Category Archives: dogs

Walk in the Woods

Posted on November 8, 2011 by mohawkvalleygirl

Sunday was our dog, Tabby’s birthday. I suggested we celebrate with a walk on the Nature Trail at Herkimer County Community College (HCCC).

I was introduced to the trail a few years ago by a then student of the college. We would meet once a week and walk. We had meant to branch out and explore the canal trails as well, but we never seemed to get around to that.

Steven worked till two on Sunday, and we both wanted coffee after that, so we headed up the hill to HCCC shortly after three. It was an utterly beautiful day with bright sunlight. The temperature was a little cool, but we had jackets, I wore a hat, and Tabby, of course, sported her all natural fur coat. No worries about Tabby keeping warm anyways. She was so excited she jumped around enough to keep three dogs warm.

We parked near the gymnasium and walked past the tennis courts and ball fields. Tabby must have remembered the trail, because she eagerly pulled me in the right direction. A sign in front of the trail’s entrance told us that dogs are welcome but must be on a leash.

The trail is not very extensive, but it goes into the woods far enough that you can lose your way if you’re not careful. It loops around a few times as well. The wood chip trail was a little obscured by fallen leaves, but we could also see posts to follow.

I soon started in with my usual walking in the woods jokes.

“If you see a wolf,” I warned, “don’t tell him we’re on our way to visit Grandma.” A little later: “If you see a house that’s all gingerbread and candy, don’t eat it.”

“But what if I’m hungry?” Steven asked.

He had a good point. I’m not much on gingerbread, but what if the trimmings were chocolate? “OK, you can eat some, but if an old lady comes out, don’t talk to her.”

I started making these silly jokes some years ago, when I was in the army attempting to learn how to read a map. After the third or fourth fairy tale reference, a fellow soldier complained, “At this rate, I’ll never make any new friends in the woods.”

I know, I should get some new material.

Steven made a Blair Witch Project reference, “Let’s follow the stream!”

I played along. “OK, we’ll go this way.” The opposite direction. Anyone who hasn’t seen the movie or doesn’t remember: They’re lost, they agree to follow the stream, they totally don’t. Steven and I both point out, while a witch could probably easily mess with a compass, it would take a real bad ass witch to change up a whole stream.

Tabby ignored all our jokes and enjoyed her birthday walk very much. Steven and I enjoyed it too, as well as the view of the countryside when we emerged from the woods and headed back to our car.

I’ve blogged (such a silly verb) many times about running up to and around HCCC. Sometimes I forget to mention that it’s good for walking, too. Check it out.

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What I Did Thursday

Posted on November 5, 2011 by mohawkvalleygirl

Once again this week Friday is dead to me, so I cannot offer a real Friday Lame Post. What I intend to write is a Pedestrian Post. Readers can judge its lame qualities for themselves.

I actually had a couple of real Mohawk Valley events I could have attended. The Herkimer Chamber of Commerce was holding an open house at their new digs, and the US Air Force Liberty Jazz Band was offering a free concert. However, my husband was down with a cold, so I had no escort, and I felt my dog deserved some attention.

I also felt guilty that I have been slacking off sending post cards to my soldiers, so I saw my path clear before me: Write a card, walk with Tabby to the post office. Unfortunately, there is a bit of a gap between seeing a path and following it. During that gap, I sat down for a moment and Steven tuned in to one of my favorite crime shows, City Confidential. Suddenly, my shoes and bra were off, and I was happily crocheting while watching all about a murder in Coconut Grove, Florida. I managed to write a post card during a commercial. Tabby waited patiently at first.

“After the show, I’ll put my sneakers on, my bra back on, and we’ll perambulate to the post office,” I said. Like many dog owners, we avoid saying the word “walk.” I’m afraid Tabby has learned either “perambulate” or “post office,” because she got a little agitated. I hurried.

I guess I hurried too fast, because I got almost two blocks away before I noticed I had forgotten my bra. At first I thought I would just keep going and hope nobody noticed. Then I realized that however comfortable bra-less might be while lounging on the couch enjoying cable television, while walking down the sidewalk at a pace set by a lively schnoodle, it is not to be recommended. We turned around.

It’s funny how you can walk a block and a half without really noticing something, then after you have noticed it, it’s HUGE. I was dreadfully uncomfortable. Suddenly my bra was not a torture device dictated by polite society, but my kind, supportive friend.

