Althouse: A neighbor kid wanted a bike, so Meade got this old bike out of the garage...

July 2, 2012

A neighbor kid wanted a bike, so Meade got this old bike out of the garage...

... cleaned it up, pumped up the tires, and gave it a quick spin before giving it away.

41 comments:

Ann Althouse said...: Sorry about the smudge on the camera lens.; 7/2/12, 4:51 PM
William said...: A clear case of pedalphilia.; 7/2/12, 4:52 PM
Calypso Facto said...: "Nice job" indeed, and nice gesture.; 7/2/12, 4:53 PM
edutcher said...: OK, are we classifying those as shorts or pedal pushers?

And did he give you a ride on the handlebars?; 7/2/12, 4:56 PM
Anonymous said...: Meade is a prince among men, no kidding. Even in shorts.

Sweet of him to give up that little bike.; 7/2/12, 4:56 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Shorts... it's 95° here and he's cleaning out the garage and painting the house. And biking.

I think that's about 3 exceptions to any anti-shorts rule.; 7/2/12, 4:58 PM
Ann Althouse said...: He fixed up and gave away another bike today too. After he got the first one fixed, he did another one and told some neighbor kids it was free and put a "free" sign on it.

The other one was even nicer.; 7/2/12, 4:59 PM
Moose said...: But, I thought there was no excuse for shorts outside of athletic contests of skill?

For shame, Ann! For shame! Rein in that heathen!; 7/2/12, 5:01 PM
bagoh20 said...: Did you get the 19 page release of liability signed...in triplicate?

And you a law professor!; 7/2/12, 5:04 PM
Mel said...: What a very nice thing for Meade to do. (And how very nice for you acknowledge practical need to violate the "no shorts rule."; 7/2/12, 5:08 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Nice gesture Meade.

Thats a girls bike btw.; 7/2/12, 5:11 PM
Bruce J. Russell, Sr. said...: Mead has got to be one of the most altruistic internet personalities.; 7/2/12, 5:12 PM
Hagar said...: What bagoh20 said.

You will be punished.; 7/2/12, 5:13 PM
edutcher said...: Ann Althouse said...

Shorts... it's 95° here and he's cleaning out the garage and painting the house. And biking.

95? It's barely hitting 90 here.

My sympathies.

Truly.

I think that's about 3 exceptions to any anti-shorts rule.

You're a good woman.

And he's a fine man.

As I've said offline a couple of times.; 7/2/12, 5:17 PM
bagoh20 said...: This is brilliant!

No more yelling "Get off my lawn".

Bike, hacksaw, Bondo, paint.

I gotta go.; 7/2/12, 5:24 PM
ndspinelli said...: My old man taught me if you do a kindness for someone and feel compelled to let someone else know, then you did it for the wrong reason. I suppose having your bride tout your generosity is a loophole?; 7/2/12, 5:30 PM
rhhardin said...: Modern bikes defeat hobby fixing by needing revised special tools every couple of years.

I defeat it by buying the tools as needed.; 7/2/12, 5:32 PM
Anonymous said...: You are good folk, Ann.

Good folk.; 7/2/12, 5:33 PM
LoafingOaf said...: Must Meade wear his Teabagger shirt around children?; 7/2/12, 5:41 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: I love his DTOM muscle shirt, and you have an all caps LOVELY street.; 7/2/12, 5:49 PM
Ann Althouse said...: The original exceptions, if you dig back and find the oldest "men in shorts" post, included really hot weather.; 7/2/12, 5:50 PM
LoafingOaf said...: Oh, I get it. From the blog post immediately before this one:

“We’re also seeing that these younger members of this generation are beginning to show some more conservative traits. It doesn’t mean they are Republican. It means Republicans have an opportunity.”

So Meade put on his Teabagger shirt and started giving free bicycles to the kids.; 7/2/12, 5:50 PM
Michael said...: No exceptions for "wife beaters"' however. Not a good look.; 7/2/12, 6:00 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Sorry about the smudge on the camera lens.

