Sunday Morning Smoke

DAMMMM sounds great & the #3 is MY morning smoke & has been for many years !!! Enjoy, Vince

good morning from da Burgh, it is Sunday 18 November 2007 & we had our first measurable snow fall of tthe season this week , about a half inch on the grass but the streets didnt get as much more of a coating than any measurable depth , but it did snow, & the trees are still holding there leaves , , cant rake them when they are still on the branches ! ( yea like I will rake them when they hit the ground anyhow hahahaha )
The shop has had its good & bad days this past week, monday was better thanb a lot of past mondays & friday was a killer, the place was packed all most all day, a regular groupe from Penn State (Beaver county Campus ) & a second group from Geneva Collage all stopped & with the friday night regulars we went through 6 pots of coffee , dammmmm thats a killer on the coffee budget ! but with the increase in sales I think I will be just fine ! hahahaha , lets face it coffee (after water for the humidors ) is the life blood of the cigar shop no matter if your in Pittsburgh or Chicago, from NYC to L.A. coffee runs the machine & when you have the right coffee & the right Cigar , no IRS agent can upset your mood , cause when its right , nothing can get in the way of ENJOYMENT ! Lets face it if you didnt enjoy it why would you be doing it ?? hahahaha

with the holiday season closing in on us I have increased the inventory in the shop, & am taking advantage of a lot of sapecials from the reps, close out humidors will be on sale as soon as they get in the shop, , still havent got a web site built just way to much going on the place is just busy & when its not hustling & bustling I need to sit on my formerly Fatttt @$$ & rest a bit , just aint as young as I was 20 years ago hahahahaha

I sould be up & running in the Qtr.Deck , WIRELESS this afternoon Travis & Ginger will be stopping by to hook me up so maybe next sunday I can do this entire thing in one setting with my Kona & Don Carlos #3 in hand , BUT I have learned never count you chickensd ......

This past week has been a strange & wonderful time here in da burgh, the trees are dropping leaves, the snow is comming down & the Qtr.Deck is warm & inviting dammmm cant get much better than that , But this past thursday I was sitting all alone in the Qtr.Deck , no one stopped by for the thursday night smoke & scotch , Not that I am complaining I was smoking sipping scotch drinking coffee & listening to jazz on the CD player, now how could you complain about that ! , My wife was at Bible study , it was cold & raining & I was sitting in my easy chair, all warm with out a care in the world as long as she wasnt home hahahaha, no Honey do this or that , when she is at Bible study I am in heaven hahahaha , I know I shouldnt make fun of her for wanting to learn more aboutthe bible , but I enjoy my time away from her a few hours a week, after 37 years together I will need a break from time to time, like EVERY THURSDAY , & when I am at the shop she is just a phone call away, she hasnt been calling alll that much anymore , as I have told her again & again we need the line open to get the credit card & fax machine to work, ( we dont have a fax machine hahahah ) , right now I need to recieve a fax, she is talking & talking , & I am agreeing with what ever she has to say, YES DEAR I am listening , No dear I am not answering you in a condecending tone I am on the computer right now, dammmm did I just type wht I was saying dammmmm I got to take a rest , cant do this & talk to her at the same time for sure , , I will close the door & see if that helps, with out starting WW3 , no help she is still talking , , , , , , , I went out got the sunday paper , gave it to her & now all is quiet, she is reading the paper, dammmm I spoke to soon, now she is reading me a story from the paper , dammmm I dont seam to be able to get a break this morning ! .......
phone rang , it was the daughter , now she is talking to her mother, I GET A BRAKE!!
I havent been cooking all that much this past week but today I have a small hunk of beef, a little tip roast that will slice down into a sanwich later today , a little gravy & we have supper
I know I need to heve my diet looked at by a pro, I am getting a side view of my self & I dont like the looks , starting to fill out again & have gained 6 pounds , dammmm I worked to long & hard to slip back into the old habbits again, NO more eggs custard pie or pumpkin cookies , dammmmmm its tuff staying thin , but I guess it will be worth it when I am still alive at my grandsons wedding !, at the rate I was going I might have not seen his High school graduation !!

