcazar , finished with a Zino last night , I did try to do it in order , but i did skip arround a little , maduro was a sticking point for me, I keep going back to them , But in the morning I still like to start with the Don Carlos #3 , How ever there isnt a cigar that starts with X , Q was no problem , Quarm, Quintero & Quinteso ....... No OPUS starts with O not X , BUT it was as close as i could get !
.................. Did you get to see Sara on SNL last night ? she has a real sence of Humor ............ taken for what its worth , no matter how you vote, it was funny, & yes I know Humor is not what we need in DC but for those of you who remember Richard Nixon , who did a skit on Rhoan & Martins "Laugh IN" back in the 60's or was it the 70's , so long ago I forget, hey i have a lot of history to remember, I lived it , most of you guys just study it hahahahaha
......................the grandson are still messing up the computer but now they KNOW to set it back to my settings, I tried to set up 2 users on this machine & all was fine till they logged off with out changing the font size , well i thought if they logged off as the rugrats , when I logged on as myself the fonts would go back to the way in had them set, But it didnt work! , well now they know , so i dont need to go to the school pick one of them up to come up & change it back again ... Dammmm smart ass kids , hahahaha .............. Last night I was the MC for the local LIONS club fund raiser dinner, , I had an over cooked slice of Prime rib , I asked for it RARE but they didnt have any it was all done to medium well or well done, I just dont like well done beef, Knock off its horns whip its ass & serve it , MOOOOOOO , tender juicy & TASTY , not dry tuff & chewey, well it was Free hahahahaha & beggers cant choose what they get , So I shut up ate some of it , drank the 12year old scotch out of a coffee cup , they didnt have any brandy snifters, or any DECAFE , what kind of a hall is this, NO snifters & no decafe, hey I got to get some sleep some time & after 4 Pm I switch to the NO LEAD & all the old folks that were there I bet over half of them were on BP meds & asked for decafe ............ Sanka Instant was all they had & they ran out of it before the dinner was even served ... POOR planning on there part, & NO SMOKING in the dining room, I had to go to the bar to have a cigar, this place is HUGE we had less than 200 people & get get 700 in for Bingo , High roof , you can play basket ball in the place ( 2 full coarts ) , but NO smoking . bunch of whimps !!!! , well next year I dont now if i will be the MC again, I might just need to be at work that night ... what ever night it is !!!! , the staff was frendly BUT SLOW , people at one end of the room were eating there Ice cream all ready & I was still waiting for my salad ! ....... Good thing I had the scotch !,
I left the house with three , 3 finger cigar carriers & 2 more cigars in my shirt pocket PLUS a fresh Hemmingway classic in my mouth when I left the house, I was ready for a long night ! , an even Dozen cigars , when I got home I had 1 cigar left, dammmmm MOOOOOOCHERS .............. I gave my self the day off today No cooking( after breakfast ) , I am heading to the local catering company & picking up 2 stuffed porkchop dinners ........ dammmmm its fun to be lazy hahahahaha ... ................Monaca, Pa ( where the shop is located ) had there fall fest on Saturday , a 5K run, fire trucks & the high school band & alkl the political asshats running for everything from US CONGRESS to the local dog catcher were in the parade both partys R&D were in full swing, no fights but I bet there were a few who wanted to trade a punch or two, it was a lot of fun BUT my regulars wernt able to get to the shop as the main street was closed to traffic, well you cant expect an 85 year old guy to walk 12 blocks from the parking lot to the shop & then after 2 cigars a half pot of coffee & a few shots of single malt & have to walk back to his car, dammmmm he needs help in when he parks right out front! hahaha well with the shuttle bus out of service we didnt get many of the regulars BUT we did get a lot of new faces, to bad they were not cigar smokers, but we had one of the only rest rooms that we allowed the public to use with out buying anything , no one wanted to use the porta johns on the street, , , , , , Can I use your bathroom, sure I said, then I get a call hey there no paper, theres no towels, theres no soap, dammmm full was in the broom closet pissing in the sink................. & one more PET PEEVE , dammmmmmm DOGS , now dont get me wrong I love dogs but when a customers brings in his MUTT & it lifts its leg on one of the leather chairs , its getting kicked in the ass then the asshat leaves with out cleaning it up, I rolled out the mop & bucket & got the guy going down the street & I held the leash of the dog when he went back & cleaned it up.......... ASSSSSSS HATTTTT , a 4 year old HOUSE broken MUTT , I have No idea what bread he /she was a mix of, all I know is NO FRIGGING DOGS IN THE SHOP , Unless its a Guide dog , some of the regulars always bring there dogs & I have never had a problem with any of them as long as they sit or lay down & dont bother anyone , No problem BUT if your dog wants to hump my leg bark at customers or use a chair like a Fire plug, YOUR OUTTA HERE !
Thats about all I have right now so From Da BURGH to you , Enjoy, Vince
Damn Vince, action packed week for you. You're a nicer man than I, I would taken the mop upside the guys head if his dog pissed on my chair and he walked away.
I wanted to but the place was busy & I didnt want to let him get away with just a lump on his head, & then I would have had to clean it up, well this way he cleaned it up & now needs to go to the gas station to get his white owls
Good morning it is Sunday the 26th of OCT., 2008 a wonderful day here in da Burgh the Sun is out the sky is blue & the wind is a bit cool but it is the end of Oct. so we are right on track for the season, the trees are just spectacular , reds ,golds & oranges of all shades & hues , just a fantastic landscape out there ......... we did go for our Saturday night Cigar ride last night & saw 3 huge Does & a 12 point buck , just wondering accross the road about 9:30 last night , they all looked well fed , & were in no hurry to cross the road, just a snort & off they went into the next field ..............
This mornings coffee is a Moca Java roasted to the first crack , I now wish I had let it go just a bit darker , & I will next batch, the Sunday morning Kona was all gone about 6:30 this morning along with the Don carlos #3 , but for breakfast this wonderful Sunday I grilled a few English muffins , sliced some Hot pepper cheese added a little crisp bacon & an egg to the mix & a breakfast sandwich was on the table with the moca java coffee & since today is Sunday & it is Cool outside the BOSS wants a Hunk of Beef for supper so I have a Chuck roast defrosting & will get it close to the heat soon. ....................
the shop was slow all week with the stock market doing its roller coaster ride the sales of the big buck megga smokes is down, & the sale of the bundle stuff is UP , guys are still smoking as many sticks but just cut back on the quality, not that there is anything wrong with bundle cigars , Lord knows I smoke a TON of them , dammm if it wasnt for somking seconds & rejects ,overuns & blems I would be BROKE I am averaging 10 sticks a day & even at the wholesale price its gettin 'SPENCIVE !!!
Thursday was #1 grandsons 13th Birthday , a nice celebration was had with Pizza & wings , his favorites & he was pleased with the turnout & the gifts, at his age now CASH is KING , , so I gave him a choice the envelope or a 10 dollar bill for every year he was old , well wats in the envelope, hahaha cant tell you, do you want to take a chance ? could be just 13 bucks in it , might be 13 cents , might be 1300 bucks , so what will it be ............... he took the 130 bucks & guess what was in the envelope? the same 130 bucks hahahahahaha , what he is going to do with all the cash i have no idea , maybe a new I pod or some other hunk of junk I have no idea how to use !! hahaha ...............
well the Boss wants me to help her remove all the furniture from the back deck & put them away for the season, get out the leaf rake & snow shovel along with the rock salt for the drive way & walks , drain the gas from the lawn mower & take down all the spinners & windchimes from the back deck, looks like summer is OVER !!!!
