The OFs are ready for hunting, fishing, and summer fun
It is almost Memorial Day — the start of summer. Yeah, right! On Tuesday, May 21, the Old Men of the Mountain met at the Middleburgh Diner in Middleburgh.
Most all of the OMOTM on Tuesday mornings are like the old TV show “Cheers,” and this morning was no different. It was evident as each OG came in and was greeted with a chorus of his name — a great way to start the day.
The OFs cover a considerable amount of geography when taking in where they maintain their humble domiciles. This has the group living where there are different companies supplying phone service, and different substations distributing power to the OFs homes.
Tuesday morning, the OFs discussed how some have had fewer power outages, while some complain their power is always going out. One OF said his power never goes out because the OF can wind up the creaky ole arm and chuck a rock to the substation.
This brought up the question of how many are prepared for power outages with generators. It seems quite a few have either a generator in their garage that can be switched over to provide temporary power, or a generator outside that they can plug into an outlet, or a whole-house (depending on the size of the house) generator that automatically kicks in when the power goes out.
One OF mentioned that he has a generator that he plugs into an outlet and he is able to use it just to run the freezer, fridge, water pump, furnace, and a few lights. However, it doesn’t run the stove, the OF said.
Other OFs mentioned that they have the same type of setup. None of the OFs run their generators close to the house.
Electric cars
The topic of power continued when one OF said he and his wife were in the grocery store parking lot packing the groceries into the back of their car when, the OF said, they both jumped back because they thought their car was moving.
Turns out it wasn’t their car, it was the car next to them. That car was backing up, and when it was positioned right so it could move forward, it did, and never made a sound. It was a Tesla — a full-sized vehicle.
One of the OFs said one of his relatives has a Toyota Prius and this car did the same thing, but the relatives installed a backup alarm on the car because they were afraid that people would not hear the car and then they might hit them when doing just that, backing out of parking space in a parking lot. This is exactly why the previously mentioned OFs thought their own car was moving; they could have jumped right into the Tesla.
Summer fun
The hunters and fishermen of the OFs were talking about hunting and fishing. This scribe now knows it is OK to hunt turkeys this month because it is turkey season, and bass fishing isn’t OK until next month.
This scribe really doesn’t care but, boy, a lot of the OFs do. One OF said his boat is still shrink-wrapped at the marina but the people promised him the boat would be ready and in the water for bass season.
This OF must like to fish alone because he said he has only one seat in the boat and this seat is a high one. It sounds like some of the OFs are getting ready for their summer fun.
Some of the OF’s hobbies become quite technical. The hunters and fishermen started talking about which are good fish to fish for and which are not, unless what the OFs are fishing for is catch and release. (This scribe does not think this is much fun for the fish.)
The reason for leaving those fish alone is, if you are going to eat them, they are way too boney. These OFs know their business because they started naming which are good and which ones to put back in the water. This scribe wouldn’t know one fish from the other.
A host of hobbies
Many hobbies that retired people enjoy are expensive; that includes fishing and hunting. Gas for that boat is four bucks a gallon. Then there are all the other bits and pieces that go with a specific hobby. Hunting is the same, so is golfing, and charging around on an ATV is not cheap either.
The best hobby is a hammock and a book with soft music in the background. To top it off is to have enough money to travel to the summer here, and the winter there — wherever there is. If the hammock is hung in the cellar then here on the hill makes the cost of that hobby pretty cheap. If it is hung there rather then here, that’s another story.
We have some OFs whose hobbies are bigger than most. A hobby can be building things, but we have one OF who has a special hobby of building boats. Not just rowboats, or canoes, but pirate ships — 30-foot pirate ships.
This particular pirate ship is still in the process of being built, but the weather is getting to the point (like the OF whose boat is still shrink-wrapped) where the water is getting warmer and warmer so this pirate ship should soon be back in the water, waiting for unsuspecting prey.
Still on the subject of hobbies, we have to discount the OF who said his hobby was girls. That is the one hobby that will get any OF in a ton of trouble and is this a real hobby?
Those OFs whose hobby is breakfast with the Old Men of the Mountain who met at the Middleburgh Diner in Middleburgh on Tuesday were: Bill Lichliter, Paul Nelson, John Rossmann, Roger Chapman, Miner Stevens, Robie Osterman, Wally Guest, Dave Williams, Pete Whitbeck, Jim Heiser, Glenn Patterson, Mark Traver, Joe Rack, Roger Shafer, Ken Parks, Lou Schenck, Mace Porter, Wayne Gaul, Jake Lederman, Russ Pokorny, Mike Willsey, Duncan Bellinger, Elwood Vanderbilt, Bob Donnelly, Harold Grippen, and me.