Archive » June 2019 » Columns

Fortunately (or unfortunately) most people, so we are told, are creatures of habit. On Tuesdays, a certain group known as “The Old Men of the Mountain” are called to various diners, and restaurants.

This Tuesday, June 18, the OMOTM were called to the Duanesburg Diner in Duanesburg. Monday, June 17, was a pretty nice day, and guess what! On Tuesday, the OMOTM traveled in the drizzle and fog, again to their appointed eating establishment.

The weather has been so wet, so far this year, that it was almost the lone topic of conversation at one end of the table. It is beginning to affect the OFs’ attitude towards many daily projects. The one thing the OFs agree on is that they look out at the gray sky and want to go back to sleep. Some do. One OF says all he does is drag around from project to project and ultimately does nothing.

Others say that many of their plants and gardens are doing nothing. One OF was going to paint his deck and stairs. This OF claims it is going to take all summer for the wood to dry out so he can do it.

“We have nothing to complain about,” was a comment made because of the situations in the southern and central part of the country. This has been brought up before. There is no doubt about the OF being right.

Rescue at Thacher Park

The OFs covered the topic of young people messing around in Thacher Park and the one young lad going over the edge. That was quite a tumble and required the use of many people and much equipment to rescue him.

These responders put themselves in harm’s way to do this. One OF said the responders practice for these situations and the safest way to do them, yet there is always an element of risk involved no matter how much they train.

It was brought out by the OFs (who were once young) who lived on the Hill. They, quite often, were part of the crowd that partied in the park when they were not supposed to. It was called an attractive nuisance by some, a dare by some, and a challenge by others.

First responders in the fifties were not trained as well, nor did they have equipment like we have today — helicopters for instance. Helicopters were around in the fifties but not equipped with technology like they have now. The OFs are lucky that none of them went over the ledge.

Many parties were held at Thacher Park, even way back when the Indians were still running up and down the cliffs 400 years ago. Many of the OFs had their high school graduation parties there. Only a few of the OFs are old enough to remember seeing the Indians there.

“The Eagle has landed”

The OFs have some birthdays coming up, one on July 20. The significance of this birthday, beyond that of being one of the OMOTM, is that it’s the day this country put a man on the moon.

July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong announced, “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”  By referring to “Tranquility Base” to Houston emphasized to listeners that the landing was complete and successful.

When stepping onto the moon’s surface Neil Armstrong said, “That’s one small step for [A] man, one giant leap for mankind.”  Somehow, that [A] was lost in the communication thus changing the meaning of that sentence and starting a lot of debate.

Finally, in 2006, a computer analyst in Australia, using new technology designed to help handicapped people, was able to hear the recording that Armstrong had made in 1969 and this proved that he did indeed use the [A] before the word “man.”

Neil requested that, when people used this quote, they should put brackets around the A.  Neil Armstrong died on Aug. 25, 2012, but he will always be remembered for being the first man to step on the moon’s surface.   

Some have birthdays that will always be remembered just for what happened on that day. In the case of July 20, there will always be skeptics of the event. These skeptics maintain it was only someplace like in a barn somewhere, or in Texas or Arizona.

Sometime this scribe will go back to the internet and find out what became of all these skeptics. One last note of interest: Today’s cell phones are far more powerful than the computers on the Apollo  Command Module and Lunar Module that were used to navigate to the moon and operate all the spacecraft control systems. Who said Google is just for youngsters?

Odds and ends

 Other birthdays hard to forget if yours falls on one of these days are Dec. 25, Jan. 1, July 4, or your Uncle Harry’s on May 3.

Many of the topics discussed at this morning’s breakfast were carryovers from last week — especially on animals. This gets to be redundant; just how much can be covered on animals?  However, the OFs continue to find something interesting but this week not so much — it was just animals. 

The OFs started to rehash computers and how they will soon be running everything (see the previous Neil Armstrong story) and many OFs are not ready for this. One OF said the young people will be controlled by these machines and not know the difference, but we OFs know what independence is and how to think for ourselves. One OF thought this was a little harsh on the younger generation, because we know little about it and maybe are afraid of what is coming.

Where have all the bugs gone?

The OFs ask where all the bugs have gone. The stink bugs, the elder beetle, the earwigs, etc.; the OFs were not complaining, just wondering.

One OF said, “Wait until it warms up, then watch out, they don’t like this weather either; the bugs are just holing up waiting to attack.”

The Old Men of the Mountain are not waiting for the attack of the bugs. The OMOTM are hiding in one of their selected hide-outs; those hiding in the Duanesburg Diner this week were: Roger Chapman, Miner Stevens, Paul Nelson, Bill Lichliter, Josh Buck, George Washburn, Robie Osterman, Dave Williams, Wally Guest, Harold Guest, Pete Whitbeck, Art Frament, Ray Gaul, Chuck Aelesio, Richard Frank, Russ Pokorny, Glenn Patterson, Joe Rack, Mark Traver, Mace Porter, Gerry Chartier, Herb Bahrmann, Lou Schenck, Jack Norray, Elwood Vanderbilt, Bob Donnelly, Harold Grippen, and me.

