The Cigar Life

July 2023 During our time in Arizona I made a lot of rum cocktails.  They'd always include rum, simple syrup, lime juice, and a little orange juice.  Sometimes I'd add some pineapple chunks as a garnish and also a little pineapple juice.  And sometimes I'd top it all off with a little Bubly water. Very refreshing. A couple times I picked up a pre-made Mai Tai at the supermarket. These were quite good.  I love having cocktails with cigars. 

 July 2022 The Arizona heat was intense. If you wanted to be outside it was either early morning or after dark. I'd take my coffee outside everyday in the morning. Cigars were after dinner and after dark.  Mornings were usually in the upper 80s/low 90s with low humidity. In other words, VERY comfortable.  Dale was usually outside by about 5:15 am and I'd make it out around 5:30. We'd usually get to see the sunrise as it was coming up around 5:45.  I tried the hot tub a few times but I'd never last that long since it was pretty warm out already. I'd usually end up just soaking my feet for my sprained ankle.  It got very hot during the day. The highest reading I saw on my weather app was 116.  The highest reading at the house was 117.  However, the highest official temperature as reported by the evening news was 119!! Now, evenings were hotter than mornings. I'd usually light up after 8 or 9 pm and it would be in the 100 - 105 degree range.  My unif...

July 2023 Dale and I were called to Phoenix for a couple of weeks in July to help care for some older family members.  We were there when Phoenix passed the record number of days above 110 degrees. I believe July 31 was the only day that month it hit a high of less than 110.  John and Dianne recommended a cigar shop in Peoria called Gravitate. It had a decent sized humidor. I picked out some tubed Macanudo and Montecristo cigars.  One night I had an Oliva.  They were all great.  I'd usually light up sometime after 8 pm or so. The temps were usually above 100 in 100-105 degree range so that it was still quite hot out. 

Monday, February 19, 2023 Last year we went to the end of June to make up time for the strike but we got Juneteenth off. This year feels like summer break is just getting started.  After lunch with Noel this past Saturday I stopped by Stogies On Grand in St. Paul to pick up a few more cigars for my humidor.  I also picked up some Romeo y Julieta Minuto Petits. These are great when I don't have the time to smoke a larger cigar or when I just don't want to be outside as long (cold winter days and overly steamy summer days). 

Friday, June 16, 2023 Today's the first day of summer vacation and I'm celebrating with a Hoyo de Monterrey. What a year. It wasn't a bad one but it one of the more challenging one's I've had. I switched grade levels and the post-covid challenges continue to be much greater than I could have ever suspected. All that said, I'm grateful for the break and today is progressing splendidly.  The weather is beautiful. It's a perfect Minneapolis summer day.  And I, of course, listened to lots of music while smoking my cigar. 

Wednesday, June 14, 2023 The smoke from the Canadian fires is really bad today. You could even smell it. At least the sky isn’t orange like in New York. Can only imagine how bad it is in Canada.  Despite the poor air quality I had a cigar in the yard.