More Grand

During the concert, there was a very good and strong Tenor right next to me. He is an excellent singer, but he tended to lead me astray during the places where the basses or baritone parts diverged (depending on whether the piece was SATB or TTBB) from the tenors. I would be singing along and his words would different and I would either sing his words or just be confused.

All of the conductors told us that we should look at them. But in my opinion, it is difficult to read the words ( especially if it was in Swedish) and figure out how to pronounce it, then see the note, and duration; while also watching them all of the time! What is interesting to me is that, the good singers can do exactly that!

Today was an off day with only a banquet and awards at night (since they usually don't give awards for the number of mistakes {though that might a good idea so they don't discouraged} I won't be getting any awards tonight). We just took some walks around the Yale campus and a little around town. Hopefully when I get back home I can add some pictures, it might be able to do it from my iPad but I don't know how at the moment.

Grand concert

Last night was the Grand Concert for the AUSS (American Union of Swedish Singers). I wish I could say that I sang beautifully but honesty leads me to say that I was at best adequate. I did OK on the English pieces but made a few errors on the Swedish ones.

The ladies sounded great especially my LW (actually I was too far away to hear her, but I know that she is wonderful). On Wednesday, the Waukegan Swedish Glee Club (my group) performed "Embracable You" and my LW came up (after a little coaching before hand, pleading actually before hand) and allowed me to sing the last few lines to her ( it was a surprise, only the conductor and I knew it ahead of time). We (my LW and I) received quite a few compliments about it (it was so cute). Interestingly, none of the other singers noticed that she came on stage, but the audience all saw it!

It is a lot of fun to sing with a large group of very good singers. Today is a free day except for the banquet later today. And then we go home tomorrow. After four hours of practice every day, it is nice to have a day off. We will probably walk around town and visit the college from "Gilmore Girls" ( Yale for those not familiar with the TV series). Unfortunately, we are done singing for a while, choir practice and Glee Club won't restart until September!

It will be good together back to home and our poor dog, since it has been over 90 degrees at home!

Got Here

After a loooong delay at Philly and at least two planes arriving but not leaving, we eventually left for New Haven and got to the thriving airport. It is one small building and uses signs as security measures.

The baggage area opens from the outside to the "baggage ramp" and the bags are thrown in to the area.

When we got outside there were some taxis so we could get to the hotel, but there were not enough for all of us and we were left with two other people waiting outside with no taxi in sight. Eventually another cab came and we got to the hotel and registered for the convention.

Most of the days so far have consisted of practice. We are glad that there is a Subway just down the block.

I have been going for an hour plus walk in the morning when I can't sleep after waking up in the very early morning. Actually, one of the hotel security guards was suspious of me when I came back from the first walk! I didn't realize how shifty of a character I look like!

Tomorrow is the Grand Concert that we have been practicing for. More to follow when I am not so tired!

Starting to Travel

I am presently waiting for à delayed flight in Philadelphia. Every other part of the travel has gone well. We left for the bus at our Church at the time we wanted to (0515). The bus left for the airport at the time it was supposed to(0615) and we got to the airport ontime.

The flight into Philly even got in early. Plus I was able to get all of our stuff in one checked bag.

So things were going great until we got here. At first, they delayed to 1350 from the original 1330 departure. Then it was 1410 then 1425.

Now they say they will tell us when they know when we will leave. The original plane is not there now, so we may be here for a while.

Have I mentioned before how much I hate flying?

Trip Packing

We don't go on many trips.  We have a dog which we have to get someone to watch. we have a lot of inertia, I like home and various other reasons.

We go on even fewer airplane trips.  The last one was to Portland OR four years ago.

We are preparing for a trip now (and it is an airline trip even).  So we have to figure out how many bags to take and how to pack them.

I tried to check in online, which is much easier than at the airport and print boarding passes and pay for the bags (I hate paying for bags, if it was up to me and I needed to fly, I would take Southwest Air, each bag is $25 that we check [it is well known how cheap I am, plus I bet we don't even get peanuts on the flight]).  But the tickets are a group fare for over 6 people and it said to check in at the airport.

This trip I need to take an uniform so I will need more space than I usually do.  I hope to cram all of our stuff into one big checked bag to save the extra $50!

I bought a sport's coat for this trip (the suit I have is from my high school graduation and the "sport coat" I have might be older then that).  I hope folding it is OK (so it will fit).

