On the last day of January 2017, the Old Men of the Mountain met at Kim’s West Winds Diner in Preston Hollow.
Why is Kim’s Diner here, why is Preston Hollow here, why is Livingstonville where it is? It would be interesting to know why all these small towns dot the countryside.
The OFs come out of the mountain like flies attracted to decaying meat to go to breakfast on Tuesday mornings. A better analogy would be like bees to goldenrod in the fall.
The OFs maintain that the restaurants should have fans a little way from the restaurants (and on either side) that would waft the aroma of eggs and bacon towards the highway. The OFs feel this would induce passersby to whip in and order up breakfast even if they were not that hungry. Kim’s is such a place right on Route 145 at the edge of a small town.
Exodus of small businesses
The OFs discussed how many small businesses have left the area over the years. This time we discussed specifically Johnstown and Gloversville.
Both of these towns were full of small businesses. The knitting mills, glove- and leather-producing factories are now gone.
This area in Fulton County in its heyday had 300 leather factories; today there are only about a dozen and some of those just do the leather. The OFs used to take trips to that area to shop.
Johnstown Knitting mills was one where the OF said you could hear the mills running in the back. The OFs purchased gloves, wallets, and leather jackets, all right at the factory that made them. They are gone.
Now when the OFs look to purchase a pair of gloves, they all say “Made in China.” One OF added there is a reason (he thinks) for this. He opined that, if the gloves were made here, a $20 pair of gloves would cost $100.
If it ain’t broke, why fix it?
One OF whipped out his wallet to leave a tip and pay for his breakfast. The wallet appeared to be one he received as a graduation present when he graduated from high school.
An OF queried, “About time for a new wallet, isn’t it?”
The OF replied, “Nothing is falling out of it yet so it is still functional, and, if it functions, why get another one?”
Tough statement to argue with. A few of the OFs agreed with the OF with the old wallet.
One OF said he received a new wallet from his wife who was embarrassed by his other old one, and this OF said he could not get all the stuff from his old wallet into his new one.
Some of the OFs had to agree that change is not always good. These OFs were of the opinion that, if is not worn out, why change? And, if it ain’t broke, why fix it?”
Bygone factories
This conversation went back to Gloversville and Grandoe leather where the St. Thomas wallet and bags among other name-brand, high-quality leather goods were made. (One of those leather places that is no longer there.)
This OF and his wife, like other OFs, did some of their Christmas shopping in Gloversville as mentioned above. Grandoe Corp. would have a factory sale that was so popular they would have people on the outside guarding the doors and, when some people came out, they would let the same number in. The room under the factory would be packed.
“One of the factories,” another OF said, “that made gloves, 30 years ago made the gloves for the Air Force, and they also had a small section of the factory where at Christmastime they had factory sales. The OF said people showed up at this glove plant in tour busses.
To get to this factory outlet, it was necessary to walk through part of plant where people were sizing gloves over hundreds of metal hands protruding from a table. The employee would stretch a glove over a protruding hand, push a lever with his foot, and steam would come out of holes in the hand to shape the glove. This factory is also gone.
Ten-digit phone numbers
Some of the OFs with Time Warner received a notice in their bills that said, starting in late winter or early spring ,it will now be necessary to dial 518 for every number in the 518 area code, and 838 if you are assigned a new number in the 518 area code. Now all counties in the 518 and 838 area codes will have 10-digit phone numbers.
One OF said to call his neighbor he will have to dial 518-123-4567, but if he gets a new neighbor who gets a phone this neighbor might also get a similar number like 838-123-4567. There’s a chance that business cards, letterheads, signs, truck lettering, and the like might have to be changed.
Another OF complained that life is not easy anymore. Who keeps messing things up, he wanted to know. Why can’t I just get up, have breakfast, pack a lunch, take my old boat out to the lake and go fishing, come home, have supper, watch a little TV, or read a book then go to bed. No! Now I have to think all the time; they keep changing all kinds of rules. I can’t keep up.
The Old Men of the Mountain, some of whom had to push the covers off a little earlier to get to Kim’s West Winds Diner in Preston Hollow, were: Bill Lichliter, John Rossmann, Harold Guest, Karl Remmers, Roger Chapman, Bob Snyder, Robie Osterman, George Washburn, Dave Williams, Mark Traver, Otis Lawyer, Glenn Patterson, Marty Herzog, Ted Feurer, Don Woods, Chuck Aelesio, Frank Ray, Lou Schenck, Jack Norray, Mace Porter, Gerry Irwin, Warren Willsey, Mike Willsey, Elwood Vanderbilt, Ted Willsey, Jim Rissacher, Harold Grippen, and me.
Location:
On Jan. 24, the Old Men of the Mountain met at the Hilltown Café in Rensselaerville. At this meeting, the pickings were slim. The weather was a major factor but some brave souls made the trek.
One OF didn’t make it because he was instructed by his better half that he had better not go and leave her alone when the power went out. The power didn’t go off so the OF missed the breakfast. The OF was headed out the door on his way when the OMOTM thought the better part of valor would be to return.
From the informants who braved the weather and made it to the breakfast, it was noted that, for some reason, part of the conversation was on the Civil War. This was from knowledge gained from books, and not actual participation, although with some of the ages of these OFs, they just missed it.
President Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration was the most hostile, and guarded inauguration in history. He was known to many as the “ape” from Illinois and the gossip was that he would never take the reins of the government alive.
The carriage in which he rode from the Capitol to the White House was so guarded by the military that he was barely visible, and the Army was employed to keep the crowds at bay. The sharpshooters on the rooftops were given orders to shoot anyone who approached the carriage.
Politics are still alive and causing discussion among “We, the People.”
