Well…darn…up at 5:14 and out of bed by 5:40 but I don’t feel too tired so I guess I’ll live through it…and getting up this early will put me on the bike by 6:30 so I can watch F1 practice at 7:25…and will be painting the window by 9…should be done with two coats by noon or before and then I’m taking the afternoon off….nope, can’t do that…there is so much going on in politics that I’ll have to do a couple of those this afternoon….I did cook some of the chicken legs I got from Aldis yesterday and went back to some barbecue sauce I used a long time ago that I just saw won a taste test on “Cook’s Country” and it was so good I wonder why I even went to Sweet Baby Ray’s…and it is only 1.69 a bottle…making more of those today…oh, the sauce is Bullseye and I used it long ago when they sponsored a car in nascar for a driver I liked…weird, huh? Damn, it snowed like crazy out here yesterday and it covered all the grass with a couple of inches and that was quite depressing…it appears that spring is never going to come when I look out a couple of weeks and the highs are going to be in the 20’s to 40’s and that is about 10 degrees below normal…..but that gives me time to really get moving on the spare bedroom so I can get that done before the end of May….not much to do today…just the bike ride and the window but I should order the new blinds for the bathroom window so I can put them up next week…not too much of a rush since the window in there is frosted…and my new allergy meds are coming today and I really need them after all of the dust from yesterday….more later….

Well…just checked my mail and the 400 buck check from my car insurance company came today! At least there is one good thing to living in Michigan…now I guess the only question is what do I do with it? I have been thinking about buying a kayak since I live near so much water now and it would be cool to get some upper body exercise as I enjoy it…but, with it almost impossible for me to spend money except for necessities, it will probably end up in the bank as I save it to pay for my car insurance that is due in August…at least now I can afford all of the blocks I need to buy to finish off the border around the garden and fill in the space on the east side of the house for a landing pad for my garden hose…maybe I’ll buy a hose reel to set on the pad…I really would love to just blow it and buy a couple of porterhouse steaks and a grill to cook them on….but, I don’t need the calories or cholesterol…and I know I’d feel guilty if I did…oh, well….

Well…that was better…slept okay and only got up once at 4:14 and then out of bed at 6:13 and had some dreams that were quite realistic about driving up highway 1 in California in the dense fog and ended up in Big Sur where the sun burned it off and it was a beautiful day…and I still had the idea that I was at Lake Michigan and it was too cold to swim but then took a dive into the ocean in my clothes when I saw everyone else swimming and surfing….weird but cool…once the coffee gets working, I think I’ll feel okay this morning but right now I’m moving a little slow and feeling my age but I can’t let that get to me….have a lot to get done and only have about 12 minutes to get started on the bike….not sure why I have to be on the bike by 7…I guess I’m back to abusing myself since it feels so good when I’m done….should still be able to get to the window by 9 and will probably be done by noon or so….and I did buy some chicken legs yesterday that I need to cook for lunch…damn, no…I thawed some split breasts that need to be cooked first…so I’ll do the legs later…going to slather them in barbecue sauce for something different along with some roasted potatoes but I’m not sure if I’ll do those for lunch or dinner…decisions, decisions….not much to do today…looks like I’m going to hunker down here for a couple of weeks as the weather goes to hell and gets really cold, I mean 20’s for the high on Sunday? Oh,well…that will help me do the final push to finish the bathroom and get started on the bedroom I need to finish before summer…it will be nice to get to work on a room that is big enough to move around in and that I can seal off to contain the dust….more later….

Well…all I have to say is that sucked…slept the worst than I have in a long time and feel like crap this morning…and it is so damn confusing when you do the same thing every night and get different results…maybe I’m just getting old….I did get some work done yesterday and I am happy how the trim came out in the bathroom…and I’ll say it again…I really like the paint I chose…the eggshell finish looks quite rich and it does hide a lot of flaws….I think I need to take a day off to let my right side rest and do some cleaning around here…and I do have some dust in the bathroom that needs to be cleaned up after sanding the filler I used for the trim….I guess I can wait to work on the window til Thursday….and I want to take some of the gravel they left in the street and put it on the raw dirt in my driveway so it won’t get muddy when it rains….and then I won’t have to buy bags of it….I do need to do the grocery run this morning after the bike ride but I don’t have a lot to get so the spend won’t be much either…will probably get out with less than 30 bucks since I don’t need any protein this week…have a freezer full from last week and probably should use that up….not much to do today…I have been pretty consistent with riding the bike downstairs…no, really consistent and I am heading toward 600 miles down there so I may just take an extra day off soon to let my legs heal….won’t be outside on the bike again until April so that will have to be in the next week or so…I do need a little rest….more later….

Well…that was a little weird…didn’t wake up til 5:16 and slept through the night without any tossing and turning and that is something that I am just not used to with all of the problems I’ve had sleeping in the past…I wonder if this is just part of the progression from the sleep aids and cocktails that is still ongoing? I was even able to go back to sleep until after 6 and that was pretty cool…I think part of it was getting so many miles in yesterday and I am going to try to get an outside ride in today, too….can’t wait to get the trim painted in the bathroom today and see what it looks like after getting rid of at least a part of the ugly blue in there…after I get that done, I will start on the window Thursday and that should take the rest of the week to get it ready to paint next week…then I’ll have three weeks to get the walls ready to paint before I can mask off the trim…it was really nice to get out on the bike in just shorts and a t-shirt yesterday but those days are over for a few weeks…and it is supposed to start raining later today and rain for a couple of days with up to an inch coming so I think that will green up the lawn some if we can just get some spring temps….the big gash in my arm is healing up nicely and I really need to remember how sharp the new chisels are so I don’t do more damage….not much to do today….just need to get on the bike here in 8 minutes or so and then get on the bathroom…don’t think the painting will take more than a a couple of hours to do two coats even with doing the sanding first…and then I need to make lunch and use some of the chicken I got last week…and then outside for a ride if I can get going before the rain comes in….more later….

Well…after finishing up my work for the day before 3, I was feeling a little guilty for not doing more today…but then, when I saw the temp was almost 65 at 5:15, I jumped on the bike to put in another 13 miles outside…so with the 8 miles downstairs, that makes 34 miles in today…so I don’t feel guilty anymore but I am going to be sore tomorrow..and that’s already started with my legs but I can deal with that with only having sanding and painting to do tomorrow…but, I am finally done for the day…no more later….

Well…as I talked about earlier this morning, I was going to hit HF for some tools that I needed to make my life easier as I work on this place and make my slow progress from grimy and ugly to acceptable…to me anyway. I needed a set of wood chisels to help with the detail work on all of the wood there is in here and I have already used them to both work on the trim in the bathroom and to injure myself when the smallest one slipped scraping the heating grates and I dug a big chunk out of my arm…pretty darn sharp chisels and they worked great on the trim so I can’t wait to work on the window in there with them. I also got a new half round file, a new wire brush, and a masonry chisel to cut down the blocks that I am going to use to fill in next to the house so I won’t be curling my garden hose in the mud anymore…and the space I’m going to fill is triangular shaped so I’ll need that chisel a lot…and filling in the whole area will give me a place to put a gas grille if I ever pull the trigger and buy one….now I’m done for the day other than getting a ride in outdoors in shorts around 2 o’clock after the showers end out here….worn out again…darn…