The Old Coot escapes a male chauvinist bullet. By Merlin Lessler
old coot wisdom
Saturday, March 29, 2025
The Old Coot is from Mars, not Venus. Published in NY on March26, 2025
Saturday, March 22, 2025
The Old Coot loves his bracelet. Published March 19, 2025 in Owego NY
The Old Coot loves his bracelet.
By Merlin
Lessler
I was with
my young friend Scotty the other day. He’s a kid, just became eligible for Social
Security this past year. He noticed the black bracelet on my wrist. “What’s
that all about?” he asked. I told him what it was. A “Your-wife- doesn’t- have-
to- report- you- missing-after- you- crash- on- your bicycle and conk- out – when
- an - ambulance- takes- you- to- the- hospital- and - you- don’t- come -home-
bracelet.” Mine, provides my name, address, and my wife’s cell phone number.
I used to
carry around a business card wrapped in clear plastic tape with her number on
it when I swam laps at the college pool. It kept floating out of my pocket and
the life guard would hand it to me when I got out of the water, with a huge
grin on his face. Now, I have a medical alert bracelet with a nylon strap that
doesn’t come off in the pool, when I’m on a walk or on a bike ride. You never
know when you’re going to need, it if you’re an old coot.
My friend
Paul from Michigan passed out on the beach in Florida two years ago. He didn’t
have any ID on him. Who does, when they take a little walk on the beach in a
bathing suit? Fortunately for him, he was only out for a few minutes and asked the
ambulance to stop at his hotel so he could tell his wife where he would be spending
the afternoon. Knowing how cool, calm and collected he is, he probably just
said, “I’ll be at the hospital and might not be home for dinner.” They kept him
for several days, spacing out a series of tests so they could maximize his
medical bill.
My bracelet
is so light and unintrusive that I hardly notice it. It cost me about $15 on-line
at Amazon. Including the engraving. It’s so much better than having your family
going from ER room to ER room in all the nearby hospitals, or worse yet, from morgue
to morgue to identify one of the “John Dos” in the cooler. Well worth the
price. Even for a cheapskate old coot like me.
The Old Coot explains the waiting period. Published March 12, 2025 in Owego NY
The Old Coot waits it out.
By
Merlin Lessler
Ironed clothes had to go through a waiting period (limbo) before they could be worn. I never knew how long the resting period was. It depended on my mother’s memory. If she could remember ironing it, it had to go back on a hanger and into the closet. (If I got caught, that is.)
Ok, Ok; I get it. When I got old enough, my mother taught me to iron and turned the chore over to me. It’s a lot of work to iron things, but even when I did the ironing myself, she still made a stink if I slipped into something freshly ironed. I made a mistake a few years back and told my wife about how I had to let freshly ironed clothes rest when I was a kid. Today’s dress code is pretty casual; we don’t do a lot of ironing; we fold things. If she sees me put on something that was freshly folded (folded by her because I’m folding challenged) she yells over to me, “Why are you wearing that shirt; I just folded it,” and then cracks up laughing at how I cringe. I can’t help it; it’s a guilt feeling that’s ingrained in my subconscious. No matter how old you get, you still retain guilt from the past.
Saturday, March 8, 2025
The Old Coot is an eavesdropper. (Published in NY on 3/5/25)
The Old Coot is an eavesdropper.
By Merlin Lessler.
Saturday, March 1, 2025
The Old Coot won't take the pill. Published in local New York papers on February 26, 2025
The Old Coot took the Camel Cigarette, 30 day test.
By Merlin Lessler
Saturday, February 22, 2025
The Old Coot saved Old Blue! - Published 02/19/25 Tioga Co. Courier, Owego Pennysaver and elsewhere
The Old Coot saved “Old Blue.”
By
Merlin Lessler
,It was a Tommy Hilfiger creation; I purchased it in his outlet store run by his sister in Elmira, New York. As far as I know, it was the only outlet that sold his high end clothes at bargain basement prices. Probably, because Elmira was his home town and he wanted to share his fashions with the local people. He put Elmira on the map as did Mark Twain, who wrote Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and other books in a cabin on his wife’s sister’s farm where he summered for many years. The cabin now resides on the campus at Elmira College; he resides nearby, with his wife, in Woodlawn Cemetery.
Friday, February 14, 2025
The Old Coot reads and dozes. Published - 02/i2/2025
The Old Coot is a “read-dozer.”
By Merlin Lessler
I have acquired a new pastime. I call it “read-dozing.” I’m
a reader, primarily books and newspapers. I’m also a napper. When I first
started working, and getting paid for it, I found myself a little sleepy between
2 and 3 in the afternoon. I worked for Compton Industries, an electronic firm whose
primary business was calibrating oscilloscopes for IBM corporation. After we
finished adjusting the devices, we set them up in a test room to “age” the
calibration since some adjustments would wander out of spec after initial use. The
room was warm, from the heat generated by a sea of oscilloscopes. They also emitted
a gentle hum, produced by their internal fans.
I had to go into the “aging” room to check and readjust the
calibration every afternoon. Between the warm temperature and the hum of the
fans, it was difficult to stay awake. So, I didn’t. I napped, just like I did
in high school study halls, with my forehead nestled in my hand and my elbow on
the desk. I figured the teacher thought I was concentrating on reading information
in a text book on the desk. Once in a while, my arm would buckle, and my head would
come crashing down on the desk, waking me up and scaring the kids around me.
Anyhow, my naps in the “aging room” started a lifelong
habit of dozing in the afternoon for 10 minutes or so to snap me out of the
doldrums and let me be more productive than I otherwise would have. Now that
I’m unemployed (retired) and out of high school, there are no impediments to my
napping routine. I read a few pages; then doze off for a few minutes. I often
dream about the story I’m reading and move the plot along. When I wake up and
start reading again, I discover that my dream version was way off. I read; I
doze; I dream - I read and doze again. It’s a great pastime! Try it; you’ll
like it.