June 12 Gathering Ground Report; "Puzzler"

  GATHERING GROUND REPORT - June 12, 2024

Small June group: Jo-Ann, Norm, Bill

Hello to all from the Gathering Ground.

   Today, Norm, JoAnn and Bill gathered for the monthly breakfast.

   Jerry Kimble, the elected scribe, is on ANOTHER vacation. It just seems to me that he spends as much time traveling as he does at home. I’m sure that’s not the case, but it seems that way. He has already planned another month long trip later this year for Oregon and Washington state, followed by at least three Ski trip weeks! Good for him. We are all jealous.

   JoAnn talked enthusiastically about a place in Granby by the name of “Cossitt Creation Station” which is connected to the Granby Library. It provides instruction and use of facilities like 3D printing, Digitizing old photos, sewing machines, and more. It’s totally free and a benefit to the community. (Check it out on the internet: CLICK HERE)

   Norm talked about his condo’s activities. This week they are sealing, restriping, and reassigning all the parking spaces in the community parking lot.  Norm is ‘on the board’ so he is involved.

  Jo Ann is also planning another ‘walk in the woods’ event for July. She completed the ‘AT’ (Appellation Trail) a while ago, and now she will do the ‘Long Trail’ from Vermont to Canada! The plan is to start in Canada and walk south (bring a compass, Jo) to Killington Vt.  It’s ‘only’ 173 miles and she plans on a two week walk. Good luck JoAnn.

  My exciting news is that he bought a new Table Saw. (get a life Bill). The bearings in the 40-year-old Rockwell failed. Replacing them it to hard and expensive.  So I boomed up for a new one.

 We also talked about Bees, and our experiences with them. JoAnn raises them, and I try to eliminate their nests under my deck! Both of us have been bitten, and agree that they hurt!! I told the story of allowing a Bee to sting me, just to see how much it actually hurt.  I only did that once. 

 Of course there was the usual health talk.  Everyone attending is actually in good shape.

 So much for the June meeting.

 Your temporary Scribe, 

     ~ Bill W 

                                ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"PUZZLER"

 No, not quite the same as Hal's Puzzler's from years past.   This came from Bill, our temporary scribe: 

"I found this list in my archives.  Maybe we should publish it in the month newsletter?"  

And so we are...with a twist!  Looking at the the list, can you guess the date of publication?  First correct response gets bragging rights and a headline in the next GG Report. Send replies to Chris.Lesinski@comcast.net. 

May 8 Gathering Ground Report; The Work of Squirrels

 GATHERING GROUND REPORT - MAY 8, 2024

Bill, Chet, Jerry

May is bringing on the flowers following the early rains in April.   Flowering trees are along all the local highways to Windsor Locks and back to home.

Today brought Jerry, Chet and Bill to the table to enjoy the highly rated breakfast treats from the Gathering Ground.  My Bacon, Egg and Cheddar on a hard roll actually had toooo much bacon.   Bill decided to help out with the overload as he added an extra slice to his scrambled and bacon dish.

Chet, should have  warned the rest of us to bring sunglasses into restaurant to shield from your blaze orange sweatshirt.  I hope that was on sale!!

Jerry was spotted in Westfield Agway by Mark Galica.   A blast from the past and a great encounter to share some stories about  the old MSD/HSD/IS/IT memories.  Mark has a place on the cape and spends his summers enjoying the air/water/lobster at the Cape.   The Lobster is provided by his efforts because he has several traps that he puts out to collect his summer dinner enjoyment.  Nice gig on the Cape!!

Bill shared the highlights of his trip to South Carolina and the mechanical troubles he had with his 50 year old convertable that he chose to do his transport for the trip.   Apparently the rear bearing seal started leaking on the way home and progressively leaked more oil during the several stops he made on his way.  He saw the check engine light several times, letting him know that more  oil was needed to keep the engine from seizing while headed back to Ct.   After many quarts of oil from several stops he finally found a U-Haul place and rented a truck(large) and car trailer to finish the trip.  Large trucks and one-way rental left him a little broke but he was able to get it to a shop in Bloomfield that fixed the problem and get his convertible back on the road leaving no oil line running along the double yellow !!  See the UHaul rig in picture:

Chet shared what he was wearing to make us comfortable that there was no clandestine intent by his being wired while sitting next to us at the breakfast table.  The external heart monitor was recently installed by his local hospital to see how his ticker was keeping its rhythm.   Funny how our bodies that we always seemed to not pay attention to, now require some help to keep us upright!

Jerry recently had the need to send a first class letter to Canada and found that the US stamps are not such a bad deal at even the recent increased price when First Class to Canada is $1.50.  and that's USD.

Chet reports a new Polish restaurant that has recently opened in West Springfield and is getting rave reviews.   No name at this time and a Google search does not reveal its name but Chet is on assignment to discover and report the full review for next month.

Bill ran into lunchtime runner John Turback.   No one at this  table recognized the name but according to Bill, he was one of the elite 5 minute mile lunch time runners along with Tim D'Valve.  Jerry reports that he can double that time now....easy!

Your Scribe

Jerry  

                              ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

THE WORK OF SQUIRRELS 

"We plant pansies in our dining area window boxes in October to give us something pretty to look at during the winter months. The squirrels have a bad habit of burying acorns in the pots for future use. In the spring they try to find them, digging holes in the pots around the pansies. Sometimes they find them; sometimes they don’t. This one got away. Looks like a white oak to me."  ~ from Larry Quillen