Look! It's my dad riding a bike!

My dad also came down for a visit this weekend and of course I asked him to go for a bike ride. I've asked him before and the answer was always no, but this time he decided to go for it. He rode the hybrid and he wore a helmet, which made me happy.

We rode Saturday and Sunday, both times meeting Sam downtown for breakfast. My mom also came to breakfast on Sunday. Here's Sam and my dad on Saturday:

And here's one that my brother might like better...

I tried to explain to my brother and my dad the concept of bicycle driving as opposed to bicycle riding, because I think it's the best way to approach biking on the road. I don't think I did the greatest job, considering that I kept remembering one more thing I had to tell them and then a few minutes later would remember another thing I needed to tell them and so on and so on. In a nutshell bicycle driving, or vehicular cycling, can be understood in this statement from John Forester, who originated the system: "Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles." Riding with them made me realize how much I've learned about safe bicycle operation over the past year or so.

This is not to say that they don't know how to operate bikes or are dangerous or something! Not at all. Just that riding with people who don't do bicycle driving makes me realize how much safer and effective it really is-- for motorists and bicyclists.

So my dad and I rode down by the meadow reclamation area both days. For someone who hasn't ridden a bike in about fifty years (according to him) he did a lot better than I did when I started riding again after a long time away from it! We rode a little over eight miles on Saturday and eleven miles on Sunday.

There was a fishing derby going on own at Lititz Run today. I had hoped we could take a break there and rest for a while, but all the sitting areas were taken-- unless you wanted to sit in the damp grass. I sure didn't want to sit there and my dad didn't either, so we just walked around and watched for a little bit and I took this picture of some cattails:

My dad said he wants to ride again when he comes for a visit. It'll be fun!

So my brother Sam and his girlfriend Mary are visiting from Florida, and I convinced Sam to go for a bike ride with me. Here he is riding my old hybrid-- by extension my sister's old hybrid, since she gave it to me in the first place! As you can see he refused to wear a helmet. No comment from me on that; it's his brain. Ok, actually I do have a comment. I think you should always wear a helmet while biking but of course he's old enough to decide for himself what he wants to do. I will say this-- even though he's puffing away on a cigarette here he still rode faster than me, lol. Of course he did have the more efficient bike to ride...We went downtown to Spill the Beans for breakfast (of course) so I could have my usual scrambled eggs and potatoes. It was far too humid to sit outside. Afterward I went to the Matthew 25 thrift shop to look at stuff-- you can often find beautiful handmade afghans there for like five dollars-- and then sat around and took pictures while I waited for Sam to get done on the phone. I think he talks on the phone more than anyone I know, other than myself.You can kind of see my new narrow tires and rack (I bungeed the basket to it). Here's a better shot:I know; now it looks even more dorky than it did before. Awesome!

But I've had a heck of a time with this bike these past few days. First there was the flat over Memorial day weekend, and then there was the whole gear issue... yes, a gear issue and it really put a damper on my ride with the bike club!

I picked up my bike from the bike shop on Wednesday night and went right to the ice cream ride start point. As I was tooling around in the parking lot, I could feel that the gears weren't shifting quite right, but it didn't seem awful. Certainly not anything that would cause me to not ride-- it would just be a little rough shifting from time to time.

I can assure you that it was a fricking disaster! Once we got going I could only keep it in first gear or seventh gear-- the lowest or the highest-- everything else just went ka-clunk-ka-clunk-ka-clunk and wouldn't stay. Well, every once in a while I could get it to third or fourth for a time, but as soon as I had to shift I fell way behind. I was so embarrassed! The sweep stayed with me, and we didn't fall way way back, but enough to make me frustrated.

We rode about six miles to Rita's in Mt. Joy. There were about twelve on the ride I think (I was too absorbed with my problems to pay attention) and it was a beautiful evening. And as one of the other riders mentioned, one of the absolute best ways to see Lancaster County is by bike! I would definitely like to do this ride again when I can enjoy it rather than suffering like I did, lol.

I don't think anyone at Green Mountain did anything wrong with my bike, I just think that the internal gear thingy is complicated and also uncommon. At any rate, I decided to take my bike back to the place where I bought it and have them look at it. After all, they put it together in the first place.

Shirk's is about 30-40 minutes from my house depending on traffic-- and that means farm machinery and buggy traffic! It's literally out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by farms. I do believe the owners are Mennonite, and they speak both English and some kind of German dialect, too. They also wear the standard strict Mennonite clothing with the suspenders and porkpie-looking hats. They don't have a website or I would link it.

They spent about ten minutes messing around with my bike and it was done! And they even adjusted my brakes and tightened up my handlebar stem. And best of all, my bike runs perfectly now! I won't go anywhere else for bike related stuff ever again.

Whew-- what a week!

I think this'll be fun!

