Archive » July 2014 » Columns

Tuesday, another Tuesday, and the Old Men of the Mountain met at the Hilltown Café in Rensselaerville. This Tuesday, the OFs headed to Rensselaerville encountered some elevation fog. It was one of the types of fog that hung around the mountain; was not too deep, and, as the OFs drove to the Hilltown Café in Rensselaerville, they drove into, then out of, the fog. This narrow band of fog wrapped itself around the mountain like a laurel wreath, indicating that weather is king.

The OFs talked about a real current event — the new toy drones. The OFs were not talking about drones used by the military but the ones that can be purchased from the hobby store. One OF mentioned a friend with a drone so large the OF claimed it was necessary to have a license to fly it.

Another OF mentioned how drones are becoming quite popular and can fly all over with cameras of exceptional quality. One OF thought they would be a great asset to farmers and police departments. Spotting marijuana growing illegally in farmers’ fields would be one use.

Another OF mentioned, if he spotted one flying over his property, he would shoot it down, because it would be an attempt to invade his privacy, or survey his property for a potential robbery. In other words, using this technology to “case the joint.”

Another OF said he thinks this has been done on a few occasions, and he would shoot it down too.

“Yeah,” one OF said, then the OF would be arrested “for discharging a firearm within the legally prescribed distance from a domicile.”

“Well, I would find some way to catch the thing,” the OF said. “Anyway, I live far enough from any other house that I could use a canon and not bother anyone.”

Losing bearings

Then, the talk flipped backwards in time from drones, to wood bearings, and Babbitted bearings.  Babbited bearings are thought to be an “old style” of bearing and they were. Wood bearings are still made and used today, but Babbitt-type bearings not so much. (The reason for the capital letter on the Babbitted bearing is because this style of bearing was invented in Taunton, Masschusetts, by Leon Babbitt and just like copiers are Xerox, and tissues are Kleenex, Babbitt is still Babbitt and is capitalized.)

Old Navy guys (and maybe not-so-old Navy guys) are quite familiar with Babbitted bearings; however, wood bearings were used way back when, and even today. The making of a wood bearing and a compatible wood shaft is still a high school shop class project. (That is, if shop is still taught in a particular school.  Many schools have dropped this class, which is necessary for kids who do not want to go on to a higher education.)

This scribe sat between two OFs who were sitting at separate tables discussing the topic of bearings and one wore hearing aids, and the other, in this case, should. One was talking about wood bearings and their use and where some could be found today, and the other was talking about Babbitted bearings and where they were used and how he used to work with them aboard ship.

Each OF thought the other OF was talking about what he was talking about. This made for a lot of head scratching before the scribe figured out they were each talking about different things as if they were the same. This scribe’s wife wonders why this column doesn’t seem to make sense.  Well, at times it doesn’t even make sense to this scribe.

The OF talking about the wooden bearings says that the old steam engine from Harts Mill in Berne now resides in the mill in Rensselaerville.  At this point in time, this OF did not know if the engine runs or not.  He only knows where it is.

The OF with the Babbitt bearings was probably still remembering his days on the Merrimac and throwing wet towels on the bearings to keep them cool.

(For those who want to check if these OFs have their bearings right, go to Goggle and type in “Babbitt bearings” or “wood bearings.”  So much information — so little time.)

In passing, the OFs mentioned their gardens and how some OGs are picking peas. In this discussion, the OFs mentioned that this year, if anyone has brown spots on their lawn, he had better check for grubs or some other insect, or grass fungus or disease, because it sure isn’t due to lack of water.

“But,” as one OF said, “we still have the month of August to go.” Yet, to him, it doesn’t look like August is going to be much of a problem in this regard either.

Mowing woes

This prompted another OG, and then another OF to comment on how much money they have spent on mowing their lawns so far.  One OF said it cost him $25 in fuel to mow his lawn once, and another agreed but he didn’t spend quite that much.

This scribe referred these OGs to the column of last week (about the July 8 breakfast, published on July 17) and the OFs said all they are doing is mowing the lawn, nothing fancy.

Those OFs who made it to the Hilltown Café in Rensselaerville, and who are going to watch the skies for drones (with shotguns at the ready) were: Jay Taylor, Jack Moss, Bob Benac, Art Frament, Harold Guest, George Washburn, Robie Osterman, Dick Ogsbury, Karl Remmers, Frank Pauli, John Rossmann, and Roger Fairchild. (This group of OFs were there waiting for the restaurant to open up.) Also: Miner Stevens, Roger Chapman, Bill Krause, Otis Lawyer, Jim Heiser, Glenn Patterson, George Aleseio, Lou Schenck, Mace Porter, Jack Norray, Joe Loubier,  Duane Wagenbaugh, Rich Donnelly, Elwood Vanderbilt, Gill Zabel, Bob Lassome, Bob Donnelly, Mike Willsey, Gerry Chartier, Harold Grippen, Ted Willsey, and me.

