Cigars and Humidity, Kids and Airedales

Cigars, Humidors, Kids, and Dogs___

I figure that might be as good as it gets today....it's humid out, and I received a new batch of Cigars from the Smiley Face Cigar folks at Cigar International{see Mr Smiley in the right hand column}.

We have had a bit more rain overnight, and the humidity levels remain high, despite the continued drought{despite the recent rain}. It got me to thinking about the 100 or so new cigars in the basement...Should I unwrap them? Leave them in the cellophane wrappers? Load them in the 3 cigar humidors I have in the basement, or leave them in the Antique Room with my grandmother's old salt shaker collection and some other remains of her and other long gone ancestors lives' that reside in that corner room of the partially finished haven beneath my Pine Floors that were laid in the winter of 1923?....The 8 x 10 room in the northeast corner has the small Antiques, some personal framed photos, officiating equipment and clothes that are in the off season stage, and mountains of paper work for tax purposes that I have to save from my 5 years delivering RVs around the country as a Private Contractor....Now I put a humidity gauge in there, to see if it meets the requirements to house my Cigar Stash without the hassle of putting them in the humidors:

http://cigars.about.com/b/2006/05/17/humidity-and-cigars.htm

68 to 72% the man says, and my gauge looks to be saying 71%...it usually is pretty constant below ground level, I like the look of a Humidor on my Antique Desk upstairs, but the Cigars tend to get stale and dry upstairs....The basement has been the place for the humidors, but now I think I'll leave them in the wrappers boxed in the Antique Room....Cigars remind me of the late 1800s and early 20th century, so this room seems a good fit, to go with all the other ghosts that may inhabit the items there.

No games for a few more days. No Sam, he's at OSU in Columbus...he actually text ed me yesterday wondering who Earle Bruce was...seems Earle was being interviewed by the Big Ten Network and Sam was doing the camera work...of course Bruce was the Coach that replaced the fired Woody Hayes in 1978 and preceded John Cooper, who was replaced by Jim Tressel. For the younger Buckeye fans, Earle is the lost coach, everybody knows about "Woody" and all despise Cooper for his poor record against Michigan. Earl Bruce was a successful coach for OSU, and finished with a winning record, 5-4-1, against Bo Shembechler and the Wolverines. Anyway, Sam now knows who Earle is. His classes finally started at Ohio State today.

Anissa has been away, she returns tonight, and Hal is busy with his life down near Dayton now that he has finished his Masters at Wright State...of course he still is working on another degree with on-line courses from Penn State...hopefully when and if the economy rebounds{not as long as arsehole Obummer is in office I fear}hopefully he'll bring home enough to pay off the bills...I don't envy the kids in these times, the days of the 3% Student Loans are gone with the wind.

Anyway a semblance of "Empty Nest" has hit, albeit not in total yet...you'll see no tears from me. I love my kids, and they are good goods who didn't or haven't given us any serious trouble, no outlaws, no out of wedlock children, and no drugs or refusing orders problems. But I have to say, and told Patricia so last night, I am looking forward to the final chapters sans the everyday drama the kids seem to bring...and I'm sure the boys are thinking the same. For now, during the school year, during the weekdays, it's me, the dog, and the stupid cat...I'm not sure how much longer Reagan the Airedale will be around however, she is past her 11th year. We started raising Airedales back in 1974 with our first one Rags...we've had at least one, and usually more, since then. I have decided that Reagan will be our last dog...I know better than to say never, but that is the plan. They are expensive to care for, they are a pain when you want to vacation, and of course the biggest pain of all is when you lose them and have to say goodbye. For now, I cannot see me doing that any longer. It will be just me and that stupid cat! Once Reagan is gone.

