Saturday at the Hut - 7/14/12

We had a full house at The Tobacco Hut today, so let's jump right in with the roll call. In addition to Lou and myself, we had Joe K, Don W, Arnie, Vic and his cousin Russ, Bryan, and Aaron. The jokes were as thick as the smoke and we all got a lesson in grammar too. More on that later.

This will be Don's last Saturday for awhile as he begins training for his new job (congrats and good luck to Don). Fellow pilot Arnie was in town as well, so to celebrate he and Don both tried an Opus X for the first time. Vic and I and others warned them that it can be a strong smoke, but they both threw caution to the wind and lit up. Within about ten minutes Don had to let his go out as he was feeling a bit light-headed. He decided to smoke it at a much slower pace. Arnie was fine with it until the last third or so when little beads of sweat started to break out on his forehead. They both agreed that the Opus does not live up to its reputation as a top shelf cigar and that they would never smoke another. We did tell them that Tom L occasionally brings some aged Opus cigars that he's stored for the last dozen years or so and that they are completely different from a fresh, out-of-the-box specimen.

Russ T wins the award for traveling the farthest for a cigar. He's down visiting from Rochester, NY although he had some difficulties in departing from the airport a week ago. Russ was evidently under the impression that he could just arrive at the airport without a ticket or boarding pass and get right on the plane. The ticket agent had different ideas, so he had to delay his trip by a day. Seriously, Russ had purchased the ticket six weeks ago but when he got to the airport they had no record of him in their system. Russ, maybe you were supposed to fly out of Buffalo...

Readers of this space will recall the last blog posting from June 16 where Aaron recounted his romantic tale of him and his friend attending the critically acclaimed movie, "Brokeback Mountain" when it came out a few years ago. Speaking of "coming out", Aaron announced that he - no, no. I'm only kidding. Anyway, since there were some folks in attendance today that didn't hear the original story, we persuaded Aaron to give us his impressions of the movie, with full animation, of course. I passed around the Photoshop image I had prepared of Aaron living his dream of actually being in the movie, to everyone's enjoyment.

It was around that time that the typically sophisticated level of discourse took a downward turn. Russ ingratiated himself to us by telling some extremely distasteful jokes. I, for one, was deeply offended. Of course, you couldn't tell that because I was howling with laughter. There was one about three missionaries being faced with Yanye or Death, but since this blog's wide readership(!) reaches many women and children, I won't go into the full joke here.

So what's this about a grammar lesson? Oh yes, let me explain. One of the regulars at the Hut, Paul O (not to be confused with Scott R's brother-in-law, Paul V), had a very public hissy-fit on Facebook over a comment I left on one of his posts. Rather than explain it all, I submit the evidence from this past Monday and let my gentle readers come to their own conclusions:

Paul O wins the "I Can Dish It Out But Can't Take It" Award for 2012
(Click to enlarge)

Yes, you read that correctly, Mr. O gave me a thorough thrashing (and his wife even got in the act) over six words that I left for him. Not only did he "unfriend" me on Facebook (oh, the horrors), he even removed himself from The Tobacco Hutters. One can only hope that this means he has removed himself from the Tobacco Hut as well. I am quite sure that his "wit" will not be missed. Moving on...

Had a great day at the Hut with so many folks in attendance. 'Til next time!

Saturday at the Hut - 7/16/11

Sorry I'm a couple days late in filing this report. Saturday evening our air conditioning went on the fritz and was finally up and running this afternoon (Monday). Just didn't feel like banging out a blog post when the inside temperature was 92º.

Anyway, Saturday at The Tobacco Hut was standing room only as we had a dozen guys in attendance. Besides Lou and me, the roll call included Peter G, Joe K, Ed B, Jim C, Paul O, Vic and his cousin Russ, Tom L, Steve B, and Arnie. Arnie called his brother-in-law, Don, in North Carolina, and put him on speaker so we'll let that count.