right now we are getting a lot of fly by night Fundraisers comming into the shop wanting to place candy on the counter for a "donation" , & when I asked how much the adminastration of the fund was & how much cash makes it to the said charity , he told me about 5% , FIVE % just 5 cants on every buc, got to pay for the display box , the candy it self& there is paying me for my time placing & collecting everything, so I ask him if this is all he has as a source of income , bragging he said yea man last year I reported to the IRS a personal income of 58K , well I guess your just a professional panhandler letting the charity of others pay your way, well he saw the way I was thinking , picked up his display & left with out saying much more , SCUMBAG !, 5 % to the chariity, 95 % for him, what a joke , & then there was the guy selling a "Discount " book, for 25 bucks with thousands of cupons for by one get one free deals at local eating & drinking establishments & out of the 25 bucks 50cents went to the drug task force for crime prevention, I never heard of the local drug task force , an other $$$$ maker to work on the sympathys of fools arround the holidays ,,,,, Oh what a world we live in
GASis hold ing at $3.09 a gallon right now , but who has any idea what it will top out at , oil futures are selling at 250 a Barrel for light crude, well right now crude is about 90 bucjs a barrel so if some money manager is buying futures at 250 hoping the price hits 300 well we are all in for a REUDE reality check, , I better hit the lottery when I can still afford to buy a ticket hahahaha !!
I have no idea what happened yeaterday, I had a Honey do list a mile long , most of it was running here & there, picking up dropping off & all the reast of the stuff that needs done from time to time & they were all short trips & would involve a great deal of time as I have been known to BS a bit at all the stopps , so i didnt light a cigar in the car as I know it will be out & cold when I get back to it , nothing worse that a cold stinky cigar on a wet rainy day , so by the time I got home to rewire the stereo with the new heavy duty wires & reset the speakers , I found my self CIGARLESS ,,, , ALL DAY ! just think how may rollers I put out of work all by my self, well today will be a bit different, the heat is on in the QTR,DECK all ready , the beef is in the oven & I have a mug of Sunday Breakfast blend , ( KONA & a snifter of single malt ) HEy like the song said, its 5 PM some place right now !

Enjoy, Vince

good morning this Sunday after Thanksgiving , the 26th of Nov. 2007 it is a crisp cold day here in da Burgh & the boss has a few yard chores for me today since I will not be cooking ( leftovers ) & the Christams ligts need to go UP well I have a day of Honey DUE this & that today , its a wonder she is letting me take a few minutes to post this hahahah , the week was a strange one for sure, , Friday was a KILLER on my tired old body, I got up in the middle of the night , & had the shop open at 6 AM, for the crazy shoppers, I had Danish pastrys (store bought ) I am good but way to lazy to cook or bake for the customers , so there I was at 6 AM, coffee ready, ( 2 pots going ) & the lights were all on the flags were all out & the sign was lit OPEN, well by 9 AM I had moved only a hundred bucks worth of product & by noon it haddent changed we put windshield flyers on a few hundred cars at the local shopping mall & gave a big discount if they brought the flyer in, well, it was a waist of time & money, not one was returned ! , oh well it was a good day anyhow , but not the tripple sales we were told were going to happen, it was just a Normal friday with out being open at 6 am & closing at 11:30 PM, we didnt sell much after 10 PM to be worth staying open, dammmmm it was a LONG DAY , but I did have a good time, 6 pots of coffee, ( not all mine ) a tray of danish, & JAZZ all day & the better part of a bottle of scotch was comsumed by myself but since I started early in the morning ( about 7:30 ) & didnt have more than one drink per hour, I was in FINE shape to go home since I didnt have a drink for the last 3 hours I was at work I felt fine ( I know NOT to drink & drive ) & 3 hours & a pot of coffee were just what I needed, but I would have had the coffee with out the scotch anyhow ! , it might have been a disapointing day sales wise but it was a good day friendship wise, we had a good bunch of guys & gals in all day, the storys told & lies believed, the BS was so deep we all went home to get our hip waders hahahaha
a lot of Football was on the tube & we were watching the game with the sound off & Jazz in the background, a GREAT way to watch foot ball, who wants to listen to the anouncers tell you just what you are looking at , with all the instant replay who needs announcers, just show the dammmm game & shut up, now Radio thats a whole different way , it needs a voice to tell you what is going on , a great radio announcer might not make a good Tv announcer , for TV you need to SHUT up & let the people at home SEE what is going on , To much BS from the booth & not enough back ground from the color guy, just let the dammm game play it self out. well thats my small rant for the day !