Ice is not nice
Our weather was also a topic, of course. With the exception of the temperatures in the Hilltowns not being quite as high as the Carolinas, this much of the winter so far has been like the Carolinas with all the ice. One OF mentioned that, what they have in the Carolinas is lots of ice, but the days warm up so fast (for the most part) the ice is gone by late afternoon.
“Not always,” one OF added, “It (ice) can hang around, and get inches thick, and just like us here in upstate New York, everything will shut down.
The white pine trees in the Hilltowns are bent over from the ice buildup on the trees’ branches, and so far this year this occurrence has happened twice. One OF mentioned that the white pines shed branches in ice storms like deciduous trees shed their leaves in the fall.
Another OF said that, even though they drop branches as large as six inches in diameter, it does not seem to affect the tree; that weed of a tree just keeps on growing.
“Yes,” one OF commented, “in the fall, we have to contend with all the pine needles that fall and, in the spring, we have to haul all the branches away that fell during the winter.” To this OF it is a double whammy.
Then the yellow pollen in the spring shows up and that stuff goes where water won’t. However, his wife insists that the tree supplies cover to lots of blue jays so let the trees be.
The OF claimed he and his wife sit on the porch and watch the birds fly full tilt through the white pines and never ruffle a needle. They wonder how these fliers manage to do this because the various birds’ wing spans can be from four inches to over twelve inches.
Another OF’s wife complains when her beloved OF clears brush and tries to eliminate the wild grape vines because that is where the cardinals live. The OF says his home is full of the red of cardinal plates, cardinal wall hangings, cardinal figurines, and sundry cardinal knickknacks.
Tough eyes for tough guys
The OFs discussed the eye, and how tough an organ that is. Many of the OFs have had eye surgery.
The OFs have many of the eye problems of all OFs, and OFsess, (just like princes and princesses) like dry eye, macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, and a few other ailments like scratchy eyeballs, and tearing.
But the eye is tough; many of the OFs have had numerous black eyes. One OF said he had two black eyes at the same time.
Bugs, dust, thistles, and all kinds of stuff whack the OFs in their eyes and, for the most part, after a short time, the eye is back to normal. One OF said he had a battery blow up in his face and he thought he was going to be blind, but after a while his vision was back and normal.
To which another OF added, “You are one lucky s.o.b., that could have been the case and you would now be using a white cane.”
Those hardy few that made it to the Hilltown Café in Rensselaerville, and probably left Amanda with a few extra eggs, a couple extra pounds of bacon, and extra bowls of pancake mix, because of the short supply of OFs were: Harold Guest, Bill Lichliter, Rev. Jay Francis, Robie Osterman, George Washburn, Elwood Vanderbilt, Jim Rissacher, Harold Grippen, Marty Herzog, Ted Willsey, (Denise Eardley), and not me.
Location:
Silver King tractors, like this one, are being restored by two Old Men of the Mountain.
Tuesday is here again and the Old Men of the Mountain met on Tuesday, Jan. 17, at the Home Front Café in Altamont.
The other restaurants the OFs visit are restaurants, but the Home Front is a restaurant with a theme. The Home Front pays tribute to the men and women of the 1940s generation.
The Home Front is as well known for that theme as for its food. The theme suits many of the OFs because they are veterans. However, the talk Tuesday morning was not on anything veteran-related. The OFs may be old but at least they are current.
The big argument of the day is what a lynx is, and what a bobcat is. Really!
In a good side shot, there should be no discussion. One OF brought in a clear picture on his cell phone of a bobcat in a backyard. It was a bobcat; it was large and apparently a male; however, one OF insisted it was a lynx.
A quick perusal on Google revealed the following: The most common wildcat in North America, the bobcat, is named for its short, bobbed tail. They are medium-sized cats and are slightly smaller but similar in appearance to their cousin, the lynx. Their coats vary in color from shades of beige to brown fur with spotted or lined markings in dark brown or black.
So, it was one against 30 and among the 30 were outdoorsmen, trappers (one professional), hunters and fishermen, and a few who have the cats visit them on occasion. But (like many of the OFs) once an OF’s mind is set, it is virtually cast in stone; hence the well-earned phrase “you blockhead”!
Anyway, it was just a big bobcat out for a stroll. Or maybe it was his cousin.
Snowed under
Another OF brought in some photographs of the winter of 1957/58 on the Hill with snow banks twice as high as a vehicle and in many areas the plows could not get through and the snow was shoveled by hand to reach the road.
Helicopters were used to bring in supplies to stranded farmers, and they even brought in hay. But one OF muttered under his breath that this winter isn’t over yet; we still have to get through March.
Tractor talk
Two OFs who sat across from each other were discussing the Silver King tractor; both OFs have one, and these tractors are in different stages of restoration. Listening to the two yak back and forth was like a history lesson on the Silver King tractor.
The tractor was developed in the early 1900s to augment a company in Plymouth, Ohio that made locomotives and other equipment for moving clay to make bricks. The company (Plymouth Locomotives) had a serious decline in sales because of the Great Depression of 1929 to 1939.
They needed something cheap that people could afford, and they needed to keep their employees working. Aha! the Silver King tractor so named because the silver paint used on the locomotives was good stuff.
The original tractor was designed by the locomotive engineers and was big and cumbersome like a locomotive. This was not what the owners wanted. The company heard of a farmer that made his own tractor from various parts like the Model T and other parts he had laying around his farm.
The owners hired this farmer, and voilà, a small inexpensive tractor was born and painted silver with blue wheels. The tractors were intended for farms less than 60 acres and caught on well. But larger farms found they were a good utility tractor and purchased the tractor to save them from having to crank up the big, heavy ones to do Mickey Mouse chores.
Farmers once again came to the rescue and with forward thinking by the owners developed this type of tractor, which saved the company and the employees. The Silver King was made well into the late 1940s.
When did accidents become crashes?
The OFs were wondering when accidents became crashes. One OF said he hears a crash and he looks for some deliberate act.
