Archive » June 2014 » Columns

On June 10, the Old Men of the Mountain met at the Country Café on Main Street in Schoharie. Interspersed throughout much of the morning conversation at one corner of the restaurant were discussions on what Schoharie was like in the 1940s and ’50s.

This was prompted by three or four of the OFs who were sitting by the window of the restaurant, which looks out across the street to the courthouse, and the Parrott House. The OFs remembered the movies in the street, setting pins in the bowling alley, and, at that time, the Parrott House was the place to be seen.

A couple of the OFs remembered the Glass Bar, but that will be that — let it be said that there was a place called the Glass Bar.

The village has changed, the Parrott House has changed, and the times have changed, but really nothing has changed.

The OFs are still sitting and eating, getting out of their vehicles, and walking within the same five thousand or so square feet of the planet they did umpteen, ump years ago, even though most have been all over the country, and some all over the world; here they are just like salmon, back to the same dirt on the bottom of their shoes that they had there when they started their travels.

Our discussion on the history of Schoharie (as the OFs remember it) only goes back 60, or maybe 70, years ago.  Not a history like history books, nonetheless, first-hand accounts of the past.

The proposed work that is going to be done at the intersection of routes 443 and 156 is what prompted the next conversation. The hamlets of Knox, Berne, West Berne, and Gallupville were bustling little communities with hotels, stores, gas stations, restaurants, and tourist destinations like White Sulphur Springs in Berne, most just memories now. 

The OFs mentioned that this was the year of the dandelion. Now, at least in the valley of Schoharie and the Hilltowns, it is also the year, so far, of green and phlox — these wild flowers are everywhere.

The OFs do not know how many remember the ice cream destination of “Dutcher’s.”  This was a place outside of Altamont on Route 158, not far from the reservoir, where the proprietors of Dutcher’s made their own ice cream. It is now the home of The Elegant Touch catering service.

Many of the OFs remember going there in the 1950s and ’60s and the amount of ice cream that was dished out. One OF remembered the banana splits, and claimed that was a meal. It wasn’t only the quantity — but the quality — similar to the Bears restaurant, one OF said.  Dutcher’s still remains one of the many gone-but-not-forgotten places that were pluses in the realm of the OFs.

Advice for kids

The topic that comes up quite often with the OFs is our grandchildren. One OF has a relatively new grandchild and it his first.

It was obvious how tickled he is; however, he sat across from another OF that has 18 grandchildren!  The new grandfather has a lot of catching up to do.

Talking about kids, one OF noticed how another OF came in and sat down.  This OF sat down with a plump — he just dropped into the chair. This was not because the sitting OF wanted to, but, with OF knees, hips, backs and legs, many times this is the only way to accomplish the maneuver. Getting up out of the chair is not much easier either; there has to be a darn sturdy table at the ready to push on in order to become elevated.

The OFs remember telling their kids to sit without plopping into a chair or couch. They remember telling their kids the furniture is not a trampoline. One OF mentioned he remembered his parents telling him the same thing that he harangued his kids for. Now that the OF is of the age he is, he has a tendency to fold and plop, and then hope he can get back up.

Bad bets,

Good pets

Some of the OFs discussed the horse race at Belmont (and the rant about the Triple Crown that came up after the race).  The OFs are in agreement with the co-owner of California Chrome, but not quite how he handled it.

One OF mentioned that the owner was not one of the high-class horse-owner mucky-mucks.  He seemed to be more of a people person just like the OFs are who speak their minds (while not always politically correct) yet they are more honest most of the time.

The OFs also covered another current topic — chickens and chickens as pets! Chickens make good pets, and are better as a teaching tool for your kids than cats or dogs.

Chickens make far less noise than some yappy little poodle that barks all day.  Clucking hens are very relaxing similar to a purring cat.

Who hasn’t been startled out of bed by a cat fight right outside your bedroom window? Talk about noise!

Any pet takes a lot of care no matter what it is, even if it is a pot-bellied pig, or miniature horse, they all have to be looked after. One OF said he has a large pet that needs a lot of looking after, and nobody complains about that. It is called a wife.

Those attending the breakfast at the Country Café in Schoharie and really filling up the place with good old Hilltown and Valley dirt were: Dave Williams, Bill Bartholomew, Jim Heiser, Otis Lawyer, Roger Shafer, Steve Kelly, Karl Remmers, Dick Ogsbury, Harold Guest, Frank Pauli, John Rossmann, Robie Osterman, George Washburn, Glenn Patterson, Mark Traver, Roger Chapman, Jay Taylor, Bob Benac, Art Frament, Herb Sawotka, Miner Stevens, Lou Schenck, Mace Porter, Bill Krause, Ted Willsey, Bob Lassome, Jim Rissacher, Henry Whipple, Mike Willsey, Gerry Chartier, Harold Grippen, Elwood Vanderbilt, and me.

The 27th of May, may be our one day of summer!  Mark the calendar — it reached 87 degrees, and we had a hot day later on with high humidity.