Not much else happening here in da Burgh , other than PENN STATE winning again ....... Steelers later today with the Giants ............ should be a fun game if your into football hahahaha Enjoy, Vince
Good morning it is the First of November, the second day & it is the first day of Eastern Standard time here in da Burgh, gone is the daylight savings time , what they say they save is beyond my comprehension, but what ever the powers in chgarge think is good for us hahahaha, yea like I amn going to roll over & play dead , but it is the standard we have grown up with & changing times is just a pain in the clock, spring fwd. fall back, just keep it the same & get done with all the BS, when you want to "save " daylight just get up[ an hour sooner , why inconvience EVERYONE , the trains as far as I can recall all run on STANDARD time all year , when I was just a weeee lad my grandfather was a conductor on the Pennsylvania rail road & I do remember there was a BIG BEN clock in the living room that was Rail Road time , not to confuse it with the savings time that the rest of the world was using, if its still like that I have no idea , but thats what I remember ! ...............
the weather here is crazy as a loon , snow last week & the A/C on this week, welcome to Pittsburgh hahahaha , this year is the 250th. Birthday party for the city , ahhhh yes I remember the founding well hahahaha , it all started with a fort at the area now called the Point , where the Monganhelia river , met the Allegheny river to form the OHIO river , & by way the point where the Ohio joins the Mississsippi river the OHIO has a larger flow & by all rights the Mississippi is a tributary to the OHIO & from that point it should be called the OHIO river that flows to the Gulf of Mexico , but since I wasnt there for the naming rights I guess I dont have much of a *** , but whats right isnt always what happens .......
all Hallows eve has come & gone, there were some Intrestion souls in the shop Friday night , we had visits from Shara Palin & Dog the bounty hunter , as well as a few ghouls & goblins , Donald Trump & a few pro sports players , & I was dressed as a Cigar roller , & did roll a few CIGARS , I know a lot of you sick bastards will read in that I was rolling a few Joints , well I havent rolled any since I was in the Navy , how ever I have mixed up a few good pipe blends since then ! .............. BUT to be honest I just enjoy the hand rolled cigars , I have no idea how I would support myself & my passion for Cigars if I didnt work in the industry........
I never know what I am going to say in this Sunday Morning smoke , I just type what comes to my sick perverted mind , give the readers a little insight to the area & tell you just what I have planned & a review of the past week the family BS is fun & the food stuff is my if you pardon the pun MY bread & butter, as a trained Chef & former instructor I just love to cook, & I love to pair food & cigars along with a glass of wine, a weeee dram of scotch & a pot of coffee , I just love anything that will tickle my taste buds , & I am alway looking for that Perfect pipe blend of tabacco or the Perfect cigar for the morning , afternoon & evening, so far I have been expermenting since 1955 & the reasersh is still going on , right now I have been toying with the Don Carlos #3 for the Morning smoke & I still havent found anything that will give me what I amn looking for better than the DC3 m I did a few days of the Monte white corona , a few days of the Monte Classic corona , but came back to the DC3 , the #4 is close but I like the 3 the best , I have gone from the 11/18 Camacho to the pepin JJ & still come back to the #3 ............ I was hitting the Morning blend pipe mixture from Dunhill for a few days but it just didnt cut the mustard , & the pipe is a pain in the ass to take care of, with a cigar you just Toss the butt way & forget all about it ................ a lot less work with a bigger return in taste, how ever the ladys seam to like the pipe better than the cigars BUT since I am not trying to impress anyone but MYSELF I dont give a rats ass what the ladys want me to smoike , the only lady I have to worry aboutb is my poor suffering wife Barb, 38 years together so far & we have never thought about Divorce , MURDER yes but never divorce !!!!!!!!!
Breakfast this morning was a simple plate of bacon & eggs a slice of toast & a little jelly on half the slice , the first half went to slopping up the runny yoke ........... tonight I have a nice pair of beef slices , think I might make a southern classic , Chicken fryed steak with a white sauce , some steamed veggie of some sort & a few mashed spuds , maybe yams , gotta look to see whats available ............. , it is going to be in the 60's today maybe IU should just fire up the grill & make some thing else .............. hotdogs maybe , bratwurst? hummmmmm Pork chops dammmm before I get my taste buds all fired up I better check with the BOSS to she what SHE wants . I cook for her , 'cause when she is happy EVERYONE is happy ........
the Grandsons were low profile this week, nothing new or exciting happened with them, the dog is doing just fine as any 140 pound mutt can do, other that ripping up all the grass at the fence from running back & forth he hasnt done much of anything but sleep & druel all over everything & every body ................
that new car bug has bitten me again , we went window sticker shock shopping last night after the dealers closed ............. I have 170K on my 2000 Sable , & it looks like I will be keeping it a few more years , shooting for 240K , a Trip to the moon, the Tempo we had for 13 years still have the orginal clutch in it with 213 K on the ticker we got rid of it & I still see it hitting the road some summer days , it is in the need of a lot of TLC to get back to the shape I had it in when we got rid of it , but that was MANY uears ago , some cars just never seam to die but we had a Dodge Aspen station wagon that Died that fatefull day we bought it ! , a new car with about 40 miles on the clock when we drove it off the lot, it ran out of gas before we got out of sight of the dealership , less than a block from the gas station , well after all that on the firs day it was down hill from there , we were going to atlantic City the next month & had the oil changed for the first time right before we left for the shore, , going across the Walt Whitman Bridge in Philly the oil light came on, , 6 lanes wall to wall traffic, I get it off to the side, & pop the hood, the oil filter was leaking & all the oil was gone, well it gets fixed by the local service station, ( theyt sitll had them back then) now all you get is gas & you pump it yourself ... well to make a short story long My Buddy lived in Haddonfield NJ & we were on our way to pick him up on our trip to AC , well his street is a bussy on with a light at both ends of his block so getting out of his drive way is just a matter of timing the lights so you can get out , well, as I backed out & dropped the hammer to go Fwd, shifter from reverse to drive when the back wheels were still in reverse the transmission took a *** all over the road , lots of red fluid all over the place & NO GO fwd or backward, mind you this car has less than 2K miles on it , ran out of gas, had the oil filer leak & then the trans **** its guts , well we had that car a few months & the frame weld that holds the front suspention in place broke & both front tires were sittling at a 45 degree slope pointing at the sky , & now winter hits & the drivers door freezes shut, the Ziebart was jamed in the latch & the door was stuck till it was taken apart & all the guts inside the door had to be replaced, , then less than a year later the froint fender on the drivers side started to rust, seams like th battery cover to keep it warm in the winter had a vent for battery gasses , wll it went right uo on ther bottom of the fender & ate a big hole in the sheet metal , , , , , then they added a plastic hose to vent it down away from the bottom of the fenderm & the hose ended right above the front disc of the brakes on the drivers side, need I tell you how long it took for the front breaks to need replced ? hahaha, well we got rid of that car before it was paid off, , that was the Last Dodge we bought , How ever I have been looking at the Dakota Pick up ................ BUT I keep remembering the ASPEN..................
I am sipping a pot of Moca java right now, the kona whent down smooooooth as always & this is just as nice , well its time for me to head out to the Qtr.DECK & get started on todays top 10 cigars ............
