Through An 'Old Timer's' Eyes
By Howard 'Mac' McDonald

Our annual springtime serenade may have reached its peak last weekend.

The deep, throaty roar of the Harleys, the purr of the Honda Gold Wings, the high RPM wine of the crotch rockets were all mixed in with the tinny sound of the dirt bikes. Anyone who owned a machine was taking advantage of the fine weather.

The warm weather also caused an eruption of spring flowers. Daffodils are everywhere and the tulips are starting to bloom. The flowering tree by the handicap ramp of the Emporium Post Office is a thing of beauty. I think it is a magnolia. It reminds me of the movie, "Gone With the Wind." In my imagination, I can see Rhett and Scarlet coming down the ramp.

The bright, yellow dandelions are making their appearances along the ditch lines and one other thing is making its debut, the grass. I wonder if my neighbors would mind if I got those goats?

Election day will have come and gone by the time this is published. We had telephone calls from Governor Rendell and Hillary Clinton, but I could not get a word in edgewise, no matter how hard I tried.

Cameron County's high school baseball team is beating everybody in sight. I saw where Juice Mason turned on the juice and hit a grand slam. That team has a lot of talent.

On Saturday night I couldn't find anything good on TV so I flipped on my radio. There was a talk show going on. After about five minutes of listening to Rush Limbaugh I had to excuse myself so I could go to the bathroom and vomit.

Then I found a station out of Ohio that was playing some of the old classics. They played a Roy Acuff song, "Call Old Rattler From The Barn; Here Rattler Here." Roy couldn't carry a tune in a bucket but that old song brought back a lot of memories.

Old songs are a good catalyst to make the old brain work. When I first came to the

land of the Endless Mountains, they played a song called, "Potter County, Pennsylvania, U.S.A." on WLEM. It was by Dale Miller and it was on all the barroom jukeboxes. It never made it as a big hit, but I liked it.

A lot of people are getting the bug to plant their gardens. The president of the Liars Club at the Cabin Kitchen already has some onions planted. I think Linkie wanted them in the ground so they would not miss the Onion Snow. Maybe the snow makes the onions sweeter?