On Tuesday, this day in May, the Old Men of the Mountain met at the Middleburg Diner in Middleburgh. The Middelburg Diner and the Duanesburg Diner in the Duanesburg are the only two restaurants the OMOTM travel to that have their locations in their names.  All the others do not; however, some hint at it.

Anyone who is unaware of where the restaurants would be have to google the location, or ask a friend, or use a GPS system, but most of the OFs are a little suspect of that.

The OFs began discussing personalities; we each have one to some degree or other so the OFs then talked about the degree of personalities. This scribe must point out the OFs have rather high degrees of personality. The OFs state their opinions without rancor and that places them in a class of personalities that makes for harmonious conversations even with divergent opinions.

The OGs continued the conversation of yards and yard work of the last couple of weeks like there were no days in between the Tuesday breakfasts. These chats were much alike (we are OFs and the same stories told over and over are expected and normal, and to the OFs with short attention spans, even though the stories may be old, to them they are new) but keeping equipment going was the topic this past Tuesday morning.

Another aside about being OFs is just that many of these OGs lived through the Depression, World War II, and the times when there were enough possessions but still everyone was poor by today’s standards. Nobody knew they were poor because everyone was poor.

That little tidbit of information leads to why the OFs keep old machinery running and just don’t run out and buy new when something starts giving the OFs fits. Tinker with this old paraphernalia and get it going again is the OFs motto.

The magic screwdriver

One OF mentioned that he has a number of old lawnmowers a weed whacker, chainsaws, and equipment with other small engines.  Somehow they had all decided they were tired of working and so they decided to quit.

A couple of OFs are geniuses when it comes to small engine repair, and one of these OFs was working on one of the lawnmowers, and he wasn’t quite done fixing it.

The OF who had all this equipment was like many other OFs who don’t know a thing about small-engine repair; sometimes, if they do know a few things about repairing them, they find they do not have the patience to mess with them.

One day, this particular OF took a small screwdriver and said he would try adjusting one of the mowers because it wasn’t running anyway. The OF adjusted a screw, pulled the rope, and brraaapp, son of a gun, it started.

“Holy cow,” the OF said. “I guess I will try another.”

So, he took the magic screwdriver and adjusted another motor that wouldn’t run and brraaapp, away it went running like clockwork. The OF said he then looked at the screwdriver in his hand and tried fixing a chainsaw that hadn’t run.

He turned the screw to what he thought was right, pulled the rope, and, slap your butt, there was another brraaapp, and it was purring like a kitten.

The OF said, “Now that is what I would call a good day.”

Unwanted guests

To have all the lawn equipment up and running is essential to many of the OFs. The OFs have manicured lawns, and they look good, but to show off is not the reason for having these types of lawns. Most of the OFs live in the country, and the OFs maintain their lawns to keep the creepy-crawlies down and away from the house.

Mowing the lawn keeps these critters down because they breed and live in tall grass. One OF said, not only the crawly things, but the little flying critters, too. Another OF said we should keep plants and shrubs away from around the outside of the house because they bring the unwanted guests into your home also.

Ad season

ad nauseum

There were quite a few “Oh no’s” from some of the OFs now that it is the beginning of the political ad season. Now is the time, at least with the big-position politicos, that the politicians who have the most bucks will bombard the radio and TV with ads “to try and convince the 10 people who haven’t already made up their minds,” one OF said.

A second OF opined, “The media loves this.  Look at the bucks it reels in for them.”

In one OF’s opinion elections nowadays are not won, they are bought.

“Well, weren’t they in the old days also?” retorted one OF. “Only back then they handed out five-dollar bills, and cigars.”

 “To which ‘back then,’ ” another OF said, “five bucks was worth something.  Now you might just as well give a guy a quarter, and that won’t even buy a pack of gum — a lot of votes that’ll getcha.”

Changes in bathing

The OFs dropped that subject and went back to discussing bathrooms and how our bathrooms have changed over the years.

An OF said that he can understand that because he has trouble lifting his leg over the side of the tub to take a shower. It seems to be that, at our ages, a house does need two bathrooms — one with a tub for the soakers, and another with a walk-in shower for the OF who wants to be rained on.

In the good old days, the OFs took a bar of homemade soap, and went to the creek or pond.

One OF said, “You OGs have to remember we were YFs then.”

“What did our parents do?” an OF asked.  None could really remember.

Those OFs who have lots of wrinkles from all that lye in the homemade soap and who had breakfast at the Middleburg Diner, in Middleburgh, were: Robie Osterman, George Washburn, Dave Williams, Mark Traver, Glenn Patterson, Jim Heiser, Harold Guest, Roger Shafer, Otis Lawyer, John Rossmann, Frank Pauli, Steve Kelly, Duncan Bellinger, Henry Whipple, Bill Rice, Andy Tinning, Miner Stevens, Bob Benac, Art Frament, Lou Schenck, Mace Porter, Gary Porter, Ted Willsey, Bob Lassome, Jack Norray, Jim Rissacher, Ken Hughes, Bill Krause, Mike Willsey, Gerry Chartier, Harold Grippen, Roger Chapman, and me.