The stop home was good, too, because I put on a warmer jacket and hat. The jacket originally belonged to my sister-in-law. She didn’t like it after her grandkids called it Goth. It isn’t really. It’s got a weird-looking grey on black design. It is a very warm jacket. The hat was knitted. I had been wearing my crazy old lady hat, but I realized as we left the house again that it was pretty much a crazy old lady outfit anyways. I was also wearing the BDU pants they let me keep when I left the army. I’ve been wearing them to work lately. Very practical for such a purpose. I don’t know what the neighborhood thinks of me, or even if they notice. I try not to worry about it.

We walked to the post office a different way from our usual, going by the historic four corners first. I thought briefly of looking for ghosts, as I did one other time. None were visible from the sidewalk.

The sun was almost down. It made me think sadly of the imminent time change, when it will be dark much earlier. I know, I was just lamenting the 5 pm sunlight during trick or treating. There is just no pleasing me.

Nothing of note happened on the walk, but it was pleasant. Tabby enjoyed it, and my legs appreciated the exercise. I’m hoping Steven will feel better tonight, and we can have a Mohawk Valley adventure.

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Trick or Treat!

Posted on November 2, 2011 by mohawkvalleygirl

It’s no secret that Steven and I love Halloween. One of the highlights of my year is to stand on my front porch October 31 with my husband and my dog, and greet the trick or treaters. Last night that is just what I did. Of course you knew I was going to write a blog post about it.

Trick or treating in Herkimer was scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. I thought I would have just enough time after work to go running, take a shower and just possibly make my blog post.

When I returned from my run, I saw that Steven had added to our outside decorations. Boney, our blow up skellington, was poised between the two trash cans (Tuesday is garbage day). Our new ghoul, a six foot tall Grim Reaper was on the porch. We purchased the Reaper recently at a garage sale for a very good price. His eyes and lamp light up, his head turns, and he says creepy things, punctuated by groans or laughter. Eerie laughter, of course. He is light or sound activated. We spent a good portion of the evening stomping on the porch.

As usual I overestimated myself, so the blog post did not get done till later. I was searching for some warm clothes. We often dress in costumes for the trick or treaters, but this year we did not have our act together. Steven wore his green gardening gloves, which look a little oogie. We put Tabby’s hot dog costume on her. She is surprisingly good natured about keeping that hot dog on. We were ready and waiting for the crowd!

And we waited. And we waited. What a slow start! It doesn’t help that they moved the silly time change to a week later, so we were in broad daylight. Who wants to go trick or treating in the daylight? I remember in the olden days, when I was a little girl. The city didn’t dictate when trick or treating began and ended, and we always went out after dark. It was exciting. We especially liked the houses that had light up doorbells.

At last the kids started coming. Once again, I admired and envied the costumes. I remember when I was a kid, store bought costumes were so dumb. You’d have a plastic mask that pretty much looked like the character, whatever it was, and a polyester jump suit with a picture of the character on the chest. I remember thinking they were extremely ridiculous. Caspar the Friendly Ghost (for example) doesn’t go around with a picture of himself on his chest! (Not that I would ever have been Caspar; I thought he was kind of dumb too.) Costumes today are awesome! Still, I love the homemade ones best. One kid was a playing card. He had a joker hat on and a cardboard front and back. His mother said, “That’s what he wanted to be! I just take requests!” Awesome mom. Another memorable costume was a kid with ripped clothes and blood on his face. So simple, yet so profound.

A number of dogs were out, some in costume. Tabby took exception to a couple of them, but we had her on the leash and nothing untoward happened. I’ve read that it is best to shut your dogs up in a separate room during trick or treating. They might be frightened of the strange costumes. For one thing, Tabby’s feeling would be very hurt if we did something so fun on the front porch and shut her up inside. For another thing, she LOVED seeing all those people in costumes. Many people complimented her on her hot dog, and many petted her. She had as good a time as we did.

Fun as it was, I was not sorry to see seven o’clock roll around. It was cold, and I didn’t even have oogie gardening gloves on. We went inside to find the cheesey Mummy’s Curse from 1964 on TCM. We gave candy to a few stragglers, and started making plans for Halloween 2012.

