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….

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…