http://blogs.fingerlakes1.com/flakesoutlook/ Stories and news from rural Yates County en-us Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:08:49 GMT CakePHP http://blogs.fingerlakes1.com/flakesoutlook/friday-night-music/ Good day all local musicians. I have just secured a rehearsal location at the Marcus Whitman middle school band room. 4100 Baldwin Rd., Rushville. We will meet every friday at 7PM and generally go two hours. My main interest is to get a 10-piece jazz group together, but many are interested in performing classical music. If you are interested please send me an email or just show up. I am sure that with a few weeks of organization I can get things going. More later, Wilson Simmons wsimmons@frontiernet.net Thu, Jan 15th 2009, 02:48 GMT http://blogs.fingerlakes1.com/flakesoutlook/i-am-a-right-wing-nut/ http://franz.org/quiz.htm A while back I took a quiz to see where I stood as far as the labels placed on us all for political reasons. Turns out I was as far right as right can go. I can not remember all those questions right now but if you are a liberal you are now enjoying the opinion of a ultra right wing republican man from Potter, NY. I don't believe Barok Obama can do a tenth of what he promised to do. There simply is not the money available. I am sure he will do some good no matter what party he is from. I sort of like the idea of reducing federal income taxes to allow some of that money to be spent to spur the economy. But then where is he going to get the billions needed to start this new "free" health care? Where is he going to get the billions needed to improve infrastructure? That's easy. He will tax the crap out of us and spend it on more worthless programs that allow more people to depend on the government to survive. I am not totally against any democrat or republican. I am against polititions in general. The last 6-8 years there have been way too many involved in corruption, bribery, pay to play, etc. One after another they fall like dominoes. They should be some of our most respected citizens but very few are. No matter who you voted for and who's spin you believe no US President can do much on their own. The congress runs this country. Not very well at this point, but that is their job. I have always been a registered republican. Mainly because at eighteen I thought I would rather be an elephant than an ass. I knew nothing about either party. Now that I am in the over forty crowd and older and wiser I see things differently, literally. I now wear a pair of glasses (almost like Palins) and they work well for a BS screen that filters out all the CNN spin and allows me to see polititions for what they are. That is, bought and paid for men and women who have no true understanding of how difficult it is to earn, save and spend money to keep a family afloat. Obama says he can. There is a "big change" coming. We'll see about that. I did vote for George Bush. Twice. A mistake? Just maybe the second time. Time will tell. I still say he did what was necessary in going to Iraq. Any president should have done the same. Obama has four years to be the boss and hopefully he can accomplish both what he wants and what the people want. I will support him as much as I can. I see too many people plainly choosing the opposite opinion of the opposition just for the sake of the party. That won't work for anybody. If it is a good idea we should all see it through. No matter what party you belong to go take the test. Actually take two and see where you fit in. I swore that my scores would be right down the middle. Turns out I am an ultra right wing nut job. Now that I know that maybe I will run for congress!!! Congressman Wilson W. Simmons Jr. R-NY Sun, Dec 14th 2008, 06:17 GMT http://blogs.fingerlakes1.com/flakesoutlook/old-schoolhouses-of-potter/ I have not had much time for story writing so I thought I would share a few pictures of the old school houses of Potter. My favorite is the Old Roundstone Schoolhouse which was at the corner of West Swamp Road and Voorhees Road. The top picture is of the Voak schoolhouse which was in the hamlet of Voak. There were as many as 18 rural schoolhouses. By the early 1930's there were 13. I have pictures of all but the Harkness School which was on Harvey Road. I'll put in another plea for a picture here - so if you have one please let me know. The Amish and Menninite communities have built many schoolhouses as their population increases. There is not a better sight to see than driving by and seeing kids playing a simple game of kickball or softball. My philosophy is certainly leaning towards their way of education. I'll save all that for a later time. Enjoy the pictures. I'll post the other 10 ASAP or send me an email at wsimmons@frontiernet.net Wilson Simmons Jr. Potter, NY Fri, Nov 21st 2008, 09:55 GMT http://blogs.fingerlakes1.com/flakesoutlook/the-end-of-a-rainbow/ I believe everyone has asked them self what is at the end of a rainbow. From