What will a kid who is 10 now see in the year of 2082?

The Old Men of the Mountain met at the Chuck Wagon Diner in Princetown on Tuesday, the first day of March 2022, and we had no Caesar. Many times it isn’t worth clawing your way to the top because on the way up there are a whole gang of ladders with people on them who want to be there too.

This scribe listened to a conversation on the prices some pay to Spectrum for the privilege of watching TV, having a computer, and a phone. There are times (when comparing the times and what is on TV and the price of receiving this information) when this question comes up: Is it (the price of this information) worth it?

Apparently these OFs were discussing that exact same predicament. Are some of these categories even worth the money? From what this scribe could gather, the answer was no.

There was also quite a discussion on the environment and the use of electricity. The conversation kept revolving and the talk went along until the OGs were in areas they only had a little knowledge of. There were a few who said, “I think that” or “I think this.”

One OF mentioned that he thought he would wire his home with #6 wire so he could charge his vehicles. That did not work out so it wasn’t done. The way things are going, it appears the OFs are going to be forced into purchasing electric vehicles.

Indirectly, this is a continuation of the (to be continued) topic a couple of columns back when the discussion was on electric cars. The electric car is not commonplace yet, but at four bucks a gallon it will make some think about investing in one.

Again, some of the OFs think internal combustion engines, or electric motors is not the way to go. The way to go is magnetism. One OF thinks many scientists are working on that possibility today and in the near future it will be the new best thing.

Reflections on history

At one table, there were two OFs who knew something about the local history of the town of Knox, and Central Bridge, Old Central Bridge, and the environs of those two villages in Schoharie County. The town of Knox is celebrating its bicentennial this year; hence the discussion on the history of the area and what these towns were like years ago.

It is interesting to some as to why some of these small towns are even here, or where they are. How did they start? Why is Knox where it is? Why is Altamont where it is? The answers to these questions, one used to say, were in the library; now they say, go to the net and find out.

At one time, the OMOTM had three OFs in their high nineties; today, we still have three OFs in their nineties and they have memories of early times, but we are talking about OFs from the start of the OMOTM.

In some cases, that adds thirty years to the history. At that time, we were getting history lessons from when God had his angel crew making dirt.

The interesting part is that the really senior members still have good minds and memories and actually remembered what the town of Knox, along with the Bernes, Gallupville, and the surrounding areas looked like, and how much different the activity was in these small towns. From their remembrances, it was much different than today.

Then it was horses; now it is electric cars. Electricity and phones then were just toys. Now the OFs are talking about wiring their houses so they can have high voltage and charge their electric cars faster.

One OF suggested, look what we have seen and done in 70 or 80 years; what will a 10-year-old kid see in the year of 2082? Better yet, what will the music be like? To many OFs, today’s music is just noise. (Now the OMOTM have upset the younger crowd.)

Somehow into this conversation the subject of cemeteries came up; these plots of ground do have something to do with history. Along with the large, basically church-owned and church-run cemeteries, are many family plots.

So many have been forgotten and left to be covered by weeds, and woods, with stones fallen over and now covered up. The OFs wonder how much history is buried in these family plots.

How many journals have been thrown away of those who lived in these small towns? One OF queried if these journals or records were ever able to be resurrected, would the discovery of them change history?

The conversation even included the likes of Thomas Edison, and George Westinghouse. How this fits in is questionable, but at the time seemed relative. Westinghouse’s death was getting very close to when some of the older OFs were born. Thomas Edison passed away just two years before this scribe was born.

Sometimes it causes a few OFs to wonder why they were allowed to tread this planet for so long and make it to breakfast. It would be great if the eyes did not dim, the heart beat strong, the aches and pains were held at bay, and the mind functioned completely.

Those who are allowed to trod and are having breakfast Tuesday, but suffer from all the other maladies in one way or another and still made it to the Chuck Wagon Diner, were: Jake Lederman, Ted Feurer, Russ Pokorny, Roger Shafer, Marty Herzog, Glenn Patterson, Mark Traver, Joe Rack, Paul Guidon, Bill Lichliter, Robie Osterman, Elwood Vanderbilt, Dave Hodgetts, Bob Donnelly, Rev. Jay Francis, Jack Norray, Lou Schenck, Herb Bahrmann, Jake Herzog, John Dabrvalskes, and me.