The OFs said a crash is when someone goes out and drives headlong into a bridge abutment to kill himself — otherwise it is just an accident. No one goes out to deliberately have an accident, no matter how plastered they are.
More drunks make it home than don’t and the ones that do slam into a tree did not do it deliberately because they were drunk. This was an accident the drunk did not count on.
One OF added, “Yeah, if you are peeling potatoes and cut your hand, it is an accident, and, if you are drunk and cut your hand, it is still an accident because it was not planned. Now the same guy may always be drunk when he peels potatoes and he has been doing it that way for years, but one time he cut his hand. This is an accident.”
Recalling the lure of Green Stamps
The OFs continued to muse about old times and talked about Green Stamps. One OF mentioned he still has an unfilled book with Green Stamps.
Some of the OFs mentioned what they picked up at the redemption center. An OF said he still uses one of the items today that he purchased many years ago with Green Stamps.
Another OF wondered if the point system used by airlines, and certain stores and credit cards are a version of the old-fashioned Green Stamps. The OFs said there is so much rigmarole needed to redeem these points and what they offer is nothing the OFs want or can use.
These “points” don’t even come close to the ease of using Green Stamps, and at the redemption center there were many items that people needed and could use.
Elderberries in wine and pies
The OFs talked about eating, again, and this will not be the last time. This time, the chatter was about elderberries — making elderberry wine — and a couple of OFs have just begun making theirs.
One OF garnered 30 pounds of elderberries and the other OF picked 26 pounds and, if anyone knows elderberries, that is a lot of elderberries. One OF is going to combine some blueberries in his wine.
Then the OFs began talking about elderberry pie, and that led to mincemeat pies and how our mothers (now you know we are going back a ways) made their own mincemeat. The OFs know how to eat.
The OFs who made it to the Home Front Café in Altamont, but none ordered elderberr or mincemeat pie, were: John Rossmann, Bill Lichliter, George Washburn, Miner Stevens, Ray Frank, Karl Remmers, Bob Snyder, Roger Shafer, Chuck Aelesio, Harold Guest, Roger Chapman, Robie Osterman, Marty Herzog, Ted Feurer, Rev. Jay Francis, Wayne Gaul, Mace Porter, Lou Schenck, Jack Norray, Bob Giebitz, Gerry Irwin, Mark Traver, Otis Lawyer, Ted Willsey, Jim Rissacher, Warren Willsey, Mike Willsey, Elwood Vanderbilt, Harold Grippen, and me.
Location:
On Jan. 10, the Old Men of the Mountain met at the Chuck Wagon Diner in Princetown, and this scribe does not have a clue as to what went on because this scribe was not there.
This will give the scribe a chance to expand on or use some of the notes from previous breakfast conversations. Some of what the OFs talk about is a very short, and generally quick, banter back and forth that may only be one or two sentences long and then a nippy retort.
Many of these are not newsworthy or fit for a paper but are very commonplace — locker-room talk of the senior-citizen type.
Last week, one of the topics not covered in the Enterprise report was water. On the Hill, many, if not most, of the wells have sulfur water. This is great stuff.
There are many kinds of water softeners that take care of the sulfur in the home if owner does not want it. Many on the Hill prefer it and, when going off the Hill and drinking the water in Delmar, or Guilderland or any community that has a water plant, the Hill people can smell the chlorine almost immediately.
Some of the OFs say it is almost like drinking Clorox. Some of the OFs who have softeners have a bypass line that goes to a faucet on the sink that takes the untreated water directly to that faucet. This water they use for drinking and cooking.
Some direct the sulfur water directly to a holding jug and let the water aerate. That is good water and spoils the OFs (and most people who drink it) from drinking other water. Thi is one of the many advantages of living on the Hill, but not all the wells are sulfur. Some wells tap into a good stream of water before it travels through the limestone and that, too, is great water.
OFs ate health food down on the farm
The OFs, say they are OFs because well, duh, they are old and most of the OFs became old by eating the right stuff and the OFs did this naturally. The OFs keep getting reports on how people should be eating and, as the OFs look at these suggestions, many say: What is this stuff? The OFs say that they did not eat the good stuff all the time but, when they got off track, it was only occasionally.
When many of the OFs were growing up, their meals came from items grown in the garden, and butchered on the farm. One OF said, you can’t get any fresher than that, and it was chemical-free: Eggs, meat, and potatoes with veggies and fruit, although some OFs said their fruit came in the form of pies and jams.
A couple of the OFs said their fruit came in the form of wine. Home canning, and curing your own meat, was a food process more than one OF mentioned. “We used plain stuff like salt, or stuff you could pronounce,” said one.
Another OF said his family was poor, to which another OF quickly added, “We were all poor.” Anyway, this particular OF said he didn’t start to eat well until he went into the service.
“We still eat the same way,” an OF said, “only we get it from the store, and we consume all the chemicals they use and don’t see any difference.”
However, another spoke up and said, “Most of us had a good start before the agriculturists started using all these growth hormones.”
Food and drink is essential
But is it interesting?
Looks like this scribe did not consider eating and drinking interesting because, for any of us to be here, we have to eat and drink. To this, this scribe says, it must be more interesting than he thinks because of all the cooking shows on TV and all the cookbooks in the bookstores.
The question becomes, as one OF put it, “Suppose we ate like they tell us to eat now. Would we be older OFs, and function better at 90 or 100, than we are now at 80 and 90?”
“Only time will tell,” another OF thought. “But who wants to be on this planet that long?”
This is the same OF who wanted to get off this planet awhile back.
