2025 Wrambling Wrecap…Continued
By Chuck Wiser, I write the words to share what my eyes see and my heart feels
July: Wrambling On Bits and Pieces: Applauding the use of You Tube, Google Search, Music tools such as “Learning Tracks,” especially for memorizing songs as we had/have to do with Barbershop music singing where performances are “off copy,” meaning from memory and not reading written music.
Orioles Still Hanging Around And All in my Backyard: “Summ-ery” review of backyard wildlife including Chipmunks, Brown Thrashers, Deer, Rose Breasted Grosbeaks and more.
Wiser’s Weekend Wrambling Special edition picking up left-overs from the previous week and poems: Born in 1945, and What Our Backyard Brings.
Dreams and Wramblings About “Odds and Ends”: Old-time sayings and quotes; Printer material costs and my “frugalty” (aka cheapskate). Allegany County Veteran’s Association activities.
Pool Parts, Swimming Record and Grocery Deals: Swimming adventures of my youth including jumping off the old bridge crossing Van Campen Creek which ran behind our house on Rte. 275 and The Nile Store, which we obtained ownership from Milly and Howard Dieter.
Included as well was mention of the obituary of Lawrence (Larry) Higby, having passed away on July 14th, and, whose family also owned The Nile Store in the 50’s.
Golfing stories and mention of old friend Clark Perry were included.
Golfing, Detours, and So Much More: Mentioned herein was my participation in the Jason Dunham Memorial Golf tournament held at the Wellsville Country Club courtesy of funding by The Wellsville Sun. Our 2nd place finish was mostly due to the skill of partners Gary Robbins, his son Chase Robbins and Laura Wilhelm soon thereafter to be Laura Robbins.
August: Wrandom Alle-Catt Wramblings: This issue included a brief overview of my “Writing’s” beginnings volunteering for the Friendship Volunteer under the umbrella of Marilyn Lester’s tutelage and patient writing support. Also mentioned were some stories about my beloved ’79 Jeep, including some memories with John Green and Larry “L.J.” Muscato. I gave a shout-out to the Urgent Care Center at Jones Memorial Hospital following a “quick” visit there.
Haring Problems, New Fwiends, and New Grammar Terms: The title was a hint as to a recurring Walmart ad wherein they advertise a “Haring Aid.” Mis-spelt a different way it could have described a Hair Growth solution.
I also give credit to the Walt Disney character Elmer Fudd for putting me on track with adding the “W” to the words that start with the letter “R” when he Wrassled a Wrascally Wrabbit.
This Wrambling also paid homage to Robert Hutter in the SPCA “Scramble 4 Animals Golf Tournament in Memory of Robert Hutter, wherein I was teamed with new “now” friends Holgar Kurschner and Dave Shenk.
Another Voice Has Joined Angelic Choir: This was another sad, but pleasant remembrance of a friend to me and all. Deborah (Deb) K. Hunter passed away August 15th and left many memories behind. Deb was one of the “Cuba Girls” that many neighboring Friendship guys seemed to have a crush on. Many years later Bill Hamilton, an “old” Friendship Central School 60’s classmate had reconnected with Deb and shared many memorious days with her right up to the end.
From “E-I, E-I, OH” to “AI, AI, Oh-Oh: The main topic of this Wrambling was discussion of the not new, but now newly bothersome Artificial Intelligence (AI). I had taught the topic in my teaching tenure at Alfred State College prior to the early 2000’s and so AI isn’t really that new of a phenomenon. My limited exposure to that feature now is only due to my relationship to software that implements it and keeps “horning in on” my thoughts and writings. It has “stuff” crammed into its memory banks that might be extremely helpful to some, but not us ordinary, feet on the ground, humans. A VERY recent example of my distaste for AI comes in these writings. I tried to write the word “Wiser’s” in a previous paragraph and AI insisted that I was writing “Sister’s.” I could not make it “Not” change the word I wanted so I had to switch to another word. CoPilot is a co-conspirator of AI.
September: Some Bees Still Here, Two More B’s Back: This Wrambling notes briefly the equivalence of a 6 tube “blood draw” to being punctured by a Bee sting. Visits to Jones Memorial Hospital recent to that writing brought back memories of an early 80’s visit to said institution for a similar “adventure.” Having gone through a multiple puncture attempt to pierce the vein, the draw was accomplished. When later describing that less than pleasant episode, the nurse I was relating it to replied: “Are you kidding? She’s the one that trains all of the other technicians.”
Car Choices, Golf Choices, and SingingVoices are Back: This Wrambling mentioned the re-opening of the Genesee Valley Chorus (GVC) season. Sadly the Chorus was to be without the melodious voice of Thelia Swarthout, a long time member. Thelia was the sister-in-law to long-time singer, and eventually Director of the chorus Norma Bartlett, who also, sadly, has joined the Choir in the sky. This issue also discussed the fun times we had with my ’79 Jeep and our visits to the Deer Run Campground, which, is still alive and active on Jones Road in Andover.