If we had planned ahead, maybe we could have driven there.  It is only 960 or so miles, so it is an easy 2 day trip.  I'm sure I will have more to write about it in the next few days, so stayed tuned to the same bat channel!

Computer Talk

Whenever my LW is on the computer she talks to it. She tells it, that that is not what I want! Or why did you do that?

She is so cute! She sings everything! I am rather taciturn and it complements me!

I have loved her for over 40 years and my life is much better off with her! They say that opposites attract, we are different people but not complete opposites. I have changed since we got married and am a better person because of it!

She hasn't started singing to the computer yet, but there is still time for the music to begin!

Perfect Woman

My LW after a triathlon

I was lying in bed listening to the radio and a commercial came on the station I was listening to and since I was close to the radio I switched the station to see what else was on.  At one channel, a host (a woman at least I assume she was a host) asked another host (a man) to describe the "Perfect Woman."  Since I just got there I don't know the context, but the male host hemmed and hawed around for a while obviously trying to not answer the question.

But this got me thinking about the "Perfect Woman."

For me the perfect woman, would have to be intelligent.  And pretty.  And a good mother to our children.  And adventurous.  And athletic.  And want to bicycle when the weather was good.  And kind.

Intersting my LW has all those qualities (who would have thought it, I guess I would!)!

Drought Advantages

There are many advantages of a drought.

The grass does not grow as long or fast, so it doesn't need cutting as often!

There are less mosquitoes, obvious advantage!

No flooding of the basement!

Don't feel bad about gardens not growing (obviously not your fault but the weather's).

Just wanted to cheer myself up after having no rain for so long!  It is intersting looking at the radar maps which show rain all around us and seeing dark clouds, but no rain here!  Plus I don't want to think about our well!

Spam

Normally I have 10-25 emails in my spam folder, but today I had 125!  There were 3 emailers that sent 20 or more copies.

I am happily married, so I'm not sure why eHarmony sent me 23 copies of an email (I certainly hope that they don't know something that I don't).

I can't remember what the others were for, but hint to spammers sending more copies of the same email does not endear yourself to me!

For some reason my email program decided to call some emails as junk that I receive everyday (this is different from the spam folder).

A couple of emails got though the spam filter the other day including F***Book and Married Women looking for men; I can understand how some things can get thru the filter but not those.

I like to look thru the spam folder everyday or so to ensure that vital (or maybe more likely OK) email isn't short stopped there.

Age

When I look at the number of my age, I wonder how I got to that high number.

After all I am not even middle aged yet! When I was slightly younger, all people over 30 were not to be trusted. Slightly older, I realized that 30's were ok to trust. And even slightly older, I realized that 30's were a great age to be.

Then the realization that 40's and 50's were good ages with all sorts of advantages. Disregarding my closeup vision, I am lucky to be in good health(as a not yet middle aged man should be).

I guess that whatever number your age, it is how well you feel about yourself that matters. As long as we keep active, we will be at the correct age, the number is irrevelant. Though is hard to come to grasp with the fact that my baby girl is approaching her fourth decade!

Hot! Hot! Hot!

It is hot, hot, hot!  Ir was 95 yesterday and will be in the 90's the next couple of days.  Even the "low" temperature this morning is only 77.

Neither our dog nor us want to go out in this weather.  He (Frisbit) goes a couple feet and then starts the slow descent to the ground.  Getting him up is not easy (when you are over 90 years old it is hard to get up and to get down).

I know that Denver gets above 90 even more often then we do, but at least it usually gets in the 50's and 60's during the night, so the houses can be cooled down.

I am even thinking that air conditioning might be an option!  My LW talked to a person at the library yesterday who was planning on staying at the air conditioned library all day, but I don't think they would appreciate our dog as much as he should be appreciated!

Theater

We have been season ticket subscribers to PM&L Theater for the last four or five years and before that when our kids were young. In general, the shows have been wonderful and the musicals were fun and lyrical.

The show we went to yesterday was "Sunday in the Park with George", which is a musical. But to us the melodies weren't. It was very boring and the music though performed well was not pleasant. We enjoy more music that is easy to sing and with a fun beat, musicals like The Apple Tree or 1776 or Mamma Mia. The members of the cast did well but it was not my cup of tea! Others might have enjoyed it more than we did, my problem is with the musical itself rather than with the theater. But a big advantage of the theater is that it air conditioned since I am too cheap to air condition our house.

The next show is "Our Town" and I expect it will be well done.