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One of the more exciting events we’re holding to help commemorate Community Caregivers’ 20th anniversary is a drawing for a very special one-of-a-kind gold pendant that is made in the form of CC’s logo.

The pendant, which is 14K gold, was handmade by Cindy Crounse, a local jeweler, and comes complete with an 18-inch gold chain. Tickets for the drawing will be available by Aug. 1 and will be $10 each or three for $25.  You may stop by the office to purchase tickets, or mail in a check and we will send you your stubs.               

The drawing will be held at the end of the “Neighbors Helping Neighbors Day” reception.  The reception will be at the Crossgates Mall food court on Friday, Sept. 26.  The reception will begin at 1 p.m. and we will hold the drawing at 2 p.m.

We would like to encourage people to register as a volunteer for this day of helping, which is another part of the celebration of CC’s 20th year of serving the community.

All proceeds from the drawing will go to help support CC’s ongoing programs.  If you’d like further information on the drawing or on being a volunteer, please call the office at 456-2898.  Or check out the website at http://www.communitycaregivers.org.

We thank everyone in advance for helping CC make it to this amazing anniversary and for your ongoing support. So, who is going to go home with some very cool new jewelry?

Location:

On Tuesday, June 24, the Duanesburg Diner hosted the Old Men of the Mountain. This scribe does not know if hosting is the right word; it was more like a hostile takeover.

No lives were lost, or dignity hurt, but some OFs had to shoo out some other OFs so they would have a place to sit. This was OK because some of the early birds were ready to leave anyway.

The Gas-Up held on June 14 was still a topic of conversation. The discussion was on safety, and how much of the old machinery was as safe as lighting a cigarette in dynamite shed. The dynamite was obviously dangerous even then, but the lighting of the cigarette we now find is even more dangerous.

The OFs mentioned all the spinning, unguarded flywheels; exposed gears; and shafts on various pieces of equipment whirling all over the place.

One OF mentioned that, many years ago, there were belt-driven buzz saws, with no guards at all on almost every farm, and belt-driven jack lines in many factories. At the Gas-Up, the running equipment with its “pit-cha-cha-cha, pit-cha-cha-cha” would give an OSHA (Occupational and Safety and Health Administration) representative nightmares.

Spinning the flywheel on much of the old engines was a way of starting them, even on some models of John Deere tractors; that is just the way it was then.

Another OF did mention that it was a fact we worked like that and to say no one got hurt was not true. Many a farmer and factory worker became hamburger from making a mistake around this equipment, and some of the OFs knew of people who made one of these mistakes, and you only had to make it once.

The “science” of burning wood

The next conversation seemed to follow the same line, but was much more current. Over and over, the OFs discuss burning wood and the “science” of burning wood.

The OFs said how stupid they are at times because many go into the woods alone with their trusty chain saw. It is a good idea to let someone know they are headed to the wood lot if they are going alone. That is the safety part.

There are a lot more safety considerations but this should be number one on the list of things to do before the OF even heads out.  This is good advice for anyone to follow for that matter.

Then one OF said, “No matter what kind of wood is being burned it has the same BTUs per pound.” This scribe had not heard that about British Thermal Units, used to denote the amount of heat energy in fuels.

After arriving home, this scribe checked it out, and found the OF who mentioned this little fact was right. The scribe selected four types of wood from a list a mile long of different kinds of wood.  Birch, red oak, white oak, and maple were the ones chosen:

— Birch, 3,145 pounds per cord, and 19.5 units of heat per cord;

— Red Oak, 3,570 pounds per cord, and 22.1 units of heat per cord;

— White Oak, 3,910 pounds per cord, and 24.2 units of heat per cord;

— Maple, 2,805 pounds per cord, and 17.4 units of heat per cord.

Divide units of heat into pounds per cord and each one gives l61 (plus a tad) heat units per pound. Son of a gun.

Another OF said that wood and leaves in the woods (fallen debris just lying there until they turn to dirt) give off the same chemicals into the atmosphere in their decomposing state as when they are burned, except in the woods the decomposing also produces methane.

When burning wood, the methane is what burns and the methane is not in the smoke. Some farms use the methane generated by manure piles by processing it through a methane generator and then use it for heat, and larger farms use the methane to power some pretty good sized generators.

To check this out, this scribe would have had to go back to school and take advanced chemistry. What the scribe discerned at the first glance is that all wood is made from the same stuff, only in varying amounts, and that is what makes pine different from ash.

And, looking at it again, this scribe scratched his bald head and muttered, hmm, this might not be right but it sure looks like it. Maybe there is some educated soul out there that could write The Enterprise and set the OFs right.

Anyway, the OF who mentioned the wood smoke and wood decomposing contends, if we breathe deeply on a walk through the woods, we are sucking in the same chemicals as contained in wood smoke.  The walk in the woods is supposed to healthy for us, yet the wood smoke is a carcinogen.

None of the OFs had an answer for this. Maybe the heat alters the chemicals, or the heat has some of the chemicals combine into something else that makes a harmful compound. The OFs didn’t know.