Weebles Wobble but Wiser Wrambles: The title describes both my wobbling caused by recent nocturnal leg cramps and my recollection of the phrase “Weebles Wobble but they don’t fall down.” My recent cramping (not camping) episodes had triggered a search for cramping remedies. It also caused some shudders over the word cramping as most remedies describe solutions to a woman’s periodic characteristic. Some words or terms make me cringe, at least mentally. I was introduced to Pickle Juice and Coconut Water. I do now use the Pickle Juice when cramping episodes “tie me up.” Lately, the most frequent episodes occur whilst I am eating a meal and utilizing my fork to “fork the food into my mouth.”
After about a half plate full of food, my eating hand starts to cramp up to the point where I need to pry the fork out of the right hand out of concern over poking myself in the eye with it.
Muscle Cramps Won’t Cramp the Wramblings Corny Smiles: The article starts out with a shout-out to Bob’s Market on Rte.19 South in Wellsville and for his excellent sweet corn. We had the pleasure of a meal featuring that just last week, eating a container of it that had been previously frozen. It came from last year’s crop of sweet corn, and was, I believe, the best we’ve ever had. After feeding on it a few times early in the season we buy a bushel for freezing toward the end of that growing season. The prices are great, but the corn is greater. This episode also sang my “praises” for being a member of the Grace United Church in Wellsville and being “allowed to participate in the choir under the direction of Dave Toot and the “Praise Band” under the direction of George Johnson. They also often allow me to contribute a little harmonica playing along with my vocals. Obviously not at the same time.
October:They Call Me the Midnight Wrambler: For the umpteenth time I credited Gerry Vance’s dad for his sage advice, often quoted by Gerry. Paraphrasing now, but his advice was: “If you wake up in the middle of the night, get up. And, when you get up, do something productive.” I did, and I did. In this issue I told of my history with “more like a brother,” my cousin Bill (Wilson Paul) Miles. We grew up inseparably until my early teens. Bill’s life was taken way too early due to a freak accident as he returned back to Friendship from his night shift job at Acme Electric in Cuba. I go past that accident scene, bringing sad recall of Bill’s passing, every time I pass through Friendship as my “short cut” to I86 on my frequent trips to Olean. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the US Navy as they granted me bereavement leave, despite Bill “technically” only as my cousin, which did not qualify for such. My heartfelt pleas (and please) were convincing enough that the Navy granted my leave.
Gripping or Griping About Grammar, That is the Question: My grammar related topic dealt with words that had multiple meanings, such as Go, Place, Glasses, Pen, Wonder, Yarn, and Still. It also detailed my 60+ year history as a fan of the Buffalo Bills, and the St. Bonaventure Bonnies. This has been, and still is a heartbreak story, as much as a gratefulness story. Each team typically having mixed joyous seasons, but oft-times with otherwise disastrous results.
Brown Indians, Stubbed Toe, or StubHub: Stub Hub tickets to a Bonnies game were a little too pricey as per what the St. Bonaventure ticket office advised. Subsequently I purchased tickets as part of their Flex Pack and received a ticket price reduction. At that point the Bonnies were on a roll. That hasn’t been the case so much lately as I think they may have “rolled over.” Already paying for the ESPN TV package I can get the games “On Demand,” and save the expense and frustration of the “Live” experience given the out-of-pocket cost now that my Flex Pack pricing package has expired. Here’s hoping that their luck and/or quality of play picks up a little.
Often Beaten, Never Skunked: I guess I could add the word Scat to the list of words above that has two meanings. The first of which is to “scat” used to shoo away unwanted animals (or people). The second is a little more odorous as it describes the “droppings” of an animal.
We had collected a variety of animals in our live traps recently including rabbits, cats, woodchucks possum and skunks. (Note: Possum can be singular or plural, both short for Opossum). I had dealt with skunks many times in the past and had pretty much escaped their sharing of trace odors.
This last catch had left a lingering scent that I did not notice upon transporting it to the wilds, until I returned home and walked into the house. My wife let me know right away that I stunk. I guess I had been “Skunked.” As an added note to that…my history with skunk capturing, which I guess made me a good candidate to re-prove my success, goes all the way back to our camping days with Dan and Lee Spangler at Deer Run Campground. I don’t recall why she reached out to me, but Lee recruited me to trap or capture the family of skunks that had taken up residency near or under the lodge. In my infinite wisdom, or lack of any better ideas, I put some bait in a very large trash can and tipped it on its side leaning it on a tire or something. That night a skunk went into the can to get the bait, causing it to “upright itself” and thus trapping the skunk. We gave it a courtesy ride further up Jones Road.