Those OFs who made it to the Chuck Wagon Diner in Princetown and are still adding weight to this sphere were: Wayne Gaul, Ted Feurer, Gerry Irwin, Herb Bahrmann, Jack Norray, Mace Porter, Richard Frank, Chuck Aelesio, Bill Lichliter, George Washburn, Robie Osterman, Pastor Jay Francis, Roger Shafer, John Rossmann, Harold Guest, Warren Willsey, Mike Willsey, Ted Willsey, Glenn Patterson, Mark Traver, Otis Lawyer, Bob Fink, Bob Benninger, Jim Rissacher, Marty Herzog, Elwood Vanderbilt, Harold Grippen, and not me.
Location:
Well, on the first breakfast of the New Year (and, by the way, Happy New Year from the OMOTM), the OFs’ good weather for driving to the restaurants ran out. The drive on Jan. 3 was not fun.
There was drizzle at the freezing point and thick, heavy fog and it was a dark day, but this did not hold many OFs from getting out and enjoying the camaraderie of all the other OFs. The OFs discussed the weather in Duanesburg because Tuesday morning the OMOTM were at the Duanesburg Diner in that village. Duanesburg has a weather system all its own and it generally has nothing to do with the rest of us.
Tuesday morning, this scribe had copious notes because the subjects were varied and all over the place — they covered New Year’s Eve, Mariah Carey, trapping, aquariums, zoos, self-driving cars, clever crooks, sulfur water, guarantees, computer spying, the nonword “overspread,” warts, spots, wrinkles, babies, mice and ticks, the flu, and a few others. This scribe can only pick a few of these to expand on.
Learning to trap
Quite a schooling was given on the art of trapping. It does take time to learn and it is done by going as an apprentice with an experienced trapper. Book larnin’ tain’t gonna cut it.
The critter of choice for this lesson from the trapper was the fisher. The fisher is a nasty animal and will eat just about anything: squirrels, mice, rabbits, birds, cats, skunks, and even the parents of the aforementioned animals, and also their young, and their eggs, according to the OF outdoorsman and trapper. This is a ferocious little animal.
The OF said that, during this trapping season, with the few traps he set out, he managed to trap two fishers. The OF said he does not use leg traps.
Something fishy
We found out in many of our conversations that the OFs have been to places that most of the other OFs have been to. This time it was aquariums.
The aquariums the OFs talked about were the ones in Mystic, Connecticut, in Boston, in Bush Gardens, and in Myrtle Beach. The one that is now open in the old Rotterdam mall was what brought this up.
The kid of one of the OFs was going to take his kids and some friends of theirs to the aquarium at the mall in Rotterdam on the school winter break, but when he checked the cost that was soon scratched off the list.
Legal questions on self-driving cars
The OFs were wondering who would be at fault and who would the lawyers sue if two self-driving vehicles collided with each other. Would they have to sue the company, or the people who owned the cars?
The people who owned them were not driving them so how could they be responsible? How about the guidance system that was directing them? Supposing they were both using the same guidance system, what then?
How would the police fill out the accident report? What kind of answer would they get to, “May I see your license and registration please?”
The OFs think the questions that could come up might be endless.
“What fun,” as one OF put it.
Crazy crimes
The OFs talked about clever crooks, and the crooks that stole the diamonds with 7,000 police officers a couple of blocks away.
One might admit they had one heck of a decoy with the revelry of one of the largest New Year’s Eve parties in full swing. These crooks could have even used jackhammers and no one would have noticed.
One OF thought all of the officers were looking in one direction, trying to spot any sort of trouble so the people partying would be safe; however, none must have looked behind them. One OF added that two blocks away in New York is quite a distance so, even if the police officers looked back, they probably would not have seen anything.
The one crime that was not made by a stupid crook, but rather stupid people who were transporting a tremendous amount of gold. There was so much gold that this one individual saw just sitting in a bucket in the back of an unattended truck — again New York City.
He picked it up and walked off with it. Who the heck was at fault on that deal one OF wondered.
Then there was the local guy that went after an automated teller machine with a big hammer that was not big enough. The guy went home and came back with a sledge hammer and started beating on the ATM machine but it did not break.
This shows one thing. These machines are well built!
If anyone is going to steal one of these things they should take lessons from the crooks that used a forklift and placed the ATM on a truck and hauled it away. It might be a good idea if the manufacturers of these machines installed a GPS tracking device in the machines along with the cameras.
Warranties
Some time ago, the OFs discussed manufacturers’ errors, and this time the discussion was on warranties. Many of the OFs have had appliances, tools, outdoor equipment, and other items that are used in and around the home and these items fail within the warrantee period.
Depending on the supplier, and what the product is, sometimes the OGs try and fix the problem, but sometimes the suppliers just say, “Take another one.” And, when asked what to do with the one that doesn’t work, often these suppliers say, “Keep it.”
This is because the dealer doesn’t want to mess with it and neither does the manufacturer. Now the OF who bought it is stuck with it and has to take it to the dump — er, transfer station.
However, some of the OFs who have kept various and sundry of these pieces of failed whatever have used them for spare parts, made planters out of them, and in some cases cobbled them up and made them serviceable again.
The OFs have come to the conclusion that, over the years, we have really become a throwaway society.
Those OFs who made it to the Duanesburg Diner in Duanesburg (and the OFs are original production runs and not castaways) were: Bill Lichliter, Roger Chapman, Robie Osterman, George Washburn, Chuck Aelesio, Ray Frank, Harold Guest, John Rossmann, Glenn Patterson, Mark Traver, Otis Lawyer, Lou Schenck, Mace Porter, Gerry Irwin, Herb Bahrmann, Bob Fink, Bob Benninger, Ted Willsey, Jim Rissacher, Mike Willsey, Marty Herzog, and me.
Location:
On Tuesday, Dec. 27, the Old Men of the Mountain met at the Your Way Café in Schoharie. This was a sad meeting because the OMOTM were advised of the death of Loretta Kennedy.