Before I get to the savory treats provided by some of the fellows, I have to point something out that was a little troubling. Tom L apparently keeps a picture taken long ago of James K, Joe's son. I'm thinking Tom has a bit of a man crush on James, and was probably heartbroken to hear of James' wedding a couple months ago. Sorry, Tom, couldn't resist - you were giving me a rash of crap because I didn't know how to hold Arnie's iPhone. In retrospect, I guess I deserved it after I introduced you to Arnie as our resident a**hole. Maybe I should have softened the label by calling you our resident wiseass instead.

Paul O has been in many times, but seldom stays for long. This Saturday, however, he settled in for the duration. Paul works in the funeral business, selling pre-planned funeral arrangements. He is also gifted with a great sense of humor, and his choice of profession lends itself to many jokes and stories. So stop by often, Paul, we enjoyed hearing them!

Lou ringing up a big
sale - note the large bag
on the counter.
(Click to enlarge)

Lou was in an especially good mood since the cash register was ringing a lot, including a big sale of 5 lbs. of roll-your-own cigarette tobacco. That's Lou at the counter ringing up the huge bag of it. Whenever a customer walks out of the store with a bag that large, Lou's a happy man.

Vic mentioned that while he enjoys the blog, especially the photo of him that I doctored up last week showing him on his scooter with the bright purple handlebar streamers, I never include stories that poke fun at me. Now, be assured that I find myself in the barrel quite often, to use the terminology of the Hut. But...as writer of the blog, I exercise certain literary freedoms, and one of them is that I like to remain relatively unscathed and not draw attention to the barbs aimed in my direction. It's far more fun for me to recount the jokes at others' expenses. You are free, of course, to leave a comment on any of the blog posts if I've omitted anything!

Vic brought in a chub of homemade liverwurst from upstate New York. Joe brought in the crackers, and the feast was set up on the end counter. Quite a few people enjoyed the Braunschweiger, which originated in the city of Braunschweig in the Brunswick province of Germany. This particular liverwurst is made by a guy in western New York that Vic knows. Vic has brought quite a few chubs of liverwurst and other deli meats with him in his various travels from the north.

Arnie actually brought in
a full bottle of the blue-
berry Vodka, but it didn't
take long for us to drink
half of it.
(Click to enlarge)

Arnie brought an ice cold bottle of Norwegian vodka, Vikingfjord. He was telling us about it last week, along with Aquavitt. He didn't have any of the latter with him, but he did bring us a bottle of this blueberry flavored vodka. It's made with purified, distilled glacier water and it was quite good. I had a couple small shots of it and the blueberry flavor was distinct, but not overpowering by any means. It actually went well with the pipeful of G.L. Pease's Westminster I was enjoying. Indeed, in Arnie's honor, I was smoking a Nording pipe. Now Erik Nording isn't from Norway, rather Denmark, but it's all Scandinavia. The vodka did not go too well with the remainder of my Mountain Dew however.

Vic brought his cousin Russ in for a visit. Russ is visiting the Rochester, New York area and, we discovered after a bit, that he went to school (as did Vic) with a cousin of mine in Avon, NY. He's also friends with a cousin on my father's side, who also lives in Avon. Definitely a small world. Russ is a liquor and wine sales representative, so he and Peter had some common challenges to explore as Peter is in food sales.

Russ almost committed a fatal error by sitting in Lou's chair when he arrived. In Russ's defense, the chair was empty and I...well, I encouraged him to sit in it. Lou was more forgiving than I thought he would be, and after Vic fell from his scooter to one of the regular chairs, Russ took up his position on the scooter (sans handlebar streamers).

A shout out to Leah, Vic's wife. I became friends with her today on Facebook. I've looked for Vic on Facebook, but can't seem to find him there.