I am still in the house posting , the wireless set up isnt set up yet, maybe soon but who knows , one day I will be posting from the Qtr.Deck Maybe hahahaha


it is a crisp cool morning here 7 soon I will be going out to finishe the yard work & put up the lights right now my wife is going through the closet 7 pulling out the decorations, dammmmm where did all the lights come from, looks like a GRISWALD Christmas here , but dammm all I want is to string a set of the new LED icecycle lights from the roof on the deck a few spiral trees & we are done, BUT NO she wants this & that & this & that & more this & that, dammmm woman enough is enough!!!!!!!

Wenow have a NEW employee at the shop , Randy retired from the PA state police after 25 years of keeping us safe on the highways of Pa. well for his retirement gift we gave him a set of keys & a password for the alarm system, & told him he started saturday at 11 AM , , he was there & did a fine job ,but needs to improve in his coffee making skills ! hahahaha , now we dont have to pay for a seperate secutity officer hahahaha
, well thats about all I have this morning , you all have a safe weekend & dont DRINK & DRIVE , you might hit a bump in the road & spill your drink ! hahaha Enjoy, Vince

Good morning , it is Sunday DECEMBER 2, 2007, December all ready seams just like yesterday it was July & we where complaining about the heat, well Now we can complain about the ice & cold , complain , complain , thats about all we can do about the weather, , unless we move to some place that is just one season all year long, then we would complain about being Bored with the weather , must be part of our nature to bitch about stuff we have no control over ! hahaha well it is a freezing rain this morning here in da Burgh , I went out to get the newspaper & turn on the heat in the Qtr.Deck & it was 38F inside , well its just before 10 am now & by Noon it will be 70inside , I would be happy with 65 & a long sleeve flannel shirt but 65 my hands get cold , & here I go bitching about theing I have no control over, you get OLD the circulation isnt as good as it was , & the smoking constricts the blood vessels exeserbating the condition , dammm where the hell did that word come from, shit man , looks like I got to stop hanging out with my educated friends , it might be rubbing off again, , I dont want to loose my style as Bloofy has said , I might not have the greatest spelling or grammer in the world but I do enjoy spinning my little rant every Sunday morning, well the clock is hitting 10 AM right now & I have just finished a fine breakfast of one slice of Bacon & one egg, , I am sipping a cup of Holiday blend coffee, , it has the slighest touch of peppermint in it, , Not exactly what I had in mid but that is the coffee the wife made, I didnt dare say anything, so I just shut up & drink it, , later when the taste buds clear & I head out to the Qtr.Deck, I will be taking a POT of Kona with me & a Don Carlos #3 , that is what MY taste buds are waiting for , & then after the Kona a nice pot of Kenya AA to go with my afternoon smoke , to day it looks like it will be a Partagas series D #4 , I just have been craving one of them for a few days now, & today will be the day.

The wireless network is still in limbo, I am getting a 3 to 6 % signal in the Qtr.Deck, not enough to run the network out there , so we need to Upgrade the stuff or just hard wire the dammm thing, right now I can play games onn the computer out there but cant get on the net for anything, well that just dont hack it right now , so I just play spyder solitair ( dammmm what happened to my spell check ) hahaha
My buddy Travis & his main squeeze Ginger have been working on it but they have lives of there own & cant just drop everything to fix my minor problems, & speaking of minor problems , I have an outher frien ( yea thats right I do have more than just one ) , Jay , he is a buddy from the post office & he is going to stop over today & install my high neck kitchen faucet , now I will have room to get that BIG pot under it to cool down my" veggies"& grains , hahahaha, you all know to what I am taling about, & if you dont , well just go back & read about my hobby of making "Beverages" on the stove !

I have a meat loaf going in the over some time this afternoon, , I havent decided what style to make it yet, I have the ground beef, pork & veal , now I need to figure out what else to add to it , I could go south west & add some peppers or north east & add cranberrys , but we just had cranberrys for thanksgiving , , south east style & add some fruit like peaches , hummmmmm a Gorgia meat loaf, but I dont want anything sweet , maybe a slice of ham might add a bit of Old Virginia to it , or some crab to give it a Chesapeak bay theam , you know the more I think about it the more I am leaning to some dry fruit, I had some dry cherrys yesterday with almonds & they were tasty, but the boss isnt a fan of fruit in a savory dish, so thats OUT before I ever get started on it , , got to keep her happy, cause when she isnt NONE is !!!!!!
looks like it just might be a plain old meatloaf, with brown gravy & a baked potato , dammmmmm that sounds BORING, but it will keep PEACE in the home & if I want PIECE , I better keep PEACE hahahaha, dammmmmm after 37 years you would think I was tired of all that hahahahaha


