Atomic Monster Cafe: Happy...

...Y'all! The big day for 2020...has come and gone and like almost everything else this year, it was a little different...

ready for the big crowd...

...a little smaller...

...of two guests.

...but still a time to pause and give thanks to God in heaven for His manifold blessings....like family...

grandson Isaac and #1 son Micah

daughter Sarah and her boyfriend Alex were welcome late additions to our festivities

...food...

some of the feast Karen prepared

...and of course, football...

not sure watching the Lions lose again actually qualifies as a blessing

In spite of this year's many challenges, I hope you were still able to gather with ones you love and give thanks.

Did you know cigar aficionados are natural born heros?

That's 74 year old Richard Wilbanks of Florida. He was walking with his puppy who wandered too close to the water when a baby 'gator decided to snatch "Gunner" for lunch.

As the now viral video shows...

man-saves-pet-dog-from-alligator

...Wilbanks jumped into the pond, ducked his head underwater to find the thieving gator then proceeded to pry open the gator's jaws, freeing his mostly unharmed puppy.

And he did all of that while smoking his cigar.

I enjoy a good cigar as much as anyone, but that takes it to a whole 'nuther level.

I've heard people downplay his heroism with dumb remarks like "c'mon, it was just a little alligator!"

My question for them is simple: where do baby alligators come from? You think mama gator...

...wasn't somewhere close by?

It might not have been the smartest thing Mr. W ever did, but it was clearly one of the bravest.

And there's no doubt Gunner appreciated the gesture.

As one cigar lover to another I say "Well played, Richard!"

But speaking of cigar lovers, here's a word to the wise, boys...DO NOT deal with these guys:

They're great at taking your money and I freely admit most of the time your cigars will arrive on time and in good condition.

But woe! woe! woe! to you if your order does not arrive and you fall into their Pit Of Despair, euphemistically referred to on their website as "customer service".

Les bouffons in the CS department have elevated the art of indifference to dizzying heights, and if incompetence was a penny, they'd all be billionaires.

A recent order of mine made its way via the USPS to Philadelphia on November 2nd, which date you may recall was the day before the greatest political theft in United States history occurred.

My only guess as to the fate of my cigars is they were loaded onto a truck full of Trump ballots and so immediately directed to the nearest landfill.

After many fruitless attempts to communicate with the corpses that populate CI's customer non-service department...

...I have finally given up and conclude it would be easier to re-grow my right ring finger...

...than it would be to get a response from these clowns.

Check their rating with the Better Business Bureau...

...then buy your cigars somewhere - anywhere - else.

You've been warned.

No secret Karen and I are mid century modern fans, and every year I put up at least one of my authentic mid-1960's aluminum trees...

...but this year it's mighty tempting to stray a wee bit from "mcm" to just "m"...

...as in "modern".

That's the "Wall Tree" from the Modern Christmas Tree company, and as you can tell it's half a tree you hang on a flat surface like a wall...or a window?

I'm pretty positive this 6' tall objet d'art would look magnificent against one of our floor to ceiling windows along the back patio.

It's clever, elegant and minimalist, but at the moment I haven't quite convinced myself it's worth the hefty price tag.

And in reality by the time I'm done waffling it will most likely be sold out for this year.

That's one way to make a decision.

Managed to cry my way through what used to be one of my favorite movies...

...yep that's Hoosiers, the 1986 hit about tiny Hickory High in Indiana - enrollment 64 - back in 1951 that played its way to an unlikely state championship in March of 1952 against a mega school - enrollment 2800.

It's loosely based on the true story of little Milan high school doing just that in 1954, back when Indiana's state tournament was not divided into classes based on school size.

It's not a tearjerker by any means, but Hoosiers was a big deal to my clan when one of my sons was playing ball for a small school that fought its way to the state championship game in two sports...basketball...

...and football...

Too complicated to go into here, and a whole lotta water has gone over that dam since those halcyon days, but memories from back then are still as poignant as ever.