Well…with the announcement today that Kyle Busch died from a severe case of pneumonia that turned into sepsis, and I remember the same thing almost happened to me…when I was in my 30’s, I came down with what I thought was a cold that just hung on for weeks…and then one night I started to shake uncontrollably and my temp spiked to 104 and I couldn’t breathe so we headed to the hospital and when I got there I was gray and my ox level was down to almost 90% which is usually fatal…they said that if I would have gotten there 15 minutes later, I would have died…luckily, I responded to the tons of antibiotics they filled me with and the full stream of O2…but I was in the hospital for 5 days and when I got out it took me weeks to be able to breathe right again…before they announced it, I knew what killed him since I lived that same thing…and he was just living with the illness how I did and it just got away from him…I feel sorry for his family…

Well…up early this morning to the beautiful sound of rain hitting my siding after not getting any rain here for 16 days…not sure if it will save my lawn but it looks like it’s going to continue for a few hours so the first ride may end up being indoors for the first time in quite a while…and that will be okay after coming back into a 25 mph wind…twice…yesterday and that has left me sore everywhere…so sore that I’m going to take an ibuprofen here in a minute…my hands even hurt from pulling so hard into the wind…it still feels good that I can still do it so I’ll stop bitching now…I did sleep okay and even had a few dreams that I can’t remember and feel pretty good as the coffee goes down pretty easily…the truck race was rained out and was rescheduled for this morning at 8am so I really need to do an indoor ride to keep the string alive until I go to Italy in September…so that means I need to get off my butt and get on the bike by 7am but the weight work needs to be done before that so I’ll have one more cup of coffee before I get started…I do need to cook today and I think I’ll make my chicken, potato, and carrot concoction I make in my big frying pan with pasta sauce and water…haven’t made that in a while and it’s an easy one that I just need to load up and simmer for a couple of hours…need to remember the garlic and bay leaves…and I do need to brown the chicken in olive oil before the veggies and sauce goes in…may even add some rice at the end with some added water to make it even tastier…more later…

Well…up and running at a little after 5:30 this morning and I don’t think of that as a win because I tossed and turned all night..and I just can’t get started but I guess I don’t need to with how cold it is out there and needing to wait until the temp comes up so I can get the rides in…only 46 here right now and the heat is on…again…but maybe that ends today? so, it looks like another morning of just easing into it but I do need to do the weight work since I skipped yesterday to try to get my arms to heal up without a lot of luck…I did order some wiper blades for the car yesterday since I could get a pair of silicone edge ones for 10 bucks which is even cheaper than Ollies…and for 10 bucks I really don’t care how long they last…will probably do the same meals as yesterday and add a bagel this morning to try to keep my body from flaming out on the bike again…I do have chicken in the fridge that needs to be used or frozen and will probably cook a couple of breasts tomorrow…got a letter yesterday saying that my dentist has sold his practice but everything will go on like nothing happened and I’m not sure I believe it…have been with them since I moved out here and I really don’t want to search around for a new one…I guess I’ll give them a chance…not much to do today…just the rides, I guess…I did put the brush killer on the trash trees that are ruining my fence and now I hope it rains to get it started…more later…

Well…I did get the laundry done today but not much else…coming back from the 2nd ride I was just dead on the bike…and I know I whine about this a lot but I don’t think half a chicken breast and two spoonfuls of pasta salad was enough to support riding 26 miles a day for the past week…so today I had a chicken sandwich with some pasta salad for lunch and then 2 pieces of pizza for dinner and that should be enough to get started on tomorrow..it’s been a while since I felt so lousy on the bike but that’s what happens when you balance calorie intake on a fine edge…I did see a tiny, tiny snapping turtle hatchling on the trail today and had to stop to pick it up and move into the grass at Heritage Landing where I think he was heading toward water…have seen quite a few snappers out here and I hope this one survives…the trip to Ollie’s was a bust since they didn’t have anything I wanted but that’s pretty normal…I did put the top down for the errands today and even at 48 degrees it was fun…and I got more books so I’ll have them for the weekend…okay, back to reading…

Well…it’s May 21st and the heat is still coming on here and it’s just wrong for it to be so cold this near to June…41 frickin degrees…so I won’t be getting out to ride until after I run an errand at 9…Ollies has guildan t-shirts for 1.99 and that is a pretty good deal for 100% cotton irregulars…and they have Michelin wiper blades for 4.99 and I can use a pair since I haven’t replaced them since I bought the car…and I need to hit the library since they are closed tomorrow through Monday for the holiday and I don’t have enough books to keep me reading til then…I just discovered that they are not running the Monaco GP this weekend and that screws up my best race day of the year…since I was a kid the race was on Memorial day weekend and I wonder what genius decided to throw that away…stupid, stupid people…so, I have an easy morning with just having the weight work to do before 9am and that means I can sit here and have coffee until then since I’m not doing the rides til later…not sure exactly what I’m going to do for all that time but I may toss some reading in there…the c,b, and v are wearing off the laptop keyboard so I’m going to have to put stick on letters on it so I can see what key is what…how much do you have to use a keyboard to wear the letters off? I guess as much as I do…more later…