Enjoy, Vince
Good Morning , It is Sunday 9 Nov. 2008, a chilly wet morning here in Da Burgh we had a Fantastic week weather wise this past week, low 70's & blue skys with the trees all in the Autumn glory of Reds & golds a few evergreens dotting the hillsides it was just what the Doctor ordered to lift the spirits of the masses of people worring about the election & wall street , I have taken the Alford E Numan approch to life , " What Me Worry" , so I lost a few bucks on wall street, warren buffette lost BILLIONS , & the best thing about it is , it will not effect either one of our life styles he will still have his jets & his beat up old 98 olds , & I will still have my Sable with 170K + on it . . . . I look at it this way you can only drive one car at a time , live in one house at a time , smoke one cigar at a time, ( well I have had 2 lit at the same time just to compair) & make love to one lady at a time , ( yea i know there are times when you want to do her & her friend at the same time , but lets face it guys , your NOT superman , & unless your a freek of nature you only have ONE member hanging between your legs , so lets cut the crap & just think about it , sure it would be nice to have 2 or more at one time, just to watch them with each other, but then if that happens what to they need with you ??? hahahaha ............
well back out of the gutter & back to the Sunday morning smoke .... dammm it was a nice little trip into the gutter anyway........... , Lat night we celebrated the THIRD birthday party of the Blowen Smoke Pod casts at Slippery Rock cigars , & a great time was had by all, we had a few sticks to share with the troops with operation Cigar pimps & made a donation to a fellow brother of the leaf who had a fire at his home & lost his Humidor along with all of his "STUFF" , no one was hurt in the fire but it is tuff to loose your home, I understand & know what the guy is going through , in the spring of 1967 our house went up in smoke & I lost a good deal of STUFF , but thank GOD no one was hurt, the insurance covered a lot of it but not all, BUT back then I was still smoking the Drug store brands & hadent Graduated to hand rolled sticks , yea I would have an occasional contraband havana & a few Good cigars here & there , But I was still into the Marsh wheelings & the el productos & havatampas , it was about the mid 70's when I went to the Good stuff & stayed there, well I still have a Marsh wheeling when ever I am feeling nostalgic .. ............
My wife & I were looking at a new car for her , the one she is driving is a 95 Contour & it is starting to show a little sign of USE , the headliner on the sunroof is starting to come undone & the water pump is starting to squeel at times there is a tranny leak , the gas milage is not as good as it was but then she has a lead foot & never did get great milage with it , a little car like that with a DOHC V6 she like to GO , well we looked at a Fusion & a Taurus, the Fusion looks sharp & has all the bells & whistles & the Taurus is equipped the same PLUS it has Heated leather seats ................... the cost is the same for both cars , the draw backs are the LIGHT Tan Interior of the Fusion & the Dark Gray exterior of the Taurus .................. , well I can live with what ever she picks , I like the ride & room of the Taurus & the looks of the Fusion.............. makes no difference to me . I will keep driving my sable till it falls apart, the only thing holding it together is the is the tar & smoke , the seat has a few burn marks , as well as the carpet& console , the headliner is a wonderful color of smoke & the sunroof is now extra dark tint ! the seat has formed to my butt & the coffee stains now are so big the clean spots look like the spills hahahahaha !
I have a PORK roast to go in the oven soon ............ NO BEEF today YEA , so it will get a little liquid smoke & a dash of BBQ sauce & a nice crisp apple for sweetness a baked spud with sourcream & chives & what ever fresh veggie I can get at the local farmers market....
The Boys were here Thursday , Nothing new with them just school & home work , the dog is doing just fine & takes them both out for a drag , the dog is heavyer than both of them together ! , one dog 2 leashes & 2 boys Inside the fence , he is just so strong he pulls me when I TRY to take him out .... just a BIG stupid eating & **** machine that will love you unconditionaly !
I am getting a Visit from Pedro Gongalezes this week he is the owner of Don Gonzalezs Cigars , he will be in the Pittsburgh area all week , we are going to hit a few shops with specials so if your near the leaf & Bean in the strip district of Pittsburgh saturday afternoon we will be there, friday Night it will be at King Beaver cigars in Monaca Pa , Thursday we will be in Sharon Pa at Penn Ohio Cigars & in Gerrard Ohio at Cordys cigar box , if you get a chance stop & say hi get a few boxes of cigars ..............
Enjoy, Vince
Good morning it is Sunday ,16 November,2008, a Cold crisp day here in da Burgh , a little intermitent snow & some rain are falling & it is windy on top of all that, a down right MISERABLE day , BUT I have the Qtr.Deck all ready & will be relaxing with a cigar & a POT of coffee all day long, I have stuffed porkchops comming out of the oven between 3:30 & 4 , so the day is off to a great start, & breakfast was great this morning , a slice of bacon , & a scrambled egg with a big slab of Hot pepper cheese melted in the egg , & a nice slice of watermellon on the side, , the coolness of the mellon & the HEAT of the hot pepper cheese , made my taste buds dance the coffee was Kona but now I have a pot of Moca Java , later today I think I will try a little bit of Tanzanian Peaberry & a Don Gonzalezs maduro torp. , & speaking of Don Gonzalez , he has been here in da burgh all week we did a few tastings on Thursday , Friday & Saturday , he is headed to the Steeler game later today & the poor guy has NO idea what he is in for, Born in Cuba , now living in Miami , & he is going to the MUSTARD bowl , Hinze Field in the rain & snow, BET he will be freezing by the end of the teams warming up ! , & unless he has a weee bit of anti freeze he will be a solid block of ice by the half !
We finished the BIG @$$ Birthday party pod cast lest week at Slippery rock cigars , the pod cast is now 3!, you can get to the pod cast by going to www.burghherfers.com click on the pod cast link.
NOW on with the news, ... I picked up a new GRAY Ford 500 , well new to me , it was a lease & had just over 20K on the clock, the orginal sticker was still in the glove box & it was well over 28K, I got the car for under 12, & on the way home , the state was painting the yellow lines on the road & sure as shooting , a big sploch of yellow pain from wheel to wheel on the drivers side , didnt even get it home , BUT the heated leather seats are just what my hemroid needed, & they feel good on my behind as well, ( Now for you S L O W people out there reading this , I am refering to my wife as the hemorid ) ............ Just hope she dosent read this hahahaha
Not much going on the gradsons are keeping a low profile, getting it geared up for the Being good just before Christmas ........... you all remember that dont you? hahaha seams just like yeasterday I was telling My mother what I wanted for Christmas, yep Scotch & cigars hahahaha , but back then it was butterscotch & buble gum cigars ............. I remember the Christmas of 57 Or was it 56 what ever it was a LONG time ago , we had about 30 inches of snow on the ground & it was a Beautiful morning looking out the front window & seeing EVERYTHING covered in a blanket of marshmellow cream, BUT then I remembered I had to shovel it all off the walkway & drive way & when the city plowed the street I had to remove the BIG pile from the end of the drive way, so then I realized snow was fun to look at & a real Pain in the lower back to get rid of it , my idea was since GOD put it there , let GOD get rid of it But my mother had a different idea , I get rid of it & she will stop hitting me with the wooden spoon telling me to get out there & shovel it...... hahahaha ....... I still Miss her at times , but I have gotten out of the habbit of picking up the phone to give her a call, that was the worst part , every time some thing good would happen & I wanted to share it with her , I would pick up the phone & give her a call or stop in & tell her in Person , I guess death is the start of a new way of life for everyone involved with the person who passed away , I do miss my father as well but he has been gone about 10 years longer than my mother & I have come to terms with it years ago ........... I still miss both of them a lot , but I wish my gransons had a chance to meet MY grandparents ,,,,,,,,, dammmmm we are all getting old hahahahaha
the Trees have all lost the color of the fall & the yard has been raked a few dozen times , the weedeater leaf blower has a hole in the bag , & I have patched it a few times & it keeps blowing out the materiel is just shot so I went on line to order a new bag for it & BINGO I found it first time , this is slick, no more going to the parts store , just type in the company name , the modle number & a parts list pops up, click the part you want add it to the shopping cart & click check out , smoooooth as a pina colada , & I also ordered a T shirt from Denmark for my grandson with some bands tour dates & logo, on it , & it got here in less than a week, dammmm the internet 7 the post office are doing a Bang up Job , salute to the USPS for delervering a package with out any postage at all on it ! way to keep the revenue up !