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I Digress

Posted on October 30, 2011 by mohawkvalleygirl

I am lightheaded. I don’t know why: I have not taken any sinus medication since… Thursday? I forget (an effect of the medication? Or my current lightheadedness?). And yet a voice in my head keeps repeating, “But my blog! My blog!”

I have not gone running in two or three weeks (a glance at my running journal would tell me, but that’s downstairs). (My running journal is a journal only by the most generous definition of the word. It is a spiral bound book I bought at Micheal’s for $1, and when I run Steven or I make a note of how long I ran, sometimes including hills climbed and dogs petted.) (Actually, I think it is quite appropriate, considering my runs are actually running only by the most generous definition of the term.) (But I digress.)

So I want to start running again, but I have not even been walking much. So I tried to get in a couple of walks this weekend. Saturday Tabby and I went for two 20-minute walks. It felt very good. And a little cold. We did not encounter anything blogworthy.

Today (Sunday) we went for an almost half hour walk. It was even colder, but the sun was bright. I had on my prescription sunglasses (a wonderful device) but was soon wishing I had also worn a hat. That little line between my forehead and the top of my glasses was blinding me. Too bad I don’t have a Frankenstein-style overhanging brow. That would be practical and seasonal. I normally would have worn my crazy old lady hat with its wide brim, but I had on a knitted headband against the cold. I put my hood up and tried to pull it forward with indifferent success. I crossed the street to enjoy some shade. It is colder in the shade, but I have come to accept that you can’t have everything. Tabby did her business and I discovered that it is not too cold for doggie poop to stink. That’s one good thing about when there’s snow on the ground: you scoop a little up with the poop and it doesn’t stink so bad.

It was after I got home from the walk that my lightheadedness hit me. Seriously, I went to go up the stairs and instead laid down on the landing for about ten minutes. Must be it’s not too cold for the pollens to play havoc with my sinuses. And it is damn hard to write a coherent blog post with your head spinning.

A kind friend wrote me a comment on Lame Post Friday, saying why didn’t I feel free to write what I felt like writing. Since I’m in the Mohawk Valley, anything I write is technically germane. I guess I’ve invoked that rule today. My walks were taken in the Mohawk Valley. When I manage to run again, it will be in the Mohawk Valley. You know what, I’ll bet it’s Mohawk Valley pollens that are making me so lightheaded. So there.

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Walk into History

Posted on October 20, 2011 by mohawkvalleygirl

When I took a walk with my schnoodle Tabby on Tuesday, I armed myself with a little notebook so I could write down information from any historic markers I passed. I thought it would make my walk more blogworthy.

Steven suggested I use one of the mini composition books he had put in my stocking at Christmas. I have quite a fascination with notebooks, pens, index cards, binders, clipboards, and other tools of writing. Anyone who shares this interest (I know my Mom likes notebooks) will understand that my walk suddenly became even more interesting.

We walked by the 1834 Jail. The historic marker informed me that the jail had housed Chester Gilette during his trial for the murder of Grace Brown in 1906. I wrote it down, but in fact I did not need to. I know a lot about Chester Gilette. I even wrote a blog post about him once.

I think the other side of the marker told about Roxlanna Druse, who I believe was the last female executed in Herkimer County. That, I could have benefited from writing in my notebook. Unfortunately, Tabby was pulling me in the opposite direction, and since she had already nicely waited while I wrote about Chester Gilette, I followed her. I’ll find out more about Roxlanna for a future post.

No historic markers as we walked down Main Street. Tabby looked longingly at our church, Christ Episcopal, but it was not a good time to cross the street. Anyways, I didn’t know of any historic markers in that direction. Then she wanted to go through the park next to Basloe Library, which I agreed to since it was on the same side of the street. No historic markers, but a couple of interesting trees for her to sniff. So far a good walk for a schnoodle. For my purposes, not so much.

We walked through Meyers Park. I knew there were historic markers there. First I saw a stone fountain. At least, I guess it used to be a fountain. It’s dry now. It was erected in memory of Elisha Washburn in 1909. There may have been a story behind that, but the engraving did not say so. I moved on to the historic markers.

One told me the park had been the site of a burying ground. The graves had been moved to create the park. The other marker talked about Fred’ck Staring, also know as Frederick Starns on the Virginia frontier. He lost sons and grandsons in the Revolutionary War, and was the patriarch of a prominent southern family. The marker was erected by his descendents in 1998. Left unexplained was what Fred from Virginia had to do with Herkimer. I thought I might to an internet search and see if I could learn more, but, um, I didn’t. I guess if I was a dedicated blogger of local history, I would make time for such things. And so we come to the ugly truth about me. But I digress.