A little later in the day, Steve was talking to a customer about something I found interesting. The customer had suffered a heart attack a few months ago and is trying to maintain a healthier diet. Steve recommended he look at a website called Mark's Daily Apple. The creator of the site, Mark Sisson, has developed a "primal" diet. Acknowledging that humans have only been farming for the last 10,000 years, but began evolving millions of years before that, Mark eschews foods containing the various grains and sugars, instead favoring primarily meat and vegetables. I won't go into the whole diet and philosophy here, but check out his website. It's very extensive and understandable and makes a lot of sense. It boils down to a primal diet, i.e. eating what our ancestors ate, which was whatever they could pick or kill. Peter had asked for the website from Steve, which he gave him, but I thought a wider audience could benefit from it.

Another shout out, this time to Jim C, and his new (to him) 1978 Corvette. Sorry I don't have a picture to show, but this is one fine looking - and sounding - machine. If you ever get tired of it, Jim, and just want to give it away, keep me in mind!

Paper bead necklace; beads
imported from Uganda.
(Click to enlarge)

One more thing...as many of you know, Paula has been making bracelets with paper beads that come from Africa. She has now just started making necklaces from the same beads. Bracelets are still only $5 and necklaces start at $20, depending on the size. I'll be adding photos of the necklaces to her website, Paper Bead Bracelets but, for now, you can see what the necklaces look like here.

That's it for this week.

 - Bob

P.S. In the weeks to come, you may see some unobtrusive advertising from Amazon along the right "rail" of the blog. I'm exploring ways to monetize the blog, but only if I can find a way to do it that isn't distracting and is relevant to the subject at hand. If you have any feedback regarding this, please don't hesitate to let me know, good, bad or ugly. Thanks!

Saturday at the Hut - 7/9/11

Saturday was a well-attended and fun-filled day at The Tobacco Hut. The roll call included Joe K, Peter G, Vic, Coast Guard Don (two weeks in a row for Don!), Barry (although he came later in the afternoon), and a newcomer to Saturdays - Arnie, Don's brother in law. And, of course, Lou and myself. A little more about Don and Arnie in a minute, but first, I think we need to change Vic's nickname to ScooterPoot or something.

Apparently, he tore a ligament in his left leg several weeks ago and was wearing a boot until it healed. Well, it didn't heal properly and now he's wearing a full hard cast over his foot and almost up to his knee. Lou signed it with a loving, encouraging message of good will ("Too bad, Lou"), but the rest of us were more interested in the little scooter Vic was tooling around in.

Vic's scooter with pretty
handlebar streamers.
(Click to enlarge)

Vic wheeled himself to the restroom and on his way back, Arnie surreptitiously snapped a photo of him trying to navigate his way out of the back room. (Lou, to avoid an ADA lawsuit, you'll probably want to widen the doorway to the back, widen the bathroom door, and install grab bars). We had talked about what accessories Vic should add to the scooter, like a big orange warning flag to the back, a cute basket in front, or chrome wheels. But I think the consensus was that he should add bicycle handlebar streamers. So, thanks to the magic of Photoshop, I have outfitted Vic's scooter with adorable purple and white streamers. I think Vic said he's hoping to have the cast off in a few days so won't be needing the scooter anymore, but hopefully he'll take our kind suggestions to heart and install the streamers before he turns the scooter back in.

I enjoyed a bowlful of Baker Street in a pipe I haven't smoked in probably ten years. It was a Savinelli unfinished tomato shape with Lucite stem. I obtained it when I worked at the Tinder Box in Columbus and smoked it so much at the time that it darkened up quite nicely. I added a coat of wax to it and buffed it up and, other than a few spots of putty, it's a good smoking pipe. I'll probably add it back into the rotation.

Coast Guard Lockheed HC-130H
based at Clearwater Air Station
that Don may or may not fly
or work on in some capacity.
(Click to enlarge)

This was Don's second visit in as many weeks, but he'll be shipping off to North Carolina, so it will be awhile before we see him again, I'm afraid. For the next couple days, Don is stationed at the Clearwater Coast Guard station but, my apologies to Don, I can't remember if he said he works on or flies a particular type of airplane. He was talking with Joe about a certain plane last week. I know he said he flies, but not sure if he flies for work or pleasure. In any case, I located a photo of a plane that is based at the Clearwater station and include it here for your viewing pleasure. (The photo was taken at an air show somewhere, but doesn't look like Florida). Trivia time: What is the Coast Guard's official motto? It's Latin, and bonus points if you can translate it. Answers at the end of the blog.

