Back on the bike.

I like riding my bicycle.  It's hot as hell in Texas and I'm a stay at home dad (for the nonce) so the best time to ride is when the minions are asleep.  It's dark out and I'm riding with the wind in my hair and the only sound in my ears are the tires on the road.  It was so peaceful that it was kind of freaking me out.  A little too peaceful if you know what I mean.

Since I'm riding in my neighborhood with a low crime rate and this town pretty much rolls up the sidewalk at sundown I'm not packing.  For the past decade and change I've always had a pistol on me.  I'm used to the weight, I can feel it without reaching for it; I'm not carrying it when I ride so I think I'm leaning to the side to compensate.  I know I'm not but it feels odd.  I'm a city boy and this is the country; seeing some gangbanger wannabe doesn't frighten me but shrubbery too close to where I'm riding in the dark with no one around and I'm a little disconcerted.

Something else odd (to me at least) are the smells.  I don't have the greatest sense of smell; in fact, it's not that great actually.  That little quirk did make managing a restaurant interesting at times.  When I smell my favorite perfume (barbecue) I'm all happy, but when I smell some other things I'm not so happy.  We use an ozone system for our laundry (we used to spend close to $400 a year on detergent) so I'm not used to scented laundry anymore, a lot of people were doing laundry this night and it's all scented.  When my wife was pregnant her nose went into hyperdrive, she could smell everything; I think she would have gotten a headache from all of the detergent out there this night.

I did two miles and change tonight.  I'm going to get a part I need to attach a trailer and then I'll bring my youngest with me.  Help her sleep and if she sleeps well then we all hopefully sleep well.