the leprechaun’s story of a pot of gold to the farmer’s story of a field of potatoes, everybody has their own answer. I have probably seen a hundred rainbows but the end was always too far off to chase. One day back in my youth I recall a complete double rainbow that must have stretched for fifty miles. I was too busy raking hay to go find the pot of gold, and at the age of twelve or so I was not about to pedal my bike to discover something that just might be unreachable. So around and around the field I went. In the dry heat of June – brushing away those pesky deer flies and wiping away the sweat from my eyes. Every time I circled the field the rainbow was still there. My imagination was taking me far far away from the hay field. Sometimes I would see gold, jewels and the pirate’s chest my Uncle Charlie told me was there and other times I would see a big field of potatoes that my grandmother said was there. When my father arrived at the field with a drink for me and to check up on me, he raised the brim of his hat, looked right at it and never said a word. I was considering asking him what might be at the end, but I knew his answer would be something like, “Depends on where the end is.” Or “Never had time to go see.” He had been around the hay field a few times himself. For him there was never much time for imagination, just work and reality. If he only knew how much people respected him. His silence would drive the sense right into you. He once stood behind my cousin and just waited as he literally pumped so much air into a bicycle tire that it exploded. He once punished me for using the .22 rifle without asking by having me scoop and bag about two tons of oats from the bin in the barn. The thing is I did not realize I was being punished for quite some time. Clever old fellow he was. I left the gun alone. Today I saw a rainbow as I drove to town with the kids. They spotted it first and said, “Dad, the end is right up there!” And to my surprise it was. As we got to the top of Lincoln Hill we could see clearly that the bottom of the rainbow was at the lake road. “We are going to be rich,” my son said. “Dad keep going!!” They hollered from the back seat. Well of course I was going to keep going, but not for the gold. I just wanted to see if it was actually possible to get to the end and know we were there. All those rainbows I saw for so long and they were all so far away. But this time the end was in sight. It was a kid’s dream coming true. As we got to the bottom of the hill I pulled over off to the side of the road so we could take a better look. As we all stuck our head out the window the rainbow had disappeared. I don’t know who was more dejected, the kids or myself. The kid in me wanted to find something. The kids themselves, well John wanted to find gold and Elizabeth wanted to find ice cream. Turns out that when you do get there you are too close, and it disappears. So you are again left to the imagination and memories that you started with. We were not blessed with an actual treasure but John found two heads up pennies and a seven dollar winning lottery ticket that someone had dropped. Elizabeth has yet to discover her treasure, but the day is not over. My treasure was remembering my father, and all the things he taught me, usually without saying a single word. Wilson Simmons Jr.Potter, NY Sun, Nov 9th 2008, 12:29 GMT http://blogs.fingerlakes1.com/flakesoutlook/i-am-a-fl1-forum-junkie/ Hello. My name is Wilson and I am a FL1 forum junkie. I got home and headed right for my laptop to check my stocks, my email and the FL1 Yates County forum and......nothin' I know they warned us but still, I am addicted. I need to find out what the Sovereign King is doing and who he is bashing. I need to see if there is any more post on the drunk driving thread. Boy we sure did make someone mad last night. She called us a bad name. I have some more pictures to post, people to write. I even think I know who the Sovereign King of Penn Yan is. So hurry up FL1. Make it run faster, without crashing very night at 8:00, just when things are getting good. These forums are the adult way of writing grafitti on the bathroom wall and getting away with it. So much fun. There's Penn Yan's own Sovereign King, Rick the Builder, nymamma, Barbara, Samuel, Aunt Bea, Boss Hog, LovePY, bhawley, dummy2, PYMasterSteve and many more characters to keep tract of. Here is what I did while the forum was down. I laid a carpet at the base of the stairs. Took a nap Checked the CNN news Vacuumed the carpets Made some coffee Whittled myself a pipe Chased Aunt Bea around the house Went on I-tunes Practiced my trumpet Cleaned my desk ......running out of things to do.....maybe I'll drive around the Potter Muck before dark and look for the "Swamp Monster." He come out this time of year. I'd go to the store but that is closed now. There is nothing to do. Oh I guess maybe I will write some more of my memoirs. Tue, Oct 21st 2008, 13:14 GMT