Well…after doing 16 miles downstairs this morning and then making soup, the sun shining was just too much for me to resist so I dragged the clean bike up from the basement and did 15 miles out there…a very nice, hard ride and the clicking is almost gone so I’m working on the right area of the bike…once the trails ice over, I’ll take the bike back down and pull the idlers in the rear shifter and clean them completely and that means taking them apart…the still have some sand in them but I can live with it until later…I did hurt my right thumb and I’m going to have to put some voltaren on it since it hurts to do this even and I’m not sure how I hurt it…oh, well…the soup came out good and I have three new recipes ready to go after I do the grocery run this week and can’t wait…still only going to do one meal today even with riding 31 miles today…need to lose another 8-10 pounds…

Well…running a bit late today with being up and down all night and having no energy at all today…only two sips of coffee in me so far so it’s going to take it a while to get working…my vision is really blurry this morning and part of it is my allergies are flaring again…ran the hepa filters all day yesterday and I’m going to start them again here in a minute…need to get moving soon to get two rides in downstairs before Man U plays early afternoon and I need to make some potato soup for lunch so I need to get started on that by 10:30 or so….going to be eating out of the freezer until Wed and grocery day when I’m going to pick up what I need to try three new recipes for some healthier food going forward…one that looks interesting is called chana masala and it is a vegetarian masala with no fat in it and I can use that…and I have chickpeas and lentils to use, too…need to get more variety in my diet…I did add potato soup over the past month so I guess that’s something….not much to do today…need to get on the bike by 8 to get two rides in before soup making time but I sure don’t feel like it right now….man, I’m tired…more later…

Well…this is getting to be a habit…didn’t do a darn thing again today with just doing the two rides and then watching football all afternoon…kept it to one meal again today but it was a bigger one so I probably had close to 800 calories today or maybe even a little more…did the rides indoors today since it has been raining off and on all day and just barely got to 40 and I didn’t want to have to clean the bike again…and I made the 5K goal for the year so I can go down to 16 miles a day with little guilt…going to have almost 1,700 miles indoors this year and that is almost 700 more than I’ve ever done…need to make potato soup again tomorrow since I have all the ingredients and don’t want them to spoil…it is such a cheap, filling meal that only costs me about 3.50 to make and lasts 4 days…need to start looking at other stuff to make after this ham is in the freezer…I think pasta is going to be one of them and I’ll drag the recipes out my daughter left that use ground turkey since she left me two pounds in the freezer…okay, need to start making the list for the grocery run next week….

Well…that sucked…had a rotten night of sleep and that is even worse with sleeping well for a couple of weeks…so I’m worn out today and need more coffee than I have to get moving….oh, well…at least I don’t hurt much and I’ll take that…was thinking about getting outside on the bike today but it’s been raining and I don’t want to be cold and wet and get the bike dirty…so I’ll ride indoors today and for the rest of the year….had such an easy day yesterday that I do feel a little guilty for not getting much done…and today looks about the same with some soccer on and no cooking to do…going to make more potato soup tomorrow that will last me most of the week and then start to figure out other food to eat…I think that will start with pasta using some 5 bucks a jar sauce my daughter left me from July…I am going to try to take a day off at some point but I really don’t know when that will be…need to keep losing weight and that won’t happen if I don’t work at it…not much to do today…going to sit here for a bit since it’s only 7 and I don’t need to get on the bike til 8…or 9…who knows…more later…

Well…this was one of the easiest days I’ve had in quite a while with just doing two rides downstairs and cleaning a little in the kitchen…and I don’t feel bad about it one bit….even though I hate elon with a passion, I am going to watch the launch of the x-37 space plane on the Falcon Heavy tonight at 8…should look pretty cool as a night launch…and they will probably try to land the two outside boosters and I can’t remember if I’ve seen a night landing or not…stayed with the one meal plan again today with about a half a bowl of soup and a couple of brown and serves…for about 600 calories for the day…but I am going to have some cheese and crackers later for a snack…need to cut up some celery since I have a stalk and a half in the fridge and only need about 3 pieces to make another batch of potato soup…will make hams soup next week since I do need to use the celery for that. too, along with the carrots I’ve had for a week…and that will refill my soup stock and add to the two containers of turkey soup I made last week…I really do need to start varying my diet some…that will start next week…

