Old Women of the Mountain, where are you? Don’t you like breakfast?
PRINCETOWN — On the third day of February, the OMOTM descended on the Chuck Wagon Restaurant in Princetown, which was, by the way, operated from 1956 to 1976 in Champaign, Illinois, now complete with the diner’s original sign. As is his usual custom, Ron greeted us with a smile and lots of coffee, and Chris took our orders and delivered them with amazing speed and accuracy.
We enjoy a welcome at all of the restaurants we frequent, but the locals do suffer from being pushed to the sidelines in favor of our overwhelming numbers and our boisterous enthusiasm to greet the morning and each other. A certain consternation may be seen on the faces of some of the displaced who were hoping perhaps for more peace and quiet in the company of the more regular patrons.
OMOTM or not, diners in the mornings seem to be dominated by old men. It makes you wonder where the old women are. Are they happy to see us off and out of their hair for a spell, or do they not like breakfast? OWOTM, where are you, and what is your position on this?
Heroes clear snow
In regard to what we OMOTM agree are heroic efforts to make walkways and driveways navigable, there are significant strategies to this operation. Snowblowers, plows, pickups, tractors, shear pins, where to put the snow, how to keep the banks under control so they can be ready to accept the next snow.
A handy tip emerged from this discussion about waxing snowplows or blowers to allow snow to slide to the side with more ease.
Our expertise and equipment varies from shovels to big dump trucks, but one thing we noted was a typical response from those who are shielded from all this valiant effort.
“I got the driveway cleared.”
“OK.”
“OK?” St. George slayed a dragon and received years of acclaim. Isn’t clearing the driveway on that level? We’d like to think so.
One exceptional spouse was said to have taken pictures of her guy in this heroic role, an attitude which would be nice to encourage.
Taking names
In order to give credit where credit is due, we pass around a paper and pen for all of us old attendees to jot down our names as best we can recall and write them. Wives and significant others want to know if we really went to breakfast, or what have we been doing on Tuesday mornings?
There has been a humorous side to this listing of names where such folks as Ernie Banks and Gary Burghoff have found themselves listed. Whereas this seemingly provides the perpetrators of the fraud with great joy, it is a challenge to the scribe to ferret out the deceit.
On the other hand, if some name slips through, how would we prove Ernie or Gary weren’t there?
Barbering
Hair is a subject that some of us show less and less interest in as time goes on, but it still needs some attention. Where and when the attention occurs is sometimes on the Hill and sometimes off the Hill, some more or less personal.
The general consensus was that hair is a good thing, but our needs are more basic, as the emphasis is now on real important functionality, though we suspect vanity could still play a role here for some.
Scholars of history and apricity
More than one OMOTM has been heard to ask, at the end of breakfast, “Well, did you learn anything?”
And actually that is a good question, because the likelihood of learning something on Tuesday morning is pretty good.
History is what we are best at, that and how to repair historical things like old cars and old plumbing. The subject of old plumbing can get pretty personal, so perhaps we’ll leave that for another time.
Back to history, it is interesting to note, for example, how many gas stations, convenience stores, bars, dairy farms, and churches there were when we were in our youth, and when the economy was more local.
The economics are puzzling, though the success of this may have been in shorter commutes to places like Walmart, lower profit expectations, and higher expectations of personal service. Some gas-station owners, for example, were known to live above the station, and emerge whenever needed to provide service with a personal touch.
On the subject of learning, “apricity” could be the new, though a bit archaic, word of the morning, and relevant to the slowly changing over of the seasons. This refers to the warmth of the sun in winter. Used as appropriate for this morning, “This Tuesday dawned with grudging apricity.”
Braving the grudging apricity and the bright crunchy snow and cold and the early hour, and enjoying all the Chuck Wagon charm and the wisdom of our ages, were: Harold Guest, Wally Guest, Ed Goff, Roland Tozer, Chuck Batcher, Warren Willsey, Rich Albertin, Will Lickliter, Frank A. Fuss, Jamey Darrah, Lou Schenk, John Williams, Herb Bahrmann, Paul Guitan, Jack Norray, John Jaz, Jerry Cross, Dick Dexter, Bob Donley, Elwood Van Derbilt, Dave Hodgetts, Ted Feurer, Jake Lederman, Mark Traver, Joe Rack, Glenn Patterson, Roger Shafer, Pastor Jay Francis, Al Schager, Robert Schanz, and me.