Father's Day

Insure.com calculated what they deemed to be daddy duties, including things such as barbecuing, killing bugs and mowing the lawn. The study found the domestic tasks would total about $20,248 a year if they were paid work. That compared to $60,182 annually for moms for doing things such as cooking, cleaning and nursing wounds. The value of the work was based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for how much similar jobs out in the real work world would pay.
Another study by Salary.com found that the value of what working dads do at home is actually rising. The company looked at online responses from nearly 3,000 dads who reported on the number of hours they put into tasks at home, including everything from cooking to driving kids around, and found the value of what the dads did jumped to $36,757 this year from $33,858 the previous year. A previous study of work done by working moms found what the moms do at home is valued at $66,979, compared to $63,471 in 2011.(http://lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/12/12168909-dads-household-duties-worth-less-than-moms?lite).


It looks like inflation is hitting the dad's work around the house.  My dad died when I was 5 though I had a lot of stepdads.

It looks like my grandkids have great dads.  Happy Father's Day!

Toys

This morning on the dog walk, I saw a razor scooter on the ground near a house that I passed.  It got me thinking about the various toys that the various generations have/had.

When my LW and I were (younger) kids, the games and toys were things like Lincoln Logs, fake guns (including fingers and sticks) and other interactive toys that required imagination and were quiet until we added the appropriate noise (varoom or screams or kapow or machine gun noises).

My kids had basically the same types of toys since computers and iPods were not very prevalent.

Our grandkids, almost all of the toys (especially when they were younger) made noises.  Either a voice saying things like "to the future and beyond" or electronic noises/music.  Though they still have some of the more traditional toys like Lincoln Logs or clones thereof.

Of course. now a days, my LW and I's toys are more likely to be iPads or computers or bicycles.

The razor scooter is a good toy since it requires physical activity.  But some kids (as far as I know not my grandkids) have those electric or gas motor driven "cars" which give no real physical benefit.

Some of the best toys are bicycles.  They allow kids to get places and give them physical activity.  When I was younger, bicycles allowed me to go miles away to places like the Detroit Zoo.  I guess the world is a scarier place and most kids probably would not be as allowed to go such distances unchaperoned.   It is a pity that they don't have the freedom that we had at their age.

They moved the Store

We decided to go to the IL Kohls yesterday. The wind was from the south so I thought going against it there was better than against us on the way home.

But when we got there the store was not where it had been the last time that we went to that shopping center. So we went all the way around it and even to the next more west shopping center, but no Kohls! So we started back, but my LW noticed as we were entering yet another shopping center that there was a sign pointing to the Kohls that had moved there when we were not looking. After yet another detour ( as we like to call it, a chance to get more exercise, after all men don't like to admit that we have no sense of direstion) we got to the Kohls.

When we got there, we used a $10 gift card that they had graciously had provided us and a 20% off coupon that I got in a email ( both of which expired on Saturday and we didn't want to go on Saturday with the high temperatures that were expected and we had something else on Friday). We bought another black long skirt for my LW. As near as I could see everything there was on sale. You would have to look far and wide to find anything that was not on sale.

The road that we have to bicycle on was even worst than the last time we used it. The shoulder had about 6 inches of broken up concrete to bicycle on, so we had to use the gravel shoulder which was horrible. But we made it both ways!

Bicycling Maps

I love https://maps.google.com/  (actually I like it a lot).  They give options for using car, walking, public transportation, and BICYCLING.

We use this feature when we are going various places on our bikes.  Today, we are planning a trip to a Kohl's in WI.

Another good reference is http://www.traillink.com/home.aspx, which is a Rail to Trails Conservancy site, which partnered with Google for mapping various trails.

Another feature I like is the ability to add to the bike maps via the Google Map Maker.  Also at Trailink you can input trails and remarks.

Father's Day Gifts

Dyson Digital Slim Vacuum Cleaner $299
If anyone gave me a vacuum for Mother's day, I'm not sure how pleased I'd be. But when I brought home the Dyson DC35 Digital Slim to test it out, my husband ran off with it and I haven't seen it since. It's pricey, but anything that can get my husband vacuuming the house, and cleaning up after himself when he does projects around the house, is totally worth it.
The Digital Slim has Dyson's innovative technology built in, a digital motor that claims to be three times faster than the average motor, and it comes with a "fade-free" lithium ion battery. The detachable long-reach wand cleans way up high, does the floor without bending over, and attachments lets you fight into very tight spots. http://www.dyson.com/store/product.asp?product=DC35-IRSBL 
(http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/fathers-day-2011-gift-ideas-high-tech-gadget/story?id=13832757&page=2#.T9h4Yb_EpkE)