it is about time for me to hit the Qtr.Deck & have an other cigar , No idea what this one will be till I go look & see what striks my fancy or maybe some thing I have a lot of that I should thin down the population , just so I can get more in the humi ! hahaha Enjoy, Vince
Well here it is a few days past sunday BUT I am back to work & am feeling much better ............ Last friday I went to the doc for my flu shot, guess it wasnt soon enough ! hahaha, friday evening at work I was feeling a little quesy , but I thought it was the Rum on a fairly empty stomach, well I stopped sipping the rumabout 8:30 PM & went to bed about midnight , got up at 8 AM with the boss & she had her HONEY do list , well I told her I didnt feel well & then it started, you always feel good when your going out to work or spending time with the grandsons BUT when it comes to me you are sick well I am pissed, OK settle down what ever you want to do I will do, NO YOUR SICK, well with that I went back to bed, left her standing there , no one to argue with , hahahaha , I Guess I was sicker than i thought , I slept till 4AM , never getting up to go to the bathroom , NOTHING ! , well at 4AM I needed to drain the brain hahaha, , I got a sip of water & it came back up ! dammmmm maybe I an sick ! , well I went back to bed & slept an other 12 hours ........... took Monday off & am feeling a lot better today, NOW the Boss has the bug & tells me she feels bad for being mean to me when I was sick, since I made her supper tonight ( SOUP ) wedding soup her favorite , ( I took it out of the freezer last night ), so all I needed to do today was heat it for her, JUST LIKE it was made today ! so that was MY weekend , sleep & get yelled at, just like any other weekend But with out all the sleep ! hahaha
We Got our new car this past week, & on the way home the line painting guys from out crack highway dept. put a nice coat of yellow center line paint on the drivers side from wheel well to wheel well on our new Gray car .............. well I went to the state office & they filled out a form & it came back today with a 2 page form to fill out, & a request for photos, witnesses & injury reports , well since i didnt know i got painted till I got to work, I do know where & when I passed the paint crew , so now all I need is a second estamate from a body shop , photos & a sworn statement , noterized & a copy of my last blood test & a note from the Governer & all my w2 forms from the last 17 years & my third grade report card . soon I will get a check from the state for 12 bucks that will cost me 570 Bucks to fix ! ahhhh yes our elected leaders out spending our money again !
One thing about being asleep all weekend , I didnt have a cigar from Friday at 10 PM till today at about 10 AM .... YES it was a Don Carlos #3 & it was GRAND.....
since I was sleeping all weekend plus Monday & didnt eat anything or drink anything , I was kind of hungry this morning ( TUESDAY) so out came the Tofu & rice , a little coconut & dried Bananas ,peanutbutter , & just to add a little spice , green tabasco ......... , a splash of chicken stock & I was in BUSINESS , not a bad way to start the day !
I dont want to sound like a broken record, BUT I didnt get to spend any time with the grandsons this weekend so I have no news from the goings on of the RUGRATS , I do know they went to West BY GOD VA. with there dad for the weekend, what they did I have no idea , what ever it was didnt make the evening news so for that I am thankfull, as he is when the 3 of us dont show up on the news !!! hahahaha
Sales at the shop have been off this month , I hope it picks up after thanksgiving , right now we are looking at the lowest gross sales for a month since we opened 2 years ago , well it looks like the sales signs will be going up on FRIDAY at 3 PM , all purchases of 75 BUCKS for single sticks will get 10% off & all boxes will get an extra 10% off & what ever else I can figure out to do !
dammm it sure beats being back in the kitchen, working for a living.......... ahhh yea RETIREMENT with all the great times to do anything you want . Smoke, when I want spend time with the grandsons when I can, have a weee dram when times & conditions permit, listen to music when i feel like it & tell anyone I want to GET off my Grass hahahahaha , , , , Naww I am not that grumpy old man I will be out building snowmen with all the kids & tossing snow balls at the police car when he drives by hahahaha , CANT WAIT !!!!!
Gasoline has dropped below 2 Bucks a gallon at some of the private owned No brand name stations ,,,,,, the national brands are still at 2.15 a gallon a WHOLE LOT BETTER than the 4.59 we were paying just a few months ago ............ How long will it last? I thought it would have gone down before election day !
Now a few words about the bail out ............. BULL$HIT, the CEO's took the money & ran to companys into the ground, they stole from the share holders & now we the taxpayers are bailing them out, BS, SEND THE SOB'S to JAIL , just like the guys from Enron, I worked hard for my money & I dont want to "share the wealth" , LET the SOB's work 2 jobs or 3 just like I did . I burnt the candle at both ends for way to many years so I could kick back & enjoy my old age , Now some young bean counter wants to take my nest egg & & give me 3% BS, I worked for it , its mine, I might just cash out & burry the cash in the back yard hahahahahaha , time to move to a socialist country in Europe, oh wait I dont need to move socicalisum is Here DAMMMMMMM
Well that about all i have tonight, see you all SUNDAY !!!!
Enjoy, Vince
Vince,
Love the blogs man! I was wondering, whats with the "GO NAVY" in you signature?
USN RETIRED
I was a chef at Montour Hights Country Club , back in the 60's got my notice to report for the draft physical , enlisted that day, never a dull moment, I enjoyed the 2 ships I was on the USS Holidaysburg & the USS Hermatage , I would still be in , if I didnt get hurt, but who would want an anchant mariner in the galley , & yes the Navy did send me to Commassary school, what a waiste of time & money , BUT I HAD FUN , who wouldnt want to be in San Diego in Jan & Feb, much better than Great Lakes in the winter !!
Good morning it is Sunday 30 November 2008, Thanksgiving weekend & the begining of the Christmas shopping season, yea just what the econemy needs, more people out spending money they dont have , charging on the credit cards, ahhh yes the Consumer is always right ! hahaha, , Sorry for the delay in last Sundays post but I was sick as I have ever been , slept 19 hours at one strech, with out a Pee break , I think hahahahaha
well the bird has been picked clean & the bones are going in the soup pot later today , nothing better than a roasted bone to make soup with , company comming, hey just add a little more water to the soup, lots to go 'round .............. , Turkey salad , creamed turkey on bisquites ,turkey sandwiches, cranberrys on the side of every thing, we had my mother in law here for supper, dammmm I thought by now I would not be having to spend time with my mother in law, she has no idea who we are , she has no idea who she is , but knows for sure she wants to go home ( she has been in a elder care facility over 2 years now ) body is healthy but the mind is GONE, kind of like me hahahaha ...... well we visit a few time s a week ( well my wife anyhow, I do get there some times ) , my daughter takes the great grandsons to see her every sunday, & the old bat knows who they are , well there names anyhow, but she thinks they are her grandsons not her great grandsons , & she has no idea who her grandaughter is, she just tells every one she is the nice lady who brings her grandsons to see her................ dammmm just shoot me NOW , it is tuff when the mind is gone but the body is still strong!, I dont think I need to worry about anything like that , I will be fertilizer long before that happens, creamated with a bottle of Laugavulin in my Gut I hope !!!!! , I want that fire to last a few days hahahaha Give every one a cigar & light it from the fire hahahaha, talk about sick hahahaha..........
the weather has been a bit chilly , running about the same as the Dow Jones Industeral average, & getting lower dayly, yep just like the Dow
6 do I hear 6 ?????? well i bought a mutuial fund last summer when the dow was just hitting 14 or was it 15, maybe 16 who cares now all i know had I bought canned beer instead of the fund I would have had a better summer hahahaha , drank all the beer & cashed in all the emptys & bought more beer , all I have now is piece of paper & the computer tells me I am worth about half of what I started with..............Hey how about a bail out for ME & YOU?????
I havent been cooking much this weekend, other than the Bird on Thursday & breakfast all week , been eating a lot of eggs & some tofu , a bit of cheese & some left over turkey sprinkled in the eggs ............ what else would you eat after Thanksgiving ???? , reminds me of a joke about a wife who gets a turkey tatooed on one inner thigh & a Christmas tree on the other , , wondering if her husband wants something to eat between the holidays ........................ dammm I am one sick S.O.B. hahahahaha
the weather has been Pittsburgh weather, cold, wet, one minute sunny the next...... nothing different here , same old stuff, dont like the weather wait a few minutes , you might get what what you want....,
Steelers have been doing what the Steelers are supposed to do , 5 time super bowl champs have been back on the winning ways, well all in all & no matter how you slice it , Football season is getting ready to get interesting , as well as Pitt pulling the back yard brawl out of there respective **** ..............
