Battle of the Bulge, Father's Day and "Nuts!"....

Domenic J. Messere

This has been a weather nightmare for a good portion of not only our country but of Europe and beyond with floods, tornados,  rain and hail.  Down here in old Eaton we escaped the big flood by a matter of a couple of hours more of rain.  The museum is fine even though the weather has prevented my rear section roofing plans from going forward…I assure you that after falling from two roofs I have learned…

Rule 1 -”Do not roof on wet days!”

Rule 2- “Do not use wet aluminum ladders!”

So I have been working on other projects that have finally come together.

Father’s Day always bring thoughts of my dad who I worked with as a helper as a child and who worked with me when he retired as an adult.  He never really swore in mixed company using his famous “NUTS!” as the expletive if something went wrong.  He was an ‘officer and gentlemen” as the old saying goes.

He had actually been with Patton at the Battle of the Bulge time and I guess he picked up the phrase “Nuts” from General McAuliffe who was the acting commander of the 101^st Airborne at the siege of Bastogne.  The general had quite a history..he had flown in on a glider before D Day.  When asked to surrender by the Germans who had his troops surrounded,  he sent back one of the most famous WWII replies…one word…”NUTS!” Some say it was because he didn't want to be remembered for a swear word..but whatever...

Dad taught me everything about construction and electricity - I remember his saying, ”If you are going to learn to drive a car, you should know how it works and how to fix it”.  If I had and older model truck I could still do it today.    I even rebuilt an engine in the dead of winter and repaired anything I could.

His motto was...”IF YOU CAN READ AND HAVE THE TOOLS YOU CAN DO ALMOST ANYTHING!”  You can!

My favorite story was the time I bought a house in Syracuse and we had to jack up the basement in one part because of a broken beam.  I came home from a job…contracting…and dad was in the basement.  He told me to hold this timber in place and he worked the jack.  We could not lift it…the timber came loose and hit me in the head. 

After much effort and two jacks we got it sort of up there.  One day I decided to hang a shelf on the wall above the bad area and “bam” I found the reason why we had such a hard time.  A former owner had taken a chimney out in the basement and on the outside but not in the middle…. He or she had walled it off! 

P.S.   The word he used when 

the beam came loose and hit me was “Nuts”.  I said something 
different!

Father's Day reminds me of the Peacocks of Eaton

Well yesterday was Father’s Day and I really felt lonely and alone more than usual.  I was actually outside chopping up my 3-ton tree that was removed from my roof this week…Thank You Bartlett Tree…

The fact is, I love to chainsaw and love to split wood. Though using the axe..wedges..plural..and wood maul to bust them was a bit of a challenge considering the size and wet weight of the thing…..

I like to think that “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’, as dad taught me a lot of what I know and helped me in my many projects even working with me when I was doing contracting in the Syracuse area.

The fact is dad always said if you can read you can do almost anything…and over the years that has proved to be true.  From photography to electricity and farther beyond to house jacking and car repair…we did it all together…and now I do it alone.

Dad served in the Regular Army, National Guard, and Reserve for well over 30 years and was a leader.  My most treasured remembrance of that is my autographed picture of Patton that hangs in my office that Dad was given…by Patton.  In the Army he was truly in everything, Engineers, Tanks, Infantry, Signal Corp….

He also loved to travel which is probably where I get my wanderlust from…can’t stand to be stuck here in old Eaton without getting out and about…

When I came to Eaton in 1984 Dad came down to help install the electricity to the house (house had no’s...no water...no electricity…..many no walls...no floors…you name it and it didn’t have it.)

At that point the old restaurant in Eaton had the only pay phone in town, though the restaurant itself was just a burned out shell. So the night he stayed over in “camping conditions” in the dark, we walked to the phone to call my mother.  Since Dad had been in charge of removing explosives on bridges before  tanks crossed with Patton, you can imagine how calm a guy he was…nerves of steel…until that night!

As the phone connected him to mom in the dark quiet of Eaton we heard a horrific noise...an indescribable bunch of shrieks...he jumped and exclaimed what the h..ll was that! 

I had failed to tell him that the old “Applegate” like mansion on the hill, across the street, had peacocks roaming around…and what a God awful noise they did make!