I was there to watch the helicopter take off from Pottsville’s new, high tech heliport at 14th and Cedar Streets; it was by accident, no pun intended. Mammy Trout was going to her weekly boomb-ba practice at the Catholic War Vets when she tripped over the instrument she was dragging with her. It was very hot out and she had trouble with her arthritis, and I know I should have given her a ride instead of laying on the sofa watching Channel 15; you know, the Pottsville Comcast station with the hard to read community bulletin board. I can watch it for hours just trying to figure out when the sewer and recreation authorities meet. It's like a Rubic's cube to me.
If you are not familiar with the German boom-bas instrument, it is a long pole, resembling a pogo stick, which has tied to it cowbells, cymbals, sleigh bells and a tambourine. It is played with a drumstick. It may have been invented by Antonio Stradivari before he turned his attention to the violin back in early 18th century. On the other hand it could have been invented by Spike Jones or even as a practical joke by an unknown Pennsylvania Dutchman. Who knows? In any event it is a great instrument to play polka music or any music depending on how much alcohol has been consumed. I remember one night of heavy drinking in which Mammy’s troupe got a standing ovation for their rendition of How Great Thou Art.
As soon as Mammy’s left foot got tangled in dangling sleigh bells, she hit the ground hard and fast. Luckily the sleigh bell sounds alerted the medevac rescue team; within minutes they had checked Mammy’s medical insurance, took her pulse, re-checked her medical insurance and then placed her on the stretcher, loading her into the helicopter for a flight to a trauma unit in the Lehigh Valley. It appears that neither local hospital is equipped for boom-ba-related accidents. That is one reason for the increase in air medical transportation I suppose. Cass Township near Minersville will soon have its own Medevac heliport. There is another one at the Nativity practice field. I say the more the better; you never know when another boom-ba accident may occur. I am not sure where all the others helicopters are heading to; maybe Geisinger, University of Pennsylvania, Locust Mountain, Mountain Shadow, and the Skippack Doll Hospital, who knows for sure?
I had a lump in my throat when I watched Mammy take off. She had never flown before. The closest she got to flying was taking a ride once on the Satellite at Knoebel’s Grove. She did not like it. “Up, up and away she goes!” Mammy never got to see us waving the broken boom-ba and drumstick at her as she was strapped down, screaming as loud as she could in her thick Pennsylvania Dutch accent, “Dummkup! Put me down!” I got a rush listening to the sounds of the whooshing blades as they drowned her out. For a moment I actually felt that I was no longer in the center of Pottsville, but transformed to the set of the old MASH television show, imaging that Mammy was in good hands with the likes of Hawkeye, Trapper John and Hotlips Houlihan. In any event the next day Mammy was home in Pottsville with her foot in a cast, her boom-bas playing arm in a sling, and her pride bruised. I think medicare covered the flight expenses. We will wait and see. I heard that costs are well over $6,000 (lower if headed to the Skippack Doll Hospital, but she did not want to go there). We will have to take the boom-ba to the Centre Street pawnshop if the insurance doesn’t cough up. I’m not sure what we would get for it. Maybe George Blum knows. I will ask him and maybe I’ll give him first crack at auctioning it off. I also want to know if Pottsville gets a piece of the action in the form of occupational privilege taxes. If so, it will take away some of the pain.
If you are not familiar with the German boom-bas instrument, it is a long pole, resembling a pogo stick, which has tied to it cowbells, cymbals, sleigh bells and a tambourine. It is played with a drumstick. It may have been invented by Antonio Stradivari before he turned his attention to the violin back in early 18th century. On the other hand it could have been invented by Spike Jones or even as a practical joke by an unknown Pennsylvania Dutchman. Who knows? In any event it is a great instrument to play polka music or any music depending on how much alcohol has been consumed. I remember one night of heavy drinking in which Mammy’s troupe got a standing ovation for their rendition of How Great Thou Art.
As soon as Mammy’s left foot got tangled in dangling sleigh bells, she hit the ground hard and fast. Luckily the sleigh bell sounds alerted the medevac rescue team; within minutes they had checked Mammy’s medical insurance, took her pulse, re-checked her medical insurance and then placed her on the stretcher, loading her into the helicopter for a flight to a trauma unit in the Lehigh Valley. It appears that neither local hospital is equipped for boom-ba-related accidents. That is one reason for the increase in air medical transportation I suppose. Cass Township near Minersville will soon have its own Medevac heliport. There is another one at the Nativity practice field. I say the more the better; you never know when another boom-ba accident may occur. I am not sure where all the others helicopters are heading to; maybe Geisinger, University of Pennsylvania, Locust Mountain, Mountain Shadow, and the Skippack Doll Hospital, who knows for sure?
I had a lump in my throat when I watched Mammy take off. She had never flown before. The closest she got to flying was taking a ride once on the Satellite at Knoebel’s Grove. She did not like it. “Up, up and away she goes!” Mammy never got to see us waving the broken boom-ba and drumstick at her as she was strapped down, screaming as loud as she could in her thick Pennsylvania Dutch accent, “Dummkup! Put me down!” I got a rush listening to the sounds of the whooshing blades as they drowned her out. For a moment I actually felt that I was no longer in the center of Pottsville, but transformed to the set of the old MASH television show, imaging that Mammy was in good hands with the likes of Hawkeye, Trapper John and Hotlips Houlihan. In any event the next day Mammy was home in Pottsville with her foot in a cast, her boom-bas playing arm in a sling, and her pride bruised. I think medicare covered the flight expenses. We will wait and see. I heard that costs are well over $6,000 (lower if headed to the Skippack Doll Hospital, but she did not want to go there). We will have to take the boom-ba to the Centre Street pawnshop if the insurance doesn’t cough up. I’m not sure what we would get for it. Maybe George Blum knows. I will ask him and maybe I’ll give him first crack at auctioning it off. I also want to know if Pottsville gets a piece of the action in the form of occupational privilege taxes. If so, it will take away some of the pain.
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