An Old Bike and an Old Memory

      I know it's kind of an odd photo to be sharing as my header picture, but it perfectly depicts my subject matter today...It has to do with what I mentioned yesterday about what hubby was doing when I woke up from my nap.
       His mom, in preparation of trying to get things in order so she can move out of their family home, has been calling all the siblings and saying: "If you want......you better come and get it before I sell it!"...Hubby got a call about this bicycle.

       It was a childhood bicycle of his father's. It's a J.C. Higgins bike.

      When hubby brought it from his mom's house it didn't look like this though! It was all in pieces...all except the seat section. That was intact. But as any J.C. Higgins aficionado will tell you, it's not vintage to the bicycle!!...Seriously?! An orange banana seat?!! ^_^

     Hubby started laughing when he saw the seat part because he recognized the seat from a bicycle that was his as a kid! Apparently his father had been 'tinkering' in the basement again!! LOL {If you knew his father you'd be rolling on the floor laughing right now!}
       But considering that some of his father's previous 'tinkering' resulted in a mattress on the roof of the garage, and a bunch of paint cans inside the garage with....'who knows what' in them...but NOT paint!! O_0...he figured that an orange banana seat on an old vintage bike wasn't all 'that' bad!!! ^_^ But, trust me, it doesn't belong on there! Look at all of these J.C. Higgins bikes. Not a banana seat in the bunch!....'Bunch'. Get it?! ^_^

      Anyway!...Hubby decided to spend part of his time,...after fiddling around with the sunflowers,...putting the bicycle back together. He was told that it might be worth some money...a few hundred dollars. After getting a close look at it,....Uhhhh...I'm not sure I think so! But I'm gonna share this Old Bike Blog site I found with him though. It appears to have some comprehensive info for J.C. Higgins bike owners, or people with questions anyway.

        I wasn't gonna show you 'every bit' of battered and beat up section of it, but just in case there's a J.C. Higgins expert out there somewhere that wants to see it....here you go!! ^_^

         Hubby thinks this thing is the next best thing to baked bread!!! :-))

        No....seriously!! He thinks it's as good as,...if not better than...baked bread!! ^_^ He even likes it with the banana seat on it!!

        That's why when I opened my eyes from my nap and looked out the window, this is what I saw....

         A grown man...riding his 'newly put together', orange banana seated, old J.C. Higgins bicycle...

       ...back and forth...around and around the backyard! :-)

      He was so happy that he actually got it working!....^_^ ...Somehow I think the chances of him selling it, at this point, are about as likely as us buying a baked bread company!! ^_^

 When Jeff Was A Boy

He had an orange bicycle
that he rode all over town;
A banana-seated 'Stingray',
and its handle grips were brown.

At 12, to make some cash,
he had a great big paper route.
He'd either walk or ride his bike.
Come rain or shine, he would go out.

He had a fast-red wagon
he pretended was a car.
He hauled everything in sight,
from sister's dolls to dirt-filled jars.

He played little league football,
basketball, kick soccer too.
Despite his having asthma
(which his coaches never knew).

He had lots of toys to play with-
matchbox cars and small 'Hot Wheels',
'Pick-up Sticks' and building blocks,
and model planes, which gave him thrills.

All his responsibility
was to take 'Skippy' out to run.
That's all his dog and him would do.
This made his childhood lots of fun!

Now he's older, likes to stroll,
and grow his garden in the yard;
Doesn't hanker for his boyhood.
Doesn't wanna play that hard!