A Bicycle Built for Two!

Well, it took me fifty-some years on this Earth to do it, but I finally have my own Sock Monkey! I was out for a walk, as is my custom, and let me point out that they have been having Riff-Raff Days here in the township. So there are places where people are dropping stuff off they want to get rid of.

Some of the local people occasionally try to coordinate yard sales and other give-away things for such days. I did not actually see any yard sales on my walk, but I did come across a whole table of "Free Stuff." And . . . well . . . that's JUST my game!

I walked away with a stuffed white Mama polar bear with two tiny white cubs, a Christmas pillow with an angel on it that looks JUST like Stevie Nicks (!!!!!), and the charming 15 1/2-inch green Sock Monkey you see here! Family portrait available: here!

Of course, it was my luck to acquire these treasures at the exact point where I was furthest from our house, and I did not have a daysack or bag or anything, so I had to carry it all back home - more than a mile - in my hands!

Well, I can tell you that a woman sweating like a pig (oh yes, it was HOT here; just suddenly HOT! and lemme tellya I am one who hates the heat) and carrying three polar bears, a big red Christmas pillow with a Stevie Nicks angel on it, and a bright green Sock Monkey is going to get some LOOKS. Oh my, yes! Or even some reMARKS!

First, I came upon two other walkers. I always say Hi to the walkers. Walkers are good peeps! But the man and woman looked at me and their faces were bursting with amusement. I could swear they started to laugh out loud! "Just taking my SOCK MONKEY for a WALK!" I said; and I waved that sock monkey around like I meant business! Two nods. Lots of laughs.

Next, I walked by a woman and a man who were covered in sweat, like me, and they were digging a ditch between their house and the road. The woman was covered in grime and she looked far worse than I felt. But she got a GREAT BIG GRIN on her face when she saw me hiking along with my menagerie and my big red pillow in my arms.

I can't remember what she said, but I started telling her about how there was this table of free stuff, and what a bunch of bargains I'd acquired. Well, BEYOND bargains. Free! And she said, "Now, THAT sounds like a profitable walk!" And I said Yes it was, indeed! And so now we are friends! For who will EVER forget the girl who walked through the neighborhood with her Sock Monkey in her arms? WHO???

And so it was that I brought my three polar bears and my Stevie Nicks Christmas angel pillow and my new green Sock Monkey (all 15 and a half glorious inches of him!) home, and I sprayed them all down, and sat them on the back deck to air out in the sun for a couple of hours.

Then I brought them all indoors, wiped them off some more, took big pieces of tape and used them to get any excess fuzz or grime or dust off, and then we introduced everyone to our household. In this photo, you may see Tiny Tiger and the Sock Monkey going for a little bicycle ride. Well, isn't that just precious!???

As a sidebar, this little orange bike is mine. It is how I often get to and from the Barrens. It is also supposedly a trick bike, but I have personally never seen it do any tricks. I'd ask for my money back but . . . well . . . the BIKE was also a freebie from a prior year!

The bicycle seat was becoming ratty, and the day before this, I made a new green fleece cover for it, which took far longer and was a much bigger pain in the tuchus than you might imagine. But I did it!

When I was done, T. Tiger came out and sat on the new green fleece seat cover to make sure it was comfy enough. "Did it pass the Tiger stripey booty test?" my husband asked. Why yes, yes, of course, it did! The seat is ultra-soft and this is a bicycle built for two!

Well, let me conclude by saying that T. Tiger and I are happy to welcome all these new critters to our domicile. He's not exactly sure what he thinks of the new Sock Monkey, but I think they'll be fast friends soon. And guess who you just might be seeing more of in these Blips: YES, SOCK MONKEY!!!! HA HA HA HAHA HAHAHA!

Now, my main soundtrack song, of course, has to be A Bicycle Built for Two. Let's let it be by Nat King Cole. But I have another song - a favorite song - I'd like to toss in here, and it's for me, the girl who has spent her life acquiring all this crap, aka, mountains o' things; here's Tracy Chapman, with Mountains o' Things.