November: Carving Here, Turkey Soon, and Winter Driving Adventures:
On one of my many trips to Worth Smith in Olean, I happened to run across Eric Jones carving another of his world-renowned masterpieces, this time into a pumpkin. I asked his permission, it was granted, and I shared his picture and a little information in this first November Wrambling. This Wrambling also relived a memory of having been caught in a November snowstorm on the lower end of County Rte. 31 aka locally known as “East Hill Road” although there is a road actually by that name that heads off south at the top of the hill road that is traveling west.
The results of the Jones carving are shown here. BTW: The two pictures resulted from a second trip to Olean just to get a picture of the final product. I didn’t wait around, although chatting with him, disrupting his attention would have been enjoyable for me.
Bills Slept, I Can’t, Thankfully Bonnies Haven’t Either: Bills woes started, or continued, after a 4-0 start. We (or Bills fans) know how the rest of the season progressed with major ups and downs, especially at the end. On another St.Bonaventure note, the Bonnies continued through the pre-season on a winning pace. Sadly, now in hindsight, the early season successes have gone through a “recession” now more fully into A10 League play. In this writing I noted that the Stith brothers who first piqued my interest in the Bonnies were honored. One nostalgic note from this writing discussed how I would stand by the road around 4-ish every day when we lived on the East Notch Road (Now State Rte. 275) awaiting “Johnny” our Olean Times Hearld rural delivery driver to deliver the paper. Shortly thereafter I read everything Bonnies and Bills related.
Ghost Writers, Ghost Riders and Ghost Readers: One of my early song favorites was “Ghost Riders in the Sky” written by Stan Jones. This was sung by many other artists, most famously by Johnny Cash, Vaughn Monroe, and Burl Ives.
Blessed by the invitation from Kathy Parmentier,Ticket Office Manager & Stewardship Coordinator, at Saint Bonaventure. I had the honor of attending another Bonnies game on November 20th on Salute to Service Night, which allowed no-cost attendance for Veterans.
December: Call It Snovember, or Call a Friend: As the end of the year draws nigh, so must I.
Travelling through 2025 has been a labor intensive, but heart warmingly sensitive experience. It’s not over yet, but the end is drawing nigh.
The end of the year brought one “winter-like” snowfall. I don’t care for the cold, but if we have it, I enjoy shoveling the snow. Just yesterday (Jan. 25th) I spent 3 to 4 hours outside in below zero temperatures, shoveling and/or plowing the driveaway. December finally brought to close the disruption of County Rte. 31 traffic with closures and diversions as completion of the bridge re-build in Friendship finally came. In this issue I noted a couple of friends who were, and/or are close to me. Doris MacFarquhar, a charter member of GVC, Dave Dunbar who introduced me to musical lyrics writing (RIP), and Norene Ferris were featured.
Winner & Winter Wrapped in a Wrambling: Following a disappointing Bonnies loss to Colgate, a MAAC ( Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) team , ofttimes looked down upon by the elite A10 teams, I crept home at a “leisurely” 40 MPH pace due to the snow storm that befell us. This episode was light on grammar but did introduce the term Gaslighting. Gaslighting is the practice of psychologically controlling someone into questioning their own sanity, memory, or powers of reasoning. I don’t discuss politics herein much, but if I did…
Wiser’s Wroad Wramblings-Good News! Allegany County Route 31 Opening Update: I posted an announcement that; “Through traffic will once again be allowed on County Route 31 as of this coming Monday morning (December 22nd).
Final Route 31 Re-build and Other Hazzard’s: Locally I became known as the The Rte. 31 Gatekeeper with my constant updates on the bridge rebuild in Friendship on that road as it enters Friendship from the east. I also mentioned what used to be known as Route 408 before being re-named to Rte. 446. In this writing I also featured the words from the grandson of Noel Hazzard, my long-ago boss at The Air Preheater Co. It warmed my heart as I read what he wrote…
“I stumbled across your wrambling blog in the Wellsville Sun while researching my grandfather Noel Hazzard and I saw you had quoted him. I was wondering if you had any more stories, quotes or even photos back then working with you…” The quote went on to mention some of the characteristics of his grandfather, but that will remain between the two of us. I did send him some and was honored to do so.
His reach-out and comments perfectly personified exactly why I write what I do, and I think was a great motivator for my wrapping up the 2025 Wrambling writing season with this summary and update.
To young Mr. Hazzard, and to all of you, I owe my writing pleasure “to YOU” 💕
You can reach Chuck Wiser anytime to discuss memories or past Wramblings, email anytime, chuckwiser@roadrunner.com
