Remembering cozy mornings in the barn as cows wake and cats lap milk

We are back! It’s obvious because the morning driving on Tuesday, Jan. 8, was miserable as usual for the Old Men of the Mountain to drag their butts to the restaurant for that week. This Tuesday it was the Country Café in Schoharie. The OMOTM who arrive and go into the restaurant early on a miserable morning enjoy the cozy atmosphere of the sun not quite up yet, and the aroma of bacon on the grill.

It is just like the cozy feeling of sliding back the manger door on the barn, waking the cows who begin to stand and make the manger noises, and the cats that scurry to the old milk-can lid and wait for their first dash of warm milk.

Right then and there, all is right with the world. The Chanticleer, Charles John Stevenson, is on the radio bringing the farmer up-to-date with all the information of what has gone on and what will go on for the day — so another day begins.

Hot wheels

There was an odd conversation Tuesday morning for the OFs. Most people would imagine a group of guys from 60 to 90 as a rule would discuss doctors, medications, getting around with the latest wheelchair, grandkids, and great-grandkids.

Nope, not this group, at least not Tuesday morning. The one topic was on motorcycles, from big hauling Harleys, to real humdingers of off-road bikes.

These OFs were not talking nickel-and-dime machines but parts to jazz up the big boys. The conversations were on who had what parts, where to get them, and how much these parts cost. To this scribe, the prices they were talking about on these altered machines were more than the scribe paid for his first house, and that house was definitely not a shack.

It is also odd the collection of bodies in this group. Some can’t even lift their legs to get them across a seat to mount a motorcycle, while others just whip that leg up and over that seat and sit down.

Most of the OFs (when they were younger) could walk up to a horse, put their foot in the stirrup, and whirl their other leg around and — Yahoo! The OF was in the saddle. Other OFs would just grab hold of the mane, hop up and over, and the OF was ready to go bareback.

Today a few can still do this on a cycle with the seat only three feet off the ground, and others can’t even do that — scribe included.

Dangers of internet shopping

The OFs started talking about ordering goods off the internet and how tricky that is. The OFs are not too sure about that and it may be the OFs don’t understand the ins and outs of the net because younger people seem to do it all the time with few troubles, while the OFs seem to wind up in hassles.

The problems are many, from not getting what they thought they ordered, to prices not being what they thought they were supposed to be.

One OF said that he likes to look products over i.e., top, sides, and bottom. Number one, he wants to be sure the merchandise is not defective, that all the parts are there, and the sellers used the proper fasteners in putting whatever together. The OF maintained he can’t do that over the internet.

This OF said he ordered a winch over the net because he could not find what he wanted in stores. He said, when he received the winch, half of it was held together with grade-2 junk bolts in important places and only a couple of grade-5 bolts on a couple of clips.

The OF said he had the darndest time trying to return it. The OF maintained you can’t get this type of information from a photograph and that is why he likes shopping in a store.

Another OF said not many people would realize the type of bolts holding a winch together and they would probably care less. The other OF said, then they would wonder why it did not hold up and fell apart the second time they used it.

To this OF, quality comes first. Caveat emptor. Buyer Beware.

Mice multitudes

The OFs discussed how many mice there seems to be this winter. Most of the OFs are catching them in their sheds and basements but there is no food for them in these places. The OFs think they are just coming in to warm up and breed.

One OF said that they were the subject of their own “not thinking” and they had a 50-pound bag of birdseed that they had left in their shed. When they got around to using this seed, it had a few families of mice in it. Pretty smart, these critters!

Make your home in wherever you eat, keeps these smart mice away from predators, plus not having to travel far for a meal.

Another OF said he has not seen many snakes around in the last couple of years, and he has wondered where they have gone. The absence of the snakes, coyotes, and the kestrels may be the reason for so many mice.

There was a brief discussion on traps verses poisons and the use of either was about 50/50. To the OFs, it seems the use of poisons is OK until one of those rodents passes on to rat heaven between the walls and rots. That smell will get your attention for awhile.

Those OFs who were in great attendance as they filed into the Country Café in Schoharie after the rare two week hiatus, were John Rossmann, Robie Osterman, Wally Guest, George Washburn, Bill Lichliter, Harold Guest, Roger Chapman, Marty Herzog, Otis Lawyer, Glenn Patterson, Joe Rack, Mark Traver, Roger Shafer, Ray Frank, Chuck Aelesio, Jack Norray, Lou Schenck, Mace Porter, Gerry Irwin, Bill Rice, Henry Whipple, Rev. Jay Francis, Mike Willsey, Russ Pokorny, Warren Willsey, Elwood Vanderbilt Bob Donnelly, Allen DeFazio, but no Harold Grippen; he inadvertently made an appointment on a Tuesday morning, so it is just — and me.