March 26th, 2013

Tags

animals, aviation, nature, outdoors, transportation, videogames

On Tuesday, March 26th, the Old Men of the Mountain met at the fine dining establishment of Mrs. K’s Restaurant in Middleburgh. The restaurant presented a cake with one candle on it for one of the OGs that made it to 80 years old. The longer we gather the older we become. (Well duh!). Think of what old was when you were six years old, then eighteen years old, then thirty years old. Well, to the OFs seventy is not that old, and neither is getting to be eighty.

The OFs think it is each person’s chemical make up that leads them into a ripe old age. One OF mentioned that we are all factories using calories to stoke the furnaces, that run the generators to generate the electricity that make us function. The OFs concluded that like factories some people don’t work as well as others. Why is it, the OFs wondered, that a number of people can smoke and drink until they are one hundred years old, and for other people smoking and drinking whacks them when they are forty.

Why is it some guys can do nothing and look like Charles Atlas and others go to the gym every day, eat right and still look like a walking bean stalk, or Santa Claus. One OF said it is a crap shoot. Others said it is smarter to play by the numbers. Exercise reasonably, eat reasonably, and stay away from fast women. One OF wondered why guys aren’t called fast guys, and another OG answered that those guys have their own name ─ they are called horny OFs.

One OF surmised it would be great if, when anyone is born, doctors could run a test on them at that time and stamp them with a symbol of some type that says this kid can smoke and carouse all he wants. However, another kid might get a stamp that says he shouldn’t smoke or drink, or eat fried foots. Oh, the dilemma.

One OF said if he knew then what he knows now he would have lived a completely different life style. “Good or bad?” one OF asked, and the OF answered that he would have started chasing women sooner. “You old goat,” one OF said who knew him well; “You started when you were seven years old. Whatcha want to do, start when you were four?” “You got,” it the other OF replied.

The OFs hung around this discussion for a while but eventually started talking about “sayings” that don’t mean a darn thing. For example, old adages like “red skies in the morning sailors take warning, red skies at night sailor’s delight.” Just what in the world does that mean…in our humble opinion, not a darn thing. How often are the sunrises and sunsets the same ─ a beautiful sunset at night, and a beautiful sunrise in the morning. Now what?

Take another saying or aphorism ─ the colors on the woolly bear caterpillar, for instance. Black and a reddish brown color and the more brown color you see is supposed to indicate a milder winter. Many OGs have caught three or four woolly bears at the same time and the colors may be close, but they are not the same. If these caterpillars are supposed to be such great weather prognosticators shouldn’t they be all alike the OFs wondered. One OG said he understood it had nothing to do with the coming winter but the winter that has just gone by. If it was a mild winter the woolly bear had more brown than black, conversely if it had more black than brown it was a hard winter, at least for the woolly bears.

The topic of birds as watchdogs was brought up (and that is the way it was said…the OFs called the birds, dogs). The stories told were of how some of these birds behaved (with loud screeches and hisses) when someone, or in many cases something, approached.

Some of the OFs reported how they had male turkeys that would attack anything, even cars. One told of how they had geese that drove everyone nuts but his sister; these birds followed her around like puppy dogs. Another told of a rooster that wouldn’t let anyone near the house, he would sit on the railing and anyone other than his wife, or himself, the rooster would drive away. Still another OG said he had one of his wife’s roosters (we emphasize WIFE) attack him from behind and stick his talons into the small of the OF’s back. This OF said there was a piece of a 2 X 4 nearby which the OF grabbed and nailed that bird. The OG said he brought it into the house and said, “Guess what’s for dinner?”

Some OFs liked going to the hen house to gather the eggs, while others didn’t because they had to fight off the roosters. Then one OG said he thought roosters were less aggressive if hens were around. Not always was the reply, so here we go again where a statement is supposed to cover all situations but it doesn’t.

Well, this situation was covered with the breakfast being held at Mrs. K’s Restaurant in Middleburgh and all the OFs that had arrived to review the situation were: Henry Witt, Mark Traver, Glenn Patterson, Jim Heiser, Roger Shafer, Robie Osterman, Miner Stevens, George Washburn, John Rossmann, Frank Pauli, Harold Guest, Dave Williams, Bill Krause, Don Wood, Mace Porter, Garry Porter, Lou Schenck, Jack Norray, Don Moser, Arnold Geraldsen, Harold Grippen, Elwood Vanderbilt, Mike Willsey, Gerry Chartier, and me.

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March 12th, 2013

Tags

aviation, food, nature, outdoors, restaurants, transportation

On another one of the many dreary, gray days in our neck of the woods the Old Men of the Mountain met on Tuesday, March 12th at the Hilltown Café in Rensselaerville where though it was gray outside, the inside seemed to be filled with sunshine, and the great typical diner aroma. Too many houses today have air scrubbers, or air purifiers, or burn aromatic candles to cover up the great smells of food cooking in kitchen.

An apple pie in the oven, bacon or sausage frying in the pan, bread or rolls warming on top of the stove, turkey roasting, a good steak sizzling on the fire…they don’t make fragrances like this. The OFs say all the scents are lady smells. Essence of lilacs, that smells no more like lilacs than that of the essence of roses, or essences of apple blossoms. They all smell alike, and hurt the nose.

