Chrisb62
Well-known member
Happy Birthday Bob !
Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Bob Heine's Auto Emporium
- Thread starter Bob Heine
- Start date
Workspaces between 485 and 705 squarefeet.
jbmatth
Well-known member
Happy birthday Bob, congrats on making it to the 60th anniversary of your 21st birthday, I am thrilled to hear of the good news you received as well.
JB
JB
madison069
Well-known member
Happy belated Birthday Bob!
I seemed to have forgotten yours and my father in law's birthday yesterday, I blame it on the itchy insulation!
Those are some good news you've received!
I seemed to have forgotten yours and my father in law's birthday yesterday, I blame it on the itchy insulation!
Those are some good news you've received!
ajohno
Well-known member
Happy birthday Bob.
Can you believe the Zig Zag railway only reopened 2023 after a 10 year closure due to fires and political issues. I have been on it a few times even when my kids were young.
Can you believe the Zig Zag railway only reopened 2023 after a 10 year closure due to fires and political issues. I have been on it a few times even when my kids were young.
OutlawDrifter
Well-known member
Happy Belated Birthday, Bob!
Thanks for sharing the good news and the pic!
Thanks for sharing the good news and the pic!
Ford52PU
Well-known member
Happy Happy Birthday Bob hope it was a great one!!
gman007
Well-known member
Happy birthday Bob! And thank you for sharing the good news regarding your son and granddaughter’s husband health. Indeed that is fantastic gift.
gilr
Well-known member
Happy Birthday Bob! Wonderful news!! You need to celebrate by taking the Corvette or the Caddy for a ride!
Finallygotit
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Happy birthday Bob!
jon72vega
Well-known member
Bob,
Happy Belated Birthday!!!!!
Happy Belated Birthday!!!!!
MrPink
Well-known member
Happy belated old day sir.
Bob, Happy Birthday!! 
Thanks for the great writup and videos on the tug boats. I'm kind of a land lubber myself, even though I own three boats. Not one of them have touched water yet, but there's still time. I have a few fishing poles and tackle, but feel the need to go fishing with someone else, as I feel that I don't know what I'm doing. Ok, I can put a bobber on my line, a few feet up from the hook, bait the hook with an angle worm and hope for the best. Maybe that's why it took me many years to catch my first fish... From shore...
Fishing for Smelt in Duluth (or called, Smelting) used to be huge back when I was growing up. The population of Smelt have really decreased over the years, so don't know if it is still a thing or not. But that was done on the rivers. That and I've been away from Duluth for the past 40 years...
Thanks for the great writup and videos on the tug boats. I'm kind of a land lubber myself, even though I own three boats. Not one of them have touched water yet, but there's still time. I have a few fishing poles and tackle, but feel the need to go fishing with someone else, as I feel that I don't know what I'm doing. Ok, I can put a bobber on my line, a few feet up from the hook, bait the hook with an angle worm and hope for the best. Maybe that's why it took me many years to catch my first fish... From shore...
Fishing for Smelt in Duluth (or called, Smelting) used to be huge back when I was growing up. The population of Smelt have really decreased over the years, so don't know if it is still a thing or not. But that was done on the rivers. That and I've been away from Duluth for the past 40 years...
Miss the Pontiacs
Well-known member
Happy Birthday Bob.
You definitely can’t beat the good news you received in regards to your Son and Granddaughter’s Husband. That will take off a lot of stress by all involved.
Oh ya I almost forgot, nice hat.
Made you look very distinguished.
You definitely can’t beat the good news you received in regards to your Son and Granddaughter’s Husband. That will take off a lot of stress by all involved.
Oh ya I almost forgot, nice hat.
Made you look very distinguished.
Geoff289
Well-known member
Sorry to be a bit late but Happy Birthday Bob.
Happy birthday Bob!
Bob,
Happy Belated Birthday!!!!!
Roger, Floyd, Joel, Lou, @Prospecter, Chris, JB, Cody, Aaron, Marc, Dennis, @gman007, Gil, Mike, Dan, Jon, @zanyad, and Justin, Thanks so much for all the wishes. As Drives would say, it's good to be above ground.