Condolences

The Old Men of the Mountain would like to offer their condolences and prayers to the family of Garry Porter, a good and loyal member of the OMOTM, on his passing on Tuesday.

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— Photo from Community Caregivers

Behind the scenes on the greens: Linda Bourgeois, at center, and Mary Ann Singleton, at right, co-chaired the Community Caregivers’ golf tournament. Stacey Roussin, at left, was in charge of the raffle and silent auction.

At 10:30 a.m. on June 10, one-hundred-and-twenty-three golfers got into their carts and waited for the shotgun start. This was Community Caregivers 15th annual golf tournament at Pinehaven Country Club.  And the weather held for the players.

Linda Bourgeois and Mary Ann Singleton co-chaired the event. Stacey Roussin was in charge of the  raffle and silent auction. The Title Sponsor was Adirondack Environmental Services Inc. The Eagle sponsor was Berkshire Bank. Par sponsors were AYCO, In Honor of Caregivers and their Loved Ones, and  PHRMA. Our thanks also to the 28 Tee Box sponsors and 53 local businesses and individuals who donated items for the raffle and silent auction.

The tournament committee consisted of Eileen Bray, Midge Bulgaro,  Regina DuBois, Petra Malitz, Arnie and Judy Rothstein, and Stacey Roussin.

The golf tournament is one of two fundraisers that supports Community Caregivers.      

Community Caregivers Inc. is a not-for-profit organization that provides non-medical services including transportation and caregiver support at no charge to residents of Guilderland, Bethlehem, Altamont, New Scotland, Berne, Knox, and the city of Albany through a strong volunteer pool of dedicated individuals with a desire to assist their neighbors.

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I’ve had more than one parent tell me their child has no friends. I even had a guy at work tell me, “You don’t need friends.”

When I hear things like this, it really makes me sad. We are all social animals not meant to live in isolation. Believe me, I’m not “Miss Congeniality” by a longshot, but even I have plenty of friends. With this in mind, let me offer some tips in the hope of alleviating this terrible problem.

First, you have to love yourself. Sounds vain but it isn’t. If you don’t think you’re “worthy” yourself, you’ll have trouble being worthy to anyone else. Revel in the unique creation that you are, knowing that you have something to offer (you do).

Do this: when you shave or put on your makeup in the morning, look into that mirror and say to yourself, “I look good, I feel good, and today is going to be a wonderful day.”

This is called visualization. Athletes do it all the time. We should all do it. Giving yourself positive reinforcement like this is a great way to start the day.

Second, you must learn to listen. People love to talk about themselves. If you become a good listener, you will tap into this truism and have a lot of interesting interactions if nothing else.

If you really want to learn how to listen or just learn to communicate better, try Toastmasters. Learning how to listen — how to really clear your mind and focus on what the other person is saying — will make you very popular and you’ll be well on your way to many lasting friendships.

Third, get out there and talk to people. I suggest visiting a nursing home or retirement facility as your first step. The people there would love to tell you their life stories, and in many, if not most, cases you’ll be fascinated by what you hear.

This is what’s known as a win-win: You get better at listening and communicating while making an otherwise lonely person’s day. Hey, you might even meet a pretty nurse or handsome doctor in there, who knows, so what are you waiting for?

Fourth, get involved with something new, like hiking, motorcycling, dancing, or whatever. If you’re in school, join a club — drama, chess, or anything else you find interesting. If you’re an adult, try a book group, or volunteering.

Pick something interesting and then just start out as a beginner and learn as you go. This is a great way to meet new people and have a lot of fun at the same time. In other words, don’t just sit at home playing video games, or staring out the window or, worst of all, watching TV. Get out there and do something!

Fifth, get some exercise — the kind where you work up a good sweat — like running, tennis, or even martial arts. Getting your blood flowing makes your brain come alive. I’m serious here.

Eighty percent of the ideas for the columns I write come when I’m out running. That’s how productive good, sweat-producing exercise is.

At a minimum, get out and walk if nothing else. Just breathing in the fresh air and using your body as it was meant to be used is a great start.

So there you have it. Five easy steps to make some friends. I’m keeping this very short because I want you to put it in your wallet or purse if you need to have a reminder to get started. Sharing fun times with friends is the best part of life.

Remember this quote from Aristotle: “Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.” Start making some friends and enjoying life today.

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 Three days of decent weather and then comes Tuesday morning, June 11. There was a half-inch of rain overnight, nasty drizzle in the morning, and wind blowing 20 to 30 miles per  hour. Hello!

It is time for the Old Men of the Mountain to gather at the Your Way Café in Schoharie for breakfast; it is hard for the OMOTM to catch a break. Two or three nice days a year for driving to the various restaurants really takes dedication.

It is only about 10 days until the longest day of the year. This date means the OFs who have their boats in the water (as noted in a previous report) do not have much “summer” time to use them. Still, the OFs say summer is short and winter is long.