Where is the essence of horse, or the essence of gasoline, or the essence of motor oil? The OFs say the real aromas are when the OF goes from the machinery shed after maintaining the tractor with the smell of the oil-soaked wood floor, into the wood shed and its smell of oak, and then into the kitchen with the wonderful smell of what’s cooking.

No wonder people today are so stressed out. The calming natural aromas have been removed and replaced with all the phony scents that are nothing but chemicals and everybody is breathing them in. “Well,” one OF said, “I do shower and shave and clean up before going out. I don’t want to go out smelling like what I had for breakfast.” Then one other OF responded, “We all do that; that is not what we mean. What we mean is trying to make nature something that she ain’t.”

A different OF suggested that some of nature’s smells are not that pleasant. Some examples would be: cooking fish, liquid manure, and essence of skunk is none too pleasant either, or a house that harbors one hundred cats and not enough litter boxes ─ and that list of aromas can go on and on. This OF said nature can be pretty nasty in the smell department when it wants to.

Then an OF alleged that smell is the most prominent of memories. This OF said we can remember smells longer than any of the other senses or emotions. Now how are the OFs going to check that one out? The OFs will have to be with another OF the minute he gets ready to kick the bucket and the final words he utters will be, “I remember the smell of my first diaper.” Then the OFs will know and we can report that it is true.

One OF brought in a history (which he had borrowed so he could return the document to another family member) of a cemetery which is located in the Hilltowns. This history was of the families who are buried there. Many cemeteries do not have a history of all that are buried there. The only history would be of the families that have relatives buried there, and maybe some good friends. It would be neat if in the beginning the caretakers, or those of the cemetery board, would get some kind of history of everyone buried in a particular cemetery starting with grave number one. It is too late now to go back two hundred years, but it would a fun job for someone to pick a cemetery and try to resurrect this information. Most cemeteries have information on prominent people interred there, but the obscure ones not so. The average Joe Smith, or Sam Jones, or Mary Whoever, are remembered mainly by family members, and when in some families the family members eventually die out the names become just that ─ names ─ on weather-beaten stones.

Sometimes the OFs wondered if being in a state of constant hurt put many of the OFs in the grave. One OF thought his grave marker should be, “Here I lie beneath this dirt, thanking God I no longer hurt.” One OF wondered if just being in constant pain affects our thinking. This OF thought that we do not do enough in this country with acupuncture because the way he understood the process it does eliminate pain for periods of time. Another OG said that is the first time he has even heard the word in years.

The OFs talked about early risers, and those that have a tendency to sleep in. It seems the OFs that are sleeper-inners, have no sympathy for those that rise early when they start complaining they are tired at two in the afternoon. The early risers grumble about those that sleep late by saying they are wasting the best part of the day by laying in bed. To the early riser there is nothing like the feel of a beautiful morning and sunrise, and the sleeper-inner says there is nothing like a beautiful sunset and the sounds of evening.

The early riser said that rising early in the day lets you get more done because when the heat of day comes you can take a nap until it starts to cool off again. When the guys that sleep in and get up late, the heat of the day is beginning to start, and then you have to work in this heat to get anything done. Who can do their best work with sweat running in their eyes?

Many of the OFs discussions seem to have no end ─ they just go round and round. However, for this day this little report has to come to an end, and it has.

Those OFs that made it to the Hilltown Café in Rensselaerville (regardless of when they got up) were: Bill Rice, Bill Krause, Roger Chapman, Robie Osterman, George Washburn, Frank Pauli, John Rossmann, Harold Guest, Otis Lawyer, Mark Traver, Glenn Patterson, Jim Heiser, Jack Norray, Gary Porter, Mace Porter, Dave Williams, Henry Whipple, Don Moser, Gerry Chartier, Mike Willsey, Ted Willsey, Jim Rissacher, Harold Grippen, and me.

February 12th, 2013

Tags

aviation, cars, gaming, outdoors, transportation, videogames

Tuesday, the 12th of February, was one of those winter days where the roads were of the “oops” type. Early in the morning the OFs were talking about this because the sun was shining (a tad) but the wind was really whipping, especially on the mountain. There was a little snow during the night and the wind would blow it across the road where there were open fields.

These are the type of conditions when the OFs would be cruising along on wet and even dry roads and then whoops…the OFs would come upon a stretch of road with two to three inches of snow blown across. Hit one of those at fifty-five mph, on a turn, and the driver will have his hands full and he just hopes there isn’t another car in the same spot with their hands full. Even with these challenges the OFs made it to the Blue Star Restaurant in Schoharie without incident.

This has been mentioned before but again it was noticeable. There was another group of guys at another set-up of tables at the Blue Star. This group was not as large a group as the OFs; there was a table full of loggers having breakfast before heading to the woods along with the OFs and two other tables with some patrons seated there. In other words, the place was full. One waitress, and the owner, and the OFs don’t know how many in the kitchen but we think maybe just one cook and a dishwasher and that was it. The waitress also cashed everyone out, and did some of the bussing of the tables along with the owner. The OFs know they couldn’t keep all that straight. Must be experience.

The subject of Valentine’s Day came up because it was only a couple of days away. The routine question asked was, “What are you doing for Valentine’s Day?” There was quite a lull which led the scribe to think the collective answer was not much. One OF said, “Hey, I show up for supper every night, that is Valentine enough. What more does she expect….cards, flowers, candy…that stuff is for sissies.” The ice appeared thin here so the subject drifted off into the sunset.