This is going to be a busy week comming up, I will be on the road part of monday checking on a few accounts , & thursday I have a fund raiser in Sharon Pa for some non profit group the name escapes me right now & Friday night we are haveing a Whisky Tasting at KING BEAVER Cigars , Rums from Napal , who knew they made Rum in Napal ? we will also have a few from Dominican Republic, Barbados ,& Panama, as well as 4 different Arminac from france 7 a small batch bourbon from Maple Hill distillerys in KY. & what would a tasting be with out S C O T C H ? I requested a flight of single malts one from each of the grand regions of Scotland , Highlands , Lowlands, Campbelltown, Islands & my favorite, ISLAY , I know one thing , I will eat before hand & have LOTS of Coffee ready, the cigars are going to be as special as the whiskys, I am breaking out the Museums from R&J & a new maduro from Montecristo, the Museums retail for 30 Bucks & I will have them Friday Night for 20 Bucks , & 3 for 55 !! , I havent figured out the sale price on the montes yet, But it will be GOOD for the customers & NOT all that good for me. but if we sell a lot who cares, as long as evey one is happy, might raffel off a humidor , anyone want to buy a chance on a 50 count humi for a buck? hahaha.
I will be making soup later today so I have a lot of veggies to cut up & a kitchen to clean up after breakfast, Barb is still feeling a little down about her mother not remembering everyone, but she knew this day would come, I think she is worried that some day that will be her, all her aunts & mother have Altzhimers & it seams to run in the family so some day soon she will be in the same position as her mother , dosent seam fair but thats life ...........
I hope you all had a safe & joyfull Thanksgiving , I know i did , Good food, family & a little scotch with a fine cigar after & with coffee, my brother in law & his wife & son with one of the sons buddys all showed up for desert, , I was forced to smoke a 5 year old VSG churchill, that my brother in law brought for me , I gave him a contraband monte #2 & I think it was a fair trade almost , we stayed in the Qtr.Deck most of the evening but he had to go home & get a little sleep before he went to work at 2:30 AM, what a time to start any job !!!! he is a clerk at the post office in Moon Twp , near the Pittsburgh Airport , he is working 12 hours from now till the RUSH is over , they have a few clerks off sick , & 3 just retired & havent been replaced as of yet, so they are working short handed & sucking up the over time , he is going to need a Brinks truck to bring his paycheck home hahahahaha
I will take a little time out after I get the soup started & roast a few pounds of coffee , there is enough Kona from one more pot , maybe 2 & I will be out of the Tanzanian Peaberry by Wed. so it is time to fire up the side burner on the grill & get my formerly fat behind outside & get the coffee going, then relax in the Qtr.Deck till the boss is done with the Sunday paper ,,,,, seams like we are in a rut, but its our rut & we are enjoying life one day at a time .......... Enjoy, Vince
Good morning it is Sunday 7 Dec.2008, Pearl Harbor day ( for all you young people it was the day that the USNAVY was bombed by the Japaneese Navy & the start of the war in the Pacific Ocean, it just boggles my mind how as a country we all pulled together & defeted the axis powers in WWII , but when the liberal press & the nay sayers & sympathisers got in the mix we were a house divided & messed up big time in Viet Nam & now again in the middle east, let the DAMMMM GENERALS fight the wars & keep the politicians out of it , General Swartzcoff showed us how to do it a month of bombardment & less than 200 hours when the boots hit the ground it was all over , so now here we are a few YEARS later still with boots on the ground & the liberals are still wineing , Oh well nothing to do but suffer through it , I was told a long time ago , be carefull what you wish for , you might just get it ! , So 7 December & 11 Sept. days that we as a country were "sucker punched" , we recovered from 7 December , the jury is still out on recovery from 11 Sept. .........................
It is a COLD blustery day here in da burgh wind chill of 5 F , the wind chimes are are so cold I think they might crack, we have about an inch of snow on the grassy areas but the road crews have been busy & the streets are clean, BUT since my flu shot last month I havent felt at all well, right now I have a head cold, sinus pressure & sneezing , watering eyes & popping ears , scratchy throat, I dont think I will be heading out to the Qtr.Deck today so No Don Carlos BUT I did fire up a pot of kona this morning, with the throat lozengers & spray , I could have been drinking tea & not known the difference, the taste buds have deserted me this morning .................
Yesterday was my Baby Girls 36th Birthday , seams just like last week I was holding her hand at the school bus stop & she didnt want to go ...... not much has changed over the years , I have gotten grayer & she now has 2 boys of her own , ahhhh yes paybacks are a *** hahahahaha ..........
We had a whisky tasting friday at the shop it was a lot of fun & I did try a few Armagnacs, verrrrry tasty but will never replace islay scotch on my list of drinks to accompany my cigars with a pot of coffee, dammmmm not much I can say about that , cigars , coffee & scotch, the taste buds are DANCING , it was a FUN night 11 different scotches, 5 rums one bourbon & 4 Armaganacs plus 3 or 4 Tequila's, I was 4 for 4 on the Armagacs , 11 for 11 on the scotch One of the tequilas , passed on the rums & the bourbon, BUT Thursday night I made up for the lack of corn whisky in my system, I was at a fund raiser for a non profit group in Mercer county & they had a jim Beam Ambassador there with the entire line of TOP shelf stuff, Bookers blantons ,knob, & the rest as well as a Rye that was SMOOOOOOTH , but it just didnt have the smokey peat taste of a grand Islay , BUT the guy tells me BEAM Brands just bought LAPGROAIG , so Qtr Cask here I come hahahaha ,,not that it will ever replace Laugavulin 16 YO as my all time favorite , BUT you never know ................
breakfast was a simple poached egg on a grilled bagel with a slice of bacon on the side , it could have been a slab of styrofoam for all I can taste , dammmmmm I hate this, nothing has any taste today & i have a pot roast to make for the boss later today, I have no idea how to season anything, just looks like I will fake it hahahaha , I will season the beef when i start it out but I like to check on it & adjust the seasonings to make that wonderful GRAVY , BUT today it will be a long shot at perfection ! hahahaha
Since I was sick last weekend I didnt get to spend any time with the boys & this weekend I am still a bit under the weather so no news from the rugrats this week ..............