One OF said that is true only if you like water and swimming. Winter is short, if you like skiing and snowboarding.

By the way, the pirate ship and crew is in the pond at the end of Old Stage Road, and the Thompson’s Lake Road (Route 157).  Bring your camera, or if you are keeping up with technology, your cellphone.

For some reason (ha!) the OFs were talking about feeling old, which is different than getting old. The one thing that makes the OFs feel old is how old their children are now.

When your kids are retiring, it makes the OFs feel old; when the OFs are attending their grandkids’ weddings, the OFs feel old.

Getting old is when the OFs start to slow down and realize they can’t do what they used to do, or it takes them a very long time to do what they used to do, which makes them feel sometimes that what they used to do isn’t worth the effort.

Downsizing

Downsizing is a frequent topic for the OFs. This time the chatter was on how large the home is.

Some OFs with their better halves (and that all depends on which one is being spoken to) are still in the old farmhouse. Or they have a home with four bedrooms, and back then it was only the one bathroom, but still, the home is too large.

Now there are only two of them rattling around in the place. In the instance of the big old farmhouse, which kids don’t want to inherit, the OFs have loaded it up with 80 or 85 years of collected stuff — because the OFs did not throw anything out; the home becomes quite a white elephant to sell.

One OF brought up the fact that many of the OFs started life during the Great Depression, or soon after, and throwing anything away was a sin. Clothes were held on to, to pass on to others in the family, or those who had none.

Holding on to the clothes became a syndrome even when times changed and it wasn’t necessary. No one wanted their old clothes anyway. One OF suggested that, depending on what kind of clothing they have, donating them to an animal shelter.

Many of the OFs have lifelong friends and family that their hearts would break if they had to leave them. So begins the quandary of what to do. The OFs talk it over and over and very few do anything.

One OF had a thought that the young ones should not snicker at this problem because they too will become old and have the same problem, even if they say they won’t.

Perturbing opossums

The one-time animal control officer for the Hilltowns was telling stories of some of his adventures in trapping unwanted varmints and animals that were not supposed to be where they were. One thing the OF mentioned was that opossums are one of the dumbest animals on four feet.

Opossums don’t know where to call home. The OFs think that those things go as far as they can go and eat whatever along the way and when they tire out that’s home. It can be under the porch, or under the dog house, they just don’t seem to care.

One OF said he had them on his porch like they wanted to come in with the cat. In another instance, three opossums holed up in the wall of his garage. The OF tried to get them out with a broom but it was raining out.

As soon as the opossums’ feet hit the wet ground, they all ran right back into the garage. The OF said one ran up the handle of the broom, hissing all the way. No way were they going out in the rain.

In defense of the “dumb” opossum, they eat ticks, help prevent Lyme disease, and kill venomous snakes. Opossums do their human friends many favors. It’s too bad they aren’t cute.

Old engines

The Gas-Up is running; it is that time of the year.

Some of the OFs leave the wife at home and make their annual trip to the two-weekend event in a field off Murphy Road, which is off Drebitko Road, which is just southwest of Gallupville on Route 443.

The OFs who go to this event just go to reminisce. The OFs mutter, “I had one of those (tractors), or one of these (hit-and-miss engines) etc.,” and a few OFs still have one of those and one of these.

Those OFs who left the wild animals behind so they themselves could scurry to the “Your Way Café” in Schoharie for their first cup of coffee were: Miner Stevens, Roger Chapman, Marty Herzog, Robie Osterman, George Washburn, Paul Nelson, Bill Lichliter, Josh Buck, guest of Bill’s who rode his motorcycle all the way from Dallas Texas, in mostly rain, Roger Shafer, John Rossmann, Wally Guest, Harold Guest, Chuck Aelesio, Richard Frank, Bob Benac, Art Frament, Karl Remmers, Glenn Patterson, Joe Rack, Otis Lawyer, Mark Traver, Pete Whitbeck, Lou Schenck, Jack Norray, Mace Porter, Gerry Chartier, Mike Willsey, Elwood Vanderbilt, Bob Donnelly, Duncan Bellinger, Harold Grippen, Ted Willsey with Denise Schanz, and me.

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On Tuesday, June 4, the Old Men of the Mountain met at the Country Café in Schoharie after experiencing a really cold night for the month of June. Some of the OMOTM went to bed with the temperature at 42 or 44 degrees.

Dang! The OFs are mostly on blood thinners and they feel this chill; the OFs still are using flannel sheets and flannel PJs. The furnace is set at 65 and that sucker is continuing to kick in.

On Tuesday morning, the OFs who reside in the hills southeast of Middleburgh found they had ice or frost on their car windows. This is the OMOTM’s weather report for June 4, 2019.

All this wet weather and the cold, near the beginning of summer, was what was handed out for weather Tuesday morning and this weather report kept the OFs’ gardeners buzzing. Some have kept their plants in the containers they started them in and these plants are now pretty good-sized.

