Here today, Gone later in the day.

   When I drove past the Stewart's in North Hoosick, the old familiar building was intact, though you could see the new replacement building lurking in the background.  On my return trip three hours later, the old building was a pile of debris. Demolishers were working, probably no trace of it by day's end.

The Unihog

  If you're ever at the Unihog in Hoosick Falls, check out the dartboard. Dart League there specifies they can use only a certain brand of board, TOOHEY. I happened to have one of those rare and collectible items. If you were ever at 5 Charming Lane in Loudonville, you may have aimed a few darts at it. There was  always the risk of getting darted yourself if you crossed the room to the bar during one of the New Year's parties.

The Usual Suspect

   I thought this was a mouse outside my house.

Diahann Carroll

  We saw her and Richard Kiley on Broadway in "No Strings." She was beautiful.

October 4 Snowstorm---32 Years Ago

       Ah,  I remember it well. The evening before, I had dinner with Dorothy and Barbara at a now closed restaurant in Latham. The other girls wore sweaters, but I had on a blouse, and I remember being cold in the restaurant. I don't remember what we ate, just feeling miserably chilled.
     The next morning was Sunday, and I went to the 8 o'clock Mass with Danny, who was 10. Dave had left on Friday for a golf trip somewhere, with Don, and had left Car #1 at the airport.  Marilyn was away furthering her education.We left David home; he was 16, driving, and would attend a later Mass. He liked to sleep in.
     It may have been lightly snowing that morning, but things quickly picked up. While we were in church, we heard  loud cracking noises. We soon found that the rapidly falling snow was causing the still-green,  fully leafed branches to break off.  Exiting the church, we saw broken-off branches all over, and downed wires. One of the power lines was lying on my car. Danny and I stood there, knowing not to go near the car, wondering what to do.  The snow was still falling. People were coming out of the church, awed by the sight of the devastation, and evidently in a hurry to get home. I knew them all then, being an active churchgoer, a lector, and on various committees. I'm standing there with a young child and not one  offer to help. One man did call out, seeing the downed wire across my car, that I shouldn't go near it, as it might be a live wire.
     So we walked over and saw B. who was in a fit of anxiety because her son and a friend were intent on walking around to see the results of the storm. We all knew there were wires down, some maybe still live.She was afraid to try to get her car on the road.  I used  the phone there to call Madigan's. There was nobody else around, Dave and Don away playing golf, and David at home, but with no car.
       In short order, Rosemary came tooling up, having to avoid all the downed branches and debris still in the road. She drove us home. Later, I complimented her on her bravery in driving through all the obstacles. Well, she said, it was early when you called, and I had no idea what the conditions were like. (She most likely would have driven to our rescue anyway.
 
   

Drive Time

   I drove well over 100 miles today, most of it in the rain. Boring and depressing enough, considering the reasons for the drive. So, as is my custom, I need to take my mind off the unpleasant and transfer my thoughts to something mundane enough to allow me to concentrate on driving.
    I saw an accident in Melrose where someone evidently drove their vehicle into a deep ditch. Troopers and tow truck were involved. An unhappy-looking woman stood nearby; if the driver, apparently uninjured.  On Route 22, just before the detour, a lone  man was changing a tire in the pouring rain.
  My mind turned to the windshield wipers. I go so far back that I recall a time when there were 2 apparently separate windshield  wiper sets--one on the driver's side and one on the passenger's side. Each wiper blade was independent of the other. You could see the separate arcs of clearance on either side of the windshield.
    Times have changed, but I couldn't even speculate as to when it happened. One set of the wiper entities is installed a few inches from the edge of the driver side. The other set is about 12 inches away from the first. The mechanism acts as one. Both blades sweep across the windshield together. So the driver side receives double action while the passenger side pretty much benefits only from the blade 12 inches away from the first.
    Apparently this is true for most if not all cars today. I guess the presumption must be that the driver could benefit from a double dose of wiper activity, while it's not so important for the passenger. I might agree, but being old school I still maintain the driver-side blade more carefully than the other; I have recently replaced that blade. Since I don't spend that much time driving in the rain anymore, I did not replace the other wiper blade. One side is tattered, which annoyed me no end today, dragging its dangling rubber edge before my eyes---on my side of the windshield.

Hip, hip hurray for hipaa.

   Ever since a person I know posted from the ER at the local hospital, I check that site occasionally, nothing else to do. It doesn't seem wise to alert the world when you are away from home, and sick besides, but people do, regularly. Not only do they post their whereabouts, they describe what's wrong with them. Some post pictures of their wounds and agonies. Sometimes the pictures are so graphic that they are covered with a warning, to uncover if you wish. And today, yes,it happened; a woman posted that she was undergoing a colonoscopy. No pictures though, as yet.