Aaron, that ride on the Zig Zag railway was amazing (back in 1990, before all the troubles) and that unique smell of steam and coal brought back a childhood memory. I must have been 4 or 5 because my mother was holding my hand. Someone was coming to visit us on Long Island and they arrived (I want to say from the Eastern end of the island) and the train was being pulled by a monstrous steam locomotive. It had to be before 1955, when the last coal fired steam locomotive ran on the Long Island Railroad. It's a very distinct smell.
Rick, I love boating but the rest of my family is at best lukewarm. Two years in a row our Lake George island camping vacations included hurricanes. One of them included a severe case of diarrhea when the outhouse flooded and polluted the lake adjacent to our campsite. The final straw came when we were camping on the Fire Island National Seashore and a storm hit the day we were scheduled to head back to the dock on the Long Island mainland. Liane and the kids took the ferry and I played captain navigating through a bad chop on the Great South Bay. It's shallow so you don't get giant rollers, just nasty little waves that make for a bumpy ride.Bob, Happy Birthday!!
Thanks for the great writup and videos on the tug boats. I'm kind of a land lubber myself, even though I own three boats. Not one of them have touched water yet, but there's still time. I have a few fishing poles and tackle, but feel the need to go fishing with someone else, as I feel that I don't know what I'm doing. Ok, I can put a bobber on my line, a few feet up from the hook, bait the hook with an angle worm and hope for the best. Maybe that's why it took me many years to catch my first fish... From shore...
Fishing for Smelt in Duluth (or called, Smelting) used to be huge back when I was growing up. The population of Smelt have really decreased over the years, so don't know if it is still a thing or not. But that was done on the rivers. That and I've been away from Duluth for the past 40 years...
As a kid in Vermont I tried catching smelt with a dip net but the holes in the net were too big. I did much better trapping crayfish (bait to catch fish). I had good luck catching Perch, Bluegills and Crappies so my cat would spend less time trying to catch birds. Grandma didn't believe cats needed to be fed so if I didn't catch fish, she went hungry. The one time I managed to catch some smelt (with help from a friend who had the proper net) my grandmother, who grew up in Sweden, was thrilled.
Emil, those are the best presents in the world.Happy Birthday Bob.
You definitely can’t beat the good news you received in regards to your Son and Granddaughter’s Husband. That will take off a lot of stress by all involved.
Oh ya I almost forgot, nice hat.
Made you look very distinguished.
Like many of the hats I wore, that one distracted peoples' attention from some of my otherwise obvious flaws. Among the many gifts my father-in-law gave me was a real beaver top hat. One Halloween we dressed up as Sister Mary Lamb and the Reverend Race Cam. On the way to the party (55 miles from home) we got a little lost and a cop saw we were driving very slow and looking at street signs. He stopped us and offered to help us find the house. I didn't break character and said "Bless you offiser" when we got to the destination.
Geoff, no worries, and thank you. I feel as rare and awesome as a croc-free beach.
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PugetDude
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Belated Happy Birthday Bob. Sounds like you go the best presents you could ask for.
Grizz1963
Well-known member
Red faced belated congratulations Bob.
Here’s to a good year ahead.
Here’s to a good year ahead.
Ford52PU
Well-known member
Bob,
When the cop pulled you over, you and your wife should have started making out!!
When the cop pulled you over, you and your wife should have started making out!!
gearhead1960
ALLIANCE MEMBER
@Bob Heine sorry I missed your birthday, so I'm going for let's be early for next year....HAPPY BIRTHDAY Bob!
Trapps
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Another belated wish, Bob! Health and happiness for you, and Liane, in #82!!
Love the Sister and the Reverend gig! Mrs. Trapps and I love Halloween; we usually have a bit of fun with the the costume thing.
Love the Sister and the Reverend gig! Mrs. Trapps and I love Halloween; we usually have a bit of fun with the the costume thing.
Bob, thanks again for your writeup on boating and your skills on fishing. I don't know if I would ever want to experience a hurricane... ( A hurrycane??). Those scare the heck out of me. I can somewhat relate that to a tornado that happens around here. There was a family around here that used to live in Florida. Their house was destroyed in a hurricane. Enough, already, they said, and moved to Wisconsin. About two years later, their new house was destroyed by a tornado. Can't win, I figure. Bad luck was in their future, any way you look at it. I don't know them, personally, but wonder how they are doing nowadays. This happened about twenty years ago. The big tornado in Hammond, WI...
Scott, you nailed it. I can buy my own stuff but I can't buy health but I do spend a fortune trying.