One OF just had a chance to till his gardens but nothing is in the dirt yet. This OF plans on doing the planting after our breakfast before the rains come. We will have to wait until next Tuesday to see if these preparations come to pass.

One OF wondered if his favorite team will be able to get the ball game in before more rain; it is odd watching some of the baseball players still wearing their hoodies this time of year.

Seventies upheaval

The OFs who once worked in industry, and who are now retired, talked about what it was like working in the fifties and sixties and how much changed during the eighties and nineties. Most say that things started to change in the 1970s and the changes that came about were very complex. The seventies were an era of economic struggle, cultural change and technological innovation.

To the OFs, at this point in time, circumstances became more hectic, and less friendly. The hurry-up attitude seemed to put an edge on people.

One OF thought it was because we had become older in the seventies and had the comparison of working in the past (to the seventies). The younger people joining the workforce were already in the fast pace so this OF thought the fast pace didn’t seem so fast to these baby boomers.

This OF considered that, as OFs, we were used to civility, and that seemed to be (to him anyway) disappearing as the pace increased.

Another OF said that, now that he was retired (and has been for about 15 years), to heck with the pace, he will just chug along in low.

The OF mentioned the companies that are no longer around since the time they were in the workplace. Many of these companies were local to our area.

GE with over 22,000 employees and ALCO (the American Locomotive Company) with its thousands working there, made Schenectady the city that lights and hauls the world. GE’s workforce now is down to much less than Price Chopper, and ALCO is gone.

Those are just two companies the OFs came up with, others also — gone. One OF mentioned that many smaller companies probably have been replaced.

Green meat and Other delicacies

This scribe does not remember how the OFs began talking about cooking, but it was not cooking like making spaghetti or a stew. This discussion was about flour, and flour mills, wheat etc., and also about meat — storing meat, and preserving meat.

This scribe (if he heard it right) heard the OFs say that the little bugs found in flour are OK to cook up — they don’t bother anything. Some OFs questioned that.

However, a little research (thank you, Google) said: “Yes, it is safe. Assuming the flour is in something you will bake or otherwise heat up because the high temps will kill the bugs. They are mainly protein so you might even consider them healthy. At the same time, you probably don't want to eat food or be served with food with dead weevils in it.”

Weevils? We hadn’t discussed them.

Then one OF said that big silos of ground grain are allowed a certain amount of bugs, and mouse droppings. It can’t be 100 percent avoided.

One OF said, “Count me out now from eating bread, cookies, and buns.”

Another OF said a friend of his was a butcher for a large chain grocery store and this butcher would save him (and a few other friends) the meat, especially steaks, that had green mold on them.

When he had some meat on sale that wasn’t “perfect,” he would call his friends and let them know how much he had, and how much it would cost. The OF said this was great meat, extremely tender, and flavorful.

Misery loves company

The OFs were talking doctors again, basically on the nasty, debilitating, disease called arthritis. It was funny how some of the OFs found out they go to the same doctor, not only for arthritis but for other ailments too.

It seems like many of the OFs have the same medical problems so it wouldn’t make sense to complain about these problems because who you are complaining to has the same problem you do and maybe even worse!

However, all the OFs still complain to each other. This probably completes the ole saw “misery loves company.”

This scribe is going to promote himself. If you have the time and want to see a little show of some of the scribe’s paintings, the scribe has 12 of them hanging at the Berne Library for the month of June.

The library has sort of an uneven policy for when it is open. The times are as follows: Monday, 2 to 8 p.m.; Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Wednesday, noon to 8 p.m.; Thursday, 2 to 8 p.m.; Friday, 2 to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and it is closed Sunday.

There was a contingent of OFs hanging around outside enjoying the early morning air waiting for the restaurant to open, and it did, of course, then the other Old Men of the Mountain began to arrive and they were: Richard Frank, Chuck Aelesio, Bill Lichliter, Robie Osterman, Karl Remmers, Roger Shafer, Miner Stevens, Harold Guest, John Rossmann, George Washburn, Wally Guest, David Williams, Roger Chapman, Glenn Patterson, Mark Traver, Joe Rack, Otis Lawyer, Pete Whitbeck, Art Frament, Bob Benac, Rev. Jay Francis, Lou Schenck, Mace Porter, Jack Norray, Herb Bahrmann, Mike Willsey, Gerry Chartier, Duncan Bellinger, Elwood Vanderbilt, Harold Grippen, and me. Finally, after most of the OFs had eaten breakfast and left, two more arrived: Marty Herzog and Jim Rissacher.

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— Photographs from the Guilderland Historical Society

Few women took up driving in the early days since automobiles had to be cranked to start. Here a member of Dr. Cook’s family posed in an early automobile, date and model unknown, and she may have been one of the few spunky females locally who learned to drive at that time. The Cooks summered on the farm that is today Altamont Orchards.

— Photographs from the Guilderland Historical Society

Local Brush owners posed in 1910 in front of Sands Bottling Works in Altamont. The Brush Runabout was produced from 1907 to 1912.

