Published: August 21, 2008 09:12 am         

In These Otsego Hills

Just when we had decided that Cooperstown was being recognized for more than just baseball, we started reading an article on bromeliads, of all things, only to stumble on the comparison of a given garden being to bromeliads “... what St. Andrews is to golf or what Cooperstown is to baseball: a living shrine.” Now we readily admit that we don’t know whether there is more to St. Andrews than golf, but we do know there is more to Cooperstown than baseball. Unfortunately, we are beginning to think that for some people, the rest of Cooperstown must be one of the best-kept secrets in the world. Of course, there is always the possibility that there are some who would actually like it to remain that way.

To say that there are a fair number of children living on upper Pioneer Street might be an understatement. The two houses immediately next to ours house five children. If we include the next two houses either direction, we can add another six to that number. Fortunately, as far as we have observed, they seem to get along reasonably well and have managed to find activities to keep them occupied throughout the summer. We understand, from neighbors up and down both Pioneer and Fair Streets, that a number of the children have taken to traveling back and forth through the center of the block. When we asked a friend on Fair Street if she had noticed the children passing through, she asked us if they were using the deer path, which evidently runs up the center of the block. We were not aware that there was such a deer path although we did know that deer have been known to frequent the area. We can’t help but wonder — if there is enough deer traffic to wear a path, is it likely that the possibility of deer ticks lurking in the neighborhood exists? Another Fair Street friend, who owns a dog, told us that the vet thought the possibility of deer ticks was great enough to give the dog protection against such ticks. That thought alone makes us quite happy to take in the backyard from the relative safety of our family room.

We have learned, thanks to the efforts of Rich MacCaffery and Martha Clarvoe, that irons can be recycled unless they are the kind with an automatic shut off switch. Evidently such a switch contains mercury and thus cannot be recycled. We believe the iron we have which burned was an automatic shut off iron although the other two irons we wish to dispose of are not. Logic tells us that if the automatic shut off iron cannot be recycled because of mercury, it probably should not be thrown in the trash either. The question then becomes, what on earth does one do with it? We really don’t think it would make a very good planter. We recently enjoyed a brief visit from friends Chris and Tami Judge of Columbus, Ohio. We discovered they had over the summer purchased a new hybrid vehicle which we got to ride in on our way to lunch. It was the first time we had ridden in such a vehicle and we must say we found it somewhat disconcerting. We couldn’t tell if the vehicle was running or not. We have to think that it would take a bit of time for us to get used to such a vehicle, although we must admit it was in keeping with our desire to lower the noise level of our surroundings.

The Judges passed through Cooperstown on their way home from a visit with other friends in Glens Falls. Those friends, when they found out the Judges were stopping in Cooperstown, gave Tami a list of people they knew in Cooperstown. She was to ask us if we knew them also and then report back. She read us the list. We must admit that we knew all. We assume Tami reported back.

When the Judges left Cooperstown, they had with them the wee-we’s Ewok costume which we had made him when the “Star Wars” movies were big the first time around. We had lent it to the Judges some time ago when their oldest son, Josh, who is now a 10th-grader, fit the costume. Their middle son, Jack, who is now the Ewok costume size, wondered why he could not wear the costume as he has worn every other costume Josh had. The Judges explained that the costume was a loaner and thus they did not have it. However, at what we suspect was Jack’s insistence, they asked if they might once again borrow the costume. We were more than willing, provided we could find it in the rumble which is stored in the attic. Quite surprisingly we came upon without any trouble whatsoever. In fact, we think it was still in the bag in which it had been returned to us previously. We handed it over with the instructions that the Judges were to keep the costume until such time as their daughter Bridget, who starts kindergarten this fall, has had a chance to use it. We really don’t want to have to find it in the attic a third time.

In closing, we recently found ourselves in the grocery store having to purchase, not surprisingly, more bread flour as well as, more surprisingly, salt. It seemed that our salt purchase of probably 15 years ago was running low.

A most distinguished looking gentleman told us how fortunate we were to have decided to shop on fossil day. We were somewhat bemused by the comment as we did not know the grocery store sold fossils. And they definitely did not appear on our shopping list. Of course, had they been offering a fossil such as the Petoskey Stone, of which we are familiar as it is the state stone of Michigan, we might have been interested. But alas, we did not see any such fossils. We must say, however, that we can’t wait to see what the special of the day will be the next time we journey to the grocery store. Mayhap it will be a more locally produced stone, such as the Herkimer Diamond.

We remain,

In these Otsego hills, The Ellsworths

The Ellsworths may be reached by mail at 105 Pioneer St., Cooperstown, N.Y. 13326, by telephone at 547- 8124 or by e-mail at cellsworth1@stny.rr.com. They look forward to hearing from you.