I've decided to enter the Summer Games at Let's Go Ride a Bike, a nifty website/blog I came across yesterday. The Games actually started May 17, but the first round ends June 7 so I'm making it in just under the wire!

There are three different categories composed of five different activities. All you have to do is complete at least two activities in the featured category to be entered in drawings for all kinds of cool stuff. Obviously that's a way simplified explanation; click on the picture above to get all the details! And give it a try! I never win anything so I won't be holding my breath, lol. I love bike challenges, though, so this is right up my alley.

I did ride today for just a short bit-- downtown for breakfast, to the bank and on to the dentist to pay a bill. Then I took my bike over to Green Mountain Cyclery to have some new tires and also a rack put on my bike. I've decided to try narrower tires to see if I can make my riding a titch more efficient-- but they're going to hang on to my old ones in case I don't like the feel of these new ones. I LOVE riding on fat tires-- so comfortable and easy in many ways. But I'm wanting to go longer distances now and it makes sense to do what I can to facilitate that.

As for the rack, a couple of people told me that I wasn't going to be able to put a rack on my bike due to its crank-forward design. Well, they were wrong! The mechanic found one that would work in less than five minutes. This rack doesn't come with its own basket so I'll try my Topeak basket, and if that doesn't work I'll do like the Amish and bungee a milk crate or cardboard box to it!

The only negative about all this is that I can't pick up my bike until after four tomorrow! That means no riding tonight or most of the day on Wednesday... boo! On the plus side, I did get the grass mowed this afternoon and I now have plenty of time to vacuum before my brother shows up on Thursday.

Once I pick up my bike tomorrow I'm heading out for my second ride with the bike club, and it's another ice cream ride. A great pace to try out my new tires!

Here's a picture I took about a month ago of a barn cat-- it looks like she might be pregnant, actually:

I love long-ears!

I love mules. They're highly intelligent, mentally stable-- almost imperturbable really-- hardworking, sure-footed and generally kind. Mules are also masters of self preservation and won't do things such as overwork themselves or work while injured. I don't wonder if that trait is a reason they've gotten a reputation as being stubborn. A mule will definitely stand its ground in that way!

I shared a picture of my mule Ida in an earlier post. I was always crazy about horses when I was a girl, although I didn't get to ride until I got older. When I was about fourteen- so this would have been the early eighties-- Smithsonian magazine did a story on mules, picturing two blond sorrels on its cover. After reading the article I decided that if I was ever in a position to buy a horse I would try and find a blond sorrel mule instead.

When I was in my early twenties I became a farrier's apprentice. One of our client's hobbies was carriage driving and they had a mule on the farm that was used for driving and riding-- Ida. In fact one of the grooms on this farm would ride Ida in the hunt (fox hunt, that is). After I bought her, I rode her bareback around town and to the local park all the time. I couldn't afford a saddle so bareback was all there was! She came with me when I left New Jersey for Chester county, Pennsylvania in 1993, but I had to sell her when my son was born in 1995. I simply didn't have the money to care for her anymore. I sold her to the barn where I kept her, and they used her for children's camps and things like that as she was so very gentle and good-natured. I miss her!

So-- these mules are from the farm with the baby. They were shading themselves under those trees when I came by, but being the inquisitive creatures that they are, a couple came over to check out me and my camera. I love their expressive faces! I still haven't been able to get a good shot of the baby; here's the only half-decent one:

Baby was curious but mom was cautious and they walked to the other side of the hill where I couldn't see them!

These two live on the same Amish farm as Sunshine the cow. In fact I think this is a picture of them working.

The one on the right was a little bit shy but the one on the left came right up and practically posed for pictures.

Looks like he works out, doesn't it?

Now he's letting his inner sweetheart show-- click on the picture to really see his expression:

And then suddenly he was intense again-- I love this guy:

As of right now I have no clients on Memorial Day, so maybe I'll try again to get some pictures of the baby. He's going to be big before you know it!

Annoyed, irritated, inconvenienced and indignant. It was just that kind of day...

Before I say anything else, let me say that it has been a day. An annoying day full of rude people and tiresome adventures.

So let's get started. Notice anything wrong in this picture?

I had a flat. Woo. Hoo. And look-- there's something even more wrong in this picture:

Yes. I had a flat at Oregon Dairy! And nothing I needed to make even the most rudimentary repairs...

But before I even got to Oregon Dairy I met a couple of buffoons on the road. Generally when I'm out on my bike other riders are friendly and we exchange waves or greetings. Sometimes they initiate it, sometimes I do. So I saw these two guys coming towards me on the other side of the road, we made eye contact, and I said, "Hello there!" They didn't return the sentiment-- as they passed my line of sight one of them said, "Get a real bike!" Sigh.