— Photographs from the Guilderland Historical Society

Touring cars, pictured on a postcard showing “Road To Helderberg Mts.,” would have been the type of high-priced car driven by wealthy Albanians heading to their summer cottages or to the Helderberg Inn, formerly the Kushaqua.

Martin Blessing’s cry, “Hurry out! A horseless carriage is coming by,” alerted family members to rush out front of their farm on the turnpike in Fullers. Frightened by the commotion, his small daughter peeped out from behind her mother’s skirt as the strange contraption rolled by.

Anna Anthony, recalling this event in her old age, never forgot her first sight of a car. Perhaps it had been the Locomobile Steamer Arthur Barton, living on a farm a few miles west on the turnpike, remembered as his first car, describing it as “a whooshing, bouncing carriage-like affair careening ‘madly’ down the old plank road in a cloud of dust and steam.”

Even those who had not yet seen an automobile were aware of their development after reading articles such as “The Horseless Carriage” published in a September 1899 Enterprise. As the first decade of the 20th Century unfolded, more and more attention was given to local automobiles and their owners in the pages of The Enterprise.

Owning a car in that era was not for the faint of heart. City folk seemed to become car owners before those in more rural areas and it seems out-of-towners were the first to pass through Guilderland. In 1904, Mr. and Mrs. Tompkins of New York City stopped by in Altamont while on their way to their summer home near Berne, disgusted that rain delayed them in the mid-Hudson area when the normal running time between New York City and Albany would have been only 12 hours.

A year later, they arrived with another couple in a second car headed for Berne. When, as they climbed the steep hill out of the village (now Helderberg Avenue), the Tompkins’ auto stalled, its brakes failed, and the car began rolling backward. The wife jumped out, and the husband ended up partly overturned against an embankment.

Neither were injured, the car was righted, the engine was cranked up, and these hardy motorists were on their way.

That same year, George Crounse was intending to visit his sister Mrs. E.H. York of Guilderland Center, when his car’s engine died in Gallupville, causing the humiliation of having to hire a farmer and team of horses to tow him to Altamont where he had to telephone to Albany for “a professional” to come out to fix the problem.

Not only was driving an automobile an adventure, it was an expensive one!

Early automobiles had to be hand cranked to start (electronic starters were in the future); had limited horsepower; were forced to travel for miles on wretched roads, causing frequent flat tires; and, outside of cities, there were very few places to buy gasoline or find mechanical help. A few of the very early cars operated on steam power, which had its own set of problems.

The identities of the very first car owners in Guilderland are unknown, but by 1906 drives by Altamont’s Charles Beebe and W.H. Whipple were noted in The Enterprise. There were surely others. “Auto parties” were noted at that time, passing through on their way to enjoy the amenities of the Helderberg Inn.

Sands sales

Eugene and Montford Sands got it right when they stated, “the automobile is here to stay” in one of their Sands Sons’ advertisements. Already successful Altamont grain and coal merchants, the two entrepreneurs opened an auto agency in 1907.

An early offering included, for $275, a Success runabout (a two-passenger open car) featuring a “powerful” 4-horsepower engine with wheel steer (several very early cars had tillers for steering); for $600, a Federal runabout with a 15- to 18-h.p. engine; or for a big spender willing to part with $1,250 the Model, a 2-h.p. two cylinder automobile with a removable rear seat that could carry five persons — “a wonder for the price.”

During the early automobile years, there were many companies manufacturing cars with brands that within a few years were out of business, making the brands unfamiliar today. Among the automobiles acquired by local men were Reo, Overland, Locomobile, Columbia, Brush, and Great Western.

Sands advertised others such as the Success and Model and it’s assumed that they were purchased by local drivers. Fords and Buicks were also locally owned as well.

By 1908, the popularity of the automobile was firmly established, appearing on local roads with increasing frequency. Sands Sons cleverly whipped up enthusiasm for the new technology not only with announcements and advertising in The Enterprise, but by exhibiting automobiles at the Altamont Fair where the brothers touted the merits of the new 1909 Great Western five-passenger touring car to over “200 prospective” buyers during Fair Week.

The Village and Town column in The Enterprise announced that Messrs. Clickman  acquired one of them. Earlier in May 1908, the two car salesmen had focused attention on the trophy won in Menands, their Great Western coming in first for the fastest time its class for five-passenger, $1,250 cars in a steep hill-climbing contest.

Soon they were promoting a new $1,600 Great Western 30-h.p. model, which had the advantage of being converted into a gentleman’s roadster by detaching the tonneau and substituting a rumble seat. Their sales pitch ended with, “Watch out for this car as it will create a stir among auto enthusiasts.” And the really affluent man with an extra $3,500 could drive away from their dealership in a 50-h.p Great Western.

Aware that only a limited number of local men were wealthy enough to purchase a large touring car, Sands Sons introduced a two-passenger Brush runabout, claiming the runabout not only had gas mileage of 25 to 40 miles, but that a woman could drive it easily.

These two car salesmen assured prospective buyers this “very neat and easy running car” was capable of climbing any hill in the area, announcing an Albany dealer had plans to drive a Brush up the Capitol steps. New York State authorities put the kibosh on that publicity stunt and it never happened.