The OFs started talking about the cruise ship that is adrift in the Gulf of Mexico and tug boats which are being sent out to rescue it. This started the talk on cruises the OFs have been on with the pluses and minuses. One OF said he has been on two cruises and doesn’t care to go on anymore. This OF said his first trip was to go across the ocean to go to war and they ran into a typhoon. His second trip was to come back home and again they ran into a typhoon. That is enough cruising for him.

Another OF said they had the same experience as this ship that is floundering in the Gulf of Mexico. They ran into a storm with a water spout, and after being tossed about a bit one of the engines quit. They experienced the exact same thing with people becoming ill, nothing working, toilets overflowing, etc., it was not pleasant. Like the OF going to battle and coming home, this OF has not been on a cruise since.

Other OFs think they are the best thing going. “We get to see other places,” one OF said, “and we are waited on hand and foot. It is a good thing that we do stop at ports of call otherwise it would be like a floating jail that we couldn’t get off of.”

One OF said, “Bus trips are like going on cruises only they are on land and generally are a lot of fun except for the old ladies taking forever to get off the bus at break stops and with me having a full bladder. On these trips we are catered to and get to see a lot of the country, so I guess I can put up with a couple of full bladders. Using the facilities on a moving bus going seventy miles an hour is not the easiest thing in the world.” A second OF said, “There are a lot of things that have to be thought out before venturing out on any of these type of excursions.”

All this talk of travel and getting away for a little while had the OFs winding up in Florida…where else? The conversation just rambled with one OF saying he was in such and such a place, and another OF saying, “Yeah, so were we” and that led to the set of circumstances that to any traveler is hard to explain. One OF related a story saying he was in a Piggly Wiggly supermarket, and right behind him checking out was a good friend of his that, because of relocation, he had not seen in about three years and there he was in the Piggly Wiggly thirteen hundred miles away.

The other OFs began to relate similar stories; one OG said, “Here we are fifteen hundred miles from home and we run into a neighbor from just down the road. Some number cruncher should crunch the laws of probability on these types of occurrences.”

Those OFs that were at the Blue Star Restaurant in Schoharie, and not in the Piggly Wiggly were: Roger Chapman, Steve Kelly, Miner Stevens, Roger Shafer, Bill Krause, Robie Osterman, George Washburn, Frank Pauli, Harold Guest, Dave Williams, Glenn Patterson, Mark Traver, Jim Heiser, Mace Porter, Gary Porter, Ted Willsey, Mike Willsey, Harold Grippen, Elwood Vanderbilt, Jim Rissacher and me.

We did have one OF who was not at the breakfast because he was called out to go to Boston on a volunteer mission????. The roads are closed!!!??? The OFs are dedicated.

August 14th, 2012

Tags

aviation, john r williams, nature, outdoors, transportation, vacation bible school

The Old Men of the Mountain by John R. Williams

On Tuesday the 14^th of August, the Old Men of the Mountain met at the Blue Star Restaurant in Schoharie only this scribe was not there. This is the one time of the year this OF scribe is legally excused because it is the Knox Reformed Church’s Vacation Bible School and the scribe helps out with that. You might call this a higher calling than the OFs. Well, maybe there is one more high calling and the title of that one is wife. This higher calling the scribe can argue with but rarely does the scribe win. Logic and demands don’t seem to mix.

The note from the OF that took attendance said the OFs around him spoke of hiking and the new acreage purchased by the state in the Adirondacks. The addition of the land to this state park this scribe cannot allude to because he wasn’t there, but this scribe has many notes on the hiking dialogue because some of the OFs are hikers and the subject has been brought up before.

Some of the OFs wondered what is a hike and what is just a walk in the woods? One OF said that he was with a couple who said they hiked a lot so one day they decided they would go for a hike and hike to the ocean through the woods from their camp on the ocean. The couple took a least twenty minutes putting on shoes, getting their sticks and “hiking” gear ready. The OF said they had nothing just what they wore when they came, i.e., regular shoes, and a baseball cap and that was it, but anyway off they went. The path they walked on was pretty well defined though rocky and a little damp in spots but no more than a lawn after a rain.

In less than half an hour they were at the ocean. To their OF friend it was just a walk in the woods but to this particular couple they had been on a hike. So this OF was confused as to which is a hike, and which is just a walk in the woods.

Apparently, the OF thought they would be walking at least a couple of hours and it would be an adventure. To the OF a hike is something planned with backpacks, maps, and a compass to a prescribed meeting point and hiking back, or being picked up by transport vehicles once the meeting point is reached. A walk is a walk along a well marked trail with maybe a destination to rest and walk back or a planned long loop that brings the walker back to the starting point.

One OF told him that is a definition of a planned hike too. So the OF replied, “I repeat, if you are out with friends on a marked trail and you are going to follow that trail aren’t you just walking along until you get to where you started, stopping occasionally to take in the views if there are any along the way?”

“OK,” another OF said, “It goes by the matter of difficulty. It is a hike when you need hiking boots, a staff, rugged clothing, insect repellent, food, a compass, a good hat, and maybe a gun. The terrain is tough, the hills are steep, and the black flies are nasty; fording streams may be involved. Then it’s called a hike because it sure isn’t a walk.

