Ride 48: Still Going Great!
My folks are visiting today, and I walked along the bike trail with my father to the first road, attempting to show him the indigo buntings. This was about noon, and nothing was moving but grasshoppers. I did see one, but it flashed by before Dad saw anything.
For an early birthday gift, Dad took me and my broken bike to the bike repair shop, and pre-paid the changing out of the twenty year old tires, and adjustment of the gearshift. So, some time in the next week or two, my bike will be fixed, and I can re-attach the trailer bike wheel, and Sparkle can join me again! She has been saying she wants bike rides with mommy again.
We went swimming with my folks today, but I didn't do many laps. My father asked me to show him my swimming strokes, for if I had been swimming as long and as far as I had been bragging, my form ought to have improved. I swam a breast stroke, my side stroke, my back stroke, and reluctantly, my freestyle. My father said I had indeed improved my form. Whew! We played "What Time is it, Mr. Shark?" and the boys all had a lovely time. My son Dino's strategy was to call time where we had to pass him, and then try to get us on the way back.
This evening, I did a short ride to the first road, as my folks were here, and I didn't want to abandon them long. As I passed the old fort / hunter's blind, a teenager did a Spiderman leap from the platform onto the path.
"Aaah!" I said conversationally, much to my surprise because I had really been startled, "You startled me!" The teen and his friend in the tree fort looked at me like I was being sarcastic.
Not much out tonight, but the cicadas were rattling away, and at the first road, the crickets were chirping loudly. I saw at least six indigo buntings, four females, and two males. They did figure eights in front of me for quite a distance, as if teasing me how much I could see them, but my father could not. I'm guessing that the hottest part of the day is not the best time for bird-watching.
When I turned around, the sky before me was a blue-grey, and there were piles and piles of puffy clouds. The sunset hitting them turned them a rosy pink, and their shadows and bottoms were lavender blue. It was gorgeous!
As I pedaled home, I looked up, and saw large dragonflies swooping about at improbable helicopter angles, catching large mosquitoes. I then saw bats flying overhead, too. Any time a bat drew near, the dragonflies just dropped several feet down quickly. The bats appeared to be concentrating on the Canadian-sized mosquitos, though.
The beagle whined at me as I rode past, and there were three neighborhood houses with huge numbers of cars parked in the grass lining our little town, making me nervous to ride past because I was afraid some child would pop out of them like those boys in the fort did.
My neighbor complimented me on keeping with the biking, and said she could see a difference in how fit I was.
For an early birthday gift, Dad took me and my broken bike to the bike repair shop, and pre-paid the changing out of the twenty year old tires, and adjustment of the gearshift. So, some time in the next week or two, my bike will be fixed, and I can re-attach the trailer bike wheel, and Sparkle can join me again! She has been saying she wants bike rides with mommy again.
We went swimming with my folks today, but I didn't do many laps. My father asked me to show him my swimming strokes, for if I had been swimming as long and as far as I had been bragging, my form ought to have improved. I swam a breast stroke, my side stroke, my back stroke, and reluctantly, my freestyle. My father said I had indeed improved my form. Whew! We played "What Time is it, Mr. Shark?" and the boys all had a lovely time. My son Dino's strategy was to call time where we had to pass him, and then try to get us on the way back.
This evening, I did a short ride to the first road, as my folks were here, and I didn't want to abandon them long. As I passed the old fort / hunter's blind, a teenager did a Spiderman leap from the platform onto the path.
"Aaah!" I said conversationally, much to my surprise because I had really been startled, "You startled me!" The teen and his friend in the tree fort looked at me like I was being sarcastic.
Not much out tonight, but the cicadas were rattling away, and at the first road, the crickets were chirping loudly. I saw at least six indigo buntings, four females, and two males. They did figure eights in front of me for quite a distance, as if teasing me how much I could see them, but my father could not. I'm guessing that the hottest part of the day is not the best time for bird-watching.
When I turned around, the sky before me was a blue-grey, and there were piles and piles of puffy clouds. The sunset hitting them turned them a rosy pink, and their shadows and bottoms were lavender blue. It was gorgeous!
As I pedaled home, I looked up, and saw large dragonflies swooping about at improbable helicopter angles, catching large mosquitoes. I then saw bats flying overhead, too. Any time a bat drew near, the dragonflies just dropped several feet down quickly. The bats appeared to be concentrating on the Canadian-sized mosquitos, though.
The beagle whined at me as I rode past, and there were three neighborhood houses with huge numbers of cars parked in the grass lining our little town, making me nervous to ride past because I was afraid some child would pop out of them like those boys in the fort did.
My neighbor complimented me on keeping with the biking, and said she could see a difference in how fit I was.