Well…not sure how this is going to work today but I’m starting out without coffee to try to keep my blood pressure down for my checkup this morning…read an article yesterday that said coffee can raise it by 5-8 points and I need all the help I can get…along with no cocktails for the past 10 days, I have hope I can get it down to 130 or so…and losing the weight I have might help, too, at least I hope it does…but I didn’t sleep well at all last night so that probably cancels out all my work…have been up since 5 and was up and down all night so only about 4 hours last night and that is probably worse than having cocktails…oh, well…I wonder when the weather channel is going to fire all of their forecasters who keep forecasting rain out here and it never happens…I mean they had it at 100% for this morning and nothing, not a damn drop and nothing on the radar…I guess that could be looked at as a good thing since I can get two rides in before I go for my checkup but I was really looking forward to having a day off without guilt but I guess that is too much to ask…didn’t do much yesterday but get the rides in and watch soccer and races and today will be another easy one after the checkup….might go out to the beach when I get back here if there are no surprises with my health…and I am going to have cocktails tonight and try to get back to the normal routine…my skin has rested a couple of days and can take a trip out to swim and relax a bit….and then back to it tomorrow…more later….

Well…when I went out to the beach this morning, I found that I was right…they are trying to fill in the pond and have a pipe from the dredge laid across the beach to get to the depression that the water filled to make the pond…and they are using a bulldozer to move the sand around and make channels for the water to drain back into the lake…not sure if these guys really know what they are doing but they are giving it a try…was going to go out to the beach today but with half of it blocked off for the work going on, the rest of it was going to be pretty crowded with how hot and sunny it is…so I decided to just watch soccer and races and take it easy this afternoon….I did get both rides in but tomorrow looks like it may be the elusive day off with storms forecast for the morning and my appointment at 11 that should take an hour and a half or so….and I’m not sure if I want to ride in the afternoon or just go to the beach since I can have a beer after working on my blood pressure the past week or so…we’ll see…it probably won’t rain so I can get the rides in before I go to the doctor…hope so….

Well… running about on time for a Sunday morning but I need to get moving here in a few minutes to get a ride in before the F1 race comes on at 9….I had thought about trying to get two rides in before that but that would have meant getting out without coffee and in the dark and that was just a bit too much for me…you know, I’m getting tired of always trying to get better…to lose weight, to eat healthier, to change my attitude for the better, and to deprive myself of things that I enjoy just for my health….it is just so damn much work and, while I can see the results and I feel better, it seems that I can’t just cut loose and ignore that for even a little while and just live…and I am stressed out about my checkup tomorrow reading the dire entries in mychart where my medical records are and where my cholesterol was too high along with my blood pressure…I’m afraid they are going to want to put me on medication for both and I just don’t want to do that yet….I have lost 3 inches+ on my waist since the start of the year and I can’t remember being at this weight since I was in my 30’s…so maybe it won’t be so bad….didn’t do much yesterday and today looks the same with just getting the rides in and watching races….I did take some burger out of the freezer to have tomorrow after my physical since I have been avoiding any meat but chicken over the past few weeks to help my cholesterol but most of it is hereditary and I’m not sure how much diet effects it…I guess I’ll see…not much to do today…just going to ride and then take care of the gardens….don’t have to cook today since I have leftovers and I’m going to make a big salad for dinner so I guess I’ll be under 1K calories for the day and that will help with the physical tomorrow…..I am a little pissed that all the riding I do isn’t the magic bullet I expected it to be with my health…but, I guess I’m getting old so I can’t expect much….more later….

Well…cripes, just sitting here and all of a sudden my right shoulder started to howl in pain and I didn’t do anything to cause it…today that is, yesterday I was out in the waves and doing a little body surfing means my arms are out straight over my head and that’s not a motion I normally do….it feels like I raked the whole yard of leaves and I know I haven’t done that…..but, I know this pain and have had it so many times in the past whenever I abuse my shoulder…so it is going to take some ibuprofen to cut through it here in a minute….it’s been a really, really easy day today with just the bike rides for any work and then I took it easy all afternoon with only making potato salad this morning….no beach today since my skin is still tight from yesterday and I think I’ll take tomorrow off to keep the healing going…and I don’t really like going out there into the crowds on the weekend….they did start to do something to the beach today with a bulldozer pushing a bunch of sand around and some drain pipes that were dropped out there yesterday…I wonder if they are going to fill in the pond? I guess I’ll see tomorrow when I ride out there…but right now, I’m done for the day…just going to contemplate what I want for dinner and get off my butt here in a while and make it….

Well…damn, need to get going here pretty quick to be out on the bike by 7 so I can get two rides in before 10 so I can see F1 qualifying…damn, I’m tired of rushing around…had a good day yesterday with getting out to the beach and playing in some nice waves but I am pretty sore today…hit the party in the park last night to see and old band from around the GR area called Hip Pocket that I have been seeing for over 40 years and that was a little weird…and they played FM by Steely Dan which made my night…lots of fun…even had a couple of local beers that I liked a lot…..slept pretty crappy last night but feel okay today and now need to not have any beer until after I have my physical Monday to make sure that my BP is as low as it can be at my advanced age….I won’t have a beach trip today since my skin needs a rest from all the sun this week and there are soccer and races on this aft….so it’s going to be an easy day after I get the rides in….but I only have 12 minutes before I have to be on the bike for the first ride and need to do my teeth so I need to get going….more later….

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…