Loretta was the proprietor of Mrs. K’s Country Kitchen in Middleburgh and a good friend of many of the OMOTM. Some of the OMOTM sat next to Loretta in many of her classes when she was at Schoharie Central. She was in the same class as this scribe and graduated with him in 1952.
As reported last week, the OMOTM were at Mrs. K’s for their annual Christmas party and Loretta was taking orders and conversing with all the OMOTM and doing all this while supporting herself with a cane. The OMOTM’s thoughts and prayers go out to Patti and her family at this time of sorrow.
The sorrow is for all of us but not for Loretta. God already has put her to work waiting on all the OMOTM who have gone on before (and that is a big group) on a cloud held especially for the OMOTM and their heavenly breakfast.
Lowlifes
This scribe does not know how much of the news becomes information for the OFs because so many of the OFs claim they don’t watch the news (and some do not even get a newspaper) but again many OFs were upset about the lowlifes who steal Christmas presents particularly those intended for the needy. What kind of person would do this?
The OFs wonder what kind of rock they crawled out from. One OF suggested it isn’t a rock; that is too good a home for them. It must be they oozed from some festering cesspool to pull stunts like that.
Many of the OFs don’t understand why anyone takes something that belongs to someone else in the first place. What happens to them when, or if, they get caught was a rhetorical question. Nothing, was the basic reply. At least the OFs never hear of them getting caught.
Logman
In the Your Way Café was a neat snowman made out of pieces of logs. The bottom of the one in the window was about 12 inches in diameter; the middle was about 9 inches and the head was about four-fifths of an inch. All the pieces were about 2 inches thick, and of course the hat was wood as was the nose and extremities. It had a scarf, too.
The OFs thought it would be possible to make a whole family of these for the front yard; they thought it looked like a fun, easy project that the whole family could get into.
“But,” as one OF said, “only if you have a chainsaw.”
Unwelcome vines
Maybe the OFs have mentioned this before but they think they have a use for kudzu. Now all we need is a good use for wild grape vines other than making wreaths.
The OFs talked about what a nuisance this stuff is. The more the OFs cut it back, the more it grows. The OFs wonder if it does any damage to the trees that it weaves its wicked vine around.
The plant crawls along the ground and starts new shoots that search for trees to climb. It is difficult to control especially along hedgerows and fences where it gets a start. If only grape vines that grows grapes for harvests were as hardy and productive.
Car complexities
The OFs drifted into one of their generic topics — cars. This time, the talk was on how complicated they are becoming.
There seem to be more dashboard lights, buttons, and switches than ever before.
The touch screens are like computers with no “oops” button in case the OF inadvertently touches the wrong part of the screen or the screen time is not long enough for the OF to interpret what it is and what to do with it. By the time the OF decides that is what he wants, it changes to something else just as the OF is ready to push it.
The OFs still maintain all they need are a few simple toggle switches: one for lights with the dimmer on the floor, and a two-position toggle for the wipers — one for slow, one for fast. A horn ring without the horn button hidden someplace in the center of the wheel because now, when the OF pushes where the OF thinks the horn located, nothing happens. A simple key to start and lock the car.
The wipers would have simple double-toggles: one for the heater and one for the air, with a simple knob to turn that indicates warmer and cooler. The radio would be on/off with a volume knob, and a tuner knob.
The OFs think that should do it. And to boot whatever happened to the small triangle windows on the front windows that could be pushed out to scoop air in as you drove? Those little air-scoop windows worked better than air-conditioning.
Now in some of these vehicles the OFs need a master’s degree in computer science just to turn the dumb thing on. Careful, one OF suggested, you have just admitted the car is smarter than you are.
The OFs who made it to the Your Way Café in Schoharie in their new fancy cars with all the gadgets and managed just fine, regardless of their grumbling, were: Ted Willsey, Warren Willsey, Mike Willsey, (with his daughter Amy who brought some information that might bear watching about an outbreak of flu in cats in New York City. So far there is only one suspected case of it being transmitted to humans. Something else for the OFs to worry about), Chuck Aleseio, Ray Frank, Miner Stevens, Bill Lichliter, Roger Shafer, George Washburn, Robie Osterman, Roger Chapman, Mark Traver, Glenn Patterson, Harold Guest, Lou Schenck, Jack Norray, Mace Porter, Gerry Irwin, Wayne Gaul, Ted Feruer, Don Wood, Bob Benninger, Bob Fink, Rev. Jay Francis, Gerry Chartier, Russ Pokorny, Elwood Vanderbilt, Richard Vanderbilt, Marty Herzog, Jim Rissacher, Harold Grippen, and me.
Location:
The Enterprise — John Williams
Savoring the seasons: The Old Men of the Mountain enjoyed listening to music played by Roger Shafer, Gerry Irwin, Tom White, and Debbie Fish while they ate their breakfast on Dec. 20, Mrs. K’s restaurant in Middleburgh.
On Dec. 20, Mrs. K’s restaurant in Middleburgh welcomed the Old Men of the Mountain for their annual Christmas Party. The restaurant always puts on a great spread for the OFs as they get ready to celebrate the Christmas season. Usually there is live music (as opposed to dead music) for occasional sing-alongs if the OFs know the tune and stop talking long enough to give the musicians some attention.
The chatter at the breakfast is similar to the chatter that proceeds church as people come in, or any meeting where people who see each other once a week or so get together. In some cases, the persons at these meetings have just visited with each other the day before, but that does not deter them from conversing before the service or meeting starts.
The OMOTM breakfast does not have a beginning or end, no one bangs a gavel, or rings a bell, or comes down the aisle with lit candles to indicate that whatever is going to happen, is going to happen, so the chatter continues until the last OF pays his bill and goes home. This is what the musicians have to contend with as they continue to play through the breakfast with the noise and chatter, and they appear to have a good time doing it.
Much of the conversation among the OFs consists of bringing people up to date on each other’s activities during the week, and some is a continuation of conversations of last week. However, this week we had one OF bring us up to date on his travels to South Africa.
