Code One - Animal Escape!

Today we enjoyed yet another lovely day at the zoo with Liz. We've been so thankful for the rare cool days when she decides it isn't too hot for real socks! You wouldn't believe the pathetic little things she puts on her feet when it's hot. They don't even deserve the name sock! How can something with only a foot, and no ankle at all, be considered a sock? They're footies - and about as exciting as, well, something really boring!

Sorry, anyway. Today at lunch we were sitting behind the animal stage as usual and decided it was time we introduced ourselves to Minnow - the African grey parrot who's a bit of a diva (what's the male version of diva?) because he has the only speaking part in the show.

We thought Minnow was having a good day - Liz had already fed him about 20 blueberries from her lunch - so we crawled out of the sneakers and stretched up to say hello. Well! Before we barely got our toes out of the shoes his wings went up and he became very agitated. Helen warned that he would gladly take our toes off if given the chance, so we had to say our hellos from a safe distance.

Since we were already out of the shoes, and it was such a beautiful day, we decided to rest ourselves on the cooler that Bodacious (Boa constrictor) is kept in (and which doubles as a lunch table). Barely two minutes had passed when we had some excitement - Code One - Animal Escape! Junior, the thick-tailed bushbaby, was out of his cage and on us in a flash!

Bushbabies are well known for their ability to jump distances of eight feet or more when traveling in the branches of trees. Apparently, in his haste to escape, we had to double for branches.

The situation didn't last too long and, with the aid of a bit of Liz's granola bar, Helen was able to wrangle Junior back into his cage and settle everyone down before the second show began. It was a close call though. We only hope that if there is ever an animal escape again while we are at the zoo, that it isn't Annie who gets out...

You can just imagine the kind of fun she would have with us if she did.

Work is Hard

Due to an absence of adventure, Liz has worn us to work instead. We thought it would be hard - dragging kids through the woods, dealing with reptile poop, staring at a power strip under her desk for the afternoon... Boy, were we wrong. This is how our day at work went...

First, we had to spend some quality time thinking about what to do with the kids who come for camp. Apparently the blood flows better if the feet are propped up on the desk. We usually refer to this posture as "chillin'" but Liz seems to think it is a more productive pose.

After some thoughtful minutes spent on camp planning we shifted to more important things - like how to kill the two hours that were left until we could leave...

Who knew that staring at large cows on a computer could be so illuminating? After reflecting on the state of funds in our pockets, and how much chocolate we would be able to procure with said funds, we decided to go for a walk, ahem, we mean we went to the main offices on important work-related business (business that just happened to take us past the gift shop...where, oddly enough, we met several of our co-workers engaged in similar activities.)

At the main offices we met Robin, the museum receptionist. Robin admired us and asked whether our maker "took orders." Liz said "no." (We are becoming quite famous around the museum!)

After such a long hard day Liz felt the need to unwind so we headed for her parents house and found a peaceful patch of grass to relax on. We took a short shoeless romp around the backyard and wound up lounging next to a lovely little garden that was watched over by a stone turtle.

Changes

Well! We have been experiencing so much over the last few weeks that we haven't had time to report on all the goings on! The two biggest things that have happened are: we moved, and Liz got a second job.

Moving was very stressful. Liz kept crying all of the time because of all the problems that seemed to come with her new apartment. Finally, we have all begun settling in and things have gotten much better. We knew it for sure when she stopped on her way to set her clothes out for today, turned around, and brought us out of the drawer. Whoopee! Adventure was on its way!

Our adventure turned out to be a bit of a surprise as Liz took us somewhere we had already been - the Zoo. Seems Liz has gotten a summer job there and spends almost as much time there as she does at the museum. Our trip to the zoo was not like our last. We got to go in areas we weren't allowed to see before (some of that was a blessing - yuck!) and met all kinds of interesting animals and people.

We started the day introducing zoo visitors to the Black-footed penguins. It would have been totally cool if it hadn't been during their morning feeding...pee-yew!!! Penguins only eat fish and there was no getting away from the smell.

