Archive » March 2015 » Columns

On March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, the Old Men of the Mountain met at the Duanesburg Diner; the waitresses were dressed in green, and the room the OFs gather in was festooned with green shamrocks and other St. Patty’s Day decorations.

A few of the OFs wore green; one even had a bright green necklace around his neck, similar to the beads thrown in New Orleans and other places that have Mardi Gras festivities before Ash Wednesday.

A routine question asked of the OFs by many other OFs is, “What are your plans for the day? Do you have anything to do?” The answers are generally vague, or met with a blank stare, as “Do? Do what?” Many of the OFs offer smart remarks like, “Take a nap,” which is true in most cases.

A common reply is list what doctors the OF or his wife have on the schedule for this day or week. Some really have something planned, places to go, and people to see.

An OF said he has to check the to-do list that is posted on the refrigerator. This OF thinks that quite often there are so many chores listed that the neighbors sneak in and add to the list because the neighbors know the OF is retired and will be home with “nothing to do.”

The OF says the handwriting of the weird chores are poor attempts at forgery. These notes say things like, “Take care of Blanche’s cats and let them out.” That message is one that has the worst attempts of his wife’s writing.

Yeah, we get those types of jobs on our to-do list but they are funneled through the old lady so the messages come from a bonafide source. One OF said it isn’t possible to put a to-do list on his refrigerator because, with all the pictures of relatives and grandkids, there isn’t any room.

The OF said that once he put a picture of a nude pinup on the refrigerator among all the other relatives, kids and grandkids and it wasn’t noticed at all. The OF said, after a year, he took it down and threw it away.

Gardeners get ready

The OFs who have gardens are talking about getting ready for the planting season and some have all ready started their plants. These are the OFs who are really into gardening and start plants likes peppers, tomatoes, and even some flowers from seed.

One OF mentioned he has purchased a worm composting system. According to this OF, this is a self-perpetuating system because the worms are prolific and multiply quickly.  One thousand worms become 2,000 worms in a hurry.

This OF says they will compost anything. When one tray of compost becomes ready, it is time to start another tray and the worms will turn anything that is compostable into dirt, even newspaper, and cardboard.

Comparing prices

Occasionally the OFs start comparing prices they pay for similar items.  This morning the discussion was on cable TV, specifically, Time Warner.

The outcome was that not one OF was paying the same for cable that the other was. Some were close but no cigar.  It seemed to be the variety of packages offered and what each OF has.

The same inconsistency was observed with car insurance. Some of the OFs shop for car insurance all the time, while others stick with an agent they know. This is where there are large differences.

The OFs did not converse about their coverage and their deductibles. Neither did they get into the ages of the vehicles involved. Some of their vehicles may be clunkers and others may be top-of-the-line vehicles.

One day, this scribe thinks the OFs should have an insurance party where the OFs can bring in information from their policies and compare apples to apples.

This also may be a plan of attack for the cable bills.  We should gather all our bills, check and see what is what and show up en mass at the Time Warner kiosks in Colonie Center and sign in as one organization, “The Old Men of the Mountain.”

When the name is called, all the OFs there go to the representative as a group, with our canes, one good eye, limps, and hearing aids that don’t work. This might scare the be-jeepers out of the clerk. The OFs would probably hear “Manager” in a panic tone emanate from the clerk feeling he or she was being swarmed by the undead.

Living in the Age of Google

The OFs who are on computers (and that is many more than people think, many OFs also have smartphones, and there is a good group of OFs who own the latest tech gadgets) play with Google maps. The OFs think it is fun to google friends and relatives, and places in the news with Google maps.

One OF said, while you guys are googling other people and places, they in turn are googling you. One OF added that the places depicted on Google are not very current. This OF said that he has googled his place and the shot used is years old.

He said that plane could fly over when his yard was a mess; however, it could look like the gardens at the Governor’s house in Williamsburg now. The information is definitely not real time.

With all this new technology going on with drones, cameras, with lenses that can take a picture of a match being lit on the moon, and computer maps, the world is nothing but one great big peep show. Where an OF once could take his wrinkled old body out in the backyard and run around naked, he is now going to show up on somebody’s computer in Stockholm, Sweden.

Condolences

 The OMOTM would like to offer their condolences to Harold Grippen and family on the loss of their son and brother.