Well…up at 5:37 this morning and feel pretty worn out…just poured the first cup of coffee and I would really like it to work soon…haven’t looked outside yet to see if it’s raining but it’s supposed to be…it’s warm enough to get out on the bike but that ends today with highs going down into the 30’s….okay…the weather widget just changed to 40 degrees with light rain so I guess the rides will be indoors today…and that’s okay…cleaned the bike up yesterday and I can leave it downstairs….got a few things done yesterday but that leaves me with nothing to do today and that’s okay, too…I can clean and probably should do the kitchen…got the biggest stalk of celery I’ve ever seen at aldis yesterday for 95 cents and that reminds me I need to make more potato soup and cut some of it up to use for snacks later…a little ranch dressing with some hot sauce in it would be good…not in too much pain today and I really should be after all the riding this week…my thighs were howling on  the bike yesterday and the pain was moving around like it normally does….not much to do today…it’s still before 7 so I can just sit here for a bit before I get going…and I think I will…more later…

Well…almost forgot about this…today when I was out on the second ride along Muskegon Lake, I saw a Bald Eagle flying north to south across the lake and it was flying like I’ve never seen an eagle do…not the normal lazy spirals but it was flying flat out like he had somewhere to be and he kept it up until he was out of sight…I wonder what would make an eagle do that? I’ll have to keep my eyes up more to try to see that again…it’s been a good day and I got lots of stuff done…the grocery runs first, then two bike rides, cleaned the bike and just finished working on it downstairs, then laundry that is in the dryer and I’ll have to put that away when it’s done…so, pretty busy but now it’s almost 4:30 and I am done for the day…it’s the 10th day in a row of only one meal and I really am starting to see the weight come off with being able to ride outdoors…but that ends tomorrow I think with rain and cold coming in…and that looks like the end until the first week of January…oh, well…I do have more “Goliath” to watch downstairs…

Well…that was weird…slept all the way through the night until 5:44 this morning and that never happens…I really can’t remember the last time that I didn’t wake up at least once overnight….I wonder if it has something to do with getting the health insurance sorted out? Have to start planning meals for after the ham runs out and I really think I need to make some pasta for a change…not a lot of food in the freezer but I do have 2 pounds of ground turkey that I can make chili with…and I’m going to make another batch of potato soup in a couple of days and then some ham soup when I use up the ham and mashed potatoes….going to go through the food my daughter left me and use that up…still have lentils and other dry goods to use…it’s only 36 outside so I may have to wait til the afternoon to get out on  the bike and it’s still going to be cold when I do…and tomorrow is going to be rainy so I’ll be inside….not much to do today…just the grocery runs and the rides but I should clean a bit and do laundry and probably will….more later…

Well…while I was sitting here tonight, I realized I still hadn’t heard from Priority Health Medicare whether I still had coverage and January 1st is coming up…so I decided to give them a call and got through…talked to a very nice woman who told me that still had my address as my son’s house in GR…but if they sent paperwork there, my son or daughter in law would have called me to let me know…so she changed my address and told me I was still enrolled and will send me all of the things I should have gotten…two cards, and a catalog for the OTC benefit…so this takes a big load off me and I don’t have to wonder anymore…I really did think they cancelled me for costing them 77K for my surgery this year…so, I’m going to have a cocktail to celebrate tonight…

Well…Man U is stinking up the place again so I thought I’d come here instead…once the rain turned into a heavy mist about 8:45 this morning, I decided to suit up and head out with my rain gear on…there was just a little wind so that made for some good rides and I came back sweating from working hard…it was around 47 degrees when I left and that is plenty warm when I’ve got the raincoat on….didn’t get too wet and when I finished the first ride all I did was fill the water bottle and got right back on the bike since I was covered in grit from the wet trails and didn’t want to track it all over the house…as it was, after the second ride, I stood in the shower as I brushed the dirt off the back of my pants and raincoat…I may be able to get one more day of outdoor rides in tomorrow but it might rain so we’ll see…it is going to rain Thursday and then the temp crashes to highs in the 30 so I’ll be indoors for the rest of the year…haven’t done much else today other than straighten the place up and clean a little…and now I need to go out and put the trash bin out for pickup tomorrow…