Friday Thoughts

Bullets of thoughts for today:

• The Retiree's Cigar Group was a valuable and fun experience for me yesterday.  It felt like "normalcy" AND it was also fun.  I ended up getting there a bit later than I would have liked, but there were four of my friends there, and we talked and talked and had a very pleasant time.  As I have stated before, group sizes do impact how much I tend to talk in a group setting.  I am considerably more talkative when the group size is four or less.  Above four, I have a strong tendency to be a bit quiet, but still listen carefully.  It felt so enjoyable and relaxing, I ended up staying ~3 hours.  We laughed, joked, had some mildly serious discussion.... it ran the gambit.  Just, so very nice.  
• I ended up having a Cohiba Red Dot 6x60 cigar.  It was pleasant.
• I have been busy this morning with my usual "warning letter" to students..... to remind them that starting next week, there is a consistent pattern of a wide array of things that will become due and must be submitted electronically by the electronic deadlines.  The pattern I have talked about several times is consistent..... for example, in one class.....nearly every Monday a lab write-up is due, and nearly every Tuesday, a writing analysis is due about a research article, and nearly EVERY Wednesday, a physiology assignment is due, and nearly every Thursday, an anatomy assignment is due, and on nearly every Friday, an electronic quiz is due.  I have been stressing at the start of each class so far that it is extremely time consuming for me to adjust electronic due dates for individual students who miss a deadline, and that I DO NOT HAVE available time to do this.  This rather "fire-and-brimstone" approach to getting students to follow electronic due dates is my approach to TRY to limit the percentage of my ~250 or so students who will inevitably miss one or more deadlines to ~3% or less.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that my new "fire-and-brimstone" technique may work to accomplish this goal..... but I do suspect it may end up being an unrealistic "pipe dream" as usual.
• I am going to work at getting my weanling rodents up to snuff today as well.  I have several batches of new pups who are now at weaning age and I can sort them into groups for this Fall's work.  
• My SIL is going to be staying with us for a couple of days (starting this afternoon) because her husband (my BIL) is going to some sort of NASCAR event relatively far away.  This is my wife's sister with the health issues (kidney issues, diabetes, etc) that we often (with her husband (my BIL)) play euchre with quite often.  I am not sure yet if she will want/be able to... but I suggested to my wife that if my SIL is up for it, one of the things we could do is that we could go swimming.  I know my SIL misses swimming (she no longer drives, and lives too far away to usually do so, and her health challenges (surgeries etc) had been an impediment).  I am hoping she feels well enough that she can and will want to go. 
• While I ran at 5:00am this morning (it was a chilly 48 degrees (~9 C)) I wore a sweatshirt, and I decided to push myself hard.  According to my "gizmo" watch, I kept up a heart rate of ~175-180 through the run.  The "gizmo" watch also told me this workout was in the "highly improving" training effect level which was nice.  Usually, I run at a pace that typically only suggests a "maintaining" training effect level.  After I finished the rosary, I fell into deep thoughts of reminiscing about the pure beauty of the amazing bowlful of pipe tobacco I allowed myself to experience in Nevada (the mixture of M58 & SWR).  The vivid beauty of those memories helped me to NOT focus on the considerable exertion I was doing to stay at ~175-180 bpm.  
• I am SO damn close to having a clean and highly organized tool/work space in my "redesign" of my garage!  It is exciting to see it coming together, although the progress feels agonizingly slow at times.  The tools/work area are all along one wall of the garage (so we can still both keep our vehicles in the garage as well).  The area had always been a HORRENDOUS disarray of  crap strewn all over the place, with many things simply dumped into a lot of bins a plastic storage boxes.... so much so that I really never had any idea where anything actually was 90% of the time.  It had been aggravating me for a very, very long time, but the task was so daunting and my "extra" time always seemed too limited (and disjointed) to ever get things back up-to-snuff.  But, now (over the last four weeks), I have been forcing myself to "do what I can" in bits and spurts of time..... doing all sorts of things.... rearranging tables and shelves, actually hanging two cabinets on the wall, and going through the agonizingly  tedious tasks of sorting through and organizing all the various things (hand tools, fasteners, etc) AND putting them in logical and orderly areas in the work area!  It used to be that I would cringe and shy away from many home tasks.... not usually because of fear of not being able to figure out how to fix/do a thing..... but USUALLY, because I dreaded TRYING TO FIND and figure out where the tools I needed were in the mess.  I would often have to spend a good hour or two (at least) rummaging around trying to locate the needed items.... often for a task that would ultimately take ~20-30 minutes to complete when I had the supplies!  It was infuriating to me. 