Ha ha. At first I thought you were watering your lawn.

We have a retired mechanic friend who picks up old beater bikes in garage sales. Fixes and paints them and gives them to neighborhood children who can't afford new bikes and charities like the Lions Club for their Christmas give away events.

It is a good thing to do.; 7/2/12, 6:29 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "No exceptions for "wife beaters"' however. Not a good look."

That's a special on-the-property look. Housepainting.; 7/2/12, 6:32 PM
Meade said...: "I suppose having your bride tout your generosity is a loophole?"

It wasn't a generosity. It was an opportunity for me to have more room in my garage - a totally selfish.; 7/2/12, 6:37 PM
KCFleming said...: Some little kid's gonna be thrilled.; 7/2/12, 6:44 PM
Meade said...: Lem said...
"Thats a girls bike btw."

I know. Thanks for noticing, Lem. My Gadsden teabag wife-beater is also a girl's Gadsden teabag wife-beater. So you might say my overall look was not only stylin' but stylin' with gender coordination.; 7/2/12, 6:49 PM
ken in tx said...: I have been wearing shorts and t-shirts for the last week. It's been 105 or 107 almost everyday. I don' feel guilty.; 7/2/12, 8:00 PM
Tari said...: Meade, you are a good man.; 7/2/12, 8:14 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Riding a bike as a kid in Wisconsin. Pure heaven.; 7/2/12, 9:12 PM
Ralph L said...: Bicycle Repairman! My hero!; 7/2/12, 9:40 PM
traditionalguy said...: It is better to give than to recieve. So Meade gets the better part in life...in many ways.; 7/2/12, 10:08 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Meade,

All I cared about is whether you were wearing a helmet.

You were not wearing a helmet.

Good Man,...; 7/2/12, 10:21 PM
JAL said...: Neato. Really.

But did he move the bikes from Ohio?; 7/2/12, 10:36 PM
kimsch said...: A couple years ago someone stole The Little Guy's bike but left an almost identical one in its place. By almost identical I mean same brand and size but there were no tires and the plastic wheels were very worn as in ridden quite a lot without tires. Pegs were missing, pedals broken.

We called the police and reported it but we didn't have the serial number.

When we bought a new one we made sure we noted down the serial number and have taken pictures of it. The Little Guy is also extremely careful to lock up his bike, at home and at friends' houses.; 7/3/12, 1:16 AM
Rusty said...: ndspinelli said...
My old man taught me if you do a kindness for someone and feel compelled to let someone else know, then you did it for the wrong reason. I suppose having your bride tout your generosity is a loophole?

Pretty much what I was taught too.

Meade said...
"I suppose having your bride tout your generosity is a loophole?"

It wasn't a generosity. It was an opportunity for me to have more room in my garage - a totally selfish.

This too I understand. Too good to just throw in the trash- find somebody to give it to.
gotcha(thumbs up); 7/3/12, 7:11 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Very nice of Meade to do that. Two kids are thrilled with their new wheels!

[Althouse did you check with your sons before you gave away what I assume were their bikes as kids?]; 7/3/12, 8:02 AM
prairie wind said...: A clear case of pedalphilia.

This made me laugh out loud. Depending on the level of sex offender hysteria in your neighborhood, maybe not so funny.; 7/3/12, 9:46 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Althouse did you check with your sons before you gave away what I assume were their bikes as kids?"

Nope. Nor did I charge them a storage fee for leaving it in my house for 20 years.; 7/3/12, 12:33 PM
Rosalyn C. said...: He paints the house, cleans the garage, is nice to children, pledges love and loyalty til death. I don't know, but I think you might have found the perfect man.

Also, now I see that you house is color coordinated with the rest of the neighborhood. It's nice. I didn't know Madison was so majestic.; 7/3/12, 1:45 PM