Saturday at the Hut - 12/31/11

We had a full house at The Tobacco Hut today! Lots of folks in attendance and lots of fun. Nice to see a great turnout to support Lou. Let's get started with the roll call and then I'll dive into the highlights. Today saw Joe K, Tom L, Paul O, Ed B, Scott R, Jeff D, Don W, Brian J, Barry C, and a new guy, Aaron C. Aaron is a friend of Don's and may have been in before, but this is my first time meeting him, so I'll just call him the new guy. (Jim S, it looks like you're no longer the new guy). BTW, Aaron, it's customary for the new guy to bring pizzas for everyone even though Jim never did. Not that we're bitter or anything.

My new as yet unsmoked Stanwell
pipe and Erik Nording Hunter
Blend pipe tobacco
(Click to enlarge)

Paula got me a shiny new pipe for Christmas and I was so looking forward to smoking a bowl from a brand new tin of tobacco, but I've been sick all week so arrived at the Hut empty handed. When I have a cold, I don't feel like smoking anything. Tom L, on the other hand, was sick last week but lit up anyway so he's obviously more of a man than I am. Hmm...Tom was sick last week and now I'm sick this week. Coincidence? Anyway, hopefully next week this is the pipe you'll see me lighting up for the first time. It's a Stanwell Vario quarter bent w/acrylic stem. Can't wait to fire it up.

It got to be pretty crowded after awhile and it was such a nice day that most of us moved outside. We did leave Joe and Lou inside so that Joe could get some help with his upcoming trip to Vegas. Below is Lou pointing out on Joe's iPad where the Bunny Ranch is. (Click to enlarge).

Below are a couple shots of the gang enjoying their cigars. It really was a perfect day to be outside and I'm only sorry that I couldn't enjoy the fun and been able to light up as well. But I certainly enjoyed all the smoke that wafted my way.

Lou and Joe
(Click to enlarge)

Tom L, Ed B, Paul O
(Click to enlarge)

Scott R, Lou, Joe K
(Click to enlarge)

Tom L, Ed B, Paul O, Scott R, Joe K,
Out of frame: Jeff D, Aaron C, Don
(Click to enlarge)

We soon noticed that the fruit shipping place next door was getting an awful lot of traffic, even though it was closed for the holiday. Every five minutes some old person would hobble out of their car up to the door and tug on it in frustration, anxious to get their half gallon of orange juice or pint of orange-flavored ice cream.

In a flash of pranking genius, Tom L came up with the idea of creating a sign that read "Back in 5 Minutes" and taping it to the door, so that's what we did. We sat back and waited for the ensuing hijinks. Well, we waited and waited and nobody showed up so after our crowd had thinned out a bit, we moved back inside and kind of forgot about it.

Just having a little fun with the
customers of the store next door.
(Click to enlarge)

It didn't take long though for the first victim to come along - an orange colored pickup pulled up and promptly pulled away, presumably after reading the sign. A few minutes later a couple came up, hung around for a minute or two and left. Then the same woman in the white Buick from a month ago (see earlier post) arrived, read the sign and went back to her car to wait. And wait. And wait. Ed finally took a little pity on the lady and went out to inform her that the sign had been there all day and they were probably closed.

A little later a Phyllis Diller-look alike arrived and took the record for waiting. She stood outside the door for easily fifteen minutes. At one point, she even stood in front of our open door drilling us as to where the owners were. We expressed the proper indignation that they weren't there and sent her on her way. She was soon joined by another woman and when they finally left in a huff, we could hear one of the women say that she had already called the business and left a nasty message. 

Phyllis Diller look-alike
waiting impatiently
for the 5 minutes to be up.
(Click to enlarge)

A short time later, a woman carrying an almost-empty bottle of orange juice arrived in our doorway inquiring about the shop next door. She said she wanted to return the orange juice as it was sour. Of course, it was practically gone, but I'm sure the store has a very liberal return policy. In any case she, for some reason, found it necessary to tell us to remember the "Three A's" to please a woman. I tried to block out this whole portion of the afternoon, so can't recall exactly what she was talking about.

Ed joking with crazy O.J. Lady
(Click to enlarge)

Wanting to take the prank to the next level of immaturity, we decided to update the "Back in 5 Minutes" sign and add Joe's phone number to it, so that's what we did. Joe had already left for the day, so we couldn't ask him if it was okay. I'm sure he won't mind.

We just had to make a small
addendum to the sign.
Sorry Joe!
(Click to enlarge)

Barry continues to attract the crazies to the Hut. This time it was a lady who was walking past the store and glanced in, obviously attracted by Paul's pretty shirt. Paul waved hello but Barry beckoned her in and invited her to sit in Lou's chair. Fortunately for Lou, he wasn't sitting in it at the time, but he was not happy when he looked from behind the counter and found this woman sitting in his chair. She got on a tirade about presidential politics which was good for a laugh or two especially when Barry urged her to vote for Bob Harrison and she had never heard of him. Paul assured her that he was an idiot though and not worthy of her vote. I concurred.