To exit the park we walked by a statue of some guy who lived from 1802 to 1890. The engraving said he was proud of being instrumental in women working for the government. I don’t know who it was, because they did not show his name, only his signature, which I found quite illegible.

So that was my historic walk. I’ll head in a different direction next time and see what I can find.

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Rummaging Around

Posted on October 8, 2011 by mohawkvalleygirl

While walking with Tabby one day this week, I noticed signs for a rummage sale at Herkimer Reformed Church. The church is on the historic four corners. I’ve blogged about it before.

I made a mental note and kept walking. Tabby directed me toward our church, where she always looks for nice people to pet her.

“There’s no one there, honey,” I told her, but I was surprised to see the door open and a light on. Tabby insisted on going in. They were setting up for a rummage sale there. This is where I confess that I have not been attending church, or I would have known about it.

The sale at Herkimer Reformed Church ran till 6 pm Friday night, so Steven and I thought we’d seize that opportunity. We weren’t sure, though, because two signs said till 6 Friday, one said till 4. Steven was pretty confident, though, with the signs running two to one.

When I got home from work Friday, I remembered I had not sent post cards to my soldiers this week. Scandalous omission; I had been sending two per week. Steven pointed out that I only had two post card stamps left, which worked out, because I’m currently sending to two soldiers.

“The post office closes at five. We can get there by five and buy more stamps,” I said. Of course we had to walk to the post office. Tabby had seen me writing the post cards, and she knows post cards mean walk to post office.

When we left the post office, it was an easy matter to walk home by way of the historic four corners and confirm the rummage sale was still open. It was. We got our schnoodle home and hurried back to rummage.

The Herkimer Reformed Church is such a handsome building. It is a pleasure just to walk through to the basement where the sale was going on. We did not peek into the sanctuary, as we sometimes do at church sales, but I will do that one day.

I made a beeline for the books (actually, that’s a funny word: beeline. Most of the bees I see make kind of an erratic pattern). I found a true crime book by Ann Rule I had not read. She’s the best. I also grabbed a couple of biographies. Then I saw a John D. MacDonald. I could tell by the title it was not a Travis Magee mystery, but MacDonald is always worth a read. When I picked up the book, I saw it was a 75 cent paperback with a pulp fiction cover. I collect those, so I was quite delighted.

Another lady was looking at the books with equal delight. She told me she was stocking up for the winter. Good thought. She showed me a history of Lawrenceville she had found, an old book.

“If I had seen that first, you wouldn’t be getting it,” I told her, to express my envy. She immediately offered it to me, which I thought was very gracious of her. I refused with thanks. There is no reason to be greedy.

Steven found a shot glass for his collection, a tin and a wooden box. We got everything for two dollars. What a deal!

“It’s Friday night,” the lady working the sale said. She invited us back for Saturday’s bag sale. Steven has to work, but I am tempted.

It would be a good idea if I went to the bag sale at my own church today. I’m writing this Saturday morning as Steven prepares for work. Will I go? As they say, time will tell. That time certainly is a blabbermouth.

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A Run and Two Walks

Posted on October 8, 2011 by mohawkvalleygirl

As I sit here pondering that it’s Lame Post Friday, I am forced to come to the conclusion: I got nuthin’ (not even a g).

I have not run since Sunday. Sunday was a good run in Vermont, where we were visiting Steven’s family. I reached the “Oh yeah, I can rock this” stage. Of course, I even realized at the time that the feeling had something to do with the fact that I was on a gentle down slope. Let’s hear it for gravity.

Where my sisters-in-law live, the run is scenic but can be a little nerve wracking, because for the most part there are no sidewalks and the road has no shoulder. The posted speed limit is 25 mph, which should help, but, well, you know speed limits. Most people see them as a mere suggestion and others insist upon regarding them as a minimum. (True story: when we lived in Georgia, the paper had a call-in comment line. One yahoo called in and said, “When the speed limit is 45, I should be able to do at least 45.”)

Anyways, advantage Herkimer, for lots of sidewalks and a nice wide shoulder on the road to Herkimer County Community College, my favorite hill.