Many years later, it was recalled that sometimes the Brush ran well, other times the engine made a hill climb sputtering, “I think I can, I think I can, I thought I could, I thought I could ... I can’t!”

Erecting a big tent at the 1910 fair, Sands Sons continued to push the Brush, assuring would-be buyers that, if they made a purchase during Fair Week, the Sandses would give them a “special figure.” Current Brush owners were invited to use the tent as their fair headquarters.

Two people who at some point purchased Brush runabouts were Eugene Gallop, who was the mailman on a rural route, and Irving Lainhart, who delivered groceries in his Brush until 1918 when he traded it in for a Ford.

In addition to selling cars, Sands Sons also advertised that they had supplies of batteries, lubricating oils, gasoline, etc. for automobile owners and chauffeurs.

Dangers and delights

Automobile owners of the era were a versatile group, changing their own tires and dealing with simple mechanical problems, but for things more serious a mechanic was needed.

The demand was quickly met in 1907 when Mr. James Bradley opened up shop in the rear of Lape’s Paint Store in Altamont, advertising himself as an experienced mechanic who could repair automobiles.

At this time, Guilderland’s large population of upset, unhappy horses (and their owners!) were usually terrified when approached or overtaken by these noisy, smelly behemoths, especially since the roads were very narrow, putting car and horse in close clearance of each other.

Guilderland Center’s F.C. Wormer ended up painfully, but not seriously, hurt when his horses, spooked by a passing car, took off, dumping the unfortunate F.C. in the road.

As Dr. Fred Crounse was driving his auto to Meadowdale, he began passing Cyrus Crounse whose skittish horses became so terrified by the car, they rushed toward it and one ended by jumping on part of the car, “smashing some of the fixtures on the driver’s side. A few dollars in repairs made the machine as good as new,” but no mention was made whether they were Dr. Crounse’s dollars or Cyrus Crounse’s.

As automobiles proliferated, another problem became obvious. As early as 1907, the Guilderland Center correspondent wanted to know why there was no speed limit out in the country, claiming that the previous Sunday morning “there came tearing down through the Centre an auto at a velocity of speed that would put a western cyclone to blush,” showering people on their way to church with dust and grit and endangering the children.

On another occasion, an auto driven “wildly” through Guilderland Center struck and killed Seymour Borst’s pet dog. Again a call was made for more strict laws against those “speed fiends who rush madly down our streets.”

Automobiles had become a permanent part of childhood experience. Marshall Crounse, 9-year-old son of Dr. and Mrs. Fred Crounse, ran in front of a car while on vacation with his parents in Florida and was knocked down with at least one wheel rolling over his legs just below his hips. Miraculously escaping serious injury, Marshall was fine by the time of his family’s return to Altamont.

Ten other children had a more positive experience when Mrs. David Blessing, their Sunday School teacher, arranged for Montford Sand to cram all 10 into his big touring car for a drive to a picnic at Frenchs Hollow.

The danger of fire became evident. A very expensive touring car driven by summer-cottage owner Gardner C. Leonard’s chauffeur burst into flames a mile-and-a-half east of Altamont.

The chauffeur threw himself out of the car just in time, for when the fire was out, the only thing left were the two front wheels. The frames of those early cars were of wood, causing them to burn rapidly once the gasoline was ignited.

When another auto fire destroyed a vehicle on the Western Turnpike in what is now Westmere, it was noted the owner had insurance.

“Death in Auto Accident” headlined the most tragic fire in 1911 when Mrs. William Waterman, out with her husband for a drive near Altamont’s Commercial Hotel on Main Street, suddenly screamed she was on fire. Her light summer clothes quickly blazed up, resulting in her death the next morning.

Although The Enterprise said the cause of the fire was gasoline, the car itself didn’t burn. Many years later, a recollection of the incident claimed the car was a Locomobile Steamer, an early car where paraffin or naphtha provided the fuel for the fire to heat the water to make steam to power the automobile. These impractical cars quickly went out of production.

One August 1911 morning, William Whipple, driving the Sands’ autotruck, pulled out of Altamont carrying Montford Sand in the passenger seat. While traveling down “church hill” past the entrance to Fairview Cemetery (now Weaver Road), the autotruck encountered two women approaching in a horse-drawn buggy.

The skittish horse panicked, jumped into the ditch, and overturned the rig, throwing the women out. Seeing their plight, Sand immediately leaped out of the autotruck, stumbled and fell, striking his head. Unconscious, he was carried back to his Altamont home where he died hours later.

The automobile by 1911 was an everyday part of local life whether for pleasure or for work. The dangers of automobile ownership had already become apparent and it was a tragedy that Montford Sand, one of the brothers who did the most in the very early days to popularize the automobile in Guilderland, died in an automobile-related accident.

