The older we get, the faster time goes
On Tuesday, Jan. 25, the Old Men of the Mountain met at the Your Way Café in Schoharie. On Jan. 25, we were approaching the end of the month, a month that has been consistently chilly.
As the OMOTM were saying, we have had colder weather but have been spoiled so far this year. The OFs did not remember a January thaw this year.
One OF said the cold has kept the snow on the ground (at least in the hills) and that is a good thing. A foot of snow on the roof is a good insulator; also snow cover on the ground keeps the frost from getting to the pipes. Old farmer knowledge.
The OFs were talking about taxes — it is that time of year. Some of the OFs have not received all their information yet and it is getting time when it is supposed to be there.
The IRS is not adhering to its own rules. The IRS is saying that a letter is coming out in a couple of weeks or so (say what) that is to be considered like a 1099 or that other one that is supposed to be filed with your taxes. Well, the OFs started discussing “Do we all have to wait until we receive that letter or what?”
One OF said he has already done his taxes and sent them in. Whoops.
All this talk sent this scribe to his tax guy. The tax man said he does not think the OMOTM have anything to worry about because the letter is all about child care, and child-care expenses, and how to claim it with all the changes going on.
Unless the OFs have kids in child care then it does not pertain to them, or anyone that does not have kids in child care. At least that is the way this scribe understands it. It’s all about the kids, so from what this scribe knows the OFs are off the hook on this one, unless there is some hanky-panky going on that this scribe doesn’t know about.
Compressed time
The OFs discussed some emails and phone calls they have received from friends that either have flown to warmer climes for the winter or are now inhabitants south of the Mason-Dixon Line. They are all complaining that they are having winter as far as Florida.
In the Carolinas — snow and ice; in Florida — having to scrape the windshields. In some of the southern states, the highway department doesn’t even have snowplows, and buying a snow shovel is a joke.
One OF mentioned that the friend he spoke to said, “The cold weather won’t last long down here; the garden tools are already in the hardware stores along with seed and fertilizer, and you guys up there still have two months to go. So ha-ha on you,” the southern OG told the northern OG.
One OF took all this chatter one step further and offered his thoughts that the older he gets, the shorter all the seasons are. Summer is short and so is winter; the spring and fall just seem to run into summer and winter.
This OF remembers winters that used to be fun with lots of time to ski and sled and the holidays seem to last much longer. The OF said even lunch and supper seemed to last longer. Now everything seems to be over before it starts.
A recent post received on the net said every time we try to eat healthy, along comes Christmas, Easter, summer, Friday, or Tuesday and ruins it for us.
The OF can’t remember when this happened or what age he noticed when cold angered his joints, or when heat made him puff and want to cool off. The OF added that for him the OMOTM breakfasts were different. The time spent was long enough, the coffee (no matter what) tasted good to him, and just to shoot the bull and listen to what the others were doing was a great break in the week.
This scribe imagines this happens within any group of like-minded people, but age just seems to make time fly — darn.
The OFs then talked a little bit about the internet, and how it now seems too loaded with junk and not what it used to be. This is another thing falling into the category of “used to be” only the internet is not that old.
Facebook started (as stated on the internet, what else) February 2004 and the OFs are already attaching an “it used to be” connotation to it. “Used To Be” used to be 40 or 60 years ago; now with the internet it is only 17 years ago next month. Well eight-track tapes and a lot of things got “used to be” in a hurry.
The OFs who made it to the Your Way Café included a few other OFs who joined in the group. Strange how when in a group of OFs people don’t mind being OFs, but when they are alone some take umbrage to being referred to as an OF. Anyway, the Your Way Café in Schoharie hosted the OMOTM and they were: Rick LaGrange, Roger Shafer, Bill Lichliter, Elwood Vanderbilt, Bob Donnelly, Dave Hodgetts, Lou Schenck, Jack Norray, Herb Bahrmann, Jake Herzog, Laudy Howenga, Bill Fonda, John Dabrvalskes, Carl Stefanick, and me.