Vacation
Your father might enjoy a vacation. Make sure to cater it to where he would like to go.  You could send him on an all-inclusive cruise.  You can send him on a tour or put something together yourself.  If you are worried that he might not like it, then you might want to tell him about your intentions and let him pick out the exact vacation, cruise, time, etc so that you know that he gets what he wants.
Car

If you really have a big budget, then a car might be the ultimate gift.  Obviously, you will have many choices in this.  You can get him a sleek, brand new car or an antique car that he can fiddle with if he has such a hobby.  This would make a great surprise gift (if you know that he would like it) or you could go with him and let him test drive and pick one out himself. (

http://www.helium.com/items/1801125-the-best-expensive-gifts-for-fathers-day)

Those who think dads are better-loved find support in the theory that the sorts of things we buy for our dads—tools, electronics—are more expensive than the sorts of things we buy for our moms—brunch, flowers. (A corollary to this theory says that women, the main buyers on Father's Day, are more enthusiastic shoppers than men, the main buyers on Mother's Day.) A few surveys support this hypothesis. Ebates, the online coupon store, for instance, queried shoppers and found that they spent more on Father's Day than Mother's Day by a significant margin—$144 to $82. ....

The National Retail Federation, the most reliable source for these sorts of statistics, insists that Mom still reigns supreme. It reports that in 2011 consumers planned on spending more on their dads than ever before—an average of $106.49, up from $94.32 last year, for total spending of $11.1 billion. But mothers still get the bigger haul, with the average shopper shelling out $140.73 in 2011 for total spending of $16.3 billion. (Spending on both holidays has now fully recovered after taking a hit during the recession.)

NRF data also indicate that moms get more expensive individual items than dads, too. Both parents most frequently receive cards as gifts, with the average shopper spending $5 to $10. But people purchasing "consumer electronics or computer-related accessories" for Dad report that they plan on spending an average of $67.20. People purchasing the same class of goods for Mom spend an average of $94.91. And mothers frequently receive pricey items like spa treatments and jewelry (average price tag: $84.09). Dad's tools, ties, and gadgets are cheaper. (

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2011/06/i_love_you_dad_but_35_less_than_mom.html)

By the way, I am not angling for gifts, I just found these intersting facts or gifts.  Plus we just got a new car 6 months ago, so kids scratch that one from the list!

Inherit

An intersting article from Wall St Journal

( http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303990604577370001234970954.html?mod=e2tw) talks about baby boomers (like myself) not inheriting as much as we figured.  Of course, I figured on nothing from my parents, but:

For years now, there's been a lot of talk about boomers getting tremendous windfalls as their parents pass on. Many boomers, in fact, have been lagging behind in their savings, betting on—hoping for—big bequests, especially since many of them suffered big losses in 2008.

But for a growing number of boomers, things aren't going according to plan. The postwar generation is living longer—and many are spending their savings along the way. And, of course, many of them also took a hit in 2008.

The result is that, as a group, boomers likely won't be getting as much of an inheritance as they hoped. Even worse, far from receiving a bequest, a growing number are tapping some of their own savings to help their cash-strapped parents make ends meet.  ....

Ms. Becker, now 63, says she certainly doesn't begrudge her parents for outliving their savings. The Steins built a thriving plumbing and heating business that now employs Ms. Becker and her husband, among other family members. Still, as Ms. Becker's in-laws enter their 90s, she worries that "their money is running out, too."

How kind of her not begrudging her parents living longer!

We hope to leave our kids an inheritance, but if PO gets reelected it will be much less than we hoped!

Chance of Rain

When we lived in WA state, if the chance of rain was 30%, we got rain.  Now in IL, ut seems like no matter the % it doesn't rain.


