A blanketed lake means no wearing shorts

MIDDLEBURGH — Another Tuesday morning, another OMOTM breakfast to enjoy with the OFs. Get up, get dressed, get ready to go.

The morning sun has already risen and as I glance out the window at the lake, I expect to see what I always see on a nice July morning. I expect to see a perfectly calm lake with the sun shining on it and maybe I’ll see the ripples here and there showing me where a fish has just jumped to catch another piece of breakfast.

That fish better be careful that the pair of bald eagles circling overhead, looking for their own breakfast; don’t see him jumping around.

But that usual summer scene is not there this morning. Fog is there, covering the lake like a blanket. Just the lake, not the mountains around it, not the sky above, just the lake.

This happens only when something cold (like air) comes in contact with something warm (like water). When we were young, we used to say the steam was rising off the lake. Of course it wasn't “steam” but it does sort of look like it.

The idea that the air is cold enough to cause this effect over warm water does make us smart OMOTM think that maybe the shorts and light shirts we just put on might not be the best choice for what to wear this morning.

A quick check of the outdoor thermometer confirms this thought. Forty-eight degrees is not warm enough for shorts.

Now the question arises, just exactly where are those long pants and shirts? There they are, hanging up in the closet. How did that happen? It has been happening like that for the OMOTM for the past 60 or 70 years, or ever since they got married. Oh. Yeah. Right.

So a fast change of clothes and we are ready to go to Mrs. K’s Kitchen for breakfast to see how many OFs are wearing long pants and long-sleeved shirts.

It turns out that most of the OFs must have outdoor thermometers because very few shorts and T-shirts were present. Also, no convertible sports cars were to be seen at all!

In fact, for some reason, a large number of us arrived early this chilly Tuesday morning, July 23. The OF that I carpool with also arrived about 10 minutes earlier than usual to find the Long Table about 80-percent full and several other tables were rapidly filling up.

Perfect storm

It is summertime and there were several guests of the OMOTM present this morning as old friends visit their old high school and college friends, or retired neighbors travel back North to visit the friends they grew up with.

There were certainly a lot of smiling faces and laughter all around Mrs. K’s. In fact, there has been a noticeable uptick in the number of people present at each of the last few breakfasts.

As happens once in a while to all of us, sometimes a perfect storm of negative events all occur at the same time to mess things up. So there we were, a larger-than-normal group of OMOTM complete with their additional friends, arriving on a day that the main cook is not in, and the main coffee-maker machine decides not to work.

So what happens? A different, less experienced cook steps up and does an excellent job.

In sports, when the first-string player can’t play, another player steps up and takes his place. This is called “the next man up” and that is what happened. The next man up is, in fact, a good cook who already helps the main cook all the time; he just isn’t the first string yet.

The coffee maker? Well, the old one still works, just not as fast and is not as big, but it works. So you go get it out of the closet, dust it off, and fire it up.

Can you think of a worse scenario for a diner, any diner, than dealing with an unusually large group of customers and having to deal with the two main items that all of these customers always order? Eggs and coffee!

No eggs, and no coffee equals less-than-satisfied customers. Not a good thing for a business that lives and dies with eggs and coffee.

Remember, this is a regular stop on the list of diners that the OMOTM go to all the time. They know us; they know our names and we know them and their names.

So, our waitress smiles a little more, talks a little more, jokes a little more, hey, we are the OMOTM, and if you start treating us like that, take all the time you need, we don't mind, we live for attention! (Just so long as breakfast follows shortly.)

So, what really happens? The “next man up” does a great job cooking, just a little slower, and the coffee? The same thing, just a little slower but just as good. The waitress and the coffee server? They are the first string, so no problems there. They just upped their game a little and everyone went away happy, as usual.

Those happy OMOTM on Tuesday were Walley Guest, Harold Guest, Ed Goff, Randy Barber, Wm Lichliter, George Washburn, Pete Whitbeck, Robert Schanz, Joe Rack, Ken Parks, Frank A. Fuss, Marty Herzog, Warren Willsey, Lou Schenck, John Jazz, Bill Bremmer Sr. and Bill Bremmer Jr, Gerry Cross, Jack Norray, Dick Dexter, Al Schager, Glen Patterson, Mark Traver, Gerry Chartier, Chuck Batcher, Russ Pokorny, Roland Tozer, Frank Dees, Jacob Lederman, Ted Feurer, Wayne Gaul, Duncan Bellinger, Pastor Jay Francis, Roger Schafer, John Dab, Elwood Vanderbilt, Bob Donnelly, Alan  DeFazio, Dave Hodgetts, Herb Bahrmann, and me.