Darn you, Bil Keane

 

Such Is Life

 Today's paper carried the obits of 3 people I know, or knew: Jim Brearton, probably one of the nicest politicians, or people, who I ever met. He visited our house back in the day, working to attain some idealistic, though doomed, cause. Ron Seifert, suave and active auctioneer from Hoosick Falls, the ultimate go-to guy. Eric Delamater, Hoosic Valley student, whose sister was in M's class.

Little Known Fact?

 Gary Evans attended HVC for a while, probably about 9th or 10th grade. B. had him in her class, as I think did Mr. O. I don't think they had anything bad to say about him. BUT:

     I was substituting then, a lot, and I remember him as a scrawny newcomer sitting in the back row of study hall. I never spoke to him about anything nor he to me. BUT I can see crouching in his seat, and drawing a bead on me with his index finger next to eye , sort of aiming it as I walked across the room. No harm of course, but not usual behavior. And for  no reason either, that I was aware of.  

Devil in the Details

   In conversation with another today, the other made the comment that all politicians are alike in their dishonest  scheming rise to power. I strongly disagree because while no one is  perfect in toto, there are vast differences in what level of morality constitutes a human being. Some are depraved criminals; most are not. Meatloaf declared his limits, remember, "I would do anything for love but I won't do that."

    Now I must digress because I'm reminded that last year at the hospital when I underwent  a scan which required lying in a tube for a while, which once was accompanied by incessant roaring noises, the technician  asked me what music I would like to hear. My answer was Meatloaf, a first for that technician, and  finally, near the end of the procedure, I got to hear that song. I still don't know what it was he won't do, but that's  beside the point. 

   People have different standards of morality and some won't succumb to temptation.  Back in the day, Dave's job in personnel placement mandated a certain code of behavior. As it pertained to gifting, it was unacceptable for those hired, or placed,   to accept gifts from the hirer. Such potential persuasion was tantamount to bribery, so it seemed. But at Christmas, Dave's company wished the employees a Merry Christmas with  a gift certificate for a 12 Pound Frozen Turkey, a modest offering for sure. Yet there was one employee (job shopper) who would not accept the turkey certificate. A very honest man, I would surmise. 

    A related digression, all connected in the string of memories:  Dave would also receive a turkey certificate. We had no problem with that. I would take the certificate and present it to the butcher in the meat department, as was the store's protocol, the store being the old Grand Union in Lansingburg. One year I did so as usual, and there was a long delay. Listening, trying to discern the reason, I could hear banging and cussing and his frustrated and angry voice. A call went out for a supervisor, and the reason for his aggravation was brought to light. He had waged a battle in there, weighing all the turkeys in the  freezer and was not able to find a single one that weighed 12 pounds. The supervisor had to explain to him that the customer would have the price of  12-pounds of turkey subtracted from  the cost of the bird. The turkey did not have to weigh exactly 12 pounds. I hoped he understood

What's your number?

    I know not to give my telephone number to anyone on the internet. Those requesting have their nefarious reasons. But why the request for numbers I don't quite understand. I remember the days when just about everyone had their telephone numbers publicly listed in a thing called a phone book

How Dare You!

 The "You" in this case being "I"  

I must admit that I do use a wall calendar, retro as that may be, to write in my appointments or other significant doings. This year, it was the complimentary offering by the Hoosic Valley Volunteer  Fire Co. that I hung on my refrigerator, and charted in all my life happenings. That is, up until I wanted to add a future appointment, and found that the last month of the calendar was  October 2023. So I related this disappointment, somewhere, on some site. 

    You would think I had impugned the integrity of  firefighters in total, according to one response. He stressed how many years of his life he had dedicated, volunteered, to his work as a member of the Fire Company, explaining that the calendar ended in October because that is Fire Prevention Week. 

   Well, that is an important point to make, but it really makes no sense, does it. If the purpose of the calendar is to provide publicity for the Fire Company, and thereby elicit donations, it would be beneficial for the people who have the calendar to display  and  use it year-round, as a constant reminder of their valuable work. 

 I will not use this iteration of a calendar. I will use a calendar that has 12 month pages, from January to January. Whoever came up with the October Ending should reconsider, and add 2 more months. Why the heck not...

One Never Knows

 Once in a while, when memory calls, I try to locate people from the past. I see nothing new about Gus or his long-missing daughter Amanda. I knew his younger sister, Barbara Fredette, died several years ago. We used to see her and husband Werner and their 3 kids at camp in Cossayuna.  Werner had died and the 2 boys later  in life had health problems, but evidently still survive. The oldest child, Kim, was a year or so older than M. so they enjoyed each other's company. Kim was pretty, smart and became a Registered Nurse. She had 3 daughters, all lovely and accomplished, as I recall from past viewings.  She remarried and moved to Florida several years ago. Today I find that in January , she suffered a massive heart attack while hiking, followed by a stroke, and was near death. According to subsequent post, she recovered and is back hiking. No updates lately...