Thats about all I have from the Burgh this week ......... Enjoy, Vince
Good morning it is Sunday 14 December 2008, a cold cloudy day here in da 'Burgh we have a coating of snow on the ground & a bit of ice on the walks & roads we are looking for a high of 35F today but it will be at 65 F or better in the Qtr.Deck this afternoon ! , all I will need will be a flannel shirt ,Jeans & a warm pair of socks & slippers , a pot of coffee , a snifter of single malt & as they say the rest will be History, I have a Masterpiece Maduro I picked up last Christmas , looks like today is the day , BUT I just might opt out for the Museum from R & J , I did smoke one a few weeks ago & it was just great, reminded me of a Casa Fuente , Mild yet complex in flavor ............. dammmmm maybe I will smoke them BOTH ! hahahaha
I have a 6 pack of boneless pork chops , why I ever bought Boneless is beyond me ??? i always like a Bone in the meat , cant understand why the beef industry went to removing the nice tasty bone from the chuck roast , nothing better than a 7 shaped bone in the chuck roast, ahhh the great gravy it made, now I need to BUY a hunk of Bone to roast with the chuck to get the flavor they took out when they removed the bone, back when I was a kid the Butcher gave you the soup bones for your dog, now they charge extra to take out the bone & then charge you extra on top of the inflated price to get back the bone they took out , JUST LEAVE IT ALONE & I WILL PAY FOR IT STILL IN ONE PIECE , create more work for the butcher & the chef for an infearior product .............. Progress my @$$
we had a great Friday at the shop lots of Customers & a few ladys in for Gifts, Just point me to the good smelling ones she said & I asked how much she was willing to spend, BINGO BIG BUCKS , so I show her the Montie's , Camacho trippple Maduro & the Hemmingways , No they dont smell good & she gets a box of KUBA KUBA , I have a feeling they will be comming back December 26TH for an exchange ...... yea like i am going to take back a box of cigars that have been frozen in the car roasted in the house & let set outside a humidor for a 2 week time frame , looks like the 20% restocking sign will be going up Monday morning ! I hate to do that BUT I told her I dont think her husband will like them, he is a regular & he smokes Upman Cameroons most of the time ................ Given the choice of smoking a Kuba Kuba or nothing, at all I will take the Nothing at all , sorry but I just cant take the taste of them, some people love them, why else would he be in businenss if sme one didnt like them, well thats why I enjoy the cigar life style, everyone has a Nitch to fill & soon it will come full circle the Grape blunt smoker of today will be the Davidoff smoker of 20 years from Now ,,,,,,,,,,, if the government dosent regulate the business into the ground, a 3.5 Billion dollar industry that the US GOVERNMENT wants to raise 35 BILLION in new taxes on, seams to me you cant tax 10 times the value of the industry & expect it to keep running , Prohabition didnt work back in the 1920's , it lead to a growth in orginized crime , look what it did for Chicago , the legescy is still there even in the Governers office .............. hahaha , well all I can say is , JUST CALL ME AL ( from the paul simon song ) Yep I will just go underground & bring in my own cigars & sell them at a speak easy , put in a wood fired grill out front , Burn a lot of smokey wood to cook over make hams & bacon for a side line & cover the cigar smoke with Burning Hickory ,maple & mesquette ............
After a week or so of feeling poorly I have rebounded & am back to my cigar chomping ways filled with a big dose of hot peppers , garlic & fresh ginger the taste buds have come back with a CRY for flavor so the HEAVY doses of herbs & spices have set fire to the taste buds & they are craving More & more & it is my pleasure to give them what they want ... just need to do it in moderation, in the AMOUNT taken in , the spicyer the better , consintrate the flavors but the key is Balance & complexity , adding different amounts of the same spices at different times during the cooking process will change the flavor if you had put it all in at the same time , a slight difference but a difference all the same , the difference between a first run through of a play & the first performance , everything is there but it is FINE TUNED .....
I have a feeling that the Christmass season this year will be behind in sales from last year , the customers are there just not spending as much, I did get 2 boxes of Anejos from Fuente this year , they are selling well & the trippple maduros from Camacho are almost all gone BUT I have a lot of maduro monties , dammmm I realy like that cigar BUT I am a Maduro smoker , it is a great taste & isnt that what we are looking for a great taste at a cheep price, well they are not cheep so I tend to smoke the lower priced stuff when I am working like the Bundle Alcazars , dammmmm for a CHEEP cigar its wonderfull the 8 x 52 will last me a few hours & with the econemy as it is every one is looking for the biggest bang for the Buck , why smoke a Punch rothchild for 3.35 when you can get this MONSTER for 40 cents more , More than TWICE THE smoke , BUT with a few beers & a couple of scotches a pot of coffee WHO CARES ! hahahaha
The Boys were here Thursday , But we didnt get to do much a little Supper & they headed off with Barb to Bible study & I went to the Qtr.Deck for a cigar ......... its the simple things in life that make it worth all the BS .............
Time to Cook & head for the QtrDeck , Enjoy, Vince
Vince, Enjoy your sunday morning comments/rants/musings-keep it up
I will be doing my best to keep my end of the subject going I doi enjoy a few comments & maybe some dialog between posters, thats what we are here for , have fun, communicate 7 smoke cigars, all at the same time ! Enjoy, Vince
Hey Vince, I'll make sure to send you a few new Acids to try for Christmas. HAHAHA
I can't do the flavored ones either but they definetly have their place. A few friends of mine have gotten into cigars bc of Acids. Of course most of them have moved on from them but they would have probably never have started without them.
I met my boss by telling him any one who smokes a kuba kuba would Suck a D**K , that was when i was working for a differnt cigar shop, But now he is the owner of king Beaver cigars & I run it for him, he is a laywer so he is never there, Just the deep pockets behind the shop & the owner of the building ! , telling strangers what i think has been Very good for me hahahaha
Good morning it is Sunday 21 December 2008 the First official day of winter ,but the winter weather has been with us for a few months all ready , we have a light dusting of snow on the ground this morning, Frozen, to the ground & cars, I thought I could use the broom to remove it but it needs a shovel , it is just a BIG solid mass of frozen water in the most beautiful way, nothing like the ice they had In New England last week, ,no powerlines are down but it is COLD
the shop[ is still lacking in sales from last year, I guess the doom & gloom we hear in the TV is hitting harder day by day, , Now with the Government getting there nose in it , I GUESS it will only get worse !
to paraphrase President Ronald Regan, the worst thing anyone can hear is "I am from the government & I am here to HELP" ................. God help us now is all I can say, way to many of the washington DC jokers have forgotten that they are servants OF the people , FOR the people , not Sucking off the teets of the people , dammmmmm this close to CHRISTMAS & I am going on a political witch hunt.... Oh well back to the season & AWAY from the political BS..............
the Boss has been fighting a cold all week & when she isnt feeling well NO ONE gets any rest arround here , you all know what I mean dont you ! hahahaha
How ever we did manage to make 17 dozen Petezelles yesterday , with many interuptions with friends stopping in we did manage to have a good day in the kitchen together, some thing that isnt happening all that much, ...... we being in the kitchen together !
well I did get all my Christmas shopping DONE, well I am out of cash & the list is not .......... so I guess I need to get a little more cash out of the bank & strike that last few gifts off the list , To bad I cant just give EVERYONE cigars ,,,,, but the grandsons Dont think its all that great of an Idea !!!
since it is Sunday & its COLD out , I have the Sunday Chuck roast ready for the Boss , dammmmm I am getting a weeee bit tired of it BUT thats what she wants , so thats what she gets , one less reason to argue with her, Just Give her what she wants & let it go , a lot easyer on the mind & Body just to give up & tell her what she wants to hear, maybe she should get a JOB at GITMO , all she need is to learn to speak Aribic or farci , dammmmm if she got a Job I could retire AGAIN, this time I will just sit at the cigar shop & watch some one else work hahahahaha
we both are fighting colds & each other , so what else is new hahahaha , the #2 grandson isnt feeling 100% he is only 11 & growing taller but not gaining any weight, in fact he lost 2 pounds from his last check up , it is tuff when your so thin , he never is hungry, but when its time to eat he is at the table but just dosent eat much, , he went to the hospital for an ultra sound of the lower gut & a Berium enema , , dammmmmmm that just sounds like BS to me , kid isnt hungry so you check out the exaust ? & not the intake ? I guess thats why I am not a Doctor ! I did get a verry intrusting Early Christmass Gift , a bag of Unroasted coffee from Brazil that is the left overs from a Bird called the JACU bird, I have no idea how big this bird is But it eats the red coffee cherrys & YES Dumps them out in the Bird droppings ,,,,, Just like the Kopi Luwak coffee of Indonesia where the weasel eats the coffee cherrys & "deposits "them on the ground , & after cleaning & roasting this coffee is much the same well this Bird $hit Coffee is Supposed to be much better than the weasel $hit coffee , so as soon as I get a day that is ABOVE 40 F I will get outside & roast this stuff & let you all now what I think about it ................. stop in for a cup anytime !!! I have no info on this stuff but if you google it I am sure you will find some thing about both coffees !
