Good morning it is Sunday 9/17/17 a warm humid day here in Da Burgh . It has been a busy week , I was rolling cigars at the Smoke Stack in Moon Twp on Thursday , and at the Hopewell Twp. Blues & BBQ on Saturday. I was one of the judges for the chilie cookoff , an easy job for me , with only 2 entrys in the novice division and NONE in the pro s , there wasnt much to look at , the winner had the best looking presentation , but I liked the taste of the looser , out of 25 total points the looser got a 15 from me and the winner just 13 , , but with 6 votes , when the scores were counted the winner by 2 points was not the best tasting in my opinion.so I guess it was close on all the sheets . , had a great time at both places, As it is getting close to election season AGAIN , all the politico's were out in force . People running for office have no shame in asking for money & giving away tax dollars , but it is system we have and short of a revolution it will not change , it could be worse .
Grandson #2 has moved out of the family home and has his own place with 2 room mates , they are renting a 3 bedroom home not far from work in a very nice area I hope all is well, his mother is an empty nester for the first time in 22 years .... Now she will need to cook and clean all by her self with out help ....
Grandson #1 took his Fiat in for a recall , they had the car over a week , didnt have a rental or a loaner for him , and after all that time they still havent fixed his problem , for some reason the factory fix didnt take with his car, so the computer was checked
re-programed , checked again and re checked , same problem .... he got his car back but it still will not shift in Sport mode but runs fine otherwise , so just dont use the sport mode was what he was told , BULLSHIT fix it , its under warranty .... send a computer hacker to fix it ... if needed.
Friday I went back to my old stomping grounds , King Beaver Cigars , I have been out of there since a year ago May , Friday nights were BUSY , no seats ,open , many nights I went out to my car to bring in my camp chairs for customers, , times have changed , the place was almost empty , it was an event night with Estaban Carrias cigars , the brand manager was there with specials , and when I got there , 3 people were there , thats it just 3 , the poor gut drove 6.5 hours from his home for 3 guys , a few came in later but no one stayed , I left just after 9 PM and i was the last to go , I remember many Friday nights being there till 2 or 3 am . Times have changed , the inventory of the shop is about the same with a few new facings on the shelf and a new rack for sale items in the humidor . There is a new coffee pot but some one left old grounds in it for so long they had grown hair , I didnt make any coffee..... By snifter was still in my locker but the bottle of scotch was gone..... so I had to walk down the street to get coffee before I ran out with what I had in my travel mug.
Speaking of coffee we picked up five different one pound packs of beans at the great coffee shop in New Brighton Pa , Hallowed Grounds , is a great place so this morning we brewed up a new one a some what light roast of Burindi , it was just a sample size to see if we liked it , I think it needed a few more seconds in the heat to darken it just a bit , but the wife liked it .... end of story.
Breakfast was bacon and eggs with oatmeal bread toasted in the pan with a little butter , giving it an almost grilled cheese texture , just didnt feel like getting the toaster out. I did NOT make a pot of kona today , for some reason my taste bud were up for a HOLD YOUR BREATH.... Hazel nut flavored coffee, so why brew Kona when your going to add a few shots of Frangelicia to the coffee so I just made a pot of Columbian AA , seams like my sweet taste buds are awake , I even broke out the strawberry perserves for the toast today , , checked by blood sugar and sure enough I was low, seams like my body was telling me what i needed with my taste buds ..
as the summer is coming to a close the road crew has finished up some of the pot hole patching , , just in time for the new season of freeze and thaw to distroy all the patch work,,,, welcome to western Pa . where the truckers have voted it and espiccally interstate 80 as the worst road in the country ! HEY were number one again hahahaha
the road I live on has seen a lot of big rig traffic this summer as the gas industry is drilling wells and putting in pipelines , the roads have been taking a BEATING the intersection's are crap , with the heat of the summer the heavy loads and heavy braking the road is like a wake behind a speed boat , , with mounds and valleys from between the tires as they sit in traffic sinking into the soft asphalt. and the patching STINKS , I was out with a cigar for a walk and the aroma of the asphalt permeated the air so bad i dad to stop the cigar as all i could taste was the asphalt , I am glad it was just a yard gar , not anything expencive , but it was a still a 5 buck stick that went to the recycle bin still about half a cigar left not the tiny nub I am am left with on a normal smoke , even the coffee had that taste , glad i didnt open a good single malt !!!
I will be grilling some pork chops and peaches today along with a potato and onions , its to warm to turn on the over to give the boss her hunk O beef today and since I have the smell of yesterday BBQ in my mind , I will take advantage of the BBQ sauce I picked up yesterday.
I will be lighting up a Maduro Churchill I made yesterday very soon , after that i have no idea what will be next. Enjoy, Vince
