Stony Brook Ramblings

Oh, fall is upon us and we are loving it! The days are much cooler but still bright and sunny (an added benefit of this glorious weather is a major reduction in sweat production as far as Liz's feet are concerned). This week Liz had a mini vacation - the first since May - and took us on an adventure with her friend Karen.

Liz and Karen began the day with donuts. It started innocently enough as a need for a restroom after the long drive but quickly degenerated into a carb/calorie fest. After we loaded our bellies we headed for a strange place that looked like a library inside except the books were all really big and none of them had words on the spine. Turns out it was a fabric store - um, quilt shop, that is (Yes, I fixed it Liz! Geez!)

After Liz and Karen spent money they shouldn't have on strange pieces of fabric we all piled back in the car and headed for Stony Brook State Park.

As state parks go, it's kinda smallish but well worth the drive. Since it was Tuesday and getting into the off-season parts of the year, there was no entrance fee and almost no people to run into on the trails. Did we mention the trails? Now, we've been on trails with Liz before but these ones seemed to only go in one direction - up. The stony brook runs through a gorge with very steep sides (I suppose it wouldn't be a gorge if the sides weren't steep, hmm).

Fortunately both Liz and Karen, while able to go the entire trail up one side of the gorge and back down the other, were not in the best shape of their lives and stopped frequently on the steep inclines to wheeze and chug water.

We know it looks bad but Liz really was okay, she just needed a serious rest before continuing up the neverending stairs. All of the height we gained while hiking the east rim provided some beautiful views of the gorge below.

Check out the rad waterfall. There were more once we reached the other side and the hiking was finally more down then up. On the west rim we got right down next to the water. It was very beautiful.

Here is one of our favorite shots from the trip. Check out the lone maple tree that is already red - it's as ready for fall as we are!

After we all had a hearty (and inhaled) lunch we found time for a little fun on the swings. One of these days Liz is going to kill us all trying to get these crazy action shots!



Wheeeee!!!!

A Sweet Ride

What a month we're having! Our latest adventure took us to the busy metropolis of Caledonia, NY. We were attending a graduation party for the son of one of our favorite people (who also happens to be the education director where we work). Parties at her house are always interesting because her husband is, shall we say, a bit eccentric. His hobbies include model trains, army vehicles, and anything he can tinker with pretty much.

This house was also the site of the party where we were attacked by the gang of vicious kitties.

For some time we have been hearing about the most famous member of the army vehicle collection (don't spoil the surprise!) and were delighted to learn that rides on this vehicle were going to be part of the graduation festivities. We believe that Liz washed clothes a day early just so we could go with her.

After a hearty meal and pleasant conversation with the gang from the museum, it was announced that the time for rides had come. Hooray!

We have to admit that we were a little apprehensive but we figured a vehicle like that could only go so fast. Boy, were we wrong!

Here we are pre-ride:



This is called a half track. It is half truck, half tank. Who could've imagined it would go so fast?


This shot is of us rocketing down routes 5 and 20 towards the monument at the heart of Caledonia. Notice the quizzical looks from people on the street. What are a group of people doing driving the streets of Caledonia, whooping and hollering and waving, on a half track?


The ride was thrilling. And the vibrations that came from the floor of the half track were compared by many to the vibrating foot massagers found at the state fair. One rider said her feet were actually vibrated right to sleep!

After our ride, the owner proudly displayed pictures of the vehicle in its prime.



After so much excitement in one month we are predicting some serious downtime in September. School is starting up again and Liz needs to find another job so she can afford to keep us clean!

Sock Olympics

We’ve been watching quite a bit of the Olympics lately. It’s all very exciting! We have seen some pretty impressive feet at work but, sadly, not many socks are involved in the winning of medals. It’s kind of hard to imagine when we think of all of the adventures we’ve had with Liz that definitely were enhanced by the presence of socks – (especially socks as wonderful as us!)

