Wobbly

Yesterday afternoon, one of the kids from the neighborhood was learning how to ride a bike on the street in front of my house.

He had his whole family out there cheering him on. His first attempts were along the lines of -

wobble wobbbbbllllllle CLUNK

wobbbbbblllllle wobble wobble THUD

Honestly? I think this kid was more uncoordinated than I am, which frankly I did not think was possible.

But! Dad stepped up with a hand to the back, the pedaling increased in speed, and by dinnertime, the kid almost had it down. I'm pretty sure he'll be biking around the neighborhood by the end of the week.

So. I am back. Things are still terribly sad, of course, but Little Girl and I are soldiering on. The annual neighborhood Mexican standoff over who's going to be the first to break down and mow ended on Saturday, when I got home from work to find my neighbor B. (of driveway fame) mowing his lawn.

I got out my pain-in-the-ass mower, which fought me all last summer. I gave it a little talking-to, letting it know that I was fully prepared to jump in my car and go to Home Depot and buy its replacement if it didn't for the love of Christ START already, and it started on the second pull.

I think we've come to an agreement.

And! Um, was I the only one who thought Bin Laden was, well, already dead? I mean, he hasn't exactly been on my radar screen for the past few years. Oh, and now that the Tea Party nutjobs have lost their birther bone to chew on, how long before they start questioning whether he's REALLY dead? I'm sure that whole "burial-at-sea" thing will give them a whole new conspiracy theory to work on.

I am ready for spring.