“A person walking across the country is on a real long walk, but not a hike. A long walk may be longer though than a shorter hike.” This analogy seemed to make sense to the rest of the OFs… hiking and walking would be the degree of difficulty. A different OF said that may be a good point because with a heart condition long walks are good but a shorter, strenuous hike might do the ole ticker in, so at least put nitro in the pocket because that’s a good thing to have with you on a hike.

That, in a way settled that, and the OF’s went on to something else. This scribe is digging up old notes he had and he had enough trouble tying this hiking/walking business together so he will let it go at that and go out for a walk.

Those OF’s attending the breakfast at the Blue Star Restaurant in Schoharie and not walking or hiking to get there were: John Rossmann, Duane Wagenbaugh, Jim Watson, Roger Fairchild, Jay Taylor, Miner Stevens, George Washburn, Roger Chapman, Robie Osterman, Art Frament, Bob Benac, Harold Guest, Joe Loubier, Frank Pauli, Henry Witt, Mark Traver, Glenn Patterson, Dave Williams, Roger Shafer, Don Wood, Jack Norray, Mace Porter, Gary Porter, Jim Rissacher, Ted Willsey, Mike Willsey, Harold Grippen, Gerry Chartier, and not me.

May 15th 2012

Tags

fresh eggs, nature, outdoors, travel, two eggs, vacation

On May 15th, 2012, the Old Men of the Mountain met at the Home Front Café in Altamont. Again the place was hopping; there were more old guys walking around than you can shake a stick at and most of them are eaters…breakfast at least.

That raises the question of what did the OF’s do when they were young that allowed them to be active OF’s in their late seventies to almost ninety? What did the OF’s eat that is different than today? Many drank raw milk, ate fresh eggs for breakfast, and for some it wasn’t just one or two eggs, it would be half a dozen. Homemade bread and biscuits, made with real butter and real ingredients. Fresh meat from animals raised just for that purpose and then butchered. Plenty of exercise, only as one OF said, “Our exercise was called hard work.”

So it was thought by the OF’s that this type of early beginning of diet and exercise laid the foundation for how the OF’s carried on in later years. Time will tell, as many OF’s still pack away some whomping breakfasts, and they still get out and about but if this is still called exercise the OF’s aren’t sure. At least the OG’s are moving.

Some OF’s thought it was the draft, and many OF’s went into the military whether they wanted to or not; at that time it was the OF’s duty. Some of the OF’s think that the military nowadays is just about the same as it was in the 1940s and some think it has gotten soft. One thing the military taught these OGs was to be patient…the OFs don’t think this has changed. One OF said the army said he should be at such and such a place, at such and such a time, and they meant it. Once there, as specified, it was hang around and wait, then go somewhere else and hang around and wait.

Another OF said, “I think we had enough of that. Now we want it (car, truck, house…whatever) now, we have waited enough, now is now, not tomorrow or the next day but now.” Then a different OG said, “Look, some of us get grumpy when we get older, and some mellow out. With me tomorrow is another day and if it doesn’t get done today, there is always tomorrow, and if I drop dead in the meantime I won’t have to worry about it at all, so why get all worked up if it doesn’t happen now?”

The OFs talked about fishing, and where to fish, which led to talking about some of the size of the fish in local reservoirs. As the OFs were talking about the fish, this scribe said maybe subtracting a foot to the length would be more appropriate. Then the discussion on the reservoirs started, and how many people were displaced by the construction of these bodies of water. The Sacandaga reservoir (which has been called a lake for a long time) buried many homes. These homes were burned but the foundations are still there. They mentioned a railroad also was buried along with an abandoned train still on the tracks which is supposed to be at the bottom of the lake. This was done around 1930.

The town of Gilboa is another one where the town was purchased around 1920, and the inhabitants evacuated through government condemnation and the town was then flooded, so the people of New York City could have water. One OF said in times of serious drought the foundations can still be seen, as well as the ones under the waters of the Sacandaga.

Another local reservoir is Alcove which was built around 1928 so the city of Albany could have water. It was built and completely buried the village of Indian Fields, and these people also had to get out. One OF said that the Indian Fields road still goes out of Coeymans and heads towards the reservoir.

Then the OF’s mentioned the Tomhannock reservoir over in Troy. This reservoir apparently did not bury any villages, but is a good one to fish in because public fishing is allowed there. How big the fish are, well that is up to interpretation of the word big. This reservoir is the oldest of the ones the OF’s talked about being built in 1900.

There! Are you thirsty yet? If so go get a beer, or a cup of coffee — you will live longer.

The Old Men of the Mountain that met at the Home Front Café in Altamont and all (except a couple) ordering coffee were: Carl Walls, Robie Osterman, Miner Stevens, Bob Benac, Art Frament, Roger Shafer, Steve Kelly, John Rossmann, Harold Guest, Frank Pauli, Mace Porter, Gary Porter, Glenn Patterson, Mark Traver, Jim Heiser, Jack Norray, Don Moser, Arnold Geraldsen, Mike Willsey, Ted Willsey, Harold Grippen, and me.