The OF was asked many questions and the OF related tales to us about what life was like during his stay in that country. One thing he mentioned more than once was that the water in the South Atlantic was very, very, cold. The OF said it turned one’s legs red. He thought it was colder than the ocean in Maine and most OFs could relate to that.
Home repair project goes out of control
Another thing the OFs could relate to is, when starting a home-repair project how many times the OFs have to go to the hardware store to purchase additional parts so they can repair parts on something that broke along the way. Fixing one simple thing leads to either breaking something further down the line, or a part is rusted solid and adding a pipe to the wrench is generally not a good idea.
Then the OF finds that he can’t get the part because the guy behind the counter says “How the h--- old is that thing? They haven’t made parts for that in years.”
Now the OF is stuck paying a couple hundred bucks for a complete new whatchamacallit instead of the two bucks he thought the part would be. Then the OF says he gets home and the new part doesn’t fit because it is different in length and width and none of connections join up.
Back to the store, and by now the OF mentioned he was really ticked off, and didn’t know how much more would break somewhere down the line, so he buys more parts than he needs just to be sure.
One OF piped up, “Why didn’t you just call a plumber?”
“What,” the other OF says, “and admit defeat! Never, even if cost me a grand.”
Another situation the OFs could relate to. Many of the OFs have started to repair something and chased it to the end after all the trips to the store, and days later to find they have replaced the whole thing, which they should have done in the first place.
Key West is now costly
The OFs went from South Africa, to right here at home, to the Florida Keys. Now that is a lot of geography. When the OFs were at the Keys (especially Longboat Key, Marathon, and Key West the first time and they were younger) prices were cheap, and Key West was, in their opinion, sort of dumpy, but even at the way money was then, it was a cheap vacation.
Today, what a difference! Key West has been spruced up, and the OFs say it is necessary to have a real pocket full of change, just to eat. The OFs said that, when they were younger, it was possible to take the family on vacations and it wouldn’t break the bank.
As one OF put it, the really upper middle-class and the rich can travel there now, but as it stands currently these type of trips are out of reach for the OFs and many of their kids.
Out-of-touch government
One OF added he does not know what planet the government is from because there was no increase in Social Security, and some OFs even took a loss after the increase in Medicare hit their Social Security checks — the reason given by our wise politicians that there was no rise in the cost of living.
The OFs say, “Say what!”
As one OF commented, “The CIA should look around and find out where the officials who came up with that information parked their space ship!”
Those OFs who enjoyed the music, supplied by Roger Shafer (OF), Gerry Irwin (OF), Tom White, and Debbie Fish, with the hors d’oeuvres (almost a meal, supplied by Mrs. K’s Restaurant) at Mrs. K’s Restaurant in Middleburgh were: Marty Herzog, Jim Rissacher, Robie Osterman, George Washburn, Bill Lichliter, John Rossmann, Harold Guest, Roger Chapman, Jim Heiser, Chuck Aelesio, Ray Frank, Otis Lawyer, Glenn Patterson (at the table, exactly one week from being under the knife with a complete hip replacement ─ the wonders of modern medicine), Mark Traver, Bill Dergosits, Ted Willsey, Don Wood, Sonny Mercer, Wayne Gaul, Ted Feurer. Jay Francis, Lou Schenck, Mace Porter, Jack Norray, Bob Fink, Bob Benninger, Warren Willsey, Russ Pokorny, Elwood Vanderbilt, Rich Vanderbilt, Harold Grippen, Mike Willsey, Gerry Chartier, and me.
Location:
Christmas is getting closer. On Tuesday, Dec. 13, the Old Men of the Mountain met at the Country Café on Main Street in Schoharie.
A couple of OFs mentioned that, if they had a million dollars they didn’t know what to do with, they would use some of it to purchase the Parrott House and fix it up.The OFs mentioned, with the lights and decorations of the Country Café, to see the Parrott House all lit up too would be great. Done right, the OFs thought it could be like the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, only a tad smaller.
The weather guys were at it again by making all the OFs believe that we were in for some snowfall and really bad weather. Some of the OFs did get some snow but nothing to write home about — most OFs just received a dusting. This dusting covered a considerable amount of geography and not just a few spots here and there.
“Work” a dirty word?
One OF mentioned to another OF that he thought that this one OF should go back to work. The other OF bristled and told the first OF to wash his mouth out with soap and not use that kind of language around him again.
It seems like the second OF has really latched on to this retirement bit and likes it. Other OFs like to work and keep on doing work of some kind.
The OF who took offense at being told about going back to work, works a ton and doesn’t know it. He volunteers in the fire department, the ambulance squad, his church, and in many different capacities, so the OF is constantly busy — it just isn’t “work” work.
Shaving
Most of the OFs shave, although there are a few with beards, and some don’t shave that often. One OF came to breakfast Tuesday morning and announced that he read that vinegar makes a great aftershave, so this morning he tried it. One thing he advised the rest of the OFs was, “Don’t try it because vinegar stings.”
An OF said, “Yes, and you go around all day smelling like a pickle, or a salad.”
“No, you don’t,” the first OF said. “Can you smell it on me now?”
The other OF leaned over and took a whiff of the OF’s cheek and, by golly, the OF could not detect any scent of vinegar.
The other OFs started talking about what they used and it ranged from astringent, to aftershave, to different kinds of lotions. The OFs were wondering when their beards went from hair to wire, and how hard they had to pull down on their cheeks, and stretch their necks out so they can hacksaw off all the hair (also now known as wire) in all those crevices.
The OFs complained that, in the commercials and on the packaging for razors and shaving cream, they show all those young bucks who only need soap to cut off that peach fuzz. How about something for us OFs that will at least straighten out the twisted wires protruding from our faces, so the beards will be soft enough so it is like hair again and the razors will cut it instead of pulling each individual hair out?
