Remembering the days when smoking cigarettes was a common bond

The sun is rising later and later, daylight is beginning to peek through around 7 a.m. now. Charging off to breakfast for the early birds is going to require headlights, and headlights were necessary for these Old Men of the Mountain on this Tuesday, Oct. 5, as the OMOTM that either can’t sleep, or are still waking up to go get the cows, were off to Mrs. K’s Restaurant in Middleburgh for breakfast.

Some of the OFs were mentioning relatives and OMOTM who were no longer with us, and in some cases what caused their demise. Habits, lifestyle, and smoking were mentioned ,which caused much of what was the reason for an earlier-than-should-be departure.

Smoking was a topic of how so many OFs picked up the habit. In the late forties, and early fifties, when many of the OFs at the tables were still in their formative years, smoking was not a problem.

One OF mentioned that he does not remember his first cigarette. Another OF commented that he was putting in hay with a few guys and he was (the OF thinks) just a junior in high school, and the workers stopped for a break.

One of the men took out a pack of cigarettes and offered the other two and him a cigarette from the pack. The OF said he just took one, and the conversation never stopped. He did what the others did.

He had the cigarette, took the light, and he was on his way like he was 20 years old. He doesn’t remember anything being said. It was just a matter of fact that now he was a member of the group.

That is how common smoking was in those days. Now we know so much more and how bad smoking is, and it is one of the most dangerous health hazards on the planet.

The OF remembered in the military when things were getting tough it was “smoke ’em if you got ’em,” which was to help you relax, and maybe it did. Now they have pot to do the same thing and that stuff is just as bad.

Give it fifty years. “Yeah, but something else will come to take its place!”

King of spices

An unusual topic for discussion was the use of pepper. Somehow this came up, only briefly, but everyone seemed to know what was being discussed.

It is odd how people talk about other people’s eating habits. Some think it is weird how and what other people eat, yet those “other” people think you eat weird and have strange eating habits.

Some OFs like a lot of pepper and, as one OF put it, they even take the top off the pepper shaker and just dump the pepper out on whatever is on the plate. Others say just a little pepper cleans out the nostrils.

Waffling

It has been said before: It is fun to watch how and what the OMOTM eat for breakfast. Every breakfast, I think I’ll order pancakes, but I keep waffling.

Smartphones

As most people know, there was a problem with Facebook a little while ago, just after last week’s breakfast. The column speaks about the OMOTM talking a lot about the past, and that is true; however, many are as up-to-date as anybody much younger.

At the breakfast, the OFs began talking about the Facebook problem and the OFs started hauling out their smartphones, and checking out the Facebook situation. These OFs were wondering how these problems were similar and different, and who had what apps, especially Google.

These phones can cost a few bucks, but in many cases the smart phone and its connections seems to be the individual’s life blood. Take that phone away and these particular individuals are lost.

Income dilemma

Senior housing was another topic that came up. This subject is near and dear to many of the OFs’ hearts. The OFs harkened back to their first jobs if not on the farm.

At times, the OFs thought, if they were making a hundred bucks a week, they would soon be millionaires. For some, one hundred dollars every two weeks was good money.

Of course, as one OF put it, our wages grew and prices went up and it was relatively easy to keep up, but then things somehow seemed to have gotten way out of hand. Young people are getting starting wages per week more than the OFs made in a year.

The OFs complain that senior housing is so expensive they can’t afford it on their fixed incomes. That leaves many of the OFs with low-income housing and some never thought they had what is called low income.

The OMOTM quite often delve into deep, and sometimes, emotional discussions. Regardless of what is touted so often of how badly we eat, and occasionally behave, people are living longer.

Yaay for processed foods and ready-made meals. There, that’s one vote for the other side.

This scribe wonders, does pepper have anything to do with it? The OMOTM pepper eater will be 90 shortly, and still is a good driver, works in his garage, mows his own lawn, and has a good time.

The Old Men of the Mountain who, in the mist of the early morning, managed to make it to Mrs. K’s Restaurant in Middleburgh and they were in goodly number: Lou Schenck, Jack Norray, Bob Donnelly, Elwood Vanderbilt, Dave Hodgetts, Allen DeFazio, Rev. Jay Francis, Russ Pokorny, Gerry Chartier, Duncan Bellinger, George Washburn, Bill Lichliter, Pete Whitbeck, Rick LaGrange, Jake Herzog, Jake Lederman, Otis Lawyer, Roger Shafer, Harold Guest, Paul Whitbeck, Ken Parks, Joe Rack, Glenn Patterson, Wally Guest, and me.