May 1st 2012

Tags

car pool, cars, catskill creek, chuck wagon diner, gaming, middleburgh, nature, ofs, outdoors, rensselaerville, schoharie county, schoharie creek, schoharie valley, transportation, travel, vacation

On Tuesday May 1st, the Old Men of the Mountain met at the Duanesburg Diner, in Duanesburg and it was a foggy, dreary morning when the OF’s gathered, but inside the restaurant conversation was light and cheery. Even though the opening conversation was how dreary it was outside.

It is hard for the OFs to get together and not at some point use as a reference point something that happened while the OF’s were working, or in the military. To tie those experiences in with what is currently being discussed is very fluid; it just seems to fit. The OF’s working part of their life is the larger part of their lives. If the OF was a farmer the working part starts when the OF was eight or nine years old. If they left the farm and went into the workplace right after school and they retired at sixty-five and the OF is seventy-five now, that means the OF has had just about eighteen years out of the seventy-five for himself. “Hey!” As one OF put it, “The last five haven’t been much fun either.”

The OF’s have their senior moments more than they would like to admit. The OF’s car pool which has been mentioned many times previously (and the car pooling is a lot of the fun) also leads to some of the interesting things that happen at the breakfast. This dank morning after the breakfast, as the OFs were leaving, a few of them were standing under the eave by the entrance to the restaurant. So this one OF asked as he was leaving, “What’s up?” The reply was, “Look over there,” so the OF did but saw nothing strange or unusual. Then the first OF said, “See that blue car over there, with the OF in it?” The other OF said, “Yeah — so?” “Well,” the one standing there and watching said, “That is the wrong car, and we are standing here until he realizes that it is the wrong one.” Apparently that event never happened; they had to get the attention of the OF who was sitting in the wrong car to go to the right one.

To the defense of the OF in the wrong car — the car he was sitting in was identical to the car he came in and only one car removed from the one he came in. Both happened to be blue Hondas, same make and model, so duh – this can happen to anyone.

The OFs started discussing one of their favorite topics, and don’t try to second guess us…it was not women. The conversation was cars, trucks, tractors, boats, ATV’s, planes, and then hunting and fishing are thrown in for good measure. After that comes gardening, farming, home repairs, kids and grandkids. Subjects rarely discussed are sewing, furniture, clothes, and then maybe on a very rare occasion it might be women. We are OF’s as they say.

This morning it was car engines, and how much better they are today than just a few short years ago. It used to be fifty to sixty thousand miles on a car engine when overhauls were in order. Today just routine care of an engine and that little four cylinder thing will run one hundred to maybe one hundred and fifty thousand miles and still not use a drop of oil. The OF’s were conceding that the vehicles of today are better and last longer. BUT when things go wrong, they really go wrong and it costs a fortune to fix them. The days of carrying wire, panty hose, electrical tape, (duct tape had not been invented yet) a few tools and the OF was able to perform a motor job on the side of the road. These days are gone.

Flats nowadays are rare but when the OF’s were young spare tires were a necessity. Many of the earlier cars had two spare tires. The Christmas Story experience of coming home with the Christmas tree is about what it was like.

The OF’s mentioned even trucks. When the OF’s were younger and driving Route 20 to Buffalo some of those hills would slow a loaded truck to a crawl, and with a standard transmission the drivers in cars behind these trucks were actually rowing the cars up the hill because they were constantly shifting. Today a loaded rig will blow the OF off the road as it passes him going up the hill.

Yep, the OF’s have to concede this one. Tractors, trucks and cars are much better in most all respects than those prior to the 1980s/90s, except for one thing and that one thing is style. The OF’s maintain no matter if it is a Lexus or a Yugo the vehicles today have no character. Fifty years ago if an OF had a Packard, or a Model A, each vehicle would have its own character and this character was obvious.

Then the OF’s started talking about people, and their vehicles. This somehow led to the discussion of the specific characteristics of the owners. One OF said, “You know, we are people and we are one of ‘them’ and they are probably talking about the OF’s and their characteristics. It is tough to judge people with their foibles and eccentricities because we are one of them.”

Those OF’s that are one of them that met at the Duanesburg Diner in Duanesburg were: Robie Osterman, George Washburn, Miner Stevens, Roger Chapman, Steve Kelly, Roger Shafer, Glenn Patterson, Jim Heiser, Lou Schenck, Mace Porter, Garry Porter, Jack Norray, Harold Guest, John Rossmann, Frank Pauli, Don Moser, Arnold Geraldsen, Ted Willsey, Willard Osterhout, Jim Rissacher, Gerry Chartier, Mike Willsey, Harold Grippen, and me.

April 17th 2012

Tags

nature, outdoors, schoharie valley, travel, vacation, weather

April 17th, 2012, was a Tuesday and the Old Men of the Mountain met at Mrs. K’s Restaurant in Middleburgh.

Loretta, the proprietor of Mrs. K’s (along with her daughter Patty) is on a first name basis with Governor Cuomo. The flood has brought considerable notoriety to Schoharie Valley. The sad notoriety is the flood itself, but there is also good notoriety, some from dignitaries, and politicians, and some of the thousands of volunteers that have come to help. There have been donations large and small from private individuals as well as big corporations. Even though there is much to be done it shows the goodness of most people’s hearts. The OF’s mention these good people quite often. An OF mentioned that the flood has caused (in many cases) irreparable damage and harm; many families have been severely disrupted yet there is a strange good side to this and that is that the whole country sure knows of the Schoharie valley now. In the long run the visitors to the valley may increase just because of the disaster more than all the advertising that has been done to promote the valley. The visitor’s curiosity will entice them to come and enjoy this gem of real estate in upstate New York.

