Well…that was a little better…up at 5am for the first time but was able to stay in bed til almost 6 and I feel okay…the gout is abating after pouring so much water down me the past few days and I need to keep that up…drank about 13 quarts of water yesterday and have the first one in this morning…but I still need the coffee to work soon so I can get the day started…no outdoor ride today since it’s only 28 and it’s going to barely make 30 today and I’m not going out in the cold…we did get some rain yesterday and I hope it will green up my lawn with the food I put on it Wed…looks pretty crappy right now and it looks like I’ll need to spend a lot of money on seed this year…since I got everything done yesterday including the laundry, today is going to be and easy one and I should be done with everything by 8:30am…I am going to get started on the spalling blocks in the basement today and get the first coat of the special paint on….started to think of buying one last bike yesterday since I’ve used up all of the ones I have…the grey bike that I’m riding now has over 60,000 miles on it and it’s just wearing out…so 7-800 dollars to keep me riding til I’m 80 seems like a pretty good deal…more later….

Well…going to have to take an ibuprofen again today since my legs still hurt like crazy and they are stiff and not much better then when I first hurt them…and I didn’t help that at all with doing an extra long outdoor ride today looking for a new way to ride out to the beach since they are closing lakeshore drive and the trail up to the beach for repaving that is going to last a few months…but I did find a way through that I can drive and ride and I’ll be getting to the beach from the south instead of the north but that’s okay…I’ve lived here for 5 years and didn’t know you could get through this way…I did have errands to run today to drop off my ballot and pay the water bill…and I hit aldis to get a bunch of asparagus that the other store didn’t have…so it will be ham, mashed potatoes, and roasted asparagus with olive oil and dried onions for the big meal today…probably should skip dinner after having two pieces of pizza for lunch and that is about 700 calories…have been pouring water down the past two days with my damn gout hurting when I walk or even put my shoes on…back to reading…

Well…out of bed at the ungodly hour of 5 am again today and I am still curious why I can’t take a nap with only getting a few hours of sleep…still pretty sore but I think I’m getting my dehydration problem fixed since my right big toe doesn’t hurt as much as it did yesterday…need to run an errand this morning to drop my ballot off and pay the water bill…it’s going to rain this aft and that will work out good with getting the food on the lawn yesterday but I’m not sure if that is going to help since the lack of rain last year has left it patchy and ugly…but I refuse to spend 100 bucks a month to water it…they are closing down the street out to the beach for the summer to resurface it and I hope I can still get through on the sidewalk for my rides but I guess I should start looking for an alternate route…crap…going to finally start using the ham in an actual meal with mashed potatoes and corn today or maybe I’ll wait til tomorrow since I still have leftover pizza for the big meal today…more later…

Well…after the stress from yesterday, I was going to take an easy one today but it didn’t work out that way…after the indoor exercise, I suited up to go out in the cold and put the food on what is left of my lawn…then it had warmed to 45 by 10am so I got right on the outdoor bike to get another 13 miles in even though my hamstrings were stiff and hurting and they still are…can’t figure that out but we’ll see how they feel tomorrow…I forgot to report last week that we had “first boat day” with one in the condo marina and that is way earlier than normal…have never seen a boat in in March since I’ve lived out here…I did see the first turkeys of the year today but just two of them and not a big flock like last year…would like to see Stupid again since he made me laugh so much last year…okay, time for reading…again..

Well…another day of waking up at 3 and then out of bed before 5:30 and I am damn tired…need to get my butt in gear since I have yard work to do today…need to get my first feeding of the lawn done to take advantage fo the rain that is coming in tomorrow…going to try to get an outdoor ride in this afternoon even though my legs still hurt like crazy but I’ve never let that stop me before…it’s going to be a low key, easy day today after getting the trip sorted yesterday and I am looking forward to that…might do a ham meal today with mashed potatoes and gravy but that seems to be too much work right now so I may wait til tomorrow…tried my my new cleaver last night and it is pretty damn sharp but I’ll have to get used to it…should be great to chop veggies with but I’m not sure what the next time is I’ll do that…we’ll see…need to get moving to get the weight work and indoor ride in to set me up for the day…more later…

