Another DUH Moment

I do seem to have a lot of them lately. I walk into the kitchen and can't remember why. What am I doing here? Was I going to get something? Make some tea? Cook some dinner? Feed the cats? I DON'T KNOW!

So, I go back into the bedroom and get on the computer and look at puppies instead of working on my shop or filling an order and then I remember what it was I went into the kitchen for. And hope I still remember by the time I get back to the kitchen. Which isn't that far away. Like ten steps.

Anyway, if I had know years ago how much easier it is to ride your bike with street tires instead of mountain bike tires on it I would have gotten new tires like ten years ago. Back when I bought my bike which was probably fifteen years ago, or maybe even twenty, mountain bikes were the in thing and everybody wanted a mountain bike despite the fact that we never rode in the mountains. But they were cool and we LOOKED like we were mountain bike riders. Like when I was in high school you had to have a ten speed racing type bike with those weird handle bars that were all curved so you could pretend that you would be riding in the Tour De France if only you had time. We also wore bell bottoms back then and if you didn't have your bike clip with you to clip around your huge gigantic bell bottom pants leg then you were in big trouble because your pant leg would catch in your bike chain and rip up your pants not to mention throw you off of your bike. And then your mom would be really mad at you for ripping up your fashionable and expensive bell bottoms.

Now, you would think that wearing a bike clip around one leg of your pants while the other bell bottom is flapping in the breeze would make you look like a dork, but the exact opposite was true. Your pant leg in a bike clip meant that you were cool and saving the earth and all by riding your ten speed. You also had to have a visor, not a ball cap, to shield your eyes and a canvas bike shop bag that you wore like a backpack to put your stuff in. See, this saving the earth and being green thing is nothing new kids, we started it back in the early seventies when we invented Earth Day and vowed to ride our bikes and Stop at Two. What is Stop at Two? We were only supposed to have two children so that we could achieve zero population growth. Which hasn't worked and everybody forgot all about it. Seeing as how there soon will be 7 billion people on the earth or whatever that number is that they've been talking about. I wonder if the 7 billionth baby will get a prize?

But, I digress. About the bike tires. The bike tires that Keith finally figured out how the damn new valve works and they are staying full of air, they make your bike riding ALMOST EFFORTLESS. It's AMAZING the difference they make. And this is my DUH moment for the day if not the year. Mountain bike tires are for riding on mountains, street tires are for riding on streets.

Duh

A week or so ago Keith noticed that my bike seat was getting all raggedy and the cover was starting to shred and he also noticed that the tires were looking a little raggedy and starting to shred and maybe we should think about getting some new tires for it and maybe even a new seat. The tires are, after all, the original tires that came on the bike, a bike I've had for I don't even know how many years but longer than I've even known Keith.

But, tires cost money so we'll just wait for a while and I won't ride anywhere but just over to Walmart or Target so it should be okay. So this week I'm riding on short errands and thinking I must be more out of shape than I thought because this bike is really getting hard to ride and I'm doing a lot more huffing and puffing than usual and I'm worn out just from a half mile ride to Target. And then yesterday it was even worse and by the time I got to Target I thought  maybe I should check the tires and guess what it's just about FLAT and no wonder it's been so hard to ride this bike lately.

So, we go to Walmart to get new bike tires and I'm a novice when it comes to buying bike tires and didn't know they came in a box not just stacked up or on a rack like car tires and you also have to buy the inner tube and it's not cheap and maybe I should have just bought a whole new bike since the tires cost almost $60.00 by the time you buy the inner tubes too. And then Keith picked out some fancy never get a flat tire inner tubes but the valve stem is like no other valve stem we've ever seen and he's trying to figure out these teeny tiny valve stems and it's 9pm and he really needs to go to bed and just put all the bike tire stuff into the garage and wait until tomorrow to mess with weird inner tubes and new bike tires and if I need to go anywhere tomorrow I'll just wait until you get home with the car.

So, no bike today and some expensive bike tires sitting in the garage. I'm excited though since it will probably be a whole lot easier to ride the bike now.

When we went up to Lebec last Saturday we stopped at the big huge fancy rest/truck stop that is out near Grapevine before you start up the mountains on the interstate. They have every kind of fast food restaurant you could ever want, including a new Chipotle that wasn't there last time we drove through there, and also a Starbucks, a motel, and about 5 gas stations. They also have the trucker travel place with the Iron Skillet restaurant and a gift shop, barber shop, Baskin Robbins, and showers and a trucker lounge all inside the same building. And the place is nice, with a main hallway with plants and nice lighting and clean restrooms and park benches to sit and eat your Baskin Robbins on. I got to thinking that you could just live at the rest/truck stop/travel plaza if you wanted, they have absolutely everything you could ever need right there, along with park-like green areas around all the parking lots and a nice view of the nearby mountains. I'm sure with all of those fast food places and gas stations that somebody is hiring if you need a job and you could just get a motor home or van to live in and use the trucker showers to wash up in. And get your hair cut at the barber shop.

Lucy had a tussle with a preying mantis the other day. I thought she was looking at a leaf on the ground but then the leaf saw her and opened its wings and reared up on its hind legs and was waving its front legs and trying to scare Lucy away with its fierceness. Lucy did actually jump back when this bug started getting tough. It finally escaped her by crawling up the gate until she couldn't reach it but if it has wings shouldn't it have been able to fly away?