Dinky's Docket

Speaking of bicycles, we just bought two new ones, one for the birthday boy and one sans-training wheels for our oldest. His mother has decided that his current bike is too big for him and that's why he keeps nose-diving into the pavement. While I agree that it may be a mite too big, he rides it well enough, and being able to put his feet down won't help him when he's going 25 miles per hour down the hill I told him to avoid. So we were not in agreement when we were in the store deciding whether to buy a bike that we can't really afford, but it was the two of them against me: even though she kept saying it was my decision and I said my decision was no, I ended up angrily cramming two bikes into the trunk of the car. That was on Friday. On Saturday evening, I asked Jr. if he wanted to go on our daily trek to the church parking lot to ride bikes. He started to get his old bike out of the shed! "What about your new bike?" I asked, utterly perplexed. He said he wasn't used to it. I said that he was not riding his old bike for at least a year, until we got our money's worth out of this one. I've since discovered that he thinks it is a "baby bike." Well, why was he so eager to buy it then? Well, I apparently put my foot down more effectively this time and I think he's used to his new bike. He seems to like it better now.
I've been riding my unicycle again and I've discovered a possible reason for my being so fat and out of shape. I quit riding the thing shortly after I got married--about the same time that I mysteriously gained forty pounds in about two months. I started again a couple of days ago and realized that it's hard work! It's much harder on my muscles than a bike: There's only one speed so it doesn't get any easier to move it as you go along, and there are miniscule, complicated moves your body constantly performs to keep it balanced. Those aren't terribly apparent on the outside because I know how to ride it, but they take their toll on my physique. So I've decided to keep it up every day. It's much more fun than jogging, and people seem to think I'm doing something extra-ordinary, although, I've been doing it since I was a kid.