As I said, I have not taken advantage of the Herkimer sidewalks this week for running purposes. I didn’t even take my dog, Tabby, for a walk the first two days. Monday she didn’t seem to mind, but Tuesday when I went so far as to leave the house, she got a little miffed. She didn’t pee on the floor or chew anything up. She just sat on the love seat and turned her face pointedly away from me. Luckily, all was forgiven when I returned. That’s the great thing about dogs: they never hold a grudge.

So on Wednesday, I was determined to make things up to my dog by not deserting her to run and by taking her for a long walk. It was a beautiful sunny day. I put on my crazy old lady hat, because it has a nice wide brim. We walked for a good half hour.

The next night Steven was home, so we all three walked together. That walk was a little more eventful. We met up with a tiny dog that immediately started pulling on her leash to meet Tabby. They sniffed each other and got their leashes tangled. The little dog was definitely more excited to meet Tabby than vice versa, but Tabby was greatly interested in getting the dog’s owner to pet her. The owner told us the little dog’s best friend was a doberman that lived a couple of houses over. There was another big dog nearby, she said, who was also a friend. As we walked on, a dog up a driveway started barking.

“There’s a dog,” I said, although I did not actually see him. We started to cross the street, not to avoid the dog. It was the way we were headed.

“Oh, he’s a nice dog,” the little dog’s owner called after us. We did not get to meet that dog. We passed a house for sale.

“If we bought that house, Tabby could get to know all those dogs,” I said. We did not call our realtor, though.

We strolled down the path over what used to be a hydraulic canal. There are a few little stations with information and pictures. One day I’ll go for a walk carrying a notebook and put some of that in a blog post. Just warning you. Uh, I mean preview of coming attractions.

We admired some roadwork the village had done, envied some houses’ Halloween decorations and in general enjoyed the scene. And as I often blog about innocuous strolls with our schnoodle, I guess this qualifies as my Friday Lame Post.

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Walking By Water

Posted on September 27, 2011 by mohawkvalleygirl

I’d been thinking for a long time that Tabby would like to walk on a path I saw along Route 5S. Saturday Steven suggested we check it out.

The path begins where Mohawk Street crosses Route 5S, between Herkimer and Mohawk. Parking is available near MOVAC, but I did not point that out to Steven till we had already driven by. He knew there was a parking area near the Humane Society, on the opposite side of the highway, so he drove there.

We walked back towards Herkimer, Mohawk River to the right, highway to the left. At least, I think it is the Mohawk River. It could very well be the Erie Canal or even the Barge Canal. Computer literate people will tell me “just google it.” I tried, but I am not very adept at these things. Can we just say it was one of those three bodies of water and have done with? Thank you.

After a short distance the path is a little further separated from the road. There are even a few houses in between. Steven pointed out that if we had bought one of those houses, I could have run on the path every day. I pointed out the great view of the water we would have had. Luckily, we like the house we did buy just fine.

We were soon being bothered by mosquitoes. I blame it on the damp weather. Mosquitoes are not usually a problem during the day, and in many places around here — notably my back deck — they aren’t too much of a problem at night, either. At first we slapped and persevered, then we turned and walked back to the car.

Our original plan had been to then walk in the other direction, and come out at German Flatts Town Park, where Living History Weekend was taking place. Of course, if we did this we were hoping not to walk into a battle reenactment. For one thing, Tabby would not like the gunfire. However, with the mosquitoes what they were, we got back in the car and drove back to town.

We felt we had not seen enough water, so we first drove to the Ilion Marina. We’ve taken Tabby there before and walked up and down. It’s not large, but it is pleasant.

Saturday it was much quieter than when we were there previously. The Dockside Cafe was closed for the season. We saw a few RVs, but no people. I speculated they were out boating. I suppose they could have been hanging out inside the RVs, perhaps playing cards and having a beer. I know some of these RVs have all the comforts of home and probably some have more comforts than mine (my home, that is; I don’t have an RV).

We started to walk down a path near some trees, but were once again driven back by mosquitoes. Really, we should have known better. Are mosquitoes likely to be in Herkimer and Mohawk, but give Ilion a miss? But we’d gotten some good exercise, so we felt pleased with ourselves. We’ll check out those walks again, on a drier day or with bug spray.

