The Half Ashed Cigar Forum

Stewmuse wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 22, 2019 12:26 am

80lbs/Sq foot @ 4”??? Nah... the 4x8x16 concrete blocks I did some short wall building with are only about 30lbs. Regardless, it’s still a LOT of weight held up by pretty thin wooden stakes/posts.

I checked and you're right. My number is for 6" slabs. 4" are around 55#/SF

I was hanging out with The Dude today in Palo Alto and noticed this weird little plant....

Kip wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 09, 2019 4:20 pm

I was hanging out with The Dude today in Palo Alto and noticed this weird little plant....

20190409_111746.jpg

That’s certainly one way to keep the bugs from munching on you!

Looks a bit like a fly trap plant

The coffee rust, a disease, has decimated the coffee grown here. The government was painfully slow to respond and help out the commercial growers with knowledge, training, and resources, so the annual production is tiny compared to even 5 years ago. I keep seeing new impacts as time goes by - coffee plots being burned to clear land for cattle, higher prices, total lack of coffee in the campo, etc.

I knew there was a great deal of coffee imported here, but today learned its more than 75%. This is a coffee growing nation that has to import 75% of the demand. Astounding.

Worse yet are the stories of the big production houses mixing their ground coffee with a percentage of corn filler to make it go further....I wouldn't have believed that except I'm suspicious because whole coffee beans cost about 20%-30% more than the ground package of the same blend.

At least my friend Amado is single-handedly reforesting several acres with coffee plants....

Sent via Caribbean smoke signal

I don't know how I missed so much of this thread...but here goes;

That parking pad, firstly, is crazy ! Maybe ha has some steel beams that he wrapped with wood, to make them match the lamdscape ?

Second: that sucks for the coffee issue. For a country to import that much, you would think they are in a cold climate. Odd.

For 11 years, I met a group of 5 other guys every Saturday morning at 7am. It was, at its core and in its origin, a faith-related thing - but unlike any similar group I've ever been a part. Every Saturday we had bagels and coffee, shared time, talk, joys, and problems - but it was far more than that. We camped, fished, (4 of the 6)smoked cigars and pipes together, spent untold hours gathered with our respective families as one family around campfires, grills, and pools....we were/are all integral to each others' lives. We were *tight*. Still are, for the most part, even though I don't get to talk to some of them very often now.

I just got the call that one of my Saturday guys died this morning, very unexpectedly. He was only in his early 50's. I'm in utter shock, with an emptiness in my gut like I've been punched.



Sent via Caribbean smoke signal

Sorry, man. Good friends are hard to replace. Be well...

My heartfelt condolences brother

That is sad to hear, Kip. I feel for ya, buddy.