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Everything is higher. Rent, labor, and even fees & taxes. Just to have the proper licensing and permits, SF collects more than other cities for business licenses and payroll taxes. Even a half percentage point could put pressure on a mom & pop. Most gas stations are mom & pop operators who have to be onsite.

But even with the odds against the small business owners, people still go into business for themselves. I heard that the highest failures are restaurants. That's why you see them open, close, change owners, change names, change concepts....... If I had the nerve... I hear that the 2 biggest expenses are labor and rent. If I own the building, and work there myself....

 

See ya around midnight.... Like Tom Bodett and Motel 6, We'll leave the light on for you!!

 

I'll be there with bells on.

Jim

 

I just made salmon on a cast iron griddle. There's something special about cast iron. It just cooks better than a fry pan. Even eggs are better. Ooh. I should top the salmon with an egg.

 

I'm waiting in my cold, foggy driveway with a cooler full of Anchor Steam. Pickup GlueGuy 1st. I am by Ocean Beach. Then we can cross The Golden Gate and take 101 all the way up.

 

Bring me some fresh fish from the ocean!

 

Happy Monday!
Only two more weeks to go and it will be September. Hopefully, that means it will be cooler, however, nobody controls the weather.

JIm

 

I just love slow-cooked brisket. Sorry I missed the party!

We have cousins who live up in the Penn Valley area. He welded together his own slow cooker that can probably feed an army. There is enough room in that cooker to do 4 full-sized briskets at one time. He knows how to use it too!

 

One of my regrets in life is not learning how to weld. Would come in handy when working on vehicles.

Jim

 

I know someone who has a custom made BBQ smoker. It's built onto a DMV licensed trailer. It actually has a license plate. It's about the size of a minivan. All sorts of doors for adding wood and removing ash, a chimney pipe with a door, and vent doors for air. I've seen 2 whole pigs go in there.

He forgot to build it with thermometers. With something so big, temps are all over the place, as there are hot spots and cool spots. So instead of drilling in holes and installing thermometers, he walks around with a cheap Harbor Freight point & shoot thermometer.

 

Whatever works.

Jim

 

And in my world of hanging out in bars, and sleeping with women who go to bars to find a guy to sleep with.......

"Don't look through my computer. There's confidential information. Just check your e-mail, and whatever that Ford Truck forum is you're always looking at."

So of course, I look through the computer. It's a work computer. No ****. And just a bunch of boring case files. Not like I'm going to reveal to the world, via a Ford Trucks forum, all sorts of compromising confidential legal information. It's her work computer. But there's a bunch of Facebook and Twitter activity. A lot of online shopping, fashion, and make-up websites. Now, there will be Ford Trucks for the IT people to shake their head over.

Why do women buy clothes for us? Like there's something wrong with what I normally wear? She's in the next room. Whispering, whimpering and crying on the phone. Why? She bought me a romper. In case you don't know what that is, it's kind of like a jump suit, with short pants and short sleeves. I fell over laughing. Apparently, it wasn't a joke. I was suppose to be excited to wear it. So now her feelings are hurt, and she has to tell her sister how insensitive I am. How I don't appreciate anything she does, and how I laughed in her face when she gave me a gift from her heart.

A romper. If any of you guys want to be on the cutting edge of fashion, I'll send it to you.

 

The cousin's smoker is like that. He built it on a trailer frame, and it also has a license plate. The "body" of the cooker is (I think) a 500 gallon propane tank that he cut open for access doors. It has a big fire box on the aft end where he can put in firewood, and a chimney on the front end. It has 2 (or maybe 3) thermometers, and he has various controls to manage the heat. It's a quality setup, and the brisket I've had from it is the proof.

 

Happy Tuesday Nor Cal.
A romper? For an adult? Wow. Never thought I would see that.

Jim

 

Good morning crew,

The Brisket turned out great, one of my best. I'm still learning.

Jim, I'm with you on the adult romper. Never would have thought an adult man would ever where anything like that.