This scribe thinks maybe the smell of smoke bothers some, and the smoke being a carcinogen is a “smoke screen” to control by the political process the burning of wood and burn barrels.

Unattended burning barrels can cause a problem with sparks. The fire departments are kept busy with wood stoves, but that has nothing to do with the chemicals in the wood.

As the OFs have said before, many of the products the OFs use are perfectly safe; it is the operator that works unsafely, and the product gets blamed. Another anthem of the OFs.
Those OFs who made it to the Duanesburg Diner in Duanesburg safely, and ate so heartily that much methane was generated were: Miner Stevens, and his guest Justin Stevens, Dave Williams, George Washburn, Robie Osterman, Steve Kelly, Roger Shafer, Karl Remmers, Dick Ogsbury, Roger Chapman, Glenn Patterson, Jim Heiser, Mark Traver, Harold Guest, Frank Pauli, Jay Taylor, Herb Sawotka, Art Frament, Lou Schenck, Mace Porter, Bill Krause, Jack Norray, Ted Willsey, Bob Lassome, Joe Loubier, Rich Donnelly, Harold Grippen, Elwood Vanderbilt, and me.                                 

ALTAMONT — An enriching evening spent in the Altamont Community Room on Monday, June 23, presented Everett Rau, a long-time Altamont resident, billed as “An American Farmer, Rich in Spirit.” He was interviewed by Laura Shore, a volunteer worker at the Altamont Museum Archives.

This historian has known Everett for many years, and his historic wisdom on the success and benefits of early farming and his great knowledge about historic barns is documented.

Everett, born in the year 1919, has lived his whole childhood and adult years on his grandfather’s farm, Pleasant View Farm on Lainhart Road.  His grandfather was Peter John Ogsbury, a Civil War veteran.

Everett spoke of the many aspects of early farming.  Using a Farmall tractor was a big step forward for American farms.  Up until that tractor, he said with a chuckle, “We made hay the old-fashioned way.”  The attentive audience seemed to know what the “old way” was.

Everett also described his family’s activities in tough times. “In 1929, our country was just entering the Great Depression,” he said. “Through that time, as farmers, they worked hard raising 300 laying hens, made our own butter and cheese, and grew fruits and vegetables.”

The Raus preserved enough food to feed their families and neighbors and to donate food to others in need. “We never went hungry.  Our root cellar was never bare,” said Everett.

In addition, Everett’s mother took in summer boarders for $22 a week.  That sum included three meals a day and room!

“Neighbors all helped each other then,” said Everett. The names of Altamont families that farmed included Lainhart, Pangburn and Ogsbury. They shared farming equipment, labor, and knowledge.

Oxen were used in early farming days, and Everett said, “I still have the original ox yoke hanging up in the house.”

Everything was grown from heirloom seeds, Everett told the group.  Food was grown naturally, without pesticides. “If we saw a bug or a small green worm on an ear of corn or fruit,” Everett said, “we just picked it off!”

Then he advised how to get rid of leaf insects or worms: “Very simply.”

When World War II broke out, Everett Rau went to work at the General Electric Company in Schenectady on a secret armament project.  When engineers couldn’t fix a particular problem, they turned to Everett.  He took it home and did fix it.

Everett still worked the farm while at G.E. and he sold green vegetables, chickens, and homemade sausages to the G.E. workers. He told the audience, “Most jobs make you a living but farming makes you a life.”

Everett Rau married Peggy Vedder in 1943 and, he said, “We set about making a family.”

Today, Everett and Peg have four children, 17 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.  Everett consulted his lovely wife, Peg, sitting in the front row,  to get the correct figures: They’ve been married 71 years!

After the war, the Rau family began raising turkeys — 3,000 of them.  In 1951, they opened a store called Turkeyland in Schenectady.   Six ovens would roast stuffed turkeys that sold to long lines of waiting customers.  It was a grand success until 1961 when a new highway bypassed Turkeyland and detoured traffic away from Ev’s store.

In the 1960s and ’70s, the Raus’ farm continued general farming and they also raised sheep. A field hay bailer was purchased and successful harvests followed.  Hay was donated to the state of Georgia when it suffered a really bad drought.

The Raus also raised wheat to donate feed to the Altamont fairground for the animals there, and they raised a special crop of rye straw for roof thatching needed for the Shakespeare Theatre in Lenox, Massachusetts.

At the end of the interview, Everett strongly urged everyone to grow and eat more “fresh” food.  “Start a garden, even a small garden,” he said. “If I have encouraged even one person to start a small garden or have chickens — if allowed — or at least decide to eat more fresh food because it is good for you, then tomorrow will be another precious day for everyone.”

The standing audience clapped and clapped for a very long time.  OK, Everett, I’m watching my first tomatoes and my first two cucumbers grow on the vine!

Historian’s Note: This event was the first in a series for a film being made about Pleasant View Farm. The filming will take place through the summer and early fall, according to Marijo Dougherty, curator at the Altamont Museum Archives.  It is an educational project planned for the  District Educational System.  We will all be looking forward to viewing that.