It is early in the morning of Christmas Eve 2019, my favorite time of day. The quiet is conducive to thought, and to work. As I set down to work on writing this, my third holiday greetings blog post, I realized that I had not done very much blog writing this year, and thought it might be worth revisiting my last holiday blog post to see what I had to say 365.25 days ago. So I brewed a pot of coffee, loaded one of my favorite billiards with Haunted Bookshop, and opened last year’s post. In what you might view as a masterpiece of consistency (or a guy who is really stuck in a rut) I had written the following:
“It’s the morning of Christmas Eve 2018, and as I sit down to enjoy a bowl of Haunted Bookshop with some fresh brewed coffee, it occurs to me that it has been too long since I wrote anything for you.”
So things remain the same, and yet things do change.
My goal this year was to get the shop reorganized, and that has been very successful. We took a dark and neglected corner of the basement shop that had previously been used to store what can only be called random junk
And turned it into a bright and cheerful place to work that is dedicated to pipe repaired
That quickly became a working shop
I was hoping to only shut down the shop for a month or two in the spring, but a very heavy workload at my “day job” and various family and health related adventures all conspired to keep things shut down for 6 months. Despite the long shutdown I am proud to say that we have successfully serviced 34 pipes so far this year, and have 8 more in the works as I write this. Not bad for what amounts to only a half year’s work. And the fact that my loyal customers came back, and quite a few new customers have appeared since the re-opening is reassuring and reinforces in me a desire to provide the best possible care of your pipes.
One other change occurred this year that is worth mentioning. I restructured our price list (https://canerodpipes.com/price-list). This was necessary because the cost of materials and shipping had changed, but also because I wanted to try and make the services a bit more accessible for folks that pick up an estate pipe and just want it cleaned and sterilized, of for guys that keep their pipes well maintained and just want an occasional deep cleaning. This “clean and ream” option is only $25 + shipping and has been very popular so far.
On the social media front, YouTube continues to be a primary focus. I’ve re-started the shop videos which are much easier to produce in the new space, and begun a monthly live stream that has so far been a lot of fun and has provide a mechanism for giving a back in a small way through semi-random give away contests. I like this because it allows me to thank not only the folks that would traditionally enter a YouTube “GAW” but anyone that takes the time to join us for a live stream video. If you would like to join in the fun just visit my channel (https://www.youtube.com/canerodpiper) , click the subscribe button and choose to receive alerts by clicking the little bell icon next to the subscribe button. I also recommend that you follow us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/canerodpiper/) as I often will post in-progress pictures of pipes I’m working on, before and after shots of pipes, and many many pictures of beer.
The one thing that I regret is that I have not been able to do much work on this blog. It is not for lack of trying, just lack of time to try. I won’t make any promises here because I don’t expect to have much more time to try in the new year. But if you are willing to hand on for the occasional missive, I will be providing some content as the year progresses.
I am looking forward to 2020 and I hope that you will come along for the adventure. And I wish every one of you and your families all the best for this holiday season, a blessed and merry Christmas, and health and happiness in the New Year!