The OFs who showed up at the Duanesburg Diner in Duanesburg, and fully clothed (thank goodness ) were: Miner Stevens, Roger Chapman, Karl Remmers, Dick Ogsbury, Robie Osterman, George Washburn, Ken Weaver, Lou Schenck, Jack Norray, Mace Porter, Chuck Aleseio, Glenn Patterson, Mark Traver, Otis Lawyer, John Rossmann, Harold Guest, Frank Pauli, Bob Benninger, Bob Fink, Mike Willsey, Gerry Chartier, Harold Grippen, and me.

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— Photo from Polly Schoolcraft

The Portsmouth Naval Memorial was built after World War I to commemorate members of the British Royal Navy who had no grave. Oliver J. Schoolcraft, a wireman aboard the HMS North Star, is listed on one of the memorial’s plaques: Oliver J. Schoolcraft — the son of Oliver J. Schoolcraft and the grandson of John Lawrence Schoolcraft of Guilderland — was born on Feb. 19, 1895 and died at sea on April 23, 1918, at the age of 23.

GUILDERLAND — The Schoolcraft House is coming into its own!   Many residents that attended the Holiday Event at the House in December checked out the restoration of the historic Gothic mansion. The house is becoming beautiful and usable.  Now we have another facet of its history.

A week ago, this historian received an email from Southhampton, Hampshire in England.  An email from Mrs. Polly Schoolcraft Bell, a direct descendent of Congressman John L. Schoolcraft!  She is also the great-granddaughter of Oliver J. Schoolcraft, Congressman Schoolcraft's first son.

What a surprise that was.

Polly Schoolcraft Bell and family have been searching their ancestors online and found the Altamont Enterprise story written by Melissa Hale-Spencer, editor, telling of  this historian's book called "Congressman John L. Schoolcraft...and his House."  It has become a small world through the Internet.

We were able to fill Polly Schoolcraft in on some of the history of Oliver J. Schoolcraft, her ancestor.  We will fill in readers also.

Oliver J. Schoolcraft was born in 1854 to John and Caroline Schoolcraft whose house we know in Guilderland.  Congressman John Schoolcraft died in 1860 upon returning home from a Chicago convention where Abraham Lincoln had won the presidential nomination over William Seward, Schoolcraft's best friend.

Two years later, Caroline Schoolcraft sold the house and moved to Richmond, Virginia with her three children.  She then married Dr. Joseph Gilmore Beattie.

Wedding portrait: James Bell married Polly Schoolcraft at Highcliffe castle last August. — Photo from Polly Schoolcraft

 

Oliver J. Schoolcraft grew up in Richmond after his mother married and became an editor of that city's paper.  He married Mattie Ould in Salem, Virginia in 1876.

The "Famous Belles" magazine profile of Mattie Ould Schoolcraft states that she sang for guests at her wedding in her father's house.  "Under the Daisies" was a melody with prophetic lyrics, a sad forecast of events to come.

Mattie died in childbirth in 1877, and the sad lyrics, "She lies through all spring and summer beneath a bed of daisies, and near sleeps the infant whose life closed her own," formed her epitaph.

Oliver, after a short attempt in the United States Navy, went to England in 1880.  After several years, he became a priest in the Church of England, married, and had five children. In his later years, he returned to the United States and died of paralysis in Lexington, Virginia in 1911 at the age of 58.

The obituary in the Virginia paper mentions that Oliver was the son of John L. Schoolcraft, of Albany N.Y., "prominent banker and man of large business interests.

Polly Schoolcraft Bell of England sent this historian the photos that accompany the article. Filling out part of the legacy of Guilderland's Gothic mansion on the Western Turnpike is of premier importance to this historian.

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On March 10, the Old Men of the Mountain met at the Country Café in Schoharie. Finally some decent weather, but the OFs that make the breakfast — make the breakfast.  Not many will come out of the woodwork just because it is nice out; they will come anyway.

The places that the OFs frequent are always staffed, the cooks are there, the waitresses are there, the restaurants are open and warm — all this regardless of the weather. Dedicated people own and operate these establishments (they have to be) because the OFs start banging on the doors at 7 a.m., canes in hand and hungry.

The local area has seen its share of fires during this miserable winter.  Each time winter stories come up, the OFs say this: “We have seen bad winters before but for some reason this one is a doozy.”