Pig: 1 - Car: 0
The next topic was deer (again) so this scribe is not going to touch on that much, but what happens when a car hits a pig? One OF said his brother hit a pig that was in the middle of the road and he did not expect to see it there.
The OF claimed the brother smacked the pig dead on. This was before seat belts and airbags so the impact was felt by the driver who thought he had hit a brick wall. The outcome was the car was totaled, and the pig walked away.
This does not seem correct. Of course when the car hit the pig, that pig wasn’t fastened to the ground so it moved with the impact. The result was Pig: 1 - Car: 0 as the pig ran off bruised and disgruntled.
Still shopping
The OFs are still shopping for Christmas and some will be at it until the 24th but the OFs say grandkids or even their kids must have a hard time shopping for them because the OFs claim they really don’t need anything.
Socks and underwear will do, or tickets to a show, or something special to eat, but stuff? The OFs say they don’t need it. Some of the OFs say they are trying to get rid of stuff, and nobody seems to want it.
Plum Island mystery
A couple of OFs who sat across from this scribe were in the service at about the same time and in the same locale, plus they also lived there for quite awhile. They were talking about an island off Long Island called Plum Island.
According to the OFs, this island is a United States federal research facility dedicated to the study of animal diseases and we really don’t want to know what goes on there.
Under the knife
One OF who should have been at the breakfast but wasn’t had a very good explanation so he would be excused rather easily when the board meets to reprimand those OFs who miss breakfast for no good reason.
This OF was going under the knife to have a hip replaced at the same time the rest of the OFs were putting a fork full of over-easy eggs to their mouths at breakfast in the Country Café.
The thoughts and prayers of the OFs are with this OF and also with the doctors doing the surgery. We pray that everything turns out OK and he is back at the table soon with the rest of this bionic clan.
Those OFs that made it to the Country Café in Schoharie through the snow (?) were: Roger Shafer, Roger Chapman, John Rossmann, Harold Guest, Robie Osterman, George Washburn, Dave Williams, Otis Lawyer, Mark Traver, Ray Frank, Chuck Aelesio, Wayne Gaul, Ted Feurer, Bob Benninger, Bob Fink, Lou Schenck, Mace Porter, Jack Norray, Gerry Irwin, Warren Willsey, Ted Willsey, Marty Herzog, Mike Willsey, Gerry Chartier, Russ Pokorny, Elwood Vanderbilt, Rich Vanderbilt, Harold Grippen, and me.
Location:
Tuesday, Dec. 6, the Old Men of the Mountain met at the Middleburgh Diner in Middleburgh. Rarely does this scribe and his riders arrive at the eating establishments first — there are always a few of the OFs already at the tables. This scribe does not know what time these OFs wake up but it has to be early.
Sometimes the OFs are at the restaurant’s door, waiting for them to open up. The owners are so familiar with the OFs, they should give these early OGs a key to the place so they can open up and get things ready.
Last week, the talk at the table, for the most part, had a general theme. This week, it was all over the place: Truth and trust (the OFs have covered this before but this was a new take); the election; China; the economy; the fires in Tennessee, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Oakland, California; cost of heating (again); ministers; what things are like in different parts of the country, along with same things going on all over the world, the universe, and this was not all of the subjects covered at Tuesday’s morning’s breakfast so there was not much depth in any one topic.
Fires rage and enrage
The OFs talked about the fires that seem to raging all over. Some of the OFs have been to one or more of these localities where the fires were.
Cambridge a classy address in Massachusetts where the OF who was there said he could almost visualize where these buildings were that burned but wasn’t quite sure.
A couple of the OFs have been to the smoky mountains of Tennessee especially Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg — they remembered these places quite vividly. And a few have been to Oakland, California, but had no recollection of the area where this warehouse was.
One OF mentioned how dry it has been in the Northeast and he knows how dry it has been in Tennessee because some friends of his who live there were complaining about the dryness and the concern for wells and ponds, just like here.
Politics conscribed
In the discussion on politics, as far as the OGs are concerned, this was not really politics because in the bylaws of the OMOTM politics and religion are a no-no. However, the OFs do manage to skirt around both of these topics.
On politics Tuesday morning, the OFs talked about how many United States presidents the OFs have lived through; at our end of the table, we came up with 14. The election when most of the OFs first voted was when Truman was elected.
There is no truth to the rumor that our oldest OF (who will remain nameless, but the initials are MW) voted for Millard Fillmore. The point is, the OFs have lived through them all: good or bad, Republican or Democrat. The OFs even lived through the confusing time of trying to find out what the definition of is, is.
The OFs also lived through the time when we had drills in school and were told to duck under our desks in case of a nuclear attack.
Religion evolves
Following the same vein, the OFs discussed ministers they have known or encountered over the years as they grew up. The ministers fell into the same type of categories as the presidents only with different titles to the classifications, i.e. really good, good, not so good, and awful.
The OFs were able to go back further than presidents since some were in school in 1920 to 1930, when they were 6- or 7-years-old and in Sunday school. Some of the OFs had trouble going back that far, trying to reach through the cobwebs of their memory to pull out information.
Religion, like life, has changed and evolved. The OFs wonder if some of the old preachers they had could come back and see how religion is today would they even recognize it.
“Hey,” one OF said, “that goes for a lot of things. I used to think one plus one was two; today I am not too sure of that.”
Not economists
The OFs are not real economists but have just enough knowledge that the OFs could be dangerous to themselves. They are now watching this unexpected growth in the stock market, which has been setting all kinds of records after the election.
The OFs are wondering how long this type of growth can be sustained and if the bubble will burst, or will there be a leveling-out somewhere along the line and the new numbers become the norm. The OFs think there are a lot of crystal balls in use right now on the economy, and, as stated, the OF are not economists.
