Rest in Peace Betsy, Nocturnal Vertigo, summertime night swims
From Chuck Wiser, I write the words to share what my eyes see and my heart feels
Given the multitude of topics for today’s Wramblings, I think it is only appropriate that I start out by honoring a former member of the Genesee Valley Chorus (GVC), Betsy Orlando, who passed away earlier this year. And who was a patroness of the arts for most, or all, of her life.
The Genesee Valley Chorus (GVC) is honored to be able to share a little music with now departed Betsy Orlando, and those visiting her Celebration of Life at what was formerly named The Millstone Event Center, but which has been updated to reflect the now ownership and is known as Prince Phillips Millstone On The Rivers Edge, This is very convenient for me as it is my closest neighbor to the north and located at 4160 Back River Road between Scio and Belmont.
Betsy-Eve (Chubbuck) Orlando, 89, formerly of Belmont, New York, passed away peacefully on February 10, 2026, at Benchmark Senior Living, Putnam Farm in Danvers, Massachusetts. Born on December 24, 1936, in Middletown, Connecticut, Betsy grew up with a love of learning and creativity that shaped the course throughout her life.
Betsy devoted more than two decades to teaching Kindergarten at Rushford Central School from 1974 until her retirement in 1995. She cherished her role as an educator, finding deep joy in guiding children through their first school experiences and watching them grow and flourish through graduation.
Betsy, was well known for her participation and contribution to many “Arts” venues through-out the area for many years, and for many years was a member of the Genesee Valley Chorus. The celebration will be held Saturday, September 5th between the hours of 2:00 and 5:00 PM.
Now I will Wramble on with the rest of today’s writings.
First is a quick update on the last of the aviary neighbors that we share our residence with. The only migratory birds that remain are the Hummingbirds and they have been very active. The lore is that they don’t migrate until the geese head south catching a “hitch hike” ride on the backs of the geese. We are eternally grateful for the Cardinals that share the entire year. It seems that the reproduction process for them has been very successful this year.
As long as I am re-starting with “short” notes I will add the comment that men’s clothing styles, or designs, aren’t all favorable. Assumedly as a cost cutting measure, the zippers in men’s trousers are being shortened by about a half to a full inch. You have to, have “been there,” to appreciate the inconvenience of this. Nuff said 😉
When I first began wearing contacts several decades ago I would faithfully insert them in the morning and take them out every night. On one visit from youngest son Shawn, he told me that he wore his contacts day and night, every day. His contacts were, I believe, the hard lense contacts and mine are the soft pliable ones. Just recently, within about the past 6 months or so I have been leaving my contacts in day and night for a couple of, or several days in a row. I suffer from Dry Eye and occasionally I will have to put a couple of drops in each eye to take care of that. Other than that, I’m very pleased with this latest “scripted” lens prescription and the lenses durability.
How does that song go? 🎶I can see clearly now, the pain is gone…”
One of our latest “household issues” is that of finding an affordable replacement for our “built in” Microwave. As they do from time to time our previous microwave “bit the dust.” The problem is one of finding a replacement that fits the existing cavity without spending hundreds of dollars to do so. Compounding the problem is that of unplugging and disconnecting the old microwave. I had to cut the power cord as it was plugged into an outlet that existed prior to building a cabinet around the old outlet. Now I can’t access that outlet because it’s behind the built-in oven. My wife is absolutely against my taking the oven out and re-installing it. I called Besecker and Coss in Olean, where I presumed small appliance installations were common. They denied the opportunity explaining that they only sold the appliances and did not install them. In years past I would have been able to contact life-long friend, and appliance service man, Clark Perry and he could have done the job in less than 15 minutes. That option is no longer possible.
Suggestions or offers from anyone reading this; please pass them along to me so I can have access to a new “handy man” (or woman). I don’t expect free favors; I will compensate accordingly.
