Well…damn, how the heck can I be running late and it’s only 6:56 am? I need to do the grocery run in an hour so that means I need to get on the bike right now but with it getting light later and later, I may need to rethink my schedule on wed…I did sleep okay last night…for me, that is…and feel just a little worn out today but I know I didn’t eat enough but that will change today with making pasta to use Tom’s sauce and I wonder why I don’t make pasta more often? Need to get garlic bread today since I now have enough room in the freezer for it after eating out of it for the past week….and I thawed some pork chops that I am going to marinate overnight and have tomorrow…I wonder if I could just skip the first ride today and sit here and have coffee until it’s time for groceries? Still need to do my teeth and get ready for the ride and that means I won’t get out til 7:15….as I said, running late today…okay, need to get moving so this is going to be a short one…not sure what my day is going to look like after I get on the bike but I know I’ll be busy….maybe it will rain tomorrow and I can take it a little easy…but not now….more later….

Well…damn, I feel worn out today…the little gift I got from Tom yesterday had something to do with that but it was fun and helped me sleep until after 6 this morning….doesn’t look like I’ll get on the bike until around 8 so that may mean I won’t get out to the beach until later in the day if I get out at all…need to mow the lawn today so that is not hanging over me all week but I sure don’t feel like it right now…had an okay day yesterday With Tom and Lucy coming out to visit and there is something about dogs that make me smile…and laugh…see them every day on the trail and I marvel at the work that people do for them…damn, it’s 7:25 and I’m still doing this and not out on the bike….all I want to do is lie down on the couch and veg for the day…but I won’t….I am shocked that ManU beat Liverpool yesterday since they have been so lousy this season but I’ll take it…it’s not going to be a good season and I really wish the US owners would just sell the team back to anyone else….need to do one on this whole debacle soon….not much to do today…I need to get going but I have no motivation right now…it’s going to be a struggle to get out by 8 and I need more coffee before that is even a possibility….damn, I feel old….more later….

Well…when I was out on the first ride today, I noticed a huge ship that was heading to the channel into Muskegon lake so I raced over to the channel so I could actually see one go through it…and this ship was really huge…1,000 feet in length and one of only 13 1,000 foot ships on the great lakes…the ship was named the “American Integrity” and I had guessed it was about 600 feet in length but then just went out to look at the ship page to make sure…and I was really surprised to see that it was 1,000 feet long instead of 600…yow, that’s a big ship…and the really cool thing was that the captain spun the ship 180 degrees right in the middle of Muskegon lake so he could back into the dock at the East end of the lake….I really do get to see some cool stuff out here….

Well…the final week of my summer off starts and I’m a little depressed about that…but I need to get back to work on this place and make some progress…didn’t sleep too well last night and was up at 5:11…tried to get back to sleep for a bit but with no success so I’m going to be worn out later….but that is pretty normal and the coffee is going to have do it’s work so I can get out on the bike as soon as it’s light…I did watch the new GoT show last night and it seems to be okay but it’s going to be a lot of work understanding a whole new world and all of the characters….but it will give me a new filler for my nights and I can use one of those…man, I’m tired….I think I’m going out to the beach every day this week as the coda to my summer and I sure hope the water is warm enough to get a few swims in…this has not been a normal August with it being so cool and no temps in the 90’s as it’s supposed to be…I remember when I was young that it was sweltering and in the 70’s even at night with cicada making their noises…haven’t heard one this summer and I wonder if it’s because I’m near the lake? Not much to do today…I do need to get both rides in and out to the beach so I can watch Man U at 3 but that’s about all I have to do since I am going to take this final week off and try to not do much….I wonder why I’m all of a sudden gotten the taste for pasta salad and keep making it? It’s weird to never have made it before and now I’m 4 batches in and made another one yesterday…need to make some roasted tomatoes today with parmesan and that will be my dinner along with a salad….so not much work to do and I am going to try to enjoy the time…but I slammed into the wall of thinking about my own mortality last night and that made me wonder if I can afford to waste time anymore…yeah…that’s my brain and it’s a lot of work….more later…

Well…you know, for someone who has nothing to do I sure seem like I’m busy all the time…this morning started out as they all do, with two bike rides to get things started and then back here to watch a little soccer and have lunch and then I had to work on the bike for a minute since the chain was dry and I could hear it when I was coming up the hill…so I lubed that and everything else on the bike and then did the garage door, too, since it was creaking and groaning a bit and I hadn’t wd’d it in quite a while…so after I finished that, I checked on the coolant in the car and it had only leaked a tiny bit over the past 10 days so I guess I’ll just keep crippling it along and adding coolant once a week until it really starts to leak…and I have a new gallon of coolant that I can mix into two so that may get me to the spring if the leak doesn’t get worse….after that, I picked the rest of the beans and immediately blanched them and put them in the bag that had others for Tom…just don’t have anything to have with them and didn’t want them to go to waste…while I was waiting for the water to boil, I took the repaired pedal and put it on the black bike so it is rideable again and that just about finished the work for the day….I’ll probably clean a bit after I watch a little more soccer before the race comes on at 3…and I may do another one of these if I think of something to say later or a topic hits me in the brain….break time…