I checked with the three weather providers and found that they don’t all handle the probability of precipitation, known as POP, the same. “Technically, the POP is the probability that a measurable amount of precipitation (at least 0.01 inch of rain or water equivalent) falls during a given time period at the specific rain gauge that is at the ‘official’ verification site,” said Mike Steinberg, a meteorologist and senior vice president at AccuWeather.com.
The Weather Channel uses a similar definition, only it counts any precipitation, not just water amounting to 0.01 inch or more, and it includes precipitation three hours before or after the forecast time, according to Bruce Rose, a vice president and principal scientist for weather systems for the Weather Channel. So if there’s a certainty of a slight drizzle at 2 p.m., that leads to a forecast of 100% probability of precipitation at noon. “We’ve experimented with more objective methods … but found that, from a consumer-centric viewpoint, the most well received version was something of a worst-case (i.e. highest or most-significant-event) approach,” Rose said.
The National Weather Service, meanwhile, has the same minimum standards for precipitation as AccuWeather, but displays the probability of rain “at any given point in the forecast area,” rather than at the specific point where the gauge is located, according to spokesman Christopher Vaccaro. (So if there’s a 50% chance that it will rain somewhere in the area, and, if it does rain, 80% of the area is likely to be covered, the probability of precipitation is 40%.)(http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/deciphering-a-20-chance-of-rain-470/)



Probability is Just a Guide
Probability does not tell us exactly what will happen, it is just a guide(http://www.mathsisfun.com/data/probability.html)


probability, in mathematics, assignment of a number as a measure of the "chance" that a given event will occur. There are certain important restrictions on such a probability measure. In any experiment there are certain possible outcomes; the set of all possible outcomes is called the sample space of the experiment. To each element of the sample space (i.e., to each possible outcome) is assigned a probability measure between 0 and 1 inclusive (0 is sometimes described as corresponding to impossibility, 1 to certainty). Furthermore, the sum of the probability measures in the sample space must be 1. (http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/probability)


I would have thought that the various probabilities of rain would be the same! Silly me!

So if the % of rain is a certain % then it may rain or not!

WI recall Videos

It is hard to believe that her major complain was that CNN called the  results early.  What are they teaching in college (Madison is the site of U of WI) these days?

Jon Stewart might be liberal, but he is almost always funny.

*****

I must be getting more senile.  I can't find my "in house" sunglasses now!  I wonder if my eyes are trying to take over my mind and they don't like sunglasses!

Firing torpedoes

When you fire a torpedo at a target from a sub, you have to shoot where it is going to be when the torpedeo get there (since the torpedoe moves at a speed less than the speed of light) not where where the target is when you fire.

When you bicycle, you use the same process! You need to figure out where the cars are going to intersect your path. So you arrange your speed to NOT intersect the car's location. This is a good reason to have sub training, though being in the military is not as easy as one might like.

I went skeet shooting once. I hit the first 3 clay pigeons, but after that I missed all the rest. I started to aim at them instead of where they were going to be. So if you aim at the car, you will miss it unless the car changes speed or direction. Or as more prudent just wait for the car to leave!

Dairy

I love to eat cheese.

But I went to the doctor and he said no dairy!  This means that I can eat cereal if I want, but it has to be dry or with water or with fruit juice (actually I have tried that when I was not thinking and poured my grape juice on the cereal instead of in its glass, by the way not  I great taste delight).

My first appointment was a few days before we were going to celebrate my LW's birthday.  Usually we buy some ice cream (like moose tracks) for a dessert, but my LW had to suffer without it, instead I made a chocolate cakey thing, which did not have milk or eggs in it (actually it tasted fairly good).

On Fridays, we like to have a pizza, but this is ruled out too!

The doctor sited a study called the "China Study" and told me to google it.  So I did, an intersting (remember gdad spelling!) result of googling anything is that I lot of negative articles always come up at the same time.  Most of them from dairy producers.

The China Study was a many year study involving 100,000's of people and tended to show a correlation between health and less dairy.

So maybe I will change doctors!

Advantage of Forgetfulness

Today, I paid my real estate taxes at a local bank(I tried yesterday at my bank, but they no longer accept payments for the taxes).

 As I got close to home, I noticed that it was very sunny near my eyes! I had forgotten my sun glasses on the counter of the bank. Since we were bicycling back from the YMCA, my bike was laden down with my LW's Y bag and my Y stuff, so I decided to go home first and then go back to the bank.

 For some reason, I am always losing or dropping the sunglasses from my bike(I have basically 3 sets, one in the car, one at home and one on the bike, usually in my helmet or in the panniers), I think I have lost two pairs so far(of course they are el cheapo Walmart glasses so we loss is not as bad as it could be).

 So I bicycled back to the bank and the nice teller when she saw me asked if I was there for my sunglasses and of course I said yes.

But the advantage of my stupidity, is that I got another five or so miles bicycling in!

 I am writing this on my tablet and it capitalizes the first letter of each paragraph, but of course I am use to doing my own capitalizing so I often have to go back and correct it! Oh the advantages of technology! Plus it puts a corrected spelling of my mistakes or guesses what I want as a choice, but to accept it you press the space key NOT pressing the guess to accept it (another chance for error!).

