Absent-Minded (Retired) Professor?

Yesterday's post was entitled "Grandma the Mechanic"...but I failed to write about what that meant! **Paragraph breaks.** Ryan has two bicycles. One is very much too small for him and was stashed in the minibarn. The other, a little bigger, has become problematic. Both he and Robin apparently can ride their bikes in Muncie with no training wheels, so Ry requested that the training wheels come of the new one. I took them off. He couldn't ride it. That was weeks ago. Yesterday, he came to me, insisting that he couldn't ride the bike because the seat wasn't high enough. Could I raise it? Well, yes. There is a lever that tightens the seat post, which I finally was able to release...but wasn't strong enough to tighten again. Used a rubber mallet to pound it into submission. Then there is the issue of the tires. *The old tire pump has been left out in the weather for two years. They are cheap enough, so I bought a new one--which doesn't work. Back to the old one. When I tried to inflate the flattened tire, nothing worked. Don't know if something is wrong with the valve or if I am just incompetent, but he couldn't ride the bike with a flat tire. Ryan resorted to the old bike, buried in the shed. It, too, needs tire work...but not as bad as the new one. Grandma is not a good bike mechanic! *Getting ready for the trip. Trying to do up laundry, etc. Packing will occur tomorrow, I guess.