Next we had to do a show about frogs. There were many people in the audience - most of whom seemed to be only slightly taller than the penguins we saw at the start of the day! They were very enthusiastic about the frogs but at the end things got a little dicey. When Liz invited them to meet the frogs up close they all rushed the stage, yelling and pushing and trampling each other. We were sure we were going to be hurt - or at least muddied a little. Fortunately the adults in charge of the kids managed to break-up the mob and get them in a nice line to look at the frogs. Whew! It sure seemed like a close call.

Later we got to meet the lady who takes care of the wolves and explain to the public why she was training them and how she was doing it. They were very cool (and not at all smelly!) Our last stop of the day was at the elephants. Their trainers came out and Liz talked about them for the public. Whenever Liz would mention something cool about elephants they would do something, like, when she mentioned their trunks, they both raised them in the air. And when she told the audience how to tell them apart, they each got up and waggled their ears when she said their names. Now if only we could get the darn rabbit to follow commands like that...

On our way back to the education trailer we discovered strange tracks in the mud along the road. They turned out to be elephant tracks! Liz gave us a chance to see how we measured up but even Liz's feet were small in comparison to an elephant's!

We know that Liz will be busy this summer, but we are looking forward to our next trip to the zoo!

PAR-TAY!

We went to our first party last night! There were all sorts of new things to see, and smell, and touch. We were very excited to make some new sock friends but to our chagrin most of the feet we met were naked! Liz didn't tell us it was that kind of party.

The party was at the house of a woman that Liz works with. The theme was kitchens - and there were shiny metal tools spread throughout the place. A woman dressed all in pink was explaining how each tool could be used while everyone else watched and stuffed their faces.

Besides people, there were several animals in the house: one rabbit, several fish, and...

a gang of very naughty kitties.

When we first met the kitties, they seemed very interested in Left. Especially the boy kitty they called Fuzzy Boy.

Liz took their picture and the flash scared them away. Apparently kitties, even naughty ones, are not made of the same mettle as stripey socks. All was well after they left and Liz settled down with the others to enjoy the kitchen show and food. But then suddenly, unprovoked, from out of nowhere...

ATTACK!!!

In a moment's time a maelstrom of teeth and claws descended upon an unsuspecting Left. It was Fuzzy Boy - obsessed with whatever special enticements Left unknowingly posessed. The attack raged on...

and on...

...while I, Right, struggled in vain to draw the attention away from Left. Eventually it was Left who saved herself with a well-placed poke to the creature's nose.

Later, having recovered from the attack, we took advantage of the party's theme to begin plotting our revenge...

Career aspirations

For many months we have been witness to Liz's dizzying attempts to find a new job. We've been on interviews, traveled to the Adirondacks, and kept her toes toasty as she drowned her job searching misery in countless pints of ice cream. Today, we had a revelation - we must guide her (we are attached to her feet, after all) towards a new career path. One that will be beneficial not only to her but to us as well. But what career would suit all of our collective needs? And then it came to us - a memory of something we saw while relaxing in the car outside of Red Lobster a few weeks ago...

It's genius!!! The continental school of beauty culture! We can't believe we didn't think of it before. Not only would attendance at the school help solve Liz's employment issues, but it would also make her more aesthetically appealing to the opposite sex. As to helping us? It's a no brainer - PEDICURES. Not only would we be happier wrapping ourselves around manicured toes, but also we would undoubtedly live longer thanks to the alleviation of such blights as rough heels and too-long toenails.

Sadly, we are no fools. We have been with Liz long enough to know that the odds of getting her to even approach such a place are slim to none. A sock (or two) can dream...

Stopping to Smell the Flowers

Today we visited Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge. What a place!

Liz and her friend Karen try to go at least once a year to hike the trails, birdwatch, and look for wildflowers. Today there wasn't much in the way of birdwatching - mostly robins, red-winged blackbirds, and turkey vultures. Oh, yeah, and GEESE! Canada geese were just everywhere. We got pretty close to a few and it got a little scary. They are really big birds! We're sure that two stripey socks from Kansas would be no match for them.

