COLUMBUS _ The dogs stirred
at the sound of a truck pulling
down the driveway, and when
Uncle Chet came in the back door,
Della jumped up to greet him.
``Down!’’ I commanded.
``I’ll take care of her.’’ He knelt
by the black Lab pup, encouraged
her to sit and stroked her thick coat.
He looked into her dark brown
eyes. ``Are you housebroken yet?’’
``Jury’s out on that,’’ I said. ``She
hasn’t made a mistake in while,
anyway.’’
``Good for you,’’ he said to the
dog, then straightened up with a
groan. ``I brought the wood splitter.’’
``OK. Want coffee
first?’’
``Sure,’’ he
said as Hon came
downstairs.
``What’s this I
hear about coffee?’’
``I made a pot,’’
I said.
``I’ll take a
cup,’’ she said.
``Any luck with
the phone?’’ I
asked.
``No. The only
way to get the
photos off it is to
e-mail them, and
that costs 75 cents
apiece.’’
``Crooked soand-
sos,’’ I said. ``They stick a digital
camera on the cell phone, then
they won’t let you upload photos to
your computer.’’
``And we took all our beach photos
with the cell phone,’’ she said.
``Let’s get a different phone,’’ I
said.
``But what about these photos?’’
She showed me one of Buddy and
me in a little boat, rowing out in
Long Island Sound.
``We’ve got to have that one,’’ I
said.
``Let me see that,’’ said Uncle
Chet as we sat down for coffee. He
scrolled through the photos, found
several of us, him and Alice and the
kids _ the little miscreant verging
on 16 and her 8-year-old brother.
``You mean you can’t share these
photos without paying, even though
you bought the phone?’’ he said.
``I’ll try Google next,’’ she said.
``There are probably a million
people with this problem. There
must be some way around it.’’
Just then, a girl’s voice at the top
of the stairs said, ``Ooohh, gross!
Dad, the dog’s sick.’’
``Clean it up,’’ I said.
``No way.’’ She shrank at the
thought.
``Looks like she’s doing a pretty
good job herself,’’ said Uncle Chet.
``That’s disgusting!’’ the girl said.
``Dogs do that; that’s how they
feed their young in the wild,’’ said
Hon, going for a mop.
``This isn’t the wild,’’ said her
daughter.
``Sometimes I wonder,’’ I said.
``You’re lucky this is happening
now,’’ said Uncle Chet. ``Under
Obama’s health plan, if that dog
pukes next year, you’ll have to
euthanize it.’’
``That’s not true,’’ his niece
scolded.
``I heard it at a tea party,’’ he
said. ``And that anyone over 80 with
a medical problem is going to be
put down, too.’’
``As long as it’s not anyone over
60.’’ I sipped coffee.
``You’re next,’’ he said. ``Your
children are going to turn on you
if they keep listening to the black
president.’’
``Now that, I have heard, but not
the black part,’’ I said.
``Do you think they hate him
because he’s black, or because he’s
standing up to the rich?’’ asked
Hon.
``Both. The insurance tycoons
and the drug tycoons are protecting
their turf, and there’s plenty of
racist stuff on the Internet,’’ said
Uncle Chet. ``Isn’t that what this
birther movement is all about?
Aren’t they really saying, `he ain’t
like you and me?’”
``Seems it,’’ I said.
``You have to remember how the
old Confederacy, heart of the beast,
became Republican,’’ said Uncle
Chet. ``After the Democrats finally
took up the civil-rights banner, in
the ’60s, the racists had to switch
parties. Before that, they called it
the `Solid South’ because it was so
reliable for Democrats, but then it
flip-flopped.’’
``That was an angry time.’’ I rose
to take out the dog, although she
seemed fine now.
``It was,’’ said Uncle Chet, and
brought his coffee to the door. ``Reminds
me a lot of now.’’
___
Cooperstown News Bureau Reporter
Tom Grace is traveling with
his Uncle Chet, who he says is imaginary.
Grace’s column appears every
other week.
Columns
Related Photos
Discussion
Welcome to our story comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including the unpopular ones. We only ask that you keep your conversations clean, civil and on the topic of the story you are commenting on.
Coinciding with our websites redesign, we launched our new story comments feature through Disqus.
Disqus gives users the ability to log into our story comments feature so that they may be able to track their conversations, receive emails when their comments get a reply or to even have your comments update onto your Facebook or Twitter accounts.
For the time being, our story comments feature will continue to have the ability to post comments anonymously. We reserve the right to require registration in the future using your name and verified email address.
Not all comments are deemed printable. Some are disqualified at the newspaper’s discretion for a number of different reasons. Please follow our Online Rules of Conduct at all times.
