Just in case you were ever wondering, and I know you probably have, the old expression of once you learn to ride a bicycle you will always know how, is not true. I had help in putting together an older bike to ride so I could get some leg exercise. Wellsir, I have done that and I have also qualified to use a parachute. So far I have only scraped the hide of of my right and left knees. NOsir, it was not my fault! If that post had not unexpectedly jumped out at me I could have made the tight turn the human part of my brain told me not to try. The male part part of my brain said, “Just go slow. Everything will be all right.” It is possible I should have listened to the part of my brain which did not want to commit public suicide.  
The first knee was the victim of my very first bicycle ride in ...oh,,,ah,,, several. I had slowed down as a total novice should do to turn a corner. A car was coming from the direction I was attempting to go so I got close to the curb. At the apex of the curve was a ridge of asphalt about four inches high. Just beyond that was a gap that should have been filled with said asphalt and was more than wide enough to swallow a bicycle wheel. It was deep enough to keep a less than well balanced individual from remaining upright should the wheel of his conveyance happen to encounter it. However, knees can heal but I have waited a long time to get a bike so I had to protect it.
As there was no one around, except for the lady driving straight at me, to witness this, Hawkeye, Trapper John, Radar nor Klinger were called in. With my luck Colonel Frank Burns would probably have shown up. But the lady did stop when she got to the corner and asked me if I was “all right.” Believe it or don’t but some part of my brain did kick in and I answered casually, “Yes, just resting.” Had she been a teacher or grandmother she could have seen right through that but she didn’t blink and I smiled. Hmmm, maybe it was the smile that had her leave so quickly.  Ah, well!
I am determined to conquer this beast and get all healthy and strong again. Just think, by just doing stand ups and bicycle pick ups I am getting lots of exercise. The first leg of my primary goal is to remain upright for a whole hour’s ride. I shall not tell you the Vegas odds on that.
But our weather has been conductive to being outdoors as opposed to a normal summer. Most mornings I sit outside on the patio to read the paper and have my morning quota of coffee. Today i had to wear long sleeves almost until the sun came up. If you are not familiar with Oklahoma, it is not unusual to have 90 degree  temperature at midnight. Most of the other sissy states cool off after the sun goes down but not us. Our weather philosophy is like our personal philosophy, we are not paying that sun to turn off and sleep, we want all he has even if it kills us. We believe we are tough and we can take it. Yes, you are correct as many of us haven’t the sense to come in out of the heart attack heat. When the Arabs lead their camels to shade one would think we would have sense enough to do likewise. But I suppose it is a matter of sensibility.
Way, way a long time ago I was known to play tennis on our hottest days. That meant there was at least one other person who was not bothered by the heat. There were very few who came out on the hottest days but on a normal very hot day and the courts were full. We Henryettans liked out tennis. There was one major difference, of course, between those years gone by and today. Not many people had air conditioners and almost none had “central air.” That is hard for a person under 40 years to imagine although they may try, but it is true. It is a little hard on the body to go from 69F to 101F and be very active.
Fortunately No one up here knows I gave advice to Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe during several of their matches. When? you ask. Wellsir, that was after we got hooked up to cable TV. Oh, I also coached the Dallas Cowboys. (Quite loudly at time!)
Tell me, how did you spend your hot, long-ago summers? See you next week.
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