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Has it really been so long..?
If we could be said as parents to earn "stripes", then let it be said that today, I earned a biggie: I changed out a tire tube on my child's bicycle. Not that it's any sort of amazing mechanical accomplishment - when I was growing up I did all my own maintenance - but it is the first one since becoming a father. Call it a milestone, if you wish. It's something daddy's do.
It was on Katie's bike. The back tire wouldn't stay inflated so I deduced, genius that I am, that the tube probably needed patching. I pulled the back wheel off - and discovered that things have changed a mite since last I owned a 20" bicycle.
Back in my day, if the nuts holding the back wheel on your bike came loose, you could count on falling on your ass and scraping the shit out of whatever hit the ground first. It was a rite of passage in a way. Also, since bell-bottom jeans were in fashion, you learned to tuck your pant leg into your socks so you didn't get your pant leg caught between the chain and the front sprocket. My dad had to cut me free from my bike once, ruining a perfectly good pair of bell-bottom jeans, before I learned that lesson.
Not so any more. There's an extra connection between the back wheel and the frame - a little arm that connects the two that presumably keeps the two mated even if the axle nuts come off completely. There's a plastic guard covering the sprockets and drive chain. Two extra fiddly bits to work around.
Got it done, though. As it turned out, I had to replace the tube completely. There's no way I know of to reliably patch a 6" long gash. No matter, tubes are cheap. I was reminded why I hate to shop at Wal*Mart.
And, as milestones go, there was one more today: we have now been parents long enough to have handed down a bicycle.
Jami has outgrown his first bike: his legs were bent so far on it he couldn't get any leverage to pedal. I pulled Katie's previous bike out of storage, re-attached the training wheels and sent the boy on his way.
He was ecstatic. The fact that the bike is pink with Disney Princesses on it bothers him not at all. Should it ever, we'll add another stripe to my daddy sleeve: I'll repaint it. Probably yellow with black accents, like Bumblebee (of the Transformers).
I'm in no hurry for that, though. I'm content for now with my boy being young enough that gender distinctions don't matter.
Around those tasks, I managed to fit in some work on the house. If the rain will hold off tomorrow, I'm pretty sure I can have the front of the house done. Finishing the mudding on the side porch - I'm thinking I'll be able to paint the entryway by next weekend. Once that area's presentable, I'll start demolishing the front porch.
It was on Katie's bike. The back tire wouldn't stay inflated so I deduced, genius that I am, that the tube probably needed patching. I pulled the back wheel off - and discovered that things have changed a mite since last I owned a 20" bicycle.
Back in my day, if the nuts holding the back wheel on your bike came loose, you could count on falling on your ass and scraping the shit out of whatever hit the ground first. It was a rite of passage in a way. Also, since bell-bottom jeans were in fashion, you learned to tuck your pant leg into your socks so you didn't get your pant leg caught between the chain and the front sprocket. My dad had to cut me free from my bike once, ruining a perfectly good pair of bell-bottom jeans, before I learned that lesson.
Not so any more. There's an extra connection between the back wheel and the frame - a little arm that connects the two that presumably keeps the two mated even if the axle nuts come off completely. There's a plastic guard covering the sprockets and drive chain. Two extra fiddly bits to work around.
Got it done, though. As it turned out, I had to replace the tube completely. There's no way I know of to reliably patch a 6" long gash. No matter, tubes are cheap. I was reminded why I hate to shop at Wal*Mart.
And, as milestones go, there was one more today: we have now been parents long enough to have handed down a bicycle.
Jami has outgrown his first bike: his legs were bent so far on it he couldn't get any leverage to pedal. I pulled Katie's previous bike out of storage, re-attached the training wheels and sent the boy on his way.
He was ecstatic. The fact that the bike is pink with Disney Princesses on it bothers him not at all. Should it ever, we'll add another stripe to my daddy sleeve: I'll repaint it. Probably yellow with black accents, like Bumblebee (of the Transformers).
I'm in no hurry for that, though. I'm content for now with my boy being young enough that gender distinctions don't matter.
Around those tasks, I managed to fit in some work on the house. If the rain will hold off tomorrow, I'm pretty sure I can have the front of the house done. Finishing the mudding on the side porch - I'm thinking I'll be able to paint the entryway by next weekend. Once that area's presentable, I'll start demolishing the front porch.