Well…damn, that sucked…someone hit a power pole out here and that shut the power down to the whole area around 9:30 last night that lasted until 3:30 in the morning….and the light coming on in the living room woke me and I wandered around here resetting all of the clocks for 15 minutes and noticed I hadn’t loaded the coffee maker so I had to do that so I would have my morning jumpstart…back in bed by 4 and up at around 6 so that gave me about 4 hours with all of the trouble getting to sleep originally and then being up and down all night…but I feel okay this morning with getting back to being good in prep for my checkup next Monday morning….had another skunk in my yard last night and got a good photo of this one with my phone and it wasn’t the big female that was here a few weeks back….and I wouldn’t have noticed it without the power being out and having nothing to do but sit on my front steps….it has cooled off quite a bit out here and the humidity has dropped so it will make for a nice bike ride this morning and I will try to get two in before I get to work on the car….going to run it up on the ramps my brother gave me so that will give me lots of room to work safely under the car….the pan I’m removing is held on by lots of screws so I’m going to use my drill/driver to try to save my shoulder from the strain…then I’m going to drive the car for a few days without it so I can make sure that the leak is from the water pump before I spend 800 bucks on it….not much to do today…just the rides and the car work…probably won’t get out to the beach today since the storm probably turned the lake over again and it will be cold for most of the week…..and that is one of the reasons I like to go…to be able to swim and relax a bit…. but, we’ll see….more later….

Well…I was almost there…as the rain kept up spitting all morning, I had resigned myself that I was going to take the first day off the bike since April…so I set out to get some other stuff done and I did..cleaned the shower and gave myself a haircut but it had gotten til noon and I was still watching for the rain to stop to maybe get one ride in before the indy car race that was on at 3…so at 12:35 the rain stopped so I got on the bike full expecting to only do one ride…yeah, that didn’t work when I got the first ride done by 1:40 and I knew I could get a second ride in if I didn’t take a break between them…so like the idiot that I am, I blasted a second ride and got back here with 10 minutes to spare and I wonder how the heck I went from taking the day off the bike to doing 30 hard miles with no break in between? I really do need to have a rest day soon…maybe tomorrow since I need to take the belly pan off the car to make sure the coolant leak is coming out of the water pump and not something I can fix…..

Well…damn, it is really hard to not get on the bike first thing in the morning…but it still spitting rain at almost 8 so that doesn’t give me enough time to get out before the F1 race….so it looks like I won’t get out until after the race at 11 and I wonder if I’ll do two rides today? Just noticed that my animal water dish is full to the top after the rain last night and that means it must have rained a couple of inches overnight and we sure needed that….pretty damn depressed today and all I want to do is lie back down on the couch, turn the light off, and melt into it….haven’t done that in a long time and maybe it’s needed? Not sure but I do know that I don’t want to do any more of this right now….more later….

Well…finally, we got some rain out here with a nice storm coming through early in the evening and then another one overnight and it is still spitting a bit right now but I’m not sure if it’s enough to keep me off the bike this morning….I sure wish it was since I could use a day off to just veg and watch the F1 race at 9….I guess I have 45 minutes or so to decide to be able to get out by 7:30….slept okay last night but was up before 6 and I’m still under 6 hours for the night and that is not enough…I wonder when the lack of sleep is going to hit and force me to nap during the day? It’s been quite a while since I’ve slept all night and I feel worn out all the time….oh, well…I guess that’s another part of getting old….didn’t get a lot done yesterday but I do need to clean some today since I’ve been pretty lazy over the past couple of weeks and the bathroom is showing it….I do need to cook today and make a salad to use up the tomatoes and lettuce I got this week but right now even that little bit of work seems to be too much and all I want to do is stop thinking and take a nap…but, I won’t since I seem to be gaining weight again and I can’t figure that out but I know that taking the day off the bike won’t help…not much to do today….coffee…and more coffee is needed right now to even be able to get motivated even a little and get moving….ick…I hate getting old….more later…

Well….yeah, I almost took the day off today but I did get two bike rides in and cooked a little but that was about it…and the damn rain is falling apart…again, even when the forecast says there was a 90% chance of storms tonight…but the one coming onto the lake have started running into the magic wall and falling apart…so I guess I’ve lost my lawn for the year…I just can’t spend a hundred bucks a month to keep it green….I will keep my garden and flowers alive but that will be it and that means I’ll have to reseed the lawn in the spring and that will cost close to 80 bucks for dirt and seed…or maybe a little bit more but that is still cheaper than a hundred bucks a month for the next 4 months…this will be the first lawn that I’ve lost in all the houses I’ve lived in and that sucks….oh, well….worse things have happened but it is going to make it hard for me to go to the beach when my yard looks like crap….so maybe I’ll start working on the house again and at least then I will only get the small guilts from abandoning the lawn…..crap…..