I have the Heat on in the Qtr.Deck & will be enjoys a few cigars today , i have a few to choose from but I havent made up my mind on what I will be sipping with the coffee today , might be port , might be scotch, might be Irish whisky , depend on what the dram will be as to what the cigar will be or CIGARSSSSSSSS
Breakfast was a great debate with the boss this morning a refridgerator fallout omlet , so she Got her Fryed eggs bacon & toast, I had the formentioned omlet, there was a little spinich dip left over as well as a little gravy some steamed mixed veggis & a little cheese left over from a cheese tray I made for Wednsday , so it all went on the Grill & an egg to hold it all together , a blast of Tabascco , HEAVEN dammmmm tasty ! but No I dont want to taste it , I might like it ! hahahahahaha 38 years & counting, dammm if I had killed her I might just be getting out of jail now ! hahahahahaha
The sun is out but it is Cold , the cow pasture looks like a field of diamonds , sparkling & twinklining , with the occasional cow walking by , the birds are scavenging under the raspberry bushes & the feeder is getting its small share of visitors when I went out to get the Sunday Paper there were cat tracks on the walkway , Bunny tracks on the grass & a pile of blood & fur at the end of the driveway , I guess the cat is having hossenfeffer for breakfast today , I wish the cats would let the bunnys alone & get the dammmmmm DOVES , they make way to much noise & $hit on everything !
Since this is the first day of winter that means the days will start to get LONGER each day again , more daylight , the better, But I dont think I want to be in the 24 hours of daylight they get up north , land of the Midnight Sun , No thanks I need some down time BUT,thank you very much !
Retired Pro Wrestler Dominick DeNucci stopped in the shop Friday Night , everyone was like a kid in school listening to his storys of the road & former pros we all watched as kids drom Bob Backland to Superstar Billy Grahm , Burno Samartino & Ivan Putsky , the guys we loved & the guys we loved to hate , the good boys & the bad boys , it is suprising how many of them we all remembered & the long lives most of them lived after retirement, NO STEROIDS but now there are so many that are dead & used up buy the time they are 45 its amazing ............. like some of them are not juicing hahahahah , if you look to good you gotta be on the juice to keep it up day after day , traveling & working all the time , a lot of great looking Bodys have become toombs for the guys who thought they could get away with it ........... & a few great looking ladys end up dead or looking like old hags , I guess its better to live life as well as you can with out resorting to artifical means to stimulate your life, like whisky, coffee & cigars hahahaha Yea like thats going to happen here hahahahaha, & speaking of coffee I am almost out of the Sunday Kona , next pot up is going to be a pot of Community Coffee from New Orleans flavored with a bit of chickory
I have a BIG Rayies family Torp to fire up with this pot of coffee but the jury is still out on the libation for later this afternoon , it just might be the port & a pot of Dark roast Italian coffee & a BIG Maduro Don Gonzales Churchill for this afternoon , the football game is set for 4:15 Pm, & I dont think I will be watching or listening to it today , i will be BUSY eating , smoking & drinking about that time , who needs TV when there is great food & beverages to taste , I pay attention to the taste buds & they take care of me , if I just watch the idot box & much mindlessly I cant SAVOR the food or drink, it is a hand to mouth reaction not a journy to excitement
if we would learn to enjoy our food 7 drinks instead of just jamming ftuff down our pie hole I dont think we would be a nation of HEAVYWIEGHTS , I know I was an abusrer of the system , but since i lost the 202 pounds I have found a new friend in my taste buds sure it tastes good always did , but Now I need to control it & instead of letting the taste buds run wild I have befriened them & now we work together getting them the taste 7 flavors they crave & letting me Maintain a weight that is advantagous for me & the taste buds , the better shape I am in the longer I will be able to satisfy the taste buds ................ & right now I need to bend to the call of an other part of the body & rid my self of all the coffee I have consumed since 6 am Today ! Enjoy, Vince
Good morning it is Sunday 28 December 2008, Christmas is gone for an other year & it is Unseasonably warm here in da Burgh 66 F this morning , but the cold front went through with some very high winds & it is down to 57 all ready , our normal high is in the 30's so this is a winter bonus , lower heating bills this month hahahaha ............ well this is the first sunday posting since Christmas , & I hope you all had a good visit from Santa , things went well here with the grandsons , lets just say they are not going to need much of anything for some time to come , even with the economy down , with a little summer buying & stocking stuffings when the stuff was on sale , they did just fine, but at 11 & 13 now , they are just not as much fun as they were when they were 5 & 7 ............ for you guys & gals with little kids , PLEASE ENJOY THEM NOW, they grown up so fast, my daughter is now 36 ( older than a few of you readers) & it seams just like last week she was holding on to me with a death grip as I sat her on santas lap at the mall . ............. kids they grow up so fast, I feel like it was just a few years ago I was sitting on santas lap , I can remember the christmas back in 54 or 55 , hey could have been 52 or 56 for all I know, well some time back in the 50's anyway , we wole up to a white blanket of snow , about a foot of snow fell the morning was fantastic, nothing was moving outside, no one was getting up to go to work the streets were untouched by the snow plow & all the trees had this flocking of snow , across the street the bushes & pines were burried in snow & the cars were covered , , it reminded me of a blanket dropped from the sky , words cant due justice to what I see in my minds eye , over 50 years later it still is etched in my mind , what little mind I have left hahahahaha ..............
sales were some what disapointing this month , a surge on Monday & tuesday with an early close on Wendesday , we didnt come close to last years numbers , last year we started to hit mega sales about the 15th & it kept up right untill close on the 24th , but this year it was a Bust , down over 35% from last year , after Christmas 20% off sales on all the stocking stuffers I have in stock, I picked up give aways & still have some of them left as we didnt get the foot traffic I had hoped for , a few new faces were in , "I know nothing about Cigars here is 50 bucks I need a gift for my boss," well I had a great time with those people ............... But not enough of them came in this year , we did a cupon ad in the local paper , Buy 2 get one free with the cupon, , spent over 500 bucks on the ad , got back 12 cupons .............. & 8 were regulars, it generated 4 new faces , , , , a real money looser on the ad for sure , you cant beat word of mouth, its the best & its FREE ! ............. Now if I could just find a way to market it for free hahahahaha , I Give out cigars to everyone I run into when I am out shopping or running to the bank,, post office & to pay the parking tickets my customers get & I get a better responce to the free cigar than I do to the paid Professional ads that I have been buying from the news paper , did a few radio spots , GOT ZERO RETURN on the radio spots, ,,,,,,,,,, so i will just keep passing out cigars & business cards .................
Well so much for the BS , lets get down toi some news from the burgh,, , ,, , ,,,,,,, ,.,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,
dammmmm nothing new from this end hahahaha , gearing up for new years , I guess I will just add the word POST to the Christmas sale signs , & give away a bottle of champange ( cheep domestic) for the amiture night to hit on the 31st, I stay home , h3ll I drink anything & anytime I want, some of these people just drink one night a year & this is the night, I dont need some 185 pound lady kicking my @$$ in some bar or hotel flexing her beer musles ..... I am way to old for that hahahaha
I made a ham for Christmas , looks like we will be eating HAM for some time to come, , lots of ways to make it , & we will try them all till its gone, all ready this morning , I have made ham biscuts with red eye gravy for breakfast , lunch with a grilled ham & swiss on dark rye , & supper will be left over ham & sweet potatoes with green beans in a sour cream sauce , ham , Ham , & more ham , different from Turkey but a lot of left overs no matter how you slice it , the ham bone is in the freezer with some fat & will be soup , Soon ! , maybe some time next week or next MONTH !!
well lets see, Santa was very good to me as always .... a few cigars & a bottle of Lapgroaig Qtr.Cask & a new humidor ( I stopped counting them years ago ) I have given more humidors away than I have now, but this one is a BEAUTY , the wood work is superb , the seen on the box is a cigar bar with people sitting at tables & sipping wine with the waiter holding a humidor open for a customer to pick thier smoke , lots of detail in the back ground of the carvings , needless to say it is all ready Full of cigars GEEEE I wonder how that happened ???
