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gord

Lifer
May 1, 2024
1,891
24,132
Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
Hiatus Update: My "holiday" continues, but all my berries and cherries are now picked, frozen, dried and now I'm canning the rest as jam and preserves. Will be visiting a couple of local lakes over the next week with whatever buddy wants to use my second zodiac (actually have two - one small 6'6", which fits inside the larger 7'6" and they both then fit in an 8' pickup box just perfectly, with all of the fishing gear fitting inside the stacked zodiacs). I have no shortage of takers, either.

I'll catch enough fish to fill all of the rest of my empty canning jars, then get the smoker out. Lots of work, but the benefits will be immense. Don't need to hunt this year, have enough venison and turkeys (a friend of mine farms them, and trades me a few for venison and/or bear.) Don't need to do much shopping this winter, either - considering wicked food prices, that's a positive.

Nuff of all that until Skippable Drivel. I'll let you know the medical update then, too.

Smokes? Pretty much my usual flavoured cigars, Phillies Blunts and Kwiki Grapes. They go better with the canning, freezing and drying tasks. Usually only one small pipe per day, and the best smokes have been with my vastly underused Ropp J05, with both Black Frigate and Bengal Slices, and the pipsqueek McQueen Miniature Prospector, which dotes on my own Balkan Mix, and TobaccoBarn's Traditional English.

I'll smoke basically English and a few codgers until I'm off the meds and have some tastebuds back again. Skippable Drivel below for a few yard shots that are worth posting.


IMGP6152optJ06Eng.JPG


Skippable Drivel: In the cleanup of my disaster area, I dug out my old 6mp Nikon D50, the first DSLR I ever bought in ancient times. Had it converted to InfraRed back in the early days of digital, when I bought a Pentax D3, because it was compatible with all of my Pentax Lenses. I switched from Nikon to Pentax for this reason, and still shoot film with the Pentax MX, probably the best film camera I've ever owned. Here's a couple of yard shots in my private park: flowers are now fading, as fall approaches, but these were still prime; a wild rose (got lots of them) and some kind of blue flower that I don't know the name of.

IMGP6160OPTROSE.JPG

IMGP6183BluebellsOPT.JPG

And here's a couple of infrareds taken with the old girl Nikon, a shot of the local winery's grapevines (just below the 97 North Highway and the cutbanks above the Nechako, which I've shown often but not in this context), and my new picnic table along one of my garden pathways, this one leading to my front driveway, and under the shade of a big tree. Nice place for a smoke! Traded another unused flyrod for the table. Win/win!

DSC_1071 (Copy)OPT.JPG

DSC_1113PicnicTable2IRopt.JPG

With respect to a health update, the surgeon was extremely pleased with the progress of the operation. Success . . . . . but . . . . . . he wants me to continue the meds for another 3 weeks. So, it's gonna be small pipes and monochromes until the tastebuds return and the ear infection quelled. More whining on that later in a few days when I'm back to normal participation. Cheers.
 
Last edited:

Choatecav

Lifer
Dec 19, 2023
1,894
18,319
Middle Tennessee
Hiatus Update: My "holiday" continues, but all my berries and cherries are now picked, frozen, dried and now I'm canning the rest as jam and preserves. Will be visiting a couple of local lakes over the next week with whatever buddy wants to use my second zodiac (actually have two - one small 6'6", which fits inside the larger 7'6" and they both then fit in an 8' pickup box just perfectly, with all of the fishing gear fitting inside the stacked zodiacs. I have no shortage of takers, either.

I'll catch enough fish to fill all of the rest of my empty canning jars, then get the smoker out. Lots of work, but the benefits will be immense. Don't need to hunt this year, have enough venison and turkeys (a friend of mine farms them, and trades me a few for venison and/or bear. Don't need to do much shopping this winter, either - considering wicked food prices, that's a positive.

Nuff of all that until Skippable Drivel. I'll let you know the medical update then, too.

Smokes? Pretty much my usual flavoured cigars, Phillies Blunts and Kwiki Grapes. They go better with the canning, freezing and drying tasks. Usually only one small pipe per day, and the best smokes have been with my vastly underused Ropp J05, with both Black Frigate and Bengal Slices, and the pipsqueek McQueen Miniature Prospector, which dotes on my own Balkan Mix, and TobaccoBarn's Traditional English.

I'll smoke basically English and a few codgers until I'm off the meds and have some tastebuds back again. Skippable Drivel below for a few yard shots that are worth posting.


View attachment 410953


Skippable Drivel: In the cleanup of my disaster area, I dug out my old 6mp Nikon D50, the first DSLR I ever bought in ancient times. Had it converted to InfraRed back in the early days of digital, when I bought a Pentax D3, because it was compatible with all of my Pentax Lenses. I switched from Nikon to Pentax for this reason, and still shoot film with the Pentax MX, probably the best film camera I've ever owned. Here's a couple of yard shots in my private park: flowers are now fading, as fall approaches, but these were still prime; a wild rose (got lots of them) and some kind of blue flower that I don't know the name of.

View attachment 410955

View attachment 410957

And here's a couple of infrareds taken with the old girl Nikon, a shot of the local winery's grapevines (just below the 97 North Highway and the cutbanks above the Nechako, which I've shown often but not in this context), and my new picnic table along one of my garden pathways, this one leading to my front driveway, and under the shade of a big tree. Nice place for a smoke! Traded another unused flyrod for the table. Win/win!

View attachment 410959

View attachment 410961

With respect to a health update, the surgeon was extremely pleased with the progress of the operation. Success . . . . . but . . . . . . he wants me to continue the meds for another 3 weeks. So, it's gonna be small pipes and monochromes until the tastebuds return and the ear infection quelled. More whining on that later in a few days when I'm back to normal participation. Cheers.
Good to hear from you, Gord...........
 

gord

Lifer
May 1, 2024
1,891
24,132
Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
Cast the “norms” patterns of others aside! Smoke what you like, when you like!

Absolutely! Great advice!

That's exactly what I've done in the past 4 or 5 months. But you have to find out what you like, first. That's the discovery process. I'm smoking less, but enjoying it more, in spite of contrainments. There's always a rock in the road. Part of the journey.
 

gord

Lifer
May 1, 2024
1,891
24,132
Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
A short break for a mug of black chai and a few coconut wafers. Those of you from Malaysia and Singapore will be familiar with these
View attachment 410828

Onto the next pipe - a Loewe saddle-stemmed straight Bulldog
View attachment 410829

With a bowl of Rattray’s Red Lion
View attachment 410830

We have a fantastic Oriental Import store in Prince George, believe it or not. One of the best I've ever seen, and I lived in Vancouver for a huge part of my life. Love those wafers, but do prefer Pu-ehr to black chai. Have to go pick up some coconut wafers, now. And some black chai. Combo sounds great!
 

JimInks

Sultan of Smoke
Aug 31, 2012
70,156
802,365
A third of a bowl left of year 2024 Edward G. Robinson's Pipe Blend in a 2014 Basil Meadows smooth slight bend squashed tomato with an aluminum band and a black pearl acrylic stem in the military mount style. Fed my cats. Feeding the ferals was tougher because three neighbors are mowing their lawns right now, and the noises are scaring the cats. I managed to get Daisy the Feral Princess and Harry the Hairy to come out from under the deck to eat. Daisy came in for wet food, and Harry is in, too. Dunno where Tomato the Brave is hiding, but he'll likely show up after the lawns are mowed. Ice water and bergs is my drink.
Basil_squashed_ tomato copy.jpg
 
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