“The Battle of the Broths” and “Beware the Ides of March”
By Chuck Wiser, I write the words to share what my eyes see and my heart feels
As I awoke this morning to the sun shining brightly…Now there’s an invitation to continue with a poem if I’ve ever heard or read one. That will be a future project as I’ve already added a second line to the poem. I’d better Wramble on now though so I can get this put into the publication queue and then resume and outdoor construction project I’m tied up with.
Speaking of projects, my wife is a big fan of the “Home builders and re-modelers” programs on TV. Oft times at bedtime she will have the TV on in the bedroom watching one of those shows. I have often noticed that when the “builders” in those shows, at the start a project, they completely demolish, or at least “gut out,” the building to make room for the new. If I was wiser, I would follow their lead and do the same thing, and that is certainly apropos right now as I am rebuilding a small exterior flower/shrub extension at the driveway end of the house. Being frugal,* or cheap as many put it, I disdain scrapping perfectly good materials such as some of the pressure treated beams previously part of a rebuild done a few years ago. *Auto defect thinks “Fragile” is better.
Nope! They are too good not to re-use so I have left them in place and will incorporate them in the rebuild. The major problem is that they are part of the reason for the rebuild. Time has caused them to lean away from the house, at about a 15-degree angle. The challenge and struggle is to get the re-useable section back upright again. Before the weather turned back to winterish earlier this week I started that process. I wanted to push the remaining section back to a straight vertical position. My first and partial effort already having been attempted was semi-productive but I needed to push just a little further back so I could anchor that section in place with long steel rods driven through the beams and deeply into the ground. Despite having tried I could not push them with my tractor and get the brake set without it pushing back a little each time I tried. My foot onto the brake peddle (pedal) reaction time wasn’t speedy enough. I finally gained some ground by having my wife place a “chock” behind the tractor wheel after I pushed the section back toward the house.
If I’m not, still, working on it comes time to write next week’s Wrambling, I’ll update you.
An update on the Allegany County Veterans Agency activities brings a little sad, or at least disappointing, news. The two most recently scheduled Joesph P. Dwyer Support Program events had to be canceled due to insufficient attendance/reservation sign-ups. Agency representatives Mallory Short and H. Robert Budinger have worked diligently to set up these programs so I can feel their disappointment at the lack of responses or interest. The previous few events, all of which I attended and reported on, were very well represented by area veterans and/or family and friends.
The most recently proposed program, The Battle of the Broth’s, initially scheduled for April 3rd and 4th, has been canceled due to the lack of pre-event registrations.
On a related note, at this time, and with the current national unrest and upheaval, veterans may be affected by things going on around them. Reaching out to the various Veterans agencies may be helpful in dealing with what is going on.
Information and access to programs offered locally for veterans can be directed to The Allegany County Veteran’s Agency by accessing their site at https://www.alleganyco.gov/salute/.
Do you need a haircut? This next topic should be of interest primarily to the male readers in the area, but, while not excluding or ignoring the feminine gender, who still have several hairdressers at their disposal. I have had very successful results by visiting one local “barber” over the years, and now one, new-to-me recently. Both of these are located in Belmont, and I guess you could consider them centrally located in Allegany County. My first and former source of “trimming” was the Woodside Barber Shop owned and operated by Jim McNinch. The best means of contacting him would be to call 585-268-5267. When Jim wasn’t available this time when I got too shaggy, I stopped by the Hair Garage located just south of Belmont on Rte. 19. I had always noted it with curiosity, having traveled past it several times over the past few years. This week’s visit introduced me to Christina Watson. I was a little reluctant at first, but then greatly surprised and pleased with the results. She is now a second option for my “trimmings” as she did a great job making me more presentable, and that in, and of itself is quite a challenge. Walk-ins are accepted but I presume if you wanted to schedule an appointment you can give her a call at 585-610-6873.
A recent article read by me somewhere noted that certain batteries had been disassembled to reclaim the “metals” included therein. That got me to wondering about the “waste” of possibly “precious” metals having been discarded by me, and most likely by others over the years. I’m not talking about car batteries as they have typically been deposited at a local County landfill station. I’m thinking about the hundreds of small batteries that I discard almost yearly. Here’s my recent idea that has me “all charged up.” Despite being able to re-charge these batteries a few times before they are discarded, they still end up in the trash eventually. Why can’t these batteries be reclaimed to salvage the re-useable “metals” they contain? Just as we do with bottles, why couldn’t there be a deposit fee paid upon purchase and then paid out upon their return to a re-cycle business establishment.