Elusive deer
It is that time of year again and it not Thanksgiving or Christmas but time to thin out the herd of deer. The OFs were asking each other about seeing any deer their way. Most have seen them in some areas and some say they are all over the place.
According to the OFs, all they have to do is grab the bow or get the gun and the deer are gone. The OFs think deer have the same sense as crows, and they have spies out watching the OFs who are hunters. Once the OF who hunts leaves his home in camouflage and with his weapon of choice, the warning signs go out just like the participants in the Anti-rent Wars with their tin horns and calico.
Those OFs who missed all the deer in the road on their way to the Middleburgh Diner in Middleburgh, and were wondering where they disappear to when the OFs get home were: Roger Shafer, Dave Williams, Miner Stevens, John Rossmann, George Washburn, Robie Osterman, Harold Guest, Roger Chapman, Don Wood, Lou Schenck, Gerry Irwin, Mace Porter, Jack Norray, Wayne Gaul, Sonny Mercer, Ray Kennedy, Bob Benninger, Bob Fink, Warren Willsey, Mike Willsey, Gerry Chartier, and the Willsey’s guest Winnie, Elwood Vanderbilt, Harold Grippen, and me.
On Tuesday, Nov. 29, the Old Men of the Mountain traveled to Kim’s West Wind Diner in Preston Hollow to have their last breakfast in November.
Now the month of “Hectic” starts — also known as December. Christmas is supposed to be the time of peace, love, and joy but somehow it becomes push, shove, and “that is mine.” Underneath it all though this time of peace, love, and joy does shine through all the hustle and bustle; most of the OMOTM can attest to that.
The OFs who have to travel quite a distance to Kim’s West Wind Diner must get up early in the morning, but most are up anyway so that is not new. On this particular Tuesday, the OFs out on the road while it is still dark had temperatures in the high forties and low fifties, and yet many encountered salt trucks spreading salt. They must have known something the OFs didn’t.
Usually the OFs skip all over in their conversations, and Tuesday morning they did follow the pattern somewhat but most of the conversation was on homes. They spoke of maintenance, the environment’s attack on homes, and how the cost of upkeep is outpacing the OFs’ incomes.
The last part may be because many of the OFs are on fixed incomes and the planned rise of inflation did not match the actual cost of inflation on items that affect many of the OFs such as taxes, medicine, food, and gas. Even the price of paint is way out of proportion to what a gallon of paint cost 20 years ago.
Window worries
Some of the OFs are in the process of replacing the windows in their homes and they discussed the effort in keeping the older windows clean, and how some of the windows failed because of poor construction. Design flaws the manufacturers did not see coming caused windows to leak, sag, and rot.
In a previous time, the old-fashioned double-hung windows with their ropes and weights could be repaired by the homeowner; however, these windows are not very efficient in keeping out the cold and drafts.
The OFs now look to windows that tip in to clean instead of having to leave the outside of the upstairs windows dirty because it takes a 20-foot ladder to reach them. Cleaning becomes a real chore especially if these are six-over-six windows.
Another reason is we do not need any OFs falling off 20-foot ladders. They would make an awful splat on the ground and, with their ancient bones, they would shatter like glass. What a mess!
Tilted but solid
The OFs topics covered painting houses with white lead paint and how long that paint lasted. Some OFs said that houses they painted with white lead 50 years ago are still in good shape, and a properly used pressure washer to clean off the grime makes the house looks like it was just freshly painted.
The OFs also noticed that metal roofs are making a comeback. It used to be that a metal standing-seam roof was the roof of choice and those roofs, if painted every now and then, would last a lifetime and maybe one or two more lifetimes.
One OF wondered if the new houses of today will be around 150 or 200 years from now, like many of the houses in the Northeast and South. If you drop a marble (in a 200-year-old home) in one end of a room you might see it roll to another corner of the room on its own. Some of the doors might not shut tight, but these homes are still being lived in today. Even though a little tilted, the home is still solid as a rock and will probably outlive a home built in the year 2000.
Home conundrums
On OF mentioned how the wood on his home is aging. This OF thinks it is causing a dust to settle not only on the windows but on other things on the outside of the home.
One OF years ago had a deck painted white on the back of his home facing west-north-west and in a few years the OF noticed a grayish-black coating on the deck, yet the paint was fine. The OF also noticed the same discoloration on the part of the roof that faced in the same direction.
This OF had the problem checked out and was told the discoloration was caused by acid rain. This OF said he has not noticed it in recent years.
The OFs also had experiences with housing mistakes where the manufacturers (on mostly rehab jobs) measured wrong, or sent the wrong materials. In almost all the cases, the manufacturers did not want the mistakes brought back.
Apparently all they would do, if returned, would take up room in their warehouses. What are they going to do with them?
One OF said a friend of his selected a prefab home that was stick-built and it was shipped to him on trucks. When the contractor was putting it together, he found the company shipped halves of two different houses.
The contractor said the OF’s friend had two choices. The contractor could jury rig the two-mismatched houses or the friend would have to wait quite awhile for the manufacturer to sort it out. The OFs friend said, “Go ahead, hook ’em up,” and so they did.
The OFs think at their ages there is a lot to be said for either renting a home, or buying a condo — to heck with this house work, let someone else do it.
Those OFs who made it to Kim’s West Wind Diner in Preston Hollow after they finished the house work were: Mike Willsey, Warren Willsey, Roger Chapman, Karl Remmers, Bob Snyder, Chuck Aelesio, Richard Frank, John Rossmann, Harold Guest, Don Wood, Otis Lawyer, Glenn Patterson, Mark Traver, Lou Schenck, Mace Porter, Jack Norray, Gerry Irwin, Robie Osterman, George Washburn, Elwood Vanderbilt, Ted Willsey, Jim Rissacher, Marty Herzog, Harold Grippen, and me.