Sunday, December 14, 2014

A Pair of Heart-Warming Vignettes. . .

Or at least, so they seem to me. . .

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One night recently, Jenn and I were in our bedroom, preparing to retire for the night, when she looked at me, grinning broadly.

"We're doing it!" she said, enthusiastically.

Um, doing what, Sweetheart?

"We always said we wanted to grow old together, and we're doing it!  We're growing old!  Together!"

What could I say to that?  Yes, we are.  And there's no-one I'd rather grow old with than you, dear. . .

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I was a recent visitor to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn (a very cool place, if you're at all into historical machinery).  At one point, I was walking across an open space past a group of a half-dozen or so girls, who were, I would guess, around seven or eight years of age.  One of the girls, bolder than the others, perhaps noting my, um, girthiness, combined with my mostly-white beard and graying hair, approached me to ask, "Are you Santa Claus?"

I smiled at her benignly.  "No," I replied. "I'm his brother."

As I walked away, I heard behind me a chatter of excited voices - "That guy is Santa Claus' brother!"  "Really?!?"  "No, he's not!"  "Uh-HUH!  He told me!"

And I smiled. . .

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The weather around these parts has been unseasonably warm/dry for December.  High 30s/low 40s, and aside from a couple inches the week before Thanksgiving, we really haven't had any snow to speak of.  And thus, I've gotten in two rides, for 27 miles, so far in December (and 1063 for the year).  I've also flatted three of the last four times I've gone out on my bike (*aaaaarrrrrggggghhhh*).  My working hypothesis is that, the roads being just slightly damp this time of year, stones stick to the surface of the tire, and slowly get pounded through to eventually puncture the inner tube.  But. . . December miles.  I'll take all I can get. . .

(*update, 17 December*)

I finally took my bike in to the shop to see if he could figure out any hidden causes of my recent rash of flats.  Turns out, I had three pieces of glass lodged in my tire, none of 'em so deeply that I could discover 'em with the standard run of my fingers across the inside of the tire (I always do that because, you know, if you leave the cause of the flat in place, you're gonna get repeated flats. . .) (D'oh!)  So, when I'd go out and ride for 20 miles or so, the little sharp edges would keep poking at the inner tube until, Voila! a complete puncture occurred.  So, one new tire later, I'm (I hope) back in business. . .

13 comments:

  1. Dumb question, but what do you do when you get a flat and are in the middle of nowhere?

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    1. Two things - (1) I always carry with me a spare inner tube, a small tool-kit, and a pump that clips into my frame, so I can change a flat on the side of the road; takes about 20 minutes.

      And (2) I carry a cell-phone with me, so that, if it's not possible to fix the flat on the side of the road (as yesterday, when daylight was waning), I can call Jenn, or whoever might be available, to come and retrieve me. . .

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  2. Lol, my brother in law must be Santa's brother too! At first his beard was really short, but he's let it grow (ok, it's not epic....yet) and now I call him Santa...and he is an avid bike rider too. Maybe you guys are somehow related.
    Last night we had our first snow at our house...only about 1 or 2 inches, but it sure makes the season more festive!

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    1. Hmmmmmm. . . There's a correlation between avid cycling and Santa-likeness? Who knew?

      ;)

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  3. I let my beard grow out again in November, something I've done for about 4 years.
    I feel somewhat fortunate that nobody's mistaken me for the Christmas visitor.

    I also feel fortunate that I have yet to find it necessary to do an inner tube replacement on the road.
    I think maybe that means I am not riding enough?

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    1. Is it that 'November' thing about losing your razor? My sons all subscribe to that (for all the good it does 'em; they all seem to have inherited the 'smooth-faced' gene from Jenn's side. . .)

      And, listen, there's nothing wrong with a dearth of flat-fixing. Nothing at all. . . Probably just means that the powers-that-be in your area take better care of their roads than we do. . .

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  4. Replies
    1. Of course not. . .

      But he's a notorious tease. . .

      ;)

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  5. Personally, I am *sooo* looking forward to the day when I can retire my razor- at least for a while! I threaten the family that I'm going to let it grow to my waist.

    The usual reaction is an eye roll, and a reply to the effect of "You'll be so old by then, you'll fall asleep sitting up and won't notice us trimming it..."

    Ah well :)

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    Replies
    1. My dad had the same idea. When he finally retired-retired, he lost his razor. Which kinda took us all by surprise, 'cuz he always seemed way more, how shall I say it, establishment-uptight than that. . .

      But his hair was snow-white pretty much from age 50 onward, so he really did come out looking like Santa. . .

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  6. Santa's brother! I love that.

    I've always told people that, since I'm bald and going white with what hair I have, I want to be Santa Claus someday. I still have to wait for the last grey/red to leave my beard, but I'm definitely putting on the needed poundage since the softball season ended...

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, well, you know, Santa and I, we DO kinda look alike. . .

      ;)

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  7. Ya old man you, robbing the cradle like that ;-)

    santa indeed

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