Barry with his new
crazy friend of the week.
(Click to enlarge)

A quick note upon closing...let's plan on a get-together to celebrate Scott's 50th birthday on Sat, Feb 4th. Scott's usually a morning guy, so how about around 10:00? I'll bring the Doritos and Mountain Dew - just kidding Lou!

P.S. Aaron, we're just joking about bringing pizza. Of course, if you did we wouldn't turn it down.

P.P.S. Don't worry Joe, we took the sign down right after I took the photo of it. I think.

Saturday at the Hut - 12/3/11

We had a nice crowd on Saturday at The Tobacco Hut. I would like to think it was to celebrate my 48th birthday that day, but I'm more inclined to think that most folks showed up to lend their support to Lou who, as we know, is going through a difficult time right now. We did our best to bring a smile to his face and a laugh or two, and I think we accomplished that.

So who was in attendance besides Lou and myself? Attendees included Joe K, Ed B, Ed F, Tom L, Paul O, Bobby, and Brian J. It was a smoke-filled afternoon as the guys all lit up cigars and I enjoyed a pipeful of Wilderness Tobacco. Note to Ed F, I think I misspoke when you asked if it was one of Greg Pease's tobacco and I said yes. It actually is one of the McClelland brands, out of Kansas City. Anxious to hear what you think of the sample I gave you! By the way, Ed F was smoking some of Lou's Baker Street. I smoke it, but don't often get to experience the wonderful aroma of someone else smoking it, so thanks Ed!

Speaking of Ed, glad you're out of the hospital and on the mend!

A couple months ago Tom chided me for being an Apple Computer guy - "Mr. Apple" - but I was unable to figure out some function on the iPhone. In my defense at the time, I didn't own an iPhone so could hardly be expected to know how to operate one. Well this Saturday, I triumphantly showed off my brand new iPhone 4S to Tom - and he quickly put me in my place by showing me some simple feature on the phone that I had no idea existed. Sigh...thanks for the lesson, Tom!

From left: Tom L expertly using his iPhone, Joe K,
Ed F enjoying a bowl of Baker Street
(click to enlarge)

Paul told (and re-told a couple times by popular request) an hysterical story from a couple Christmases ago. It seems he was on a mission to find a particular 9-ft. artificial Christmas tree that only Wal-Mart carried. He had visited several and couldn't find one. At the last Wal-Mart he checked however, when he walked in, a worker was standing inside the store near the entrance with a carton containing the very tree Paul was after, calling out, "Mr. Rodriguez, Mr. Rodriguez" to indicate that his tree had been brought up from the back for pick up.

Thinking quickly, Paul walked up and said, "Yes, I'm Mr. Rodriguez" since - in his words - he looks so Hispanic. As the worker was releasing the tree to Paul, the real Mr. Rodriguez arrived and pointed to the carton, saying, "No, I'm Mr. Rodriguez. See, it's written on the box."

Thinking even more quickly, Paul responded, "Oh, 'Rodriquez'? No that's the name of the shipping company. They're all marked like that." And he snatched up the tree and took it home. Priceless!

Seated, from left, Paul O, Ed B, Brian J
(click to enlarge)

Ed B was apparently fixated on Orange Julius and recently tried asking one of the workers at a Countryside Mall Orange Julius for the recipe. He was watching him make one and asked what the orange powder was that was sprinkled into the mix but was told it was a secret. Ed thinks it was just Tang, the drink of astronauts. But he said he was reasonably successful in concocting his own Orange Julius at home, with the help of said Tang.

Now that the citrus store is open next door, we're enjoying a steady stream of mostly older folks coming and going to get their bag o' fruit. In one instance, an elderly woman flung her door open and banged into the side of Paul's van. I think he said it was actually his wife's vehicle, so he wasn't too concerned.

In another instance, a woman swung in so quickly that she almost kissed the wheels and nerf bar on Ed B's Jeep. She missed the side of the Jeep by less than an inch, so we all had to wait for her to come back out and see if she would hit it on the way back out. See below for the photographic evidence that, while she came close, Ed's Jeep did in fact escape unscathed.

Blue hair beginning to pull blindly out of parking
spot, narrowly missing Ed B's Jeep.
(click to enlarge)

Finally, while Lou may be a bit distracted, he can certainly still dish it out like nobody's business! Paul made some reference to Lou's pants size (see post from a few weeks ago) with a comment along the lines of, "your stubby little legs". Lou didn't miss a beat though! He retorted, "I can still outrun your fat ass!" Glad you're still in fighting form, Lou!

I received an e-mail recently from Scott R that he and Paul V will be at the Hut this coming Saturday morning. Looking forward to seeing them both. Also, Jim "The New Guy" wrote me saying he couldn't make it this past Saturday as he was in Qatar but was hoping to make it this week. I'm sure if we asked him what he was doing there, he could tell us, but would then have to kill us.

Cheers!
 - Bob