Well…running a little late today with not getting up until 6:17 and now I only have 14 minutes to get this done before I have to get on the bike for the indoor ride for the day….slept okay and I am really amazed how well I’ve been sleeping since I quit all of the aids that I had been using for years….and trying to sleep was one of the most anxiety generating things I did in those years…but that is pretty much gone now and being officially retired has helped that….with no schedule to keep anymore, if I have a bad night where I don’t sleep I can adjust my day to fit how I feel…and that is a luxury that everyone should have….had a normal Sunday yesterday with not a lot of work but I did continue removing the paint from the second heat register and I may be able to finish that up today…but it is going to be a busy day with the indoor ride, an errand out to HF, filling the trim in the bathroom to get ready to sand tomorrow, and then getting an outdoor ride in after lunch…and I may even be able to get one in tomorrow but then the weather goes back down into the 40’s for the rest of the month and into April….and that sucks….but that makes it a little urgent to get the indoor stuff done before I need to put all my time into getting the yard cleaned up and getting the garden border done along with choosing what perennials I want to plant around the back of the house…I did notice I have crocuses popping up in the dirt there so that will be cool and I am thinking about some small bell shaped plants that we had around the house when I was growing up…okay, just had to check the name and they are called Lily of the Vallies….and they thrive in shade so I can plant them on the east side of the house…time to get on the bike…more later….

Well…I was trying to get this one started and had my fingers one key off on the home row of the computer and lots of weird looking words came out…but, I fixed that so here goes….it is the first day of spring today and I don’t feel like I have spring fever at all…in fact I feel like I have reverse spring fever with just feeling exhausted today but it’s my rest day so that works out okay….it was nice enough to get out on the bike today but I resisted that since it is my day off and I really do need some rest for some reason…so, I’ll just do a double tomorrow to make up for it….I have realized that I do need some new tools as I work on all the wood around here…so, after spending 30 bucks at HF Friday, I’ll be back there tomorrow to pick up a new multi purpose file and a set of 4 wood chisels getting ready for working on the doors in here and cleaning up the corners of the baseboards…the 4 pack has chisels from a quarter inch to one inch for only 8 bucks and the file is only 4 bucks and they all should come in handy….and give my new putty knife a rest…and I had to spend 30 bucks on allergy meds this morning,too…got 5 bottles of generic flonase on amazon when the name brand stuff costs about 15 bucks per bottle so that’s a pretty good deal and I am going to need it if my allergies keep getting worse…I am still waiting for real spring to get here and that is not going to  happen for the rest of March…that sucks but the trails are already melted and that is 3 weeks earlier than last year so I can live with it…I do want to talk about some tv and that will be in the next one…more later…

Well…darn, my right thumb is finally reacting to wire brushing the register grate Friday and then sanding the rest of the baseboards in the bathroom yesterday…every time I move it, it hurts even without any load on it…so, I guess it’s a good thing that today is a rest day…or an easy rest day…I may hit the latest grate with some more cleaner today but that will be the extent of the work today…slept okay last night and feel okay this morning and it was pretty cool that it was clear when I went out of the paper….almost full moon and lots of stars and I’m sure my neighbors think I’m weird when I just stand out my back door and look up for a few minutes….but I really don’t care…I am hoping that it gets warm enough to get out on the bike today but it looks like the race schedule is going to keep me off for the day…and that’s okay…Sundays are supposed to be a day off everything and there will be plenty of spring days to take advantage of the weather…and today is the first day of spring but this week is not going to look like it…one warm day tomorrow and then back in the 40’s for the rest of the month…ick….I did figure out that I’m going to make a brick border for my garden this year so it looks a little more finished and I can mow right over it if I set the bricks flush to the ground…will probably stay with the grey and red colors that I used for the trash bin landing pad that I put in last year and it should look cool…and it should only cost me about 30 bucks to do it…not much to do today…I do have to break down the 10 pound bag of leg quarters I got Friday and have been letting thaw enough so they are not one big frozen block…and I need something for meals today but I guess I can make pasta since I have a lot of that….but right now, I’m going to enjoy another cup of coffee and read the news and try to find a topic for later….more later….

Well…yeah, on the first one today, I got somewhat off track and fell back into talking about work on the house and that’s not what the first one of the day is for…so, let’s go back to what ‘life” posts are supposed to be about….it is nice that it has been raining out here for almost a whole day now but I’m not sure if it’s going to be warm enough to make the lawn green up this soon…there was still ice under the sod that I had to replace in the front of the house and I may have been mistaken about who tore it up in the first place…I thought it was the guys who dug up the road but now I think it was the person who plowed the snow at the vacant house next door since the yard along their driveway is just as torn up as my terrace…but it went back together okay so I can live with it…not sure what I did to injure my right tricep but it has hurt like crazy the past couple of days…I wonder if it was getting on  the outdoor bike? I did get a good ride in this morning and did the 8 miles in a little over a half hour and that is getting toward the record…no, I haven’t kept track of that but it wouldn’t be unusual if I did….I did get laundry started and it sounds like it just finished so I need to go down and put it in the dryer…feel pretty good this morning and I do have to remember to get a couple of cups of coffee in me before I get on the bike…only had half a cup is not enough fuel to get these old legs working….more later….