The latest go-round was the fire on Jay Street in Schenectady, then the one in the town of Bethlehem at the industrial park — two biggies on the same night.  Then there was a fire in Reidsville about the same time. The OFs are wondering where the next one is going to pop up.

Some of the OFs say they are double checking their woodstoves, wood piles, and furnaces, and many are unplugging their electric appliances. The OFs are just being cautious, but not paranoid. One OF mentioned the strain this must put on organizations that assist people in these types of personal tragedies.

Another OF mentioned how neighbors help out when something like this happens. The OF said it is not only small communities like the Hilltowns, but the individual neighborhoods of larger cities possesses the helpful spirit for those in need.

One OF noted that neighborhoods are similar to a collection of small towns bunched together to form a city, so he could see why this impulse to help those you know that are in trouble happens. It doesn’t make any difference if the one in trouble is on a farm in the Hilltowns, or in the middle of Manhattan, or Tokyo, or Sao Palo.

Pinochle pals

The OFs started talking about playing cards, especially pinochle. Some of the OFs travel to visit another OF who is having serious physical therapy and does not have the use of his legs, so the OFs visit and play pinochle with him.

Some of the OFs were saying that the OF who can’t walk partners up with a relative and they think these two have secret signals because the remaining OFs have yet to win a game. These OFs said they came close to winning the last time but didn’t make it.

Pinochle was a card came popular in the military, and at the work place; hands are fast and challenging. At lunchtime, it was possible to get many hands in before it was time to go back to work.

The OFs said that the pinochle game was a form of release on the troop ships going over to the front. Most of the soldiers spent their time on “deck” to get away from the smell of the “hold.” That sentiment was echoed by other OFs in the same boat.

One OF said they came around every morning and swabbed the sleeping areas, but it still smelled like “puke.” Another OF said he spent only one night in the hold and along with almost everyone else he slept on deck and played pinochle.

There is another card game played by seniors that these OFs have heard of, but they did not play it.  That game is called Hand and Foot and one game might last for hours. It’s a very popular game in Florida and is played by many retirees. 

Big Brother big time

The coming event of cameras at the red lights in Albany was another topic of discussion. Tuesday morning, the OFs were all over the lot with their thought processes, time jumping from one minute to the next. We heard about going to battle an enemy way back when the OFs knew what they were up against, to red-light cameras not even installed yet.

Quantum leaps have nothing on the OFs; they do it all the time.

The OFs seldom go to Albany anyway but now they will be especially sure the trip is really necessary. Trusting government, outside of where you can go to the town supervisor’s home or the local town board member’s and hash out your problem, is not in the OF vocabulary.

This is Big Brother big time. The officials can give all the holly golly they want on what these cameras will do to protect the public, but trust them?  No way.

One OF said it is just a money grab. This OF says they will adjust the yellow to just a quick flash, then nail you for running the red light.

Another OF thinks they can alter the film and, if they are not making enough money, they will have the camera showing a car running red when the light was actually green. One OF suggested staying out of Albany altogether, or find alternate routes that may take a little longer, but at least the OF will be able to avoid those cameras and not get caught in their nefarious trap.

Grateful for camaraderie

Many of the OFs have mentioned how ad-hoc organizations like the OMOTM have certain camaraderie among those that belong to these made-up groups.  These factions are just like the Elks, or Moose, or Masons, or the Veterans of Foreign Wars, or the American Legion (to name a few), including churches or the local bridge clubs, which have an unmentioned togetherness.

One OF said he would like to thank the group for being the group. In essence, what the OF was talking about was how many take the familiar for granted, for those we know, and fail to say thank you for being there.

This scribe thinks this is way too true and agrees with the OF who brought this up; this OF and all the other OFs should thank each other just for being there.

Those OFs who hauled their aged butts to the Country Café on Main Street in Schoharie and plopped them down for a hearty breakfast were: Dick Ogsbury, Karl Remmers, Glenn Patterson, Otis Lawyer, John Rossmann, Robie Osterman, George Washburn, Mark Traver, Harold Guest, Frank Pauli, Roger Chapman, Lou Schenck, Mace Porter, Jack Norray, Miner Stevens, Bob Fink, Bob Benninger, Mike Willsey, Harold Grippen, Ted Willsey, Gerry Chartier, and me.