the shop has been busy this past week, but not as busy as I had hoped it would be still slow enough to handle it alone, I like it better when we have 2 or 3 people wotking & waiting on customers all the time , BUSY , Busy , Busy , the time moves fast, the shelves get empty & the cash regester RINGS, dammmmm thats what its all about, No more Christmas sperit, Peace & good will tward your fellow man, Now its just a time of year to make the allmighty Buck, & I just dont like it, , I loved the Holiday season when I was a kid, putting out cookies for santa, going to midnght service , cause I got to stay up ( & would fall asleep on the way home ) , the best part about Christmas when I was a kid was going to my Grandmothers & all my cousins wiould be there & since 4 of them lived in Michigan we didnt see then all that often, , my Unles Bill could make the trip in 5 hours, but my dad took 12 to get there , I hated the long ride, Uncle Bill would get on the Turnpike, & fly low, my Dad took all the 2 lane roads going right throught the center of every town between here & there !my Mother wanted to stop & shop at all the little Interesting shops between here & there , & my Dad did everything to keep her happy ,, I guess I learned that from him hahahaha , amoung a few other things about life for sure, !

My daughers frien Paula bought a new half a duplex in Pittsbutgh & had an open house yesterday well we went & had a fairly good time , the new house is nice, the hard wood floors are just great looking & the place is a lot bigger inside that it looks , she is a Dietition & works at one of the BIG hospitals in da Burgh , she & my daugher went to High School together & have been friends forever it seams , half the time was spent here with us & the rest of the time they were at Paulas place, so they say anyhow hahahaha , well we had ann ok time there , they place got full of family co workers & friends & since I want allowd to have a cigar inside I froze my buns off outside, well it didnt last that long & I was able to convince the rest of the people in my car it was TIME to go home & that we did , still no cigar in the car, my daugher is such a PRISS about her hair, I just had it done & I dont want to smell like cigar smoke, dammmm kid you grew up with it , you should enjoy it now that your getting OLD ( she will be 35 next week, ) TRAMA UNIT alerted hahahaha


the coffee is almost gone & I am in the need for a few puffs on the Don Carlos #3 a little Jazz & then I need to get in the kitchen & figure out what direction I will be going with the meat loaf, barb said smoething about a Traditional , no frills lump of baked ground beef, dammmmm what a waist of good veal & pork , I just cant do Conventional, I NEED to be creative , I need to express myself, I need to do what I am told to do hahahahahaha so a Plain meat loaf with gravy will be the order of the day, BORING but its what the BOSS wants ! hahaha Enjoy, Vince

The Colonel said:

Got something against Joe's Bonyard sauce?

It's a cool evening, going down to about 62° or so.

I think I'll sit outside, get a fire going, and listen to the sounds of the desert. There's been a pesky mountain lion coming around damn near every night. I'm going to try to get a pic, or, if he decides he wants me for a snack, I'll have better than a pic. He'll be mounted over the fireplace.

I'm taking a Sancho Panza Sanchos out back with me.

Click to expand...

Better take the 357 with you also , or at lest a crowbar!!!

ITS RAINING AGAIN here in da Burgh, just in time for the Sunday night Football game on National TV , AGAIN hahahaha

I think there is a STEELER bar in Every town ! , the field isnt as bad as last week, I did see one punt BOUNCE hahaha, no sticky turf this week, but who knows what the game will look like in the end ! Enjoy, Vince

