Well…darn, running late this morning with not getting out of bed until 6:45 and I’m on my first cup of coffee so I am going to be late getting on the bike this morning…and that means I’m going to miss F1 practice from Spa and that sucks since it’s one of my favorite tracks…I really do need to figure out how to be flexible about my schedule…and today is the last day at the beach and that is a little depressing knowing that the summer is over…I wonder how many more of them I have left? Hmmmm….the rain yesterday has really greened up my lawn and I hope I don’t have to mow it til next week….I do need to pick a bunch of tomatoes from the garden today and figure out how to use them before they spoil…I may roast some with olive oil and make some pasta sauce….need to eat some with every meal but still haven’t made any big salads yet…and probably won’t til tomorrow…still have a pork chop to eat today along with Tom’s sauce with pasta and need to see what I still have in the freezer…not much to do today…need to get going right now to do my teeth and then get on the bike for the first ride…and I will get out to the beach for the last time today and I think I’ll like the change in my schedule…at least I won’t be drinking a beer every afternoon….but I will miss swimming….more later….

Well…I was finally able to get out on the bike around 4:30 as the rain was down to a drizzle and I can take that with the temp over 70…had a good ride and my right thigh held up okay and didn’t hurt much so that made me a little less concerned that I had done some real damage to it…on the way back, I had a tailwind out of the west and was moving along pretty good at around 20 on the straight along the marina when a female red tailed hawk popped out of the brush along the trail at about pedal level from the right and took off flying in front of the bike right in front of my front tire and flew there for close to a hundred feet….so close I could have reached out and touched her…once we hit a clearing in the brush, she took a hard bank right and started gaining altitude until she landed in a huge oak tree on the lake side of the trail…I think I said “whoa” out loud when she popped out and had a grin on my face from it all the way back here…pretty darn cool…

Well…darn, it’s 2:15 and it is still raining so it looks like only one ride today if I get out at all…but that means I’ve wasted the day with doing nothing but these….but that’s okay…have turned off my guilt machine and don’t feel bad about it at all especially since my right thigh was just completely flat yesterday and hurt like crazy, too…and I’ve been able to walk around here today with not much pain so being forced into taking it easy was a nice coincidence…and with how much I’ve bitched about it never raining out here, I’m never going to bitch about it raining….the little weather app in my task bar just said that it stopped raining but it is still spitting out there so I’ll wait another 15 mins to suit up and get on the bike…going to be filthy when I get back here with the trail still wet but that’s okay…won’t be the first or last time that happens…probably could have gone out in the rain but just didn’t want to get wet today…and I’m getting old and just couldn’t do it…so I guess I better get going….

Well…as I sit here waiting for the rain to come, the lyrics to “Time” by Pink Floyd come to mind…”tired of lying in the sunshine, staying home to watch for rain”…yeah, I’m a little weird like that…can you tell I’m already bored and it’s only 8:47? While we’re at it, let’s look at another line from the same song that just about sums up how I feel about getting old…”the sun is the same in a relative way but you’re older, shorter of breath and one day closer to death..” and now the depression starts….I know I’ve talked about getting old before but as the days go on, it’s keeps getting more and more real…and I look in the mirror and wonder what happened to that guy…the one with brown hair and no wrinkles…and with the possibilities that have come and gone, leaving this husk of a person who has no purpose other than the rote repetition of tasks that make up my days….and that is pretty frickin depressing, too….I wonder if I can still change that? Do I want to?  Who knows? If it’s not raining by 9, I’m going out…4 minutes to go….more later…

Well…damn, this has been weird…up at 5:11 for the past three days in a row and it reminds me of how consistent I used to be waking up when I was still working…used to wake up at 6:12 every morning even without the alarm clock going off…ha,ha…that’s funny…haven’t used an alarm clock for so many years even the thought of it makes me laugh…don’t sleep well enough anymore to need one…and I don’t have anywhere to be….it looks like the rain is falling apart…again…so I will be able to get on the bike as soon as the coffee starts to work but I just poured the first cup so that will be a while….had an okay day yesterday but didn’t get much done other than go to the beach and today will be the next to last day of doing that….not sure how I feel about that right now other than I’m ready for a change and to get back to work around here….I did give myself a haircut yesterday since I was getting pretty shaggy and I don’t like that and I wonder why I don’t do that more often? I mean it only takes about 5 minutes to do so I could look better all the time…hmmm….not sure what is going on but my right leg was really flat on the bike yesterday and it was a struggle to get through the rides…and it hurt, too so I may have to take a rest day soon to help it repair…and this has been going on for at least a month now and it even hurts just sitting here…crap….not much to do today…still waiting for the rain to start if it ever will but I don’t want to get wet so I guess I’ll be smart and wait a while…but that will put me behind for the day and I won’t get the second ride in til after noon so I guess the beach is out for today….so maybe some cleaning? Who knows? More later….

Well…I was really hoping that the cold Lake Michigan water would warm back up some so I could get more than a quick dip swim in…and today it did so I got to fool around in the water for almost a half hour…and that felt good after how damn cold it’s been….and I got a little burned again today but there are only 2 more days of beach time for me so I guess my skin can take it…especially if the rain in the forecast happens…I did get a few things done today with doing the grocery run and getting two rides in…and I bought some chip dip for the first time this year since they had good dip on sale for 99 cents at Meijers….and I know I’m going to feel guilty about that when I have some tonight but I also bought bananas and celery so that part is healthy….and I tried Tom’s spaghetti sauce for dinner and it was really good…not sweet like jar sauce usually is and I filled up on that…still have enough for two more meals so that will get me to the weekend along with the two pork chops I just put in marinade…couldn’t get chicken thighs this morning since they had none so that is going to make me clear out the freezer if I want protein…but I guess I could just eat tomatoes and salads through the weekend since I have every thing I need to make a big salad….and still have pasta salad in the fridge…it appears that they are done working on the beaches and were loading up the pipes that were left on the beach today….oh, I just saw that they have robot beach cleaners that they are testing out on my beaches to try to get rid of the plastic waste that is everywhere and that will be cool to see…I wonder if they could just run them at night when the beaches are empty? If they can make a roomba work I guess they can make these work…still want to see them….

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…