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For some time now, Sarah has been keeping her eyes open for a single-speed bicycle that would fit her.She wanted a single-speed because she felt that it would improve her climbing power. Since a single-speed doesn’t let you shift gears when you encounter a hill or a stiff wind, or, the worst-case scenario, a stiff wind while pedaling up a steep hill, it is up to the bicyclist to provide any additional power necessary to keep the bicycle moving forward. Since this power needs to come from the bicyclist’s legs, it forces the bicyclist’s legs to get stronger.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many frames in her size floating around the world, so finding one, much less one already converted to single-speed, was a tough nut to crack. This last weekend, we found the right set of nutcrackers.

Sarah found a single-speed for sale on craigslist and, shockingly, it not only fit her but was reasonably priced. A short time spent with the bike later, she was the proud owner of a new single-speed.

The purchase of that bike touched off a frenzy of bicycle maintenance this weekend. We had to swap the tires from her road bike over to the single-speed; a new set of tires was then installed on the road bike and the brakes on that bike were adjusted. The rack and fenders had to come off her previous commuter bike (a Gary Fisher mountain bike) and be installed on the single-speed. Since she wants to use her previous commuter bike for cyclocross, she stripped all the extraneous parts off that bike, including the kickstand.

Several hours later, we had touched nearly every bike she owns, but she seems quite happy with her new commuter (the single-speed), her cyclocross bike (the Gary Fisher) and her road bike (with its new tires).

The weather here today is sunny and 72 with an occasional breeze and wispy clouds in the sky. On one of the most fantastic days that we’ve seen in these parts for a while, it’s time to look back on the past few weeks.

Three weeks ago, Sarah’s parents came to town for a visit. We took them up
to see EAA AirVenture at Osh Kosh this year. The weather is invariably hot
and sunny the last week of July, so a visit there is as much a test of an
individual’s constitution as it is an opportunity to see interesting
aircraft. However, despite the scorching weather, everyone had a good time.
One of the highlights of the day is the air show which takes place every day
around 15:00. This year, they had a number of bombers at the show,
including one of only two flying Avro Lancasters in the world. Also taking part in the air
show this year were B-17′s, B-24′s, B-25′s, and a B-1. The bombers staged a
mock bombing run at the end of the air show, which was generally corny, but
appreciated by some segment of the audience.

After spending the day at the air show, we toured a bit of Osh Kosh
looking for a bite to eat. We finally ended up a a joint for locals where
we introduced Mike and Tina to the unavoidable Wisconsin tradition of Friday
night Fish Fry. Wisconsin fish fry is invariably tasty, but almost never
healthy. Of course, a manhole cover might be tasty if it was breaded,
fried, and served hot with a large beer, as well.

We also took Mike and Tina out to Spring Green to see the American
Players Theatre production of Thornton Wilder’s play, The Matchmaker. As
usual, the show was very good. The acting was sharp and the set design was
very, very clever. I thought that the lighting was a bit inflexible which
seemed to limit the actors ability to come off the stage and into the
audience very deeply, but that is a small quibble overall.

The weekend after Sarah’s parents left, my parents arrived. They timed
their visit to coincide with the annual Lands End warehouse liquidation
sale. The sale is held in Dodgeville, so we drove out there with them on
Saturday morning after our weekly run to the Farmer’s Market. As usual, we
scored high-quality clothing at nearly criminal prices. For instance, I
bought two sport jackets for a combined cost of less than $15. At retail,
those jackets would have commanded well over $200.

On our way back to Madison, we stopped in Mt. Horeb because we wanted to
stop at a cafe there for lunch. However, it was National Mustard Day, so a little festival was taking place on
Mt. Horeb’s main street. Hot dogs and mustard were free to all comers
(while they lasted), but if you wanted ketchup there was a $10 surcharge.
We all had one or more hot dogs while we listened to the band playing on a
portable stage and took in the sights. Eventually, we made our way to the
Blue Sky Cafe where we had dessert to polish off our free hot dogs. Sarah
had peaches and cream pie, I had lefse, my Mom had a cookie, and my Dad had
a malted milk shake. After dessert, it was only natural to shop for mustard
so we stopped at the Mustard Museum and picked up some quality mustards.

We had to get back to Madison eventually, however, because we had tickets
to a play in town for that evening. After eating pizza that we made on the
grill, the four of us trooped off to see the play Leaving Iowa at the Overture
Center. The play was reasonably funny, though probably not the most
comical thing I’ve ever seen.

Sunday morning my parents got back in their car and drove off to South
Dakota. Sunday evening, we attended a Madison Mallards game with some
friends of ours. We sat in the Duck Blind, which offers its patrons all you
can eat food and drink. The drink menu is fairly extensive, if you define
drink as beer; the food menu is limited primarily to savory foods. The
Mallards were attempting to set a world record for the largest ceremonial
first pitch, so all fans that night go to troop on to the field, toss a
ceremonial baseball, and then head to their seats. Since they started to
run low of fans before they ran out of baseballs, they started to let people
throw more than one pitch. So, I threw two more, just for kicks.

Last weekend we got a new (to us) gas grill. We had been invited to a
barbeque and since it was near our home we decided to walk there. On the
walk over, we discovered that someone had placed a well-used, but
serviceable, gas grill at the end of their driveway with signs that read
“Free! Works!” We had been in the market for a cheap gas grill and since it
is hard to get much cheaper than free, we took the grill home with us.
Sarah and I combined our efforts to get a propane tank for the grill and we
fired it up last night. It seems to work well enough to suffice for
grilling burgers, brats, and the like in the winter which is why we wanted
the grill. Our charcoal grill is still our primary grill, but since we pack
that away come winter, the gas grill will attain primacy for a few months
during the dark months.

Shortly before Sarah’s parents arrived a few weeks ago, we drove to
Illinois (Rockford, specifically) to pick up a Norwegian Elkhound that we
were going to foster for a time until a permanent home was found for him.
The dog’s name was Rocky and he was just a bit over 14 months old. He had
almost no training in how to be a dog in modern society, so he was more than
a handful. We had him at our place for a while, but eventually, he was
placed with a more experienced foster home. In the short time that he was
with us, however, we did discover nearly every item in our home that was
below four feet above the floor that could be chewed by a determined
individual.