Karen was disappointed at the lack of decent birdwatching - Liz was o.k. with it though. She was more interested in looking for spring wildflowers and just getting out in the trees to hike. As a group we hiked three different trails today. We really put in some miles! We think we went farther today than when we went snowshoeing!

After our first trail we went to a scenic overlook and had our first ever picnic. It's the closest we've ever been to food. Left seems to be a bit of a junky and wanted the doritos mix, while Right (who has become concerned over Liz's increasing weight - ahem) went for the carrots and broccoli. As we enjoyed the fresh breezes and listened to Liz and Karen crunching down their lunches, Karen spotted the Bald Eagle nest far across the pools at the overlook. Even though it was very far away, Liz and Karen could see an eagle sitting on the nest when they used their binoculars. We couldn't see for ourselves, but we've decided to take their word for it.

We spotted many spring wildflowers in our travels...

hepatica

trillium (not open yet, darn!)

and the biggest field of bloodroot Liz has ever seen! (This is only a very small portion!)

We also saw six snakes today! They were all garter snakes, and quite small. And we heard many birds and frogs - toads, green frog, gray tree frog, and spring peepers. We did have one exciting bird sighting. We saw the biggest woodpecker in the area - the pileated woodpecker.

We didn't actually smell any flowers today. Most of the flowers blooming now are of the non-stinky variety. Still, we did smell many other things like the soft scent of pine while we hiked through a stand of evergreens, the mild stink from the swampy wetlands, and the fresh green smell that kept reminding us of just how wonderful spring can be.

Whoa-a-o, take 'em to the zoo...

This morning Liz was singing a peculiar song as she slipped us on her feet. She was headed for an interview that would prove to be another exciting field trip for us - the zoo!

We know about animals and all, living with a precocious rabbit who seems to be constantly shedding and spreading her hair over every inch of the apartment - including us! But the animals at the zoo were a little different than the rabbit. During Liz's interview some fancy gray parrot-like bird was giving us the eye and rudely squaking whenever the impulse struck. We heard the lady doing the interview talk about how this bird had thrown up on her only a short time earlier and then Liz had to wait to take a seat because of the poop on one of the chairs (also from the bird).

We know it isn't PC but, we like animals better in cages. Behind bars we don't have to worry about stepping in poop, becoming covered with hair, or being used as nesting material.

Liz spent the morning promising us exciting adventures like climbing on the giant rope spiderweb and getting out-of-shoe peeks at the animals but, she forgot one very important thing about this week - spring break. The zoo was overrun with moms, strollers, and drooling, whining, screaming children. We prefer small children in small numbers. And since Liz was by herself, and carrying a camera, she received many suspicious looks from the mothers. (Apparently it is a crime to be single in this state.) In light of all of this, she thought it best that we stay safely tucked in the Merrells.

We did our best to stir up some adventure - beyond navigating hordes of small children and "enjoying" the best the zoo had to offer in animal odors. We saw a chance near the polar bear exhibit and Right jumped up on the railing, determined to get a better look at the bears. Liz caught on to us before Left had a chance to follow and our plot was foiled. She gave us some lecture about how no matter how deep the moat seperating the edge from the bears looked, it still wasn't safe to cross the fence. Whatever. We'll catch her napping soon and then - look out!

Our favorite animals were the meerkats and the rhinos. The meerkats were very alert and kept staring out of their glass enclosure like they had spotted something exciting. No matter how many times we looked, we couldn't see what the excitement was about. Maybe they missed the rhinos now that they were in their outside enclosure instead of inside across from the meerkats.

Liz mumbled something under her breath about the "darn glass in the way" as we left the building. She seemed to think thier excited glances were due to the warm weather and the yummy crunchy insects that such weather brings. And then she told us a naughty story about her adventures at a zoo in Wichita...

The rhinos were very exciting. They spent a lot of time challenging each other and having what we guess were the rhino version of wrestling matches. They would face each other and knock horns (what a sound!). One seemed to be in control and would stalk the other until it was backed into a corner. It just seemed like rough-housing though, nothing mean really. When their heads would slide against each other the sound of their skin meeting was like giant sheets of sand paper being rubbed together. It was easy to imagine what that skin felt like.