Back to exercising

When I first got a knee replacement, the grandson's girl friend (now fiance) gave me an exercise bike.  I used it for a couple of months, then went back to walking in the pasture and sold the bike on Craigslist.

Within two years of the knee replacement, both knees began to hurt me so much that I had to stop going for my daily walk.  I wanted to do some sort of exercise:  I tried calisthenics (exercises on the floor) and weights, but got bored and quit both.

Recently a Facebook friend mentioned having an exercise bike for sale, and I decided to give that form of exercise a chance once again.  Many years ago I put in so many miles on a cheap exercise bike that I wore it out.  By the time I gave up on it, it was squawking loud enough to raise the dead, and I couldn't even hear the music I was playing to distract me.  I've often told people that the most boring form of exercise is riding an exercise bike.

However!!!  I just got off the recently acquired torture machine after twenty-five minutes, and the time passed quickly, thanks to the Ipad.  There's a little ledge on this bike that's made to hold a book.  Not a very big one, because I wanted to place my current library book on there and it wouldn't fit.  But the Ipad fits just fine, thankyouverymuch.

I alternated between playing solitaire and checking Facebook, and twenty-five minutes fairly flew by.  The really good news is that I have ridden the exercycle two days in a row, and my knees feel better for it!  Could be just a fluke, but at least I know this form of exercise isn't going to hurt my knees, and it may be helping them.  Wish me luck with this effort.

I'll leave you with a video of Mama Hen with her babies.  I've been letting them out in the afternoon; so far, no hawks or varmints have bothered them.  They are spoiled, though:  When they see me approach the pen in the morning, they start running along the wire and cheeping pitifully, expecting me to turn them loose.  I'm not brave enough to let them be free all day long.  I am amazed that Mama Kitty hasn't had one of them for a snack.  Maybe she tried, and got chased off by the hen!