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— From the U.S. Corps of Topographical Engineers

Howard Stansbury, a civil engineer, was a captain. His only known image is from a carte d’visite; on the back is a handwritten note, attributing his 1863 death “to disease contracted in the Rocky Mountains.” He was born in New York City on Feb. 8, 1806.

In 1852, the United States Senate published the findings of Captain Howard Stansbury’s 1849-1850 expedition to the Great Salt Lake. The report was called “Exploration and Survey of the Valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah: Including a Reconnaissance of a New Route Through the Rocky Mountains.”

Stansbury, an officer in the Corps of Topographical Engineers, had been assigned by the Senate to travel from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to the Great Salt Lake to scout out emigration trails, especially locations that might benefit the coming continental railroad. 

The report is comprised of entries of what Stansbury and his team saw and did each day. Scientists were thrilled with his takes on new flora and fauna and the animals they came across, as well as the captain’s account of the Mormon community with which he lived one winter under the direction of Brigham Young.

Ethicists were thrilled with what Stansbury had to say on May 30, 1850 while walking along the shores of Gunnison’s Island situated in the middle of the lake, a key breeding ground for the American white pelican.

Stansbury was admiring the flood of pelicans along the shores of “the bold, clear, and beautifully translucent water” when he came across “a venerable looking old pelican, very large and fat,” which allowed Stansbury to approach him “without attempting to escape.”

More striking was the pelican’s “apparent tameness [and when] we examined him more closely,” Stansbury says, “[we] found that it was owing to his being entirely blind, for he proved to be very pugnacious, snapping freely, but vaguely, on each side, in search of his enemies, whom he could hear but could not see.” 

And because the pelican “was totally helpless,” Stansbury knew he “subsisted on the charity of his neighbors, and his sleek and comfortable condition showed, that like beggars in more civilized communities, he had ‘fared sumptuously every day.’”

Pelicans are piscivorous, fish-eaters, and, since the salinity of the Great Salt Lake allows few fish to thrive, adult pelicans on Gunnison travel more than 30 miles one way to get food for their young — and their blind “comrade.”

A 19th-Century engraving of a pelican by William Heath is roughly contemporary with the expedition taken by Howard Stansbury to the Great Salt Lake of Utah.

 

An admiring Lewis Henry Morgan included Stansbury’s story in his classic “The American Beaver,” published in 1868, but perhaps more tantalizing is that Mr. Charles Darwin recorded that act of empathy in “The Descent of Man” three years later.

Though acts of mutual aid do not fit nicely with “survival of the fittest,” Darwin avers in “The Descent of Man,” “I have myself seen a dog, who never passed a cat who lay sick in a basket, and was a great friend of his, without giving her a few licks with his tongue, the surest sign of kind feeling in a dog.”

He offers examples of other dogs, baboons, elephants, cattle, and birds acting toward their comrades with a “moral instinct” that can only be construed as empathy. 

The scientist and philosopher-anarchist Peter Kropotkin knew of the pelican story and referenced it in “Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution,” published in 1902. In the first two chapters, Kropotkin offers a host of examples of animals coming to the aid of each other when needed.

And, in an oft-cited lab experiment dealing with animal empathy — written up in the “American Journal of Psychiatry” in 1964 — Jules Masserman and his team at Northwestern University tested to see if monkeys would give one up for the Gipper, as it were, when called upon.

The experiment allowed rhesus monkeys to pull a chain to access food but, when they did, a monkey next to them was zapped with an electric shock. After a time, the monkeys refused to pull the chain — maybe Masserman should have pulled the plug at this point — one monkey not eating for 12 days, risking starvation to avoid paining another.

On Gunnison, what went on in the pelicans’ minds such that they “felt” compelled to bring fish for a useless comrade? Or what makes the famed meerkat risk death when serving as a lookout for his foraging clan? Can we attribute such acts to protoplasm alone?

Several years ago, Voorheesville veterinarian Holly Cheever told me a story of her earliest days of practice with dairy farmers in upstate New York.

She said she got a call one day from a farmer complaining that one of his brown Swiss cows — who just delivered a calf on pasture (her fifth for the farmer) — when brought onto the milking line, was found to have a completely dry udder. It could not have been the calf because her calf had been taken right after birth — standard practice.

The dry-udder situation continued for days when the bottom line says a new mother should produce one hundred pounds (12.5 gallons) of milk a day. The farmer was at his wit’s end. 

Cheever reiterated last week that the mother was healthy, she was following the routine of the other cows — out to and back from pasture — but still no milk.

