Close encounters with bruins, Baltimore Orioles, Scio USPS, Cuba Cheese, and music man Mason
By Chuck Wiser, I write the words to share what my eyes see and my heart feels
In my entire history of writing my Wramblings, I have never come close to having this number of topics, subjects of which, are “Worthy” of my Wramblings, or more importantly, for your reading. I will start out with a concert reminder of the Genesee Valley Chorus summer concert. Save June 14th on your calendar to attend the 50th year Anniversary of the chorus. I am leaning toward offering a little more on the history of the chorus in a future Wrambling.
One of my personally infamous quotes is; If you ask, are undecided, or hesitant about asking for a favor or if someone can do something, remember this. “If you ask they may say, NO, laugh at you, or reply that your request is unreasonable. If you don’t ask however, they can’t say YES.”
That leads to my first real topic. I have been doing battle with the Department of Civil Service as I neglected to pay a couple of $4.22 bills assuming they would respond favorably to my requesting an annual billing or something a little more reasonable for payment of their “pittance” of a charge avoiding multiple mailings with cost of postage, envelopes etc. They did not respond regarding my request but actually threatened to discontinue my Medicare and New York State Health Insurance Plan, aka NYSHIP. The result of that was being penalized and required to pay a reinstatement fee. I paid that amount and thought I was all clear. Last week I received a bill from them saying I owed them almost $500 for my continued coverage. I immediately responded to their Customer Service (or disservice) Department and asked for a personal contact. I received that earlier this week via a phone call from them. I explained the history of my problem, the fact that we had resolved the issue and I had paid the current and back payments due. There was no evidence, that he could find, that any funds had been transferred from my payments from one agency to the next. The agent was quite understanding and said that he would do a review and research into their apparent error and that I should not pay the bill sent to me, nor anything further until I heard back from him. We shall see.
I recently applied for a New York State fishing license as I plan to spend some relaxation time on the river this year. You don’t receive a foldable copy of a license anymore and all you get is a “Q Code” image that you load on your smartphone and have it available to show if requested. I hope I don’t confuse my cell phone for a “bass plug” as I scramble through my fishing vest looking for one or the other.
Speaking of “plugs” I just have to give another “shout out” to Cuba Cheese as I sit here munching some of their “cheese curd” even as I write. When I last visited them I mentioned that I had given them a little “pat on the back,” in my last Wrambling. The counter service lady said that she reads the “Sun” on a regular basis and HAD seen my mention of them.
We continue to be inundated with migratory birds this year. Rose Breasted Grosbeaks are here “aplenty.” Numbers wise they are followed closely by the appearance of Baltimore Orioles. One morning last week we were visited by an Orchard Oriole but it didn’t stay long enough to get a shareable picture. But, at least we have that picture in our minds and hearts. They are special, especially due to the infrequency of their visits.
One visitor however came in a little closer deciding to come up on our deck and pull one of our sunflower seed feeders down onto the deck for its ease of munching on the seeds. I was able to go out onto the deck, foolishly perhaps, standing mere feet from the bear trying to get a better, closer picture. It spooked enough to run across the pool cover and into the yard where I was able to get the photo above as we came nose to nose.
The Robins have pretty much completed their nest making and they bring it on themselves but having built nests in the close by Arbor Vitae, they spook easily.
One last aviary note, and that is to thank our southernly neighbors who host the Grosbeaks during their winter migration. The Grosbeaks are very “visitor friendly.” I can approach them on the feeders to within 4 to 5 feet without spooking them. I haven’t tried to attract them to eating from my hand but have contemplated it. Another thing we have observed this year is the shared visitations to the Jelly feeders that we put out for the Orioles. Everything from the Robins, up through the Grosbeaks will share the Orioles treats. One thing about the Orioles does stand out this year, The Orioles seem to be more “chattier” this year. They sing their wonderful song when in the surrounding trees, but when they are on the feeders they chatter and chatter.
My curious Grammar Groan this week is the word “Nigh.” Two examples in sentence form would be; “It’s nigh into summer and the weather is getting warmer.” The second example would be “Your patience is nigh unto nothing.”
“Nigh” is an archaic or literary word meaning near, close, or almost in time, place, or relationship. It acts as an adverb, adjective, or preposition, frequently used to imply that something—often a significant event—is approaching or imminent, such as in the phrase “the end is nigh.”
Derived from Old English nēah, it is actually the historical root of the modern word “near”.
- Usage: Today, it is largely considered poetic, formal, or old-fashioned.
- Examples: “The time is nigh” (approaching), “He was nigh dead” (almost).
This time of year, my wife enjoys flowers and foliage and orders a variety of plants online. We’ve been pretty lucky in having things delivered in a timely fashion and well preserved either in Styrofoam boxes filled with Dry Ice if order is for edible items or suitably packaged if they are plants to be transplanted into our deck pots. The mail delivery from the Scio Post Office has recently been a couple of hours later than previously experienced. The other day a lady from the post office (not sure which) pulled into the driveway earlier than usual. She came to the door bearing a package and said she recognized that it was a time and temperature significant mail delivery, so she brought it before her normal delivery hours. That was truly “First Class” delivery. We are pretty lucky to receive that kind of personalized service from conscientious and considerate employees.
My wife and I use the Daily Pill Divider boxes to distribute each weeks daily pill assortment. When a day’s pill has been removed from the box the lid is generally left open. I have a .22 caliber lever action rifle much like the 60’s-70’s “Rifleman” westerner cowboy had. The other day whilst practicing my “Rifleman” skills out the back kitchen window when I ejected the shell if flew several feet and landed in one of the open pill box compartments. We both laughed at the unlikelihood of that happening. Along with that topic is/are the actions of a dropped pill, especially on a hard surface. It is unbelievable how far those pills can roll if/when they land on an edge, on the floor. It often takes me several minutes to track the little sucker down. I have had them rool up to 20 feet and they usually don’t go straight but will see the corner of our “Island” and roll around the corner. BTW…I am talking about the small, hard aspirin like pills.
A few weeks ago, I was approached by a representative of the Alfred branch of the Allegany County Office of the Aging, asking if perhaps the Genesee Valley Chorus could perform for one of their meetings in Alfred. I asked but there weren’t enough people able to perform on that week day. Although disappointed I was determined to somehow get them some music for their weekly meeting. I reached out to a couple of the well-known musicians who often perform in local settings and fortunately one was available, and, willing to perform. Dave Mason is a well-known local guitarist and vocalist, and he was available and would team up with me to provide some music. We met at the Wellsville Creative Arts Center this afternoon and went over some songs that he has in his repertoire, and most of which I had some familiarity with having played my harmonica in the Grace United Community Church “Praise Band,” and in my youth, elsewhere. As it turned out Dave’s song list included most, or all, of those previously played tunes. I was a little rusty, but his playing was so smooth it was easy to play along and match his tune and rhythm. I was even able to sing a little on some songs that allowed a break in my instrumental accompaniment, and which were so enjoyable to sing and play. Our music features a combination of Beatles tunes among others of that genre. This is going to be a “Sentimental Journey” for me.
I continue to be fortunate and blessed to follow my dream of one day being a writer and being allowed the luxury of writing these Wramblings, hopefully for your reading pleasure. I continue to receive positive comments about my writings, especially when I discuss a topic that someone else has always wondered about. That is my mission… “Enlightenment and Entertainment” all wrapped up in a Wrambling.
If you have any comments, cares, concerns or curiosities please feel free to contact me via email at im.wiserdad@gmail.com.
