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….

Well…after running around and getting two rides in into the 20 mph wind, I decided to head out to the beach to play in the waves and, for the first time I can remember, the waves beat me….trying to wade in with the nasty rip across the beach and with the waves that were taller than me, I got knocked down twice just trying to get into deep enough water to swim and then came to my senses after just a dip and struggled out onto the beach…the waves were not only tall but they were wide enough so they just kept pushing on me and it was way more work than I wanted to do…and probably not too smart to swim in those conditions…especially when there was a red flag up that means stay out of the water…so, I survived it but it does depress me a little that I couldn’t conquer the waves…the waves conquered me and that made me feel even older than I do…darn…

Well…damn, running late today with getting up a little after 4 but then going back to bed til 6:30…need to get on the bike here in a few minutes to get my grocery day started…it did spit a little rain this morning and it woke me up hitting the ac unit but it didn’t last long enough to do any good…and it only got down to 75 last night and I probably should have run the ac to sleep better but there was a little breeze so that helped….didn’t get a lot done yesterday but fill in the groundhog hole under the front steps and I am a little curious if the filler worked…need to get rid of them so I can put the new boards up to replace the lattice….will probably not do much today, either, with the grocery runs and the bike rides but I’m not sure about the beach yet…got pretty burned yesterday and I think my skin could use the rest but it is going to be in the mid 80’s so perfect weather for a swim…and the water is getting better after being so cold last week….not much to do today…darn, just need to get going and get on the bike in 12 minutes to keep to my wed schedule….but I really don’t want to…I want to just sit here for an hour and drink coffee and read the news….but the guilt won’t allow me to do that….so here goes…more later….

Well…if you read the earlier post about the damn squirrels, you know that I threw rocks at the squirrels until I ran out of them…well….now my right shoulder hurts so much I can barely use it without it screaming in pain…damn, I hate getting old…I know I don’t throw things as much as I used to but to throw 6 rocks and now not be able to use my shoulder is a bit much…so I just took some ibuprofen so I’ll be able to sleep later and be able to pick up my water glass without wincing…crap…

Well…I guess no good deed goes unpunished…as you know I have been feeding the squirrels a bit around here but mostly the black and grey ones although I do have the normal brown ones here sometimes…and I have planted sunflowers with the intent of cutting the heads off them when they ripen and leaving them out for the birds and squirrels to eat… but that is after they mature and I get the chance to enjoy them…but today, a gang of the damn brown squirrels attacked three of the biggest ones and killed them just to get to immature seeds that the black and grey squirrels have left alone…so I threw rocks at them and hit one of them and then sprayed the remaining small ones with vinegar to try to keep them away and I hope that works since I ran out of rocks to throw….oh, and I had to tear the lattice off the front steps to get at a new den that some damn groundhog dug under the steps…so I gassed it with a mix of bleach and ammonia again and then filled the dirt back in and left the lattice loose so I can get in there and kill the damn thing when I see it…if the gas doesn’t work, I’m going to try to drown the damn thing with the hose tomorrow….need to replace the lattice with boards so nothing can get in or out and that will stop this damn animal….cripes

Well…just did something I never do…got out of bed at 5:53 and then went right back for another hour…so I guess that means 6:53 is the wake up time today and that in itself is pretty weird…slept okay last night but I’m wearing out and quickly moving to having to take a day off the bike to rest…I did get to 3K miles on the bike on Sunday morning and I’m pretty sure I won’t get to my goal this year but I’m not disappointed at all…I still remember when I got to 500 miles for the year in August quite a few years back and thought that was a big deal so I guess I’m still doing okay…but I’m running late right now and need to get off my butt and get moving so I can be on the bike by 7:30….11 minutes…damn, I need more coffee….I did get a few things done yesterday and have a few to do today including an errand to return a beach chair that failed the first time I used it and get my 30 bucks back….I did get the old one repaired and I think it will last me the rest of the year and I’ll buy a new one next year….will probably hit the beach again today but I’m not feeling it right now so who knows? Not much to do today….just the routine stuff and the errand…need to do some work on the garden to get the unruly tomato plants back in order and that will mean taking some of the excess ones out that came up from dropped tomatoes from last year…they don’t look good this year and there are very few tomatoes on them so this year is a bust…oh, well….more later…