The OMOTM had another person with a birthday today — Harold Guest. It is fun when some OF has a birthday on the breakfast day, or close to it. Many of the OF’s whose birthday it is will be sung to, and that is an experience because most of the OF’s have gravely voices and think key is something that is used to start a car, or open a door. The song is sung with heartfelt gusto if nothing else.

Many of the OF’s complained about being stiffer than usual because of another spell of warm weather and they were outdoors cutting brush, mowing lawns, getting summer furniture out, and just getting ready for the warmer weather to come. However, as one OF said, “This is still April and the summer anxious OF’s could still get ten inches of snow on all their outdoor furniture.” This OF said his is still in the shed. One OF countered, “The peepers are deafening, and the black flies a re out, so I am putting my hummingbird feeders out, late spring and summer is here.” “Just you wait,” the other OF said, “This may be all the summer we get.”

One OF brought up this old reminder, “About 10 years back on the hill we had six to eight inches of snow on May 18th, and it was warm before that little surprise.”

The OF’s had a discussion on being OF’s. “Everything becomes old,” one OF pointed out, “And as soon as you take your first breath becoming old starts.” Then one more OF said, “OK, why don’t you go further back, as soon as the sperm swims upstream and hits the egg old age starts.” The OF’s had to agree with that. Then a different OG said. “It goes further back than that. How about God saying before you were in the womb I knew you.” (Whoops – things are getting kinda deep here). Becoming old does happen to everything, even rocks. Our pets, our plants, and everything else succumbs to getting old, dying, and rotting. There is nothing we can do about it. So the question was asked, do you feel old? Many of the OF’s said yes their body feels old, but they don’t think they are old.

All the OF’s look forward to tomorrow, and basically no matter how they feel the attempt is made to accomplish what the OF’s looked forward to yesterday. Some of the OF’s say that their physical condition will not let them do much, like bad eyesight, or some other debilitating condition, but for the most part it does not deter them from making plans to do something within the limits of their physical ability, like coming to breakfast with a whole bunch of OF’s in the same boat and complaining about feeling old. (Is this some kind of cycle or what?)

So all those OF’s with their problems left behind came to the breakfast at Mrs. K’s Restaurant in Middleburgh and maybe someday those that show up at Mrs. K’s will have breakfast with Governor Cuomo. He seems to like it there and these OF’s would be: Roger Shafer, Harold Guest, Roger Chapman, Tim Thompson, Frank Pauli, Dave Williams, Robie Osterman, Carl Slater, Steve Kelly, Henry Witt, Miner Stevens, Gerd Remmers, George Washburn, Mark Traver, John Rossmann, Jack Norray, Lou Schenck, Mace Porter, Garry Porter, Don Moser, Arnold Geraldsen, Mike Willsey, Jim Rissacher, Willard Osterhout, Ted Willsey, Harold Grippen, Gerry Chartier, and me.

March 21st 2012

Tags

cars, nature, outdoors, transportation, travel, vacation

March 21st, or is it June 21st? The calendar says it is March but the weather feels like it is June.

The Old Men of the Mountain met Tuesday at the Chuck Wagon Diner in Princetown where the weather was the topic of the day. Peepers are peeping, pussy willows are out, spring flowers are in bloom, trees are budding, wild rose bushes are already greened up, and mosquitoes are on the wing…as big as horse flies these blood suckers are. The OF’s were saying now is a great time for the bats to get sick. One OF said maybe this winter will rejuvenate the bats and they will overcome the white nose fungus that is doing them in. There should be plenty for them to eat this spring so they can become stronger.

In this group of OMOTM we have mentioned that some of the OF’s are avid hikers and on this Tuesday quite a group of them attended the breakfast with tee shirts that showed off the group they hike with — basically the Long Path Hikers. This group of about twelve was headed out after the breakfast to go and hike the Christman preserve. One of the OF Long Path Hikers said this was a pretty good hike. The rest of the OF’s couldn’t blame them. The Christman preserve is a nice place and it is just a short distance from the Chuck Wagon Diner and the weather was beautiful. It was a spirited co-ed group that headed out to enjoy the great outdoors.

The OF’s know they are getting older when they start talking about some adventuresome soul (they heard about on the news) going up in a balloon to just nearly the edge of space…and then he will jump! The OF said the plan is for the balloon part to keep on going after he jumps, but the basket will fall back to earth with a pressure switch that will deploy parachutes so it will come to land unharmed. (That is the plan). The OF also wondered who was sponsoring this stunt since balloons are not cheap, and the OF’s have a good idea the suit this jumper will have to wear is not cheap either. What kind of data are they looking for or is it just the notoriety?

One OF brought up the Mike Douglas show on TV awhile back where high divers dove out of an airplane at some ridiculous height into the ocean off the coast of Florida. The OF was taxing his memory but he thought it was Fort Lauderdale, and these daredevils just dove into the ocean and all they had on was scuba wet suits. The diver’s reasoning was once a falling object reaches the point where resistance balances gravity, the falling speed (no matter how high up it starts) goes no faster. (?????). “Well,” one OF said, “I don’t care if it is twenty miles an hour, or one hundred and fifty miles an hour, I am staying in the plane until the pilot lands it.”