Now before I get off the computer & head out to the Qtr.Deck for my Sunday morning Don Carlos #3 & my pot of kona I want to say some thing about Clutter, JUNK & stuff we save from year to year & never use it, well I plan on tossing a TON of crap out this year, some to the Salvation Army, some to Goodwill & some to the trash, , welllll thats my plan anyhow, when it happens I will let you know hahahah Enjoy, Vince
Sorry to hear business was down Vince. Hang tough, things will start to come back around. THe business that lean out and make it through this time will be better off for the long run. Tough times weed out the poorly run businesses and make the well run businesses even more efficient. I'm going to get up there and check out King Beaver sometime.
I'm going to get up there and check out King Beaver sometime.
Vince, the name alone will keep you in business.. If I saw that shop sign I would have to stop in and pick something up and ask to see the man who named the store> :}
I'm going to get up there and check out King Beaver sometime.
Vince, the name alone will keep you in business.. If I saw that shop sign I would have to stop in and pick something up and ask to see the man who named the store> :}
there was a large Indian population in the area when the town was started, KING BEAVER was the leader of the tribe that was here , & there was chief Monacatotha, I have no idea what it traslates to , BUT Beaver Pa , formerly known as King Beaver's town is just across the river from us , just a few miles from us is Aliquippa Pa , also named after a local Indian.... a lot of places in the area are old Indian names ............
Enjoy, Vince
Good morning it is Sunday 4 Jan 2009............ we made it through an other year , still on top of the grass still not looking at the roots ! , it is a chilly day here in da Burgh , we have a light coating of snow on the ground but you ee a little grass popping up here & there, the bird feeder is getting a lot of visitors & from the looks of the tracks in the snow we have a fox in the area , or its just a BIG house cat, I havent looked at my Boyscout handbook in years so I just dont remember the difference between a fox & a cat print , for all I know it might be a small dog but I dont think a dog will be hanging out hiding by a bird feeder looking for a dove , the feathers in the snow & the blood trails show some one had a good hunt .......... that life in the big city or country field, the strong will survive , yea the ants & roaches will last longer than all of us !!!
I hope you all had a safe & some what sober new years, I spent the evening with the grandsons they were playing the new wii game, lots of fun, I was content to sit & watch 007 on the small TV in the computer room , just me & the Dog, or horse , what ever he is , he was snoring so loud with the game being played in the other room I had to turn on the closed captioning to hear waht they were saying, as if I couldnt do the dialog from memory I have seen the 007 movies a few times hahahaha.
There is a good deal of Pork & sour *** left over But today I am getting the left over Christmas ham out of the freezer & cutting up some cabbage , yea with all that *** like I need more cabbage in my diet , I just feel sorry for who ever is behind me in line at the bank or the grocery store , the gas has been let us just say OVER THE TOP ! , Burns the nose & the eyes ! hahahahaha , so this morning I added fuel to the fire with a sourkraut , Tofu & swiss cheese omlet .............. it wasnt the greatest combo I have come up with but a little of the good old Hinze Ketchup EVERY THING tastes better hahahaha
the coffee this morning & since it is Sunday is Kona , but I have a pot of Margoheppie waiting to go on as soon as this one is done . I still havent had time to roast the Jacu Bird coffee , & today we are supposed to get to 45 F so I might just fire up the grill & get some of it cooking , I think I will go for a med.Light roast on this one , I want to taste the coffee & not the roast, kind of like the way I do my Kona , I havent made any espresso in some time , so I might roast up some today if I do get to the Jacu bird coffee , I have some Columbian & brazillian santos & I could mix the 2 & take it to the limit with the expresso roast ,,,, , the darker the roast the lower the cafine , so heres to EXPRESSO , fire it up again !
I hope you all had a safe & fullfilling years end & the beginning of a new year will be filled with Good things for you & your familys ......... we had a last minute dash to the cash regester but the numbers didnt make what we did last year, with the smoking ban here in Pa , ( a NEW NANNY STATE) , our personal freedoms are slowly being worn away by the "DO GOODERS" who are just "looking out for us ", HEY I look out for my self, if I want your help I will ask for it , thats why I belong to the auto club, I get a flat I call for help, if I need a cup of coffee I make it my self, I dont call for a delevery, but wait thats not a bad idea, the local Pizza shop has a delivery service , BUT I MAKE MUCH BETTER COFFEE ! hahahaha , damm lost my train of thought, , seams like the tracks are getting a bit slippery ! hahaha Oh yea the smoking ban, well you cant smoke in the bars, or resturaunts , BUT if its a Private club , your ok since we are a smoke shop we are OK so far, & since we dont sell food or beverages ( we give the stuff away ) we dont fall under the bus & get run over, I thought the ban would be good for sales but it was just the opisite , I thought the guys would be filling up the place bring there own bottle & sit here with a cigar instead of a dark & dreary bar , but I guess they likes the atmosphere & have stayed there watching the paint dry on thew walls sipping there waterdown booze & warm beer paying 5 bucks to get a burgher & frys at the bar when they could be sitting here with a good crew of guys & gals well lit , BYOB & have your food delivered ,,,,,,,,,,,, just no strippers on a dimly lit stage , No Fights , No cops & no Drugs other than, cafine, nicotene & Scotch ! , with all the political unrest in the state legeslature , the Nannys got one poassed , with the witch hunt out for all the graft recievers , givers & back room deal makers the nannys got the smokng ban passed , every one that had opposed the ban was heaeded for the tall grass & looking for a place to hide, will they his so well it came back to bite us on the @$$ , Things are not going well in the land of Lincoln , nor are they doing that good here in the Keystone state fast eddie rendellie( pa Governer & former mayor of Philly ) is to smooth to get caught on tape by the Feds , dammmm he probaly had the feds line tapped hahahaha ......... dont think the Government power is in harrisburg ( capital of Pa ) or in Washington DC ( the nations capital for you guys who are Geographicly challenged ) the government power is in the hands of the MOB, the banks, & wall street, looks like the senators & congressmen have been influncing the latter , our congress has spent money that our grandchildren will be paying for , & now they want to spend even MORE, had the Government kept there nose out of the banking industry & not MANDATEDF the Sub prime lending , we would have never had to face what we are up against today CAPITILISUM is the ROOTS of this country work had, make a few bucks & KEEP what you earn, thats how the industrial revelution happened, sure they did take advantage of the workers , management will do it when ever they can , I kow I have been on both sides of the stupid desk in negoations , I see both sides with equal clairity , BUT when I was the boss I had to deal with with the profit & loss of the catering company , but when I was just a worker & had to do ALL the work to make the money for the catering company I looked at it as being paid a fair & slightly above what I was worth hahahahaha , Fire the book keeper & work it out of your right front pocket all cash , No tax No records , it seamed like I always had a good cash flow, never wondered how much I was making because I didnt care all I knew I was flush , & had no outstanding bills , , then I tryed to go legit, keeping records & paying with checks & paying taxes, dammmmmmmm BIG MISTAKE , No cash flow, no spending money No cigars on the catering business's dime , the coffee i could get away with , but the cigars well if the client wanted them fine, But I was used to just getting them anyway, dammmmmmm Bookkeepers & accountants , they would talk to the client & mess everything up, so I got rid of them , shut down the catering business & am as happy as a PIG IN $HIT at the cigar shop, NOW if I could just figure out a way to be on the radio & talk about food, cigars, jazz & work in the shop all at the same time, welllll dammmmmm that would be HEAVEN On Earth ......... Enough rambling this morning I need to get in the kitchen & get the heat turned on out in the Qtr.Deck , its time for the Sunday Morning smoke , & it is what else BUT a Don Carlos #3 ............... old habbits are hard to break, so what is your Go to Morning Smoke ? inquiring minds would like to know ! hahaha Enjoy, Vince
Comments
I can't do the flavored ones either but they definetly have their place. A few friends of mine have gotten into cigars bc of Acids. Of course most of them have moved on from them but they would have probably never have started without them.