Signs of the weekend

[magid]

I went for a walk on Shabbat, and saw two signs I wasn't sure how to read.

"Zero Balancing" made me think of balance scales with zeros on either side. Of course, this wasn't likely to be right. It couldn't have anything to do with credit cards, or weightlifting. I doubt it has to do with juggling nothings. Pilates? Perhaps. Still, it remains rather mysterious.

A warehouse-y brick building had "Squirrel Brand Company" on it. I'd think they'd have to make pretty small brands for those squirrel herders. I wonder how easy it is to make distinctive brands small enough.

Comments

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Not relevant to this post, but since this medium seems to work for you, I picked up some vegan chocolate pudding at Wild Oats this weekend. (They also had vanilla, but chocolate usually feels like a better bet.) Want some?

[magid.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Thanks, I'd love some. Could I pick it up sometime before 8 tonight? (and retrieve the CDs, etc).

Side note: I don't check home email from work, hence LJ being so useful...

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I won't be home tonight until after the game. I would imagine we may see each other Wednesday evening -- or is that too late?

[magid.livejournal.com]

(read about the game after posting my comment).

I'm not sure you'll see me Wednesday; I have dinner plans with the rents, and I'm not sure how schedules will work after that. Possibly Tuesday?

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

That'd be "A factory-y brick building...", as it used to be the headquarters (well, the office was across the street in one of the residential-y houses) of the Squirrel Brand Nut Company, makers of Squirrel Nut Zippers.

Unfortunately, on the death of the owner, it was sold (and converted to affordable (I think) housing) to some nut company in Texas, as his will said something like "Sell the business. It's nearly impossible to make money in candy making anymore"

There was a great article on the local candy companies in the Phoenix sometime between 98 and now, but their search engine isn't finding it for me...

squirrely

[magid.livejournal.com]

Squirrel Brand Nut Company makes sense, but Squirrel Nut Zippers? Is that zippers made out of nuts, or nuts that grow with a zipper in the shell for easier access to the nutmeat, or a speedy nut distribution system? :-)

I hadn't realized that there were any local candy companies other than Necco.

Re: squirrely

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

This used to be a hotbed of candy making....lessee what I can remember.

Tootsie Roll. (Now 'Cambridge Brands')
Charleston Chew.
Squirrel (No, I don't know where the name 'Nut Zipper' came from. They're yummy, though.)
NECCO
(The other company that NECCO owns now (or maybe who owns NECCO)

and a couple more I can't remember...

Re: squirrely

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Found his obit...and some bit of the history of the name...

Candy-maker Gerrish dies at 91

By The Associated Press
CAMBRIDGE -- A funeral service will be held Friday for Hollis G. Gerrish of Cambridge, owner and president of Squirrel Brand Co., manufacturer of Nut Zipper candies.
Gerrish died of a stroke Sunday at Mt. Auburn Hospital. He was 90.
His father started the company in Boston in 1898 and moved it to Cambridge three years later.
The Nut Zipper candies, a mixture of peanuts and caramel, were introduced in 1903, and Gerrish, who said he started working at the company when he was 10, said the recipe has barely changed.
The name came from an article about a Vermonter who was talked down from a tree and told police it was "nut zipper," a local mixture that included alcohol, that caused him to climb it.
Squirrel Brand does not advertise. The company has 21 employees who work in a plant that was built on top of the foundation of an old school.
The company gave permission to the pop group Squirrel Nut Zippers to use the name but has no official relationship with it.
Gerrish was born in Berwick, Maine. He graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Business School and served in the Navy during World War II.
He was a trustee of Lesley College and of the endowment of St. Peter Episcopal Church in Cambridge.
He is survived by his wife.
The funeral will be at 1 p.m. at St. Peter Episcopal Church.

Re: squirrely

[magid.livejournal.com]

Wow. I'd never heard of Nut Zippers until your mention of them. Now I want to try one, and I don't even care for peanuts all that much.

What year did he die?

I hadn't realized there had been so many candy places in Cambridge, either (as opposed to confectionery, which I think of as a shop that makes their own candy and sells it pretty much from that location, not having it placed in other markets). I start to feel too young to have appreciated the city fully...