Patty's new "shoes"

The tires on my commuter were shot. This weekend, B2 helped me swap out the tires and clean the chain, while DD was off on a play-date. B2 had a great time with the tire levers, and did a good job working the old tire off the rim. The tires were so much easier to work with than road tires we could probably have managed without the levers, but he wanted to play with the tools. The tube was as old as the tire, so I was going to replace anyway - no worrying about lever punctures.

After the tires were on, we cleaned up the chain and re-oiled. B2 was very helpful with shifting gears and testing brakes, to make sure I put them back together before we rode down to the park for a quick spin. No long rides, just in case something went wrong. Nothing did, and I think I'm really going to like the smoother ride of the City Ride tires. Might drop Patty off with the mechanics at the Silver Comet Depot in the next week or two. The chain is rubbing against part of the something-or-other in one particular gear, and that's not something B2 and I can fix. (It has done that for as long as I've owned it, btw - have always just avoided that gear.)

All is well, and I was back on the road today, to pick up food for Peter T. Dog at Red Bandana. We've had him eating Avoderm, but he doesn't seem to like the senior formula, unless we mix it with something else. The something else has been the high protein formula from Trader Joe's. It kind of defeats the purpose of "senior" if we're mixing with regular, so we're going to see if he likes the Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul: Senior Dog Formula. It has glucosamine and chondroitin to keep him happily running, and salmon for his dry skin. If he doesn't care for this, we'll go back to mixing. For the next six months, I know he'll be getting enough exercise to keep off the weight.

As for my little bike mechanic, I offered to pay him for his help, or take him out for a mocha or something. He said no. He just wants the old tires and tubes. I know he wants the tires to make a double ring for jumping cars. The tubes? I have no idea, and am a little scared to ask. This is the same kid who, at the age of four, walked up to me and announced "I'm gonna tell you something you may not even want to know... it is a bad idea to build a powered water fountain in bed, even if you use big cups" Then, he asked me if I could come upstairs... to my room.