I think I'll go fire up a Cigar before I shed a tear....back later>>>>

Photos-The 3 "torpedo" cigar types that make up my new supply, one which will get me through the winter, well into next summer, unless I smoke more than usual, which isn't likely to happen in cold weather, being the "outdoor only" cigar aficionado I am. The hydrometer says 71% humidity in the basement...good to go for the supply of new cigars. And me and my first child, Anissa, back in 1979...4 years earlier, in 1975, me and my first pure blood Airedale Terrier, Reagan(1975-1987) camping near Higgins Lake Michigan.

Airedales I have known

With the passing of Jack Drambuie(see previous post below) I look back on our Airedales since 1974.

Reagan then on the right Duke

1978-below-
Patricia and Rags with pups

Hal and Reagan 1999

Jose @ Farm 1987

Sam/Hal and pups 1985

Right Rag and Max tree a squirrel Dodge City, KS 1980

Rag and Max's Pups 1978

(Right) Anissa checks out Rags 1980





Max as a pup

Rag and me mug for the camera...well Rags was...I was half asleep..

prh

Passings

10:00AM

Jack the Airedale passed away overnight...one of those things you knew was coming, but leaves a sadness anyway....I buried him under the raspberry bushes in the back yard...joining LT, Duke, and Josey Wales....as permanent residents in the garden area....We have had Airedales on a continuing run since 1974...33 years since I purchased Molly Mop Rags on a farm near Houston, Ohio in November 74....I think we went 2 weeks without an Airedale in September 1996 between Jose's passing and bringing Jack home....his daughter Reagan, age 9, is who we have left.....along with the Cat....whom I'm sure it was Jack's regret that he didn't get one more chance to take her out before he left the world.

When we lived on the farm, we bred over 100 pups in a 10 year span.....some of Max, Rags, and Pippy's XXXXGreat Grandpups are still roaming houses and farms from Wisconsin to Idaho, to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and other states today.

Airedales

_________

Have had and raised Airedale Terriers since 1974. My first experience with the largest of the terrier breeds was back in 1963. We had moved from south Florida to the Celina, Ohio, area the previous fall....living on the west side of Grand Lake near the game preserve we had access to all kinds of wildlife and places to roam.

One morning our neighbor Hubert Becker(who had a large commercial Beagle Kennel) came over to the house and began telling dad about hearing dogs howling back in the preserve...we ended up going back and after some searching found two dogs...one was a Airedale(not purebred, but without a doubt mostly Airedale), sitting and giving a death moan while watching her partner a black and tan with his butt sticking out of a hole. What had happened(guessing here) the two were chasing a raccoon and the hound dog had followed the coon into a hole...once in, he couldn't get out....dad and Hugh pulled the guy out, put leashes on both dogs and headed back home.

Strange thing...the dogs had Michigan Dog Tags(at least 90 miles north)...after a few weeks, nothing in the paper, the dog catcher had nobody contact him looking for the animals, so we were a mixed Airedale and a Black and Tan richer(poorer)...Brownie and Blackie is what we called them...Blackie didn't last long, but Brownie stayed with us for a few years before passing away...I do remember she took out a few cats in the neighborhood, not exactly winning us any points with our area partners.

Brownie always stayed in my thoughts when I was on my own and decided what kind of dog I wanted....I raised coon dogs from Blueticks to Redticks to Walkers....those were my outdoor hunting dogs...after work a few of us would go out, take the dogs to the woods, drink beer and BS...the dogs would run...Hell we never cared if they caught anything...we didn't really like to kill wildlife anyway, we just loved to sit and talk and listen to the dogs run...even Patricia went with me on occasions...those days come flowing back like water over a fall.

Anyway when it came time for my dog of choice to be a house dog I looked for Airedales...hard to find, and rather expensive..but I found a litter which had 3 females left...this was November 1974...I went to a farm outside Houston, Ohio, and picked out a 3 month old female...and that is how our family love affair began with Airedale Terriers...before our kids came along, Rag and Max(a year younger and a LARGE dog, 100 plus pounds), were our kids...they went with us everywhere, from Wisconsin vacations to weekend camping trips to central Michigan...I think the only place they didn't go with us was on our Honeymoon trip to Florida.