Rian, thanks for that and you, of all people, get a pass on missing stuff. You're always busy as a
Dennis, one of us was afraid of going to jail and losing a job. The other [unnamed] perpetrator was ready to rumble. When we went to Scotland so our daughter could have a church ceremony in an old chapel in Gretna Green, I arranged for the limo company I used to commute to Northern Virginia. As we pulled up to our daughter's home that same [unnamed] person told me to drop trou and assume the position. Do you know how much psychic damage seeing your parents having *** does? I mean, I don't but I've heard....Bob,
When the cop pulled you over, you and your wife should have started making out!!
Marc, excellent decision. I just got my monthly planner for 2026 so I'll
Mark, thank you and I'm going to do my best to finish another trip around the warm side of Florida, sorry, the Sun.
Our first house was in a somewhat isolated 150-home development and just about everyone had children. We had huge Halloween celebrations at the community playground/baseball field. It was always held on the Sunday before, on or after October 31. My Captain Hook costume won first place (gallon jug of Gallo Wine) but no one seemed to get my one-armed paper hanger costume (all white clothes, white brimmed cap, bucket and a couple of wallpaper brushes). These days we're lucky to have one group of teens Trick or Treat our house. I mean what could be more inviting than an old man with an eye patch and ****** stump inviting you to come closer?
Rick, we've always lived near the coast and have been through a few dozen hurricanes over the years. We even had one visit while living a few blocks from the ocean in Australia. All you can do is be prepared. If it's really bad, time to get out of Dodge but sometimes you just ride it out. Two hurricanes visited us when we were camping on islands in Lake George. With no warning, a wall of water crossed the lake and hit our campsite. I was cooking bacon for breakfast on the camp stove at the time so we had boiled, nearly cooked bacon for dinner.
Maybe those people wore something Mother Nature didn't like. I think the Amish may have figured that out. Sorry, we watched Witness last night.
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I think I have a smoking hot wife. Perhaps I should elaborate....
Liane is always cold. She puts a sweater on before we leave the house. The inside of the car is 130°F and she never says she's too warm. Liane is also a devout cigarette smoker. She started when she was 15 and has tried to quit a number of times, some of those times because I asked her to. I knew she got off (on?) the wagon when she started taking the dog for walks, often a dozen times a day, even dragging an exhausted animal out in the rain.
Liane gets a CT scan of her lungs every year and every year the radiologist reports that her lungs are clear and the few nodules they found 15 years ago haven't changed at all. Last year's test uncovered a malignant tumor in one of her kidneys so there's that. She never coughs or wheezes so I have given up.
When our cardiologist predicted her smoking was causing her coronary arteries to be clogged with plaque and sent her for a C Test:
"A heart C-test, or Coronary Artery Calcium (CAC) scan, uses a CT scan to look for calcium deposits (plaque) in the walls of the heart's arteries. The presence and amount of this calcified plaque indicate the likelihood of coronary artery disease and help assess your risk of having a heart attack or other cardiovascular event.
A zero score means low risk, a score of 1 to 100 indicates mild risk, 100 to 300 suggests moderate risk, and a score over 300 signifies high risk of a cardiac event like a heart attack."
Liane has scored zero on every C-test she's taken.
Sooooo, when Liane asked me to buy her a couple of cheap butane lighters (two for $1 makes her day) I checked Amazon. Boy do they sell some expensive butane lighters but they also sell unbelievably cheap ones. I bought her a box of 50 'child perfect' lighters for $11.76 (including 7% sales tax).
Liane is always cold. She puts a sweater on before we leave the house. The inside of the car is 130°F and she never says she's too warm. Liane is also a devout cigarette smoker. She started when she was 15 and has tried to quit a number of times, some of those times because I asked her to. I knew she got off (on?) the wagon when she started taking the dog for walks, often a dozen times a day, even dragging an exhausted animal out in the rain.
Liane gets a CT scan of her lungs every year and every year the radiologist reports that her lungs are clear and the few nodules they found 15 years ago haven't changed at all. Last year's test uncovered a malignant tumor in one of her kidneys so there's that. She never coughs or wheezes so I have given up.