The OF said that there have been some high jumps in the past with the highest being over one hundred and two thousand feet. If the OF’s remember their high school math, no matter how high up you go the speed will only be about one hundred and thirty five mph once the jumper hits the atmosphere. Then once his chute opens and there is more wind resistance to counteract gravity the jumper should hit the ground just like other jumpers that jump just for kicks. However, out in space that is another thing because the jumper might get to really whipping along, but as long as his suit holds together and he has oxygen it should just be like any other sky dive only a tad longer.

The OF’s were mentioning how well the deer look this spring. This led to talk of hunting with bow and arrow and it isn’t even close to hunting season. One OF said that many of the arrow shafts now are fiberglass and don’t break off. This same OF said he shot a deer once and when dressing it out he found an arrow inside the deer that did not seem to have any affect on the animal. Another OF said some arrows do have an affect though, and the arrow sticking out of a deer shot with one of these fiberglass arrows does not kill the deer. As the deer crashes through the woods the shaft will catch on brush and the wound will just get worse until eventually the deer dies of the wound and becomes food for turkey vultures, and crows, and maybe dogs. This OF thinks it is better to have a shaft that breaks so this won’t happen.

Those OF’s meeting at the Chuck Wagon Diner, on Route 20 in Princetown and all planning on staying on the ground were: Henry Witt, Jack Norray, Garry Porter, Miner Stevens, John Rossmann, Robie Osterman, Arnold Geraldsen, Glenn Paterson, Mark Traver, Jim Rissacher, Ted Willsey, Mike Willsey, Harold Guest, Harold Grippen, Gerry Chartier, Willard Osterhout, and a host of hikers with more energy that most of the OF’s, and me.

Tuesday March 13th 2012

Tags

cars, nature, outdoors, transportation, travel, vacation

Oh, what a beautiful morning — oh what a beautiful day — we have a beautiful feeling everything is going our way; our way is to the Duanesburg Diner in Duanesburg. So the Old Men of the Mountain are headed that way.

Duanesburg, the Duesenberg doesn’t have an “H” but then again Duesenberg isn’t a burg.

This is not in any particular order because the scribe’s note page became a little jumbled. The OF’s discussed covered bridges, those beautiful pieces of early American architecture, and their use. What prompted this was Hurricane Irene destroying the covered bridge in Blenheim. This historic bridge had the longest span of any surviving single-span covered bridge in the world. Some of the OF’s say quite a bit of the bridge has been found – especially the cross members. The Historical Society is trying to locate more pieces of this bridge so it can be restored and the talk was the government will participate if enough of the bridge can be found.

A good portion of the bridge that has been found has gratefully been turned over to the restoration committee, however, apparently one person has some of the pieces and will not cooperate and is hanging on to them. One OF said if he had these pieces he would be glad to return them and even offer to help in the restoration. All the other OF’s agreed with this position and some may even offer to help in one form or another even without any pieces of the bridge

The OF’s had a hard time figuring out why any one would hang on to them. What good are they…are they going to build their own covered bridge? Then one OF said, “Well, there are always givers and takers. I would much rather be a giver.”

The OF’s talked about the Iditarod again and the OF from Alaska spent some time entertaining the rest of the OFs on how the race was run. This OF said that this year they are running the short route. This route is only one thousand miles; the long route is about twelve hundred miles. “Gee,” one OF said, “Only one thousand — I have trouble with ten miles when we go to the grocery store.”

The mushers that enter the race must finish with the same team of dogs that the musher started with. If he starts out with eight dogs and one becomes sick or gets lame, that team will have to finish with seven dogs…there is no substitution. That is part of the strategy of this sporting event. Should you show up with only five dogs, or sixteen? “Just like any sport there are mind games that are played,” one OF said.

The OF from Alaska said that all these dogs want to do is run; they love it. The dogs also love being outdoors and when brought indoors some become mental, or get sick. The one that has to really endure the cold are the sled owners that have the dogs. These owners have to go out and take care of them when it is twenty below and the wind is howling, and the snow is like ice crystals. The dogs are out there having a grand old time while the owner is out there freezing his tail off making sure the water is not frozen and they have food. But the owners of the dogs must enjoy this kind of weather or he/she wouldn’t be doing it.

The Enterprise is going to like this next conversation because the OF’s started talking about local newspapers like the Enterprise, the Cobleskill Times Journal, and the local papers from Catskill and Ravena. The OF’s say they get more information from these than they do the large papers. Many have canceled the dailies because local news is missing, and the national and international news is too slanted. One OF said with the weekly papers if something really bothers you, it is possible to call up someone and complain about it or write a letter. The OF’s look for the My Shopper, or the Penny Saver at many of the restaurants the OMOTM frequent. The little snippets of news in these free advertising papers are interesting and funny.

Another plus is that much of the time the OF’s know some of the people who have their picture in the paper and sometimes it is them. The other part of it is that it is like the OF’s breakfast itself, the OF’s learn who needs help, or what organization in the hilltowns is struggling, and what some organizations have plans in the wind that the OF’s would like to be part of.

