What about Cookie?

The Onion Ring Incident

Family Trip to Moab

 Young lovers...

If you have been reading our blog, it is becoming painfully apparent (at least to Pete) that we focus on Pete and very little on Cookie.  Part of that is due to the amount of time we spend hiking and riding with Pete while Cookie plays Parchese.  Also, you may have noticed that Pete seems to bring out a story or two no matter what he is doing or where he is going.  Sometimes while we are hiking I will think...I have to write about that.  On a recent mountain bike ride we came to a section of rocky switchbacks that were so challenging even I decided to use discretion and walked my bike.  (Gasp!)  Part way down the hill I decided it was safe to jump on the bike and take off as Julie and Pete were still walking their bikes down.  As Julie came to the last sharp bend, Pete called out for her to come help him out. She dutifully laid down her bike and ran back up the trail to where Pete was standing.  "I can't move", Pete complained.  "What is wrong?" asked Julie.  "It is my bike, it is hung up."  On closer examination, Julie found Pete's bike seat had tangled up in his back back preventing him from moving down the hill.  Once she stopped laughing, she freed him up to continue walking his bike down the hill.  "Did you get a picture?"!  My only concern...  No picture!!!@#$%  We are planning to stage the same incident if that is possible so that we can take a picture for all of you.

See how easy it is to get caught up in Pete tales?  Where was I?  Oh, Cookie!  Let's see, one particular event that sticks out in all of our minds is the Onion Ring Explosion.  Julie and I had decided to run a marathon a month back in 2014.  If you are planning to do this, don't.  It is relentless and unforgiving with some marathons only a couple weeks apart.  Julie had wisely scheduled the 11th marathon in Moab, Utah which is described as the toughest trail marathon in the United States.   We are not trail runners...how hard could it be?   Never mind that, more on Cookie.  Cookie and Pete graciously agreed to meet us in Moab to have some time together before the run.  On the evening before the run we were looking for place to eat.  We went to several restaurants that were full and ended up settling on a diner.  It looked like an ok place to eat, stainless steel decor on the outside, red booths and a large counter area on the inside. Not a lot of room to sit and wait for  table, but we will stand, what could go wrong?  Shortly after arriving, I noticed Cookie staring at the counter where the food is placed for the wait staff (politically correct) to grab the orders and take them to the tables.  She was fixated on the counter.  No attempt to talk to her would distract her from staring at the counter.  What was so important?  A lone plate of onion rings, growing colder by the moment.  She could not take her eyes off the onion rings.  Minutes seemed to drag by as the onion rings sat there, all alone under the heat lamp.  Minutes ticked away, finally she exploded at a poor bus boy that happened to be in the vicinity when she finally reached her limit.  "THOSE ONION RINGS HAVE BEEN SITTING UP THERE FOREVER!  I KNOW!  I'VE BEEN WATCHING THEM GETTING COLD!!!  WHEN IS SOMEONE GOING TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?!"  Needless to say, the whole diner went silent.  The bus boy tried to make some excuse about being busy, but to no avail.  The onion rings were scooped up by a waitress and delivered to a nearby table, cold I'm sure.  Pete, Julie and I moved slightly away from Cookie for the remainder of our long wait for a table...

The dinner was fine, but I'm sure I tasted something like spit that was not my own in every bite I ate.  I'm sure it was my imagination....

No, not twins silly!  It is Julie and Cookie!