When our cardiologist predicted her smoking was causing her coronary arteries to be clogged with plaque and sent her for a C Test:
"A heart C-test, or Coronary Artery Calcium (CAC) scan, uses a CT scan to look for calcium deposits (plaque) in the walls of the heart's arteries. The presence and amount of this calcified plaque indicate the likelihood of coronary artery disease and help assess your risk of having a heart attack or other cardiovascular event.
A zero score means low risk, a score of 1 to 100 indicates mild risk, 100 to 300 suggests moderate risk, and a score over 300 signifies high risk of a cardiac event like a heart attack."
Liane has scored zero on every C-test she's taken.
Sooooo, when Liane asked me to buy her a couple of cheap butane lighters (two for $1 makes her day) I checked Amazon. Boy do they sell some expensive butane lighters but they also sell unbelievably cheap ones. I bought her a box of 50 'child perfect' lighters for $11.76 (including 7% sales tax).
y'sguy
Well-known member
I feel ya Bob, I really do. My wife finally quit 3-4 years ago. On her on accord, and maybe her age and the doctor's mention of it. No amount of my begging, pleading, or factual info was ever followed up on until she decided. I am very grateful she has managed to stay with it.
Lian may still decide to quit, one day soon.
Lian may still decide to quit, one day soon.
Winter is coming.
We don't have any snow removal equipment and we don't have a problem with icy walkways. However, we do have mold and mildew growing everywhere. When the stuff builds up (in the shade) and then gets wet, it comes close to being as slippery as ice. Thus, I own three pressure washers. One is a Subaru EA190V gas powered 3100 psi 2.4 gpm machine that has electric start that goes through batteries like crazy. I also have a 1450 psi 1.4 gpm Sun Joe electric pressure washer that I mostly use to wash the cars. It's 8 years old but works fine.
Browsing Amazon, I came across a cheap electric pressure washer that claimed much higher output: 4000 psi 2.8 gpm. By cheap, I mean less than $120 and it includes a built-in high 25-foot high pressure hose on a reel, foam cannon, a bunch of nozzles, a wash mitt and microfiber towel.
I gave it a test run on the 115-foot walk to the workshop. I tried it using my 4-wheel rotary walk washer and it sure didn't feel more powerful than my gas pressure washer. Switched to the turbo nozzle and it worked but took several hours to do about half the 4-foot wide walkways.
It didn't get all the mold and mildew off but it also didn't eat into the concrete tiles.
It was only 82°F when I started from the opposite end, where the mold and mildew buildup is the worst. I decided to try the Sun Joe 1450 psi machine and I can't detect any difference in performance. I paid $72 for the Sun Joe unit but it didn't come with all the extras. I plan to keep the Sun Joe in the garage for car washing and this new machine in the workshop. I have a high pressure Flexzilla hose on the reel below the air hose reel. Between the wall mount reel and the reel on the pressure washer, I have 75 feel of coverage.
I started working my way back from the workshop doors to the place I stopped from the other end. Managed to get one row done when it started raining an thundering. Tomorrow is another day...
We don't have any snow removal equipment and we don't have a problem with icy walkways. However, we do have mold and mildew growing everywhere. When the stuff builds up (in the shade) and then gets wet, it comes close to being as slippery as ice. Thus, I own three pressure washers. One is a Subaru EA190V gas powered 3100 psi 2.4 gpm machine that has electric start that goes through batteries like crazy. I also have a 1450 psi 1.4 gpm Sun Joe electric pressure washer that I mostly use to wash the cars. It's 8 years old but works fine.
Browsing Amazon, I came across a cheap electric pressure washer that claimed much higher output: 4000 psi 2.8 gpm. By cheap, I mean less than $120 and it includes a built-in high 25-foot high pressure hose on a reel, foam cannon, a bunch of nozzles, a wash mitt and microfiber towel.
I gave it a test run on the 115-foot walk to the workshop. I tried it using my 4-wheel rotary walk washer and it sure didn't feel more powerful than my gas pressure washer. Switched to the turbo nozzle and it worked but took several hours to do about half the 4-foot wide walkways.
It didn't get all the mold and mildew off but it also didn't eat into the concrete tiles.
It was only 82°F when I started from the opposite end, where the mold and mildew buildup is the worst. I decided to try the Sun Joe 1450 psi machine and I can't detect any difference in performance. I paid $72 for the Sun Joe unit but it didn't come with all the extras. I plan to keep the Sun Joe in the garage for car washing and this new machine in the workshop. I have a high pressure Flexzilla hose on the reel below the air hose reel. Between the wall mount reel and the reel on the pressure washer, I have 75 feel of coverage.