I know! Your first thought and reaction might very well match my own, but, as I did, if you consider the “tons” of these batteries that end up in a landfill over the years, and our increasing dependence on the availability of the “precious metals” from which they are made, it might be worth a second thought.
I guess the old traditional “Beware the Ides of March” announcing the 15th of March as a doomsday event has slipped too far back in memories or familiarity as I didn’t see, hear or even think about it myself this year. That thought was triggered by my recollection of another notable phrase regarding the passing of this month. The other phrase regarding March is “In like a Lion, out like a Lamb.” Me thinks that is what is going to happen this year as weather forecasts are calling for a warming starting today and getting better and betterer by the time we slip into April.
The “Ides of March” is/are referred to as the day, noted on the ancient Roman calendar that falls on March 15th and is associated with misfortune and doom. It became renowned as the date on which Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. It was further immortalized in the tragedy Julius Caesar by English dramatist William Shakespeare. Ironically it is the day after “Pi Day.” “Pi” is a mathematical “constant” related to the size characteristics of a circle.
I have previously noted the construction project, one part of which has been taking place across the road from my house in what I now call the Scio Gravel Storage Lot. The picture shown here is just one corner of a huge gravel pile that has recently been deposited and is now the size of a very large barn or larger. The reason I mention this again, and now share a picture, is that I consider this a potentially dangerous situation. People often take the “cut-off” road that connects the Back River Road with County Rte. 31 frequently at a pretty good clip speed wise.
As you take that cut-road aka Charles Young Street to enter Rte. 31 from the Back River Road, you approach a yield sign at the Rte. 31 intersection. If ALL drivers used extreme caution they would creep past the end of the pile, which is only about 35 yards from the main road, and safely enter onto Rte. 31. This huge pile now creates a near “blind spot” entrance to a road that carries a large volume of traffic, and all too many of the drivers don’t or won’t do it wisely.
I realize, or assume, that the pile is only temporary and will be used for a summer road project. That also relates to an earlier mention in a previous Sun article where-in I mentioned the significant shortage of “Men Working” or “Road Under Construction” signs. Hats off to the Scio town official who had a warning sign added to another project involving the laying of new pipe-line sections adjacent to the Back River Road on the east side of the other project that is presently going on.
On a lighter note, and the last topic to wrap up this Wrambling, I will address a “name calling” issue. No, I don’t refer to blasphemous name calling, but rather the names that people go by, or refer to you by. With all due respect to my mother (RIP), I was given the legal name of Charles. I don’t care for it in the first place and certainly don’t like the oft times used nickname of Charlie. Always having been attuned to that dislike, or my preference of “Chuck” as a name, I like to address people, who I eventually see or correspond with frequently, by the name that they would prefer to be addressed as or called. When dealing with hundreds of students in a previous life, one of my first tasks with a new class of students was to ask them what name they would prefer to being addressed as. Some freely give me their “nickname” but a few would say, “It doesn’t matter.” I would accept that but then would note the name they would put in the name blank at the top of a quiz or test as they were going to hand them in. Quite often, as I do with “Chuck Wiser,” they would use their preferred name when signing that piece of correspondence. When meeting people that I know I will have more than occasional exposure to, I often ask if I should, or could address them by their nickname. To me, it is/was a softening of the boundary between knowing them casually, as opposed to “formally.” Now that I’ve put you to sleep or bored you, I will end with the most frequently used formal name versus a nick name. For some reason a noticeable number of people named Peter prefer to be addressed by that formal designation rather than the less formal version as “Pete.” Peter Mancini, now a friend and once a professional business acquaintance, was one of the most direct or notable people to prefer the full name designation. I respect his choice and he perhaps made me more aware of people’s chosen title, than I had previously been aware of. Just Like the comedy statement “Don’t call me Alice;” Please don’t call me Charlie. Only Rolly could do that.
Wiser writes from the back wriver road in Scio NY. You can reach him anytime at, chuckwiser@roadrunner.com
