Well…yeah, I didn’t do a political one today since I got so far behind with getting two rides in outside and then making the big ham and everything that goes with it…so, of course I’m still full and will only do one meal today…might have some cheese and crackers with ham and stone ground mustard later and that will count for my second meal…they’ve closed the beach road…hmmm…I think I talked about that yesterday so I won’t go on about it again today…I did get the tires all aired up on the car and bike today and got to use my new digital pressure gauge and it’s pretty cool for 9 bucks…the car tires were down about 6-7 pounds since I haven’t checked them in a long time…now I have them all within  a half pound of each other…okay…still have stuff to do so I’ll end here…

Well…up and down last night and finally out of bed at 6:14 but I feel okay so I’ll take it…it’s warm enough at 41 to get out on the bike as soon as it gets light so I’m going to try to get two rides in this morning before I start the ham on the grill….and it looks like I’ll be able to ride outdoors for the next couple of days and that is such a change from last year when I was off the bike from ice on the trail from Thanksgiving until March…crap…Man U plays at 7:30 so that throws a wrench into my plans…so maybe I’ll cook early and ride in the afternoon…had an okay day yesterday with getting lots of miles in and hope to do that again today…should probably clean a bit today but that could wait til tomorrow…need to find a new book to read today after finishing the Clarke yesterday and I’m not sure what genre I want to get into…scifi or mystery? I guess we’ll see later…the coffee needs to work right now so I can get on with it but I wonder why? One of these days I’m going to break the spell of doing things and just relax for a while…could that be today? Probably not but I can think about it….more later…

Well…it was a good day today and I got two rides in downstairs and then went out and did a ride outside for a total of 31 today…and I did the math and I only have 73 more to go to get to 5,000 for the year when I really thought I’d be lucky to get to 3,000…and I’m not too sore today but my damn right thigh hurt on the whole outside ride so I’ll have to voltaren it tomorrow if I get out…along with my right thumb…and my damn gout is back again so I’m drinking tons of water since not getting enough is the cause of it for me…I am so happy with the repairs I made to the bike and I’m even getting used to the new pedals with figuring out where my feet have to be on them to be comfortable…they closed the beach road gates today and that means they won’t be moving any sand until spring and I’ll have to cut the loop out that goes to my water stop on the boardwalk in  a couple of days…and make it up by riding past downtown and then looping back to here…and that will be okay since I want to look at the lights they have up downtown and see if anything has changed…break time…

Well..the pattern holds with waking up around 4 and the out of bed before 6…only two sips of coffee into the first cup and I need to pour it down to get moving…have an errand to run this morning then I’m going to try to get two rides in outdoors but it’s looking like I’m going to be a little short on getting to 5,000 miles this year and I’m okay with that…tried hard and worked my ass off to get there but how can I be disappointed with what used to be a triumph? I did make the potato soup with kielbasa yesterday and it came out great…now the question is do I make the ham today or tomorrow? Think I ate too much with two meals yesterday so I’ll have to cut back to one today and that means just a bowl of soup so I’ll make the ham tomorrow….didn’t get enough done yesterday but I don’t feel like doing anything right now at 6:49….I am going to take a day off at some point…yeah, that made me laugh, too….that’s probably not going to happen…not much to do today…just the errands and bike rides…might do one downstairs if it doesn’t warm up soon enough…the days start getting longer today and I’m up for that…more later…

Well…happy winter solstice to everyone….slept okay last night but the morning pattern is getting to be a bore with getting up at 3, 5, and then out of bed at 6:10…and it’s still going to be too damn cold to go outdoors on the bike until this aft if I get out at all…so I’ll start the day with two rides indoors…and then make some potato soup for lunch…I did buy another ham so that will be cooked tomorrow and that will keep me fed for another week…so that puts making ham soup after new years…didn’t get much done yesterday but I will try to get some cleaning done today….it’s going to get into the 50’s for a couple of days but with rain so I may miss getting outdoors for the end of the year…it looks like I’m not going to make 5,000 miles for the year but I gave it a good try…ate two meals yesterday and I feel pretty guilty about that…need to try to do three rides today to have 31 miles in to get closer but I’m not too motivated right now…not much to do today…just going to have coffee and sit here a bit…have a little over an hour before I need to get on the bike and I want the coffee to start working….more later…