I started working my way back from the workshop doors to the place I stopped from the other end. Managed to get one row done when it started raining an thundering. Tomorrow is another day...
Ford52PU
Well-known member
Bob thanks for always replying and always being able to put a smile on my face when you do
y'sguy
Well-known member
Bob, I understand the mold removal routine as one of the perks of living in a tropical environment. Everything's a trade-off. Is there a favorite recipe you use to spray or is it just water?
The landscaping looks beautiful btw.
The landscaping looks beautiful btw.
Alan, I tried the begging and pleading but it didn't work. I started smoking again and told her I'd quit (for the fourth time) if she quit. That's when I learned what "Walkin' the dog" meant. I quit and then started again and this time I did as much coughing and wheezing as possible. Decided it was a lost cause and quit for the fifth and last time. She'll have to make the decision herself.
Dennis, this is my safe place so I enjoy replying (no stamp needed) and do my best to find the bright side of every black cloud.
Alan, I know every livable place on the planet has its pluses and minuses. I'd probably be living on that dirt road in Vermont if we didn't have such a huge anchor farm here in Floriida. I'm not good at arithmetic but I believe the immediate family and their significant others are close to 30 strong. Most of them are happy to give me a 'High One' and I doubt the folks in Vermont would be as excited to participate.
I had a company (Magic Bubbles) pressure clean the roof and walkways and they used some really strong chemicals. The spalling on the paving stones might not be from the stuff they used but I've settled on just plain water.
A landscaper and his family help with the lawn and hedges but the gardens are all Liane. Well, there's some heavy lifting she assigns to her manservant but he has little to do with the result. Occasionally the manservant suggests an alternative when the decision process spirals out of control. There's also the go-to preservation statement: "You're right, it's all my fault and I promise it will never happen again." [Secret to the upcoming 64th anniversary.]
[rant start] I fixed the phone problem by properly setting up the cell phone side of our Vonage account. We were getting a lot of single ring, no one on the line events. It was our children and grandchildren trying to do wellness checks on us. Made a dozen changes, none of which worked until today, when I actually logged onto our Vonage account with my cell phone. I had to enter one of those random generated passwords with symbols and different case letters. Called our son and asked him to call me back. IT WORKED LIKE A REAL PHONE.
I'm also having the fight of my life with Windows 11. I suspect Microsoft is trying to make their operating system more iPhoney or Androidey but I don't like it. The Win11 Dell computer is my most robust refubished piece of
but today it couldn't cut and paste a cropped photo. Something about not enough memory -- but I have installed 64 Gigabytes of memory. Had to waste time searching for the actual mouse attributes (it's not in 'Settings' anymore) so the cursor jumps to the default response button on a popup window. More digging to stop the spellchecker from guessing the word I was typing. Those guesses lock the cursor so you can't respond to the popup. Seems Windows 11 also thinks I want my life stored in a Microsoft cloud, including OneDrive. They want me to trust them with my most important information when their operating system needs daily security updates? GFY! [rant end]
I'm also having the fight of my life with Windows 11. I suspect Microsoft is trying to make their operating system more iPhoney or Androidey but I don't like it. The Win11 Dell computer is my most robust refubished piece of
but today it couldn't cut and paste a cropped photo. Something about not enough memory -- but I have installed 64 Gigabytes of memory. Had to waste time searching for the actual mouse attributes (it's not in 'Settings' anymore) so the cursor jumps to the default response button on a popup window. More digging to stop the spellchecker from guessing the word I was typing. Those guesses lock the cursor so you can't respond to the popup. Seems Windows 11 also thinks I want my life stored in a Microsoft cloud, including OneDrive. They want me to trust them with my most important information when their operating system needs daily security updates? GFY! [rant end]gearhead1960
ALLIANCE MEMBER
@Bob Heine My MIL was a lifelong smoker and drinker. 2-3 packs a day of Virginia Slims and usually a jug handle of Jim Beam in under a week. The smoking eventually killed her lungs and the Jim Beam gave her dementia. She still made it to 86. I always said she was "Pickled and Smoked"....
