Trees at Skunk’s Misery smell like fresh-cut pine

The Old Men of the Mountain are going to get used to this weather to the point where the snowbirds might not fly. On Tuesday, Sept. 13, it was the type of day where whatever you wanted to do — go do it.

One thing the OFs wanted to do was use the time to go to the breakfast at the Home Front Café in Altamont. It is good the OMOTM carpool.  At many of the establishments the OFs frequent, 30 to 35 cars just wouldn’t fit in the parking lots.

To bring the reader up to date, the 1932 Studebaker has been sold.  Once that thing hit the market it was like putting peanut butter in a rat trap for old-car enthusiasts; many buyers were attracted to the bait.

One would have to live on the Hill to hear of the place called “Skunk’s Misery,” and it is a real place. The old-timers on the Hill know where it is.

For those just riding around, maybe on the Hilltown Artisan tour, it is where (and this is no joke) Pleasant Valley Road meets Route 156. It is hard to figure out how “Skunk’s Misery,” and Pleasant Valley go together but that is where it is.

There is even a seasonal business there at Christmastime.  It’s a Christmas-tree farm where people can go and cut down their own tree for Christmas. This business actually lists its location as “Skunk’s Misery.”

The trees on this farm are getting a tad on the large side right now. They have been at this location for years; however, who knows about the coming year. Some of the OFs who have purchased their Christmas trees at “Skunks Misery” say they still smell like fresh-cut pine when the OFs get them home.

Keeping up with technology

The OFs have covered this topic many times — technology and how fast it is developing — and to the OFs the development is so fast that, by the time they get the latest item out of the store, it is already out of date, and is not the latest item.

The OFs wondered how the purchasing agents for large stores keep up. How do they handle the sales people who are trying to sell them a product that is going to be outdated the next day?

Does the Purchasing agent buy 100,000 and his stores only sell 50,000 before the new ones are out? Or, does the purchasing agent purchase 50,000 on a hunch and new ones are not made and the purchasing agent is stuck having his stores run out? What a dilemma.

As one OF put it, you ask the customer what his needs are and just stick to that — forget the rest. A couple of the OFs said they still have a few appliances that are analog, especially microwaves. Some OFs said they have microwaves still running that are 25 to 30 years old and are analog.

When the grandkids come and go to warm something up or use the microwave, they just stand there and look at it. There is no keyboard with numbers. Both waves have just a round dial, a button to open the door, and an off and on switch. That is it, and the kids can’t run it because all it has is this on and off switch, with a round dial timer that actually points to minutes.

These older microwaves are big enough to get a small turkey in as compared to most of the newer one, which are just large enough to get a couple of cups of soup in the wave to warm them up. The older waves would cook a meal.

Re-creating battles

It was found out at Tuesday morning’s breakfast that some of the OFs are Revolutionary and Civil War re-enactors. What prompted this was a flyer that the proprietor (or thinks he is) of the Home Front placed on the table for the OFs to peruse on the History Fair going on at the Old Stone Fort in Schoharie on Oct. 1 and 2.

The OFs remembered this as Old Stone Fort Days, and it was free. At the Old Stone Fort days (which were held about the same time as the History Fair is now), there were many times more re-enactors than were in the original battle. In looking at the OFs at the table, it looked like many of these OFs could have been in the original battle, at least as drummer boys if not militia.

All this discussion on the Revolution brought up the name of Timothy Murphy, a Revolutionary War marksman who was a major contributor to the victory in the battle at Bemis Heights in Saratoga. In four shots, under orders from Benedict Arnold to bring down General Simon Fraser who was rallying the British troops for an assault on the Americans, Timothy Murphy not only took care of the general, but also the chief aide-de-camp to General Burgoyne, Sir Francis Clark. This action by Murphy put the whole British assault is complete disarray.

Murphy fought in the battle of the Middlefort in Schoharie County and is buried in the “Upper Cemetery” in Middleburgh. There is a bronze “bas-relief” of him as a marker in the cemetery. The OFs talked quite a bit about the Revolutionary and Civil Wars as re-enactors, and the OFs learned more about American history of these periods than they ever did in school.

Those OFs who were re-enactors of America’s earlier battles, on her own soil and the rest of the OFs were at the Home Front Café (and what a place to discuss the re-enacting) in Altamont and all together they were: Pete Whitbeck, Robie Osterman, George Washburn, Bill Lichliter, Harold Guest, Marty Herzog, Chuck Aelesio, Richard Frank, Bob Benac, Joe Ketzer, Andy Tinning, Dave Williams, Bill Bartholomew, Rich Donnelly, Duane Wagonbaugh, Bob Lassome, Jim Rissacher, Gerry Irwin, Mace Porter, Jack Norray, Henry Whipple, Warren Willsey, Mike Willsey, Elwood Vanderbilt, Richard Vanderbilt, Daniel Mctoggard, Mark Traver, Harold Grippen, and me.