Well…just a quickie before I go to the beach…just checked the coolant in the car and it is still full after driving all week…and that is weird but it gets me one more week before I have to spend 800 bucks for a new water pump…or maybe a month? Who knows but I’ll take it…oh, and the power steering is getting slowly better as the air comes out of the system…and that is weird, too….beach time!

Well…that was okay…slept pretty well but still no dreams to speak of and that is a little disappointing….but I feel okay so I guess I’ll take it…still not sore yet from getting beat up in the waves yesterday so I think it will be the two day rule in effect and I’ll be sore tomorrow…had a good day yesterday and got a lot done but today will be be an easy one with just the bike rides and the beach but I do need to cook some chicken for dinner later and I may make a batch of potato salad but that will probably be tomorrow since I don’t need it today…maybe just make the potatoes and eggs after I get back from the beach…I wonder if I should try the mayo/whip combo for this batch? We’ll see….haven’t had full fat whip for a long time but had to buy that this week since there was no light available and I wonder how that is going to taste? Hmmmm….only spent about 30 bucks on groceries this week since I didn’t buy any protein with the freezer pretty full…I was tempted to hit DD to get some smoked sausage for 13 bucks for 11 pounds but who needs 11 pounds of smoked sausage? Not me…need to keep my cholesterol down so that means not much of this stuff in my diet….even though I love it….not much to do today….just going to have more coffee and sit here for a bit until I get on the bike for the first ride to get the day started….and then I’m just going to wing it for the rest of the day…I do need to go over to the ballot drop box to put my ballot in for the August 2nd primary and will do that on the first ride….more later….

Well…as you know, I made pasta salad for the first time this afternoon and was waiting for it to get cold to try it…I just did and there was something missing from it with using mayo…it tasted good but just didn’t have that bite that you get from whip…so, I squirted some whip in and stirred it up and wow…the added spiciness from the whip just made the dish but to use only whip would be a bit much I think…the smoothness of the mayo with just a little backbite from the Miracle Whip is perfect…I wonder why they don’t make a combo of those two? What would they call it, mayo whip? I do know I’m going to make another batch of this salad when I use this one up…it’s even easier than potato salad and I have enough ingredients for one more batch…but I am still going to make some potato salad, too, since I discovered how to keep the potatoes from falling apart…can’t wait to try the pasta salad with just a little salt and pepper…should be yummy…

Well…it was another busy day for me today with getting out early to the bank to get cash to buy my mega tickets for the jackpot that is up to a billion dollars for Friday’s drawing and I couldn’t resist…then two bike rides, mowed the lawn, and then out to the beach to play in the waves and the waves won today…got beat all around with the short wavelength in the lake today and there was no rest between them…I did get a couple of great rides in that pitched me up on the beach…again…but I laughed pretty damn hard when that happened it was so much fun…and when I got back here I made my first ever batch of pasta/tuna salad and can’t wait for it to get cold to try it…now I need to take a break and read some news for a bit…I may even come back for another one…who knows? Damn, I still have sand in my ears even after a shower….that shows how much fun I had…

Well…let it rain! Woke up to the nice surprise that it is raining and the radar looks like it will be raining for an hour or so…what do I do with that hour where I don’t have to rush to get out on the bike? It is kind of luxurious to have that hour to just sit here and have coffee with knowing I can’t do anything…maybe I’ll do this and then make the macaroni/tuna salad I am planning for today….I do have to chop veggies for it but I’m not sure if I want to work that hard right now…I did sleep okay last night and didn’t get out of bed til 6:22 and have a lot of energy right now with being good for the 4th day in a row…the elbow I banged yesterday is not hurting nearly as much as it was so that is cool and I think the overnight ibuprofen helped that…I really thought I’d be sore from playing in the waves yesterday since I was in there for a long time and had quite a few good rides that tossed me right up on the beach and I did a little tumbling from it…way too much fun…wonder if the two day rule will be in effect and I’ll hurt tomorrow? I have been avoiding red meat for the past couple of weeks to try to ensure that my cholesterol will be tolerable for my checkup Monday but I am getting tired of chicken so I may just switch over to veggies and pasta for the next few days…going to try mayo in the first batch of pasta salad just to see what it tastes like but will probably go back to whip for the next one….the recipe is a very simple one with just pasta, tuna, onions, green pepper, celery, salt and pepper with mayo and it will be nice to add a new dish to my  daily meals….to get away from chips with sandwiches that has gotten pretty boring…not much to do today….the mega has gotten up to a billion dollars so I need to get to the bank to get some cash so I can buy some tickets for the Friday night drawing…608 million in cash? Yeah, I can use that…and it would be cool to make everyone I know a millionaire….and it will give me the chance to dream a little for 6 bucks….more later…