It is almost June, and it doesn’t feel like it; this May 28 it felt more like maybe early April. Regardless, it was a Tuesday, and the Old Men of the Mountain knew what day it was and met at Mrs. K’s Restaurant in Middleburgh. Middleburgh spelled with an “H” and Duanesburg without — go figure.

Tuesday morning, the OFs spoke about putting things off. Procrastination is the big word for the problem, only with the OFs it is not so much putting things off, it is old age catching up with the OFs.

The OFs may think they are putting things off, but the truth is now the OFs move slowly, and take so much longer to just take a shower and get dressed that it may seem they are putting whatever it is off.   However, they just haven’t caught up to whatever it is yet.

Then it is evening and supper, which used to be at 6 or 7 o’clock, is now happening at 4 or 5 o’clock and the day is over for us OFs. The OFs still haven’t completed half of what they thought they would do, so come the next morning the OF has already had half a day shot and the OF isn’t even out of bed yet!

Just having to do what was leftover from yesterday, by the end of the week, the OF is so far behind that the OF says to heck with it and goes back to bed. With the OFs, it is not procrastination, it is those numbers 80 through 90-plus added to the OFs age that is the problem.

New doc takes toll

The OMOTM followed up on the previous banter, saying how, at the ages of the OFs, having to change doctors is a problem. In some cases, the OFs outlive the doctor that has been taking care of them for years and realize they have to find a new doctor.

Sometimes this poses a real family situation — getting the OF comfortable with a new doctor who doesn’t look old enough to shave. Trying to convince the OF that this “youngster” is his doctor and that the OF will be comfortable with him or her.

In a few cases, the new doctor practices with a large group of doctors, and if the “kid” doctor is not available, the OG is shuffled off to another doctor in the factory whom he has never met. The OFs continued, saying “This guy starts asking questions that I have answered a hundred times before.”

One OF said this case in point had just happened to him. While he was answering the questions, the doctor wasn’t even listening; he was writing something down that didn’t pertain to him at all. The doctor even called a nurse in and gave her the paper he was writing on.

“Sure didn’t make me feel any better,” the OF said.

Enrollment down, Why are taxes up?

There is also that continuing problem of taxes. A short time ago, there was voting all over the place on school budgets. The OFs were wondering with local school enrollments going down (not by much, but the trend is down, as is the population of New York) why do taxes keep going up?

The newspaper just reported that New York State has the highest (by double) per-student rate in the country, and the kids are not any smarter for it.

Like the ad on TV for the dishwashing soap, “What does the dishwasher do?” the young girl asks after watching her mother wash all the dishes and then put them in the dishwasher.

We OFs would also ask, “Just what do all those school taxes do?” The pie chart, and the flyer sent around just before voting time, the OFs say, said nothing.

The OFs know maintenance, supplies, and fuel oil prices fluctuate, but building new buildings, etc. doesn’t seem to make sense unless the others are so bad they are unusable.

One OF said he was home-schooled, and the schoolhouse was the barn. There is a lot to be said for that.

Another OF defended the way we were taught, and the way school is today. If our education was only that of out behind the barn we never would have gotten to the moon, and now we are looking toward way beyond that.

These conversations almost sounded like the OFs want to go back to doctors making house calls, and one-room schoolhouses where one teacher taught multiple grades and was put up at one of the farmer’s homes. The doctors making house calls was mentioned and some remembered the names of the local doctors who did that.

One OF brought up a thought that he thinks communicable diseases and colds would be kept down by this practice instead of everybody going to an office, which, to this OF, is an incubator of all kinds of germs.

One OF thought that in the not-to-distant future we won’t be seeing a doctor. The secretary will ask what our problem is and we will step into a room and a series of machines will take over, and diagnose what’s going on, and another machine will take over and take care of the problem.

This OF thinks that somewhere along the line a doctor will be part of the diagnosis and a possible cure, but we will never actually see this doctor. One OF said, “Star Trek, here we come.”

In the field of medicine, the young people have a lot to look forward to, but for now the OFs look forward to Tuesday and the next breakfast, and this week those who made it to Mrs. K’s Restaurant in Middleburgh were: Roger Chapman, George Washburn, Robie Osterman, Miner Stevens, Wally Guest, Harold Guest, John Rossmann, David Williams, Marty Herzog, Bill Lichliter, Roger Shafer, Pete Whitbeck, Jim Heiser, Richard Frank, Chuck Aelesio, Ken Parks, Glenn Patterson, Otis Lawyer, Mark Traver, Joe Rack, Bob Benac, Art Frament, Lou Schenck, Mace Porter, Jack Norray, Duncan Bellinger, Rev. Jay Francis, Elwood Vanderbilt, Mike Willsey, Bob Donnelly, Allen DeFazio, Harold Grippen, and me.

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— CC BY 2.5

“The Conversation” was painted in the 1930s by Arnold Borisovich Lakhovsky, an artist of Ukrainian-Jewish descent, born in the Russian Empire in 1880. He ended his career in New York, dying there in 1937.

Do you have a name for it? I looked online and found “Windbag,” “Chatterbox,” and “Know-it-all.”

