A special Friday edition of Wiser due to the golfing
By Chuck Wiser, I write the words to share what my eyes see and my heart feels
During the early spring and on through the summer my topics could all follow my “backyard sightings” theme. As the daylight hours stretch through spring and summer it is easily realized as to where, or why, the phrase “Up with the birds” earned its start. As soon as, or even a little before, the light of day begins, the birds very actively make their presence known. The nearly pre-dawn activity typically begins with the smaller wren and sparrow species who are next joined by the Cardinals who make their presence known as they sing to each other, and to me. The Grosbeaks come closely on the heels of the Cardinals, and they are followed by the Orioles. Between 5:30 and 6:00 AM the fully active “feeding frenzy” goes on.
Last Saturday morning seemed to be an exception however. Our overnight temperature of 39 degrees seemed to delay the first bird sighting until 7:30 AM, as they apparently “slept in.”
What is normally a Thursday posting of my Wrambling’s, was pushed to Friday from my normal days writings as I was a participant in the Wellsville, NY Chamber of Commerce Golf tournament held at the Wellsville Country Club golf course.
This was mentioned previously, with the same Poster picture insert, but I would like once again to mention the soon upcoming event and invite anyone interested in music to attend. The Genesee Valley Chorus will team up with the Fountain Arts Center Orchestra and the Fountain Arts Center Youth Choir to present a Summers Eve Concert as noted on the inset picture. We, in the chorus, have often teamed up with “instrumental” accompaniment but not always, or often, blessed with a full orchestra. At our joint practice last week, I had goose bumps of excitement when our vocals were blended with the orchestral presentation. I look forward to the full concert Saturday evening and hope that you might join in this musical presentation. The Houghton University Wesley Chapel Auditorium is a magnificent venue for this combination of musical talents.
As I am prone to do any time I hear or use an old saying, or “sage,” I like to research the term to see from whence it comes. That sentence alone would have driven me to my reference resources to check out the etymology of sage and whence. When I used the term “goose bumps,” as I am sure nearly all of you have heard or at least felt before, I had an intuition as to the source of that term. My intuition was correct having watched my parents and grandparents prepare “fowl” for a Sunday meal. In the “old days,” or likely still practiced by many, the fowl would need to have the feathers plucked prior to its cooking. The following describes the etymology of the term “goose bumps.”
The term “goose bumps” derives from the phenomenon’s association with goose skin. Goose feathers grow from pores in the epidermis that resemble human hair follicles.
When a goose’s feathers are plucked, its skin has protrusions where the feathers were, and these bumps are what the human phenomenon resembles.
So, when you are chilled by excitement you are lucky that the “bumps” are emotionally inspired and not physically generated and “your goose is cooked” doesn’t pertain to you.
I’m going to combine my typical “Scanner Chatter” with some recent publication head scratchers. A recent scanner call citing “Smoke Intoxication” drove me to my reference resource to see if it was an actual term. It is. “This project will not result in any cost to the local taxpayers,” is a fairly common term used to soften the monetary blow for some school or municipal entity in justifying the expense. It’s good to know that the 6.4 million dollars isn’t going to be paid at all since it “will not result in any cost to the taxpayers. I wonder just who or what will pay for it.
The use of that specific number above was not accidental. A local publication recently advised that the “Wellsville village water system capital improvements will increase from $6.4 million dollars to nearly $6.3 million.” I kid you not. That is what I read.
Another, coming from a recent print source, stated that a person had been a “radio arm drill press operator.” I suspect that this was taken from a voice transcription as the machine referred to was actually a “radial arm drill press.”
Wiser’s Words of the Week would include: “Queue” I just love the spelling of that word; “Sweat” which is one of those magical words that can either be a noun or verb; “Average” is a word that describes an impossible actual number. The reference to it is always made that something is “above” average, or “below” average. Nothing is actually ever just “average.” Rest easy mathematicians, I do know what an average is. Going forward, words ending in “ise” or “ize” are understandably confusing suffixes as they do not pertain to either “eyes” or “ayes.” What journalist or word smith would ever use Emphasize or Empathize in the same writing. My eyes empathize with those who emphasize the ayes votes.
I guess it doesn’t get any cornier than that. “Word check” suggests that I “use a noun here rather than an adjective.”
Another area publication holds a Bingo contest every few months. Having been a nearly lifelong subscriber or reader of that publication I participate. Each day for the entire month random Bingo numbers are published. I keep a running list of the numbers as over the course of the monthly contest you can get multiple game sheets from the publications office. Having played this game for several years I notice the propensity of some numbers to be used every single year. Given that the numbers are random, it would seem that statistically, there might be a pattern. I sometimes consider keeping track of the 10 (or so) most often repeated numbers and using those in some of those contests where you get to pick your numbers. My odds of winning might go up.
One downside of having my dwelling where I do, is its location next to the Allegany County or Scio Gravel storage yard. This is the lot situated between County Road 31 and the Back River Road between Scio and Belmont. During the road paving or topping season, each morning, bright and early, the dump trucks commence multiple trips to load up or dump gravel. The worst time is when the trucks are being loaded as the payloader is being used.
Many, or most, of these vehicles, especially the payloader, have back up warning sound signals consisting of “Beep, Beep, Beep…” During the construction/repair season the traffic can go on incessantly, and so, thus does the “Beep, Beep, Beep-ing. It is annoying and headache inducing. The only good that has come from this is having an allowance adjustment for this nuisance when my property taxes were reassessed the last time.
I will end this piece with the peace that this picture and poem brings to me. This is appropriate as the Genesee Valley Chorus will again soon share its music with others.
