OFs do-si-do with memories of dances past

Tuesday, June 12, The Old Men of the Mountain met with a classmate of some of the OMOTM for breakfast.  This classmate is Loretta of Mrs. K’s restaurant.  We met with her for breakfast and Loretta is still waiting on these old goats.

It is about time she took a break, but the lady still insists this is what she wants to do. This is her retirement. That was the restaurant of the day for the OFs.

When many of the OFs were younger (and then again not so young), square dancing started at an early age among the farmers of the group, and continued until it became too difficult to raise the arms and keep up. Square dancing, the OFs learned later on, is a good form of exercise; if the OFs knew then that it was exercise, maybe they would not have been so anxious to go dancing.

Some of the OFs still have their square-dance clothes taking up space in the closets, while others unloaded them after they realized they would not be physically able to handle the “sport.”

As the OFs continued with their dancing, they began to realize it started to become quite a fashion show with the ladies. Then, without the OFs knowing it, they became part of the show with matching outfits.

One OF mentioned they found themselves dancing at least three nights a week and maybe more, and some other OFs joined the chorus with a couple saying they traveled all over, dancing on square-dance retreats.  At these retreats, it was dancing morning, noon, and night.

One OF said it must have been fun or we would not have done it. The OFs were wondering how many of the clubs that were around when the OFs were into square dancing are still active.

When plows were horse-drawn

For some reason the OFs started talking about farming with horses again.  It seems to this scribe that we just covered this topic, but what the OFs were talking about is the size of the equipment today and the large farms with the GPS systems on the tractors. These systems actually guide the tractor in making straight rows of whatever is being planted, or harvested like planting large acres of wheat and then harvesting that wheat.

One OF repeated an oft-used phrase by the OFs that we have lived in the best of times. To some of the OFs, that is debatable. Naturally this led to horses and most of the OFs who farmed with horses said how they buddied up with these animals.

They asked the rhetorical question, “How do you buddy up with a tractor?”

One OF said he didn’t really buddy up to his tractors but he did have his favorites, and he did cuss at some of these tractors when they refused to start, or when he would snap his thumb when he hit a woodchuck hole.

The other OFs said they would talk to the horses as they leathered them up for the day, or took the harness off at night. With the tractor, all you had to do was turn the key on or off and the OF was ready to roll.

Gone was the pleasant smell of the horse, and the conversations back and forth with the animal, that was replaced by a nauseating whirr, and clanking of an engine, and the smell of gasoline, and ozone. No comparison.

Cinematic jailbreak

The OF discussed the topic of local and national news and that was the escapees from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannamora. Along with everyone else, the OFs had opinions on where these characters could be.

The thoughts of the OFs ranged from hiding in the woods, to being in Vermont, or Canada, or even Mexico by now. One OF even ventured that the smart thing to do would be to double back and hide in the prison until everything cools down.  One of them could shave, the other grow a well maintained beard, and, because they are so average looking, they could dress up casually and walk out when the timing was right.

Some of the OFs said they know this is going to be a movie; it has all the makings. The planning, the love affair, the execution, the manhunt with the end still to be written.

The OFs said that, if these guys weren’t such bad people and their crimes weren’t so hideous, it would almost be possible to root for them but, because of what they did, the OFs want these guys rounded up in a hurry and placed in a prison where the light does not shine.

If they had committed an innocuous crime that did not include violence and knocked off some casino where their business is robbing people anyway, the OFs would be cheering them on, but not these guys.

Those OFs who made it to Mrs. K’s Restaurant in Middleburgh, and glad they are not part of the group hunting for the escapees, were: Miner Stevens, John Rossmann, Roger Shafer, Glenn Patterson, Mark Traver, Robie Osterman, George Washburn, Roger Chapman, Harold Guest, Frank Pauli, Dave Williams, Bill Bartholomew, Chuck Aleseio, Don Wood, Jack Norray, Lou Schenck, Mace Porter, Art Frament, Bob Benac, Bill Krause, Jay Taylor, Herb Swabota, Bob Fink, Bob Benninger, Bob Lassome, Ted Willsey, Carl Walls, Duncan Bellinger, Gerry Chartier, Mike Willsey, Jim Rissacher, Harold Grippen, Elwood Vanderbilt, and me.