I went out for my walk today even though rain was threatening. It was quite warm, 51 degrees, with the wind at 18 mph. I dressed accordingly; enough layers to keep me warm but not too warm as I knew I would add warmth with the exercise.

The first thing I saw was the pond nearby. It was about 8:20 in the morning and contrasted with the picture I took a few days ago of the sunset. So, I snapped a picture.

I headed out in the direction that I had taken yesterday thinking that would be just enough to get in my walk. At that point I felt confident that it would not rain for a while.

A rare find

When I approached a residence along the way I noticed that the items on the curb had not changed from yesterday. A portable fire pit enclosed with wire mesh, a wheelbarrow, a hoe and a bicycle were still at the curb near the driveway. But today I saw a FREE sign that I hadn’t noticed yesterday.

I have been wanting a bicycle for a while but did not want to spend a lot to purchase one. When I saw that it was there for the taking, I did just that.

I jumped on and rode away.

It isn’t much of a bike. It did fine for a while and I am pleased with the find. Before I got home with it, though, I noticed that it was geared too high for me. It was harder to pedal on a slight uphill grade. I tried to change the gearing to make pedaling easier and managed to jamb the chain away from the sprocket.

While I managed to straighten that out it began to softly rain. As I got going again the rain grew stronger and by the time I got home again it was hailing with a much harder rain.

I wasn’t too badly soaked but I was still wet. My hands got chain oil on them from my efforts to make the chain behave.

As I stood near the sheltered doorway I watched a thunderstorm dump pea sized hail in our parking lot.

I am thankful for finding this bike and for it getting me home swiftly. Otherwise I would have been truly soaked and peppered with hail.