Anyway, I wanted to try and get some new pictures of the baby mule I saw last week, so decided why not stop at Oregon Dairy for lunch and then head over to where the baby lives. Lunch was delicious-- chicken and waffles again-- but when I got outside there was my bike sitting there with a flat tire! I usually carry a portable pump and some fix-a-flat foamy stuff with me just in case something happens. I really should have a regular repair kit, but since I've not actually fixed a flat before I bring that stuff.

At any rate, even if I had a repair kit I wouldn't have been able to fix the flat there in the parking lot. You can't just pop the back tire off; you have to take the whole enclosed gear thingy apart (and don't ask me the proper name of the "gear thingy," because I don't know it, lol).

Luckily my mom has a bike rack for her car AND she was home. She picked me up and we brought my bike to a local bike shop for a quick repair. Now I know that my bike is not quite like most other bikes around, but it's not some kind of strange alien transport, either. The counter guy at the bike shop couldn't seem to find anything nice to say about it, though.

"What is it?" Um... it's a bike? I'd be interested in a fender and a rack for the back if you have any.

"You can't put a fender on there. Or a rack. There's no room for it with that seat like that. It's completely impractical." I love it, though. It's so comfortable!

"I bet it's comfortable. But it's like a chopper."

What the heck-- is this insult my bike day??? It wasn't that he called my bike a chopper. It's that he called my bike a chopper. The tone was so condescending.

Or maybe I was just overly sensitive and bristling from the "real bike" comment earlier in the day.

Whatever! The mechanic did a lovely job fixing up my tire and I rode home. Later I went out for a quick eight mile ride and so ended the day on an up note.

I took a bunch of pictures but I'll have to leave them for another day. Here's a picture of the caterpillar living in my dill plant. Look how much it's grown and changed in just two days-- it's now about an inch long:

Hopefully tomorrow will be less eventful... or at least let the events be positive ones...

They're back! Plus my first ride with the bike club...

Caterpillars are finally back!

Can you see it there? It's maybe half an inch long-- maybe. It's a Black Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillar. The past few years I've been planting parsley for them-- they show up as these tiny little things and then over the course of a few days they strip the parley bare and grow to be a few inches long with green and black stripes. Then they disappear. I've never seen a cocoon, but I do see the butterflies.

Last year, though, I had hardly any caterpillars, and there seemed to be less butterflies about, too. As it turned out there WAS a butterfly shortage last year due to the cold and rainy spring. I guess it set back butterfly reproduction enough to make a noticeable difference. So I'm glad to see the caterpillars again. What I didn't know is that they also like dill:

Last night I went on my first ride with the Lancaster Bicycle Club. It was an ice cream ride, so the pace was mellow and the route wasn't hilly. And there was ice cream, of course! We rode about ten miles all together and I really had fun. In fact I can't wait to do it again! I'm actually a pretty shy person, so I was something of a basket case riding over to the start point. I did already know the people who were leading the ride so that helped, but everyone was super friendly and I felt great. And I kept up just fine, too! The only negative was the beastly hotness of the air, lol.

I've gone for a ride already this morning and it was almost worse than last night. Nine o'clock in the morning and it's already over eighty degrees. In May! That's disgusting! I may go for a ride later tonight if it cools off some. Today I get to see some friends that I haven't seen in a long time so that should be awesome!

To end, here are some wheat pictures-- at least I think it's wheat:

And a close up:

Did someone say crazy windy rainstorm rolling in?

Yeah-- me! It's been cloudy on and off the past few days and we've had some sprinkles, but nothing major. I decided to go out for a quick ride around 5:30 and the sky was blue with some fluffy white clouds. As I was taking pictures, though, I noticed that the sky was getting darker and darker...And all of a sudden it started POURING! No thunder or lightning, which was my main concern, but I got soaked! I stopped at my friend Eugie's house to see if I could hang out there until everything blew over, but she wasn't there-- she was out on HER bike, lol. Her husband was there, though, and we chatted for a few minutes until the rain slowed down and then I headed back out. I was already drenched, so stopping didn't really help me all that much anyway!You might recognize this spot from an earlier post... it's the Lancaster County Stonehenge, only now it's covered in clover and all kinds of other plants (and look at the sky-- yikes). I love clover because it's purple, smells sweet, and you can eat it, lol.Mulberries! When we were kids there was a mulberry tree up the street and we used to go pick a bunch and put them in a bowl with milk and sugar. Yum!And raspberries! Raspberries and blackberries also grew in the woods around our house, but they were never as plentiful as the mulberries.Obviously neither the mulberries nor the raspberries are ripe yet. The question is-- can I get a few berries before the birds do?? These past few years they've picked everything clean before I even get a chance at them, the stinkers!

One more thing-- despite the rainstorm, there wasn't a rainbow to be found. Boo! Maybe next time...