I guess OneDrive has advantages but, to me, it's more pain in the **** to deal with and I can't explain why.[rant start] I fixed the phone problem by properly setting up the cell phone side of our Vonage account. We were getting a lot of single ring, no one on the line events. It was our children and grandchildren trying to do wellness checks on us. Made a dozen changes, none of which worked until today, when I actually logged onto our Vonage account with my cell phone. I had to enter one of those random generated passwords with symbols and different case letters. Called our son and asked him to call me back. IT WORKED LIKE A REAL PHONE.
I'm also having the fight of my life with Windows 11. I suspect Microsoft is trying to make their operating system more iPhoney or Androidey but I don't like it. The Win11 Dell computer is my most robust refubished piece of
I make reasonably regular backups to a portable SSD.madison069
Well-known member
Regarding the smoking, that was a habit that everyone, except both my grandma, had in the family. I never picked it up as a habit due to watching the family suffer from their pour choice of habit. I will admit that I have picked up a cig and smoked it just because during a party. Which to this day shocks my close friends that I was able to smoke a cig and not cough like a fool like most first timers. I chalk it up being exposed to cig smoke all of my childhood and when I mean exposed, I mean 10 adults smoking around the dinner table and lighting them as soon as their current one is burnt to the filter.
gearhead1960
ALLIANCE MEMBER
That sounds like my MIL! She would have multiple sticks going simultaneously. She used to bake cookies and mail them to us and when you opened the package, you would swear you saw smoke coming out of the box. Famous warning was, “don’t eat the smoke cookies!”
Geoff289
Well-known member
I'm with you, Bob. I am steadfastly resisting all this cloud storage nonsense against a continued barrage of doom-laden warnings from Microsoft and Apple about what will happen if I don't immediately add a few dollars to their monthly earnings.I'm also having the fight of my life with Windows 11. I suspect Microsoft is trying to make their operating system more iPhoney or Androidey but I don't like it. The Win11 Dell computer is my most robust refubished piece of
They also seem to have enlisted the assistance of a platoon of scammers who also communicate with me in increasingly urgent terms about the end of life as we know it only being avoidable by clicking a link they've helpfully provided. Most of these seem to be in either Spanish or Portuguese lately.
To me these scammers seem to confirm the wisdom of my Luddite like approach to all this.
madison069
Well-known member
Yea when I return home, I would just dump all my clothes into the washer and throw the suitcase on the back porch to air out. We would get packages full of goodies from my parents but the cigarettes smell would be strong in it. Just had to let the packages air out some and it’s all good!
Marc, my in-laws were heavy smokers and drinkers. My mother-in-law smoked filtered somethings and her preferred libation was Gallo Pale Dry Sherry (gallon jugs). She was a sweet wonderful woman all day long, working out of the beauty parlor at the back of her house. When the white uniform came off, the wine cap came off and in less than an hour she was a raving lunatic. My father-in-law smoked Pall Mall king cigarettes and Liane and I joked about how fast he could finish one. We'd do the two fingers together in front of our mouth, make a sucking sound and put our finger tips in our mouth like we were licking barbecue sauce off them. He had a 12-inch diameter ashtray on the little table next to his TV-watching chair and it was perpetually overflowing with ashes and soggy butts. He slipped and fell on ice in the driveway and broke his hip. He never even tried physical therapy and ended up in a nursing home, dying in 1988 at 79. Liane's mother sold the house on Long Island and we moved her into a condo a few blocks from us. A year later we left her alone and moved to Australia. Our son helped her out in our two year absence. She even flew to Australia and stayed with us for a month. She smoked two or three cigarettes a day and never drank more than a single glass of wine and was having a wonderful time. She passed away four years after we returned to Florida at 83
Roger, it feels like someone you don't know holding on to all your credit cards and checkbooks. It's one of those: "Trust me, I won't _______" with your favorite 'fill in the blank' phrase.I guess OneDrive has advantages but, to me, it's more pain in the **** to deal with and I can't explain why.
Cody, in the early 1950s shows like "Man Against Crime" were sponsored by cigarette manufacturers and I remember the opening or closing of the show mentioning how many free cartons of Camels were being shipped to our boys fighting in Korea. In the 1960s my father-in-law rarely used a lighter or match -- each unfiltered Pall Mall king was lit from the tiny **** of the one he just finished smoking. When I was five or six, on special occasions like Thanksgiving and Christmas, I was given a lit cigarette so I could walk around blowing smoke like all the grownups. Didn't start buying my own until I was 12. Told the cashier at the luncheonette the cigarette pack was for my mother (who didn't smoke).
