One bad week: A new EV, a speeding ticket, a jury summons, and a lost glove

DELANSON — On Feb. 5, the OMOTM headed for Gibby’s Diner at 10040 Duanesburg Road, which is Route 7 in Quaker Street, which is almost part of Delanson, which is almost part of Duanesburg. Y’all got all that? Yes, there will be a test.

And we got there on time again. We are always on time for breakfast, no matter which diner we are at that morning.

As I was among the first to walk into “our” room, I took the time to observe which OF went to what table and once there, which chair he occupied. Like I suggested a week or two ago, all you would have to do is tell any one of us which diner we are at, blindfold us at the entrance, and we could walk to our regular table and sit in our regular chair without bumping into anything.

I move around sometimes; it’s my job. As I sat at the table on Tuesday, the conversation mentioned a particular OF that we didn’t see come in, and we all looked at the table where he always sits! Sure enough, he was not there.

So, not only does the individual OMOTM know where he is going, so does everyone else! We even park our cars and pickups in the same place or area each week.

One of our OFs bought a new all-electric car a few weeks ago and it is still sitting in his garage with little or no miles on it yet. Why is that, you ask?

His answer was that he didn’t want to get it all dirty with the snow and slush and salt and sand that is on the roads. He will wait until the roads are clear, clean, and dry before he takes it out. We didn’t blame him, because we all remember how we treated our own new cars.

Then he told us how he was headed to court because of a speeding ticket he got. He then received all kinds of advice as to how to plead; did he have a lawyer? How fast was he going?

He did say he wasn't going that much over the limit and was hoping he could plead guilty to a lesser charge as he has a perfectly clean license. I’ll let you know.

He also got a jury-duty summons. He went as he was supposed to, and, when asked if he could be fair and impartial, he told the judge he would try, but he did feel that the defendant was guilty. He was dismissed.

This started a whole round of humorous jury-duty stories. One of the best of them again occurred when the judge asked the same question about being capable of being fair and impartial.

At the end of the OF’s rather lengthy answer, both the defense attorney and the prosecution attorney emphatically said they did not want our OF on the jury. The judge agreed and dismissed him.

Our OF then proudly asked the rest of us around the table, “How often do you think that happens, when both attorneys and the judge all agree that they don't want you on the jury?”

But getting back to the OF with the new electric car and the speeding ticket, he just wasn’t having a very good week. In addition to those issues, he put one brand new expensive leather winter glove on the table next to himself. Just one. Not a pair.

Of course, it took no time at all for someone to ask the question, “What happened to the other glove?”

Now that is a rather simple, straightforward question. It could have been answered (and should have been) with three words, “I lost it.”

Fresh from hearing, and obviously inspired by, the previous OF’s lengthy story about getting dismissed from jury duty, we got the whole story. Just about dating back to birth of this particular cow, buffalo, deer, or whatever it was, maybe a moose or elk. (Elk gloves would be cool, hard to find this side of the Mississippi.)

Sadly, our OF only got to wear them for part of one day before he lost one.

Remember when our mothers would sew a string on our mittens with the other end sewed to our coat when we were little so we wouldn't lose them? We are not little anymore.

We are the famous, renowned Old Men of the Mountain! We do not lose one glove, and, if we do, we make up a tall tale about how we heroically lost it while saving a damsel in distress in the tower surrounded by a moat full of alligators!

Hero comes to life

Just a note to flesh out last week’s column regarding Revolutionary War hero Mr. Timothy Murphy.

Our own member, Mark Traver, was a member of the Vroman’s Nose Preservation Corps and said the corps used to have an annual hike up the Nose in September when “Tim” would show up to greet the visitors at the top.

Mark pulled double duty as he posed as Tim Murphy in a period outfit with his vintage long rifle. He sent me a couple pictures.

This morning’s attendance does not include one member who is out there somewhere looking for his lost glove: Harold Guest, Wally Guest, Ed Goff, George Washburn, Wm Lichliter, Frank A. Fuss, Jamey Darrah, Jim Gardner, Russ Pokorny, Marty Herzog, Glenn (spelled with two “n’s”) Patterson, Roger Shafer, Joe Rack, Pastor Jay Francis, Mark “Tim Murphy” Traver, Lou Schenck, Gerry Cross, Jack Norray, John Jaz, Dick Dexter, John Dab, Paul Guiton, Henry Whipple, Dave Hodgetts, Elwood Vanderbilt, Bob Donnelly, Herb Bahrmann, and me.