Updatey thingie

[greatbear]

Decent, busy weekend, albeit with ongoing connectivity issues. I headed off Saturday morning to Westminster to pick up chainsaw, tractor and shredder parts from Taylor's Outdoor Power Equipment, a little mom 'n' pop outfit that's been around for ages and one that I have dealt with for over twenty years. I take the time and drive over 40 miles to this place because the service and people are second to none, the equipment they carry is first-rate professional gear. I can safely say that I have spent over ten grand in equipment and parts purchases over the years with this shop. Imagine my surprise and sadness when I pull into the parking lot only to find that the store was empty, the signage removed and a "Coming Soon" sign in the front boasting of an unrelated masonry and landscape shop. The relentless march of time claimed yet another reliable small family business. Strangely, I heard nothing regarding the closing of the shop or any reasons why. For all the years I have been doing business with Taylor's, they were never slack for work. In recent years though, "Old Man" Taylor had suffered some health setbacks, including a nearly fatal stroke. He was not at the shop for quite a while, but one day he was back and he and I did a lot of catching up. The stroke definitely did nothing to take away his memory, as he remembered not only my name, the equipment I have and where I work, but even smaller details too numerous to mention. The only indication I had of any impeding troubles was my last visit, where I had problems getting parts that were normally stocked. Apparently the recent storms down south and the ongoing cleanup efforts have caused shortages of new equipment available for sale. This is a widespread issue affecting a lot of businesses. I assume that the family decided to quietly retire the business at the end of the year while the getting was good. Or at least I am hoping this is the case, rather than some family tragedy. I now have to try and find another dealer that I can do business with that can at least partially live up to the standards set by Taylor's. I'm going to miss that entire crew.

Saturday evening Jeff and I headed off to see Brokeback Mountain. The movie, at least for me, did not have quite the 'tissue factor' as I had been expecting, but was powerful nonetheless. In fact, this was one of those rare movies that had me doing a lot of quiet mental post-processing. I guess I was not alone, since I dont recall hearing much spoken by anyone else leaving the theater that night.

Sunday was mostly a day of working around the house and garage, as well as installing a new cable modem in hopes of fixing my severe packet loss, to no avail. More tinkering around the house, plus a weekend of playing with the pico-pooch "Bear" (who is getting cuter by the week) and lots of running around made me sleep like a log on Sunday night. Also, sadly, I gave in and shaved down my beard, which was getting too scraggly in addition to starting to get caught in some of my work. The bathroom wastebasket looks like a ferret is sleeping in it.

Tonight my connection is not too bad. I hope it holds out long enough for me to get this post in.

Comments

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

I've always loved stores like Taylors and it's sad that they are becoming a rare bread indeed.

Thankfully, I can still go to a locally owned operation called Queen Anne Office Supply, been around since the 50's. Still owned by the son in law and daughter of the original owners too. It is located in my old neighborhood here in Seattle.

[liftinmoose.livejournal.com]

wow.. that sucks. I love mom-n-pop shops but what I hate is after being their loyal customer, I'm still just a "customer"... I always thought "they should like me enough to tell me they're closing..." but it never happens.. something feels cold for somebody you feel so warmly towards.

Take pics of the ferret!