Cigars

I enjoy an occasional cigar - 10 to 12 a year?

It still feels a bit strange for my sons to buy tobacco products for me. (I continue to think of them as much younger people, not the adults they are.) But, this Christmas, both Brian and David shared some excellent cigars with their father.

On the left, the beautiful two-toned cigar came from a small shop Brian found in NYC. The shop has been in existence since 1891 and is owned by a family from the Dominican Republic. They still roll all their own cigars. Can't wait to visit the shop.

On the right is an H. Upmann Cuban corona that David brought back from one of his trips to London to visit Amanda's parents.

Both cigars were excellent. Thanks, boys!

Frost Heaves

Those bright red-orange signs have begun to appear - the first harbinger of spring!

[Image added later] It occurs to me that those people from away* probably don't know what a Frost Heave sign looks like.

* from away (adverb)
If you can't claim that at least three generations of your ancestors lived here (or if your ancestors are from here, but you've moved away and then returned) then you're from away. If you've moved here (even if from the next community) then you're from away. A regional joke states that, like children born locally to parents from away, "Hatchin' chickens in the stove doesn't make 'em muffins, does it!"

$3,050.06

...the cost to repair the damage to the truck caused by falling trees during the ice storm. The appointment is February 10 - ten days to complete the work.

Tree (Ten Days Later)

This is what happens to trees that deign to fall on OUR house!