Wisconsinites vote for Walker

A politician did what he promised. He balanced the budget without he raising taxes.

For this, he is facing a recall electiion sponsored by the Public Sector unions.

It is sad that people have to lose money to pay more for their own pensions and healthcare. But there is not as much money as politicians promised public employees.  It is not a great economy (no matter what PO says) and there is not as much money for anyone.

The whole relationship between politicians and the public union is incestuous anyway.  With all their staffers being public employees and the unions giving big money to the same politicians, which money basically comes from the taxpayers to make the taxpayers taxes increase!

 So I hope Wisconsinites vote for Scott and his LtGov also.

What's Wrong with Some Kids

I guess this video is 4 years old, but who taught these girls right and wrong?

*****

More Bible translations:

A new Bible translation released by Thomas Nelson changes the nouns for God, Jesus Christ and angels to Eternal One, the Anointed One and a messenger of God. But critics say the project that supposedly is “attuned to the times” is just a Gospel that’s been “watered down.”
The Voice translation, a joint project between Thomas Nelson and the Ecclesia Bible Society, was released this spring.
(http://www.wnd.com/2012/06/new-bible-strips-god-jesus-angels/ )

****

We are the government, we are here to help:

Farmers in Colorado are watching their fields dry up amid one of the worst droughts in the state’s history.
But just a few feet beneath them, the water is so plentiful it’s flooding basements and causing septic systems to overflow.
Yet the government will not permit farmers to pump the water to save their crops. 
( http://www.wnd.com/2012/06/farmer-panic-crops-die-as-govt-blocks-wells/)

Sports

What is happening to my Tigers?  They lost 3 straight to the worst team Seattle and 2 more to the Minn Twins.  The Chicago White Sox have started to win and hit, but the Tigers can't get a hit that is not from the first 4 in the lineup!

I thought this was the year for them to win it all, when they signed Prince Fielder and started out strong, but lately they stink!

It is amazing that  the LA Kings have not lost an away game in the playoffs!  It goes to show that a hot goalkeeper can win the Stanley Cup.

The NBA playoffs are also intersting (from now on intersting will be my interesting, when I worked for Westinghouse they decreed that employee would be spelled employe in all Westinghouse documents, so why can't I respell intersting?).  It looks like the 4 best teams are in the playoffs and are evenly matched( probably Chicago was one of the best teams until they lost Rose & Noah).

I don't care about golf or racing or tennis, so I have no idea what is going on there!

First Bike Ride

For our first new bike ride, we went to the Warren- Newport Library.  The picture is of my LW at the library checking for the name of an author to look up some books by him (the library did not have them).

The video is from our trip home.

There was some confusion on the gear shifting, but I think we finally have it figured out.  The metal part of the shifter moves the  chain to a larger sprocket and vice versa for the plastic part.  So the right lever metal, decreases speed (rear sprocket) and the metal left increases speed (if you pedal at the same number of revolutions per minute) or easier pedaling (right).

I took the video on an iPad when I was a little ahead of her.  I took another video but it is hard to see her, so I didn't include it here.

The trip is about 15-18 miles round trip with long steep hills (for IL, of course in general going uphill is much harder than the amount of a break we get from the downhills) on local highways and fairly level bike trail at the end (going).  Our next planned excursion will be bicycling to Church.

 

Bikes

My LW's

Mine without the rack yet

We bought new bikes for both of us. Since I bought them online, I had to put them together. Of course, there were no instructions.

I assembled my. LW's first (since hers was the outer most one), so I got to practice on hers first. It seems that mechanical things don't like me. So there was much frustration and sweatiness!

 I looked online for videos on assembling bikes, but the ones I found were for specific bikes at specific bike shops, so they were not for our bikes.

On my LW's, I thought I was done, but found a piece that was left over. So I looked at the bike online that we bought and compared the picture of the bike with the part and found where it went. It was from the front brake lever to the bracket on the headset.

I had her try it out and it didn't fall apart.  I assembled mine (with more sweatiness and frustration) and set the seat where I thought it should go and it was too low and the front brake (the brake that I had to connect) was not tight enough.

The bikes have the type of brake handle that also is the gear shift.  It is my first bike that way though my LW has a bike that is built that way(we bought it at s bike shop so ut was assembled!).

Hopefully, we can try them out for a long bike ride tomorrow(weather is a bit dicey today).