Finally, on the 11th day, the hapless farmer followed the cow and saw her head into a woods at the edge of the pasture where, mirabile visu, he saw a calf waiting for his mother whom she fed at her heart’s delight. She had given birth to twins!

If she had hid both calves, the farmer would have known right away; all things being equal, a pregnant cow would not go out to pasture and come back with nothing.

I think, as Chever does, that this cow had a maternal sense of justice. She had already given the farmer five babies, all taken right after birth. Now that she birthed two at once, she figured: One for him, one for me! She tipped the scales of justice her way. 

Cheever said, “All I know is this: There is a lot more going on behind those beautiful eyes than we humans have ever given them credit for, and, as a mother who was able to nurse all four of my babies and did not have to suffer the agonies of losing my beloved offspring, I feel her pain.”

I know about the Animal Protection Federation and the recent efforts of Albany County District Attorney David Soares enabling authorities to better respond to, and prevent, animal abuse in the county.

But I remain stunned as to how folk can harm our compatriots who tell us in a million different ways where we came from and how we might better ourselves by offering aid to every blind pelican that comes our way.   

On March 3, The Old Men of the Mountain met at Mrs. K’s Restaurant in Middleburgh.

Beware the ides of March, we are told. The ides of March, was March 15, way back in Julius Cesar’s time; however, other months had ides, which, in ancient Roman times, were the 15th day of May, July, and October, and the 13th day of the other, shorter months.

The soothsayer told Julius Cesar to beware the ides of March, and we all know what happened then. How the ides of March became hooked onto the weather we don’t know; how that rodent became a foreteller of the winter is also in question; however, right or wrong, that snaggle-toothed varmint predicted six more weeks of winter.

This winter seems like six is going to be on the short side — to the OFs, it looks like 10 more weeks would be a better number. 

The OFs continued their discussion on the weather.  Part of this discussion was the amount of snow that is protecting the nasty ticks. This bit of information was in the newspaper and the newspaper said that this spring ticks are going to be on the severe side.

The OFs also mentioned the frozen water-pipe situation again particularly because Cobleskill is on a boil-water advisory right now — for the second time. One OF mentioned that the same reasoning about snow protecting the ticks may apply to snow protecting water pipes: The removal of the snow on the streets is what may be causing main water lines to freeze.

Snow is a pretty good insulator by itself. But, still, in many places, the frost is down quite far this winter especially where there is open ground. 

 The OFs are still blaming the weather people (who really have nothing to do with the weather we get) because of their interpretation of the “models” and “charts,” which causes all of the hubbub. Generally, the weather people are OK but, when they miss a big one, it generates lots of problems.

On Tuesday, the OFs complained about the use of the word “overspread” by the weather people.  Case in point: It is dry as a bone out and the weather people say, “Rain will overspread the area,” and the OFs say, not possible.

In order to “overspread” anything, whether it is rain, snow, salt, or pepper, there has to be a predetermined something already there. In this case, an arbitrary number of inches of water already has to be on the ground — it can’t be dry and “overspread.” In this case, rain will “spread over the area” until it reaches that arbitrary, predetermined figure then it can “overspread” the area.

One OF used the analogy of shaking salt on his eggs. He said when the eggs are served to him, he spreads salt on them, but, if the cap falls off the shaker, then he has really “overspread” his eggs with salt but not until he has “spread” as much salt on the eggs as he likes; that is the predetermined amount.  Anything more than that is “overspreading.”

Along with the cold weather, the OFs were talking about keeping warm. Those who burn wood, and planned on a historical use for them (on the amount they would require for a winter season), are finding that this year they are running low. Some of the OFs figure they may even run out so they are looking at some of the OFs who may have excess wood, or some they could buy, in case it arrives close to the point of running out and a cold spring.

A few of the OFs used to burn wood, but, as the OFs get to be older OFs, they have given it up. Burning wood is nice heat, but it is a lot of work. It is much easier to have the oil truck pull up and have the driver fill up the tank, and then all the OF has to do is turn up the thermostat and pay the bill.

Reading maps is becoming a lost art

Old maps were a new topic discussed by the OFs.  This is unusual because this scribe does not think this has been touched on before.

The maps the OFs were talking about were the Geological Survey maps. One OF said he had a collection of every section for New York State. That is a lot of maps.

