A voice from the past-WyoBob

[WyoBob]

Hi pipe (and cigar) smokers.

As I get older, I get nostalgic. That prompted me to re-visit a place that I had such a great time in---Cigar Asylum!

I've spent a bit of time over the last couple of days reviewing old and new posts on the forum and am, once again, reminded of how much fun I had on this forum.

Time really flies when you get older and I didn't realize how long I've been away from the forum. I recognize many familiar folks are still here from the old days. I got busy, lost interest in cigars and developed new interests.

The last time I posted was in this thread: http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=46554 Why does time go by so fast? I'm danged near 70 years old now!

I'm still smoking pipes but have taken up an occasional cigar lately.

When I left you, I was in the process of healing up from a shattered left wrist. I developed a case of CRPS, a nerve disorder, due to the broken wrist and underwent a year of P.T. It took me two months before I could tie my shoes. My physical therapist was great. She said she'd never had a patient work as hard as I did. I told her, look on the web about the problems with CRPS. If you don't regain use of the affected limb by undergoing therapy immediately, you could loose the use of the affected limb forever. She had tears streaming down my cheeks on many occasions but it paid off. I call her "the Goddess of Pain". I have regained 98 percent of the use of my left hand and arm!

I was working in the oil/gas drilling business as a "tech" when I broke my wrist. I was able to do three more wells but, when I reached age 65, I retired for good! To celebrate the fact that I had a functioning left arm/hand and not a "hat rack", I decided to something I always wanted to do---learn to play the banjo. I bought a wide neck (wider string spacing for fingers that still had trouble processing signals from the brain and made it easier to finger chords) and started to learn to play "old time" fiddle tunes.

Five years later, I'm playing with actual musicians in jams. The only music experience I had before that was when I played the piano when I was 10 years old. I really enjoy playing at the Senior Center (I like it when the folks call me "kid") and at assisted living facilities. For anyone interested in old time, Appalachian type music, here's a link to my page on the Banjo Hangout: http://www.banjohangout.org/myhangou...c.asp?id=75384

I don't backpack any more and do very little fly fishing (which I posted about several times on the Asylum) but I still do a bit of competition pistol shooting. I no longer do anything that might involve me falling down and breaking a wrist! Banjo playing is pretty safe (unless you're in the audience).

I'm still smoking my pipes and am still smoking the natural MM Diplomat pipes I posted about several years ago. They're looking pretty ratty but still smoke well (even though one is held together with J-B Weld.) I'm still smoking Luxury Navy Flake, Luxury Bullseye Flake and Luxury Twist Flake that I jarred in 2010 but I'm coming to the end of that and have to order more. And, I've started smoking a cigar now and then, again.

We have a meeting of the "Curmudgeon Club" every Wed. in my former 1 1/2 car garage which is now a club house equipped with four comfortable chairs, end tables, heat and A/C and a frig. Five guys who smoke cigars and pipes, drink adult beverages and solve the world's problems. They got me started back on a weekly cigar and I now have a very small humidor with a handful of cigars (as opposed to the two, 120 quart Igloo cooler's full of cigars, beads, remote temp and humidity sensors and circulating fans you guys "snookered" me into years ago). I've been smoking Short Stories, Diesel UHC's, Perdomo Lot 23's and CAO Brazilia's.

Anyway, I just wanted to post to: say Howdy, give some info on P.T. and CRPS and encourage anyone that, if you have anything you want to do (like playing banjo-how likely is that?) to "have at it". Life isn't a "dress rehearsal" . This is it.

WyoBob