Well…damn, I hurt almost everywhere today and that might result in taking that elusive day off the bike for the first time in about a month…haven’t had this much pain in my legs in quite a while but it’s not normal pain…pretty sure it’s from sitting on the stool and shucking the walnuts Wed…but my back and shoulder hurt too, and that’s from doing the leaves yesterday…okay, so I won’t bitch about pain anymore…slept okay last night and only woke up at 5 am but was able to go back to sleep until almost 7 so that made for an almost restful night…it’s only 27 outside with the high of 35 today so there will be no outside ride…and snow is coming in for Sunday so I’ll be indoors for a few days…I do need to make a second meal for today and I should make another batch of potato soup to use up the whole milk before it spoils and I do have to make turkey soup to use up the veggies before they spoil…so it’s going to be a soup week here and I like that…not much to do today…going to just sit here for a bit and have more coffee and watch the F1 practice that starts in 5 minutes or so…it’s the last race of the year and I don’t mind the season being over…it’s been quite a bore….more later…

Well…I didn’t know how relaxing not making a big turkey meal would be…had a really nice day even with getting out early on the bike for a nice ride and then coming back here to do 2 1/2 hours of work on the yard and now have all of the leaves picked up before the snow we’re supposed to get Sunday…the lawn looks quite good compared to every other house around here and it had to be done because Tuesday is the last day of leaf pickup…didn’t look like there were many leaves but I have 4 full bags that came up and have to store those in the garage until I put them out so the paper doesn’t get wet and fall apart….can’t figure out why my legs are so sore today but it might be sitting downstairs for a couple of hours yesterday shucking all of the walnuts…the damn bag fell off the mower again and I bashed my left shin…again..and it hadn’t healed from the last time…have another huge lump that is going to take weeks to heal…so, I’m going to take the rest of the day off and look for something to watch tonight…going to read the news first and maybe come up with a topic…

Well…woke up at 4:55 today and out of bed at 6:05…and that always makes me think of this Steely Dan lyric from “Glamour Profession” “6:05, outside the stadium, special delivery for Hoops McCann”… I could see a planet through my bedroom window this morning and I’m not sure which one it is but I guess I could look it up…but don’t feel like it right now…didn’t get a lot done yesterday but the indoor rides and shucking the walnuts I had laid out on a drop cloth in the bike room…and that hurt my right thumb so much I had to slather it with voltaren last night to be able to move it…and I need to get moving soon to get the rides in and the leaves picked up by 12:30 when the Lions play…I had considered that it would be a good day to take the day off the bike and relax a bit and just let the day unfold as it will…yeah, that’s not going to happen…it is a little weird that I’m not cooking a turkey today for the first time in 22 years but it’s time to move on and keep losing weight…and I like burritos and need hot sauce for flavor….only need to make the taco meat for the burritos and that will only take about 5 minutes…and that may even wait til later since I still have potato soup leftovers to use up….not much to do today….need to jam everything into the morning and  get moving soon…on the bike for 80 minutes and then two hours on the yard gives me a little time to have more coffee….more later…

Well…as I mentioned earlier, today was the zoom meeting with my surgeon and it went well…talked for about 20 minutes about the plan going forward and we are now in wait and watch mode with PSA tests every three months for the next two years, every 6 months for the next three and then down to one per year…he did tell me one thing that I didn’t know…10 years ago they would have put me right into radiation treatment to attack the rest of the cancer but in studies they did, the outcome is no better than waiting until the PSA starts to come up again and then doing the treatment and for 50% of patients, they never need treatment…so I’m done with doctors for the rest of the year and that feels good…and I am going to have some cocktails tonight to celebrate…

Well..this is getting to be a habit…woke up at 5:07 again this morning but stayed in bed a whopping 12 minutes more until 6…it rained all day yesterday and I just checked the radar and there is one little blob of it coming over right now but the rest of the day looks dry…so, do I ride indoors or out today? I have about an hour and a half to decide since I’d like to get two rides in before the zoom appointment with my surgeon at 10:40….and that means I have to get on the bike by 8…but then I have the next 5 weeks to do what I want…I have decided to end the tradition of making a turkey for myself for t-day and make burritos instead…have had a taste for spicy food for a while since I can barely taste anything anymore….took a pound of burger out of the freezer yesterday and I’ll add some taco seasoning but today will have to be just a bean burrito since it won’t be thawed until tomorrow…have enchilada sauce to make it a wet burrito and leftover lettuce and tomatoes from the BLT’s to top it along with a pound of shredded cheddar….I do still have to do one more pickup of the leaves before next Monday so it needs to stop raining…and it looks like tomorrow would be the day with highs in the 40’s but thee crashing down into the mid 30’s for highs and snow Sunday…ick…not much to do today….just the meeting and rides then the day belongs to me…not sure what to do but it belongs to me….more later…