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A Not So Lame Run

Posted on September 24, 2011 by mohawkvalleygirl

I like blogging about Saturday morning’s run on Saturday. Today’s run was not devoid of interesting features.

It rained Friday night (my lame excuse not to run, but I have mentioned that on Friday I’m lame) (Actually now that I think about it, being lame is a great excuse not to run, although I guess that’s a different definition). Ahem. Parenthetical comments aside, I made up my mind to run around the puddles and got my butt out there.

Running down German Street I saw a nice little dog named Nicky, further down and on the other side of the street. I often see Nicky on my Sunday runs. I ran across the street, putting on a slight burst of energy because it was not in a crosswalk and a car was coming (actually in Herkimer being in a crosswalk is not much help; cars don’t like to stop around here). As I got closer I called, “There’s my friend Nicky!” His owner and I exchanged greetings. She had seen me cross the street and was pleased about that. Both Nicky and his owner are very nice. I ran on.

This put me on the proper side of the street to run up the hill to Herkimer County Community College or up a smaller hill by Valley Health. I opted for the smaller hill. I have not been very hard core lately. I exchanged good mornings with a couple of healthcare workers smoking outside the building.

Running down by the school I decided to run down the street where the angels sometimes leave coins to encourage me. At least, sometimes people drop coins there and I like to believe the angels leave them for me. Then I thought I really wasn’t in such need of encouragement today; it was shaping up to be a not bad run. More humid than I like, but good temperature. And there were no coins. Was this the angels’ way of telling me I was on my own? More likely they had other things on their heavenly minds. I ran on.

I passed a young man in a red shirt and black cap. I thought he might be walking home from a job at a fast food place. His back was to me so I did not greet him. I saw a rather large woman pushing what looked like a cart of laundry down the street. Ah, I remember those days. Neither car nor washing machine, we do what we have to. I did not greet her because she was looking quite miserable and did not make eye contact. I could sympathize. I uncharitably reflected that she could use the exercise. Then again, I don’t know this lady; she could be overweight for reasons quite beyond her control. And nobody knows better than me how hard it is to lose weight. But oh how good it feels when you do. This encouraged me to keep running, because I do not want to gain back my hard lost weight.

I had to run slower at one point to let a car back out of a driveway. I wondered where they were going, and hoped it was in search of adventure. They seemed casually dressed, not that I was staring. Adventure is what I seek on Saturdays. After my good run, I felt ready for the search.

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Another Schnoodle Stroll

Posted on September 23, 2011 by mohawkvalleygirl

I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of walking in Herkimer. Or of writing about walking in Herkimer. I have not been running much, but having an energetic schnoodle is great motivation for getting out and walking.

Yesterday we did not have a purpose for our walk, so we walked what I call the Tabby Way, meaning we let Tabby decide which direction at the intersections. She led us to our church. First she looked around the yard where they do the Blessing of the Animals in October. Nobody there. Then she wanted to go in the door to the social hall, where we brought her on Saturday when we dropped off brownies for the spaghetti dinner. I told her nobody was there, either. I’ll say this for Tabby, she takes her disappointments with grace.

We walked by the county office buildings. In between two buildings is a little park looking area with a circle of flags and a rock with a plaque in front. Tabby wanted to sniff the rock, but I hurried her along because I did not think it was a respectful place to pee. Then I thought I might like to include the flags in my blog post, so we walked back to read the plaque. It said the flags represented the nineteen towns and one city of Herkimer County. We walked into the circle to count. Twenty American flags, with one big one at the head of the circle (that is, directly opposite the rock). The big flag had a POW/MIA flag underneath it.

Feeling we knew a little more than we did before (like for instance there are 19 towns and only one city in the county. Can’t say I knew that), we walked on. We imposed our choices on Tabby a few times, for example when she wanted to follow an interesting-looking dalmatian. It looked as if the owner had made a turn to avoid us. Maybe not, but why look for trouble?

As we walked down German Street we met a lady who asked if she could pet Tabby. Tabby politely allowed it. The lady asked how old Tabby was. When Steven said almost six, she wished Tabby a happy birthday. We met another lady who did not ask to pet Tabby. Oh well, to each his own, as the old lady said when she kissed the cow.

So it was a fairly uneventful walk, except for the flag stuff, but we enjoyed it. One of my favorite things to do on a Mohawk Valley evening.

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