RULES OF CONDUCT:
We reserve the right to remove comments that are unacceptable, to wit:
1. False and inacurate statements.
2. Personal attacks. Explicit name-calling.
3. Harassing, harmful, vulgar, obscene and defamatory language.
4. Threatening statements or statements that suggest violence.
5. Hate speech of any kind.
6. Intolerant comments on religion, race, age, gender, sexual preference or disabilities.
7. Accusations of criminal activity.
8. Content that is harmful to children and minors in any way.
9. References to any type of sexual activity and other private matters.
10. Random and inflammatory statements that are off topic.
11. Advertising of any kind.
12. Typing in all caps.
WE ENCOURAGE REASONABLE AND COURTEOUS COMMENTS THAT:
1. Create conversation on issues of interest and concern to fellow readers and local community members.
2. Express opinions and contrarian views.
3. Stimulate debate with respectful language.
4. Stay within the boundaries of these rules.
WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SUSPEND OR TERMINATE ACCESS FOR:
1. Violating any of these Online Rules of Conduct.
2. Deliberately disrupting discussions with repetitive messages, meaningless messages or spam.
3. Misrepresentation of identity or impersonating another user.
WE WELCOME:
1. Flagging violations of these rules that you observe to our attention.
MONITORING:
We monitor comments regularly Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Approval of comments outside of this time (including weekends) will be sporadic.
Travels with Uncle Chet: Time of anger has returned
- Big Chuck D'Imperio
-
-
My pal Brucie, savior of Sidney's hospital
Ask any hospital administrators if they've ever heard of a closed hospital in New York state that has ever been re-opened. They will say, "Impossible." In a half century of going through records you can't find any.
Continued ... - Catching a whiff of 'Vermont Vapor'
- Selections from the virtual mailbag
- Recalling days of 'Doughnut King'
- Opera great's visit still a thrilling memory
-
My pal Brucie, savior of Sidney's hospital
- Cary Brunswick
-
-
We've become our own worst enemies
The past month has been marked by a seeming unprecedented number of man-made tragedies, as distinct from those caused by violent outbursts of the natural world, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis.
Continued ... - Plenty of blame to go around for Bangladesh horror
- Obama is going against his word on Social Security
- Reflecting on a Florida trip
- Those magnificent spies in their flying machines
-
We've become our own worst enemies
- Chuck Pinkey
- Guest Column
-
-
Records seizure is an insult to free press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
Continued ... - The evangelical view of same-sex marriage
- Manor's fate will be Otsego board's legacy
- A closer look at our economy - Part II
- Use fracking to fill budget gaps
-
Records seizure is an insult to free press
- Lisa Miller
-
-
A view from above
Fire towers in the Catskill Mountains have always been destination points, built to capture some of the region’s best views. These sentinel stations served an important role for the earliest possible sightings of forest fires in the remote mountain ranges. But the fire towers and those who manned them fulfilled a multitude of other roles as well.
Continued ... - Being a parent is a constant learning process
- Healthy doesn't have to mean expensive
- A family era ends with close of Potter series
- Independent stores make up for loss of Borders
-
- Mark Simonson
-
-
Sunday movies in Oneonta finally shown in 1934
You know an issue is divisive when a vote to resolve it is quite close. In Oneonta during the early 1930s there were probably plenty of discussions or arguments at the family dinner table or sermons from the pulpits on Sunday mornings, regarding whether or should be able to see a movie in Oneonta on Sunday.
Continued ... - Politics, fitness and landmarks dominated local news in May 1968
- Local people sought income in many ways in 1933
- Local windstorm in 1983 caused tense moments
- Disaster, expansions put people to work in May 1913
-
- Rick Brockway
-
-
Kids have sparkle in their eyes
When I was in my teens, old Bill Naatz told me about a stream north of Lake George where a man had panned out enough gold to make his wife a wedding band. It was all rumors, but to his grandson and myself, it sounded like the makings of a great adventure.
- People make the outdoors even better
- Turkey season has ups and downs
- Spring air isn't always the freshest
- Adriondacks keep growing and growing
-
Kids have sparkle in their eyes
- Sam Pollak
-
-
Using time off in the worst way possible
"You don't mean it," I pleaded. "You simply can't mean it!"
Continued ... - Terror lives on, and there's no end in sight
- Remembering the glory of their times
- Column on guns led to a barrage of (mostly) jeers
- No one is coming to take your guns
-
Using time off in the worst way possible
- William Masters
-
-
Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
As the time to vote draws near, we need to remember how money can run politics more than we can. Raising funds is a prominent (if not the dominant) task of getting elected. Raising issues is also crucial, but those efforts are subject to distortion and fear-mongering.
- Republicans feelentitled to allthey can garner An entitlement is a legal benefit available from the government to individuals who are within a defined category of recipients, such as needing insurance for unemployment or health services.
-
Romney focuses on self; Obama emphasizes unity
Mitt Romney criticizes President Obama for saying a person's success is rooted in his community, and is not all his alone. Romney belittles this with his belief in individual initiative. He is better at the put-down than the push-up.
-
Romney shows little regard for common man
The Republicans in Congress have voted over and over, 33 times, redundantly and uselessly, to rescind what they call Obamacare.
-
Scouts' gay ban creates problem where none exists
The Boy Scouts of America's "emphatic reaffirmation" of its vow to exclude any and all homosexuals from its hallowed ranks is ill-considered and pathetic, especially in view of its having reviewed the matter for two years.
-
Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