Well…Just a quickie on the news that was announced yesterday that everyone in the US is eligible to receive 4 more free covid tests through the USPS…it only takes about a minuted to order them and they will ship next Monday if the order is in by the end of the week…about a month ago, I ordered 4 more and have 18 in my covid drawer in the bathroom…so these 4 will make 22 and that should get me through the holidays at least…heck, they will probably get me through a year since I don’t go out anywhere other than the grocery store and don’t get exposed much…so order them, wear a mask, and avoid crowds…and I am still looking for a political topic for today…more later

Well…another night of identical sleep with waking up at 5:07 and then out of bed at 5:47 and have been waiting for the darn computer to re-boot after it did an update overnight….one of these days I’m going to buy a new one…it’s only 35 out there and the little widget at the bottom of the screen says ‘rain and snow” and the radar looks like it will be raining most of the day so it will be another day on the indoor bike…which is okay since it is so easy to just walk downstairs…had a taste for Mexican food so I’m going to make bean burritos in a couple of days…I do have a pound of burger in the freezer so I could make meat/bean burritos…hmmm…I am going to make turkey soup and another batch of potato soup, too, so I’ll have plenty to eat….just one more doctor appointment until the end of the year and will be happy when it’s over tomorrow and I can just settle in for a while…doing the grocery run today since I don’t want to be in the stores the day before t-day but I may go out to DD if they have anything good in their ad tomorrow…not much to do today…just the grocery run and then on the bike for two then winging it for the rest of the day….more later…

Well…as you know, I had to have blood drawn for another PSA test to monitor if the surgery was successful or not…that went okay but as I said earlier…I have a good sized bruise from the needle…but the results are relieving…no change from the September test and I still test <.1 or undetectable….so that is 5 months after the surgery with no PSA and that is a good sign…it can go off the rails at any point but I’ll take this little win and enjoy the rest of the week…need to talk to my surgeon Wed and I hope I’m not misinterpreting the results…still sucks to go through this every three months…

Well…after running out to get my blood drawn this morning, I have had a bruise forming near the drawing point but not over it and that’s a little weird…and now to sit here and wait for the results…again…and to realize I’ll be worrying every damn three months for the next two years sucks…oh, well…after I got back here and finished my coffee, I went out to pull the rear wheels off the car and lube the parking brake cables and linkages so they won’t freeze up over the winter…and I wd’d the wheel studs and hub so the wheels won’t freeze to them…after that, I waited a little while for the temp to come up so I could get on the bike but it was sprinkling off and on and the temp never got above 38 so I did two rides downstairs instead…and will likely be down there for the next few days with the rain that is forecast and the really cold temps that are coming…now all I have left to do is put the garbage bin out for pick up tomorrow and I’ll be done for the day…after I make the grocery list since I’m doing the run tomorrow so I don’t have to be in stores Wed…

Well…damn, I’m getting to be a broken record but I am so damn worn out this morning…up at 3:09 and then out of bed at 5:48 didn’t help that at all…my legs were really flat on the bike yesterday and they hurt right now along with my left shoulder and that is really unusual…normally my right shoulder hurts and I think this is part of the moving tendonitis that has been going on for years…I am so damn tired of all of health issues I’ve had this year…and I need to run out and get more blood drawn today for another PSA test that is probably going to show me that the cancer is back and more treatment needs to be done…and then I have a video appointment Wed morning with my surgeon…with all of the dental surgery and then getting my prostate removed, I am just done with any medical crap…so I’m taking from Wed until the rest of the year off and then it starts again in January…I can now see how this crap wears people out….didn’t get much done but make soup and the rides yesterday and I’ll be back on the bike when I get home if it’s warm enough…I am going to get a day off later in the week with the rain that is coming in…it was supposed to be snow but the cold temps have been pushed back a few days….not much to do today…just going to get the blood done and wait for the bad news….more later…