Remembering Al, Wellsville Computers, Cartwrights Pancakes, and of course Grammar Groans
By Chuck Wiser, I write the words to share what my eyes see and my heart feels
Once again, the Genesee Valley Chorus has lost an active long-time member. The news of the passing of a valued member of the chorus, happening all too often lately, has reached the Chorus and the Wellsville area in general.
Stuart Alan Abbot, 76, of Wellsville, passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, in his home. He was born October 11, 1948, in Wellsville, the son of the late Leon G. and Lena G. (Baldwin) Abbott.
A Celebration of Life, with Military Honors, is being planned for a later date. A private burial will be in Genesee Cemetery with his parents and brother. Please consider memorial donations to the SPCA Serving Allegany County, 5440 NY-19, Belmont, NY 14813; the Friends of the David A. Howe Library, 155 N. Main St., Wellsville, NY 14895; or to the Genesee Valley Chorus c/o Dana Ross, 5194 NY-244, Belmont, NY 14813. To leave online condolences, or to read the complete obituary, please visit https://www.olneyfoust.com/obituaries/stuart-al-abbott
Al, well known throughout the area as a great singer, play participant, hard worker and friend to nearly all who have met him, will be greatly missed. Al has been a member of the Chorus since its beginning, and has not only been a member, but a very active member who never turned down an opportunity to sing, or when asked to help out with a chore, job or activity.
I will keep this Wrambling fairly short, as my typical frivolous meanderings might not be appropriate following the news as noted above. Al, however, might take exception to that thought as he had a unique way of bringing a smile, smirk or guffaw as he interjected an “out loud” comment when and if something was being announced that he found mirthful. Al was not always secretive about his feelings or reaction to something he found humorous, or contentious.
As I read the obituary as published by J.W. Embser Sons Funeral Home, Inc. I was surprised at the total number of various places that Al had previously worked. Many, like myself might likely recall Al behind the bar at Better Days serving up beverages. Given Al’s temperament and sense of humor he was perfect for that job. What was surprising to me in reading his obituary was that he was in the Military Police during his time in the US Air Force.
I’ll change gears now and follow with a few more typical Wramblings.
This non-commercial, Public Affairs commercial announcement is brought to you under the highly acclaimed auspices of the technology equipment entity Wellsville Computers. This Wrambling was delayed an extra day as my “computing” technology equipment pretty much “bit the dust.” I reached out to them and within a day we had solved my equipment problem with a new computer. Despite despising starting over again with a newer, Non-HP product, the conversion has been as pain free as it could have been and it’s great having a local provider source, to hold my hand during the conversion. Walmart couldn’t have done it.
Rob and Heather have been great from the very beginning, to the final pick-up and utilization of new Acer Aspire laptop computer.
Now, if I could, or can, deep six this damned Co-Pilot operating system all my woes would be “woe-begone.” I have been through many transitions of computer evolution, upgrades and replacements and the fancier more “powerless” (sic) they become, the more frustrating it is to adapt. I keep trying to find an 8” or 5-1/4” slot to put my “floppy disc into. My Tandy 1000 worked just fine with 640 KB (Kilobytes) of memory. The 4 color display was awesome as well. The colors were…I’m torn between mesmerizing or nauseating. I spend more time arguing with auto correct than I do writing.
Recently I had the opportunity to attend another of the Allegany County Veteran’s PFC Joseph P. Dwyer Peer Support Programs. The next one is scheduled for March 4th, from 11:30 AM Till 1:00 PM at Cartwrights Maple Tree Inn. The first of such I had the honor of attending, was a St. Bonaventure Basketball game a couple of months ago. This is a “Peer Support Program,” and is a great time to meet fellow Veterans. This “One + A Guest” program allows the qualifying veteran to invite a guest to attend with them.
Cartwright’s is, and of itself, worthy of the trip as the season of Maple Syrple is soon upon us.
Memories of my adventures of boiling maple sap and turning it into maple syrup (which I call “syrple) come flooding back. Many moons ago I would tap area Maple Trees, of which we had a few at one time, and then spending long hours into the night boiling down the sap to produce the syrup. Posted sap to syrup ratios vary and I don’t know if my sap was unusually sugar laden but I always had a higher ratio than was normally reported. Generally, the ratio of sap to syrup for the sugar maple is 40 to 1 (40 gallons of sap yields one gallon of syrup). Other species of maple have lower concentrations of sugar in their sap. Sap concentration varies from 1% to 5%.
Many a night was spent tending the fire to keep the sap boiling. That also led to my fondness for cutting and splitting wood as it took a “few” cords of wood to run the fire for the few days that I did that. Not sure what my ratio of “cords to quarts” was.
Grammar Groans. One of the most powerful suffixes (or is that suff-I) is “ess.” Adding “ess” to “care” gives you “careless,” but if you separate those two components you could “care less.” Same goes for use. You could use less or be useless. Two completely unrelated terms. Kind has no comparison to kindness, unless you are the kind to be kind. Elliot Ness might be looking for me after that one, but that is his business when he isn’t too busy.
I have a whole page of left-over topics but may put out an extra posting between now and next week so I will just invite your comments or questions to IM.Wiserdad@gmail.com.