Well…after doing the grocery/Menards run this morning and picking up a big ham for 85 cents a pound, and then getting more books at the library, I came back here hoping to take it easy but the day turned into trip work and now we have our flights booked, travel insurance purchased, and all the paperwork to get us to Italy and back…and now I can take it easy tonight…it looks like the trip is going to cost more than I expected with the run up of jet fuel prices that made our flights cost about 25% more than planned…ick…oh,well…I did pick up the lawn food to put on the lawn tomorrow before the rains come Thursday and a new outdoor faucet shut off valve since the old one wore out and was leaking…I did get my new Chinese cleaver today and it looks pretty nice with a rosewood handle and etchings on the blade…since I only had one meal today, I am going to use it to cut up some ham for a snack later…and I got the quart of special paint that should stick to the spalling blocks downstairs and now I have to wire brush it to get the loose paint off before I try it…didn’t want to spend 50 bucks on a gallon of it if it doesn’t work…okay, time to start tonight’s tv watching…

Well…the normal pattern held again today and I was out of bed at wanted5:33 and the thought of sleeping in gets farther and farther away…my legs still hurt so I’ll take another ibuprofen for it in a minute but I want to get coffee down first…going to be a busy morning with the grocery run, a stop at menards and then to the library for more books on the way back here so I can get going around 8 or so…it’s only 23 degrees out there right now so I’ll have to let the car warm up a bit before I go…I did order some paint and a Chinese cleaver yesterday that will be here today…only got a quart of the paint since I’m not getting a gallon until I see if it works or not…and I’ve always wanted a new kind of knife to try…only 10 bucks so no big loss if I don’t like it…I did get started on some work around here and that will continue later…no outdoor bike ride today with the legs still healing but I’ll be out there tomorrow…more later…

Well…man, after how stiff and painful my legs were yesterday, any improvement is welcome and I got a little of that today…still taking ibuprofen but I was able to go out and clean the yard up a bit and cut up the big branch that fell and put it out for pick up tomorrow…I sure love my recip saw I got from my brother…only took about 5 minutes to cut up a 12 foot long branch into pieces small enough to fit in the trash bin…then I put the rest of the trash out in the bin and will put that to the curb later…so the rest of the day will be finishing up the last book and maybe even starting on the cobwebs downstairs if I get done early enough…still darn cold here at 34 for a high but it starts to warm up a bit tomorrow…back to reading…

Well…up at 2:33 this morning but I was able to get back to sleep until 5:30 or so and it sucks that it looks like a win…my legs are a little better today and I still can’t figure out how I hurt them so badly just riding the bike…it’s going to be in the 30’s for a high today so I won’t even be attempting and outdoor ride today…not going to be cold anymore…I completely missed the first day of spring last Friday so I’ll say it now…happy spring! Sure doesn’t feel like spring or smell like it…I do need to get on cleaning up the yard soon but I think that will wait til Wed when it will be in the 50’s…but I should start cutting the branches up and pt them in the bin so I can put them out to the trash…have to figure out meals for the day today and it will probably be a burger or a chicken sandwich since I need to get stuff out of the freezer so I can put the ham bones in that I’m getting this week…not much to do today…need to finish up the last book so I can hit the library tomorrow after the grocery run but I know I need to stop reading so much and get on with other things around here…more later…

Well…I didn’t realize how hard I went on the outdoor bike yesterday until I got out of bed this morning and my legs hurt so much I could barely move…my hamstrings are so tight today that I can’t bend over at all…just tried to put something in my trash can and I was just howling in pain…so, for two days in a row, I’ve taken an ibuprofen to deal with it and I hope that fixes the pain in my left elbow and right thumb too…so today I’m taking it easy with just the weights and an indoor ride…I could have gone out for a ride but I don’t want to be cold and I know that wouldn’t help my legs any…I did start to plan meals after I use up the leftovers today but Meijers has spiral sliced hams on sale for 89 cents a pound so I’ll go out Tuesday to pick one up and then do the library trip…and I’ll be eating from that ham for 10 days or so and will probably pick up another one next week…can’t beat that price for protein…