Well…as you know, I’ve spent 800 bucks out of pocket and almost 300 bucks from my insurance on my teeth so far and after all the heavy duty cleaning and using an antibiotic for a few weeks, I think they have made surprising progress in getting rid of the pain I had every day…and I can even eat cold foods without wincing from the sensitivity to it that I had on both sides….I do know I need to have the one loose tooth removed since there is no bone there anymore but I think I’m going to put off having the others with bone loss removed since they are not loose and I may be able to keep them for a few years if I can keep the infection at bay….so far, I’m pretty happy with the progress in stopping the damage and getting rid of the pretty intense pain I felt every day…so, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that the improvement continues…I do know that it takes me about 15 minutes to do my teeth each time twice a day but I think it’s worth it so far…

Well…damn, up at 4:30 and the rain that was supposed to come went by to the south…again…and I have a decision to make on my lawn after getting a 90 dollar water bill yesterday…but it looks like I’m going to let it go dormant so I won’t have to mow it or spend any more money on it this summer…oh, well….seemed to sleep okay last night and feel okay this morning but I was really hoping the rain would give me a day off the bike that I need so badly….but, no luck so I’ll be getting out there in a half hour or so….I wonder if I should take an ibuprofen before I go to help with the pain in my right thigh? It just aches when I ride and this has been going on for a couple of weeks now and I don’t have any clue how I hurt it other than riding too much….hmmmm….I do have a weird sunflower growing that has multiple flowers on it and I’ve never had one of those before…can’t wait to see what it looks like when it blossoms….if I can keep the damn squirrels away from it….didn’t do anything yesterday other than go out to the beach where my day was ruined by a couple of women who just had to set up next to me and blast a damn boombox…I mean what kind of person has absolutely no respect for other people on the beach that want a nice quiet time? I am really starting to hate people….not much to do today…need to make some potato salad and a regular salad to use up some lettuce and tomatoes along with cooking some chicken but I don’t feel like doing anything right now…it’s already 7 and I don’t want to get on the bike….one of these days I’m going to just sit here for the first time all summer and let my body heal up some….maybe tomorrow? Who knows? More later…

Well..damn, I may have hit the limit of both my sun exposure and physical exertion on the bike…all of my skin is tight from the sun and my face almost hurts from it…but if I take the day off today, I won’t be able to get to the beach until Monday since I don’t go out there on the weekend…and my right thigh has hurt for a couple of weeks now and it has been joined by my back…don’t think I’ve had a day off since April and I am hobbling round here from it….it would be just so luxurious to take a day off and veg…I wonder if I’ve earned one? Who knows? I did sleep okay last night and I got all the way til 5 or so before waking up for the first time so that means 5 1/2 hours last night and I guess that’s all I can expect…..damn, I’m just worn out and feel old…..the damn grasshoppers have been eating the leaves on my sunflowers so I sprayed them with the bug spray I use to keep bugs out of the house and I wonder if that will work for them? Had to do something since I want to have at least one of them blossom and mature…have lost way too many of them this year…even had to throw a rock at a squirrel who was going after my tomatoes this morning….not much to do today….I am so worn out that I’m not sure when I’ll get on the bike….it’s already 7:30 and I just can’t get moving and should be out to the beach by now but I just can’t do it….crap, I guess this is hitting the wall….but I will get going here soon…I hope….more later….

Well…I’m pretty sure I bitched a bit here about how they were putting the dredged sand on the beach and specifically about the pond that was left after they finished the north end…but, I may have been wrong about that…when I was at the beach today, the busiest part was that little pond where small children were playing and it was ringed by parents watching them…the pond is only about 18 inches deep and much warmer than the lake without any big waves that were knocking me down today…so I can see the attraction if it stays clear as it has for the couple of weeks it’s been there…not sure what will happen when a big storm hits but I like the character the beach has with a couple of hills and lower spots that leave a long, gently sloping beach….I did get out to play in the waves for a bit today and one of them dragged me along the sand on my chest…and face and that hurt a bit but no permanent damage…..

Well…that was a little weird…didn’t get out of bed til around 6:30 and slept through the night and that very seldom happens…but I’ll take it…still pretty sore from getting beat up in the waves yesterday but I’ll be back out there again today when I should be resting my skin a bit….supposed to have lunch with T today but I haven’t heard from her so I’m not planning on it…it did rain out here a bit last night so I wonder if I need to water the lawn today? Talked to a youngster neighbor yesterday and he said he saw a groundhog in his yard and I think that may be the one from my front steps that I filled in his hole earlier…but we’ll see…there hasn’t been any activity under the steps and I hope it stays that way….my sunflowers survived another day after the squirrels destroyed 3 of them the other day but I think I’ll keep spraying them with vinegar to keep them away…would really like to see them fully grown to see if I want to plant the same ones next year….I am still disappointed with the tomatoes this year…none of them have ripened yet and I only have a few on the plants and I think I may start taking some of them out if they are not going to produce…oh, well….not much to do today….need to get on the bike here in 15 minutes or so and get started on the day…I do need to watch the January 6th hearing tonight so it will certainly be a cocktail night tonight….and I need to figure out meals for the next few days and get that taken out of the freezer….but right now I need to drag my butt off the couch and get on the bike…I did get to the maintenance on the bike yesterday and I can’t wait to ride it with everything tightened up and lubed….just hope the wind isn’t as brisk as yesterday…that was a chore….more later….