Eagle encounter: Confronted, endangered, and delighted all at once

DELANSON — On this 10th day of March, still recovering from springing our clocks forward last Sunday, we OMOTM assembled our hungry loquacious forces at Gibby’s Diner, perched on Route 7, close to the corner with Route 395 which heads north to the heart of Delanson, overlooking a beautiful valley to the rear and large sculpted evergreens to the east side.

You can blame loquacious on the online thesaurus, which responds to a quest for a more interesting word from time to time.  It means talkative, which we are.

At Gibby’s, the regulars really aren’t there on Tuesdays because on this day of the week, Gibby’s is only open graciously and especially for us OMOTM, and we fill up the back couple of rooms nicely.  Of interest this morning is that our main hostess, owner, and excellent coffee person, seemingly too young for this, but what do we know about age, is about to be a grandmother.

Possibly unrelated to that news, one of us recounted the amazing appearance of a bald eagle, fully visible and nearby, dramatically making itself known. This may always and forever be a remarkable sight to see, but the conversation led us to realize that such sightings are getting more common of late, presumably due to environmental improvements, limited pesticides, especially the elimination of DDT. In this case, our OMOTM was riding a bicycle and was confronted, endangered, and delighted all at once.

Health matters

So, on to matters of health and well being. Statins, the drugs, get a very low approval rating frequently.  These drugs are supposed to do nice things for us like lower our cholesterol, and maybe some other hopeful things, but the consensus is that they wreak havoc on other facets of our well being. General achiness, possibly even a contributor to diabetes, yikes. As if we can’t achieve these failings on our own.

A common theme to our conversations is about hearing, or rather the lack of it.  Hearing aids are of interest, and used by many of us, but they are always found wanting.

First of all, of course, there’s cost and quality, but after that, it is concluded that hearing aids may increase volume, but do little somehow with understanding, a bit of a technical or physiological mystery perhaps.

The other complaint, which is frequently featured in this rant, is that our spouses or significant others are perceived as noncompliant. They will not speak up Or they turn around and walk away mid-sentence, leaving the sound drifting out of audible range.

One advantage to our venue is that the complainants are not present to defend themselves. Not that we could hear them anyway, due to their aforementioned noncompliance.

Continuing the venture into this area of danger with spouses and significant others of the other persuasion, we discuss the many perceptions and thoughts that we have but are quite different from those with whom we differ, sometimes dramatically, and yet treasure.

These areas of difference vary regarding everything from how to negotiate a corner in traffic to more compassionate instincts. The conversation leads to how we need to survive these areas of possible conflict if we want anybody to care for us as we age. The survival instinct surfaces!

And survival is sought as we organize our daily dosages of pills for the many shortcomings that have been diagnosed. Plastic pill boxes try to keep us on target with these requirements, yet a stray pill can be found here and there, on a seat cushion, on a chair, begging the question of what this could mean.

Did we skip one, lose track of one, does this explain some abnormality of function? Finally, some of us should be awarded an M.D. or a Ph.D. or a pharmacist certification for all we have learned about practical physiology and pharmacology.

Signs of spring

Something we have to look forward to as we reconvene each week at this time of the year is the re-emergence of some beautiful old restored vehicles. Some of us have applied ourselves lovingly to these and are eager to share them.

These vehicles are too precious to be exposed to the snow and ice which, truth be said, they were never designed to survive. But soon we will be enjoying them again, maybe a month from now, perhaps refreshed in heated workshops during those dark winter months.

But sitting outside all those months has been the burn pile. How and when to execute it: Coming up soon is a date after which you may not burn, due to dry grass above the wet ground, which allows the flames to fly across a field even when the ground is mushy.

So we may have to wait a few weeks until we get the all-clear, probably posted on the local fire-department sign. Many of us may recall chasing these flames across fields in the spring, back when we had more spring of our own.

Finding ourselves a mere ten days from spring, having sprung the clocks forward, sun just creeping up in the east, a half moon still showing above us, and well into that transitional time where drainage is intermittent, giving rise to the formation of alternating mud and hard ground, assembled the morning tough guys: Harold Guest, Wally Guest, Ed Goff, Frank A. Fuss, Will Lichliter, Rich Albertin, Pastor Jay Francis, Al Schager, Joe Rack, Roger Shafer, Jamey Darrah, Herb Bahrmann, Elwood Vanderbilt, Allan DeFazio, Glenn Patterson, Roland Tozer, Chuck Batcher, Warren Willsey, Robert Schanz, John Jazz, Dick Dexter, Gerry Cross, Jack Norray, Dave Hodgetts, Bob Donnelly, Paul Guiton, John Dab, and me.