When the kids came along, the Airedales took a back seat, but they have stayed a part of our family for well over 30 years...

The List of Houseworth Airedales that have shared our home:

Rags(1974-1986)

Max(1975-1988)

Babe(1978-1989)

Jose(1985-1996)

Pippy(1978-1986)

Jack(1996-2007)

Duke(1998-2001)

Reagan(1998-?)

And a few others that have been with us for varying amounts of time, until we sold them..or ? Will we have another after Reagan passes on? Who knows, we are getting up in age ourselves...pets, like kids, if you want to raise them right, take time and money.....but it's been worth the ride.

I should add we are not Airedale snobs...we've had our share of mutts and hounds, beagles, etc....we've shared our lives with lots of dogs.

So Long Jack![photo Jack sitting on the swing earlier this summer]

prh

Jack Drambuie

3pm

After working in Greenville this morning, longer than the usual 45 minutes to an hour....some material was, let's say, out of my eye...and it took longer than normal...but nothing big....I got home and took 11 year old Jack the Airedale to get his haircut....Jack is getting long in the tooth, has a large tumor on his side, and sad to say, this will probably be his last trim....he basically hangs out in the large dirt hole he has fashioned beneath the spreading tree next to the dining room window.....even though he's has a nice kennel and a dog box with plenty of bedding, he seldom goes there anymore, unless the thunder and lightning gets to be a little much.

I bought Jack after Josey Wales died in 1996, wasn't sure I wanted another dog, but Hal especially seemed more than bummed that Jose had passed on....so I went to northern Indiana and picked out Jack...the breeder had no females available, so Jack was it...little bastard puked in the van all the way home.....tried to make him a house dog, that lasted about 2 weeks....he likes it outside, and the fenced in back yard has been his land, except the few times he has managed to escape and run the town streets, usually with his sidekick the late L.T. the Beagle....who passed away a couple of summers ago at the ripe old age of 16.

Female Airedales(and most breeds) are much better house dogs and companions....so breeding Jack with Mick Szabo's(my college roommate and fellow Airedale breeder) Ivy brought us Reagan, the house dog...Reagan turned 9 last month.....so the pups are getting old.....and I suspect this will be Jack's last summer, hopefully he will at least get to enjoy the coming fall...but time I'm afraid is getting short for Jack Drambuie(that would be Jack Daniels and Drambuie the Liqueur).

Will pick up Sam at Van Wert around 7....he will head to Rootstown with me tomorrow to bring back the RV to Nappanee for repairs, and pick up his car.....Hal was in Cleveland working, called and said the Interstate(75) was a flooded mess this morning, but they were on their way back.....Patricia has her first day with students today.

48 years ago

___________Where were you when Hawaii became our newest and last state, if you're old enough that is? Not sure this is like the Kennedy shooting(9th grade Algebra Class) or Neil Armstrong stepping on the Moon(SP Barracks, Nha Trang, RVN)...but I do remember the 49 star flag only lasting a short while...the 50 star old glory was introduced when I was in 5th grade....I do remember early on, our 5th grade teacher having us do a report on the Hawaiian Islands.

Got to visit there on my way to Vietnam...about 45 minutes at the International Airport Bar.....Hawaii always held my interest when I was younger....so I decided to take my R&R there in April 1970...even though most of the guys were going elsewhere, I always wanted a week in our Island State, a Army guy from West Virginia, Denny Moneypenny, and I shared a room and some other expenses to keep our costs down....and got to see most of the Oahu and Maui islands....all in all, it was a good 5 day stretch back in the states....hardest part was stepping back on that plane and heading back for Saigon.

photos [Jack Drambuie in his early days]

[ a much thinner me April 1970 @ Honolulu Airport, getting ready to head back to Tan Son Nhut]

prh