Addyman’s Corner

By John Addyman

Email: john.addyman@yahoo.com

I Have What in the Closet?

Socks.

My wife is looking at me, disapprovingly.

“Socks,” she said. “It’s a

start.”

In an upstairs closet in our house, hidden in a dark corner, is a laundry basket.

Full of socks.

That closet has become a repository for clothes, mostly pants, I will someday wear.

Someday when I’ve lost 20 pounds. Someday when flamingoes fly out of my nose.

My dear, deserving-of-sainthood wife, is making a point with the socks: they are just one thing we have too many of in our house. Correct that: it’s an example of one thing I have too many of.

“After the socks, the T-shirts,” she said.

“Then the pants. Oh please, God — the pants!” she said, her hands open in a heavenly appeal.

“What is the result of all of this?” I asked her. “The socks and the pants and the T-shirts aren’t hurting anything.”

“You have pants in that closet from 20 years before our teenaged grandchildren were born,” she argued. “I think there’s a possibility you have bell-bottoms in there.”

“Really?”

“You have corduroy pants on the left side of the closet,” she pointed out.

“OK. So?”

“Have you ever worn corduroy pants? No! Are you waiting for a flash fashion trend to suddenly appear, one that you’ve been prepared for since Jimmy Carter was president?”

She had me about the pants.

“What about the socks?” I asked.

My wife asked me to please haul that laundry basket out of the closet, go through all the socks and keep the ones I really need and put the rest in a bag for the local charity.

I started thinking about those socks. We were standing in the hallway. I peered into the closet at the laundry basket, it was piled way over the brim filled with white socks.

OK, I thought to myself, I do spend a lot of the year NOT wearing socks, but when I need a white sock, I need a white sock…you know?

“You have umpty-jillion more white socks than you need,” my wife said. This is one of the tragedies of being married for so long — your wife knows exactly what you’re thinking too much of the time. There’s no escape.

“How many socks do I need?’ I asked her.

She looks at me with a look I know all too well. If she would voice it, she’d be saying to me, “Did you dive to pick up something on the floor and hit your forehead hard on the table?”

Instead, she just kept staring at me. I got it: she wasn’t the one to answer that question. I had to fess up.

“Surely I don’t need a whole big laundry basket full of socks,” I said, figuring that if I owned the idea of the problem, a solution would not be far behind, or so my wife would think and leave me be. Busted.

“You’re not going to do anything about those socks, are you?” she said, arms crossed, tapping her foot as only a wife and mother and grandmother can do.

“Some of those socks are useful and important to me,” I offered as defense, “like when I shovel snow and put my boots on.”

“OK, that’s one pair of socks,” she said. “Maybe you need three pair for a big snowfall. Then what? How many pairs of socks do you think you have in there? 40? 50?”

It was clear I was not going to win the discussion.

Although I used different socks for different things, my wife was not going to be swayed.

One hour later, when she had gone downstairs, I pulled the laundry basket out of the closet and brought it into the den where I could go through it and watch a football game at the same time.

I found threadbare socks. I found orphaned socks. I found thermal socks. I found hunting socks I hadn’t had on my feet since I went hunting with my dad 64 years ago. I found socks I wore when my oldest daughter got stuck in a couple of feet of snow on a visit to Van Etten’s Tree Farm in Altamont, in 1985.

Yes, there were a lot of socks I didn’t need and perhaps someone else could use them.

My wife smiled a smile of satisfaction at me when she saw how many socks I’d removed. She beckoned to me with her finger as she backed into the bedroom.

I was about to be rewarded for my good deed, I was sure. This was my lucky day.

Nah.

“Here’s your next project,” she said, pulling hard on a stuck dresser drawer.

That’s where my dress socks were.

last page By Melody Burris

Dave Wright, 76

Victor Hiking Trails chairman talks about his passion for hiking, classic Corvettes and leaving the world a better place

Q: For more than three decades, you

have long been a driving force behind the nonprofit Victor Hiking Trails. What launched your passion?

A: I fell into the role of chairman when our founder, Marcia Bryan, moved to the Adirondacks to spend more time hiking, swimming, biking and cross-country skiing. I have loved hiking, backpacking and camping since I was a Boy Scout and that passion continues today. I enjoy taking the dream of creating a system of shared use trails and seeing it become a reality. Helping to direct a few dedicated volunteers to create and improve the more than 70 miles of trails in Victor is our goal and that’s what keeps me motivated.

Q: During your tenure with VHT,

which notable accomplishments or milestones have given you the most joy?

A: Opening our very first trail, Monkey Run, off Victor Egypt Road and County Road 9, was the most gratifying. It took us two years of meetings, talking to residents, planning the route and physically creating the trail. Second was the completion of the Seneca Trail, which is 13 miles of mostly single track trail with a variety of terrain and views. It extends from Boughton Hill to the area around Eastview Mall.

Now we have 250 families and individuals who are VHT members and about 30 volunteers who help with various projects made possible by an annual budget of $10,000. We’ve been a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation since 1992 and work in partnership with the town of Victor and the Genesee Region Off-road Cyclists.

Q: You've done some fun things on

YouTube recently. In what other ways do you help people get out onto the trails?

A: We have a fantastic website, VictorHikingTrails.org that Jeff Hennick built from scratch and continues to improve. It’s full of information about us and the trails, and helps everyone see in advance what the trails are like and decide which ones are best for them. We publish a quarterly newsletter to share how scouts and other community groups are making the trails safer and more enjoyable. We host monthly guided hikes and a monthly educational hike. We partner with the Victor Farmington Library for a year-round Wednesday morning walk. We also get the youngsters out on the trails through events with the Victor Parent Teacher Student Association. We have an active Meetup page with hundreds of members. And, of course, we are on several social media platforms.

Q: Can people with physical challenges

also enjoy the trails?

A: Absolutely! We always try to design and build the trails for everyone. Sometimes that isn’t physically or economically possible, but it is always our goal to be inclusive. The Victor Parks and Recreation department has an adaptive tricycle that is designed to use the upper body. I encourage everyone to try it out.

Q: What other work, hobbies or passions keep you busy these days?

A: My second passion also began as a young lad and that’s my love of Corvettes. My 2004 Commemorative Edition has taken me to California and back as well as Texas, Illinois and down south. I am a past president of both the Kanandaique Corvette Club and the Rochester Corvette Club. I am a member of the Friends of the Railroad, helping to refurbish a wooden box car that might end up in Manchester at the old roundhouse. And I just recently joined the brand new Western New York State Model Railroad Club, hoping to build a replica of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Manchester yard, complete with a turntable and roundhouse. And of course I enjoy hiking and biking the trails.

Q: What advice would you give to

people of all ages, specifically retirees, who are looking to stay healthy and thrive?

A: Walking is a great exercise. We are fortunate that in our area there are many choices of parks and trails. Now that winter is coming you need to dress in layers. Know your limits and don’t over do it. Convince a friend or neighbor to join you. Take the kids or grandkids on an adventure around your neighborhood. The fresh air will do wonders for you.