Well…after having things to do all weekend that I normally don’t do, I got back to my routine today and it feels good to go back to basics…after the rides this morning, I got the lawn mowed and had all that done by 10:15 so I just read some news until 11…had lunch, and then out to the beach for a couple of hours and back here by 1:30 or so…just finished up watering the flowers and the veggie garden and now I’m done for the day…the water is getting back to normal but it is still a bit cold that I hope goes away in a couple of days…I set up on the new beach near the water and that was a hike to go the 150 yards to get there…and the new beach is pretty abrasive with all of the zebra mussel shells in it and it hurt a bit to walk all that way….but, I lived through it and they will rake the beach with the tractor over time that should take care of that…so now I have free time for the rest of the day and I am going to take advantage of it by just reading a bit and trying to figure out what I want to make for dinner….

Well…as you can see, I didn’t come back for a second one yesterday since I went out to my brother’s house in the aft and was there til after 8 last night…had my first steak in years and I wonder how that is going to set with my guts….didn’t sleep well at all last night and was up at 4 and then out of bed by 5:38 and I am just damn worn out today…but I will be out on the bike before 7….should take a day off soon since my right thigh hurts and it has been hurting for a week now and I don’t think it will get better until I rest it some…I do need to look for a shop to fix the car but it didn’t leak at all yesterday so it’s not too urgent and I’m going to put it off for a while…it was a lot of work to get out of my routine yesterday and I think I’m taking today off to just ride and go to the beach to get reset and relax…and it was a lot of work being around people all day and took a lot of energy so I need to recharge….and I am going to need a nap later with feeling as I do….not much to do today…just going to get on the bike and get the rides in and then wing it for the rest of the day…it is going to be a relief to be silent today and I am going to revel in it….more later….

Well…didn’t get out of bed until a little after six this morning so I guess that is a win but I don’t feel like it….still pretty darn sore and I’m confused about that…didn’t do anything that would cause it but I am still moving carefully to keep from aggravating it….hmmmm….think I slept okay last night but I sure don’t feel like it…I think I need to take a day off the bike soon but I need an excuse and today looks like it’s not going to give one to me with the rain sliding by to the south…..I don’t know when I last had a day off but I think it was back in April and that is still not the longest period…a few years back I did 186 days in a row on the bike but that was when I was only doing about 15 miles a day and not the 30 I’m doing now…and I still wonder if I’m doing permanent damage to my body by riding so much….wouldn’t that be ironic when I’m on the bike to stay healthy? I did get a little done yesterday with doing the weed walk in the afternoon but that’s all I did after the rides…feeling a little like a slug with not working hard enough to feel any sense of accomplishment….and that is leading to a little bit of depression today…can’t I just sit on the couch and relax? Nope….going to get on the bike here in a few and start torturing myself again…I am going to run out to my brother’s house in the afternoon to pick up some things that I can use and that I think you can too, Tom….and it is so funny that it is only about 12 miles from here and only takes about 20 minutes to get there instead of the hour it took to come out here from GR…and I haven’t been out there for almost 20 years…nope it’s more than 20 years….and that’s a little weird…..but normal for our family….and I have gps to get me there with the new phone and unlimited data….but right now I need more coffee and then on the bike….more later…

Well…damn, another busy morning for me with getting the two rides in, making potato salad, and cooking lunch but now it’s time to turn this into a lazy day and take the rest of it off….I can’t figure out all of the new pains I’ve been having the past few days…my back and sides both hurt and I had really new pain in my right thigh on the bike that I haven’t felt before…and it even hurts up by my shoulder blade on the right side and when I move, I get stabs of pain from the movement….hmmmm…oh, well….it’s not bad enough to take anything for it so I guess I should stop bitching….don’t even have to water anything today with the rain we got yesterday so it really is going to be an easy afternoon but I am going to look for a topic in politics to do later so I’ll be back in a while if I can find one….more later….