Well…running about on time for a Sunday with going out to get the paper with the top down on the car and I have to remember to savor that since time is getting short for being able to do that in the morning….slept okay last night and didn’t get out of bed til 5:11 for the first time and then up for good at 6:11 and that is getting to be pretty normal but that still means about 6 hours instead of the 8 I should be getting….didn’t get much done yesterday other than fix the pedal on the bike and I am still trying to take the weekends off from everything but do need to start easing back into working on this place after this week…I did take the summer off but summer is over and I need to have some discipline and get started working again….but not today…just going to ride the bike and watch races this afternoon…and I think I’m going to make some roasted tomatoes with parmesan and maybe even a mustard sauce to go with them since I have all of the ingredients and lots of tomatoes…I think I’ll do a vegetarian day tomorrow with just a salad and lots of tomatoes after I use up the last of the tacos today….and I should make another batch of pasta salad so I’ll have some as a backup when I don’t feel like cooking….my right foot isn’t hurting at all this morning after riding with the broken pedal yesterday and that is a relief…thought I’d hurt it badly but I guess it was just the change in how the pressure was on it and I am a little curious how the new pedals are going to feel…they are a little wider so maybe it will spread the pressure out some…not much to do today…need to get out on the bike by 7:30 so I have 15 minutes to have coffee and read the news before I get going…more later….

Well…just when the bike has been working so well, the thought entered my head that something was due to break since this one has been so trouble free since I bought it 4 years ago…and today something broke…while I was riding, the right pedal just didn’t feel right…like my foot was trying to slip off of it to the outside…so I took my foot off and yep, the pedal was broken and was no longer straight…so I flipped it over to force it back together and rode back with the pedal upside down…and now my right foot and lower calf hurt like crazy after they were out of whack riding….so I took the pedals off the black bike and now need to order another set or just buy some cheapies at Meijers to replace them…it is nice to have an identical parts bike so I can keep riding when things break….I may try to repair the old pedal with some JB weld just to have something to put on it for now…oh, well….oh, and leaning over to get to the left side pedal on the bike I bashed my head on some plywood and took off a good sized chunk of my scalp and I just noticed the blood was all over the front of a light grey t-shirt I had on…so darn…more damage on this poor body…I did fix the pedal, though and I hope the JB will hold since the body of the pedal is thermoplastic and I just slathered it all over to cover the cracks, too…we’ll see….

Well…I have a conundrum this morning…do I get off my butt and get a bike ride in before the rain or do I just take it easy and enjoy my coffee and watch some soccer? Yeah, I’m surprised that I’m not going to go out on the bike….I’ll be kicking myself later I know but I just don’t feel like rushing today…didn’t get out of bed til almost 6:30  and I need more time to wake up before I can do anything other than this….had an okay day yesterday but didn’t get much done other than taking care of some stuff outside…oh, and I did fix my hedge trimmers last night after thinking about it for a bit…found a long bolt that I cut the head off and then drilled out the handle to fit it and JB welded it back together…we’ll see how good it works the next time I use them….and that will probably be today since I really want to know if my fix is going to work….not sure if my fridge is going wonky or not but it has been way too cold lately and even froze some tomatoes I had in a container in it…I think that might have been my fault for adjusting it without my glasses and going the wrong way….so I turned it down and now I may have gone too far the other way…I wonder how many other people even care about that? Do you ever think about your fridge temp? I didn’t think so. With the rain coming it looks like I won’t be able to get on the bike til later today or I may just take the day off…twice in one month? That probably won’t happen but I’m sure my legs could use the rest…not much to do today…if it does rain, I’ll probably get some cleaning done and a few of these out….and I may give myself a haircut but it’s not really time for that yet….can you tell I’m already bored and it’s only 7:21? Need to take a deep breath and just relax…and that’s pretty damn hard….more later…

Well…I finally did something smart today and stayed out of the sun to let my skin heal up….but I hurt my side again trimming the bushes in the rental next door that were blocking the sun from my garden and looking pretty hideous…and I broke my HF scissor clippers that are only a year old so that sucks…need to try to figure out how to fix them…will probably drill out the handles and put a piece of steel inside both parts and then JB weld the whole thing back together but I need to find a piece of steel that will work without buying something…I guess I could buy a chunk of threaded rod but I could just buy another set for 10 bucks and not do all the work…if I have something I can use here I’ll give it a try….okay, now it’s time to watch a race and get ready for a night off…no more later….

Well…just as I was preparing to go out to the beach, it’s gotten cloudy so I’m not sure if I’m going to go…it’s not as if it’s really warm…only about 74 degrees so without the sun it’s going to be a little cool with the wind blowing out there…and my skin could use the rest so we’ll see…it’s still early enough that I could get out there if it clears up and I don’t know what I’ll do if I don’t….take the day off? Hmmmm….I did get both rides in this morning so I guess that’s something….