Well…up at 4:04 this morning and that started the arduous process of waking up that ended at 5:41….feel like I didn’t sleep at all last night and I wonder if today is going to be the day that I take a nap in the afternoon? Haven’t done that in ages but I used to be a great napper and I don’t know where that went…I did get a few things done yesterday but they were all just small domestic tasks that were pretty mindless…today is going to be a little harder with doing the grocery run and then getting on the bike downstairs for two rides….damn, the aldis ad changed and the things I wanted to get are no longer on sale and that screws up my meal planning that I really don’t want to fix right now…man, I’m tired…going to go over 1,600 miles on the indoor bike today and I’m still trying to get to 5,000 for the year but I’m not sure if I can get there…I will be able to get outside tomorrow and for a few days and the 30 a day will help…not much to do today…I keep thinking I’m going to take a day off everything but that never happens and I don’t know why other than the guilt of taking it easy….and that gets to be pretty damn wearing….more later…

Well…I haven’t used my steam iron to do clothes in the three years I’ve lived out here but today I dragged it out and filled it with water and did some ironing…the only reason is the three pairs of lightweight nylon pants my daughter got me that wrinkle like crazy when they come out of the dryer…I really like them but that’s the reason I like cotton so much…it never wrinkles and I can wear it straight out of the dryer….I do like the built in sprayer on the iron and it worked quite well so that is cool…now I need to get some laundry started before Chelsea and Newcastle play….

Well…damn, I’m worn out this morning and getting out of bed a little after 5 is not ideal…it’s still colder than hell out here and the heat has been running almost constantly for the past day…the wind has subsided and I didn’t lose any more branches off my big tree so it may survive,,,had to fill the bird feeder twice yesterday with the snow and the Juncos came back for the first time this winter…I guess it’s not winter yet with the solstice  happening in a couple of days…didn’t get a lot done yesterday and the way it looks right now, I won’t get much done today, either….just don’t have any motivation at 6:30 am and with just a few sips of coffee in me…I wonder if this is the day off I’ve been needing for quite a while now? Ha, ha….yeah, I don’t take days off…cripes, this one is really hard to do this morning and I have been working on it for almost a half hour…I did have to shovel the snow yesterday but I haven’t looked out to see it I have to do it today…don’t think we got the 3-5 inches that was forecast and the temp is getting back over 50 in a couple of days so all of it is going to melt anyway…and that will get us through December…last year, I was off the outdoor bike after Thanksgiving but it looks like I’ll be riding on New years….not much to do today….it’s a pain in the butt to have to restrict calories all the time but I’ll keep it up or be fat the rest of my life…so, do I buy another ham this week? Probably shouldn’t but protein at 99 cents a pound? Decisions….more later…

Well…the wind is howling out here this morning but it hasn’t started to snow yet so I’ll take it…but it will snow tonight with the low getting down to 27 so I may be shoveling tomorrow…slept okay last night and only woke up once and then out of bed a little after 6…and I’m doing that after stopping the otc sleeping pills about a month ago…feel so much better getting up in the morning but still feel worn out…just getting old I guess….don’t really hurt anywhere today and that is welcome after all the weird pain I had riding the bike yesterday…but I used voltaren and heat last night to cope with it and I don’t want that to become a habit…going to be on the indoor bike today and I’m looking forward to watching two episodes of “Goliath” while I’m doing it and staying warm…need to air up the tires on the indoor bike today so I can use my new electronic pressure gauge…will be indoors until Wed then it gets back into the 40’s again and I’ll be outside for the rest of the year…I hope…not much to do today…just going to get on the bike in an hour or so but I want to just ease into it with more coffee right now…it is going to be another leftover day and I am going to keep to the one meal a day thing until I feel I’ve lost enough weight and that will probably be til the end of the year….more later….

Well…I did take it easy today but I still got two rides in this morning…but tomorrow I’ll be riding indoors since we are under a winter weather advisory and a gale warning for Monday into Tuesday morning…2-4 inches of snow with winds 20-30 and gusts to 50…will be a good day to hibernate and eat the ham soup I took out of the freezer yesterday to make room for a new batch…but I’m not sure when I’ll make it…probably between chistmas and new years…we’ll see….the bike is such a joy to ride with all the new parts on it but I need to order the parts for the black bike next week to get them on hand….I am really happy with all of the stuff I got last week…the electric toothbrush heads were really cheap but work great…I like that they are bigger that the Phillips ones and I got 8 of them for the price of one Phillips head…so they should last me a few years..and it’s nice having a new everyday eyeglass case so I can put the one I got in Dublin away before I ruin it…I’m getting used to the new pedals for the bike and I think they will work out okay and I read the package and they have sealed ball bearings in them so I don’t have to worry about them getting sand in them…haven’t used the new air pressure gauge yet but I’ll do that in the next few days since the car tires need air…looks pretty cool and even has a light on it for some reason…and for under 10 bucks?