Good morning it is Sunday 9 December 2007 , & a wonderful cool damp day here in da Burgh , we have a few inches of wet snow & slush on the ground but all of the streets & walkways are bare by now, , not a good day for driving or walking, lots of fender benders & a few fatial crashes , a guy delevering flowers in his van did a 360 in front of a garbage truck & well lets just say that he had the flowers headed to a Funeral home, I guess he didnt know it would be his own ... R.I.P . Dale , you made the front page of the Paper yesterday , Dale was 62 & we had been in the Conway Area Jaycees together years ago , I havent seen him in 20 years or so , but he was a nice guy & it is a shame to die this young...... but who is to say , since we dont know what is next for us as we leave this vessel we call a body then & only then will the question be answered, is there life after death, is there such a thing as reincarnation, , then & only then will we know the answer........ but enough of the philosipy of the meaning of Life & lets get back to the reason we are right here right now, the Sunday moning smoke & a little news from the dining room table,

breakfast this morning was Home frys , bacon & a cheese omlet with coffee , no toast for me but Barb had an english muffin , & since it is Sunday the Coffee was Kona , I do enjoy it every Sunday but I like a fuller body coffee with my cigar, the Don Carlos #3 is good with the Kona , but a dark roast ITALIAN or Habanos Coffee will be next in the pot, I have a great selection of cigars to "TASTE " today , I will be heading out to the Qtr.Deck in a bit to start sampling , on todays taste list I have a Zino plat, Shorty , that will be paired with the KONA & it is first on the list, then after lunch I have a gift to try, Partagas series D #4 , that will go withb a single malt Islay Scotch & a cup of dark roast coffee of some sort . by then the Steelers will be kicking off the football game at the shop , the place will be packed as they are playing the undefeated NE Pats , well I am not a fallower of the NFL as much as I have been in the past, I was a season ticket holder back in the 70's & had a lot of free time every Sunday , since my daughter went to visit her grandmother every weekend , so I was free do do what ever I wanted well now I am the grandfather & I get to spend time with my grandsons & since my daughter & the boys father have divorsed they spend weekends with Dad & I get a rest hahahaha, well no big deal they have some what of an understanding of how life is & since both there mother & father have remarried, they picked up a whole new set of Grandparents , hey got to share the wealth, I picked up a 3rd grandson & a granduaghter, they are a little bit older & realy dont want to sit on granddads lap hahahaha
Last night my Brothers youngest son was in the Highschool play a Christmas story , not the orginal set in Bethlaham , but the adapation of the red rider movis, hey Ralphy youll shoot your eye out , verry well done & we had 11 seats with the "Family " a;ll being there , my wife & myself, her sister & husband with there 18 YO son , my daugher , he husband & the 4 kids of there extended family , the place was sold out SRO , about 250 seats in the small theater , every one was filled, ZERO no shows ! , hows that for a Saturday night & a 12 buck ticket per person, but it was wirh evey penny , but Dammmm this time of the year when my credit card is all ready black & blue from getting beat up by all the use its getting hahahahaha
I have some chops to work with later today , & some chilies, looks like a spicy Sunday meal is in the works today still havent thought all that much about it , I have a few hours before I need to make the final pantry raid , I am still working on the wireless hook up, , just need to find reciever for the Qtr.Deck that will work, I am only getting a 3 to 6 % signal out there so it is back to the drawing board & try to get some theing that will work, sure I can go to the store & BUY one system in a big box that will work but the idea is to make it a Project that takes up time & money & when the wife has had enough , she will call some one & buy the system , there is method to my madness hahahahaha

Nunbers at the shop have been a little lower than I had hoped day to day we are just about the same as last year, & with us just opening last OCT , I had hoped we would be running way ahead of last years numbers, , But I did have an offer of 400K for the business & building , now if they want to double it , I might find a way to sell it all ! hahahaha , as long as thet hire me to run the palce hahahaha, just trade one boss for an other & sit on my commission for the 800K sale hahahaha , notheing like a little nest eggs this late in life, the grandkids will be able to enjoy it more than I do hahahaha

I have been out Shopping , & dammmm I hate this , I am a BUYER not a shopper, just look at the list go get it & out the door you go, 45 minutes topps, give all the loot to my daugher to wrap & I am home free, I still have a few more "little ' things to pick up but now I need to wait till next payday since I spent my allowence this week hahahaha

since its almost noon & I am still in my robe & slippers, I better get this posted asap, I still need to go out & turn on the heat in the Qtr.Deck , get a shower & get dressed, its going to be a GREAT day here in da Burgh No matter what the Steelers do it will be OK with me, I have a set of betes today one with the steelers & the points & one with the Pats, well no matter how it works out , I will win one ( for a cigar ) & loose one ( for a cigar ) so it will work out fine for me, as I will be giving Both guys a cigar anyhow & getting one back, it is a WIN WIN WIN WIN all the way arround hahaha Enjoy, Vince