Well…one of the great joys of being retired is supposed to be that when you wake up in the morning, you can just roll over and go back to sleep for a while…but because I HAVE to get two rides in every day, that is just not an option for me and that sucks…and I think I overdid the sun yesterday so I’m not going to the beach today to let my skin rest and that will probably end my beach days for this summer…slept okay last night and had weird dreams where I broke my tablet in half and I wonder where that came from? And they had mutated animals in them, too, that was really weird….it stayed really warm overnight and it’s already 70 degrees out there so it will make for a nice ride here in a few minutes after I get more coffee in me and wake up a bit…I do have so many tomatoes that I think I’m going to have to just eat them for a few meals over the weekend and I am putting off making tacos until next week so I froze the pound of burger I had for them to make sure it didn’t spoil….so it looks like I’ll make bean burritos tomorrow after I use up the leftovers…still want to make some of the onion rings I bought the other day and maybe they would go with the last burger that I’m making later today…not much to do today….need to get moving soon but want one more cup of coffee first and to watch the first F1 practice but it’s almost over so I can go in about 10 minutes…and I don’t really have anything else to do today so I’ll just wing it…and not going to the beach opens up the day to possibilities to just be a veg for a while….more later…

Well…as you can see by how late that last one was posted, I’ve had a pretty darn busy day that I just finished up around 3…the whole thing started with the two bike rides, then out to the beach by noon and I even got a swim in….back here by 1:30 to work on the garden and picked lots of tomatoes and 4 cukes, then I made a big batch of salsa and a jar of pickles and cleaned up….and now it’s doing these and watching the Man U match…and I think I’m done for the day…unless I read the news and find another topic that grabs me…but right now I just want to watch the match…

Well…another crappy night of sleep and I’m feeling it right now…it’s 7:11 and I’m just starting on my first cup of coffee and I sure hope it starts to work soon…not sure what is going on but I hurt everywhere today…even both Achilles tendons are howling and stiff and I can’t remember that happening…and that little notice in my lower banner is screaming “pollen high” so I know why my head hurts and need to remember to take some allergy meds before I get on the bike….it’s a new month and I’m not sure how I feel about that…time sure is flying by and I really do wonder how many more of them I have left….didn’t get a lot done yesterday but I will need to get at the garden and pick a bunch of tomatoes and cukes today…. and I may make another batch of salsa but I am not putting any cumin in it…I seem to have developed a real aversion to that taste and need to find something else that will give it a normal taste…and I can use it for the tacos and bean burritos I’m going to make tomorrow….I have to remember to put some lime juice in it that I forgot with the last batch…or should I use lemon juice? I guess either would work….not much to do today….don’t want to do anything but I know I need two rides to get back on track and Man U plays this aft and I may go out to the beach again…damn, my right big toe is hurting again and I think the gout may be coming back….what else is going to happen? More later….

Well…okay, this is pretty weird…after only doing one ride today after the grocery run this morning, I feel like I’ve gained 5 pounds and look like it too…so how can that be? I only avoided burning about 6-700 calories (my estimate) so it should take 5 days of that to gain a pound…crap…and calculators say riding an hour with my weight at 180 and 15mph burns around 900 calories so riding for 2 1/2 hours a day should burn over 2K…probably shouldn’t worry too much about one day but you know how guilty I get about this crap…other than that, I had an okay day and did get out to the beach finally…but the water was too cold to swim…at least with how I was feeling when I got out there..so I just burned my skin a bit and came home after about an hour or so…. and then just took it easy the rest of the afternoon…and I just realized that tomorrow is Sept. 1st and I sure don’t know where the summer went….oh, well….

Well…can I take a day off? I just frickin hurt and getting on the bike won’t help that at all….and I wonder how riding 30 miles a day has become such a given that I do it when I don’t want to? So, today is going to be one of those weird days when I think about what I’m doing instead of just doing it….and will probably only do one ride if I ride at all…yeah, you know how strange that is for me after going over 4,000 miles for the year the other day…..I’m tired…..it was an okay day yesterday but the depression that has been shadowing me lately has grown to the point that it can’t be ignored…I know I’ve dealt with this my whole life but it still wears me out when it comes…oh, well…so what is my day going to look like? I do need to do the grocery run this morning and hit three stores since DD has ham on sale cheap and frozen onion rings that I haven’t had in years but what do I have them with? Probably should get some more burger at Meijers but I’m not sure that would be the right thing…beef is not good for you but at my age is that really a problem? I do have room in the freezer so I can think about that later….not much to do today…just survival…and yeah, that sounds a little dramatic and it is…today will be just putting one foot in front of another and doing what I need to…have done this so many times I’ll be on autopilot once I get started….and that is a little comforting…I wonder how people who deal with this the first time cope? Too much thinking for 7:14….more later…

