Santa Barbara's Custom Canvas & Vinyl

We recently helped Alan & Francie at Custom Canvas & Vinyl in Los Olivos to create their first website. During the process I learned that they are a family owned business t providing Santa Barbara County with custom awnings of all styles and sizes for residential, commercial and industrial businesses. They can design, fabricate and install awnings of all shapes and sizes for your home or business. Their also offer motorized and manual retractable awnings, vertical drop solar shade systems, store awnings with custom graphics, exposure covers, canvas & vinyl curtains.

If you are an architect, building contractor, interior designer or own your home Custom Canvas & Vinyl can create a long lasting and attractive solution. Whether your canvas product is for rain, sun or simply to beautify your home or business, they will do their best to satisfy your situation or ideas.

For more information check out their website at http://www.awningssantabarbara.com/

The coolest Halloween decorations!

I have been helping local financial adviser and friend Ben Courtney with his new endeavor, the Tombstone Factory. He and his wife are very passionate about Halloween and go over the top with their Halloween decorating every year.

They had become frustrated with the lack of good quality Halloween decorations and decided to start making their own creations and sell them to the other 'Haunters' out there. What they came up with was the Tombstone Factory, very cool Halloween tombstones at reasonable prices. One of my favorites is the Wrottesley Tombstone pictured above. I love the finish on this but they offer two different finish styles if you have a preference.

If you're a Haunter or just want to get some of the coolest Halloween tombstones and signs check out the Tombstone Factory. If you want to personalize your Halloween tombstone they can do that too!

The Best Pump and Well Service

Its been a long time since I've done any blogging, I guess now is as good a time as any. I tried typing  this on the Kindle Fire I got for Christmas but there is no Blogger app and the one app called Moggler didn't work very well, keyboard problems. I found a Blogger app on my old iPad, nice app but not many editing features.  So I'm back to a real computer, my getting old but reliable MacBook Pro.

...enough techno crap...

This saga takes place outside Los Olivos California on a Saturday afternoon. My son and I had been running errands as we usually do. When we got home I sent Charlie off on his chores and I puttered off to get back to mine. I went out to the 'mud room' to rinse the whites and when I turned on the washing machine, no water!

A little background on me. I grew up in Santa Barbara and being a 'city boy' never ever had to deal with something like a well or septic tank. Now that we living the rural life I've had to learn the ins and outs of having your own well and septic tank. We replaced the septic about 10 years ago so it's not much of a problem...yet. The well on the other hand seems to need attention from time to time.

While remodeling our bathroom we decided to install a water tank. Installing one would be more efficient and also supply some gravity fed water in case of a power outage. When we first moved here we saw a few Floyd Wells well service trucks around so I asked around and didn't hear anything bad about them, so I  called them and was told the rep in our area would call back. I did this a few times but never got a call from anyone.

One day I was looking at the well pump and pipes trying to make sense of how it worked and noticed a sticker on the power box for A & A Pump & Well Service. A light went on in my head so I called them. They answered the phone right away and within a day the owner was at our house quoting a price for the water tank.

Now back to my problem with no water to do laundry. Over the years we have had to call A & A Pump a few times for things like leaking well pipe, no power (ants had infested the contacts) and a few other water well issues and each time I've learned what to look for and in some cases how to fix the problem myself....like the ants getting into the electronics and mucking them up.

I walked out to the well and tank and saw we had no pressure but heard the tank filling. Ah ha! We'd drained the tank. Thinking I'd solved the mystery I started walking bank when the booster pump came on. Right where the pipe goes underground was a sudden pool of water bubbling out of the ground! It rained the the night before so the muddy ground didn't get any notice.

I knew right away this wasn't something I could fix. I called A & A (their phone number is still on the power box) and after a few rings the owner answers and says he'll have someone out as soon as possible.

In less than an hour a shiny red A & A Pump truck was in our drive way. He got right to work digging out the pipe and sure enough, a root had pushed the pipe enough to break it. The parts to fix it were on the truck and within an hour he had dug out about an 8 foot long trench and was replacing the broken part. He left a short time later, job well done!

I went back to laundry and got dinner started. Very thankful there are still companies out there that take customer service to heart, have motivated and skilled staff, and answer the phone when you need them the most. To this date A & A Pump & Well has been there for us whenever we've needed them, Saturday, Sunday, whenever.

So if you live in Santa Barbara county, have a well or pump,  and need the absolute best well and pump service to call give A & A Pump & Well Service a try, you won't be disappointed.

Bank Transfer Day

For a few years I've despised corporate America. I do what I can not to support them but it today's world it's hard to do. I spend cash and still write checks whenever possible. I support local business when possible. For groceries I shop locally at Nielsens Market in Solvang, still locally owned. We also do quite a bit of shopping at Trader Joes but this requires a 30 mile drive to Santa Maria or Santa Barbara.

Back to the banks...I missed the boat on Bank Transfer Day but am looking for a locally owned bank. So far the only one I have found is Montecito Bank & Trust but I saw Los Padres Bank is now something else so I will have to look into this. I recently spoke with Solvang Investment Advisor Ben Courtney about Bank Transfer Day, he stated many credit unions invest in large corporate banks so my quest may be somewhat moot. I believe what he says is true but I must continue on my quest regardless.

My quest to keep as much money as I can away from corporate America is my way of voting. I still vote in the elections but have realized this does not seem to affect any change. Politicians will support their biggest donors, corporations, regardless of their platform and promises. I have chosen to vote with my money by shopping local, finding family or non corporate owned businesses, and by using my credit card as little as possible.

I'll keep you posted...

Living in the Country - Life in Santa Ynez

Ok, so I'm a city boy, I'll admit that. I grew up in Santa Barbara where if you had problems getting water to the house we called the City and they came and fixed it. If the problem was my side of the meter we called a plumber.

Up here in Santa Ynez we have an acre and a half. Nice yes but a lot of work. We can't get cable or DSL cause it's a bit rural. Being rural we have a septic tank and a well. The septic is pretty simple, everything flows downhill and eventually it seeps back into the ground. The well is another matter entirely.

We have a two pump system, a booster pump that pumps water to the house, the well itself 180 feet underground. When we have problems we call A&A Pump & Well service, which I have to do now and again. Over the years I have called them for many silly reasons, mainly because I'm a city boy and just didn't know how the thing works. I've learned sometimes when both pumps come on at the same time it trips the booster. I've also learned ants will nest in the electrical parts and gum up the works.

So now when something is amiss with the water I check all the simple things A&A Pump & Well has come out to fix. After hours and weekends the owner will drive out from Lompoc (about 30 miles) when I call and I always feel bad when the problem was something simple, so I learned from watching them to check the simple things before calling.

The point of this story is learn what you can when you can, it's cheaper that way. But if you need to call for help call the best pump and well service in the Santa Ynez Valley, A & A Pump and Well!