Well…have had another busy day today with getting the first ride in when it was still almost dark, then doing the grocery run and stopping at 4 stores, putting gas in the car…yikes! and then getting the second ride in after I got home…it was still pretty chilly when I did the run but I put the top down anyway and my car is starting to be so much fun having such a nice car to fool around in now that I have the clutch sorted…and I almost have the tires balanced but I’ll have to go back to Chuck and get the other two balanced to get it completely fixed…have felt just worn out again today and I think it’s from getting up at 4:31 this morning…my last remaining brother gets up at that time every day but damn, I don’t know he deals with running out of steam later in the day…I do have Tom to thank for clueing me in on how to trim my ratchet belt so it’s not 6 inches too long…took about a minute and I took off 3 1/2 inches and it fits much better now…I even used my kitchen scissors to cut it like he did and they cut through the leather like nothing…so now I don’t have to thread the extra 6 inches through the belt loops…I did get some brush killer at menards this morning and I’m going to dose the trash trees in my fence to get rid of them…not cheap at 17 bucks but getting ride of that trash is worth the money…I did get deals at DD today and may have gone a little overboard with buying 4, 4 cheese self rising pizzas when I still have one in the freezer…but for 1.29 each? I’m making that one tomorrow and then I’ll have to find room to fit the other 4 that are now sitting on top of my ice cube trays…okay time to read a bit…

Well…damn, up at 4:31 again today and I am not going to let my frustrations boil over into obsessing about it all morning…I did sleep okay so I guess that’s something…going to be a busy morning today with the normal stuff but I am going to get a bike ride in outdoors before I do the grocery run but it will be in long pants since it’s only 51…and that means I need to get out by 6:30 or so but that’s the new normal so no big deal…need to hit 4 stores this morning with some great deals at DD and I need to hit menards to get some brush killer to kill off the damn trash bushes in the house that’s for sale so I don’t have to keep trimming them…and that’s 20 bucks for a small bottle but worth it if these damn things die and stop damaging my fence…started my day with the leftover Lavazza coffee and I do like what I can taste of it…but I don’t think I need to buy any more coffee right now…still have 2 1/2 bags of beans and the huge can that I just bought that will get me to the middle of summer…the can is a very coarse grind that I am going to put in my grinder to see if that changes anything…can you tell I’m bored? Have leftovers for today but then will need to figure out meals for the rest of the week…really bored with what I’ve been cooking so new recipes are going to be tried…more later…

Well…as I sat here late this morning running out of coffee, I couldn’t help my self and got out the Lavazza beans and made some pour over coffee with it…it’s pretty good and has more than just coffee flavor in it…I can’t taste much but I could tell it has a nuanced flavor with hints of citrus in it that I like a lot…and for 21 bucks for 35 ounces it’s not a bad deal…will I buy more of it? Not sure yet with all of the coffee I have here but it’s nice to know I have coffee for the next couple of months…I did get 26 miles in on the bike but didn’t get anything else done but make pasta salad that I had a big plate of with chicken for dinner…it looks like DD has some deals so I’m going to stop there tomorrow as part of the grocery run…I mean, 4 cheese self rising pizzas for 1.29 each…and I get three meals out of them so that’s about 43 cents a meal and that’s a bargain…and they have smoked ham and roasted chicken for a 1.29, too so I’ll stock up and fill the freezer again…just finished a book and that leaves me 3 more to do this week and I’ll need to hit the library before the weekend to get more before it’s closed for the holiday…okay, time to pick another book and get started…

Well…I wonder if I should just move the clocks to make it look like I’m getting up at a reasonable time instead of the 4:45 I climbed out of bed this morning? That would probably be easier than figuring out how to sleep longer…but I feel okay so maybe I don’t have to do anything…if the pain I’m feeling is just the start of what I’ll feel tomorrow with the 2 day rule, it’s going to be ugly tomorrow…but I’ll try to get ahead of it with some topicals before I get on the bike this morning…I should be able to get two rides in before 9 if I get out at sunup…it may even rain today…ha,ha…no, that’s not going to happen…I do need to cook today and I’m going to make the pasta salad I’ve been thinking about for weeks to go with the chicken I’m going to bake for lunch…still have pasta for dinner and I need to think if I need to buy more chicken tomorrow at 2.19 a pound…there is room in the freezer for it as I gradually draw down what’s in there…and the last pizza will be used thurs so I do have food to eat for the rest of the week…I really can’t taste the dark roast coffee I bought so I guess it will still work as a CDS…I did talk to my daughter yesterday and she seems excited by the Italy trip…she even talked about upgrading out seating on the flight over and back to 1st class for 4 grand but I told her I’m good just being on the plane…but she is changing our seats so we are in a two person row on the outside of the plane so we can see out the window and that’s pretty cool…not much to do today…just want to get the rides in and then have an easy day…I do need to do some cleaning but I’m not sure what that will be yet…more later…

Well…the rain really sucked as the storms missed to the south and all we got was a little shower…but why am I surprised? It never rains hard here…at least in the 5 years I’ve lived here it’s maybe happened 5 times and that’s why I have no lawn…oh, well…I am so beat right now and sore from the transition from indoor rides to hard outdoor rides…but I’m not sure that’s why I’m so worn out…geez…I sure hope it’s not from just getting old because there’s nothing I can do about that…like I said before, I feel like I’ve been on a three day bender and barely have the energy to just sit here…okay, I’ll stop complaining now..it’s pretty darn humid out here after the rain and the sky is clear so the sun is boiling the rain up into the sky and that’s okay after I bitched so much about the cold that is coming back Wed when it will be in the 50’s but just for one day so I think I an deal with that…okay, time to find something to watch tonight…