Don's brother in law, Arnie, is a pilot for Continental Airlines. He is also originally from Norway although Vic and I tried to place his slight accent as Scottish or Irish at first. Arnie has lived in the States for quite awhile now, in Pennsylvania, but is looking to relocate to Florida sometime in the future. One could say that by migrating from Norway to North America, he has followed in his ancestors' footsteps, since the Vikings actually discovered North America before Columbus did. Archaeological digs in Labrador and parts of Newfoundland prove that the Norse lived in North America five hundred years before Columbus "discovered" the New World. Truth be told, neither Columbus nor the Vikings actually discovered America. Various indigenous tribes had been living here quite happily for thousands of years before any Europeans set foot in the Americas.

Continental 767 similar to what
Arnie flies.
(Click to enlarge)

Arnie flies 767's on mostly international routes and, in his honor, I have included a pretty cool photo of just such a plane. I stole the photo from someone's website, thanks to Google Images. It shows a heavy layer of condensation accumulating on the wings and in the engine intakes.

Arnie had lots to say about life in Norway which, as is most of Europe, a socialist capitalist society. I thought I would no longer be the lone liberal in the room when he explained that for years he always leaned more to the left, but now has swung over to the dark side (my words, not his) and is more right-leaning. Joe erupted with a "Thank you, Jesus!" and when Arnie identified himself as a Christian, I knew I was once again the token Godless communist in the room.

Peter is doing well in his new position as food service sales representative, having opened a new account this past week. I told him that Paula and I were headed to Mr. Souvlaki in Tarpon Springs for dinner. By the way, we ran into Undertaker Tom at the restaurant. He advised the waiter to watch out for me, as I was one of the biggest "dine and dashers" in the county. Thanks Tom, I felt like I had to tip extra big to make up for the guy's newfound suspicion of me.

Arnie and Don spoke at length about preparing various foods. Don apparently has a 1000 lb. meat smoker and Arnie explained how to salt and age various meats. Peter, Vic, and Joe were all salivating, especially when Arnie was talking about preparing and cooking leg of lamb. It was all quite interesting, even to someone like me who can barely make Jello without burning it.

Aquavit, or akevitt in Norwegian,
served in traditional tulip-
shaped glasses.
(Click to enlarge)

Arnie also had everyone salivating about aquavit, a vodka-like spirit that originated in Scandinavia and is obviously one of Arnie's favorite drinks. He has pledged to bring some one day for us to sample and I'm sure if we announce it ahead of time, the Hut will be packed that day. Akevitt, as it is spelled in Norwegian, is distilled from grain or, as is the case in Norway, from potatoes and blended with spices such as caraway, cumin, and anise. A little research on Wikipedia discovered that, although many Scandinavian countries drink aquavit, Norway's production and consumption of it is unique. In fact, Arnie mentioned that the akevitt is aged in oak casks that are transported by ship from the colder northern latitudes southward past the equator and back north again, to gradually change the temperature of the liquor, all to assist in the proper aging.

We watched as Derek Jeter got his 3000th hit, becoming only the 28th player in major league history to accomplish that feat, and the second to do it with a home run (Wade Boggs doing it first, as a Devil Rays player). Vic was kind enough to call Barry at work to let him know we all witnessed history while he was digging a ditch. Barry came later in the day, but everyone had left by that time except me. Sorry you missed the fun, Barry!

That's it for now. Safe travels to Don and Arnie and hope to see them again soon. Arnie said he would try to make it next Saturday and Vic was hoping to as well, but after seeing the above picture, he might stay away for awhile.

Oh yes, the Coast Guard motto is Semper Paratus, which is Latin for "Always Ready", not to be confused with the Marine's motto, Semper Fidelis, or "Always Faithful."

Until next week...
 - Bob