Motorcyclists, like artists, are dedicated to their passion — for riding the road on these machines

Again, a morning mist greeted the Old Men of the Mountain as they left the comfort of their beds on Tuesday, Aug. 6, and headed to the Your Way Café in Schoharie.

The opening conversation was a little unusual. A couple of the OFs were talking about comments the minister made in church Sunday.

The OFs were surprised the minister mentioned downsizing because he has been retired for some years, but one of the items he has to downsize (and is having trouble doing) is the five motorcycles he has in his garage. Now that is downsizing, and with that kind of hobby this minister would fit right in with the OMOTM.

Our Texas traveler is back. However, this time he didn’t ride his motorcycle all the way from San Antonio, Texas to upstate New York in the rain like he did last time.

This time he flew, and took the train.

Discussing motorcycles with the OFs is a diverse issue. The OMOTM motorcycle riders are like artists, meaning they are a slightly different breed of people and are dedicated to their passion for riding the road on these machines.

Self-care, the old-fashioned way

Again, the OFs had a conversation that took us back to when the OFs were young. The topic was the most common way of taking care of yourself on the farm.

Showers were not on the country farm. For the most part, it was the clawfoot tub, or a round tub purchased along with the same tub used for watering cattle.

Water was boiled on the stove, and lye soap was plentiful and used frequently. Lye soap. Yikes! Needless to say with scalding hot water, and soap made from lye, the OFs were clean.

The rest of the duties that today we perform in the bathroom were found elsewhere. On a number of farms, there was no special room for this routine — it was done in the kitchen although some farms did have a laundry room where the bath was taken.

The bodily function that was extremely necessary did have its own room, and its name was “The Outhouse.”

Stories were told of using this detached room from the house. One story told of cows poking their heads through the door when it was in use to see what was going on, to a night-time visit to the house in the woods at 12 midnight by another curious animal.

Only this wasn’t an OF, but a person on the distaff side of the OF, and the animal was a bear. This outhouse experience did not happen on a particular farm but a cabin on a log pond with the name “The Goodnow Flow” in Newcomb, New York.

All the screaming in the world did not reach any ears but the ears of the bear. It is assumed that this noise startled the bear, and the bear decided it was best to get out of there. The OF did not relate if the business intended for the outhouse was accomplished or not, but one OF was greeted by a frightened, exasperated lady tumbling through the door, out of breath and at a loss for words.

The buzz

Time-jumping to the present, one OF said he had a bunch, swarm, or definitely a mess of bees going into his house through a small hole at the end of the house’s soffit vent. The OF is perplexed by this because everything is aluminum, and this is a very small space where the edge of the soffit and the flashing meet.

These are honey bees and the OF does not want to kill them so he went to the bee man of the group. (This OF has been mentioned before in this column because he is an expert.)

The advice from this expert OMOTM follows: Because it is so late in the season that the bees started building the hive in the soffit, you have to leave them be. The bees will never make enough honey to carry them through the winter and they will all die. In the spring, plug up the hole. The bees will eat all the honey they have made during the winter, and the dry crumbs won’t cause any problems.

Better than Abby

As this scribe keeps reporting: If an OF has a question or needs advice, just ask around the table — you got it. This is not saying all the advice is good advice but it is advice anyway.

Do not ask about politics or your love-life because you are likely to get in really big trouble. This advice is generally always wrong.

Hole in the universe

As anyone becomes older (not only the OFs), there are some things that happen that are not pleasant. One example is: A lot of times, the OFs outlive many of their friends and even family members.

When the OF finally passes on, there are not many left to go to his funeral, or even plan it, or even know much about the old goat.

The OFs were talking about doing a family history and having someone know your wishes and where your paperwork is, and this someone should be the family member you can trust to pass that information along.

Even though some of the OFs think that doing this paperwork might not mean much in the scheme of things, one OF said, “We really do mean a lot. If we weren’t who we are or where we are, there would be one heck of a hole in the universe, and believe it or not the universe would collapse in on itself if we were not here.”

Maybe it is who the OFs hang out with, but the OFs seem to think there is more white hair around now than there used to be. Some of the OFs said they haven’t noticed.

One OF thought it was the stress of living now that has people getting gray hair earlier, so even though we see white hair, the ones running around with the crop of white on the top of their heads are not that old.

The OFs who arrived at the Your Way Café in Schoharie at one time or another, and left full and ready to go home and take a nap were: Miner Stevens, Roger Chapman, Robie Osterman, George Washburn, Bill Lichliter, Josh Buck, Wally Guest, John Rossmann, Harold Guest, Pete Whitbeck, Richard Frank, Chuck Aelesio, Roger Shafer, Art Frament, Bob Benac, Rich Donnelly, Mark Traver, Glenn Patterson, Joe Rack, Otis Lawyer, Bill Bartholomew, Dave Williams, Lou Schenck, Mace Porter, Jack Norray, Jake Lederman, Wayne Gaul, Ted Feurer, Russ Pokorny, Warren Willsey, Mike Willsey, Elwood Vanderbilt, Richard Vanderbilt, Allen DeFazio, Ray Kennedy, Harold Grippen, and me.