We have become so inspired by the Olympic Games that we decided we needed to do something more with ourselves and take up a sport. We’ve enjoyed watching the swimming the most so far but, unfortunately, swimmers don’t wear socks. Maybe someday they will have magic swimming socks like their special swimsuits! Either way, as much as we’ve begged, Liz still refuses to take us to the pool with her when she goes early in the morning. Watching swimming on TV and then seeing Liz when she returns and smelling the chlorine odors that drift from her swimsuit as it hangs on the rack…someday, someday.

Well, we still had a problem – what sport would we really excel in? Finally, we found the answer…


Oh, yes. Rhythmic gymnastics! Sadly rhythmic gymnastics is a sport not widely followed. It is often overshadowed by, well, I guess we would call it regular gymnastics. Now, we’ve tried some of those fancy moves with the help of our trusty trampoline but, living in an attic, with peaked ceilings, running and jumping and tumbling is NOT recommended.



Now that we mention it, there is a trampoline category in the Olympics but again, our living arrangements prevent us from pursuing that.
To begin our rhythmic gymnastics training we had to find a way to move gracefully with a ball. I think maybe we need a smaller ball before we can make it to the Olympics though.


Next we pestered Liz until she made us the famous ribbon-on-a-stick thing. We experimented with several different ways of holding on to it. We finally settled with…

It is very graceful, no? (Didn’t know we could do a French accent, did you?)

After hours and hours of practice one thing became very clear – we need better equipment. To get better equipment, like all sports stars, we need a sponsor. Liz suggested Oliver’s. I don’t think that Oliver’s sponsorship will make us more graceful – bigger maybe, but not more graceful.

Watch for us in four years…2012 Olympics, here we come!

We Thought We'd Seen It All...

Just when we thought we'd seen it all, Liz has taken us on yet another adventure. A few days ago we went to the Wyoming County Fair in picturesque Pike, New York.

The fair was noisy and smelly (in both good and bad ways). Liz OD'd on maple candy and sugar waffles - there may even be some powdered sugar still on Left's ankle. As we were perusing some of the local livestock (a little too closely for our safety, if you ask us) there was an announcement for a livestock show about to begin. The first category was to be "Most Beautiful." All of the animals seemed equally attractive to us but we were curious to see how beauty was ranked according to official fair judges. So we headed around the corner and to the sawdust-covered bleachers to get a good view. What we saw once we were seated just about blew our little socky minds...

It was a 4H Animal Costume Show. We had hit the jackpot. Not only were the animals and their owners costumed but, as each made their way around the ring, the announcer told a story based on their outfits and recounting their adventures which ultimately led them to the fair.

Liz was in awe and took far more pictures than were needed but, she was convinced that her story would not be believed without hard evidence. Some of our favorite entries included:

The Olympics-inspired soccer player and referee. How big is that whistle?!

The teenage mutant ninja turtle pig who squealed in displeasure throughout the event.

The entomologist (from the Matrix, apparently) who finally found a nine-spotted lady beetle. (Check out the cow's antennae.)

How about a sheep in scrubs?

Of all of the places we've been, it's kind of funny that Liz got self-conscious and didn't want to risk the embarrassment of exposing our stripes to the locals around us. Although we still got to appreciate all of the sights and smells of the day. Looking back, it may have been in our best interest not to come out too far - there was more mud, poop, and beer around than we could've imagined. It's plenty dirty hangin' out inside Liz's shoes, thank you very much!

After so much sugar and entertainment we headed home and sacked out in front of the Olympics.

The Best $5 We Ever Spent

Whoopee!!!

Yahoo!!!

Yeehaa!!!

Sorry, we are a little preoccupied with our latest purchase. A few days ago Liz stopped by a yard sale on the way to work and we saw something we just had to have. She took some convincing. We new she was sold once the people let us all try it out! Check it out...isn't it beautiful!?!

We'd show you pics of us jumping but that is pretty much impossible. It doesn't mean we didn't try though - here's the best we were able to do.

Note the slightly blurry, actiony-feel of the photo and the barely pressing down quality of our footprints on the surface. Thank goodness the neighbors couldn't see us!

Christmas came early this year.

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.