New toy, and also the ebike plots my demise.

This time in conspiracy with my boots, oddly enough. I was coming home from town and working my way through this one sandy patch with a lot of washboarding when I felt the pedal tug on the top of my boot. And while I knew at once what was going on…

…my bootlace had become untied and was wrapping itself industriously around the pedal crank…this was a hilariously bad place for it to happen. If you’ve ever tried to ride a bicycle through sand, you know the bike quickly loses its sense of directional responsibility. A skinny-tire bike is – IMO, of course, your mileage may vary but I doubt it – simply not rideable through sand. I, through the generous auspices of Big Brother, have a fat-tired RadRover…

Which tires are not only fat but also large, meaning Rad is a quite stable-in-sand but also quite tall bike. Not quite Penny Farthing tall…

…but tall enough that a not-very-tall person like myself must handle the manner in which the bike tilts upon stopping because you can’t just put down both feet. In sand, the bike is going to do pretty much whatever it wants as it loses speed. Naturally, since I had reason to believe that my right foot was at the moment literally tied to the pedal, it tilted right. I uttered a heartfelt “Oh Shit” and congratulated myself for wearing the damned helmet for once while – not exactly for the first time – waiting to see what gravity had in store for the old man. Happily no damage ensued, but it wasn’t for lack of trying on the part of my bike and my footwear. I think I may have discovered another reason why real bicyclists wear specialized shoes.

In town, I acquired a new pair of earplugs. If you’re an inveterate shooter this will have more meaning for you than if you’re not. Last summer I splurged on my first-ever set of electronic earplugs…

…and while I’ve carried them every day since, they proved a great disappointment. They are neither particularly effective earplugs nor (at all) effective noise-cancelling earplugs. About the only thing they do well is work as bluetooth earbuds, which was never supposed to be their primary purpose. I figured a year was long enough to suffer along with them, so I went back to just plain earplugs – but the kind you put in hot water and mold to your particular ear.

Once upon a time you could only get these at big gunshows, of the sort I never attend. Ian once had a set he liked a lot, to the point where he actually mourned the loss of one of them. So when I saw they’d become common enough you could buy them online, I got a pair.

Of course the whole molding thing is kind of a project, involving leaving them in boiling water and then sticking them in your ear while still hot. I had qualms about that part but it worked out. Then of course I had to test them, right? Tobie did not appreciate that part, since the corner of the porch is right next to his window. It turned out, the S&W’s extractor wasn’t particularly pleased with me either, because…

…one of my older reloads had corroded in the box and then split in the cylinder. Another dead soldier: Some of my reloading brass has been with me since the earliest days of the Model 431.

Speaking of Tobie…

If you need a couple minutes’ peace while fiddling with boiling water and things you plan to stick in your ears, a Kong tire (courtesy of Landlady) and a couple of MaroSnacks will always do the trick. He’s smart, but easy.