Well…I did get out to the beach today after the dentist appointment and the good news was that they aren’t going to schedule any more work til November since that is how long it will take to clear up the infection in my mouth…yeah, I thought that’s along time, too, but I don’t have any pain in my teeth anymore so I can live with that…oh, back to the beach…after I got done with the dentist, it started to rain on the way home so I put the car in the garage and thought there was no way it was going to be a beach day…but, after about 15 minutes it stopped so I loaded up the car and headed out and the thought hit me I’m becoming a beach bum…I’m out there every day and I’m getting really tanned so that kind of fits…and today I was the only one on the beach for almost the whole time I was there…and I couldn’t figure that out since it was warm and the water was the nicest it’s been all year…almost bathwater warm and I was in it for almost an hour playing in the waves…I even went in for a second time for the first time this year….didn’t get back here til almost 4 and I should have taken a nap but I didn’t and now it’s too late…I am sore and whacked my right elbow on the grab bar in the shower and it hurts like crazy to move it at all…crap….oh, well…tonight will be 4 nights of being good on the way to at least 8 to prep for my physical Monday and I feel good about that….and it’s saving me cash so that is a good thing…..

Well…that was okay…tossed and turned all night but feel okay this morning other then the soreness from doing the entire lawn with the string trimmer yesterday…so that means it’s really going to hurt tomorrow and I need to plan for that and probably get ahead of it with ibuprofen….I’m not sure if I want to rush out to get a ride in before the grocery run today with the rain that is coming in…ha,ha…yeah like we ever get rain out here…but the radar shows a small shower over the lake but I need to wait until it’s light to get out and that won’t be til 6:45 or so…could get wet but that’s okay…I do need to tighten the cable clamp for the rear shifter since I think it’s not completely tight with having to adjust it a lot the past few days….and that gets annoying….I do have to get my absentee ballot done today so I can drop it off at the cop shop drop box…say that fast a couple of times…still have not had to vote in person out here since I moved here and that is pretty cool…probably should find out where my voting place is just in case the repubs get their way and eliminate absentee voting…not much to do today…need to do the grocery run this morning and then maybe get a ride in before my dentist appointment at 12:30…no work today but just a checkup to see the progress on getting them stabilized and getting the infection under control…I know they feel better with the pain almost gone and I’m able to eat cold food again without any sensitivity…and that makes me want to try some macaroni salad this week to go with the potato salads I’ve been making…and that will be the first time I’ve made that…of course I’ll do one of these when I do that to report how good or bad it turns out…more later….

Well…even with getting the two bike rides in and then using the string trimmer to do the trimming and edging the sidewalks, oh by the way the damn thing ran out of gas and now it won’t idle…crap…I did get out to the beach for a swim and some sun and while I was sitting there sipping on my second beer, “home at last” by SD came on and it had a line in it: “could it be that I have found my home at last?” and I sat there and thought “could be”…after all, I love the beach and swimming and today I let myself go and just relaxed there and it is something that I have a really hard time with….stayed out there for 2 1/2 hours and today I was smart and lathered up with 30 sunscreen before I went out so there was just a little sun damage…all in all, a pretty good day where I still accomplished something…have to keep that up Thursday…can’t go tomorrow with the dentist appointment or maybe I can go after? but that will put me out there around 2 and that may be a bit too late…we’ll see…

Well…okay, that was strange…slept through the night and didn’t get out of bed til almost 6:30 and that hasn’t happened in quite a while….and I feel okay this morning other than that nagging headache I’ve had since my allergies flared a couple of months back…but I’ve resisted taking anything for it since I really don’t like taking much ibuprofen or anything else for that matter…still waiting for the dreams to come back after starting another string of days being good but that won’t be til later if the pattern holds from before….didn’t get out to the beach yesterday but I may go out today if it warms up enough but I still think the water is going to be cold and I don’t need that this late in the summer….I do like watching the beach change shape as storms come in and move the sand around…it looks like the lake is trying to go back to where it was before they put all the sand in it and the pond is getting bigger every day…almost to the point of isolating the new sand into kind of a sand bar instead of a beach…another big storm might just do it….not much to do today…finally got the sand out of the car seats yesterday but I will put more in it today if I get out to the beach but that’s okay…I have been looking for macaroni salad recipes to make this week and I want to add that to my meal rotation and I am on the fence about miracle whip or mayo for it….I do think I’m going to add tuna to it so it will have some protein and then I can use it for a meal and not just a side dish…we’ll see….more later….

Well…I had really planned to just do a little today but I guess the day got a way from me…I did get the car up on the ramps but it was too big of a pain in the butt to take the belly pan off so I just pulled it aside to look for the leak and couldn’t find it…so I have to think about it for a bit…after I got that done, I had lots of branches that fell during the storm that had to be bundled and put out to be picked up and then I had some overgrowth of the ugly shrubs from next door that were growing into my yard so I got one of the big bags and filled that with the cuttings and even cut off some tomato overgrowth, too, since it was getting away from me….and that was it…I was done for the day so I was….oh, and I washed the car and did two bike rides, too…but tomorrow will be easier…may even go to the beach…