Free Davo--Davo Free!

Davo's got wheels! Hot damn! On one of our multiple trips to the hardware store, Dad said from his place in the back seat (the siding flashing running from the dashboard out the passenger window made it impossible to sit shotgun) that we should turn in to the Goodwill store on Eisenhower to see if there is a bike my size that is available for purchase.

I wasn't all that impressed as I turned in to the lot--on view were a lot of bikes that had training wheels still attached to them. Bikes in shades of powder pink or blue that had decals of Dora the Explorer on them, etc. I put on the hazard flashers in the loading zone and jogged over to the front of the store to take a look. I wasn't planning to be there long. One of the bikes, a Mongoose (eh?) with 21 gears and a too-low (but easily adjustable) seat was there. My size. Chain a bit stiff, tires a bit low, but not in rough shape at all. I looked at the other bikes to see what the pricing was.

They appeared to have bar code stickers on them in various shades. I looked for a corresponding sticker on my bike. It was there, right on the handlebars--$10.99.

Really. Eleven bucks for a bike? Consider it sold. Asthma or no, this bike was getting to Boulder Drive somehow. There was no way for it to fit in Grandpa's sporty car, so Dad drove the car home and I pedalled around Lake Loveland to finally pull in to the front yard. With tires pumped up and now properly lubricated, it isn't as fleet of foot as my '60s Schwinn racing bike back at home, but it has a far more comfortable long-term posture. Once things were in order, I worked my way to Old Town Loveland and had a beer and read my book--sheer bliss. The ride back wasn't all that bad, considering the altitude and rheumy lungs, etc. I don't want to leave this bike behind in 5 days. I want to see how to get this bike home.

In other news, we have put up 3 of the 10 panels of siding that we've got. I'm lobbying to work on the lower level stuff (a/k/a not the top half of the chimney) first, so we've got all of the 9-foot-panel necessities out of the way. Dad and I spent much of the day cussing at the panels, the nails (mentioned in the previous post) and each other, but discovered that tiny baby wild bunnies have found the back yard a sort of sanctuary. The parent bunnies are nowhere to be found, but the little things will, in the afternoon, come out to nibble on the grass, and as soon as they do, everything becomes a scene from Bambi. They run rings around the base of the ladder and chase each other, etc., and Dad and I both have no choice but to laugh at each other and our struggle with substandard building materials. I'll work on pix of the little things soon.