Well…it looks like the power went out at 12:36 last night for a time since my stove was blinking that time at me when I got up…and the coffee maker and microwave were blank so I had to reset the time on everything…at least I didn’t notice it and the house was warm when I woke up at 2:14 so it must have been a short outage….slept okay and feel okay today but I am a little irritated that just using the wire brush on the register yesterday has left my right shoulder sore as heck and I am going to abuse it even more with some sanding on the bathroom trim today…and I probably should get take down the blinds in there to get started on the window after I do the trim…and that is going to take a week or so with how bad shape that one is in…I did get the register removed from the big bedroom yesterday to get ready to start working on it…this one was rusted into place and I had to pry the grate out since the latches wouldn’t turn and it really did look like they just poured paint over it instead of brushing it…this bedroom is probably the second worse room after the kitchen and it is going to take a bunch of work…hmmmm…this one has devovled into a house one and I don’t want that…I did get out for an errand yesterday but will be staying in today and just fooling around some…after I get on the bike….and I may do laundry today, too, since I am running out of clothes to wear and haven’t done any this week…not much to do today…there are lots of races on today with the Sebring 12 hours and lots of nascar, F1, along with some soccer so I sure won’t be bored and I may even be tempted to skip the trim work in the bathroom…but, I won’t…the sanding will only take about a half hour or so and I just love abusing the heck out of myself….more later….

Well…that was crappy…tossed and turned so much last night that I was tangled in my sheets like a damn straightjacket when I woke up for the first time at 3:44…I did get back to sleep for a couple of hours but it wasn’t very good sleep so I am feeling it today…and I have been wondering if doing doubles on the bike for three days in a row earns me a day off today? Yeah, didn’t think so and that means I need to get my butt in gear to be able to get the indoor ride in before 8 when F1 practice comes on…and after that I need to run a couple of errands this morning to see if I can get some 39cents a pound chicken and then over to HF for painting supplies….and this will be a new part of Muskegon I haven’t been to yet and add to the map that is building in my head about the area….it took me 60 odd years to do that for GR and I don’t have that much time out here…didn’t work on the inside of the house at all yesterday but will get to more sanding on the trim in the bathroom today and that will get me to painting in there next week….I sure hope we get the rain that is forecast out here today and tomorrow…the whole place needs a good wash to get the crap from winter cleaned up and start getting the lawn to green up….not much to do today…have 13 minutes to get on the bike and get started but that is harder than I expected and I do have to cook today since all of the leftovers are gone….but we’ll see how that goes as I ease into the day….more later…

Well…on this St. Patrick’s day, I’ve been ruminating on heritage a bit and what it means to me….I’ve really never thought about it much throughout my life other than to make a little sense of why the heck I’m the whitest person I know…even bordering on transparent and that really does mean northern European…and there is French and Irish that are predominately the two nationalities that come from my grandparents on both sides…my father’s parents were from France (and his father still had a bit of an accent although I can’t be sure of that since I only met him like three times in my life) and I remember my mother’s parent’s explaining why there were Irish people who wore orange instead of green…protestant versus catholic…so I’ve simplified my heritage down to those two to just make it easier…like everyone else from Europe, if you go back far enough you’ll find German, Dutch and others included in the main nationalities and that is how it is with us…but I like French and Irish…and when I was young, my beard grew in red so there has to be some Irish in there somewhere…I am looking forward to seeing Ireland in 2023 when my daughter is taking me to the UK and we’ll get to spend a few days in Ireland…not that there is any longing for me to discover Ireland in my blood but I’ve always liked the Irish people and loved what that Island looks like…so, Happy St. Patrick’s day! Hope you all have a good one…think I may have one drink to celebrate….

Well….okay, that one is not really true…I didn’t work on the inside of the house today but I did work on the lawn and picked up branches and trash all over my lot…and I did get the sod that was torn up on the terrace out front replaced and smoothed out and some more of the dirt and concrete raked off it so when it rains tomorrow, it should wash the rest of it down into the soil and give me a better looking front of the house…there was still ice under the sod that was torn out so I couldn’t get it to lay flat but that should happen with the rain tomorrow….and I did get out for an outdoor ride on the bike that was fun with the bike working so well after sitting all winter…still haven’t started to sprint at all out there since my legs and lungs are not ready for it yet even with riding over 500 miles downstairs….I do have to remember that mileage since I am in training mode outside and I don’t have to be…I normally take about 300 miles to be ready to go hard but I have already done that downstairs….and my butt is already 300 miles hard and doesn’t hurt at all…but no ride tomorrow with the rain that is forecast to come in about 7am and last all day and into Saturday….but I will get on the indoor bike for my miles…and then back on the work in the bathroom so I can get painting the trim in there…hope I have enough paint…might have to get a gallon tomorrow…