My grandmother was a member of the WCTU (Women's Christian Temperance Union) before and during Prohibition. In the late '50s we would drive to Vermont to visit my grandparents for Thanksgiving. The liquor tax in Vermont was significantly lower than in New York so my father would buy a couple of cases of liquor and bring them home to Long Island. He was a department chairman in Forest Hills High School so he would gave the teachers in his department and many of the others at the school a nice bottle for Christmas. When my grandparents would come down to Long Island for Christmas just a few weeks later, almost all the cases of liquor were empty. Grandma was certain my father had consumed it all. He was a heavy drinker (and smoker) but not quite that bad. The royalties from the textbook my father wrote were beyond his wildest dreams so he was generous to just about everyone but me.
Marc, I often saw the ash from my mother-in-law's cigarette fall into whatever she was serving for dinner. The worst episode was one Thanksgiving when she finished stuffing the turkey and put it in the oven. The Bandaid on her finger was suddenly missing and she sat through the meal white as a ghost waiting for someone to find it.
Geoff, do you think putting a new battery in my Palm Pilot Tungsten TX is a sign of a Luddite? It refuses to link to the Internet without a dial-up modem connection so it seems very attractive to me. I want to whip it out at the next family gathering and use the stylus to tap on it randomly. I really like the cheat sheet for writing notes on the Memo pad. I like that better than the stupid tiny keyboard on my phone screen. I know, I know I'm old and cranky.
Cody, sometimes we were bombarded with the smell because we traveled. In 1987 a group of us vacationed in Spain and we flew from Miami to Madrid on Iberia airline. Smoking on short flights in the US would be banned the next year but already those US flights had very small smoking sections at the rear of the plane. Iberia had the opposite, the first three rows in coach were non smoking and the rest of the plane was smoking. It was hard to see all the way to the back of the plane it was so smoke-filled.
Many of our flights to Club Med locations in the '70s and '80s were on Air France. Only half the plane's seats were non smoking and once over international waters, all alcoholic drinks were free. They didn't hand out little bottles of booze, the cart had full size bottles and you indicated to the flight attendant when to stop pouring. Some of our Customs declarations were hard to read and we had no clue what we had written. Had I not quit 23 years ago I would probably be dead. Seventeen years of not smoking has probably also helped keep me alive.
Of course, there's the second hand smoke but hey, I worked in Manhattan in the '60s and just breathing that air was the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. I added another pack of direct smoke at the time as well.
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@Bob Heine - re: Your Palm Pilot....
At a former employer, we were refreshing some servers and bought 6-8 from HP. I made it a condition of the sale that we get two of the HP Pocket PC's tossed in. One for me, one for my right-hand man. I don't think I did squat-diddly with it but it seemed like a good idea at the time. I'm guessing 2008 or so.
Here it is in its' charging cradle and the carrying holster next to it. The holster is just a sleeve - no clips or attachment mechanism.
I should see if the battery will charge up enough to fire up. It's pretty darn useless now except as a curiosity.
At a former employer, we were refreshing some servers and bought 6-8 from HP. I made it a condition of the sale that we get two of the HP Pocket PC's tossed in. One for me, one for my right-hand man. I don't think I did squat-diddly with it but it seemed like a good idea at the time. I'm guessing 2008 or so.
Here it is in its' charging cradle and the carrying holster next to it. The holster is just a sleeve - no clips or attachment mechanism.
I should see if the battery will charge up enough to fire up. It's pretty darn useless now except as a curiosity.
gearhead1960
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Yes, we had similar issues. When we went to visit (VA to FLA), as a young poor couple, we would stay at their house. The smoke didn’t seem too bad. Keep in mind, along with my MIL smoking, my FIL smoke cigars constantly! After the kids came, we made the decision to stay at a hotel. Of course since the destination was Daytona Beach we used the excuse of wanting to stay on the beach, when the reality was we were afraid for our kids and our health. 1st time we did it, we were question by the hotel staff if we were smoking in our room. We realized that visiting G & G’s house totally polluted our clothes so that after every visit when we got back to the hotel , all worn clothes had to go into trash bags for the duration of our stay.