• In the above sorting process in the garage, I also have now compiled a huge array of all manner of fasteners from over the decades (screws, bolts, nails, wall hanging hardware, washers, brads, and on-and-on).... that I realize that I probably could use some sort of organization device to help me sort and keep track of all the items.  The small cabinet show atop of this post is a relatively inexpensive cabinet I am contemplating potentially getting for this task.  I do feel guilty about buying the cabinet, so I am hemming-and-hawing a bit.... but I do think it would be helpful, so I am trying to nudge myself to actually order it and NOT consider it a frivolous waste of money... I am NOT quite there yet, but I am trying to turn my thoughts around.  I did find one for roughly $59.00.
• I am also beginning to use MANY more of the empty 1 pound pipe tobacco canisters I had been saving specifically for storage of garage items.  It makes me very happy to start using them (I have always used a couple, but I knew I had a couple of garbage bags filled with those beautiful canisters.... stored in the attic for just this exact plan.  As I mentioned before, many of these canisters were from my own consumption over the years, but some were from my Dad as well.  Well.... there was a very INTRIGUING find I had when I pulled down another bag of these canisters..... I found a tin of my Dad's that I DID NOT REMEMBER having.  It is a 1 pound size canister of Union Leader pipe tobacco.  I do remember the can from when I was a kid..... but MY DAD was not overly fond of Union Leader pipe tobacco (it was probably a gift given to him) so it was always way back in the kitchen cupboard used by my Dad to store his pipe tobaccos (whereas his favorite, big 1 pound cans of Sir Walter Raleigh and also Prince Albert were always front-and-center in the cupboard so my Dad could fill his pouch easily each morning before work (and I would quietly "sneak" samples myself as a kid)).  The Union Leader can likely was from the mid 1960s, as it has a more "old school" metal, press-in lid (much like old style metal gallon cans of paint have).  Most of these big cans of all pipe tobaccos transitioned to easier to open and close lids at least by the early 1970s.  
• But.... here is the SHOCKER.... when I pulled the can out of the bag, I was intrigued, not have seen it in a helluva long time, and not even remembering I HAD it...... I thought it would definitely be one to immediately use and display in the garage (to show more pipe tobacco diversity in the cans).  So, I got out a blunt edged table knife to carefully pry off the lid) and when I gently lifted the lid, I was shocked to see that it still had pipe tobacco inside!!!!!  It was roughly about 1/4 filled (maybe a bit less than 1/4) with Union Leader Pipe Tobacco!!!!  And..... and a DEEP, molasses tinctured aroma greeted me as well!!!!!   The pipe tobacco seemed to be in absolutely great shape.... and it smelled heavenly!!!!!! I was flabbergasted to say the least.  I suspect that over the years, my Dad would have a pipeful of Union Leader every once in a great while, and the ~1/4 can was what was left when my Dad passed away.  And, I never knew it was in there and forgot I had the can as well.  My mind immediately raced/rushed to the idea..... "It seems smokable!"  I did not do that, however, as I was worried and concerned that it may be "bad" or "spoiled".  But, I also peered around INSIDE the can.... and even though the EXTERIOR had some surface rust, INSIDE seemed pretty damn near pristine!!!!!  And, there was still the piece of "parchment paper" sitting atop of the remaining tobacco (many 1 pound cans of pipe tobacco would have a clean piece of some sort of paper atop of the tobacco, presumably to help with packing).  
• So.... the Union Leader IS NOT going to be used as a sort of "parts-bin" in my garage anytime soon.  Instead, I am am so curious and intrigued, and debating within my psyche, if I SHOULD try it, or if that would be ill advised.  I have a lot of thoughts on the matter, and I will have to try to sort them out.... but not today.  I need to get to my rat pups.

PipeTobacco