The Synonyms page lists “Blowhard,” “Gasbag,” and “Gascon,” the last coming from Gascony in France where people never stop talking about themselves. At a festival each August, they pick the biggest liar.

I think you know the “type,” the guy who grabs your ear, starts blabbing, and will not let go.

In one of his “Satires” the great Roman poet Horace says he met one of these guys on the street (in Rome) and, try as he might, he could not escape. Once the guy got going, the poet said his ears dropped like those of a donkey who just had a load put on his back.

Some people are less than kind when they speak about “the talker.” I’ve heard some, after a drink or two, call them “sickos,” “narcissists,” or “sicko narcissists,” claiming the talker is interested only in himself.

In a way, that’s true but it’s hard to tell because the talker never reveals himself. He might yak about his favorite pizza or a baseball team he likes but it’s done behind a façade that’s hard to get around.

“The talker” seems to be imprisoned and controls each situation to prevent the other from getting the upper hand. It’s a body without psychological grounding.

After years of being battered by their rat-tat-tats, I learned to confront talkers directly. I now say something like: Maybe we can save this conversation for another time; I don’t have it in me today to continue. I know you agree. (There’s no negotiation.)

I mentioned “conversation” but the situations described contain none. And, whether you agree with that or not, you have to tell me what your definition of “conversation” is. It sounds simple but you’ll stretch your brain trying to do so. When I hear people say: I just had a great conversation! I assume “great” means they know “conversation.”

I like conversations, I like good conversations and by that I mean: When I talk, the other person listens. And it’s easy to tell. First by the eyes, and then when the listener enters my world, asks questions of clarification, in the long run is interested in who I am. Sincerity is always evident.

Ask your reference librarian, go online, search “conversation.” The offerings are endless. You will even find people talking about the “art” of conversation. Art?

Some people, when they hear “art” in reference to conversation, become puzzled. Painting is art, poetry is art, and things like music but somebody talking to somebody else, an art? Hey: I talk, my buddy talks, we say what we say, conversation over.

Such a view is clearly at odds with an understanding that conversation is personal exchange. In his insightful (and multi-million seller) “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” Stephen Covey lists his Habit No. 5 as: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” It’s the kind of proverb you find in the Bible.

It sounds Yogi Berra-like but there’s listening and there’s listening and Covey explains the difference. “Most people,” he says, “do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply. They’re either speaking or preparing to speak. They’re filtering everything through their own paradigms, reading their autobiography into other people’s lives.”

Which means the talker is working the crowd for his own benefit.

The brilliant comedian Brian Regan mocks this tack in an acerbic bit, “Me Monster.”

He talks about the guy at social gatherings who talks “plenty for everybody, ‘Me myself right and then I and then myself and mee me I couldn't tell this one about I cause I was talking about myself and Me-- MEeee-- MEEee- MEEEEE-- MEEEEEEEEEEE! MEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!’ Beware the Me Monster.”

It’s funny social commentary but Regan belts it out with such indignation that you see he’s had it with batterers.

Charles Derber, a sociologist at Boston College, in “The Pursuit of Attention: Power and Ego in Everyday Life,” says the conversational narcissism we’re talking about is “the key manifestation of the dominant attention-getting psychology in America.”  

And it occurs everywhere: at home, at work, on the golf course. He says, “The profusion of popular literature about listening and the etiquette of managing those who talk constantly about themselves suggests its pervasiveness in everyday life.”

I did a little survey of my own and everyone I talked to said they have talkers in their lives.

On the other hand, the conversationalist, rather than steal a conversation, helps the other articulate his views and feelings and positions on life, which sometimes allows for confessions of failure and emptiness. When things go right, he hears bits of scriptural wisdom being born before his ears.

As soon as I hear “articulate,” I can think only of Bigger Thomas in Richard Wright’s “Native Son.”

The 20-year old Chicago South Sider could never articulate, could never say who he was or hoped to be, and what he needed to get somewhere. The script of his life had been written without him; no one listened.

Bigger might be stereotypical but what he needed is not: the need for an empathetic listener to help articulate being. When it’s good, as I said, empathy brings forth jewels.

But in today’s age, as people digest digits of information about surface realities from a cell phone — there’s articles written on it every other day — the cell phone has become the hangman of conversation.

In “Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age,” Sherry Turkle sounds like Emily Post with a section on “Table Manners” as a condition to restore personhood.

How ironic that today the windbag, the chatterbox, the know-it-all gascon is the texter who views the human voice as an interrupter. What kind of empathy can be learned from such a screener?

I’m not a dystopianist but I keep hearing the words of the party hack, O’Brien, in George Orwell’s “1984” telling people not to worry about things like empathy because, “In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement. Everything else we shall destroy … .”

He told his lumpenprole not to worry about human relationships because “We have cut the links between child and parent, and between man and man, and between man and woman. No one dares trust a wife or a child or a friend any longer. But in the future there will be no wives and no friends ... There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother.”

What an insane proposition; such a world could never be. But if you have doubts, that will require a conversation. No windbags allowed.

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