Well…it has been a busier day today with getting the bike rides in and mowing the lawn and I was even going to go to the beach but with the wind blowing over 20 out of the northwest, it was a set up for getting sandblasted out there and even the street that runs next to the beach was mostly covered by sand from the wind….and it was still mostly cloudy until around 1 so that made the decision even easier to just hang out here this afternoon….but I didn’t get anything else done today other than the lawn and I can’t figure that out…I had time to clean but just didn’t feel like it and my right knee started to really hurt when I walk and even when I’m just sitting here and I hope it was just going into that strong wind all the way out to the beach today…and the point was just ridiculous making me shift all the way down to 3rd on the back sprockets when I normally ride through there in 7th…or 23rd if you’re counting that way….but I did get a nice 24th gear sprint the whole 6.5 miles back and that could be the cause of the knee pain, too, now that I think about it….I hurt everywhere from the rides and can’t wait til I can take some ibuprofen for it here in a few minutes…and I gave away my first tomatoes to the neighbors today and that made me feel good…just don’t want to waste them….

Well…damn, I knew that the sleeping all night was not going to last and it didn’t…up at 4, 5:14, but I was able to stay in bed til after 6 and I won’t call that a success….pretty damn depressed today for some reason and I know there doesn’t have to be a reason for that to happen…it just is…oh, well….have been really sore lately and in new places that normally don’t hurt so I wonder what that is about? Haven’t been doing much other than the normal stuff so it’s not from exertion…probably just from getting old and that sucks…got the itinerary for the UK trip from my daughter yesterday and we’ll be there for 16 days hitting all the places I wanted to see…I am looking forward to that a lot and it will probably be the last trip I ever take and that is depressing, too, I guess everything is going to be depressing now…we did get a bunch of rain yesterday and my lawn looks better than it ever has and that is pretty cool…but I have damn mushrooms or toadstools that have sprouted where there must be buried vegetable matter but I’m just going to kick them and mow over it…will probably have to do that tomorrow….not much to do today….need to get some bills paid and get the rest of them set up to autopay…and that will get me back to normal outlays after I pay my property taxes…have had a bunch of big bills over the past couple of months that have kept me from adding to my bank account and I need to start saving again so I can buy a new Miata in the spring….I wonder if I should borrow money to get a nicer one? Really hate to have debt….we’ll see….more later…

Well…darn, the day got away from me and I didn’t make it out to the beach since there is rain…there’s that word again…coming in here in a half hour or so and I still have laundry to do and I guess the smart thing to do is to just get to work and get that done along with the dishes and call it good for the day…just haven’t had any ambition at all today but I did get the pasta salad made…and ran an errand along with the two bike rides so I guess I did something….not enough, but something….so I think I should get off my butt and get the laundry started…

Well..that was a little disappointing…it looked like we were going to get some good storms last night but all it did was flash a little and rain…I’ll take the rain anytime but that was the last for the whole week and that makes the weather boring…I did get another all night sleep last night and I wonder what that is about…didn’t get out of bed til 6:22 after hitting the sack at 11 and I should feel like I slept but I don’t, so what’s the point? I do have a few things to do today even with taking this last week off and that is a good thing…have to do laundry today and I may run out to get some burger at Meijers so I’ll have a second meal to eat…and I am going to make some more pasta salad since I like having that available but I’m thinking of making some potato salad, too….haven’t made enough of that but with eggs at 3 bucks a dozen, I may not….we’ll see….I am planning on going to the beach today after the bike rides but the Meijer run needs to happen before that so maybe no beach? Not much to do today…just need to get started and that is harder than it has been lately….it’s 7 and all I want to do is sit here but I know that’s not an option…living is a lot of work….more later…

Well…how many times this summer have I been able to say that? It looks like we are going to get some storms in a couple of hours and I can’t wait….I did get back out on the bike and it was so darn humid that I was sweating before I got out a mile and was soaked before I got back here and had to hose off the bike because I went out in the wet and it got covered in dirt which makes the shifter stick some and that is just annoying….other than that, I didn’t get anything done around here and I am thinking about taking one more week off and making labor day the start of work on the house…that would make more sense since the holiday is the official end of summer…okay, that’s a good rationalization so I think I’ll go with that….I did make some chicken for lunch but one thigh, two spoonfuls of pasta salad, and a sliced tomato is only about 350 calories and adding a salad to that for dinner keeps me well under a thousand for the day and I’m okay with that since I want to have some cheese and crackers for a snack later…and I may even have a cocktail to sit on the front steps and sip while the storms come in….we’ll see….it’s another week of no protein on sale at my grocery stores so it looks like I’m back to the freezer again…okay, Aldis does have burger for 2.29 a pound but you have to buy 5 pounds so maybe some tacos and burgers to use up the tomatoes and have food to eat all week…don’t like to eat red meat that much but I can put most of it in the freezer and hope that DD has something on sale….Meijers does have whole chicken for 1.49 a pound so maybe one of those instead? Oh, and just looked at the ad and they have burger buy one get one free so that may be the thing to do. Have to think about that….okay, that’s enough for this one…have to figure out what to watch while relaxing tonight….