My swimming season isn’t over and my latest “dip in the pool” was last night. I am certainly getting my money’s worth out of it this year and remain grateful to my wife’s “mind change” convincing me to keep it when I was preparing to sell it a couple of years ago. I am however reminded on a continual basis about the “piss poor” installation by the pool sales place “south of the border” that installed the new liner and did so without properly using an appropriate amount of sand and then of leveling, the sand, upon which the liner sits. Removing several rocks and clumps that make the liner of the floor very bumpy should have been done. I am concerned that one of these days my movements in the pool are going to cause a rupture and significant pool leakage.
The warmest that the pool has been, was close to 90 degrees back in early July. It now hovers between about 75 and 80 degrees depending on how much sunlight our solar heater is exposed to. The last time, and latest we had ever been able to utilize the pool late, previously, was the first week of October several years ago when son Shawn and family visited here that month. I was in the pool at dusk last night and it was great. The most enjoyable time in the pool is around 10 or 11 at night with the air temperature in the mid 60’s or low 70’s and taking a dip in the 80-degree pool.
Today’s Grammar Groans start with the coincidence of the words obvious and oblivious. It’s amazing how the addition of a letter or two can change a word.
We have eaten or frozen the final batches of sweet corn that we purchased from Bob’s Market. That’s what I had for supper last evening and ate a whole medium sized “bowl full” without any aftereffects.
My medical mystery contribution for today’s Wrambling is with regards to a particular medicine for which I take Meclizine to solve my nocturnal vertigo. Prior to starting that particular medicine in 2010, I would wake up in the middle of the night not even able to stand up without extreme dizziness and the accompanying bodily discomfort.
Meclizine is used specifically to treat vertigo and other “motion related symptoms” such as “car sickness.”
Last week I received a letter from Civil Services and Medicaid saying they would not support, nor pay for, that particular medication. Upon talking to a Dept of Civil Service representative I was told that I and they would need to receive a medical notification from my prescribing Primary Care physician to justify the use of that medicine. I reached out to Dr. Collins office and they will initiate that process. Fortunately, I had an existing supply that will hold me over until the new script is approved and filled.
I know I’ve written about it several times already, but it still makes me laugh, or at least Chuckle as Carole Mohilewski calls me. When using a word that ends in the letter “S” Try to avoid using the next word that starts with a letter that in combination of the two words changes “Its not” to “It’s snot.” One of these days I will dedicate a whole segment or Wrambling consisting of such words and word combinations that are written one way but heard another. This “topic” was triggered by my writing a line in my notebook that said: “I thought it was gravy but it’s not.”
When I drove by The Store up here in Scio the other day, I wondered if, and if not, why I had not written a poem about Scio’s “The Store.” I am going to have to do research through my former writings to make sure I’m not repeating something I’ve already done but I plan to feature that old establishment, now under new management, to honor specifically the previous owners Cindy and Jim Potter, and Maury Fields. Anyone who has a written history or document please reach out to me and I will make arrangements to get a copy, or at least a photograph of the article.
Crossing out “topics” on my “to do/write” list reminded me of something that I always marvel at. When passing a line through a string of words to cross them out I often go back over the line and repeat so as to darken it. I am amazed that my 2nd line aligns nearly perfectly with the first. I don’t “bear down” with the pen so it’s not (there’s that combination again) indented so as to create a repetitive path.
Last night’s thunder and lightning storm and its “rolling thunder” reminded me of a song in which “rolling thunder” is phrased. Certain word combinations trigger a reflexive thought and recall of a song that contains the phrase or something similar to that. I miss those days when fellow “Friendship” resident Dennis Rehler and I would play golf together. Whenever either of us said something that contained a similar phrase as a song lyric, we would immediately start singing the song with those lyrics. I haven’t played golf with Dennis in years and certainly miss that, and him. He was one of those “older” Friendship guys that I often looked up to, and though he is taller, I did not mean it in that context. Miss you Dennis.
I guess I’ve said enough for another week’s Wrambling so will quit whilst I’m ahead. I’ll discuss “flushing” next week after a problem has been resolved. If you have any comments, cares, questions or concerns please email me at IM.Wiserdad@gmail.com. Thank you for reading.