Old survey maps of localities are interesting, one OF said, because they show houses that are no longer there. People who are serious bottle collectors can use the maps to locate these now-gone homes and use them for dig sites for old bottles.

Another OF said that, back at that time, many family cemeteries were around, and these old maps can also be used to find these cemeteries. Some of these old maps can be used for those that do gravestone rubbings as a hobby, and some for finding where Great-Great Uncle Harry was buried.

All the knowledge on how to read maps of any kind may soon disappear, unless you happen to be a Boy Scout or Girl Scout. Tuesday, one OF said, all you need is a global positioning system; it was added those things aren’t always right either.

High-decibel din

It was also noted at Tuesday’s breakfast that the chatter at the OMOTM breakfast is a tad on the loud side. One OF noted it is because, at the ages of most of the OGs, hearing is a problem, so the speech decibels have to be raised to be sure the person next to you can hear.

If each OF raises his voice so the people around him can hear, it becomes loud in a hurry at the gathering of OFs. This must drive other patrons in the restaurants nuts because, even though they might not have hearing problems, they have to join the shouting match so the ones they are with can hear.

What a cycle. The OFs who wear hearing aids say they aren’t worth a darn in situations like this and leave them home.

Those OFs who found their way to Mrs. K’s Restaurant in Middleburgh by using geographical maps from the 1940s and not getting lost were: George Sokol, Harold Guest, Frank Pauli, Glenn Patterson, Mark Traver, Chuck Aleseio, Mark Traver, Roger Shafer, Roger Chapman, Steve Kelly, John Rossmann, George Washburn, Robie Osterman, Jim Rissacher, Don Wood, Jack Norray, Lou Schenck, Mace Porter, Bill Krause, Ted Willsey, Bob Benninger, Bob Fink, Elwood Vanderbilt, Harold Grippen, and me.

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Wrappers: Girls in Troop 1308 — Bella Perrotto, Lauren Savage, Catherine Thibault, Clara Hollands, Jane McKillop, Izzy Brusic, and Erin Mash — pause in their gift-wrapping duties to pose for a picture. Behind them is Lauri Mendelson who allowed them to raise funds by wrapping Christmas gifts at The Paper Mill’s Hallmark store in Delaware Plaza.

All smiles: Lauren Savage, at far right, displays a check Girl Scout Troop 1308 presented to Community Caregivers, raised through wrapping gifts. Posing with her around s sign bout the not-for-profit group, are, from left, Izzy Brysic, Clara Hollands, Jana McKillop, Erin Mash, Macey Bryant, Bella Penotto, and Mia Oppy. Catherine Thibault is missing from the picture.

The nine girls of Girl Scout Troop 1308 decided to raise money to help the elderly. They researched not-for-profits in the Capital District who did this and chose Community Caregivers because it was local.

It was near Christmas and they decided they could wrap gifts. Lauri Mendelson at The Paper Mill’s Hallmark store in Delaware Plaza allowed them to set up a gift-wrapping station and donated the gift wrap. The girls put up signs and told their friends and family, and their troop leader put the info on Facebook.

The girls wrapped gifts for four hours. They told me some people brought in whole boxes of gifts to be wrapped. At the end of the day, they had made $120.50. On Monday, Feb. 23, I met the girls and their leaders — Laura Savage, Jennifer Hollands, and Mary McKillop — to accept the check and tell them about Community Caregivers.

After my presentation on what Caregivers does to support the elderly people in our community, we talked some about ways elderly people might need help. The girls thought about elderly neighbors they know and grandparents or great-grandparents and their needs.

Their ideas included helping feed pets, shoveling driveways, vacuuming, doing dishes, folding laundry, making beds, writing letters, and making cards to send happy thoughts. They assured me they could do all these things.

Caregivers, however, does not have a program for kids unless they work with their parents and then their parents would have to become volunteers. We left it that I’d talk with the staff to identify clients for whom the troop could write letters and make cards. I’ll let you know what the follow-up is.

Caregivers could speak to your organization about our services and volunteer opportunities. Call us at 456-2898 for more information.

The last orientation for March is Monday, March 2, at 6 p.m. at our offices at 2021 Western Ave. Calling ahead is advised so we have materials for you.

The Memory Loss Support group meets next on Thursday, March 18, at 1 p.m. at Christ the King Church on Sumpter Avenue in Guilderland.

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