Despite denials from resistance fighters, summer is over
DELANSON — In spite of the fantastic run of great weather we all have been enjoying lately, there are signs that are hard to miss about what time of the year this is.
It is dark when I get up in the morning; in fact it was dark as I drove to Gibby's Diner on Sept. 17 to meet with my fellow OMOTM for breakfast. The sunrise on Tuesday occurred at 6:30 a.m., sunset will be at 7:02 p.m.
The leaves are starting to turn and some are ready to fall. Vacations are over, and school buses are everywhere.
The lakes are getting quiet. Many boats have been pulled out and some docks have been pulled out in preparation for, and in anticipation of, end-of-season work to close down the camps on the area lakes.
It is not like the rush of the springtime when we can’t wait for the summer season to start. This is a much slower time; some may even call it the annual resistance to face the inevitable.
These resistance fighters will point to the 80-degree bright sunny days we have had and say, “See? Summer is not over! This is the best part of the year!”
OK, OK, I get it, but the school buses are still running, high school football games are being played, college and pro football games dominate the weekend TV. It is still dark when we wake up and it gets dark shortly after we get home from work.
I think the new drop-dead time to acknowledge Yogi Berra’s famous line from last week, “It ain't over till it’s over,” is probably Oct. 14, Columbus Day. Three weeks after that is when Daylight Savings Time ends, a hard freeze can happen anytime, and our peak foliage is starting to fade.
From fruit flies
To DoodleBugs
One of the tables on Tuesday got to talking about fruit flies. An OF asked out of the clear blue, “How long do fruit flies live?”
Instantly, another OF fired back an answer, “Forty-two days.”
This was accepted and a further discussion followed as to how to get rid of them and where do they come from. Your scribe, who is a curious sort, checked Google when he got home about the life span of the fruit fly.
Sure enough, he found out that life span was 40 to 50 days, depending on several factors, so 42 days was an absolutely correct answer!
From fruit flies, the conversation moved naturally to DoodleBugs.
Again, I had to check with my friend, Mr. Google. I found out that DoodleBug is a slang name for a homemade tractor during World War II when tractors were in short supply.
Larry Kosilla of Autoweek says, “The DoodleBugs of the 1940s were typically made from Model As or Model Ts. Conversion kits were $300 back then so farmers just did it themselves.”
Does that frame of mind or attitude sound familiar? Do you think the OMOTM, when young, would watch their fathers “just do it themselves?” You better believe they did.
So, moving ahead a generation, to the current OMOTM, they, too, built their version of a DoodleBug. These young men searched out the junkyards, or “boneyards” as some were called.
One OF at the table recounted that they would get permission to search around the yard until they found an old car that still ran, paid the junkyard $25, and drove it on the back roads until they met some friends and then towed the junker home and went to work. Presto, one DoodleBug was born!
Junkyards
This led to a general discussion of old and current junk yards in the area. Turns out just about all of us have used the junkyards to find that old car part we need.
In the old days, the OFs said you would bring your own tools, find what you needed, remove it, and bring it to the junkyard owner, pay for it, and be on your way.
Another OF wanted to know where he might find a certain radiator, just in CASE, he said. When asked about the word CASE, he said it stood for “Couldn’t Afford Something Else.”
Another OF said he knew of a place but two of you better go to it, one to stay with the car, or at least lock your car if you were alone. About this time, another OF came to the table with a suggestion of yet another boneyard our OF might want to consider.
You just never know who is listening to which conversation when you are having breakfast with the OMOTM. We do talk sort of loud, because none of us can hear worth a damn.
Well, from resisting the passing of the seasons, to fruit flies, to DoodleBugs, to boneyards, the time flew by and another great Tuesday breakfast was had by all of us at Gibby's Diner. Those who were there included Frank A. Fuss, Pete Whitbeck, George Washburn, Michael Kruzinski, Ted Feurer, Wayne Gaul, Jake Lederman, Wm Lichliter, Jake Herzog, Ken Parks, Joe Rack, Glenn Patterson, Mark Traver, Gerry Chartier, Marty Herzog, Warren Willsey, Roger Shafer, John Williams Lou Schenck, John Jaz, Jack Norray, Dick Dexter, Gerry Cross, John Dab, Paul Guiton, Elwood Vanderbuilt, Dave Hodgetts, and me.