The OF’s discussed their vacation plans, and what the OF’s do when they do go to the lake, or travel to see grandkids, or family and friends and how much has changed because of the fuel prices. Travel is now less frequent, and what they do is cut way back. One OF said that this compounds itself, because if they are not visiting these areas they are not spending money there for lodging, food, whatever, and one OF mentioned it even cuts back on putting the animals in the kennel for awhile. That reduces the income of the kennel so they do less. Then one OG said until we find a substitute for fuel everything will be cut back, and food prices will go up, along with basic necessities, and people will cut back even more. Then an OF pointed out that batteries are not the way to go, nor is fracking. It has to be something completely different and inexpensive. One OF commented, “How about horses and pedaling?” “Now you’re talking,” another OF chimed in.

Then one OF declared, “This is America, and necessity is the mother of invention.” This OF maintains this knowledge is already here, but there is too much money involved with oil, and politicians and engine manufacturers to even begin to think about letting it out. This OF thinks we are all being bamboozled by the big corporations.

Those OF’s still finding the wherewithal to make it to the Duanesburg Diner, in Duanesburg to have these major discussions were: Frank Pauli, Miner Stevens, Glenn Patterson, Mark Traver, Henry Witt, Robie Osterman, George Washburn, Jim Heiser, Dave Williams, Harold Guest, Roger Chapman, Jack Norray, Garry Porter, John Rossmann, Don Moser, Arnold Geraldsen, Harold Grippen, Gerry Chartier, Willard Osterhout, Ted Willsey, and me.

Tuesday March 6th 2012

Tags

food, nature, outdoors, restaurants, travel, vacation

Tuesday, March 6, the Old Men of the Mountain were still in Schoharie County at the Blue Star restaurant on Main Street, and of course the flood devastation which is still evident in the valley brought up a discussion of the same kind of destruction caused by the recent tornadoes in the Midwest. The OF’s started drawing parallels which was only natural.

As the OF’s talked it was apparent the only real parallel is the loss of homes. With the tornadoes many OF’s mentioned how swift and fast they came and people had nowhere to run, whereas the flood, in most cases, gave some time to get to higher ground. With the tornadoes the homes were completely flattened; with the flood many were washed away never to be found, and left others standing is one form or another but still uninhabitable.

The hardy tornado victims can, and one OF threw in if they have the financial wherewithal, start rebuilding right away, whereas the valley flood victims have to wait to be sure the mold is gone, the wiring is ok, and the house is not contaminated, and even then they have to get permission to build where the house stood because of its proximity to the flood plain.

So, as one OF put it, this is a case of similar, but by no means alike. Then another OG said, “Why is the planet so mad at us, the way nature is knocking us off, do we really have to worry about over population?” Then an OF said, “They have these population clocks based on birth — how about a death clock, so we all can see how it balances out.”

An OF brought up the thought that the birth clock can be reasonably projected, but the death clock would be tough because instead of going tick, tick, tick, it would have to go tick, tick, and then an earthquake or a tsunami could happen and thousands would perish. So therefore the clock would have to go tick, tick, and then tiiiicccckkk.

The OF’s thought a large math clock at Times Square would be slick. A clock that would record births and deaths and compute the difference; then when one of these natural disasters would happen a huge minus would appear and the clock would show the new difference with how many more births would have to happen to catch up.

(Scribe’s note: another segue on how one discussion just flows {no pun intended} from one to another.)

As spring approaches the OF’s are again watching birds as they return. The red-wing blackbirds are back, flickers are here, the robins never leave, and no OF has seen swallows yet, but the winter birds have had a great time of it so far this year. One OF who resides at Warner Lake says the lake has not frozen over; there has been open water all winter.

This chatter led us into sap and the tapping of trees. Some of the OF’s do this and produce their own maple syrup. These OFs say the sap is running quite early this year, and they have noticed buds on trees, and the early spring bugs running around, which one OF said would explain the flickers.

This brought up an interesting story from one of the OF’s who has family in Alaska, and he has also lived in Alaska. He reported that in that state they tap the white birch trees and as we have maple syrup, they have white birch syrup. The OF said it does taste different but it is not bad. Then one OF added that there is a new commercial out that touts corn sweetener as sugar, and says sugar is sugar…well, the OF’s say tain’t so. A cracker turns to sugar in your gut, but it tain’t sugar.

One OF said he sure wouldn’t put maple syrup in his coffee, or corn sweetener, or a cracker. They are all supposed to be sugar but don’t tell the coffee that.
Speaking of all that maple tree tapping brought up the Kiwanis maple festival breakfast at the Knox fire house, on Sunday, March 25^th, from 9 to 1:30, pancakes and all that good stuff. (Talk about a plug) Anyway, here is a chance to taste real maple syrup against Mrs. Butterworth’s.
Those OF’s that made it to the Blue Star restaurant in Schoharie, and some ordering pancakes and using syrup that wasn’t maple were: Miner Stevens, John Rossmann, Jim Heiser, Mark Traver, Glenn Patterson, Frank Pauli, Dave Williams, Gary Porter, (not Potter), Jack Norray, Robie Osterman, Roger Chapman, Roger Shafer, Steve Kelly, Harold Guest, Ted Willsey, Jim Rissacher, Willard Osterhout, Gerry Chartier, Mike Willsey, Harold Grippen, and me.