My oh my.. It’s been awhile..
There was a time when I was very active on the blog posts and enjoyed doing them - whether or not they were actually being read.
For those of you that did enjoy reading them - I apologize for the completely unannounced halt I put on them. I don’t really have a good reason for why I stopped. I think I kind of just hit a point where I had too many things going on and started letting some things slip, or lost interest in some things. Which, in fairness to myself, is as good a reason as any.
Anyhow, this morning I felt like writing something. I don’t have a specific topic in mind, so I am just gonna ramble on a bit.
First off, I do think it makes sense to talk about cigars a bit. I mainly wanted to highlight some cigars I have smoked recently that have made an impression on me. The Casdagli Traditional 25th Anniversary - wowza. Anyone that knows me knows that I am not a high dollar smoker or a large cigar smoker. So I was reluctant to bring these onto the site, and reluctant to smoke one myself. Let me tell you, Casdagli and KBF nailed this one. It was an incredibly elegant, tasty smoke that burned forever and left me wanting to keep smoking.
The Artista Colorado Robusto and the Cavalier Tres Delincuentes Connecticut are on the other end of the price spectrum but, as far as I am concerned, they punch well above their price point and are cigars I could smoke daily.
Lastly, the Principle Cigars New Accomplice Line is a must try in all three blends - Classic, Maduro, and Connecticut. They are, in my opinion, an improvement on an already fantastic line.
Next topic.
The name of the site is The Cigar Farm, so let’s talk about the farm. Since my last post we have grown our Nigerian Dwarf Goat herd, Cedar Willow, to 6 goats - 3 does, 2 bucks, and 1 wether. The goats are my wife’s thing - I am just here for support and assistance. My wife successfully oversaw the first kidding on the farm in February - Piper had 2 bucklings and 1 doeling. We kept the beautiful doeling and moved on from the 2 bucklings since they couldn’t be used for breeding. Then we picked up 2 high quality bucklings that we will use for breeding.
My wife has been milking Piper daily, so that has been a fun experience. For the first few weeks we were consuming the milk. Our daughter absolutely loves it! However, once we got the 2 new bucklings, my wife started using the milk for their feedings, as that made the most sense.
Hopefully next spring we will have 3 kiddings and 3 does in milk. Then we would be able to have more of the milk for our consumption and for my wife to start experimenting with cheeses.
Other ramblings.
I haven’t been working in the shop on any guitar builds since winter. I have some builds I want to do - starting with another whiskey barrel guitar build. Part of this is that we have been so busy with other projects around the house and farm. Another part is that my shop is a mess because of having so many other things going on and me either not having the space, time, or desire to clean things up at the moment - I don’t like to start a new project until I have everything cleaned up and in order from the previous. We are going to work on finishing our basement/garage (my shop) here in the near future. So my hopes are that once that happens I will be able to get things tidied up and feel more comfortable working in the space.
The other big kicker is that I used to only work in the shop in the early mornings. That time was the best for me because I could get up while everyone was still asleep and have some productive, uninterrupted time. The problem is, in December, I suddenly have not had the ability to get my butt out of bed early enough.. I think some of this stems from not having an active project, which doesn’t give me a desire to get up and do some work - if I got up early, I would be spending that time tidying up, and that doesn’t sound desirable. The other part is, I swear once I hit 30 I suddenly started needing more sleep. Maybe that’s the case. Maybe it is as my daughter gets older, more active, and stays up a little later, I am just kaput come evenings and need more sleep.
The last couple things I think I will touch on are mobility and books.
At the end of last year I started working on my mobility. The driver for this is that I wanted to start doing some things to improve/maintain my body. I don’t have the drive for doing a bunch of cardio or strength training, and my main goal is to be able to move my body comfortably and effectively. I purchased the Master Mobility program from Strength Side and I will tell you that it was a phenomenal 12 week program. It was easy to make time for and highly effective (if you want to see my before and after pictures of how much it improved my flexibility, shoot me a message). I would highly recommend it. I am in my last month of their Move Strong Now program and it is a good program as well, however, I am a little less into it, admittedly. I think Master Mobility was so good because they have a nice app for it that makes it easier to follow and the time investment was a bit lower. I do feel guilty about my lack of commitment to the Move Strong Now program, but I have seen some gains from it and I think, once I am done, I will be combining some of both programs in a more self guided approach.
As for books - I have still been reading a good bit. Some of the notables recently have been Stoner by John Williams - this may be my favorite novel. I can see why people think it is boring, but something about the writing, the tone, and the story just drew me in. I think some of that is just how realistic and simple it is. That allowed me to connect in ways I can’t with other books.
I finally tackled a full length Dostoevsky by reading Crime and Punishment. I thought it was quite good, though I am not a literary expert and struggle with getting lost in older texts, so it wasn’t as mind blowing good for me as I thought it may be based on the acclaim.
Behave by Robert Sapolsky - this one took me quite awhile to get through, and though I couldn’t recall everything I learned from it, it was insightful, educational, and really really readable for an in depth nonfiction book.
One Breath: Freediving, Death, and the Quest to Shatter Human Limits by Adam Skolnick - my wife got me this on a whim for Christmas. I have never been interested in diving or followed anything about freediving, but this book was so interesting - in part because of my ignorance on the topic. It left me wanting to push my limits, which was great because it coincided with my mobility stuff.
Demon Copperhead - I absolutely loved this one. It put me through all the emotions and I felt completely immersed.
James by Percival Everett - I loved reading a classic from the viewpoint of a different character. Though some liberties were taken with the story, I still thought it was an enjoyable read.
Martyr by Kaveh Akbar - This is up there with Stoner and Demon Copperhead for me. I felt captivated and invested from the beginning. It showcased some beautiful writing and is one I will likely read again soon.
Alright, I think that’s all I have to say today. I don’t know how often I will be writing again, but I will hopefully be a bit more active again.
Take care!
-Trevor